I've got closure ....

I have FINALLY finished a quilt I started in 2002. I originally blogged about it on February 11, 2007 as part of a UFO compilation project and again on April 2, 2018. 

The issue I had was, how do I finish this project? I had originally started to hand quilt it. That was before I knew better about batting. I used Warn & Natural, which is not the easiest to hand quilt, especially their earlier version. I knew that I did not want to continue with the hand quilting, however ... how do I complete it? I also did not want to do any ditch/ruler work. I just wanted it done and out of my brain space!

Then, on June 9, I decided to load it onto Penelope and go for it ... it's Panto time!

I kept the hand quilting and machine quilted over it.

I like how it turned out. I don't have a problem with having both hand and machine quilting. I'm, going to let the historians figure out what happened here! lol 

As you can imagine, having that quilt sit around for over two (2) decades, it needed a good washing. There were some stains from the cats sitting on it that I could not get out, I can live with that ... patina! 

I'm just glad that it's finally done! 

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Summer days and the Churn Dash SAL

 Wow, July has blown by ... I've been busy enjoy the summer. We've had some wonderful weather ... a tad hot but still wonderful. 

I finally cleaned the dumping ground clutter on my cutting table. Somehow, I always managed to put something on it ... creating more clutter.

Time to get to work! I cut the last 10 fabrics I needed to complete the required number of blocks for my quilt. You know ... I looked at the scrap bins and it sure doesn't look like I made a dent in them. Sigh!

Now, it's piecing time .... Yes ... I powered my machine and got to work. Voila! First set of blocks done! I'm a tad late to the game but ... I'm getting there.

Thanks for dropping by ... Hope you are enjoy the season! Catch you all later. Cheers!

Churn Dash Sew A long

Donna from Chookyblue blogspot is hosting a Sew-A-Long and I thought I would join in. Heck, you must have read yesterday's BREAKING NEWS! lol

I decided to open EQ8 to work out the layout. I am not that fond of EQ8 but it is what it is. Sometimes updates are not always a good thing. I've owned EQ for numerous years, since EQ2 ... let's just say I had to update due to Apple's recent change in their system ... we'll leave it at that.

Back to the quilt. The suggested block size is 9 inches ...

I love small blocks and have been thinking about doing a 6 inch block. I'm going for the crappy look. This is what the layout would look like. 

That's a lot of blocks to piece ... but so pretty. I do like small blocks, they require smaller pieces. It would certainly put a dent in the scrap fabric stash. My bins are overflowing!

Now, this is what the quilt would look like with a 9 inch block ... less blocks to piece!

A different look, but pretty none the same.

Well, I guess I have some thinking to do. 

Catch you all later! Cheers!

2020 ... the year of an unfocused mind!

 Well, it doesn't look like 2021 it going to get better. I don't know about you but I'm emotionally, spiritually and psychologically exhausted. 

Last year, gosh that sounds like a long time, I worked with scraps from a quilt I had made for Pumpkin and created a couple of small quilts. I didn't have much scraps left for another one, so I thought I would create this little quilt.

I made a few mistakes cutting the borders. Once on the inner border and twice on the outer border. I said screw it (that's really not what I said, but I'm trying to keep this clean lol) ... and did corner stones instead. Shaking my head .... 

Well I do hope you are enjoying a more focused existence. I'm looking forward to getting back to my normal self ... what ever that will be in 2021 ... who knows! lol

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Wow ... time flies when you're unfocused

I am so looking forward to some form of normalcy. I find myself unfocused .... 

Back in December 2017 I had worked on the Christmas Village quilt, a pattern by Sweetwater, that consisted of numerous flying geese.

I kept the scrap wings of the flying geese in the hopes of turning it into a quilt. The half squares were sews, trimmed and placed in a bag back in January 2018, patiently waiting. I decided it was time I did something with them.

What to do ... what to do? 

I didn't have enough to make a lap quilt so I decided on making some small table toppers.

It's a great feeling to be using up scraps. 

Catch you all later! Cheers!

On the quilting front ....

I finally got around to sewing the binding on the Feed Sack: True Blue quilt.

I quickly got to work on hand stitching the binding ...

And Voila .... 

The quilt is all done .... 

Gosh I love those blues .... Another one on my list of favourite quilts.

As a reward for completing a project, I bought this lovely FQ tower ... At Home by Bonnie & Camille.

Look at all those delicious colours ....

I haven't cut into it yet ... but I do have it out and pet it every now and again .... lol

What have you been up to?

A date with Penelope!

Modern Building Block quilt top finished ... it was time to set a date with Penelope!

My original thought was to use the Good Vibration pantograph designed by Patricia Ritter...

But ... I could not get the curves to look good. The thickness of some of the seams caused my hopping foot to hop somewhere else ... yuck.

So, I did a bit of croaking and resorted to straight lines using my horizontal lock mechanism.

I spaced the rows 3/4 inches apart. It was actually harder than I thought.

In order to keep the lines spaced properly and evenly, I needed to quilt within approximately 12 inches max from the space bar. Otherwise, even though I had marked 3/4 inches from the last line, as I moved the machine head towards the other side of the quilt, the space became more one (1) inch apart. Not sure why that was. It certainly made the machine quilting take a bit more time to complete, especially with using the seam ripper! :o/

The quilt is now totally machine quilted and I do like how it looks.

What's new with you? What projects are you completing?

Catch you all later! Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace!

Cheers!

Focused and determined ...!

Well, the last blocks of Modern Building Block quilt were a challenge. Not sure why, because they were simple blocks. I think by then, I just wanted to get it done.

It took me forrrrrrever to get the half square triangles sewn on in the right direction. I lost count of how many time I used the seam ripper!

I also could not, for the life of me, figure out how to piece it. Thinking I made a cutting mistake, I cut more larger half square triangles ... LOL Yea, an hour later the block was pieced correctly. It was as if my brain just, for whatever reason, could not wrap itself around how the block was constructed.

Oh, and this one, well I way over cut the pieces required!

Anyone need any half square triangles? lol

Finally, once those last two (2) blocks were pieced ... I didn't dare attempt to piece the top. I mean, it would have been seam ripper city here. LOL

I took a small break ... and Voila!

Now, it's time to set a play date with Penelope!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

We're on a roll ....

I have pieced the last of the 48 blocks for the Modern Building Block.

Hurray for me!

Now to get the quilt pieced and ready for Penelope! Focus Carole, Focus!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Plugging away during a heat wave ....!

You're probably tired of reading about our heat wave in the way northeast I can see Canada from my house ... I'm pretty tired of experiencing it myself. It's early morning and already we're at ... 25C

With a high of 33C! Of course add the humidity factor in there and it's friggen hot and muggy! I'm not complaining ... I just want to remember this summer so I can be grateful during our bitter cold winter! lol I am truly thankful for my a/c, which allows me to experience a mild winter hide in my sewing studio and quilt away.

I've been plugging away on the Modern Building Block quilt. I'm hoping to have a pieced top by the end of the week.

Nine (9) blocks pieced with ten (10) more to go ... Guess what I plan on doing today? lol

What are you working on?

Enjoy the day! Catch you all later!

Back to Modern Building Blocks ... !

How are you all doing? Here, I'm just grateful for a/c. We did have a bit of respite from the high heat and humidity ... And so it begins ... back to a freakishly hot summer!

For you Celsius people, actual temperature 32C but it feels like 35C. A summer like this is not normal for us. A couple of weeks ... sure ... not a full summer!

I'm thankful that the evenings are a bit cooler (around 20C) allowing me to actually sleep without the a/c. I like peace and quiet, which you don't get with an a/c.

On the quilting front, I have been tackling the Modern Building Block UFO quilt and have the following done:

These blocks measure 6 inches finished. So far I have 29 out of 48 blocks done ... a bit more to go ... slowly but surely.

So what have you been up to?

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Respite from the heat and humidity ... !

OMG, it's been hotter than ever. I'm soooooo not a heat lover. I much prefer being cold, at least I can put on layers. When it's hot, you can only remove so many layers! lol

For you Celsius people, that's about 22. It's so comfortable ... Nice cool breeze coming in the quilting studio! Haven ....

To get away from the sweltering heat, I have been doing a bit of quilting on the recent pick, you know, off that UFO list ... Modern Building Blocks by Moda. I opened the box and found ...

I had put the box away with a total of six (6) blocks pieced, so I got busy.

After a while, I ran out of pins, not to mention that it looked a tad disorganized ... I decided to start piecing together what I could ... tah dah!

Much more organized, don't you think? And, four new blocks were added.

There are 48 blocks in this quilt. I presently have 24 more blocks to go. 

Guess what I'll be working on today?

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Onward bound .... !

I finished hand stitching the binding on Peace and Unity. What a great feeling to complete a project.

It has been washed and now put away in that special quilt cabinet! Now for the next project on that list!

I decided to work on Modern Building Blocks, a quilt designed by Moda. 

I started this quilt back in February 2015. The few completed blocks have been sitting on the back of my chair, you known, that architect chair that seems to be THE place to accumulate unfinished projects!

This quilt was "suppose" to be Pumpkin's high school graduation quilt, but .... Hey, she'll be graduating from college soon, so it's still a graduation quilt! lol 

Stay cool and hydrated! Catch you all later! Cheers!

A basket case ...!

I have laid the machine appliqueing of baskets aside for a bit before I, myself, turn into a basket case!

In the meantime, I picked up a BOM I started back in January 2014. The quilt is called Civil War: Peace and Unity designed by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith; the last in a series of quilts commemorating the 150th anniversary of the civil war.

Although I had all the 20 (yea you read right) Court House Step blocks done, I sort of put it away not even planning on completing it. I gave up on this quilt!

But, I kept it all in a plastic bin, sort of "in waiting." I even thought of just piecing the court house step blocks into a small quilt top and call it a done deal!

It wasn't until the Shoppe Troll, aka Nancy, completed her quilt and brought it in to show me that I remembered how gorgeous it was. Then, I fell in love with the quilt all over again, vowing to complete the top ... some day!

Well, "some day" came ... I pulled it out and started working away on the twelve (12) different blocks. Voila! The pile of blocks!

Guess what I'm working on today!

Thanks for stopping by little corner in cyberspace!

Wishing you a wonderful day! Cheers!

Focus baby, focus ...!

Well, despite Stella's demands, I've completed hand stitching the binding on the Scrappy Trail quilt.

I love, love, love that binding fabric. The fabric is from Sew Cherry 2 by Lori Holt! It is so perfect for binding.

My next UFO project is called Trick or Treat and is from the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Barb Adams & Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs. The project was started back in May 2010. I know this for a fact because I blogged about it. Certainly NOT because it was listed on my Project 2010 sheet! Oops! Thank goodness for project bins and blogging!

I organized what was in the bin, put on a documentary and busied myself with turning some edges in.

So far, I have 155 basket ready to be machine appliqued.

I need 291 basket blocks! I better get quilting!

I sense that this will not me a quick quilt to get done. But ... it will be stunning when it is pieced and machine quilted.

So, what are you up to these days? What project are you working on?

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

In the meantime ...!

Thank you to all those who offered their opinion on the completion of Pick a Peck of Pretty Patches quilt.

As I think about my options, I continued working on hand stitching the binding on Wish Upon a Star.

It is now fully completed! Yeah!

As for my next quilting UFO, I was looking at my 2017 project list and couldn't believe how little quilting I did. Despite the few numbers of projects started, there were not many completed.

I usually average 29 projects a year. In 2017, I started nine (9), which is unusual and ... to have so many unfinished! Not a good statistic! Oh well!

Moving forward, I decided to pick up Scrappy Trails a pattern from Lori Holt, which is published in her Scrappy Project Planner. 

I started this quilt back in March, 2017. The blocks were all done, it was just a matter of piecing the quilt top. Ta dah!

It is such a happy quilt! It has since been machine quilted and I'm presently working on hand stitching the binding ... A task that is now becoming challenging!

Oh well! Challenges are good ... sometimes! ;)

Thanks for stopping by my littler corner in cyberspace! Catch you all later! Cheers!

The mistaken quilt UFO ...

I originally blogged about this quilt back in February 2007 when I first joined Stashbusters and it is still not completed!

Here is the original photo of the quilt top. Our handsome model is the late Mr. Bud.

The quilt pattern is called Pick A Peck of Pretty Patches and is from McCall"s Quilting magazine October 1999 issue. This quilt was started sometime in 2002 and completed in 2003.

The main reason why it has not been fully completed is that I have more than half of the main blocks hand quilted.

Sadly, this was at a time when my knowledge on batting was none existent. I used Warm & Natural! Now, don't get me wrong, I do like Warm & Natural but NOT for hand quilting. Today, I would choose differently!

The issue is: How do I complete this project without doing a lot of hand quilting?

I am thinking of just loading the quilt on Penelope (my longarm) and cross hatching the nine patches using the white squares. This would stabilize the smaller rectangles in between the nine patch blocks. Hum ... what would I do in the larger rectangles?

As for the main blocks, I guess I could bite the bullet and just continue with the hand quilting. I certainly do not want to tear out the stitches! For the record, I did consider it and decided it was insane ... that's a lot of hand work! Besides, I'd like to give historians something to debate! ;)

What are your thoughts on how I should complete the quilt top? Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by and assisting me with the custom machine quilting on this quilt top!

Cheers!