Summer Finishes!

 Hi there!  

It's been a month since my last update and I'm happy to say I've gotten several projects moved to or very close to the finish line!  Even though we are taking care of my mother now full time I have managed to carve out sewing time just about every day.  It's important to us to keep our routine as close to normal as possible while providing for her care.  I can often get some sewing done in the afternoon.  All it takes to make progress is a few minutes a day.  It adds up more than you might think so if you're struggling to find time to quilt, sew or craft I encourage you to try to get in 5, 10 or 15 minutes a day.  You'll see progress and it will make you feel better, too!

The baby quilt I showed last time has been hand delivered to the messenger.  We met up with my cousin and his wife and had a delightful catch up over lunch.  They will gift the quilt to their friend.  I'm sure I'll get a picture or two when that happens.  

I have another quilt going off to a new home!  I'm excited that this one which I made years ago will now be enjoyed by a little one.  I shared it during my livestream but I'll share it here too.  The large squares are cut 6.5", the smaller corner squares are cut 3.5", the rectangles are cut 2" x 3.5" (8 per block).  I did a color wash arranging the blocks from light to dark.  I still have SO MUCH FABRIC left from collecting for I Spy quilts; it would be fun to make another one some day soon in a different pattern.  I'll have to add it to my list so I don't forget.  

I decided to get the flannel quilt done next.  It just needed a couple more borders before being quilted and bound.  I got that done and I'm so very happy with it!  I tested it for size on the queen size bed it's meant for.  Added enough strips around for a good drape.  

I quilted it with a gorgeous feather design by Bethanne Nemesh called Acadia.  The backing fabric (not shown) is a quilting cotton extra wide backing in a warm toasty brown tone on tone floral I bought at the One Stop Shop Hop I just attended.   I decided I'd rather have a single piece of fabric for the back than to do a whole bunch of piecing for it.  This is finish #14 for 2026, started in 2015 so it's about time it got done! It feels good to  get an idea out of my head and into a quilt.  Now it needs a name!  Any ideas?? I'm terrible at thinking of names for things so if you can suggest something I'd love to hear it.  The name from the pattern designer is Soul Searching and that does not fit my version of it.  The pattern is in a book called Material Quilts by Kathy Doughhty.  It's made entirely of 2.5" cut strips, that's the only hint I can give you. 

Next up I worked on my string quilt.  I only needed a few more blocks to complete the top.  These are 16" finished blocks made with mostly 30's fabrics.  I have a tutorial on how I made these blocks here (along with a funny OOPS moment and how I corrected it 😂).  It did a pretty good job using up all the strings I'd accumulated in that drawer!  I made 30 blocks for setting 5 across and 6 rows down.  Along the way I took a couple of pictures of what it would like set 5 x 5 and 4 x 5.  I often wonder what quilts would look like with different number of blocks so this time I remembered to take pictures along the way!  

   

25 blocks

20 blocks

With a border

I tried adding a border to it too but, I didn't like it so I took it off.  ( I asked for opinions during my live stream which you can check out on my YouTube channel Everyday Sewist August Livestream).  It's been quilted so next time I'll show you the completed quilt when I finish the binding. It looks really good so you'll have to come back and see. 😁  I started this one in March 2026.

Even more quilting happened on the longarm!  Quilt #3 this past month is my leader/ender project started in October 2024 called Offset.  I decided enough was enough on this one.  I could have made it a bit bigger but I really wanted to move on to other projects so I assembled the columns over the course of 4 days.  I sewed in batches of about 10 columns to keep it from getting unwieldy.  I ended up with 32 columns for a width of 64" and length of 84" (28 units per column).  I'd call that a generous couch size, maybe even a twin size.  Here is the finished top before quilting.  It's quilted but I still need to make the binding and attach it.  Super important:  I stay-stitched around the edge of the top before quilting to keep those seams from popping open and to keep the pieces pressed in the direction I wanted.  

I've completed a couple more Make It Happen Monday projects.  I haven't done one a week but close to that.  It's been great way to get to some smaller projects and make sample blocks (which may end up in my orphan quilt.) Make it Happen Monday

I did not work on the quilt with the shattered backing yet.  I think it's going to get a new backing tied instead of adding more quilting to it.  Maybe next time I'll have it done.  

I've made a couple more each of Hollow 9 patches and Box Kite since finishing up Offset.  I've pulled out my yellow scraps and smaller pieces of yellow for those.  Box Kite is looking like a cute kids quilt as I've pulled out some novelty prints to use.  I think that will be quite fun!  I hope to keep adding a few more of each during the rest of the month.  I have nothing cut and ready to sew right now so I'll have to have a cutting session to keep things rolling along.  

For the rest of this month I have lots of hand work to do:  binding to stitch down, a Sashiko project I enjoy working on, I'd like to start another Kawandi project plus I'd like to get the repairs done on one of the quilts needing that done.  I have two more quilt tops plus a couple of tablerunners to get on the longarm and I'd like to keep stitching up something with my yellow scraps.  Even though August is a long month I doubt I'll get to all of it but I'll try.  

Thanks for being here!  

Happy sewing, 

Stephanie

A Finish! The Baby Quilt is Done!

 Hi there! 

Last week I pushed ahead to finish the baby quilt before it ended up sitting in the "to be done" pile!  It's  so cute for a baby of Ukrainian heritage.  It turned out differently than I first thought but I think the changes I made worked out really nicely.  I was inspired by a quilt made by Krista Moser called Just Four Fat Quarters.  Of course, mine ended up containing many more than four but I made mine bigger too!  I used about 6 different yellows and 6 different blues.  I backed it with a dark blue grunge.   The quilting shows up really well!  The pantograph full of hearts is called Beloved by Christy Dillon.  

So, yay!  Another project crossed off the list!  It will be sent off to be cuddled with in its new home shortly.  

I also made substantial progress on the borders for a flannel quilt this week.  One more round of strips to go and the top will be done. Right now it measures 90 x 91.  The strips are cut, arranged and ready to sew together.  

I started this one back in 2015!  It's about time, don't you think?  I still have a boatload of flannels taking up two+ containers so it didn't make a dent in that stash.  Oh well.  I tend to think of making "one of these" and "one of those" each year and eventually I'll notice there will be less than time before.  Each year, I'll make a project in solids, one in Christmas, one in Halloween, one in 30's, one from flannels, etc.  Then it's finish this one and get that one done from years past.  I have enough of all of those to last a very long time.  

I made a simple pillow cover for a friend.  She gave me the fabric and the old cover to duplicate.  I'm happy to report the new one fit perfectly and she loved it!  Old on the right, new on the left.  This is one of my "Make It Happen" Monday projects.  I've completed several stalled projects/tasks over the past few weeks by trying to tackle them (allot time for them) on Mondays.  I made a short video about "Make It Happen" Monday which you can find on my YouTube channel.  There are lots of these little tasks we put off; they weigh us down when in reality they (mostly) take very little time at all.  This pillow cover is one of those things.  Some of the things I really WANT to do!  I want to make time to do those too!  

This coming week I will be attempting to put a new backing on an older quilt.  I made the quilt for my son about 15 years ago.  The fabric on the back has shattered in several places.  It is a commercially dyed fabric.  The best thing I can think of to do is what one viewer suggested and that is to put a new back right on top of the old and quilt it again.  What I haven't decided is whether to tie the "new" quilt or add additional quilting to the top of the quilt going through the new backing.  What would you do?  

Shattering of the backing fabric where the batting is showing 

Since the baby quilt is entirely done and the flannel one should be ready for the next step by the end of this weekend  I would like to get the rest of the string blocks made next.  I need 7 more, one a day.  I haven't touched my Aqua scraps yet.   I want to do some cutting for my other projects so I will look to use some aqua scraps when I do that.  My mother is coming back here for a couple of months.  I'm going to set up a machine in the dining room so I can be nearer to her and still get some sewing done while she listens to her books.  

Hope you are well!

Happy Sewing, 

Stephanie

Summer Sewing

Hi there!

I have quite the list of projects to work on this summer.  Ha! Who am I kidding?  I ALWAYS have a ton of projects I'm working on.  

So, first of all, I finished Succulent Garden and took her on a drive half way across the country (1100+ miles) on our vacation.   I finished the binding before we returned home, used it on every hotel bed (so much better) and took lots of pictures in the wild.  Here is one of my favorites:  

It was so windy!  Isn't that hysterical?  Ok, here's a picture where you can see more of it.  

And, in one of the hotels we stayed at: isn't it lovely?

I made it queen size but it actually fits a king size bed as well!  I was really happy to find that out!  

We had a great trip highlighted by seeing Mountain Goats and the Continental Divide.  Both were on my list.  The knife edge of the Continental Divide is amazing to see.  We went through several passes as well and spent a fair amount of time over 10,000 feet elevation.  I'm glad to say I adapted quite well to the elevation, no headaches or sickness.  

I'm still waiting for my next episode to be ready for my YouTube channel due to technical difficulties so here are a couple of snippets of what I'm working on/ my summer sewing list:  

I've been having sew much fun making wonky star blocks!  I wasn't going to start a new project but these little stars are addicting and I just keep making them.  They use up lots of small, odd pieces in my scrap bin.  (I'm not cutting them as described in the pattern).  These interest me more than any of my other WIP's at the moment.  Go with the flow, right?

I wanted to lay out and start assembling this baby quilt and I did!  I have had the pieces cut for a couple of months now.  I finally got them put up on the design wall.  This quilt is for a baby boy of Ukrainian heritage so I made stripes using 60 degree triangles to replicate the blue/yellow stripe in their flag.  What a great project to work on the 4th of July.  On our nation's founding date I am wishing for the end of the war in Ukraine and for them to keep their independence.  I stand with Ukraine!

 

I have a couple of quilt repairs to do this summer-one quilt not so old but the backing fabric is shattering!  😳😱. I couldn't believe it.  This quilt is less than 10 years old but the backing fabric has holes in it.  One of my viewers suggested backing it with a new fabric right on top of the previous one, requilting it and adding a new binding.  I hadn't thought of that but that's what I'm going to do!  

The color of the month is AQUA so my odd blocks I make every month as leader enders will use aqua scraps as much as possible.  Some of the blocks I'm making are Hollow 9 patches, Double Star blocks, Box Kite blocks, Offset, and Terry Rowland colorwash blocks. My mom is coming back mid month to spend a couple of months with us so I may not get to all of these but this is what's on my list for July/August.  

Happy Sewing,

Stephanie