JayeL – Page 102 – Artquiltmaker Blog

26 Projects 2020 #1

Finished 2020 Quilt Projects

none yet!

Finished 2020 Non-Quilt Projects

This category covers bags, toys, aprons and knitting as well as other non-quilt projects.

Speedy Pouches – finished January 2020

Doing Good

Orange Strip Donation quilt – finished January 2020
White Improv Donation Top – finished January 2020

In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or are on the design wall waiting for me to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them.

English Paper Piecing Project– half hexies – I have a big stack of stars ready to sew into the quilt. I am still thinking of my friend Faye whenever I work on it. She says that I have to think of this as my slow project.
Frolic! – piecing in process
Serendipity Lady – I plan to take this one to be framed.
Lobster – I finished the stitching. I plan to back it and overlock or satin stitch the edges. Even though I don’t need anymore cushions, I may turn this into a cushion.

Small Projects in Process

Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.

Retreat Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
Ultimate Project Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
Mega Pinnie gift – have the fabric and just need to start cutting
Officer gifts for January 2021 – have the pattern and the supplies. Need to start so these are ready and I am not scrambling at the last minute

Ready for Quilting

Nothing now

In the Quilting Process

BAMQG Improv Round Robin
Cool Windmill – finished January 2020
The Tarts come to Tea
Warm Windmill – finished January 2020

In the Finishing Process

Nothing now

Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.

FOTY 2018 – this has to be on the list now as I have cut a ton of squares and need to arrange and sew it together. This is next on my quilt list. I cut a bunch of black 2.5? squares so now I can get started.
FOTY 2019 – this is now on the list since 2019 is over and I have the squares.
Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. It should be on the UFO list. Too bad I don’t have one. The blocks were teaching samples when I taught a sampler class the time before I started writing the quilt class sampler tutorials. I found one block recently, but otherwise I actually don’t know exactly where the blocks are hiding. I have an idea and still have to crawl up in the far reaches of my fabric closet soon and see if I can find them. I haven’t even found a picture of all the blocks. Sad.
Pies and Points from 2016 Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. The last time I worked on it was when Julie and I had a playdate in April 2018. I brought this piece with me so I could cut more elements (Julie has a Sizzix). I lost my excitement about this piece shortly thereafter and still have to get it back. Thus, I had to move this to the WIPs area.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. No progress.
Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. I am still stalled on this again. As one of my oldest (I am pretty sure) UFO, I put it on my blog and out into the Twitterverse and Diane suggested that I not consider this as a self portrait. I think that strategy is a great idea. I am now trying to think of a new persona for her.
Black and Red quilt – This project is creeping into my mind, so it might be up for work soon. The project originally came about because of two other projects. I made a whole bunch of bias tape as part of my failed attempt at doing the Mighty Lucky Club a few years ago. Another part of the inspiration came from my class with Tina of Little Blue Cottage fame. This was going to be for a nephew, but I think it will be for one of my SILs and BILs. I have rectangles cut and some bias tape ready. My next step is to sew the bias tape to the rectangles like pickup sticks. I don’t have any photos of this, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Who Am I? – This piece is off my design. I have lost momentum, but I think that just has to do with the amount of satin stitching I am facing.

CQFA Mini-Retreat

Last weekend one of our members commandeered her clubhouse and we had a mini-retreat. A ‘mini-retreat’ for our guild is where we don’t stay over, e.g. no hotel or travel. As far as I know everyone, except the hostess, drove back and forth to the location.

I didn’t take a lot of photos, even though I thought about it. I worked on a new Running with Scissors case and did a little with Frolic! as well. We didn’t have a ton of time to sew – 10-5 every day. The bonus was being together and seeing what other people did.

People were also able to come and go. A few people stayed for a couple of hours and others attended both days all day.

Julie's Gifts in use — Julie’s Gifts in use

Julie and I sat across from each other, as per usual. I got to see all the things I have made for her in action. Check out the Mega Pinnie with mini-Pinnie in the wild!

I had a great time. I would prefer to go out of town, but sleeping in my own bed is good, too.

Various & Sundry 2020 #2

Many of you have chosen words of the year. I was reading Friend Julie’s blog and she brought up some interesting questions related to her word of the year, Worth. I have never found this to be a useful exercise, though I haven’t really tried either. Periodically, I use a book like 365 Tao and write about the reading of the day. Recently I found another book, , which will work the same way. Gretchen is also doing a Word of the Year project. She has never done one before either, so watching her progress might be enlightening.

Projects, Patterns & Tutorials

Gretchen of 120 Blocks wrote about a BOM that I glanced at then passed by. She writes “Last week (I think) Marie Bostwick sent out a newsletter with information about a BOM that she was doing with Stitchin’ Heaven and Deb Tucker. You can find the information from Marie here but you have to get to the end of the page. The quilt is huge (102 x102) and if you sign up by March 1 you get a Studio 180 ruler of your choice to use to make the quilt. The colors are pretty much something I might like in my room, so there you go. You can find more of the information from Stitchin’ Heaven. Make sure you read Marie’s post first though, because she has a coupon code.” The coupon code is worth reading Marie’s blog, which is worth reading even without the code. She also introduces readers to her three oldest books. I tracked them down a few years ago and read them. They are worth reading.

My friend, Deirdre, sent me a link to Sailrite. She said that they have a lot of great how-to videos. The initial link was to a Roll Top Backpack tutorial. There are a wide variety of bag projects, which can be found under their How-to – Hobby Projects menu. They also have a variety of hardware. I haven’t purchased anything from them, but the variety is staggering and I will take a look when I need some bag hardware.

There is an article that discusses drawing as the best way to learn.

I collected a group of patterns using Altoid tins. My DH saves them for me because of the Travel bag I have made using them. One is an Altoid Pincushion Tin, Pincushion & Notions Box, an altered Tin Mini-Purse, a Tin Cord Keeper,

The deadline for the 25,000,000 Stitches Project is coming up fast (final deadline April 30), so I am seeing a lot of posts, including one from Julie, about people’s progress. Rhonda’s piece is gorgeous and it was all I could do not to snatch it out of her hands at the meeting last week. the work people are showing on IG is mind boggling. I’d love to know the effect on handwork that this project has had. Do more people do handwork now? Were people introduced to handwork, having never done it before? Did people return to handwork for this project?

Do you need to know how to create quilt designs in Adobe Illustrator? Adobe has a a bunch of tips and some Illustrator files from well known quiltmakers for download.

Fabric, Supplies & Tools

Sarah Ann Smith gives a thorough overview of the new Janome M7 Continental in a recent blog post. As a bonus, you can learn how to create a French seam in this post.

Sarah also talks about pre-shrinking fabric. She discovered that some of her fabric that had not been pre-washed shrank after pressing. Read her scientific study, especially if you don’t pre-wash your fabric.

Articles & Information

What do you think about the color orange?

Paper Patterns, Projects and Tutorials

As you may know, I enjoy making wreaths from folded paper. I talked about the Mette Ring a few weeks ago. Have you made one?

This video shows a Christmas or Halloween wreath, which is really only designated with those themes because of the colors. You could make them any color.The end result is small. Also, the video is in an Asian language I don’t speak. The folding directions can be followed, however, whether you speak the language or not.

When I found the Mette Ring, I also came up with some other folded stars as well. One is a traditional 5 pointed star that I really like, though I haven’t tried it yet. The video is narrated in German by Ms. Wellpappe, so I can follow the words. Those of you who don’t speak German will be able to follow the visuals. I found a video with no words from OrigamiV that makes the same traditional 5 pointed star. The Stella di Natale star is not folded paper, but the folded and cut or snowflake method. This video is from MamaeBambini and has music, but no words. A similar version can be found at Copa de Nieve. Folded paper Christmas trees would be fun gifts for colleagues at work. The Reda Star by kamikey is a two color folded star. Finally, the Scandinavian star is traditionally made from paper, but the Shabby Fabrics video shows how to make it from fabric.

Many of these patterns have different videos from different designers, so you can find the one that works for you.

Exhibits & Shows

Barbara Brackman has a list of antique quilt shows through the Spring of 2020.

Kaffe Fassett’s house is pictured in a magazine called the Wealden Times, a lifestyle magazine of Kent and Sussex. I want a chaise longue recovered in Philip Jacobs fabrics! I love the bold wall colors including that violet. Perhaps I’ll paint my workroom that color. It would make me happy,b ut it would wreak havoc on color selection, I think.

I like the quilts on this site, but I almost like the quotes better!

Other Artists

My sister told me about Melanie Douthit.

More Quilty Birthday Gifts

I should have known before I posted that I would get more quilty gifts than I showed on Tuesday. I went out to lunch with Julie and she brought me a giant amount of presents. That 20.5 x 20.5 ruler has been on my list for a long time. She found it on sale and bought herself one , too. She also added to my collection of color books. I am really excited about everything – about reading or trying out everything.

Surprisingly, DH got me two quilt books. I had heard about Circular Abstractions a few months ago and just put it on my list on a whim. There are no patterns, so it is all eye candy. Lone Stars 3 has been on my list for a long time. It is also a no-pattern eye candy book and it is thick. There must be a few hundred quilts in that book. I took a look at both the other night, but not enough to review. Look for those soon.

Officer Thank Yous

The other day I talked about finishing up the Officer gifts that I was making. They were finally finished on Friday night before the meeting. Fortunately for me, DH didn’t get home until late, so I had some extra time to work on them.

As mentioned, these pouches are fairly speedy to make.

I am pretty happy with the way they came out except for the ending. That was my fault as I stopped reading the directions and just finished them.

I thought about using this pattern for the inside of the UCAB, also as mentioned so I have been mulling over how to add a leash. It doesn’t work with the binding used in the pattern, but the pattern calls for a super long piece of binding, most of which is not used. I could turn the ending in to a leash instead of cutting it off. That would also alleviate the problem of one of the ends. I might try it.

Warm and Cool

I wanted to show these two quilts together since they will not go to live at the same house when they are finished. I took them both to my longarmer the other week and they will be done soon since, for once, she doesn’t have a huge backlog. I need to get Frolic! going so I can take that quilt to be quilted when I go to pick these up. I talked recently about the progress I am making on it, but I still feel like I am not making enough.

That could be because of the number of Windmill blades I have left. I don’t feel like I finished a project despite the fact that I have two quilts – a warm version and a cool version.

For each quilt (shown above), I used 256 blades from my bin. I also added background blades, so each quilt consisted of 512 blades. The only blades I really care about are the non-background blades, because those are the ones I have stashed. I used 512 of those blades total. I think I might have that many left.I am not sure what I have left in terms of blades. Do I have enough to make another pretty Cool version? Or will I need to think of another color arrangement?

I have more Windmill quilts to make, though not today.

Finished: Improv Donation Top

I finally finished this top to the point where I felt good about handing it in. I was rather sick of it, but I also have enough pride not to donation a too-small top.

That is all I handed in. I just provided the top and will let Peggy find backing and batting. I know I could have gotten a bigger hit on my Fabric Used spreadsheet, but I wanted to move on.

I haven’t started anything new for donation, but I will soon. It will be either blue or pink. Both drawers are overflowing. I don’t feel like I made much progress emptying the white drawer, though the White Strip Donation top and this one clearly used up fabric. Since I have more white to use, I could combine it with some of the blues. I know I have more than enough blue scraps to make more than two quilts. Combining some blues with whites will spread the use of blue and make for an interesting variation.

Frolic! Reveal

Bonnie Hunter did the big reveal of the final layout of Frolic! the other day. I laid out the pieces that I had to see how my version of the project would look. What you see in the photo does not show the piece on point, which is how the final will be sewed together. As soon as I get some more of the pinwheels made, I will begin sewing the piece together in the way it was intended so I have more space on the design wall.

I am happy with my choices. The green does stick out quite a bit, but I think it will settle down once I have more pieces ready to sew. I have a lot of HSTs and Flying Geese to make.

This is probably a design I wouldn’t have made if I had waited until the final reveal to decide, but I am happy enough with it. I’d be happier if I had been able to keep up with the clues, but it is what it is.

Officer Poolside Tote – that Wasn’t

My organizational system for officer bags is a mess and part of that is not posting about this bag. The last time I mentioned it was when I was having a zipper challenge.

I finished it quickly, which I think was a direct result of making it right after Mom’s tote. There are some quirks to this pattern, which hit me even after making a couple of these. One of them is the handle details on the front and back. Makers have to make sure they cover the raw edges of the front and side panels.

Officer Poolside Tote - inside — Officer Poolside Tote – inside

I am pretty pleased with the fabric selection. I would like to figure out how to put a slip pocket on the inside. I don’t think it would be terribly difficult. I think it would just require some deft measurement and having an already made up tote on hand might be the way to figure that out.

Gift Post #11: Mom’s Mega Pinnie

I can’t believe I forgot to post about this! I didn’t even take any photos, which is very strange. I had to have Mom bring it back over. I really don’t know what I was thinking. The only explanation is that I was busy, which is boring. I do feel like I am just getting my sea legs under me after a couple of months of frantic sewing.

So, yes, I made a Mega Pinnie for mom as well. On hers and on Julie’s, I added a leash, which is not part of the pattern. On Mom’s this was specifically so she could clip it to the Poolside tote I also made for her.

Mom's Mega Pinnie side 2 — Mom’s Mega Pinnie side 2

You might notice that the Mini Pinnie is missing. I did make one for her, but it is in use in her hand quilting project and she forgot to bring it. Oh well.

She has put a few things in the pocket, but I think she is still working out how she will use it. I know it is an odd sort of caddy.

Also, I used the paint tube fabric so the Pinne will match the other things I have made for her from the paint tube fabric. I am stilling liking those gift groupings.

Quilty Birthday

I got to spend the day with my mom and my husband yesterday. My office was closed, but I had some things to do and I don’t get paid if I don’t work, so I worked early in the day – before Mom arrived – and then took the rest of the day off.

Yes, I received some Quilty gifts! Yay!

My nephew (really his mom who is a darling) gave me some quilty gifts off my wish list.

I already reviewed String Frenzy from a library copy, but now I can make the Straits of Mackinac quilt without worry about the loan expiring.

I did a bit of machine quilting last year and since I do mostly straight line quilting, I wanted to try the foot I asked for. The Ultimate Quilt & Stitch Presser foot* allows the quilter to follow lines that are farther apart than the presser foot. I don’t have anything to quilt at the moment, but I could finish quilting the Tarts.

*I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item you click on. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Happy Birthday

I am taking the day off as it is my birthday! Have a great day and I hope people are enjoying Martin Luther King Day as well. Freedom and equality are always good to celebrate.

Year of Colour

Julie reminded me about the Year of Colour, so I decided to try it again. I wasn’t on IG much towards the end of the year, so I was curious to see if I got rid of more of the neutrals than showed up last year.

Nope. Those neutrals still dominate, darn it! I have a lot of reds, but I thought the turquoises would be more prevalent.There are some options and I chose ‘use fewer skin tones‘. Is that cheating?

Year of Colour for 2019 with fewer skin tones

You can play around a lot with the layout. I would have except I didn’t have time. Duty calls. If you did a Year of Colour, leave a link to your post in the comments.