Quilting and other Things

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 ...

 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 workin...

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 wan...

I didn't do much stitching the last half of last year but I did eventually finish the rug that was my One Monthly Goal in June (the last time I participated). In December, I quilted two tops.  A gravity quilt and the guild BOM top. guild BOM - Pinwheels and Rail fence Gravity My goal is to get them both trimmed and bound.  I'd like to be able to take them for Show and Tell and the next guild meeting. I'm also working on piecing the stars for Common Bride.  Since the diamonds are so small, I'm doing the first part by hand.  The diamonds are in my purse so I can work on them when I'm out.  Four are to the point that they need the corner triangles.  The next 4 are in progress.  Getting these to the point they need corner triangles this month would be a bonus. Joining up with Patty's One Monthly Goal

January has been a very productive month.  Earlier last year, I took a bag of 6" fabric squares from the Community Outreach table at guild to make into a quilt.  At retreat last year, I was using these as enders and leaders to stitch into  9 patches.  Late last year, I finally dug them out from the bottom of the table, finished piecing the 9 patches (while piece 6" blocks for the 365 quilt!) and then did a disappearing 9-patch with them.  The top is now ready to take to the guild meeting this week. The 365 quilt got quilted and bound.  It still wants a label and hanging sleeve which I should finish shortly.  There were some bonus blocks that I want to make to use in the label.  For the binding, I wanted the colours to change as it went around including some changes in corners.  A google search  lead me to Cheryl Arkinson's wonderful tutorial on how to do this.  I actually found the corners much easier to deal with than the u...

My goal for January is to get caught upon this years mystery quilt that is the block of the month program at my guild. Step one was picking fabric. This is the selection. Now onto the October to January steps. Linking up with OMG at Elm Street Quilts

I'm still working on the 365 quilt and should be able to finish it by the end of the year.  I'm a few blocks behind at the moment but I'll get caught up and have it ready to quilt by the end of the year. But my goal for this month is to finish binding and labelling the guild mystery quilt I quilted in October and to finish the binding and labelling of the two quilts of my mothers we quilted in November.  My sister and I are sharing the binding so the goal is really to finish my half.  One is almost finished and I have the sleeve ready to add to it.  The other needs three more sides done. linking up with the December One Monthly Goal

Last month I quilted a guild mystery quilt from 2005/6.  I have material to make the binding but want a bias binding as its a stripe and I like the look of a bias binding for stripes.  The quilt is very bright and the round dots are all clock faces. I think the mystery was designed by Billie Lauder.  The printouts I have don't have the designer name but they are labelled as clue #1,2,3 etc and the components are called Suspects which I think is how Billie's instructions are written.  This year I've been doing the 365 Challenge quilt. The current lot of dark blocks should be finishing shortly. Then there are a number of lighter blocks. The other choice for a goal this month is to take the dark blocks and start assembling the dark pieces. They cannot be joined to the center of the quilt yet as I'll need the light blocks to make the row tall enough to match with the large corner blocks but getting the 3.5 blocks turned into 6.5 inch blocks and then jo...

On the weekend I went to the guild quilt retreat at Elmhurst Inn and Spa.  It was a really nice weekend.  The food was great (some issues but the staff dealt with them swiftly); the massage was wonderful after a long day of sewing; I got to know some members at little more; and I'm pleased with what I accomplished. On Friday, I worked on block number 3 of the Splendid Sampler   I had it cut out, marked and ready to piece.  When I first joined the guild, once a year there was an exchange of 6" piece of fabrics.  You brought in 12 sets of 12 and went home with a different 12 sets.  I've never done anything with the stack of fabrics I ended up with so decided that I'll use that for the sampler since the blocks will all be 6 inch blocks.  I wonder how much will get used. Block 3 Block 1 & 2 prepared earlier As leaders and enders I started stitching pairs of 6" blocks from an I Spy bag I took from the community outreach table at gu...

I'm still stitching and still keeping up with the 365 Challenge Quilt The last photos I showed were the blue ones for week 2.  I finished week 3 last Wednesday which was 1 blue and 6 purple.  Last night I worked on the week 4 blocks and was up to date until this morning's email came.  Week for will be 2 purple and 5 red.   On the weekend I went back to Whirls n' Swirls and quilted the Red and White Chunk of the Month quilt that was the guild BOM in 2013/4.  Its still sitting folded up on the end of the ironing board waiting for me to trim and bind it.  The delay is deciding what to use as a binding.  When I got home on Saturday, I pulled a red, a white and then some white with red and red with white prints and laid them along the edge.  Took a photo of the possibilities and am debating. The prints wouldn't be the ones I use because I don't have enough of those but it gives a general idea of what the possibilities are. I'm stil...

Over the last few days I've actually done some piecing and prepping. Monday I got the backing pieced for the quilt I'm quilting on Saturday. Then cut out and stitched the first five blocks for the 365 challenge Tonight I cut and pieced the bonus block and the other two for week one. Here are my first 8 blocks. All are 3.5 unfinished.  Monday I also cut out and stitched the lightening row for the guild bom that I was suppose to do in October. At least I thought I had it done until I pressed and realized I'd only done enough pieces for four blocks instead of eight. Got the other for made tonight and now the row is complete and ready to show that I have made at least some progress and should get the next pattern It's been nice to be piecing again. Except for the mistake with the community outreach kit that I made the Monday night. Still working on plan B for that.  Linking up with Esther's WOW .  She just annouced a pieced BOM for this year.