Dreamer and Cottage Charm

Wow, five months? Mostly, I've been busy finishing up my big Dreamer patchwork. The quilting alone took over a year of on again, off again dedication.

This project is Mitten's favorite thing, has been since the beginning. Now she's pretty sure it belongs to her. I finished up the binding a couple of weeks ago, but just took pictures of the finished project this morning.

That took a long time. But it grew very soft over the hand-quilting process. I'm definitely keeping this one for myself. This project taught me a lot about spacing between lines of stitches. When two lines are too close together, particularly in a grid pattern, it doesn't come off as attractive as you'd expect by looking at the stencil. There was a grid pattern inside the square at the center of the star motif. But I stopped quilting that grid after the first star. It just looked bad. I like the puffiness of just the open square much better.

Almost two years ago, I bought this really beautiful flower stencil, and a matching border motif. Now that the patchwork is complete, I've been able to design a quilt specifically for these stencils!

I spent a few hours today arranging, rearranging and taking hundreds of pictures. See, in the store, you could see a much clearer difference between the seafoam of the green block borders and the white background. But from these pictures, I was worried it isn't defined enough.

So I made a quick trip to Joann's and was shocked to find almost everything in the store on sale. That took up the rest of my day. But I brought home the darker teal shown above. I think I like it, but I'm still deciding.

I'm trying to take my time and get it just the way I want it, but my eagerness to get to the fun part (the hand-quilting, of course) is hard to deny.

I'm calling this one Cottage Charm. The blocks look like little charms, and I've always wanted to do a quilt that looks like it belongs on the wall of a cute, whitewashed cottage. I think the finished product will be 4 blocks by 6, but I haven't made anything final. (If I'm being totally honest, I want to throw out all those blocks and start again with all new, hand selected fabrics, but my goal is not to waste money, time and resources. I already had all of these fabrics, except for the seafoam and dark teal...)

In other news, the Gammill Charm I managed to win a few years ago, and subsequently realized I hated using, has finally sold. I feel it's important to put that in here. It's been a long and weird journey with that machine. It's not that I was ungrateful or picky. I simply came to the conclusion that my favorite part of making a quilt is the hand-quilting. The machine took that out of the equation. And I just didn't want to learn a whole new skill separate from that. I'm sure many quilters out there would have adored this machine, but it wasn't for me.

I'm just not a career quilter. One or two quilts a year is about all I want to manage. I am very glad I learned that about myself. Possibly, if I'd never won the machine, I'd still be wishing for one, staring longingly at the precision work of a machine-quilted piece. But now I can admire that precision work and be glad that I'm going home to my embroidery hoop and Roxanne #9 betweens needles.

my only completed project of the year

Even as I was creating some tester blocks, I knew this was going to be one of my favorite quilts.

It was supposed to be a baby quilt. But I found myself unwilling to compromise the design. I would have had to remove a row to make it reasonably baby-sized.

I wanted stars in each corner, and one in the middle. Since I also didn't want the quilt to be too small to use, I had to just go big. Then of course I had big dreams on the border, so I couldn't reasonably call it a baby quilt anymore. But I was thoroughly pleased with the design.

Next, I pulled out all of my quilt stencils. I picked my only stencil that doesn't have flowers or a scroll pattern.

I decided to do this motif in each all-white block, and thought I'd find something easier for the pieced blocks. But then I decided to just try the same motif in a pieced block, and...

Yeah, I loved it. That's why it took me all summer to hand quilt. That's also why I haven't done a post in a long time.

After doing this design in every block, I decided the motifs had to connect somehow. I didn't like having the quilting just floating in each block. So I pulled out all of my cups and rulers, and eventually came up with the right combination.

Sewing up the binding was the worst part! The fabric I chose was a little stiff, so two of my finger tips are still in the process of growing their skin back. I stabbed myself so many times. I just cannot work accurately with a thimble. But by the time I was done, I didn't even care. I SO fell in love with this one. And while quilting it, I discovered that it adequately covers an adult who is sitting on a couch watching tv. The new owner will have some options in how she would like to use it.

Here's the completed quilt. I believe you can click on the photos for a bigger image (someone tell me if that's not the case).

I was so pleased when I pulled it from the washing machine. No color bleeding, and no funky puckering. I hung it up and stretched it, let it set for a couple of hours, then threw in the dryer for a few minutes.

Folding it up and packing it into the box was the hardest part. I found myself coming up with reasons to keep it... And I have a lot of good ones. But in the end, I know it's going to a great home. I know it will see a lot of love and a lot of life. And really, if I keep every quilt I make, we'll have to move into a bigger house.

This was just mailed Monday. So of course, I am periodically checking the tracking information for anomalies. I do not want this getting lost in the mail or falling out of a truck and landing in a mud puddle, forgotten forever. Okay I'm scaring myself, because I know I can't actually find out those scenarios with just a tracking number.

I'm now imagining a Tom Hanks character opening up this box after a horrible Fed Ex airplane crash over the Rocky Mountains, and discovering that while he found the quilt to be adequately warm, his feet will stick out because it is too short for a reclining adult!

There may just come a day when I stop ignoring standard quilt sizing.

project updates

The month of March has begun, so obviously the quilting portion of my brain is exploding all over the place with new ideas. The winter lag has been shaken off, and this is where I traditionally bite off more than I can chew.

It's a good time for me to overview my current projects. I don't want anything getting too neglected.

The Gemini quilt hasn't progressed at all. I have been trying to find the perfect border. The idea I had in my head while I was piecing this ended up being a little bit stupid, so I need to find something else. As you can see, I have a new idea. I've been working on some combinations that will fit in with the design, but won't be so over-complicated that I won't want to work on it.

Then there's this little gem. A good friend of mine pieced this wall hanging from a collection of peacock inspired fabrics she fell in love with. I got the chance to do the quilting and binding. All that's left for this one is a good washing and a sleeve for hanging. I've never done a sleeve before, so naturally this has been sitting around at my house for a couple of years, now. Haha... Sorry Trish!

The same friend has not had much time to work on the blue and white Christmas quilt she's been planning for quite some time. So she turned over her fabrics to me, and I'm going to play around with them. These are amazing fabrics that I'm excited to work with. Also, I found a few in the box that clearly did not belong to the Christmas quilt... I am planning to barter for them later on. (Or maybe just steal them.)

And because I didn't have enough to work on, I decided to start a new project with some scraps I've been wanting to play with.

I haven't definitively decided exactly what this will be, but I know who it's for. We'll see if I can get it together and at least have a few of these quilts done before 2017.

There are three other quilts that aren't making this update. My Dreamer patchwork quilt feels like it's never going to be done (still actively quilting it). But it's something I will continue working on in my down time. There's also my big, red Aries quilt, which has been on the quilting frame since my son was born (5 years, if you're counting). Then there's my mothers heirloom quilt. That one is freaking huge, and must be hand-pieced. It's hexies, so hand piecing is really not slower than machine piecing.  Plus, when you're hand piecing, you can hear the tv :) But I put off working on it most of the time. It's so big, it feels a little hopeless. That'll be one I'll have plenty of time to work on once I'm checked into a retirement home. (For reference, I'm going to be 35 next month, so the heirloom quilt remains on the high shelf in the closet.)

Stockings

I don't remember when I started these. I tried looking back through this blog, but I don't see a mention of them. 2013, maybe? Anyway, these are finished now, haha.

They were almost finished when I dug them out a month ago. They just needed the cuff and a hanging loop. The only motivation I had to finish these, though, was the prospect of buying new fabric. Then I let them sit for a few more weeks. My husband was getting worried I wouldn't finish them in time for Christmas, and I purposely left our older store-bought stockings in storage to push me.

And I finally did!

They are happily hanging on the mantle now, all ready for Santa to fill.

I've been making progress on my patchwork. Of 300 (5"x5") blocks, 81 are quilted!!! I've put over a hundred hours into the hand-quilting. This is why I don't sell my quilts. By the time it's done, I will have spent more time on it than I could reasonably charge for. So it continues to be a fun hobby for me, and one I will never expect to be compensated for in any way but my own entertainment.

Here's a picture of the front, back before it was properly basted, to remind you which quilt I'm talking about.

And here's a picture of the back, which I took about 2 months ago. It's come a long way since then.

Okay, I need a cup of coffee and a good tv show. Everyone in the house has a cold, currently, so it's been a chill night with lots of coughing, sneezing and nose blowing. Not the exciting night of Christmas cookie decorating we had originally planned :\

something different

Well, I am in the process of selling my big quilting machine. It's on consignment at my favorite quilting shop. Since it's been out of the house, my desire to quilt has grown. Weird, right? But that machine was adding a lot of pressure to keep production up. And even once I completed a quilt, I didn't really want to use the machine to quilt it.

It became a huge waste of space, which is a shame when you're talking about top of the line machinery. My brain just won't combine the joys of a well functioning machine with the magic of creativity. I've always just had to create by hand, and I can't stay inspired with the raw ultility of machine quilting.

I don't know if it will sell this way, but somehow it will have to. I have concluded, with true finality, that machine quilting is not for me.

Since it's been gone, I have gone and finished another quilt top. See, I don't even like sitting at my little Kenmore when I'm creating. It's why piecing takes forever!

This simple patchwork was meant to be a practice piece on the quilting machine, heh. Most of those fabrics are super cheap-o Joann specials. And there it is on my very first full size ironing board! I finally basted it over the weekend, which took me two hours. I started in the dining room, where after pinning it, I noticed a big wrinkle in the backing. So I had to unpin it and take it apart. Then I decided to move ALL the furniture out of my living room and get out the masking tape. That worked much better! But I am still hurting from the acrobatics.

I took a private poll among friends, and this is the quilting design they voted for:

In three days, I've only just finished one large motif. I need to build up the muscle in my right upper arm again. It's been a long while since I've done serious hand-quilting. And this quilt is monstrous compared to the small projects I'm used to.

As for the Gemini quilt, it needs to wait until I come up with the right border idea. I am not rushing that quilt. If I'm not completely proud of it when it's finished, it will have been a failure. Maybe quilting this simple patchwork will keep my mind open to creative ideas.

Springtime Blues (and Purples)

It's a relief to have spring this year. Winter was long and unproductive. But when things warmed up a little, I got all this energy to throw into some projects.

Erica's quilt top has been pieced, except for the borders. I had to take a picture of it outside, otherwise the colors look inaccurate. And I didn't want to lay it on the ground, so you get a draped photo. Once I get borders, there will be much better pictures.

This shows the essence of the project, and that's what I want you to see. This might be the last time I ever do this design. It has not been easy. And I recently figured out why. There's a line on my machine that marks the quarter inch seam allowance, and I just measured it for the first time in my life, and it's wrong!! This is not so noticeable when I'm sewing squares together. But when those squares are sewed to multiple triangles like this, it just doesn't turn out even in the end. It meant I had to scrap or creatively adjust all the blocks that weren't snail trail.

In the end, I am moderately happy with the outcome. If I magically mustered up the energy to attempt this design again, the blocks would be 8" instead of 12", and I would add in some velvet scraps here and there.

I am not planning to do any more on this quilt until it sees its future home this month. Then we can make some decisions on the borders, and I can work on it until it's done.

Feeling like I needed something else to work on, I pulled out ALL of my fabric scraps, including prints I thought I would use on the above quilt, and didn't. And some that I did. And some that I got from my mother. I've been seeing a lot of amazing vintage style quilts on the net that have me salivating, so I finally started putting one together.

Here's the first quarter of it. It doesn't look as vintagey as I'd hoped, but I so appreciate the turquoise and purple together that I don't care. I have to make 3 more of those strips and I'll have a complete top. No borders for this one. I'm going get some batting in there, slap a muslin backing on it and put it under the machine.

The main reason I am doing this patchwork is to get machine practice before I quilt Erica's. I might do a few more to make sure I am getting the hang of it. Not sure what I will do with the practice patchworks, but I have a couple of ideas. In the mean time, I am now accepting unwanted fat quarters! Not that I ever expect to see an unwanted fat quarter. (Is there such thing?) I would more prefer to see anyone reading this finish their own projects that they bought that fat quarter for in the first place.

And now I'm going to do some hand quilting on a project I will be posting next time, after a certain someone has their birthday this month.

piecing adventures

I've been piecing this lady for a while. This is the original photo, before I cut the rest of the edge triangles.

Those of you with a good eye will know which block is facing the wrong direction... I didn't notice that until I had spent about 40 minutes staring at it, making mental notes for future adjustments.

Also, one of the blocks up there has been removed. It was a temporary place filler until I finished the last block.

I still have not decided on just the right layout. I'll probably be rearranging this one for a while, because I actually really like this one. It has to be perfect.

Here are some of the light blocks grouped together.

I am really proud of this one. And very glad I waited so long to do the Erica quilt. I would have been disappointed if I had attempted it too early in the evolution of my personal quilting style.  The second the top is pieced, I am taking it to SW Decoratives, where I got most of the fabric. I can't wait to show it off.

Usually I am perpetually excited about future possible projects in quilting. But I haven't been that way lately. Maybe because I am too excited about my current project. Or maybe I've finally learned not to bite off more than I can chew. I want to use all of my enthusiasm to finish this one before the end of the year. Then I will have my full attention to use on the next project. I really can't even afford to think about what direction I will go once this one is done.

But I'm sure I will surprise myself.