Quilting Up a Storm

It's too hot outside to go anywhere, so I've been holed up in my studio for the last couple of weeks doing a lot of quilting - and I'm accomplishing quite a bit! I've had this small Kim Diehl quilt pieced and layered for a couple of years and I finally quilted it and got the binding on. Measures about 36" square.

Not sure why the edges turned out kinda ruffly - especially since I basted the perimeter before adding the binding. I usually like to wash my quilts when they're all finished, but I'm hesitant to do that with this one because of the wool applique - I'm afraid the colors might bleed out and ruin the whole quilt. Does any have any suggestions or experience doing this? Help would be appreciated!

I worked more on my Now & Later quilt - when I start sewing the blocks together I usually do it this way - I think it's called spider webbing? Anyway, makes it so the rows don't get out of order - easy peasy.

I had extra blocks left over so pieced them together and added them to the back which makes it interesting and more fun.

I love this Jan Patek print I found for the back - it was on clearance at my LQS for $4.99 yd. Yay!

When I work on a quilt this big (60" x 80") I like to take it over to the church and lay it out on the carpeted floor in a classroom to do the pin basting since I don't have that much free space in my house. Sure makes it easier!

Years ago I bought some grapefruit spoons at the dollar store that work perfectly for this job. I know there are special quilt tools designed to do the same thing, but they cost a lot more than $1!

I quilted it with a cinnamon roll swirl that is kinda fun to do - and used a variegated thread.

I'll share one more picture of this quilt when I finish stitching down the binding in a few days - that's a nighttime TV watching job -  and put it through the wash. Sure do love that cozy crinkly look it gets afterwards. Meanwhile, a few Delectable Mountain quilts caught my eye one day on Pinterest, so I pulled out a bunch of blue and tan fabrics from my stash and started making one. It's kinda strange to make quilt blocks that aren't square - doesn't happen too often!

Sure wish I was brave enough to quilt feathers in a zig zag pattern, but will probably settle for something much, much easier. Anyway, I'm really liking this color combo! I'd like to think of a clever name for this quilt that pertains to the Wasatch Mountains that I live near.

Sure feels good to be spending some quality time in my studio!

Projects

I've been busy as a bee stitching up several different projects. Today I made this little quilt that measures 9" x 11".  While looking around the house for a good place to photograph it, I discovered how nice it looks with some of my yellowware bowls. The ones with blue stripes have always been my favorite and I have many of them. It was fun to find the perfect striped fabric which I fussy cut for the sashing between the rows.

It worked up quickly since I had the pieced blocks left over from a small quilt I made for Lauren a couple years ago. Only had to make two extra and I had enough. I can never remember if these are hourglass blocks or broken dishes....

Last week I finally gifted DD#2 with a completed quilt. She will use it mostly for TV watching in the evenings when it feels chilly in her basement.

The colors are happy and it was a fun project to make for her, though it took me a lot longer than I thought it would. She was very patient with me and was very appreciative when I gave it to her.

I also stitched up a 'PLUS' quilt and gave it to the gal who does my hair. She's expecting a baby boy in June and told me the nursery colors are navy and gray. I think this will do the trick. She was very surprised when I showed up without an appointment to give it to her.

I quilted it with a simple and easy meandering design. 40" square.

I've finished the border on my hooked rug and I'm ready to tackle the remainder of the inside section.

I recently did a little cleaning in my studio and found six small crazy quilt blocks that I probably made 10+ years ago. I have no idea of what my original plan for them was, so I stitched them up similarly to a quilt I saw on a Facebook page. Not sure if the wool flowers and stems are showing up on such a busy background - any suggestions? Maybe I should unpick the stems and just have the applique in the center section? (please notice the mitered corners on the border - I haven't done that for ages!)

That Time of Year!

A few weeks ago I showed you a new hooked rug that I had started. Well, it's all finished now, and has been delivered to it's new home. Such a fun project to make! I forgot to measure it when it was done, but I think it's about 10" x 36" or so. Should work perfectly as a table runner.

I used six different background wools because I thought it would make it look more interesting, but I think they ended up being too much alike in color and value, so that part didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. But I still like it - you can barely see the difference if you look closely.

My favorite part of the rug ended up being the binding because of a new technique that I tried for the very first time. Cool, huh? I followed the instructions that Saundra shared on her blog here, except I used a strip of wool to enclose the edge instead of cotton fabric like she used.

I finished piecing the top of my Dresden Plate quilt - no idea when it will actually ever get quilted. Kind of hypnotic if you look at it long enough! LOL

And earlier this week I started a Christmas project using these fun colors of fabric. Need to get it finished and in the mail ASAP!

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. We had all of our loved ones (except one) gathered under our roof for six hours or so, and it was delightful! I love that everyone helps with the meal by bringing a bit of this and that.  Plus, we had a bit of snow to fuel the celebration - yay!

Home Again

I'm home from attending my brother's wedding in California - it was SO nice to see all of my family and meet the bride's family - a very happy occasion! They seemed to like the quilted table runner I made for their gift, so that made me happy.

Now that our newest grandchild has arrived, I finally got around to making this new piece of wall art using Scrabble game tiles to spell out the names of everyone in my little family. It was a fun project and I did have a bit of help doing it, which makes it even more fun. If/when we have another grand baby I'll just have to start over, and that will be fine with me. Luckily, it fit perfectly into a thrift store frame I had on hand so I just had to paint it. I used Heat & Bond to adhere the fabric background to a sturdy piece of cardboard, the tiles themselves are attached with hot glue, and the book page scallops received a shot of spray adhesive to their backside after I inked the edges a bit. I twisted a strip of burlap to make the flower and added a vintage red button to the center.

Yesterday I attended my monthly meeting of the Salt Lake rug group - it's been two months since we saw each other so it was really nice to catch up on the visiting. Myra's beautiful floral rug is nearly finished - she used a pattern that was originally for an appliqued quilt but adapted beautifully to a hooked rug. I'm sure you would recognize each of the flowers if you could see them up close.      I love it!

Nancy is making this Susan Quicksall design for a new grandchild - just has to work on those borders.

I began a small round rug that I will fill with cat's paw circles - scrappy as usual.

Yvonne was hoping to get the wool applique on this quilt finished quickly, so she could layer it and begin quilting it on a road trip she'll soon be leaving on. It was her first try at using wool for the applique and she's not quite sure if she likes it as much as using cotton needle turn.

I bought myself one of the new Zirkel magnetic pincushions recently. I've used a magnetic one for years now, but this one is extra strong, and the pins hang over the edges in a circle so they're easy to grasp without any fumbling. I worry a little about it grabbing onto my thread snips on occasion, but it's supposed to be okay with the electronic sewing machines. I'll see how I like it after a week or two of use. Have any of you tried one?

It's Been Awhile!

Sorry I've been MIA - just busy with life - you know how it gets sometimes, right? Anyway, I took pictures earlier this month when our rug group met - there was some great show & tell! Sandy showed us her finished rug which is a design by Vintage Heart Primitives - and it was just stunning!

She used some specialty yarn to hook the lady's hair - - -

- - - and finished the edge with a fancy herringbone stitch using yarn - wow! I love the fleur-de-lis that is hooked in each corner of the rug - one of my favorite motifs.

I grabbed a photo of Kim's rug that is nearing completion. She asked her son to draw this rug pattern for her - so it's a one-of-a-kind - and it features her home and other nearby landmarks that are important and special to her - especially Ben Lomond Peak which stands above her house.

Sharon was working on a small star rug - about the right size for a chair pad. Makes me think of a sheriff's badge! LOL

Leisa invited us to hook in her studio for the first time and we all brought goodies to have a nice lunch while we were there. A lot of the gals had never been there before and they couldn't get over all the goodies that she has!  Leisa left just a couple days later and is in on vacation in Italy. Her husband went to ride his bike in the Italian Alps and it's been fun seeing her posts on Instagram.

Jeanette finished up this fun sunflower on a bed spring - a kit that we all received at a Guild meeting a year or two ago - please notice the red floor in the background - it's painted plywood - awesome!

My little quilt group met at my house a couple days after this, and I had prepared a small project for each gal to make. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them all before they left so these two are mine. I sharpened bamboo skewers and we added polymer clay handles to them - they make a great stiletto to use when sewing - they hold seam allowances in place so your fingers don't get stitched by mistake. The colors are way too bright for my taste - I'd like to make another one or two and see if I'm happier with them....

When we returned home from Seattle I found this rusty flower in my yard - my son had welded it for me and left it as a surprise and I love it - it's rather dangerous looking so we've placed it in an out-of-the-way spot cuz we don't want any of the grandchildren to get hurt by it.  A couple of the kids really like balls so this might be a challenge - LOL!

And finally, a couple more really good books that I can recommend. I liked this one a lot:

And this one had me nearly sobbing at the end - luckily I was home alone and had no need to hide my tears from anyone - whew! I love books that make me cry - and Hallmark commercials can do it too! (smile)

The weather has turned really hot here after a long, cool, wet spring - whew - I'm not a fan!

Stash Enhancement

My stash of quilting fabrics has increased nicely over the last several days. I have heard good things about the fabrics that are sold at Connecting Threads, so when I saw a spectacular sale just before Christmas on some, I took the plunge and ordered half yard pieces of several. I paid $2.96/yd and they seem to be very good quality - I think I'll be ordering from them again. These are from their Country Essentials Collection.

My mom gifted me with these lovely fat quarters....

....and DD#2 gave me another bundle of FQs, a Gingher rotary cutter, and a nifty sewing organizer.

DD#1 gave me this darling sweater with sheep on it - fits me perfectly - both size-wise & style-wise! My family knows me well and always gives me the most thoughtful gifts geared toward my interests. Sweet!

And speaking of gifts, hubby & I made this book lamp for DD#1 who loves books and reading, as well as bright colors. I collected the books from thrift stores over the course of the summer, then hubby drilled holes in them and assembled the floor lamp. This picture is kinda blurry....

...but this close-up of the various books is better. The subject matter of the book didn't matter to me when I was shopping - they only needed to have bright bindings - so there are medical books, novels, textbooks & I think even a cookbook. It was a fun, fun project and the only handmade gift we gave this year.

Glimpses

I've been working on several projects the last few days and thought I'd share just a little snippet of each. I amazed myself by pulling out a very large rug that I haven't worked on for years and years - and I actually added a narrow salmon colored border to one section of it. I would really love to finish this some day so I've put my thinking cap on to see if I can figure out solutions to some of the problems that made me put it away in the first place.

I've made progress on my Kim Diehl quilt - here is is arranged on my design wall.

Since there is quite a bit of wool applique to be done around the edges I was worried about having the cotton background fabric fray from all the handling it would be receiving. I took a class from Kim many years ago and remembered that she always ran a bead of Fray Check around the outside of her blocks for just that reason. So that's what I did and I hope it will help.

Have started working on a brightly colored baby quilt for DD#1. The baby is due in November and the baby shower is about a month away so I have plenty of time to get this made for her.

And my son's girlfriend will be a brand new 5th grade teacher next week. She's been busy organizing her classroom and fixing it up with fun bright colors. She has one window that I made some simple valance curtains for.