Colleen sent the Diagonal Nine Patch back. It will definitely be ready in time to head to the baby shower.
I like the quilting she did. The swirls in colored variegated thread look happy. Colleen does a great job and I am really happy to be getting some quilts back in the finishing loop.
Diagonal Nine Patch – back detail
The quilting is more obvious on the back despite the active prints I used.
I also think that the striped binding looks great. I have some time to sew it down while I wait for La Pass Month 13 to arrive.
I want to use this pattern again with 2.5 inch squares, but also one with larger squares such as 5 inch squares.
The other day I talked about using 3/4s of the squares to make a design. Since then I have received the rest of the quarter squares and put them up on my design wall. It is so great to have more options.
I have been rearranging and changing the locations of the quarters every time I walk into the room or look at the design wall. I noticed that we have, mostly, all used cool colors for the first circle. That makes highlighting different fabrics a challenge. It is not impossible, but I have to look carefully to make sure each fabric is showcased.
I want to get to sewing, so at some point I need to stop rearranging and start sewing the blocks together.
The guild Sew Day for August was a Community Quilt Sew Day. Mary C and I collaborated again to make three tops. Normally, I would make a top, then make the back. We focused on tops this time.
Mom Blocks donation top
Mom gave me some orphan pieces and pieces that she didn’t want anymore. I had left them in the car so I didn’t even know what was in the bag. What I found in that bag was some ugly pieces. We also found some pretty nice looking blocks.
The blocks in the top on the left are the ones Mom made and handed over. Once we saw these, we decided we could just put them together quickly and move on to the day’s community quilt pattern.
I had some strips left over from the Libs Elliott class I took at QuiltCon in 2018. Fortunately, we had enough for sashing and borders. The turquoise and pink ones were already sewn together, which made things easier. The blocks weren’t all square, but we squared them up as much as we could.
Mary C sewed and I pressed and trimmed, which worked really well.
I am pleased with how this came out and how we were able to use some of the pieces that Mom sent along. I think someone will like this quilt.
Julie and I went out the other day to Golden State Sewing. We usually meet for lunch and visit the Granary, but I suggested we change it up. They have really good fabric at Golden State. More on the visit later.
One of the things I wanted to do was look for fabrics for The Pantone Project for the cards with which I was struggling. We also chatted about ‘good enough’, which is de rigeur for this project. We agreed that neither of us want to buy a lot of fabric.
Pantone 350 choices (green)
I finally crawled up into the fabric closet and got down the cool solids bin and pulled out the greens I remembered. Neither were exactly right, but Julie and I decided that two of the three fabrics would work.
We think the Tula Pink Tiny Dots is the right color, but lighter. We think the top right solid is dark enough, but doesn’t have that black (or brown?) tinge to it. We agreed that either would work.
One strategy I haven’t tried is comparing the postcards to the color cards I have. As I said, though, I don’t want to buy a lot of fabric; I’d like to use what I have.
I talked about finishing this bag back in May. The problem was that the zipper wasn’t working right. The bag is supposed to open wide, but the double zipper I had installed was preventing it. I don’t have a photo of this problem on my bag, but I do have a photo of what it was supposed to do. You can see from the photo of Mom’s bag that the whole bag is accessible. Mine didn’t do that.
Apparently, my subconscious was working on this, because one night last week I kept waking up in the middle of the night dreaming/worrying about this damn zipper. I didn’t even remember thinking about it during the day, but my subconscious was clearly dealing with the problem.
I shouldn’t even really call it a problem, because I could still use the bag. I wasn’t, however, actually using the bag.
Take a Stand – zipper tab removed
After that night of dreaming about zippers, I looked at the zipper on the bag. If I needed to remove the zipper completely, which I didn’t want to do, it would require a lot of ripping. I thought I could take off the zipper tab, remove one of the zipper heads and put one zipper head back on.
I don’t know why I put two zipper heads on. I didn’t do that on Mom’s Take a Stand. If I had, it would have had the same problem, but you can see from the photo above that it doesn’t
Take a Stand – zipper tab removed annotated
During Craft Night, I started by removing the zipper tab. Then I removed both zipper heads. I could have just removed one, but they were not in the right orientation for one zipper head. I, then, followed my zipper head tutorial. I am so glad I wrote that tutorial, because I always forget I have to put the head in the towel holder** upside down and insert the zipper tape upside down as well. This was a little challenging since the zipper tape was already attached to the bag. I had to do a bit of wrangling, but eventually got the zipper head on.
It works perfectly!
Now I just have to sew the zipper tab again and we should be in business.
**Obviously, you should shop at a local quilt shop. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. 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.
I made a journal cover for a friend. I meant do this task before she left her job (with the same team I was on) and started her new one, but that was a particularly busy time for me and I just finished last week.
She received it the other day and was totally thrilled. She loved the pink, which was great. She told me she likes pink, but I wasn’t sure if this was too much pink. Apparently not, which is great!
Kristin’s Journal Cover -whole cover
I really like this journal cover and would have kept it for myself if I hadn’t planned to give it to my friend. On the plus side, I made a lot of extra ‘made fabric’ in the process of getting pieces big enough to cover the journal. This means I have almost enough to make another journal cover for one of my journals that doesn’t yet have a cover.
Kristin’s Journal Cover – Inside front cover
Kristin’s Journal Cover – Inside back cover
It is so odd to be in touch with former work colleagues. Somehow we formed a bond and I can feel it is fragile, but still there, which is heartening.
I was super excited to receive quarter squares from Julie the other day! I am eagerly anticipating the receipt of Adrienne’s quarters as well. Once I get those I can seriously start scheduling time to finalize the arrangement and sew the top together.
Orange You Glad – my and Julie’s quarter squares
In the meantime, I interspersed Julie’s quarter squares with the mine on the design wall. Because I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture of the quarters received. I took a photo of the ones I hadn’t yet put on the design wall (photo above). Aren’t they fun?
The photo, right, shows my layout in the process of being rearranged on the design wall.
Orange You Glad – my and Julie’s quarter squares – complete
What I have with three quarters of the blocks looks pretty good. I am thinking that I will keep them as circles, but there is one other layout I want to try out first.
As you can see from other posts I am not continuously quilting on the Tarts, but it is a project I try to work on every day.
I was pretty excited about how the frame went after my first post, so I worked quite a bit on it. The bloom, however, is off the rose, as mentioned in my last post. Still, I am soldiering on.
Tarts: Latte glass quilting
My latest efforts are some smallish blocks on the center bottom, a latte glass and some silverware. I thought I could do some straight-line curves around the latte glass. I wasn’t happy with it and I ripped it out and went back to straight-line quilting the background.
I like dense quilting and I like my quilts flat so straight lines are working best for me.
I have a former co-worker who is super kind. I wanted to make him and his new wife a gift. I know mug rugs and some other fabric gifts quiltmakers give to each other are a bit strange to non-quiltmakers. I decided to make some bowl cozies because they are universally useful. I was able to finish them relatively quickly after I ripped out the same mistake I made last time. My error was to sandwich one piece of batting between two pieces of fabric and sew. Instead, I need to layer ONE piece of batting and one piece of fabric then sew. I need two of these elements (top and bottom) for each bowl cozy. Either I assumed or it was hard to see on the instructions. Using the blog post works better for me than just the PDF instructions.
Bowl cozies for Kirk
Once I got that cleared up, the project went quickly. I am pleased with the results and need to send them off.
I went out with my mom the other day for lunch and a day out. We meet halfway between our two houses in a town with a great cafe, good streets for walking and a quilt shop. Almost perfect!
The crowning glory was the gluten free cafe. Yes, walking around is great. Yes, visiting a quilt shop is great. However, it is really fantastic to walk into a restaurant and not have to ask what ingredients are in every single item.
Austin-Healy
While we were having coffee and catching up, someone drove up and parked their Austin-Healy at the curb. My mom is a sucker for vintage sports cars. She always wanted a Porsche Speedster until she rode in one and found it to be uncomfortable.
After lunch, we went to Wooden Gate. They have moved, as I mentioned a few months ago. Mom hadn’t been there since they moved and she really liked it.
Tilda solids at Wooden Gate
I resolved not to buy anything, but couldn’t resist one of the new Tilda solids and a luscious pink. Yes, those ding my fabric usage. I feel like I was very restrained. I also bought some gifts for the holidays, but you’ll have to wait to see those.
I really like the Tilda solids. They have a nice hand and seem pretty tightly woven. I still have to wash and try them, so we will see. I wish these various solid lines that I like would expand their color ranges.
Tilda has new range of dots as well. There were a couple of fat quarter packs including the dot fabrics that tempted me, but since I didn’t have a project I could think to use them in, I passed.
Danville tile motif
I saw a cool mosaic motif in one of the stores, which could make a great quilt design. It would definitely have to be EPP or applique’.
I finally finished Month 12. I redid so many parts that it seemed to take forever.
I am not a huge fan of these rosettes and may redo them.
Now I am waiting for Month 13. I plan to sew some of the rosettes together while I wait, but I have to lay them out and haven’t done that yet.
Pink Door can’t send out Month 13 at the time they normally do, because they are using Parisville, Tula’s new line. They aren’t allowed to send out the new fabrics before a certain date. I understand, but it is frustrating, because it puts me off my basting schedule.
I am becoming slightly obsessed with this project. I wonder if I need to worry about how often I am using the word obsession or its derivatives lately?
Tarts-First pic
The Tarts Come to Tea – July 2022
The first record I have of the Tarts is from 2003. That is a few years before I started this blog, so the details are lost in the mists of time or hidden in my journal from that time. I had a 6 year old, so who knows what I wrote down?
You can see that some of the elements stayed, but some are gone. If I find those elements, I can bring them to the guild for the orphan blocks donation project.
Forcing myself to power through quilt projects (and bag projects) rather than stopping and letting them ‘marinate’ is much better for my process. It also prevents me from adding new UFOs to the pile. Aside from a few projects, such as Pies & Points, it has worked very well. Backs and bindings now seem less arduous to complete.
UFOs left to marinate, for me, means that I forget what I was thinking, sometimes the fabric or other supplies go missing or get used for other projects accidentally. Supplies going missing or being accidentally used for other projects makes the process much worse. It always takes me time to get back in the groove of a project, which is generally difficult and often depressing. Nothing seems as terrible from a few years away, but I often discover the problem quickly and still have to deal with it. Time does not always heal all ‘wounds.’
In working on the 26 Projects, I have completed a lot of quilts. Looking at my first list shows me quilts I know are finished. It also shows quilts that are still on the to do list. Most worrisome of all are the projects I don’t remember finishing or giving away, which means they may still show up in some box somewhere.
I found, though, that the projects aren’t going to work on themselves, thus I have taken out the Tarts and started working on it. I am focusing my mind on one section at a time, mostly, and that helps me not get overwhelmed. This is also when it would be great to have two machines set up. I would like to be able to switch to a piecing project quickly to take a break from machine quilting.
I have found, though, that working on one project does not prevent me from working on another. You know I often use leaders and enders to make progress on more than one quilt at a time. If I want to start a new project, I do, but I don’t put away the old one and I really try to finish the old one before becoming engrossed in the new project.
I don’t think UFOs are bad and if your process includes a number of UFOs, great! I think we will all have UFOs. For me, the length of time they are on the list are the issue.
I am done with the novelty of quilting. The bloom is off the rose.
Tarts: Pink corner background quilted
Still I am quilting. It took me all day to quilt one corner background of the Tarts. The quilting looks good, but it was tedious and took a long time. No, I am not doing free motion quilting; I am doing straight-line quilting, which is the type of quilting I can sew successfully and, thus, be happy with.
Am I tempted to rip out the quilting and take it to Colleen?
Yes.
I am going to hang in there. I have made so much progress after years of no progress that it would be stupid to rip it out. Still, I am tempted. Quilting is terrible.
Friend Julie has already started selecting fabrics and making blocks. I have just started with the most recent postcard she sent (Pantone #350, a VERY dark, almost black, green). I am behind and I have no excuse except I am quilting the Tarts, I finished Pies & Points and the Diagonal 9 Patch and I am working on clearing my to do list.
I needed a break while I was quilting the Tarts, so I started looking at fabrics.
PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Stripes
When I receive the postcard, I sometimes get an idea of the fabric I want to use. For this VERY dark, almost black, green I thought immediately of the Tula Tiny Dots and Stripes. On a break I got the striped fabric out, confident I would have one selected and compared the postcard with the fabric.
Bleah! Not dark enough.
No problem, what about the dots?
PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Dots
Better. Maybe a good enough option, but still not dark enough.
This was depressing and I started thinking about the greens I have. If I have a green this dark, it will be buried in a project box or at the bottom of some “old fabric” box, because the last time I may have used such a fabric was when I took the Mary Mashuta class on pushed neutrals. I also have a Tula solid that might work.
I put Pantone #350 aside for awhile. I had to file papers before I could climb up into the depths of my fabric closet to get at the old neutrals, so I took out the Pantone #14-1911, Candy Pink postcard. I knew there was a pink solid around that would be perfect.
PP: Candy Pink
Wrong again. This is a great example of making visual decisions visually. Again, the pink might be good enough, but if you look at Julie’s selections, they are perfect matches. Sigh. More climbing up into the closet. I really don’t want to buy fabric for this project if I can avoid it.
