How bad do I want finish #10 in January? Pretty bad! I have 3 1/2 rounds left to quilt, then trim the edges and sew on the facings like I have done on the other 4 Wonky quilts in this series. I don't have any other plans for today at this point so I think I will make it. A snow storm is supposed to start in the late afternoon/early evening.
I unpicked a few more loops at the proper places to continue the design on this TAW.
I sewed the binding on this triangle quilt and finished it with a zig zag stitch by machine. This was made from a random assortment of triangles sewn into squares and then fun at the design wall. It finished at about 41" x 54" so it will be a baby or lap quilt.
If the recipient can't stand all of the color on the front, the back is nice and soothing.
I'm not going to try for 4 more finishes in the last 10 days of January. I think I will be happy to have a total of 10 finishes instead of 12. I quilted this baby/lap quilt with a large meander. I have trimmed the quilt and cut the binding but didn't sew it on yet. I will do the binding all by machine this time.
I basted the last of the 5 Wonky series quilts. I will quilt it on my straight stitch machine, ditch quilting.
Today is the twice monthly sewing group so I'll work on the flannel quilt that I started piecing last time and start quilting this one when I get home.
The crunchy ice melted off the driveway by 10:30 yesterday morning. I figured it was better to be safe than sorry and reschedule the class.
I rearranged the blocks on the Hunter Star and thought it might be the final layout. Then I got an email that I had won a giveaway and I'm wondering if some of those fabrics might look good with this so I'll wait until I get them before I sew it together.
I made new curtains for my 1953 pink bathroom. It is a flesh pink so the curtain leans toward pale coral. 2 1/2 years procrastination, 55 minutes pressing, cutting and sewing them.
Two of last year's Amaryllis bulbs have buds on them. I didn't even put them outside last summer. They were in the garage the whole time. I brought them in and started watering them about 6 weeks ago. I have 3 others from last year or previous years and they are just leaves so far.
I didn't have anything ready to sew last night so I tore papers out of these pieces. I know you are supposed to sew the pieces together first and then tear the paper out but I have success this way. Here is a photo of all of the blocks. I was happy to see I had taken a picture of the whole layout since I didn't know how any of these pieces go back up on the wall.
I cleaned and straightened the house yesterday and then I had to cancel today's class because it is icy out, lots of cars sliding around and freezing rain.
A friend went to London and sent me some new Liberty Lawn fabrics. I just love them and will mix them in with my others today.
I made 2 more blocks yesterday and then took those and the three from the day before down to the design wall. I just needed one more block so I chose fabrics and sewed that one last night.
Here are all 20 of the 12" blocks. It would be 48" x 60" at this point. I'm a little tired of the turquoise and rose/burgundy/rust combination so I might stop here. First I have to decide if any of the blocks are not working and need replacing. Also I need to move a few to different spots.
They are talking snow again for today so I might have to spend some time shoveling. The part 2 of my TAW class is supposed to be tomorrow so I also need to clean the basement.
I had too many things to do yesterday so I just got three blocks sewn. I didn't try them up with the rest of the blocks yet. Snow predicted for today but they keep changing the forecast so I'm not sure if it will be shovel or broom to clear the porch.
I have 14 Hunter Star blocks sewn and fabrics chosen for 6 more.
I also inventoried all of my quilt tops waiting in line for quilting. I needed to measure some and staple a little note with the size written on it on the corner of the quilt top. That saves a lot of time when I'm ready to look for backing and batting pieces.
I sewed two more stratas for this TAW quilt and then decided what my center is so I can unpick more loops. I won't do too much more on this one until my February class starts.
My new project is Hunter Star. I have the die to cut the pieces and had only made a sample block up to this point. Turquoise has never been a favorite color and I'm beginning to enjoy it so I'm using my turquoise batiks in this quilt.
I sewed a bunch more quarter blocks last night while watching Netflix. I'll get them pressed and assembled into blocks today. I think this will be a small quilt, probably 20 blocks.
Here is my late bloomer. I bought this bulb at the same time as the one that bloomed in December and planted them at the same time. I had just about given up on this one and then 2 flower stalks started growing. I have buds forming on my orange cactus. The cacti aren't blooming as much as last year I have just one or 2 buds on a couple red ones.
My plan was to finish a lot of the small pieces first this year to get the number of quilt tops reduced faster. This piece is a little under 21" square and was finished last night.
During the day yesterday I helped a friend baste a quilt on my big tables. Lots of good conversation too.
This closeup shows the binding fabric better.
That is 8 finishes; 4 in the first 10 days, 4 in the next 11 days. I'm hoping to finish 4 more in the last 10 days. I have started a new project which I'll show tomorrow.
I have had 4 busy days, so not many words today. Here are the quilt starts from the class yesterday
I finished the binding on the X and + quilt while I watched TV last night. I LOVE this quilt! I was explaining to my art quilting group that each block is a project in itself for this quilt. You don't plan the whole quilt; you plan each block and when you have enough of them made you lay them out in a pleasing arrangement.
I have a piece of a Kaffe Fassett green print inserted across the backing of a Jane Sassaman print.
Two of the art quilters brought their finished trip around the world quilt tops.
This is the center of the one above.
The rail of my quilting machine is in the way to see the whole quilt from this angle but this photo showed the African fabrics the best.
Here is the full view. I thought the students from my 2 classes might like to see some alternate fabric choices. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing or making this quilt pattern.
Yesterday was the first birthday party for my great grandson. He was a little overwhelmed with the gifts, liked the cards and the lid to a plastic storage bin a lot. He was napping at the beginning of the party so he was in good humor for the rest of the time. I took 109 photos and haven't processed most of them yet on the computer.
His aunt baked his birthday cake which he enjoyed immensely. I wonder if the sugar buzz has worn off yet!
Today the art quilters group is coming so I baked 2 batches of cookies yesterday and finished straightening the basement at 11:30 last night.
I have just a little bit of interior quilting to do on this quilt so I trimmed the edge, cut the binding and sewed it on and am about 3/4 done with the hand sewing. I'm sure most people would have chosen a nice quiet solid color for the binding but not me. I decided both the front and back are loud and busy so why not use a busy print for the binding. I like it and I guess that is what counts.
I didn't take a photo of the chocolate cupcakes - my granddaughter picked them up. She was baking the white cupcakes and then making the frosting for all of them at her house. I mixed the 2 batches of cookie dough for Monday and then I had time free to sew another strata for the trip around the world quilt that I need for a demo on Tuesday. Tonight my great grandson will be baptized.
I wasn't sure I would do much quilting on this X and + quilt yesterday. I decided to just do a couple lines but once I started though I got about 2/3 of it quilted.
I am just ditch quilting it because I want the focus to be on the fabrics, not the quilting. I'm using a raspberry variegated Superior King Tut thread and it is blending in most places.
Last night I baked 2 batches of Spritz cookies for the birthday party Sunday. Today I will bake the chocolate cupcakes and then mix the dough for the 2 batches of cookies for Monday and Tuesday.
I spent a good part of December putting borders on quilt tops that had been waiting for their finish. This is one more that needed a border. It is the mini Soul Searching (from Kathy Doughty's book). I had the leftover 1.5" wide strips in my main floor studio for over a month so yesterday was the day to tackle it.
This is one border of 3 rows added to the top of the piece.
Now I have both borders sewn on and this piece is about 42" square. Here is the post where I showed the whole top before the borders were added.
Now I have to decide which 2 other pieces to finish before the 20th (second 10 days in January). Since the art quilters are coming Monday and my TAW class is Tuesday, I only have until the 18th. Since there are 31 days in January maybe I can steal the extra day and tack it onto this group of 10. Also fit in there cleaning the basement, baking 2 batches of cookies and sewing another strata for demonstration purposes, my great grandson's baptism and first birthday party (for which I'm helping my granddaughter with the cupcakes).
For my 4 finishes in the second 10 days of January I decided to work on the smallest pieces needing finishing first. This colorwash is about 19.5" square. I got it quilted and bound yesterday. I used a brown diagonal patterned fabric for the binding.
Next I sewed the binding on this Wonky Pinwheels baby quilt and did the hand sewing while I watched TV last night. It ended up 35.5" x 44.5".
The back is a splatter print and it really doesn't show up much here so I took a close up shot of it too.
I have had this fabric for at least 15 years. It is perfect for this quilt. There was a nice width strip that I trimmed off so I cut that into 4" finished triangles with my Studio cutter.
This is the baby quilt I prepared for quilting on Sunday. It is only about 37" x 45". I did a medium size meander so loading, quilting and trimming took about an hour.
I couldn't decide which color to use for binding so I chose a stripe with lots of colors. I usually machine finish the binding on baby quilts but I think I'll hand stitch this one.
I got the bobbins wound, the straight stitch machine threaded so I'm ready to start quilting the X and + quilt today.
I finished this top in March 2013 so it is time to finish it. I basted it yesterday and will quilt it on my straight stitch machine.
I also chose a backing for a baby quilt and pressed it. I have it hanging over the bar on my longarm and will probably load it today.
I'm thinking about making a Trip Around the World with the 30s reproduction fabrics. The solid colors aren't the authentic ones, just some that I have on hand that are close enough. It was a snowy day yesterday so it was a good day to work on quilts.
I finished the hand sewing on the binding late yesterday afternoon on this Stack and Slash quilt, the 4th finish in 10 days! It is 62" x 76".
I am going to try to remember to show the backing on every quilt this year. That is as far as I will go with New Year's resolutions.
Here is a better shot of the quilting. The wavy lines go the long way on the quilt, top to bottom.
I had the most wonderful day yesterday. A friend who I used to see a lot in the 1990s and her husband who I met on Bee night at her house over 20 years ago drove out to Sandwich. It was so good to see them again. I showed her lots of quilts and my work spaces. She brought 2 quilts to show me too, one of them is here. She also brought me this box of candy. It is the most delicious chocolate I have had in a long time. I started on the ones with the crunchy dots and then I noticed another layer underneath with letters on top of each piece. There is a little guide inserted in the box to tell what flavor each letter represents. I love that, no surprises!
