Finished and Gifted Quilts

A photo post:

Just Do It!

I'm overtly stealing from Nike here. This quilt was a lesson in "stop thinking so much and just do it".

I struggled a lot with how to quilt this baby. I don't know why. In the end, I'm really happy with my results - I also started reminding myself that this is a gift for a 5 year old - what she is most concerned about is whether there is enough purple - not how great the quilting is.

All my fussing was worth it. I took my first foray into feathers and I'm pleased with my results. I want to practice lots more and my confidence has a good foundation.

Here are some close up shots of quilting

It is actually bound and ready to go. I can't get any photos yet - it's way too hot to be lugging around a quilt. I'll get a few though and post them.

The label:

And an oil update - there were 2 possible spots I marked and treated for oil. Here is what I see now...

...nothing. The oil is gone or so lightweight that it hasn't left a mark, or the baking soda worked, or it was just water and not oil that dripped. I've breathed a sigh of relief.

Now I'm trying to quilt the quilt for my cousin. It's huge and heavy and slow going. Wish me luck.

Quilting Decisions

Last summer I pieced this purple swoon quilt when my quilty friends and I decided to do a "swoon-a-long". They all looked different and it was nice to all be making the same thing. Mine is a gift for my cousin's daughter - to welcome her to the family. She's 5 now, but that's inconsequential.

I'm struggling with quilting this one, in a way I've never struggled with quilting before. I don't know if it's such large spaces, or so much solid space (where the thread really shows) or I'm just in a funk. I looked online for ideas and found some I liked, but when I tried them on my quilt I didn't like them. For the solids I used 2 stencils in my collection. I marked them with a frixion pen and ironed them out - I'm happy with that. I finished that part and now I'm onto the cream part.

My first idea was loop-de-loops.

I don't like them - not loopy enough I think. So I ripped them out and tried again.

I did a split triangle but it had too many pieces - but I liked the idea. I settled on this for the triangles:

I like this much better. I did make myself a stencil and I'm tracing my lines - on this quilt for some reason I feel I must have straight lines and accurate quilting. I've no idea why I feel this way, but I do.

This quilt also has a deadline of Sun Aug 2 - I'm confident I'll get finished, especially since it's going to get hot here again so I'll hide in my house with the fans and a/c and quilt.

It Is Hot! and other odds and ends

We've finally got a heat wave here in southern Ontario - I wasn't looking for one, but here it is. It is almost too hot to sew - almost, but not entirely.

I took these photos much earlier this week, then got sidetracked and now I'm going to get them posted.

I'm on Instagram as @howmytimeflies. Last week I posted the pillowcases I made for me nieces - here they are again in case you've forgotten (or need cooling off by thinking about cold weather)

All the fabric is by Ann Kelle and I used her name as a hashtag on the post. I was thrilled when she liked them - she is second from the top. 

This week I've been working on quilting the swoon quilt I pieced last summer. It's for my cousin's daughter who is now five. They are home for a bit this summer and I'm trying to finish it so they can take it home on the plane (and I don't have to pay for shipping). I've been using my stencils and a frixion iron off pen. I thought about FMQing it but it's too hot. It's going well - except for the odd bobble (see photo below)

I've been trying out this mat that I borrowed from someone. It's pretty slick and I'm going to invest in one myself. I'd seen them in an Angela Walters Craftsy class and I wanted to try it out before I invested in one (the cheapest I've found is about $35 for an 8" x 11"). It's silicone and sticks to the machine bed with magic of some kind - not static and not glue - maybe its a property of the silicone. It has reduced the drag on the quilt and I'm happy with that. My arms and shoulders and wrists don't get so sore or tight either. One caution - it is more slippery and sometimes the quilting got away from me - see photo above. Here's the product info

I've also made some progress on the wedding quilt for the cousin mentioned above. She's only been married 7 or 8 years now. It's a red and white hunter's star and is actually half pieced already. Here are the remaining pieces in triangles:

And this is the next sewing step. I've actually got some into a square since I took this photo. Stay tuned for more to follow.

Stay cool and keep sewing!

I Am a Negligent Blogger

I have been sewing this summer - just not blogging very much. I actually got into instagram and like it a lot - you can follow me as @howmytimeflies if you're interested.

I went on a quilting retreat last week to QMBH and it was awesome. The facilities are great and I had fun. I worked only on Dear Jane and took a chunk out of what I have left to do. Here's my progress:

I don't know the reference numbers for all of them - some of them had over 45 pieces. I have about 20 to do to get the 169 squares done. There is a big reveal the end of Sept for everyone who started the class. I at least want the centre squares finished for then.

I've also made a bunch of baby shoes for assorted people:

These 5 pair are all size 0-3 months.

And I made a boxy pouch to store my knitting in. It's Riley Blake "Apple of my Eye" - the first fat quarter bundle I ever bought.

I started with this...

And finished with this

It's about 9" long and 4" tall and wide. If I make another one I'll for sure put zipper pull tabs on both ends of the zipper. I'm happy with it and it's the perfect size for knitting projects.

And my friends and I made our own swoon along quilt project for the summer and we're all finished ours. Mine is for the daughter of my cousin. The light isn't great here - it's actually quite purple - and huge so I don't have a floor space big enough that is lit very well to show the true colours.

Soon it's back to school time and there will be a significant decrease in the amount of spare time I have to sew. I'm  going to try to get as much done as possible before then and I'll keep you posted.

Design Wall (and Floor) Monday

Here's an update on what I'm working (and not working) on.

These pieces make up three
more swoon blocks. My friends and I are doing a swoon-along this summer and all our fabric choices are different. Mine is a gift for my cousin's daughter. All my blocks will be the same. After I made the first three one at a time, I decided I'd had enough of that and was going to start chain piecing to go faster. It sort of defeats the purpose of a swoon-along, but then I decided I really needed to finish something this summer so went ahead. Also, my sewing friends might just be competitive enough that it will motivate them to keep going.

Here are the three blocks I have finished. They are huge - 24" finished - and they only place there is room to lay them out - barely - is on the floor.

On my actual design wall is my Dear Jane. These are rows D and E. I an woefully behind where I should be according to the schedule set by the teacher. This is definitely my next project.

I'm linking up to Patchworktimes - go over to see what everyone else is up to.

I Should Sew Something or Something

I'm a high school teacher so I get the summers off.  Some people think it must be really nice to have the summer off - don't get me wrong, it is - but sometimes I get a little lost and don't know what to do with myself. Personally I'd rather have a more balanced timetable throughout the year, but that's a topic for another day.

I had one of those days this past week.  I felt a little lost for a day - probably because I had nothing planned for the day.

So I thought I should sew. But I was paralyzed with all the possibilities.  I think I puttered the entire day away without doing anything productive.

The rest of the week went better.

On Thursday I stopped at a fairly local quilt shop that was involved in a shop hop I'm trying to do - the second prize is a suitcase full of Aurifil thread and I have my eye on that. I wasn't intending to buy fabric, then I saw these awesome fabrics which would be perfect for baby shoes.

Today I worked on my swoonalong blocks. A bunch of friends and I are all making swoon blocks together this summer. I feel like I need to get something accomplished so I'm sewing ahead. All my blocks will be the same and I'm only making 6. Today I finished chain piecing all the HSTs and flying geese for my remaining 3 blocks. I'll try to sew them into blocks tomorrow.

My lost feeling is gone and I've set some goals for myself - including cleaning up my office - who wants to do housework though when there is sewing to be done instead.

A Perfect Vacation Day

One of my favourite things to do is go fabric shopping and have a nice lunch. That's what I did today when I headed to the fabric district in Hamilton to hit a few shops.

I started with a drapery store (US Textiles) to get more fabric to match my drapes so that I can finish the cushion covers for the couch. Mission accomplished! Since I bought the drapery fabric last spring, I'm very lucky they still had any left in stock. It was my lucky day because they had some in stock (which I knew since I'd called ahead) AND I bought a remnant piece so got 1 3/4 yards for the price of 1 1/4 (which is what I needed). SCORE!

Then I shopped around a bit. There are several antique shops in the fabric district and there are a few galleries that carry unique art pieces.

I found these - it's an iron set - 3 bases and one handle. They were priced so well that I snapped them up. I want to decorate my sewing room with vintage sewing notions/pieces and I already own a 1902 Singer that belonged to my great grandmother and I picked up a giant pair of tailor's shears last summer.

I had two goals for the day - drapery fabric and getting a bra fitting. I like to sew my own and I took a course several years ago from Bra Maker's Supply. I learned a lot in the course, but have forgotten a lot since I don't make that many. It's really hard to fit yourself so I go in every now and then to see the owner - she knows everything there is to know about bra making. I picked up this very nice lace to use at some time. I also got fit too.

My final score of the day is that I found Pansy in Kona Cotton - I need some to finish the Swoon-along I'm doing with friends this summer. The store I originally bought it from didn't have any but I found some at European Textiles for a great price and I won't have to pay shipping either.

To finish the day I had lunch at a cute retro diner called Auntie Boom's. It was tasty - nothing like a good BLT on a summer's day.

To me, a perfect vacation day!