Quilting and other Things

I did get my homework done for the long time gone class. I even got a start on the assignment for the January class. The first picture was December's work. Afterwards we discovered the layout diagram for the top left block had two mistakes.  Those corners got taken apart and the half square turned. January's class needs the bow tie blocks and a whole bunch of flying geese. The bow ties are finished and the components are all cut for the flying geese.    The guild offer a two evening workshop via zoom with Lisa Walton and this is my top so far. I wrote more about the workshop here and you can find Lisa's website here The cherrywood challenge did get finished and the pictures submitted dec 11th so now I'm in waiting mode. Sometime in January they will announce the selections I was pleased with how it turned out and looking forward to showing it off.  I’m not sure if it can be shared so I will wait until after the announcement of their choices  Linking up with Pa

Once again Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is a hosting a Planning Party for the coming year.  So its time to look at what happened this year and what I'd like to accomplish next year.  Use the link above to join the party or see what others are planning. Review: Quilting: 1.  Clean and organize quilt room (and office since they are in the same area).         The office got moved upstairs into the den this fall and I'm enjoying that setup.  Bits of organizing have happened but there is still a lot that needs to be stored, given away and organized.  I also realized that with the office area moving, I don't need to keep the current layout.  I borrowed a book from the library called  Love Your Creative Spaces by Lilo Bowman that Mel recommended in a comment in July.  Its a really good book, I need to go back through it again for ideas as I progress and consider the layout of the room.  I also found the notes from a Quilt University class that I took on designing your studio. 2.  I

One of the good things about having guild meetings via zoom, instead of meeting in person, is  having speakers from anywhere.  In October, our speaker was Lisa Walton  from Australia.  After the meeting, there was enough interest, that our Workshop coordinator arranged for us to do her Fantastic Fusion workshop via zoom.  Two Thursday evenings this month we had a zoom workshop with Lisa.  The piece is a very abstract piece.  After the first evening, I had three or four "blocks" made.  Over the course of the week, more fabric got prepared and I made some more blocks and during the second workshop, I started playing around with the layout.   By the end of workshop, this is where I had reached.  There is still not fused into a top but I think it will get fused in the new year.    My intention at the beginning of the workshop was to use this a background for a project I want to make.  I'm not sure if this will be the background or whether I'll quilt it as an abstract piec

 One last One Monthly Goal  for the year.   I started a monthly class to make Long Time Gone.  The next class is on Dec 12 and I still need to make my blocks.  4 Half log cabins and 3 half square triangle blocks.  My quilt is a scrappy Blue and White.  I spent today's Monday Sewing zoom call cutting out all the logs and all the squares necessary for the blocks.  Last night I went through the white scrap box and pulled hunks that I thought would work plus a bit of yardage that was a possibility.  I had a stack of blue fq so set those out as well.  It took most of the three hours but the cutting is done so now I can start sewing. pulling whites Fabrics pulled Log cabins cut Ready for HST I had planned to include finishing my Barbados Bag as a goal for this month, but that actually happened yesterday.  I took a virtual class through Thimbles and Things in Orillia and it was really useful.  The teacher had lots of great hints and tips and I'm thrilled with how the bag turned out.  

 Well, my main goal for the month was to get my Cherrywood Challenge quilt finished.  I'm almost there.  No photos until the new year.  The main quilting is done.  I've basted it and need to check how big it currently is.  I'd like to do a little more quilting but want to ensure I haven't shrunk it to size already.  If it is still too big, it will get a bit more quilting then I'll add the facing, label and get it submitted.   The other thing I worked on this month was blocks from the guilds 2016/7 block of the month which was a row by row for Canada's Sesquicentennial.  The rows and blocks aren't organized here, just put up on the design wall so I can see what there is.  There are still some large blocks to make to go with the lighthouse. This month I started to do the satin stitching around some of the applique shapes - the leaves, Inuksuk and fish.  I've been satin stitching all year on the Milkweed quilts and its been working beautifully.  I was on a

 I keep getting sidetracked at the beginning of the month and forgetting to create a goal to link up with Patty's One Monthly Goal   Over the summer I didn't do much quilting but spent some time working on cleaning up my Lightroom Library and cataloging photos and learning more about photoshop.  The last couple of months, I've puttered at my version of the guilds BOM for Canada's Sesquicentennial in 2017, finished the top for my Cherrywood challenge and started some online classes with a class pass from Thimbles and Things    One of the classes was walking through a slightly different way to approaching paper piecing a Violet Craft pattern (elephant, wolf, leopard, unicorn etc).  I really don't like paper piecing but keep seeing patterns I like that require paper piecing.  So I took the class and learned a new technique.  The instructor had us download the free butterfly pattern to start with and I also downloaded the Field Mouse and that was the pattern I worked on

Yvonne  has a mid year review link up this month.  My wrist healed well and I've been back quilting since the end of February / early March although it was limited at first.   Quilting: 1.  Clean and organize quilt room (and office since they are in the same area). Despite staying at home for the last several months, its still not as organized as I would like.  Parts are tidied and parts are still a mess.  Some things need to be taken up to the recycling station now that its open and that will help the cleanup.  I did move part of the office to another area of the house which will free up a bit of room and may result in a bigger reorganization. 2.  I'm going to continue with the Motivation Monday ideas.  I'm still working on the list I created for 2017.  The goal at the time was to move things forward.  I think that will still be the goal for some things as they are quite large.  The list still includes Canada BOM from Guild 2015/16 Stainglass Manger - finish quilting and b

Oops!  Forgot to post the completed list for June.   I did get Milkweed 3 done in time for show n tell at our Guild meeting at the beginning of the month.  It is now hanging in the entrance way  The quilting was inspired by a fern in a bunch of flowers I had bought for myself.  I took it downstairs and had it sitting near the sewing machine while I quilted.  This wallhanging has a facing rather than binding. The other goal for June was to finish my Cherrywood challenge quilt for the Diana Challenge.  I was making good progress when Cherrywood announced an extension to Dec 31 due to the COVID 19 pandemic.  I finished the step I was working on, washed the piece to get the washout marker out and ironed it.  Its now ready for the pieces to be appliqued on but I've paused to consider if I want to make any changes since I have extra time.  I'll get going on the centre as that won't change.  Maybe by the time that's done, I'll have decided what to do with the four corners.

My first quilting goal is to get my Cherry wood challenge quilt made and submit the picture.  I have a design I think I should be able to complete easily in the month.  I've made a couple of samples of one part out of other material to ensure I know how to do it with the actual material so I think I'm ready to begin.   The second goal is to quilt my Milkweed 3 quilt and get a start on the final winter milkweed quilt.  I have photos selected to base the winter quilt on, I just need to decide how I'm blending them.  I finished the top yesterday and sandwiched it so its ready to quilt this week.  We are having a virtual guild meeting on Thursday so it would be nice to have it quilted by then.  Its about 20 X 30 so not a big wall hanging.   I'm thrilled with the amount of progress over the last few days with this piece.  I'm also loving how its come together.  It was so nice to be chatting with the ladies at Elaine's virtual retreat as I stitched.  I think this one

May was a good month quilt wise.  I had three things that I wanted to accomplish.  The first was my mini quilt swap project, the second was my Milkweed 3 piece and the last was a design for my Cherrywood Challenge. In January I signed up for the Canadian Quilters Association Mini Quilt swap.  I chose to swap by mail as I hadn't planned to attended the conference.  The conference has subsequently been cancelled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and all the swaps are being done by mail.  The mailing date is June 1st.  My partner and I decided to exchange table runners rather than wall hangings.  The maximum size of wall hanging was 24" square.  I had a list of colours and shapes my partner likes and in an email conversation learned some of the designers she likes.  The starting point was dragon flies.  When I think of dragonflies I think of waterlilies so I needed a pond.  I decided my pond should have a field of flowers and my table runner was born.  It was completed May 24t

I need to get the table runner done for the CQA exchange this month.  It needs to be ready to mail June 1st so its crunch time.  I did spend some time on Thursday and have a two alternate designs.  They are similar so I can choose how to place elements as I proceed.  Designs and finished pieces aren't often the same.  Yesterday I pulled a selection of fabrics.  I'm not sure how many of these will end  up in the runner but it gives me a good starting point. I'll have to double check the selection.  I thought I had a variety of values but this looks like they are all darks or lights.  It may be just they way they are stacked but perhaps I need to look for some additional values. I'd also like to get Milkweed 3 finished and start the design of milkweed 4 which will be a winter scene.  I think it will be smallish but I'm not certain. First up is to make the butterfly and caterpillar and then select the background If time permits I need to get a start on the Cherrywood c

While I had great goals for April quilting I got sidetracked by a Photoshop virtual conference, sketching and transcribing old diaries.  Some libraries / museums online have handwritten journals that they are trying to transcribe.  They've put images of pages up and asked for help transcribing them to make them easier to search.  I also have access to some old family journals that I'm looking at.  So many possibilities for working on.  I also did some reading and have been able to get out for walks.  Most days I try to get my main walk early in the morning as there are fewer people out walking so maintaining my distance is easier. I did spend sometime on the Milkweed 3.  Most of the components now have their internal stitching done.  I need to still make the caterpillar and the butterfly.  I had fun(?) pulling potential backgrounds out of the stash.  I pinned one to the design wall and pinned all the components to it.  I did not want to take them all off and put them on the nex

It looks like most of April will be spent safe at home, staying away from others as much as possible.  The schools here won't be re-opening on Monday.  I do need to go to the store this week for fresh fruit.  This month I'm working on three things.  I started Milkweed 3 and want to complete that this month.  Its a summer version of my milkweed series.  The components are all cut out and the centres and veins have be fused since I took this photo.  I think I've also cut out more components since this was taken as a trial layout said there wasn't enough pieces.  The second thing is this little quilt made with blocks I won at the guild block of the month many years ago.  The paper with one possible layout was printed from EQ5 which means the blocks have been lingering for more that 15 years if my google searches are correct. This isn't the suggested layout but I think I like the little stars better so I'll go with it.  I found a purple in the stash that

March has been a very interesting month.  So many cancellations and trying to minimize how much I'm out and about.  I still get my daily walk in although I'm trying for earlier in the day when fewer people are out.  That hasn't worked so well the last couple of days because I am definitely a fair weather walker when I have a choice.  Its rained the last few mornings and cleared in the afternoon.  My goals for March's OMG was to quilt Milkweed 1 and 2.  Both of those got quilted at the beginning of the month and I was able to take them to the show at the Monday sewing group before that got cancelled.  The biggest problem was how to quilt the background of piece 1 but I ignored that until the flowers and pods were all quilted and suddenly thought quilting the flower shapes in the background would work well.  So I grabbed a spare flower shape and traced around it and that was the quilting for Milkweed 1. For milkweed 2, I had written words I wanted included in the

Its been wonderful to be able to quilt again.  Hand applique is still a bit of a challenge.  The fingers don't like holding a needle for very long so I take looks of breaks if I want to do hand work.  With that and some deadlines in mind, my goal this month is to quilt my two Milkweed tops.  One was completed after the Jane Sassaman workshop in December and the other was a result of ideas not explored during that workshop.  Its also part of  a working  in a series group for an online class run by Katie  Pasquini Masopust   I want to get these two done, so I can get onto the third piece.   I also need to make my Trendtex challenge quilt for CQA.  This is the third time I've purchased a kit and the first time I know what I want to make.  The quilt is due at the beginning of April although no pictures until later on.  These should keep me busy for the rest of the month. Linking up to Patty's One Monthly Goal