Quilting and other Things

 Its been a very productive month quilting wise.   I finished binding the quilt I quilted in October and set up backing and bindings for the three tops that I had purchased backings for.  This is the Bold Mystery from Quilters Fancy (they used to have a store on Bloor near Royal York in Toronto but it has been closed for many years).  The copyright on the pattern is 1996 and the copyright in the colourful print is 1997.  I purchased the print for the mystery so I think the top was started in 1997.  Its sat on my UFO list for many years with a note to consider borders.  It now has borders and I quilted it with a pantograph called Lyre.  I had watched a Youtube video Tracey from Whirls 'n Swirls had posted about Customizing a Pantograph .  The bowtie block in this quilt has 3D centres which I wanted to keep so this was a timely watch.  I was able to either stop or modify the pattern at each of the centres so they are still free. ...

How did it get to be November already?!? I forgot to do a blogpost last week about what got done in October.  I did get some applique done on the moondance quilt. I'm slowly building the quilt up.  As a block gets all the applique I can do entirely on that block, it gets stitched to its neighbour.  There are pieces pinned to the block - those are the pieces that need to go over a seam.  I could stitch a couple more seams in that bottom row.  The goal is to work with as small a background area as I can.  I don't want to have to deal with the entire quilt top as I stitch down the flowers and dragon flies.  This month I'll continue to stitch down shapes.  I'd like to get the row I'm currently working on into its 3 four patches and a two patch at the end of the row.  Then I think there is one more set of 4 patches before I start assembling larger four patches.   I went out to Whirls n Swirls last week and quilted my Northern Lights quil...

 How can it already be the end of August!  It must be.  We celebrated my sister's birthday recently and I'm seeing back to school posts from my US cousins.   The binding did get added to my Longtime Gone quilt so its now ready to go on the bed as soon as we have some cooler weather.   I'm so pleased with how this turned out.  The binding is also a variety of blues from the quilt.  I tried to use mostly the mediums and darks but had to add the odd lighter one to get enough length. I also got all the flower petals and leaves traced for my Moondance Quilt.  There are 43 flowers to be appliqued on the quilt.  The centre of each flower has a little star shape with a small circle in the centre.  So I spent a few zoom calls appliquing all the centres into the traced star shapes. During Monday's Sewing session, I got the first of the 43 flower units appliqued to a background square.  The first leaves are pinned in place for the se...

 I forgot to come back and post about July.  I did get the courthouse steps top quilted and bound.  Its quilted using a pantograph called Kiss.  I've used it several times in the past and really like it.  I thought familiar motions would be useful the first time using the long arm since October 2019.  I had planned to donate the quilt and still need to follow up to see if they still want it.  I did most of the hand stitching on the binding while on zoom calls.  It was nice to have the computer table support the quilt instead of my lap since the days I worked on it were warm ones. Yesterday I took my Longtime Gone quilt to the longarm studio and quilted it.  I had thought about using Kiss again (I really do like that pantogram) but then Tracey showed me another called Paisley Park which has a similar feel but is a bit denser and would be good with all the small pieces in Longtime Gone.  I'm so happy she showed me that one.  We looked...

I was really pleased with the finish of the Longtime Gone quilt.  It was ready in plenty of time for the class on the 18th.  Its binding is also made and is pieced from a variety of the blue fabrics in the quilt.  I just need to get a backing and it will be ready to quilt.  The Longarm studio I go to is now open again so I'll book an appointment.  I think I'll quilt one of the other tops first though just to get back into the swing of things.  Its been a long time since I've used the long arm.  Between a broken wrist and covid, I haven't been to the studio since Nov 2019. I liked the blacks I purchased for my Moondance and the missing squares are all cut and in place.  I've started preparing the appliques.  Some of the applique is done before the top is assembled.  I think I'll stitch all the appliques that are contained in a square then I'll stitch some pairs and add the pieces that go over seams so it will be a bit slow to assemble. ...

 The main goal for this month is to get the borders on the Longtime Gone Quilt and make the binding.  I've made good progress so far.  Three of four rounds are done.  I added a white, a blue and a white.  Next up is another blue in darker colours.  Then I'll make blue binding.  Class is the 17th so I should be ready in time.  I'm hoping the quilt studio will open soon and I'll be able to start booking appointments to go use the long arm. I picked up the three black fabrics that I'd ordered for Moondance.  I think atleast two of them will work.  I need 16 squares and a rectangle.  I'll double check the three once they are washed.  The third might well work.  A lot of the applique lands on these squares and the rectangle for the pillow row.  It would be nice to get the applique prepped and confirm if the fabrics I got will work well. I got for a walk on a path in a green belt close to where I live.  In 2012 they p...

 I did get the centre assembled for the Longtime Gone quilt and I have a plan for the borders although they are not all on yet.  I've added a white border around the top and have added a thin blue border to the top and bottom.  The thin border is ready to be pressed and trimmed for the sides.  Then I'll add a slightly wider white border and another blue border.  Its inspired by a red and white version of the quilt I saw on Quiltmekiwi's blog .  It looks like the maker has done mitered borders but I'm doing square borders.  I'm looking forward to getting the borders on.  The final class is on June 19th so there should be lots of time to sew the final borders. I also made really good progress on this old UFO.  Its Moondance from Applewood Farms.  The blocks are all made.  I need to prep some applique and cut the missing squares.  I've run out of the black tone on tones I was using for the background and have some ordered.  I...

 My Longtime Gone class is coming to a close.  There are two more sessions.  In May we talk about borders and in June is the reveal.  For the May class, I need to have the top assembled.  For my goal for this month I'd like to have a plan for the borders at a minimum.  Ideally, I'll have the top completed. Over the weekend I finished piecing the checkerboards and cutting sashings.  After looking at the top, I decided I really didn't like the half log cabin blocks so I replaced two of them with a blend from white to blue I like the lighter ones but didn't like the blend with the darker ones so made two more then sewed all the sashings into place for sections 5 and 6 Today during Monday sewing, I'll assemble sections 5 and 6 and sew the two halves together.  Then I'll be ready for class on the 15th.   There's a couple of other projects I want to progress this month -- the applique on Love Entwined and I need to deliver the PJs and pick up ...

 My goal for the month was to complete the Guild 2015/6 BOM quilt.  It is now a completed top.  :)  I replaced the original north wind blocks with the darker blue background as the original row stuck out too much.  One of the Inuksuk blocks does have a mask to represent the current conditions when the block was made.  Once things start to open again, I'll go to the long arm studio to quilt it. The long time gone quilt (pattern by Jen Kingwell) is progressing really well.  For our April homework we are to make the triangle blocks and the UK cross blocks and assemble the top.  The May class will be a border discussion and the June class a reveal.  I'm enjoying putting this together.  The first picture is all the blocks up on the design wall.  I did move one or two blocks around to try and balance it a bit more colourwise.  I think I'm going to end up remaking the quarter log cabin blocks as they are too dark in comparison to the ...

This months assignment for Long time gone was to make the square in a square star and 16 pineapple blocks.  That is completed - class is still 10 days away :)  I don't like paper piecing and don't have a pineapple ruler although I had offers of loans.  I did a little goggling and found a blog post with instructions on how to use a regular ruler to make the blocks.  The first 2 turned out too big.  I spent a zoom meeting ripping out back to where I thought the mistake was.  When I re-sewed them, they turned out too small but I was pretty sure where I'd gone wrong.  So I started a new one with some notes and that one turned out the correct size.  Then I made two more and took even more notes on the measurements.  They both turned out the correct size so the last 13 got chain pieced.  The notes were helpful. 8 of 16 pineapples First 3 pineapples ready for corners and the square in a square star.   My goal for this month is going ...

 Lots of good intentions for March but not a lot of progress.  I was side tracked by other things. The blocks for the Longtime Gone quilt did get completed I'm having fun with this quilt.   When I traced the shapes and cut them for the applique on Love Entwined, I made a fundamental applique error.  I neglected to number the pattern and the tracings.  So I spent all of one Monday Sewing Session sorting the pieces out and numbering.  In the end I couldn't find a couple of pieces or figure out were a couple went so I tossed them and traced the missing ones.  Everything is numbered now and I did get a few pieces prepped and pinned in place but I still have a bunch more to prep.  Baby Steps.   I can get a long way with baby steps. The guild BOM went back on the design wall in the layout for the smaller of the two options.  The more I look at it, the more I don't like the row of northwind blocks down the left side.  They are no...