Sister's Choice Quilts

Sigh of Relief

I am sighing a big sigh of relief to have gotten three quilts finished this past weekend.  These are going to be wonderful additions to my quilt collection, and I have no excuse for dragging things out so long.  Get them done, get them quilted, and get them on the beds!

The quilt in the picture above is Message in a Bottle, a Miss Rosie's Quilt Company pattern.  I adore the jewel like facets the blocks make when they are set diagonally.  Two super simple basic blocks--pinwheel and square in a square--and when you set them diagonnally and add pieced setting triangles, you get the most complex looking design.  I am thrilled that I finally got this pattern done, and highly recommend it.

Those plain squares sure do suggest some great custom quilting options too!

The designer of the pattern, Carrie Nelson, strongly recommended a mitered border on this quilt.  She suggests that a mitered border is a great look on most diagonally set quilts, an opinion I completely endorse.  However, after my complete failure to get a good looking mitered border on my Long Road Home quilt (pictured yesterday), I was not about to tackle that job again.  Bother.

Last, but not least, here is Hill Country Baskets, another pattern by Bonnie Blue Quilts.  It is a miracle I finished this quilt, because it took forever to line up the right fabrics, forever to make the basket blocks, F.o.r.e.v.e.r to attach the fussy cut lattices, and FOREVER to get up the energy to get the last two borders on.  Something within me persevered however, and I can add this quilt to my DONE!  list.  I think I am changing the name of this quilt to Forever.

Did I mention it is as big as a circus tent?  Yes it is. This will be wonderful on my queen sized bed.

Three Big Finishes!

I had three big finishes this weekend.  I will share one today, and the other two tomorrow.

For some reason, I stall when it comes to getting the borders on my quilts.  I have a big push to get my blocks sewn together, and then completely lose steam (and interest) in seeing things through to the final point--borders.

Long Road Home is pictured above, and wasn't even supposed to have borders. It just looked unfinished to me without them.  Besides, I don't like all those bias edges on the outside of my quilts.  I found the perfect Civil War paisley print in my stash, which undoubtedly was part of a kit I long ago dismantled and didn't get around to using.  The print has a dark brown background, with touches of red and gold and either blue or green.  It worked great with the scrappy fabrics in the Long Road Home blocks, and I was pleased as could be to have discovered it.

I have a guilty confession to make.  I tried to do a mitered border on this quilt and it looked just terrible.  There was too much fabric, and the borders were rumply.  I know I measured right, but that is what happened anyway.  Also, since we are telling the truth here, my miters weren't that great either.  At least the first one I did looked kind of sloppy.  I ended up removing all four borders and reapplying them the regular way.  I feel like a failure, not even being able to do a decent mitered border at this stage of my sewing career, but I'd rather have a flat quilt with borders that don't rumple than have a sloppy miter job.

How about you?  Do you love to do mitered borders?  Any tips for the rest of us who dread them?

 

Drat, Foiled Again

My intention was to get this finished for Sara and give it to her for her birthday Sunday, but as you can plainly see, I failed to accomplish that goal.

Several things went wrong.  Mainly, I discovered that I had made seven of the blocks with a pure white fabric.  The other thirteen blocks appear to have been made with a creamier shade of white.  Both shades of white are noticeabley different from each other.  I have no idea what happened.  The pure white is the better choice I think, as it plays best with the pure pinks and reds in the PamKittyMorning fabric line.

Friends, this is what happens when you abandon a project for a year and then go back to it.  Anything can have gone into that project box, and who knows what you were thinking last year?   I must have had a plan, do ya' think?

Bother.  I ended up with just enough of the pure white to put six blocks together for a table topper.  Luckily there was just enough for the lattice.  My other issue was I didn't have enough of any one fabric to use for a border and binding, which I think this project calls for.   I plan to order some of the red floral print for a border and then I will quilt it myself.  Maybe if I give it to her with a big bouquet of red roses, or a snappy red geranium plant she will forgive me for being late with her gift.  I think it will be pretty darn cute, in a fun retro kind of way.

I can't swear to it, but I think this creamier white yardage the block is sitting on is a good amount of Kona Snow, which at one point I bought by the bolt, since I was using it so much.  In good light, with only one layer of fabric spread out, it is a pretty dead on match with what I used in the remaining 13 blocks.  It looks a bit dark in the photo, but it is about 10 layers of fabric, folded.  It makes sense I would have grabbed for this white when I started the project, since I knew I had tons of it.  How that bright white got in the box, I have no clue. 

Tuck my lesson away in your memory banks so this mistake doesn't happen to you. Whites are not all just white.  There are a thousand different shades of white and they are not at all interchangeable.

Now I am thinking to make a few more blocks with the Kona Snow and end up with a small quilt for Eva.  Maybe 20 blocks all together.  It isn't as if making these adorable blocks isn't fun, and I certainly do have plenty of pink and red left...

Nothing But Plans

I've been having a busy week, that's for sure.  No sewing until today, and I have to tell you I am beginning to panic, I have so many deadlines!  I am spending a few minutes this morning trying to organize my thoughts and get an action plan in motion.

Did you know the Another Year of Schnibbles girls, Sinta and Sherri, are back?  This time their theme is Vintage Schnibbles, which I am thrilled about because there are dozens of Schnibbles I haven't made yet!  This month's choice is Hat Trick, which has universal appeal, because after all, who doesn't love a nine patch?  You can get a pdf of the pattern in an instant here.   I am making mine with a new Sweetwater collection "Noteworthy".  It has all the fresh colors in my spring dishes, so I will have a nice seasonal table topper by the end of the month.

Next on my list is the lattice for Hill Country Baskets.  This is as far as I have gotten, but I do have a plan for cutting.

Next up are five more burp cloths for my niece's baby to be.  That baby is going to be here before we know it, as that girl looks about ready to pop.  I need to get these done and in the mail to her pronto.

Last, and most critical deadline is to get my student's third charity quilt quilted and bound.  Her presentation is coming up like a speeding freight train, and I need to get my part done.  This will be first and foremost on my To Do list.  If I have to burn the midnight oil on this one, so be it.

Now, someone around here is actually getting some work done, and it sure isn't me.  My student was keen to start something new now that her senior project is complete, and we found the perfect thing.  A friend of mine who is "in the business" gifted me with a fat eighth bundle of Urban Chicks new line "Boho", which suits my young friend to a T.   She couldn't wait to get the fabric cut out and get started on her very first quilt for herself!  The pattern is from Camille Roskelley's first book "Simplify", and is called Square One.

Ok, time to stop blogging and get some work done!  Hope your day is as productive as I plan on mine being!

 

 

 

 

My Student's Work

My student is on Spring Break this week, and has been getting in as much sewing time as she can.  She has now finished her third and final charity quilt top for her senior project.  I am just so proud of her.  These fabrics were donated to us, and I am happy to say we made good use of them.  I have been quilting the tops for her, so I need to get busy and do my part so the quilt will be ready for her end of April class presentation.

Since she has finished the work on the projects, she was keen to start a new project of a more personal nature.  Her mom's birthday is coming up and she wants to make her a pretty table runner for the dining room table.

I rummaged around in the stash bins a bit, and found these gorgeous French General remnants.  She has finished the main blocks and you can get the idea of where she is going with this.  Aren't those blues and pinks glorious together?  She had such fun fussy cutting the bird prints to get the block centers just the way she wanted them.  So far, she is pleased, and knows her mom will be over the moon.

A Finish and a Continuation

Long Road Home is off my design wall!  All the rows are stitched together and I am so happy to be able to call this a Finish.  I really do like the homey look of the fabrics.  This will be a great quilt to throw over a chair and to cuddle up under.

I tried to be completely random about the placement of the tan alternate squares.  I like the pattern of light tan and dark tan that emerges.  I am quite satisfied with this effort.

For now it is joining the other finished quilt tops in the pile of quilts To Be Quilted.  I need to focus on finding backings for these and on getting them sent out to quilters!

After all, it isn't a quilt until it's quilted.  By my count there are seven flimsies hanging on this quilt rack.  That is just a crime.  And we won't even look in the cupboard that holds dozens and dozen more.

The quilt project that I have resurrected and is being continued is my Hill Country Basket quilt.  Up on the design wall go my blocks again.

The blocks will be separated by a lattice, but it helps me to get them up on the wall so I can be sure to get the color placement that I like.  And to discover blocks that I have sewn together in a wonky way. 

Seventh row down second block to the right.  Hello?  Did you fall asleep while sewing that one together?

Laying the blocks out on the design wall also shows me what colors I may be short on.  Now I am making more browns and greens.  By the time I finish making all these blocks, I will have enough for two quilts.  Easy.

 

 

Focusing on the Ever Lengthening To Do List

My friend Thelma (Cupcakes 'n' Daisies) is a very focused person.  I love how organized she is, and how she mostly limits herself to working on one project at a time.  She also often gives me pause to think on things in myself I would like to improve.  Make that things in myself I would rather were more like Thelma.

Because you see, even though we are friends, we are very different in our approach to projects.  I tend to have a ton of things going on at once, and I thrive on the creativity and "buzz" I feel when I have multiple things pulling at me simultaneously.  More is more.  However, my sewing space is often a disaster, with project boxes and half started things draped all over the place.  (Witness my recent Scrappy Trips strips hanging off the arm of my rocking chair for lack of any other surface to put them on).

Thelma picks a project, organizes her space and her materials carefully, and embarks upon working on it.  She sticks to it until it is finished.  And ta da, she has beautiful finish after finish.  I want to be like that, and even picked my word of the year to be "Focus".  I am afraid that this leopard may not be able to completely change her spots though.  But you know what?  I am coming to see that there may be a sort of compromise I can come to.  As Thelma said in a recent post "Having a plan and place to execute my plan makes me feel like I am accomplishing something".

Today I spent some time organizing my sewing space and finding proper project boxes for the current things I have in process.  At the very least, the exercise gave me an overview of what all I have in the works.  At least two projects are 95% finished. Truly, maybe it isn't so bad.  If I can at least put the brakes on starting anything new.  My problem is that I get these ideas for smaller projects that I figure I can fit in between the larger ones, and I never seem to be able to say "no" to launching into them.   I believe I have made five or six table toppers recently instead of plodding along with my blinders on sticking to working on my larger projects.

So here is a recap of what I have on my sewing plate.

Long Road Home.  Get those rows sewn together and this baby is done.  Come, on.  I am almost there.

Message in a Bottle.  This quilt top is actually sewn together, I just didn't take a picture.  What I need to do is trim it up and add on some borders.  That won't take long.

Hill Country Baskets.  I just had to set this aside.  I got so weary of making all those endless baskets.  I vow I will finish up my blocks and get this one completed.  It is beginning to weigh on me.  I need to get it out and try to feel the love again.

Red Pineapple.  Scrappy Trips.  These projects are those that I will pick up from time to time and make eight or ten blocks.  In a few months I should have something to show for my work.  Blogger Girls BOM.  I am keeping up with my two blocks a month, but am thinking I should maybe start work on the lattice/alternate blocks so I won't be spending the entire month of May doing that!

Hope this wasn't too boring a post.  It sure helped me see what I have in the works and how I need to be spending my time.  And I am not even going to think of the things I started last summer that are still far from done:  Birdie Stitches, Dresden Plate, Granny Squares...

 

MiaB

I don't have a whole lot to show for myself for all the free days I have had this past weekend.  As you see, about half my Message in a Bottle rows are sewn together.  A more tedious process than  making the blocks, so I have slowed down. 

Work on Long Road Home has commenced, but I don't have a picture to share just yet.

What I have done in the past week is to scramble to see some of the movies that have been nominated for Oscars.  I saw The Sessions with Helen Hunt and John Hawkes.  Well.  All I can say about that is Helen Hunt has a fabulous body and a complete lack of inhibition.  Good acting for sure, but my word.  I also saw Flight with Denzel Washington, which was a real study in addiction.  That movie had me holding my breath for the first half hour or so!  And lastly, my husband and I saw Silver Linings Playbook with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, and enjoyed it.  Great acting on the part of all the cast.  The dialog must have been crazy to learn, as for most of the scenes everyone is talking on top of one another!  Terrible title for the movie--I could not remember it to save my life when I went to buy my ticket.

Anyone else have some movie reviews?  I missed Lincoln when it was at my local theater, darn it.  I may squeeze in Life of Pi sometime this week if I get a chance.

Happy Monday to everyone.

 

 

Shiloh, Finished

Yes, finished at last.  I had a little hiccup in the final moments of this quilt when I discovered the fabric I had planned to use for the outer border had faded.  I found something else that works well, but had to order it online.  Then I went on vacation. 

I cannot wait for this to be quilted and on my bed!

I started this quilt in December 2010.  Really.  This quilt took forever for me to make, mainly because I kept putting it away and starting something else.  Then I moved.  Then I didn't have a studio.  When my sewing space was up and running, this truly was the first quilt I put up on my design wall.  Some things are truly worth seeing through to the end.

The pattern is "Shiloh" by Bonnie Blue Quilts, designed by Paula Barnes.  This quilt actually started out as a kit.  And you know me and kits.  The greens were too dark, there was too much red... I ended up not using most of the fabrics in the kit.  Well, I may have used the lights, but the darks just weren't to my taste.  I had a layer cake on hand called "Arnold's Attic" desgined by Barbara Brackman for Moda.  Boy, am I glad I had that, because adding it into the mix really made this quilt come alive for me.  I loved the lighter greens and the warm browns and delicious rusts and golds.  This quilt has an inner light that shines through--a real sparkle.

It may have taken me awhile, but this quilt is one I am proud to have finished.

 

Tumbler Quilt, Finished

You didn't even know I had started this one, did you?  I made it in just a couple of hours.  Amazing, isn't it?  I could start my own Quilt In A Day show.

Want to know my secret?

The entire quilt center is about the size of a piece of printer paper. Did I fool you?

This was so much fun.  I never thought much of miniature quilts, but that opinion has definitely changed.  A friend sent me 120 precut teensy tumbler pieces, all cut out and ready to sew. So, first off, I didn't even need to cut anything.  The little tumbler blocks are seriously tiny, but how cute they are.

On Wednesday afternoon while my student did some strip piecing for her next project, I started sewing these little cuties together.  I paid no attention to what was next to what (which may be obvious, ahem).  I just sewed.  In no time flat I had the pieces all connected.  I could have made the piece ten blocks by twelve rows, but preferred the symmetry of ten blocks by eleven rows better.

I added a three quarter inch containment border and a two inch finished outer border.  I love it!

I have even machine quilted it, which took no time at all.  My gosh, if you aren't that proud of your machine quilting, just try quilting on a black print.  I am not kidding, the detail does not show at all.  In the photo above, the black fabric is all quilted with loops just like the tumblers.   Can you see it?  Nope!  It will be all puckery when I wash it and no one will be able to see my wobbly stitches. 

By the time you read this, I will have the binding sewn on, and will be using this little quilt under a candle or something.  Fastest quilt I ever made.