Summer Projects

Projects in progress this summer:

Modern Workshop Whirlybird

Road 15 Beach Balls, pattern courtesy of Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Alexandra's birthday cake, made by Alexandra and Sophia. Gluten and sugar free and delicious, none-the-less. 

It's been a whirlwind summer, so far, and there's a little time for sewing, but none for blogging. Here are some of the summer quilts coming out of my machine. The parcheesi quilt is still on the frame, with little progress made. It's hot up there and there's no AC in that room! I'll get back in there when the weather cools down. I bought a fabulous new ironing board. I'd searched for years for a sturdy board that allows me to iron fabric without the taper in the board that slows me down. This is what I got:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00170D6F8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I love it, but this sucker is HEAVY and I can't really move it out of the way when I need to get to the window or cupboards behind it. Oh, and when I carried it up to the attic, I had to do so with it over my head like a surfboard, because it's too big and heavy to go under an arm. I forgot how tall I'd gotten, (lol, I'm 5'1") and smacked it into the twirling ceiling fan. It threw me off balance so I fell against my sewing table, and the impact between ironing board and fan made an enormous noise! You won't be surprised to learn that the ceiling fan is no longer balanced, so even after twisting two blades back where they look like they're supposed to be, I can only run it on low speed or it rocks dangerously. Anyone know how to replace the blades of a ceiling fan? I guess that's what's next. 

Barcelona Jewel Box

The quilt for Mary is done and delivered! It's probably my best work yet, which is a good sign since it's my most recent completed piece. So delighted to send Mary off to retirement with this token of my appreciation. Mary was always kind to our patients and put their needs first. We will miss her at the Breast Care Center but wish her the very best of times in retirement.

This is the Parcheesi quilt on the frame for quilting. I can't believe how many times I've turned to the striped fabric from Connecting Threads for backing; it's been the absolute perfect fit for two quilts now, and it is discontinued. I think this was something around $3 a yard. It's the last bit I have. Oh no!!

Stitching in the Ditch

I recently bought the book Quilting Wide Open Spaces by Judi Madsen  and I've learned a few things worth remembering. First, though I never did it before, I am enjoying stitching in the ditch. This means outlining major elements, like whole quilt blocks, with stitching before getting to the business of quilting the whole thing. This does a few things: first, it makes the blocks more defined. If you do an all-over quilt design, the actual piecing becomes less pronounced. This may be what you're after, but usually, if you have spent good time and effort making blocks, they are worthy of a little showcasing.

(Don't look too carefully at my ditch-stitching. It should be actually IN the ditch, not alongside the ditch. About half of mine are. Rest assured the discrepancy was not due to drunkenness.)

Secondly, while you are toiling away stitching in all those ditches, you are preparing yourself for what this quilt "brings." You are thinking about the different elements that make up the whole, and which parts of it you most value. The way the blocks come together will strike you more thoroughly than when you were assembling them. I spend so much effort not screwing up that part, and little attention to how the quilt appears as a pieced-together unit. When ditch-stitching, I get a sense of what parts will require careful accents, and which parts are background. I also get time to think about how to quilt "front" quilt and background in a way that is different but complementary. In this quilt, I did the ditches first, then the white background, then the borders. After that, I did the grey sashing squares, and finally, I went to the different color blocks. In all, there were at least 7 passes of the quilt, after which I really felt as if it was done to the best of my ability. 

It was worth it to choose thread colors as I did the white background, putting them on my desk so I had the opportunity to edit as I thought about it, and compared those I'd chosen to different hued blocks in the same color family. 

Thirdly, when you've got the whole quilt "ditch-stitched," you then have everything anchored. As you are quilting through the quilt the first time, you can only roll the quilt in one direction. You can't go back up to an area you've already seen because the back and the front are on separate rollers, and once you've quilted them together, they can't be re-rolled backwards. That is, until you get to the end, and disconnect the front of the quilt from its roller by unpinning it. I then also trim the extra batting at the bottom.

Since the quilt now is only attached to the backing roller and the roller above the quilting needle, I can go back and forth at will. This allows me to change colors and quilting styles and quilt top to bottom or bottom to top. There is no way I have the patience to change colors multiple times each time I roll the quilt a little bit. Ditch stitching has made it a much more stable process to go all the way through the quilt and do all the white, then backwards doing all the greens, then back down doing all the blues, etc... This makes the quilting more consistent, too. On my lazy quilts done all in one go, you can probably tell where I started and where I end because I get a little better at whatever it is I'm attempting. This way, it is harder to tell how much "learning" I required in the process.

Quilted Gifts

This quilt is #82 Falling Leaves and Flying Geese, and it is dedicated and gifted to the Christiansen family of Northfield Mount Hermon, who so generously shared their love and time with Lexi during her sophomore and junior years. They are moving to Cincinnati, where Brynner and Arryn will grow up closer to their grandparents. I hope the fall colors remind them of the beautiful New England autumns that they are leaving behind.

This quilt is #69, Tulane Picture Frames, and it is gifted to Heather Leeds, special ed teacher, who has patiently helped Lexi with her schoolwork. Education is a challenging field, and I have great respect for those who make it their passion. Lexi has been so thankful for her time with Heather.

Proud Mom

I admit this is not a good photo, but it's all I have, and it took a lot of coaxing to get Sophia to send me a "selfie" after her lacrosse game. I know she would be extremely displeased with me if I were to post it on FB, but I just have to brag about her, and since almost nobody looks here, :) and certainly she doesn't, (shhhhh!) I'll put it here. This girl of mine hates for the final score to be a tie. She'd actually rather lose than tie, go figure. So when her lacrosse game entered its final minute with a 10-10 score, I was dreading the mood she'd be in after the game, especially since her team had been winning by a handy margin in the first half. She told her coach, "put me in, Coach, I'm feeling it!" 

With 37 seconds left in the game, she manages to come up with the ball, and she leaps in the air to fling it into the goal over the opposing goalie's head. Her first goal of the season, (there's only one game left,) and she manages this feat! Needless, to say, her teammates went wild, the stands went wild, and her parents went wild. Later, the coaches told me they shed some tears of pride as well.

Yea Sophie!!!

Quilt Labels

Labeling quilts is one of my least favorite parts of quilting, so most of my quilts are unlabeled. I did a marathon labeling session this weekend and finished up 5 quilts, some of which I'd called finished before, and am happy to be sending these on to deserving recipients this week. There are two Quilts of Valor, which still need pillowcases, and three gift quilts for others.

This is my Barcelona Jewel Quilt. I spent almost the whole day on this, but am happy with my progress. First, I put this teal border on, and it makes a huge difference in the way the quilt catches my eye. Before this border, I thought it was done, but it was lackluster and I didn't feel strong affinity for it. Now, I think I love it! I also put it on the longarm frame, chose a poly batting, and pieced up a backing for it. 

I received my copy of Quilting Wide Open Spaces by Judi Madsen, and a preliminary reading has inspired me to do custom quilting on it rather than an all-over design. She advises stitching in the ditch to make the quilting "pop," and my initial work on this quilt actually seems to be having this effect on the actual piecing. I'm excited to be doing something new.

Stash Used:  5.5 yards

Stash Used, total: 269.35 yards

Stash Acquired: 24.5 (Hawthorne Threads: Houndstooth, Glimmer, Swedish Xmas, Voile)

Stash Acquired, total: 469.875

Happy Easter

I used some of my pink stash to make double-sided napkins for our Easter dinner. I'd rather be sewing than cooking, that's for sure! 

Stash Used:  6 yards

Stash Used, total: 263.85 yards

Stash Acquired: 0

Stash Acquired, total: 445.375