It's finally Fall! - What I've been working on

I had high hopes for the summer, but the weather was too nice to be in my basement sewing studio.

We had a very long, wet spring, but summer was glorious and the warm weather just ended this past week. Unfortunately the last month was smoke-filled due to numerous forest fires near us on both sides of the border. Fall is definitely here, but we may even have snow next week!! Work kept me busy, but now we are winding down a big project, so I'll have more free time.

I finally have felt some motivation to start putzing and getting things organized, and as I'm going along, I finishing a few things.

I pulled out a cutting project that stalled, and in small increments this week, I got it finished up.

It is all the pieces for Bonnie Hunter's Jingle Bell Square, even the sashings.(Pattern found in her book Addicted to Scraps - ps: the book is on sale, with a free pattern as well). I'm saving this to assemble during my Christmas break. I have done some test blocks, so I have 3 of 49 blocks done. See those red/green 1" strips? Instead of cutting out the strips separately, I sewed the strips together and cut the 4 matching pairs. This will save me a lot of time later on.

Strip sets ready for cutting!

A look at my messy work area. I do all my piecing on a 1947 Featherweight.

More projects behind the machine - each basket has parts for future scrappy quilts.

This project was a great way to use up some old Christmas fabrics - a lot came from my mom's collection and from fabric bags she made. She's been gone for 22 years now, so it is going to be a great memory quilt for one of my daughers.

Next up today - opening up my new-to-me 222 Featherweight!  I've dreamed of owning one of these for a long time. I can't wait to try it out.

Have a great day,

Terri

Happy First Day of Summer!

 It doesn't feel like it yet, but today is the first day of summer. The morning started with some sun, but just like it has for the last 8 months, it slowly moved to rain. I don't want to jink it, but maybe, just maybe the sun will come out on Thursday when the kids are finished school, and stick around for a bit!

The downside of the hot weather means that we will be on flood watch once again. Last November, we had terrible flooding in our area - so much so that my city became an island cut off from the outside world for a full week, and limited access for three weeks after. I worked from home for that whole period of time.

This is my route facing east towards home - and that is Highway #1, the Trans-Canada Highway running down the middle. They don't expect this area to flood again, but there are other areas that are in jeopardy. Needless to say, I will be bringing my computer home this weekend just in case.

Last Saturday I went to Quilt Canada, which was being held in Vancouver, about an hour away. I can't let it get this close without going, but I must say, I was somewhat disappointed. Probably because of the pandemic, I felt that it didn't have nearly as many entries, nor as many vendors as the one I attended four years ago. I'm still up in the air about the Best of Show winner. It was beautiful, but really pushes the boundaries of what I "think" a quilt is. You can see it and all the winners at Canadian Quilters.com

It is exquisite in its detail, and the border and the centre medallion had cutouts (it looked like Indian glass (Shisha) embroidery at first), with beading added. There were also very large beads like cabachons added with embroidery. It really was a toss-up for me whether this was an embroidery piece or a quilt piece, hence my hesitancy as to whether to consider it as Best in Show at a quilt show.

My favourite piece didn't win anything, It was called Dear Humans, but for some reason I didn't take a picture of it. Hopefully, I'll find it soon and post it. 

Now I'm off to sew for a bit!

Committing to 15 minutes a day of stitching

If nothing else this year, I want to get back in the habit of spending time doing something each day that I love, and one of those things is anything stitching related. It helps me relax after a tough day at work, and activates the right side of my brain after using the left side all day. In my work life, I am a branch manager of a mortgage and investmant company, so after dealing with numbers, playing with fabric and thread is so much fun!

Kate at Life in Pieces hosts a weekly check-in that I'll be following.  She has counted today as Week 1 of 2022, but since she has been doing this for a number of years, it also captures her last week of 2021.  I'll be starting next Sunday, and counting today as Day 1 of my first week. I'll follow her format plus adding one more tally - fabric in and out!

I used to track my fabric in and out, which helped me curb my purchases and motivated me to use up what I had. I don't bother counting what I already have, I just try to use more than I buy.  So my posts will look like this:

• 15 minute days/week 1 =  /7
• 15 minute days/week (month) =  /31(or 30 or 28) days
• Success rate for (month) = (# of days stitched/# of month) expressed as a percentage %
• 15 minute days/2022 =  /(# of days year-to-date)
• Success rate for 2022 = (# of days stitched/# of days year-to-date) expressed as a percentage %
• Fabric used = # of metres (counted at flimsy stage and when backing/binding added, or donated/sold)
• Fabric gained (purchased, gifted) = # of metres
• Net fabric used/gain

You'll note I have Fabric gained as purchased or gifted - I have two friends who have been destashing and sending fabric my way. I have been sorting through it and donating most of it to good causes. I also plan on selling some select items through a destash group, and will donate the profits. Some of my personal stash has made its way out in the last year, and I plan on continuing to do so.

Since a post isn't any fun without pictures, here is my latest finish and what I'm working on:

Dragon lap quilt (extra-long) for my son-in-law.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it quilted in time due to an allergic reaction that affected my eye. 

December 23rd (don't mind the bed-head!)

December 30th, a week later. 

It's now been two weeks since it flared up, and it is slowing going down. It now looks like I got popped in the eye! Good thing I don't have a partner, people would be looking at him funny.

What I'm currently working on:  I have 3 main projects on the go, all Bonnie Hunter quilts.

Quilt One is her current Mystery Quilt, Rhododendron Trail. I have completed up to Step 3 and currently working on cutting out Step 4. I'm doing the cutting for 2 quilts, as my friend Kim is doing them as well, but gets confused when it comes to the cutting. This is her Step 3 cut, with a sample of how to put them together with Step 1. 

We recently discovered someone's method of sorting parts using paper plates, and it has been a game changer for Kim. She has picked up some older projects and been able to move ahead, thanks to this method.

Quilt 2 is QuiltMaker magazine's mystery quilt - Ruby Jubilee, based on Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps column. 

I'm doing mine in teals and aquas, and you can see my units for the pinwheel block in this photo. Kim is doing hers in solid pinks, as seen in the upper corner. I'll do more detailed posts on both of these.

Quilt 3 I'm completing as a Leader/Ender project in between the other two. It is Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake mystery quilt from a few years back, and my 15 minutes a day project. I have all the units made and I'm now assembling the blocks. I hope to have this flimsy finished by the end of the month. 

More UFOs for #Ufovember 2021!

 The project to list all my UFO has turned into a squirrel project for me! Everything I touch calls out "finish me"!

UFO #5 (I call it Posy) from my last post has turned into a completed flimsy, and is packaged and ready to be shipped to the longarmer. I'm just waiting for my bestie, Kim, to bring hers over and we'll send them off. Larger quilts like this will still go to the LA, both for speed and lack of space at my place.

I've added a two-inch border of the feature fabric since this picture was taken, as I felt it needed an edge. I'll post more about this quilt in another post.

A few more UFOs for the list:

UFO #6 Penny Patch (free tutorial from Stitched in Color). I was really drawn to Rachel's original version, which she called Vintage Tangerine, so I started it in June. I don't know if it is really classed as an UFO, since it is my most recent start, but it did get put aside for a month or two, but I decided since it was the closest at hand, I used it as Leaders & Enders while I finished up my Posy quilt.

Now I have all the blocks made, and here they are laid out on my design wall (bed!), along with my helper, Daisy. Hopefully, they will get sewn together tonight! 

My almost 80-year-old aunt made the cutest comment on Facebook when she saw this picture: I want to be a young girl and paint my room and accessorize it to match that quilt! Lol

So I plan on surprising her with it when it is done!

UFO #7 On Ringo Lake by Bonnie Hunter This was a Mystery Quilt from 2017, and I have managed to complete about 1 step a year, as Leaders & Enders. I've been pushing to try and get it down this year, and I just might be able to do it!  

UFO #8 Flower Girl  I fell in love with Maureen McCormick's (of Brady Bunch fame) Blooming Bunch fabric line - it reminded me of my teenage years in the '70s. I picked Camille Roskelley's pattern Flower Girl to do it in. I don't do a lot of quilts with just one fabric line, but I couldn't help myself with this one. This one will be for me!

The next three are all using Tula Pink fabrics. I love her vibrant colours.

UFO #9 Rainbow Waves This one uses a single line called Zuma, which is ocean-themed. This is another quilt that Kim and I are each making one, and we each bought a kit. Turns out the kits were cut so generously, that there is about 3/4s of the second kit left over. That's okay, I love scraps!

UFO #10 Tula Pink Butterfly A lot of those leftovers are going to end up in this next quilt. Again, both Kim and I are going to make one each, Kim is pinks and purples, mine will also have mint/teals added.

UFO #11 100 Quilt Blocks in 100 Days - a quilt-along by Gnome Angel, using her Kinship Pattern. This shouldn't be a UFO at this point since I only started it in July, but work got extremely crazy and it got put aside.  I did get 10 blocks done.

 Each of the quilts I have listed were started in the last 2 years, with the exception of On Ringo Lake. I'm only going to allow myself to start 2 more quilts until I finish my inventory and choose my focus projects. Both are mystery quilts - On Rhododendren Trail by Bonnie Hunter, and Quiltmaker's Ruby Jubilee using Bonnie Hunter blocks! Both started last week, and I love doing these as a de-stresser over the busy Christmas season.

I'll be doing individual posts on all of my UFO quilts once I have inventoried them all.

UFovember 2021!

 I found a new blog the other day - and this certainly speaks to me! I have more UFOs (unfinished objects) than I can count, and every once in a while, I attempt to corral them and move them along.  Here goes nothing!

The first step is to inventory them. Over the next week or so, I will be making my list and checking it twice.

I must have been in the mood for this already, because last week, I started dusting off some projects. I have an ulterior motive - I bought myself a Cutie quilting frame!

This table-top frame was on a significant sale, and I had a commission paid (I'm a mortgage broker in my right-brained job), so I treated myself.

My Kenmore sewing machine only has about 7" of harp space, but a friend of mine that quilts with me has a Janome 9400 that has about 11", so we will be using that one.

I'm just waiting for some bungee cords for the sides, so I can start practicing with some smaller pieces.

UFO #1: The first thing I'm going to practice on is a bed runner, front and back pieced from leftover blocks from a Block-of-the-Month club project. I finally finished the quilt last year, so when I bought the frame, I had to go digging for the bed runner.

I used up every last scrap! This may end up being a Christmas gift for someone.  The quilt was a UFO for about 5 years, as there was a serious lack of contrast in the centre blocks, but I finally put it together during COVID lockdown last year and it's on my bed now. I pieced the bed runner at the same time, so it has been lingering for about 18 months.

UFO #2: As I mentioned, last week I started pulling out some of the old. The first project box I opened had my Farmer's Wife book and about 20 6 1/2" blocks that I've already made. I finally figured out why I stalled on this project - I was trying to use bright fabrics, but I pulled them randomly without any thought to the final result and it looks like an uncoordinated mess. 

Today's UFovember blog post (view here on Pretty Piney's blog) has a great infographic for assessing your UFOs. (Subscribe on her blog to get your own larger copy).

Right off the bat, I was able to answer the first question with a resounding NO, so I dismantled the box,  put the blocks aside to develop a plan, and put the fabric back in the stash.

UFO #3: This one was an easy fix to get it to the flimsy stage!  I had originally started a pineapple block in rainbow colours, and was going to make a bunch of them. Then I decided to just keep going around on the first one and see how far I could go. It was about 12" square when it got put aside. I finished it off to be about 14" square and it is now going to be a pillow top. I have already have the pillow form, so hopefully I can get this finished in time for another Christmas gift.

UFO #4:  This next one has been on the barely-started pile but needed to be finished as a gift for my son-in-law. All that had been done on it was the first row of borders surrounding the panel.

Whoops, just realized its upside down! It's a Asian-themed dragon and all the prints are Asian-themed as well. It's about 52" wide and 100" long, for my tall SIL as a lap quilt. I made one the same size last year for my grandson, and they constantly "fight" over it on the sofa. This will be the first "real" quilt I'll do on my frame.

UFO #5: My best friend and I are crafting partners-in-crime, and our latest joint project is a revival of a UFO we put aside in 2019. During 2020, I moved forward and complete all the center blocks (100) for both of us. A few weeks ago, we pulled it out and started the next step of putting blocks/sashings on each of the blocks. All of those are completed now, so we are at the assembly stage. 

This a Moda Bake Shop pattern, called Christmas 1968, but of course, ours are made with a total different fabric line by Riley Blake called Bliss. It is lovely with rose-gold metallic accents.

This quilt is assembled differently than most I have done, and once two large pieces of 25 blocks each are together, we then have to slice them on the diagonal and reassemble them. I hope we can get them done in the next couple of weeks and sent off to a long-armer for quilting.

That's enough for tonight. I'll post more tomorrow and also update my tab "UFOs and WIPs". Told you I've done this before!

Getting my mojo back?

I started Gnome Angels 100 Blocks in 100 Blocks on July 1st, and surprise, I've been inspired to do more!

My craft room was a mess after having new windows installed in the house, so after I finish my daily block, I've been working on getting it back in order. I've ended doing other some sewing and even some scrapbooking!

As of 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, I have completed:

• 5 Kinship blocks for #100blocks100days
• 3 masks 
• 2 nightgowns for my granddaughters
• 2 pillowcases for my daughter's workplace
• 20 blocks for Step 7 of my Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, On Ringo Lake

Since I've managed to sew every day, I might as well start tracking my progess!

• 15 minute days/week = 4/4 days
• 15 minute days/July =  4/4 days
• 15 minute days/since 7/2021 = 4/4 days
• Success rate = 100%

This might keep me off my computer games, and doing something productive for a change. We'll see, I don't have the best track record.

My Kinship Blocks:

The girls' nightgowns, very simple ones the same as I used to make for their mother and aunt.

My On Ringo Lake sample Block, and my new little pile of double-geese units:

Now, I'll see if I can keep up this week!

What have I been up to?

Well, I'm still plugging along, slowly making progress.

I have completed the binding on this quilt. The weather hasn't been contusive to getting a shot of it finished, so this will have to do for now. Right now, it's on my bed but will eventually be for the new sofa bed. 

The quilting was done by Maple Leaf Quilting Company in Cochrane, AB. They are my preferred quilter now that my original one has retired. They include the price of two-way shipping, thread AND the batting in their quotes, so no surprises!

This was a Thangles block-of-the-month project, but the contrast wasn't great and the blocks lost their definition. I still love the colours though and discovered I don't like the Thangles approach to half-square triangles so I have my numerous packages in my purge pile (will probably sell on a Facebook group for Canadian quilters). 

I was working on step 8 of Bonnie Hunter's pattern, On Ringo Lake, but put it away for now. We are getting new windows and everything has to be moved away from the windows throughout the house! Good time for purging though.

In the meantime, I have started a new crochet project. I got back into it last year making scarves, but I kept seeing a pretty kit on my Facebook feed, so I broke down and ordered it. It's from Annie's, a well-known craft company, and I am impressed with the quality of the yarn. It isn't cheap, especially in Canada, but I don't have any vices, so what the heck!

I've finished the centre diamond medallion and I've just received Kit 2, so I'm starting on the 4 corners of that piece. This has been fun so far, and introduced me to some new stitches and techniques I haven't done before, so I'm quite enjoying the challenge. The website has videos as well, so that has been a help. If you are interested, here is the link to Annie's Kit Club (unfortunately, the only way to get the pattern)