I have been working steadily on the half hexie project while I watch TV after dinner. I am making progress, but it feels slow.
I have started to make the piece wider by adding whole rows to the straight side of the piece. I can’t say whether I like this method, but it is controlled and does make the piece wider.
Yesterday I heaved the top on the bed and checked to see how many more rows I need.
I don’t normally show my messy bed, but this is the best way to show progress. The length is good, thought I do need to straighten up the top and bottom edges. From the photo, I think I need 6-8 more rows to make the quilt wide enough to cover the whole bed.
Scrapitude Carnivale is under the Half Hexie piece so it might cause some visual confusion.
I finished the Flapper Apron for my mom. This is the project I started at Sew Day with Gerre and then worked on at the most recent BAM Sew Day.
I spent a few hours on Sunday finishing it up. Now I can show it at the BAM meeting in a few weeks and give it to my mom after she returns from Portland.
This is a pattern you can use with a yard of fabric. You cut the pattern out on the bias. The biggest attraction is that you only *need* one yard of fabric to make it. I usually make the apron reversible, which takes 2 yards. I like to give myself a little breathing room with 1.25 yards on each side. Still, the pattern is designed for one yard of fabric.
The pattern directions say nothing about directional fabric. When I made my youngest SIL’s apron the fabric was directional. I decided not to pay attention to the fabric motif and just made the apron. The motif is at an angle, but SIL didn’t complain. On my mom’s version, I wanted the paint tubes to go up and down. Gerre helped me look at the different options for cutting it out. I was concerned about the bias, but since this is an apron, I decided not to care too much.
I did notice when I was finishing it that the edges are all, now, on the bias. For an apron, who cares? For other types of garments, I wouldn’t make this choice. Also, I top stitched all around the edge, so the bias shouldn’t be an issue.
Read about this pattern on the first post I wrote about it. Long term readers will know that I have made several of these aprons. You can see all the aprons I have made, including several from this pattern, using the tag.
I got myself organized after the week’s strange schedule to head to Sew Day. Surprisingly, we had 15 or so people in attendance. I was the first to show up after Mary and she was pleased because she wasn’t sure if anyone would show up. Holiday weekend and all, I suppose.
We always set up and clean the tables first. As we were doing that, others showed up and offered help.
I brought cutting and organizing only, after bringing my machine last time for the Jelly Roll Rug. I have a number of projects that needed attention and brought them along.
First, the Flapper apron I am making as a gift needed some corners. It took me longer than expected to get these corners ready to sew, but I finally accomplished the task and moved on to the bag.
I decided to make a Poolside tote as a gift. Mine was a pain to make, but I started using it for my knitting and find it very useful. I think my recipient will probably find it useful as well.
I also brought the Mondo Bag to arrange, but didn’t get to it. Cyndi and I spent some time talking about Deb Tucker rulers. She recently bought the V Block ruler, which I think works on the same principle as my Split Recs ruler with a slightly different outcome. The V Block ruler makes Peaky and Spike blocks, like I used for En Provence. Perhaps I’ll try it when I get around to the next En Provence quilt.
I brought a pattern for a nightshirt that I wanted to cut out. Mary is a master at garments and she finished all of her projects. I asked her to cut out my nightshirt and she agreed. This means I got a third more done than I thought I would!
People were busy at Sew Day as well. Marty was working on a binding. Her use of mustard is the best I have seen. the colors in general are great. The piece is not too depressing, but also very neutral. It’s hard to see, but the background fabrics are low volume text (and text-like) prints. She used some that I used in En Provence. I also like the way she placed the Flying Geese. This is Marty’s fourth quilt! She was able to finish the binding today and we all cheered.
I was pleased to see Cyndi’s Jen Carlton Bailly blocks. She decided to make enough for a large wall hanging or small lap quilt and was working on them.
The fabrics she is using are very cheerful. I saw one overlap with my Circle tablerunner!
I didn’t get a photo after she finished it, but I did see it and it looks really great.
Once finished with the circles, she took out a different piece she is making from Camille Roskelly’s Simply Retro book. I saw the quilt she is making in the book and didn’t think much of it, but Cyndi’s version uses more dark fabrics in the background. It is much more appealing *to me* that way.
Finally, Gerre also brought her Jen Carlton Bailly blocks. She had sewn a couple of rows together and was able to get the top done by the time Sew Day was over. She used Amy Butler fabrics and the piece is fantastic.
I have some new projects to work on and some of the small tasks ready to move me to my next steps. I am happy!
Nobody in my house is particularly fond of cornbread. I enjoy it. Sometime ago I found out that Gerre loves cornbread. Now when we get together, I make cornbread.
At our last Sew Day, I was in a rush, because my previous tasks had taken longer than expected, so the cornbread came out of the oven right before I planned to leave. I didn’t want to wait for it to cool. I wanted to GO. Then I remembered the casserole carrier! I hadn’t used the pan that came with it, but I tried it anyway. The pan I used was a little small, but the velcro on the carrier was adjustable, so it worked great.
I was thrilled. Gerre was impressed and I was very thankful to Sue!
This came up because AllPeopleQuilt have a casserole carrier pattern available in this month’s newsletter. I am sure you can find others, too, if you don’t like the one they provide. I think you will use it, if you make one.
I saw some very nice, but inexpensive casserole pans/dishes at Tuesday Morning a few days ago, if you need one.
I finished the tablerunner I talked about the other day. I did some simple quilting and bound it. I was actually able to finish the hand part of the binding in one sitting. I am not sure I have done that before. The piece is 13×37 and will reside on our coffee table.
Green Strips quilt top and back – finished 1/16/2019
Green Thing donation top and back – finished 2/2019
Libs Elliot donation top – finished 2/2019 – Cheryl actually did the quilting and the binding. She made me feel good by saying she really liked the quilt. I should try the technique using stripes instead of making stripes and see if I feel differently. I should do a lot of things.
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.
Serendipity Lady – thought I needed to rip out some stitching, but decided I didn’t. I need to decide how to finish it. I would like to frame this one.
Lobster – I finished the stitching. I plan to back it and overlock or satin stitch the edges. Really, I would like to frame it. That may still be in the cards.
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. As I am still working on FOTY 2017, I haven’t made a start on this yet.
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.
Black and Red quilt – This 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.
Small Projects in Process
Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.
4-Zip Organizer – part of Crafty Gemini Organizer Club. I quilted the outside cover and need to figure out the next step so I can do the next step
Flapper apron gift – pieces are cut out and ready to sew
For those of you who celebrate, Happy Fourth of July! For those of you who do not celebrate, have a great day.
My wish, again, for this 4th (although it is not a gift giving holiday) is that we return to kindness, civility and working together to make a better future for our children.
I decided on Saturday I would finish the sewing of the Jelly Roll Rug over the weekend, no matter what. I didn’t think I would be able to do it after starting, because the thread kept breaking every foot or so. It was maddening. I tried to go with the flow, but when I got to some dark grey, I switched to Aurifil #2610. Amazingly, I had no more thread breaks! The thread I started out using (once I got to the colored area) was a variegated thread. I am not a fan of variegated threads, so I was hoping to use it up. I wonder if some areas of the thread, such as where the colors join, are weaker and couldn’t handle the stress of what I was doing?
This is definitely a stressful project. I mentioned that my machine was skipping stitches. It turns out that I needed to use a Jeans needle 16. I was using a Jeans needle, but not a 16. The 16 part is the length and Angie thinks the needle wasn’t quite long enough, where I tried to sew in thicker areas, to catch the bobbin thread. She traded me some shorter Jeans needles for the 16s and I had very few problems sewing after that.
My sewing machine table has a flip out back, as you might remember, and after my rug got to a certain size, I flipped up the back (now I need to dust and vacuum!!!). It was helpful, but I could have also used a flip up front to the left of my machine. I compensated by rolling the rug up a bit when it came forward.
I need a rug for my foyer and thought this might do the trick. It doesn’t quite do the trick, though the colors work with my living room/dining room color scheme. The rug needs to be longer and not much wider. I think I will try the square version with strips I cut on the Accuquilt rather than with a Jelly Roll strip set. DH had an idea about arranging the strips using colors that go with the paint in our living room/dining room. That burgundy rug isn’t ratty enough for me to put the next Jelly Roll Rug version on the top of the to do list, but it will be on my soonish list.
I am not quite finished as I have to steam the living daylights out of the rug. Stay tuned for a ‘completed’ post.
As I worked on various projects over the weekend, I added to my stash of Orange Strip Donation Blocks. I am a few short of being ready to put the blocks all together into a quilt top.
I am still pretty happy with how these blocks look. They don’t look to shocking. They have a soft look to them.
I am considering backgrounds. I haven’t yet pulled options out of the fabric closet, but I am thinking. I want the orange to be the star. Tim gave me a rich creamy vanilla color to try. I haven’t tried it yet, but will when I get to the “make visual decisions visually” stage. I was thinking a very light Creamsicle like color – a solid. I don’t know if I have that color, or if that color exists, but I’ll try it. Tim doesn’t like peach, so no peach.
I might change the sashing to a smaller size, but not as small as the Red Chunk Donation top. I was also thinking I might add in some triangles to add to the design, but perhaps not.
I decided on a table runner, but the first step was another block. The step before the first step was reacquainting myself with JCB’s process. I had all the notes and everything out, but my own notes were rather cryptic, so the notes she sent after the class were quite helpful.
I came up with a basic block, nothing fancy. I am pleased with it.
As mentioned, BAM held another class by Sarah Goer. I showed some of the quilt tops other members were in the process of sewing. Remember, Sarah also taught the Planned Improv class, which I really liked?
I was over at Tim’s the other day and he showed me his version. He really likes green and his piece reflects that.
We talked about adding in some strips, so you see some folded fabric mimicking the strips that he would need to cut.
I really enjoy seeing other people’s interpretation of a concept.
Tim and I had lunch, then worked together on the BAM website this past week. After we were done, we looked at his projects and considered quilts.
One thing he did since the last time I saw him was quilt the purple improv donation top. Now it is a donation quilt!
His skills are improving tremendously and I think this quilt looks really good. I love the designs he chose.
This will be part of the exhibit we are planning, so we won’t give it in just yet. We need someone to bind it and Tim was going to see if Mary could do it.
I wrote a post for each of the projects I worked on at Sew Day with Gerre, but I just had to look at all of them just to see if I really accomplished as much as I thought.
I worked on a couple of different projects, as you know, not one to completion, but that is ok.
Gerre sent me a photo of the Betsy Bag on which she worked while I was there. It is an interesting design. She said the directions were difficult to interpret.
I think it was worth it. I think I need some time occasionally to work on projects where I need to get past a block. This Sew Day provided that.
After a few weeks of hiatus, I finally spent some time on this project again this past weekend.
I was feeling bad about Flying Around – sort of uninterested and not getting anything done. What I needed was some time to work on it. This is not a sew and think about something else. This is a thinking project. Every seam I sew requires thought. These types of projects require time and no interruptions.
I got into the groove and made some good progress. I added a purple Friendship Circle, which you can see adds a lot to the piece. It isn’t sewn yet, so we will see some better photos later.
I also sewed some sections together, which makes it look more like a quilt.
I worked on Flying Around over the weekend, as mentioned. In addition, I made the orange strip donation blocks as leaders and enders.
These are harder to make. Not in terms of technical skills, but in terms of fabric. I don’t have as many orange scraps as I have other scraps. I went through the unsorted scrap pile on my cutting table and came up with a few strips and chunks that will help with the effort. I may have to abandon the strip idea and go straight to more of a chunk/improv look.
As I make these blocks, I am amazed at how much I love the fabrics in my orange scrap bin. As I said, I don’t have a lot of orange scraps, but most of those I do have speak to me. perhaps I chose well when buying orange fabrics?