Quilting and other Things

Last year both sped by in the blink of an eye and crawled by slower than molasses in January.  It was a year of change and grief so my priorities changed and I'm thankful for the time I had and for the space I took.  Much of Q4 ended up being about rest.  I'm slowly starting to pick things back up again but am still taking the time and space I need to rest and grieve.  But I know Dad liked to see what we were doing so its time to start progressing again. Looking back at last year Quilting:   1. Butterfly quilt - This hasn't changed since my post in October.  I still haven't looked at it to figure out the missing pieces and how much is done. 2. Labyrinth - This top was completed in Q1.  I did buy backing fabric for it at the beginning of November with the intention to wash it, piece it and make an appointment to go quilt the top but sadly it still sits on the dryer waiting to be washed.   3. Rainbow Quilt - This is now a completed to...

 Yvonne has a check in for how we are doing with this years goals.  So I thought I'd review and see how I'm coming.... This year I want to finish quilt tops for  1. Butterfly quilt - Cut out additional blocks but haven't done any sewing on this yet. 2. Labyrinth quilt. - I cut this out in January and took it to a retreat.  It took several days of the retreat  but I have the completed top.  It went together really well.   3. Rainbow Triple Four Patch  - It took some playing and designing in EQ8 but I did come up with a layout I liked.  I cut more blocks for each colour and sewed them at the retreat as well.  The top section is almost put together.   Original Layout Idea EQ8 layout.  The black lines are the blocks I've assembled. 4. Love Entwined applique (I'm just doing the centre of this quilt) - haven't touched this one yet this year.. I ordered a Cherrywood kit again this year and so will make a monarch quilt. ...

  Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is a hosting an annual planning party again.  2022 There haven't been a lot of changes since my mid-year update.  My focus changed a bit in the second half of the year.  I started the butterfly quilt and have continued making some triple four patch blocks for the rainbow scrap challenge.   I have an opportunity each month to get feedback on some of my digital art work.  The consistent feedback is the extractions (Selections) and some lighting.  In one piece, I done some lighting but the critique showed much more dramatic lighting which I really liked so I'm working on not being quite so timid with some of the lighting. I made good progress this year sorting out Lightroom.  During the Lightroom virtual summit this fall, I watched a session on cleaning up Lightroom.  Something he said triggered an idea and I was able to cleanup all the duplicate photos from my phone that had imported with different names ...

 The big goal this month is to make my Cherrywood Challenge quilt.  I have sketches of some of the components.  Need to start stitching and figure out how they go together.  The end result and the sketch rarely turn out the same.  No pictures of that one for a bit but hopefully it goes smoothly. For Love Entwined, I want to get the little pieces at the base of vase 3 stitched as well as the vines and possibly the vase.  If all of vase 3 is stitched, that would be perfect, but If I can get the foundation finished that would be good.  I don't think the challenge quilt will need hand applique so if I can prep the pieces for Love Entwined, it can continue to be my zoom meeting project.  I've marked some placement guides for vase 3 and made some more bias for the vines.  So I can start that stitching The Abstraction quilt needs have its threads tied in and the binding added.  That's good tv work.  I had an appointment to go quilt another...

 What a productive month quiltwise! My Winterlace quilt tops are done and the bindings are made!  The pattern is from Quiltmaker Nov/Dec 1995.  I received the magazine just before the Creative Sewing Festival that October and purchase the material then.  Its a two colour quilt and I planned two quilts in opposite colours.  For many reasons, but mainly that I forgot to resize the blocks to make the quilts more appropriate for twin beds, the quilts have languished in a box, partially cut out.  It took about 6 weeks to complete both of them.  I've left off a couple of borders to make them fit the twin beds a bit better but they will have very generous overhangs and a pillow tuck. So here they are.  I've prepared the blue print binding for the first one and white binding for the second to match the outer edge of the quilt.  Now to find backing and add them to the line of things to quilt! It turned out I had more yellow and gold scraps than I thou...

 March Already?!?!  Going fast.   After sitting and languishing for more than 20 years in a box, my Winter Lace quilt leaped forward tremendously in February.  All the blocks and the components for the pieced border are made.  So my goal this month is to assemble both quilts and make their bindings.  Then I will be able to release all the fabric to the stash.  There is a lot of left over fabric I think 16 of 20 blocks for one quilt All the blocks for second quilt and the remaining ones for the first Border components I am really looking forward to seeing these two tops completed.   I have another appointment to quilt at the longarm studio so I'll finish the abstraction quilt then.  I don't think it will take my whole time, so I'll look to see what smaller project I might be able to do as well.   Love Entwined needs more applique pieces prepared.  I have two little circles to stitch then I need more prepped pieces....

Its been a very productive month in my quilting world.  I did get out to the long arm studio and got the first half of my quilt done.  Decided to do match stick quilting in the background and circles in the design part.  The match stick quilting is done but it was getting on and I was getting very tired so I'll take the quilt back next month to finish.  Should be faster (I hope).  The threads are all buried for the background.  I do need to clear the cutting table, trim the excess batting and mark the general outline of what I want to quilt in the middle.   I joined an Out of the Box class.  Our first month was to play with any form of log cabin blocks in our favourite colour.  These are my left over half log cabin blocks from Longtime Gone.  I replaced them with different variations.  These got sewn together, cut like a disappearing 4 patch and the middle sections switched around and re-sewn.  Some of the seams were inter...

Its has been a very successful month for quilting.  The Moondance top is finished :) and I'll get the binding made this weekend.  I'm starting to think about how to quilt it and which top to work on next.  I have a few smaller items on this years UFO list so will probably choose one of those. I made such good progress on this in January because I went with four friends to a quilt retreat for a week.  Our lockdown rules limit indoor gatherings to five.  It was such a wonderful time to get a way and be with friends and do something I love.  I also got a lesson on how to make a journal with reclaimed paper which was fun. Late last year I ordered 7 fat quarters from Spoonflower to make a panel One Block Wonder.  I used a digital art piece I created last year called Tempest in a Teacup.   I had used the design helper to choose which piece might work well as a One Block Wonder.   I was amazed at how fast the order came.  From the gui...

Happy New Year! Hard to believe it's January again. Last year we were in Lockdown and today we went back to a modified stage 2 lockdown. Pools :( and gyms are closed. So are libraries, museums, theatres, zoos, concerts and indoor dining at restaurants. Bible study is moving back to zoom which means some of our remote friends from last year will join us again :) It's also canceled one of my volunteer days. The other day is to make Covid test kits and that isn't canceled. The cancellations means more time for stitching and playing in photoshop.   I'm busy trying to get all the appliqué done on the pillow row of my Moondance quilt (pattern by Beth Ferrier of Applewood Farms). The body now has its four patches sewn into pairs and where an appliqué goes over the seam, it's pinned in place to continue stitching. I'm hoping to get all the appliqué done this month but think I might need a bit of next month.  If I can finish the pillow top and the other pieces ...

 Well, that was very successful. First up was adding the borders to the Christmas ABC quilt.  The top was finished in late 2019 or early 2020.  I remembering looking for a border print as I drove to the guild retreat in February of 2020 but didn't see anything I liked.  Then the shutdown happened.  I finally took the quilt top to a store in this past summer and found a striped print I liked.  So now, I have the borders on, the binding made and the label started.  It needs a backing and can join the line to go out to be quilted.  Since it is a stripe, I did do a bias binding.  I like the roll the bias gives a stripe binding. My sister asked for a Barbados Bag for Christmas but she wanted it a wider than the one I made for myself.  I had originally planned to make a new one for me at the same time but then decided I'd be better focusing on one bag at a time.  Just as well.  When she came over one weekend, I had her pull some fabr...

 The main goal this month is to continue the applique on the moondance quilt.   I've finished the three blocks since I took this photo.  The blocks are sewn in pairs and I've started stitching pieces over the seam.  I'd like to get all of the applique done this month but I don't think that's realistic so I'll aim to get the pairs and four patches stitched and the applique done over those seams.  There is still the pillow row to add at the top and it has another 19 things to be appliqued so I think it will take two months to get this to a finished top - unless I do more hand stitching than usual over Christmas. This is my Christmas ABC quilt.  The top has been waiting for borders since just before the pandemic.  I was able to find a border material I like for this earlier this summer so I'd also like to get the border on this one and make the binding.   Linking up with Patty's One Monthly Goal   Come see what others are working on....

 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. ...