Sister's Choice Quilts

Summer Breeze Finished

This is my finished Summer Breeze mini quilt. How cute is that ribbon border? It was an easy and fun pattern. The only thing you have to get right is a dark and a light green so you have the contrast of light and dark for the ribbon border. 

Carried Away patterns are really nicely done. I highly recommend them. I am so pleased with this one.

Thanks for yesterday's dialog about flying geese techniques. I was totally remiss for not mentioning Monique Dillard's "Fit to be Geese" rulers. They are a great price and you get multiple sizes in one ruler.  I prefer the Mini size. I actually ordered some Triangles on a Roll papers to try them out. I have been using Star Singles triangle papers that I get from Shabby Fabrics, for the times that I want to use papers. They were introduced to me when I took a class from Paula Barnes from Red Crinoline Quilts years ago.  They are just fine, but it will be interesting to see how they compare to the ones on a roll.

Eva went to class in person yesterday at her charter school. She was so excited to go and see her teacher and her five classmates in real life. It appears she will continue to go on Wednesdays until school ends for the year.

As to my COVID vaccine reaction....I had none. Nada. Not even a sore arm when I woke up Wednesday. 

The weekend is in sight!

Album Block Runner

Ah, what a treat it is to be able to just stay home and sew. I am making the most of this week, that is for sure. I had purchased a honey bun of At Home by Bonnie and Camille that I wanted to make use of. I needed to find a pattern that used 1 1/2 inch strips, and this Album block from the Summer Moon quilt book by Carrie Nelson works great.

My blocks are 6 inches square, which is probably my favorite size for a quilt block. They are a bit time-consuming to make, not sure why. Maybe it's the 29 pieces in each block? My plan is to make a table runner with 10 or 12 blocks. I will get a few more made and see what it looks like for size.

The block looks trickier than it really is. You sew rectangles together to form the block, then use your square ruler to trim it down to 6 1/2 inches.

I like the clean, peaceful look of the blocks so far. I am using Kona Snow for the background. I have loved that solid for going on 20 years. It is one of the best whites ever. It has just a touch of creaminess to it, so it isn't blindingly white, yet not too yellow either. 

To entertain myself while sewing, I have been watching old Fatquartershop YouTube videos. Oh my goodness, is that dangerous. I watched all of the tutorials on how to make the Summer Moon sew along from several years ago, and now I want to make that quilt. Today I watched a video from over a year ago where Kimberly was talking about the Bloomtopia sew along using a fabric line by Sherri & Chelsi called Summer Sweet, which I am sorry to have missed out on. I swear everything I watch I want to make or buy. I had better stick to audiobooks I think!

Summer Breeze Coming Along Nicely

I am really pleased with how my little Summer Breeze mini quilt is coming along. The center is all done, and I am just waiting on some more green fabric to arrive for the ribbon border. I am going to love having this out all spring and summer. Those colors make me so happy. 

The center "flower" block is 8 1/2" unfinished. You don't see 8-inch blocks all that often, and I really like the look of it. The Moda BlockHeads 3 quilt has some 8-inch blocks in it, and I have one that I made that I am not wild about. As soon as I get more of that background fabric I need, I may just re-make the ugly block with that center block above.

It has been fun having so much free time this week. While I have worked on the project above, I've been listening to a fun book. "Good Eggs" by Rebecca Hardiman. It is about three generations of an Irish family that is going through some tough times. Grandma Mimi is getting a bit batty, daughter Aideen is getting into a slew of trouble at school, and dad Kevin is making some really poor decisions. It is pretty hilarious and has made me laugh out loud several times. The Irish accents and points of view are really well done. I am really enjoying it, and recommend it with the caveat that there is some salty language.

Goodbye March!!

Fancy Summer Breeze

Isn't this pull of fabric happy? It is a combination of Lori Holt's "Prim" and "Flea Market", Corey Yoder's "Spring Brook", and Lily Ashbury's "Fancy". I think Lily Ashbury was ahead of her time with those fun bright-hued fabrics. They are hugely popular now with designers such as Lori Holt and April Rosenthal putting out two or more collections a year.

My Lily Ashbury fabrics are several years old and were pulled out of my "Happy Fabrics" bin for a new project I have in mind. 

How cute is this pattern "Summer Breeze" by Carried Away? That border is wonderful. It is a mini quilt, only 26" square. I have enough fabric to make six of these quilts, I swear. I will just be dipping my toe into it. I sure do love shopping from home!

Here is my first little test pinwheel block. I think I love it.

What prompted this new project, when I have six UFOs in process?

Well, I was trying to get out some springy table toppers/runners to decorate for Easter, and was sorely disappointed in my lack of them. I had plenty of fall decor, but not much cheerful, light and appropriate for this time of year and going forward. These rich, color-saturated colors are perfect.

Please somebody tell me I have enough fall-colored quilts. And for heaven's sake, if I start yet another red and white quilt, somebody call the quilt police.

Hallo Harvest Runner on the Table

Here she is, on the dining room table. "Night Flight" by Basic Grey. If any of you were lucky enough to get some of the Hallo Harvest fabric by Basic Grey when it was available, you should pat yourselves on the back. What a fun collection. I bought a kit for an entire quilt, and plan to divide up the leftovers and use it in smaller projects.

I don't have a lot of content for you this week, as I am planning a little getaway with my husband and granddaughter. Since we are homeschooling, we are just going to spirit Eva away with us so she won't miss a lesson. We are going up to our condominium at Lake Tahoe for a week, which we are calling a field trip. Luckily her parents have endorsed this excursion, so we won't have to resort to kidnapping!

I have a funny Eva story to share. She has grown like a weed over the past few months and every single item in her wardrobe is too small. She is nine years old and her clothes are all size 7-8. A major wardrobe overhaul with clothing in size 10 is definitely in order. When Eva arrived at our house yesterday for "school", she had on a pair of jeans that were skin tight and did not quite cover the entirety of her bottom.  She looked a bit like a 9-year-old plumber. Grandpa Denny asked her, "Honey, don't you think those pants are too small"? Eva replied, "No, Denny, I think my pants are ok.  It's just that my shirt's too short".

We are still laughing. You can be sure Target is getting a big order from me for some girl's clothes in size 10.

Cupcake Papers Quilt

Oh my, I am in love with this!  These blocks are made with Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. Cupcake Mix Foundation Papers #1. What you see above is 16 blocks made with the papers and a charm pack of "Late Bloomers" by Sandy Gervais for Moda.

I have loved the experience of paper piecing, and working with this vintage fabric collection has been a blast.  Sure wish I had some extra for a border. I have played around with block placement and have not decided if I want a small square table topper as shown above, or a longer runner.

I dunno, what do you think? Square or rectangle?  I could use either shape for a table topper.

There are a lot of new projects in the works over here at Sister's Choice. A good amount of fabric starching has been going on, and you know what that means....

I currently have more projects than I can shake a stick at, so I should probably take on another sew-along, right?  Yes!

Shine Bright Runner

It's almost September, so a Christmas project is in order, don't you think? This is Shine Bright, a pattern by Kansas Troubles. Lynn Hagemeir has been the designer behind Kansas Trouble Quilts for over 25 years, and I think I have admired her that entire time. I love her pure color palette, her crisp designs, and her style in general. I gather that she is a lovely person and hope she keeps designing for at least another 25 years. I always admire it so when a person discovers their style and sticks with it unwaveringly.

Shine Bright is a jelly roll friendly pattern, although I had yardage and cut my own strips.  Her pattern is for a 64" x 70" quilt, but I scaled down and made a table runner.  I am really pleased with how it turned out and think it will look amazing on my dining table with a Christmas floral arrangement in the middle of it. You must check out Lynn's website, as she is offering the pattern, plus an entire kit, and a variation kit featuring Americana colored prints. How cute would that be?

Did you have a good weekend?  I am feeling a bit confused as to what day it even is. My days are either days when I am teaching Eva or days when I am not.  I know it was the weekend because she wasn't here.

It feels good to wrap up the month of August.  It is typically my least favorite month, with the heat and dryness we have where I live. And those terrible fires we had this month will not be soon forgotten. Cooler days are ahead, but I am sad because if things were not impacted by COVID-19, we would be leaving for Ireland to visit our son Ahren this coming week. How I miss him.

I am working on my August book review post.  I finished eight books this month, one of which was exceptional, and some of which were surprisingly good. You might really enjoy them too.

Talk to you tomorrow.  Hope all is well with you.

Lots of Sewing Going On

I am so excited about how well this table runner turned out!  It is called Sunflower Duet, and is from the book The Big Book of Table Toppers.  The design is by Lynn Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilts. I highly recommend the book, which is chock full of great patterns for small table quilts.

The applique could not have been easier.  Nice simple shapes that went together with no issues.  The interfacing I like to use is Heat 'n' Bond Lite, which is actually available at Walmart, Joann, Amazon and other places.  It is double-sided and inexpensive and I never have any issues with it.  A reader recently asked me what I used, and I am sorry to say I neglected to reply directly.  I try to answer questions right away in an email, but this time it involved going upstairs to check and I put it off and then forgot!

It was a blessedly quiet weekend, so I got in lots of sewing and some reading.  Nothing much on the agenda for the week either.  Eva's birthday is the highlight of the week.  My girl turns nine years old, can you believe it?  My goodness, how time does fly.

Here we are nine years ago.  Sara had a long difficult labor, with little Eva being born "sunny side up" (posterior position).  Can you tell it was one of the happiest days of my life? Clearly I had eyes for nothing else. That child has been a ray of sunshine from July 27, 2011 to this minute.

I am not above blackmailing her in the future, however.  I took this on Friday afternoon when she had made the odd request of asking if we could fill her baby pool with water so she could cool off.  What a little goonie bird.

Have an Ohana 4th of July

Our national day of independence, the 4th of July is this Saturday.  If you celebrate, I hope you do so safely and with those you love.  We are having a small family barbeque at Eva's daddy's house.  He is a fantastic cook, so whatever we have will be amazing. 

Eva is with her mommy this weekend, so it will just be our "ohana" family, consisting of my (ex) son-in-law, his new wife, his new mother-in-law, my husband and me (his former in-laws).  This may seem to be an odd coming together of people unless you are familiar with the Hawaiian term "ohana".  Ohana means family, but not necessarily the family you were born into.  Ohana is a very embracing and extensive use of the term "family", it can mean those you are related to, those you adopt, or those who you intentionally include in your family group.

With Ohana, nobody gets left behind, and all are welcome and loved.  Many blessings upon you and whomever you consider your family.

Well, That's Better

I had a much better sewing day yesterday.  I had my husband snap a photo to show that I really can do it.  Excuse the no makeup and funny expression.  This was about the eighth photo he took, as he kept chopping off my head and I was getting impatient with the poor man.

I went back to my Hallo Harvest kit by BasicGrey.  I had bought the kit, which features a quilt with four rows of five blocks each.  I knew I didn't want to make an entire quilt from it, but rather three table runners.  One for me, one for my daughter Sara and one for my (ex) son in-law Ryan (he's the biggest fan of my work).

One row makes a great table runner size.  I didn't measure but if I had to guess I'd say it is about 18 x 48".  I had made three blocks some time back, so it was pretty easy to make two more blocks and get something accomplished that I was happy with.  How about that white bat?  Don't you love it?

Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for all the encouraging words yesterday.  You guys are so great.  What encouragement you gave me!  It made me turn my thinking around about the Hocus Pocus table runner with no contrast.  My daughter Sara says she loves it as it is, so I will have it quilted (with green thread) and hope that once the batting and backing are on it, the look of it will be improved.  Sara works in marketing and says she thinks the photo on the pattern cover was filtered to make the colors look more saturated.  It is commonly done.  Since I used the exact same fabrics as shown on the pattern cover my result should have looked identical to it.  Lesson learned.

Time to get these all sent off to the quilter so I get them back by fall.