A Little of This -- A Little of That

This has been a few weeks of nothing "BIG" -- but enough "littles" to make me feel like I've gotten something done.

I managed to force myself to finally put the mitered borders on my circle quilt.  I have posted about this quilt and these fabrics here and I really like it.  Borders, of course, make it more "real" and I have to start thinking about how to quilt it.  But I don't have to think about that today.

I quilted a very very small lap quilt from a Mary Engelbreit jelly roll that my sister gave me for my birthday 3.5 years ago.  I have had the top done for three years but the fabrics are Christmas and there was always something more pressing that needed attention.

I got the strip quilt put together and quilted.  There is something about an all over pattern that helps a "blah" quilt become something really cute.  I haven't had a chance to take pictures so here's a reminder of what the blocks looked like prior to assembling.

I managed to get the binding on this Kaffe Fassett jelly roll quilt that I put together last year.  I really like it -- and I'm happy it's quilted and ready for binding to be sewn down.  Get in line.  I have not been motivated to bind lately!

Thanksgiving napkins got done -- well in advance.  Isn't this fabric beautiful?  For the second year in a row, I've made napkins for our dinner, washed them, and then every family gets some for their use.

And -- in a matter of a week, this Spiderman quilt got made in time for our grandson to have when he got here and then take home for his big-boy bed.  The back is a lime green flannel.  It's a great fabric and I figured I could get by with it when he was 3 -- but not so sure that will be the case in a few years.

I also got the binding on three hospital quilts -- makes me so happy that both the December and January allotments are done and ready for delivery.  I had some yummy Marcus flannel that allowed me to line them all up on the same piece of fabric and quilt them one after the other.  Hurray -- quilted and bound!

I have started Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery after sitting out last year.  Thus far -- Step 1 is done and Step 2 (released today) is cut. I have not made a dent in the scraps I have pulled for this.  For the first time, I have a friend who is also participating - although she's a high achiever and is doing the king sized version.  I am doing the 75" x 75" version.  Monkeymama rocks!  She also finished the first clue and is working on #2.  It's not too late if you would like to use some scraps and join in the race to get Christmas done while having each step complete by every Friday morning!  Here's a link if you want to take a peek.  Pictures next week!

Finally, I lined up all the completed tops and cut the batting for them.  I don't like doing that and so I'm pretty happy to have them folded with their appropriate batting in the right direction.  Backs for most are another story -- but at least the batting is done and another roll of Warm and Natural has bitten the dust (almost).

With Thanksgiving and I'm happy-happy-happy to say that our Toronto family was here -- fabric was the least of my concern.  It was all about family!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving -- I am thankful for many things -- and the generosity of quilters would certainly be on my list!

Jan

Transitions...

I love this quilt top.  I love everything about it...

• the fabric...
• the colors...
• the randomness...
• the journey...
• and that the top is done.

I have talked about this quilt and what it represented in my Quilting as Therapy post as well as this one.

This past weekend I decided it was time to get all the four patches out and put them on the design wall. It was so fun! If you haven't been on this journey -- the blocks are 2.5" (finishing at 2") and the sashing is 1" (finishing at 1/2").

Lots of pinning. At every single intersection.

Lots of ironing.

And a reminder of why I do so love all the different shot cottons.  They sparkle a bit more than homespuns -- but of course, not nearly so much as silks.  That's a dream for a different day (or year!).  This had a blue and peach in the warp and weft - and it changes color depending on the light.

When I was putting this together -- I just started sewing (after LOTS of cutting).  I tried to be as random as possible and not over-think the color placement.  I basically sewed up every square I had cut and here is my waste.  Eleven of the sashed 2.5" squares, 3-4 partial strips that were cut so far off grain that I couldn't bring myself to put such crooked squares in the quilt, and a tiny bit of Aurafil thread.  This top required almost a full spool of Aurafil -- that gives me some perspective on how much sewing this little beauty actually has in it.  It has done exactly what I needed for various periods of transition in my life in the past two years.

And finally -- as I was heading back upstairs this morning (after taking a picture in 16 degrees!), the light coming through the beveled window in the front door caught my attention.  I threw the top on the steps, stepped back, and let the fractured light and prisms dance on the fabric.  Oh my!

I hope you are working on something that makes your heart sing!

Jan

Miscellaney

In spite of the heat, I've managed to sew a bit everyday this week and get a few things done.

I'm happy to say I'm slowly making progress on my Kaffe jelly rolls.  Thus far, all the jelly rolls have been cut and sashed on two sides.  There were 30 separate fabrics in the roll and here is one sample of each.  I think the roll was entitled something about the "sea" and you can see it is primarily greens and blues.  But there are some fabrics in here I have never ever seen -- and they are breathtaking.  You know that you can cut one strip of a Kaffe floral into 2.5" squares and it can look like 4-5 different fabrics.  Such wonderful colors!!!!  Just what the doctor ordered.

I need to iron all the little blocks (open of course to minimize see through on the little green polka dot fabric).  They will become pairs who will become four patches that eventually will be end up in 16 patches.  My challenge will be not to over think this as I put fabrics together.  It would be easy to spend too much time deciding what to put together.  I think I'll try to live with the "rule" that no two pieces in the same pattern in the four patches -- and leave it at that.  We'll see if I can do that!

I also got the back pieced for the birthday quilt -- and the batting as well.  These are wool pieces that I had and I just love the "lightness" that comes with a wool batt.  Personally, I've never been satisfied with piecing battings on my machine.  I always end up with some bunching as one piece moves through the machine at a different rate than the other -- even with a walking foot.   

I've gotten into the habit of trimming my batting pieces up into strips when I trim my quilts after quilting.  The strips may be 4"-12" and they go in a tote.  Many of the six quilts I took to Chicago to quilt two months ago were "pieced" like the one above.  I bought one roll of 1.5"of "batting tape" but it's a tad pricey.  So, I bought some lightweight interfacing, cut it into 1.5" strips, and it's worked like a charm.  Both in the "piecing" and flatness and in the quilting.

The birthday quilt is quilted (on my domestic machine) using a great variegated Valdani thread.  Binding is also on -- with the corners sewn down.  If you've read my blog much, you know that I've developed an aversion to binding (irrespective of how hot it is right now and having a quilt on me is almost smothering!).  One of my head tricks is to sit down and do all four corners first -- then it's just about straight binding.  Faster and no worry about how the miter will work -- I've already done those when I was "fresh".  I adore this polka dot fabric with the solids.

The birthday quilt has a lot of fiddly piecing so I needed a lot of leaders and enders for my starting and stopping.  I'm in a swap with friends from Chicago that requires 800 four patches.  Strips are cut at 1.25" and the four patch will finish at 1.5".  I do love finding a use for 1.25" strips that are leftover from other projects (or even in my string bags).  I also love that it lets you cut some less than favorite fabrics into teeny tiny pieces which minimizes some of their offensiveness.  Either way -- I have between 400-450 done and the deadline is January.  I'm in good shape with this commitment!

And since this is about miscellany.  Here's a washed out picture of my African violet.  Isn't she lovely?  I have wanted one since we moved and picked this out around Mother's Day -- it had a few blooms which were near the end of their peak but the leaves were beautiful.  I haven't fertilized her -- she sits on a glass shelf in my kitchen and I am enjoying her colors for now!

I hope you're finding time to create!  Jan

Transformation

Check out all this Kaffe-goodness!  Aren't they wonderful?  

As I've had time this week, these beauties have been slowly transformed into....

These....with cute little polka dot strips that are cut at 1".  They are beginning to be transformed into....

These .... which have to be cut one at a time for quality control purposes.  And eventually they will look like....

These!  This is a makeover of the Kaffe shot cotton blocks that I started last summer and blogged about here.  Of course, that quilt top isn't done.  It's my travel project for my little Jem and I'm hoping we'll be going north later this summer together.  We'll see.  As an aside, do you see the ripped out places on these blocks?  The jelly roll has a little kink in it from cutting and I finally realized that I have to use the outside of the pinked edge if I'm going to get my 2.5" and 3.0" dimensions.  I did a lot of trial and error before I finally figured that out!  Duh!

This has been a weird time for me.  I have no idea where my quilting mojo has gone -- but I miss it.  Mom22smartchix was here last weekend and did great things for getting my desire to quilt more front of mind.  One thing I do know about me is that when I am a bit blue, cutting into Kaffe fabric is the perfect therapy.  I've started many a Kaffe quilt in January and February when the weather and sky leave much to be desired.  It's like bringing sunshine inside!  I have needed a little inner sunshine and this may be just the ticket!

It's also been a good week as Wimbledon started this week (LOVE IT!) and Le Tour de France begins tomorrow.  I will watch every single minute I can and then watch the replays later in the day.  Can't explain it -- suffice it to say there are lots of aspects of Le Tour that I love.  And it's hot here -- 108 degrees predicted today.  Air conditioning, tennis, and cycling seem like a good combination for this weekend!

I hope you are finding your own sunshine in your life!  Jan