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

Another June Update!

 I recorded a new episode today for my YouTube channel @EverydaySewist.  It takes a week or so to get it edited and published.  I don't do that part.  I do the fun part-sharing my quilting projects!  So, you can find me there as well.   Since today/tomorrow is the Solstice I shared my Solstice Sampler in the upcoming video.  I really like that quilt.  You'll have to wait and see.

I've made progress on several projects.  My goal is to whittle down my WIP's so that I'm only working on a couple at a time instead of a dozen.  Seems my brain can't handle working on so many different things any more.  So, as I typically do, I have a project to bind-Yay!- Succulent Garden has been quilted!  Here's a sneak peak of the quilt after quilting.  The design is called Chevron Tumbler.  It's straight lines which I thought would be interesting and unexpected given my other thought was to quilt feathers.  I love feathers but I wanted something different here.  Hand stitching the binding will be my hand project for a little bit until it's done.  Succulent Garden is pattern by Heather Givans at Crimson Tate.  I love so many versions of this quilt I'm glad I finally have one under my belt.   I would happily make another and another....

I finished the top for Witches Feet and I think it's so fun; it makes me smile!  Ideally I'll make a couple more tops and then quilt them all at the same time.  I have a couple of people I'd love to gift one to if I get several of them done.  They are fun and easy to sew so, maybe, it will happen.  The backside of my longarm makes a good table to lay things out!  Here's the completed top.  

I've made a bunch more Box Kite blocks.  These are from a block pattern in Quiltmaker magazine in 2014.   I think I forgot to share a picture of those last time.  I made the original batch of blocks back in 2015.  It has sat for a LONG time!  They are worth finishing! I had been thinking of starting Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender challenge from last July (running through end of June this year) when I realized I had started other projects of hers so why not finish one of those.  YES! Let's do it!  I kitted up a few blocks and I was on my way.  I want to make 120 blocks (6" finished) for a nice lap size throw in bright cheery colors.  This will be my primary project for a while.  When I get it done it will finish off a long time UFO.  So much better than starting something else!  However, I did make a couple more house blocks and star blocks for Neighborhood Nights.  Those are fun!! (See last post).

I finished my first batch of 12 log cabin blocks at my Sew Day this month.  I decided I want to make it a 20 block quilt instead of 12.  It will be put aside until one of these other projects are done.  Here is what 12 blocks look like.  Even though I wanted random placement of light and dark some of them ended up being a bit more traditional.  I really like the hint of a diagonal so the next few blocks I will be more deliberate in placing colors half light half dark.  The random ones will add interest.  I don't want the colors perfectly placed but "perfectly imperfect" as Jane said!😊   

I have not made any more string blocks or Hollow 9 patch blocks lately. I did make another 2 columns of Offset so now I'm up to 27 columns that finish at 2".  Maybe I'll make it twin size,,,another couple of columns would do it. And, it would allow me to move on to something else.  

So, that's what I've been up to lately.  Got a ton of stuff yet to do today so I'll close here.  

Happy sewing,

Stephanie