Whisper

 A few weeks ago, I decided to make a lap quilt for my sister. She was in the midst of a kitchen renovation. With her open floor plan, that meant new family room furniture, too. I texted her daughter-in-law to get a picture of the new sofa and chair. So sneaky! Anita is a neutral girl. No crazy colors like in my house.

I had a pile of low volume prints still out from the trivet project. I added a few grays and solids and started cutting. In no time, the scrappy trip around the world blocks were done and ready to assemble. Wow, are they fun! 

It was super hot that week, so I needed to carefully move everything from the design floor in the living room to my air conditioned bedroom.

 I knew I wanted to quilt a spiral from the center of the "trip" and go around and around. I put on the walking foot, drew a starting circle and got started. I knew the center would be the toughest part, but I was really struggling moving the quilt along. Guess what? I forgot to re-engage the feed dogs after the free motion class the day before. How embarrassing! It's a little wobbly in the center, but not bad enough to rip out for a quilt that I know will be used and loved and washed often.

 

I tried not to post much of this project to Instagram, because I wanted to keep it a surprise. She did comment on a tight pic of the center quilting that the grays and yellows matched her new chair. Is that so? What a coincidence!

The next lesson I learned was that my needle was too small. I usually use a size 80 with 50 wt thread, but I was all out. I put in a 70 and my thread kept breaking. I was finally good to go after changing to a 90. With the feed dogs engaged!

 

I found the binding in my deep stash. I hope the little sparkle will compliment the mica flecks in her new granite counter tops. The backing should bring together her gray and beige paisley chair and brown leather sofa. Everything came from stash except the backing and batting.

 

Whisper

60" X 72"

Started: July 11, 2016

Top Done July 17, 2016

Quilted: July 23-24, 2016

Bound: July 25, 2016

Burgoyne Surrounded

This recent finish started out as a mystery! My friend, Louise Pankiewicz, taught a mystery workshop at our weekend retreat in March. She's a great teacher and pretty sneaky! Burgoyne Surrounded is a complicated block, and one that I might not choose on my own. It was a brilliant idea to turn it into a mystery. It's not so bad, one step at a time.

 

With all the cutting done in advance, I was able to complete the top in a day.

This is the quilt I was working on when I sliced my thumb with the rotary cutter and ended up in the emergency room. That one drop of blood came out easily with some hydrogen peroxide. I usually trim with scissors after basting. I don't know what made me grab the rotary cutter that night.

 I went to a Modern Quilt Guild meeting in early July and realized I didn't have any completed projects for show & tell. So I came home and quilted this pretty top.

The backing is a beautiful V&Co Simply Color print that I've had for a while. 

 

The binding had to be scrappy. I dug through my bin of leftover bindings and found plenty of blues and greens. I'm happy to have this sweet quilt finished.

If you're curious about the history of Burgoyne Surrounded, click here. I grew up in upstate New York, and I have visited the Saratoga Battlefield several times. It's a beautiful location on the Hudson River.

Burgoyne Surrounded

39" X 57"

Pieced 3/5/16

Basted 4/2/16

Quilted 7/9/16

Bound 7/10/16

Blizzard Blues

For us quilters, a blizzard means we get to stay home and sew! I finished this piece this morning while switching between local news and the weather channel. We were spared the worst of the storm, but there's a decent amount of snow here in southern RI.

Anyway, here is the newly named Blizzard Blues. I would take pictures outside, but it's still too windy.

I might have mentioned here and on Instagram that I found this basket when I was cleaning up after Christmas. My note cracks me up! I stink at mystery quilts, and this is as far as I got with Bonnie Hunter's 2011 mystery Orca Bay.

 I had so much fun playing with these bits and pieces.

I enjoyed quilting this one, too. I did lots of stitching-in-the-ditches which is just tedious. Then I tried a new fill in the squares. Really not perfect, but I like it.

 

The triple swaggy thing in the setting triangles is kind of cool. Three passes (forward, back, forward) meant I could move right from one to the next without stopping.

The circles in the blue border were challenging and not well-executed. They look OK in this pic, but let's not get too close, OK? That combination of straight and serpentine stitches in the outer border will be repeated again someday, maybe in a different combination or spacing.

 

I didn't have a big enough piece of blue for the back, so I added a strip of red at the top and for the sleeve.

 

And there we have it. All from stash with scrappy binding, batting pieced from scraps. This puppy will benefit from blocking. The right side is a little wavy.

Blizzard Blues

Started January 9, 2015

Completed January 27, 2015 during Winter Storm Juno aka Blizzard of '15

40" square

Stash Sorting

 A few months ago, a crew from our guild cleaned out the sewing room of a member who had passed away. She was sweet and kind, and I enjoyed seeing projects that we had worked on together at workshops and retreats.

I'm still sorting through her fabrics and supplies. I did make some progress over the long weekend. I found some UFOs that I wanted to finish, and did. Joan had pieced this Dresden plate, and prepared the center circle. I found more of the floral fabrics, pulled out some of her batting scraps, and completed this sweet wall hanging. Those of us of a certain age will quickly recognize the 90's calicoes!

 This table runner was even easier to finish. The top was already layered with batting and backing, ready to quilt. The runner and Dresden will be sold at a guild auction in July. Why is it easier to finish someone else's UFOs than our own?

I mentioned last week that our guild provides quilts for local Habitat for Humanity homes. This is the pile stored here that is waiting to be quilted. Another member has more at her house. Yikes! It may be time for a machine quilting workshop.

 

There are several single men and teen boys who will need quilts this summer. As I was sorting Joan's stash, I pulled all the manly fabrics and kitted up a few quilts.

In the '"keeping it real" department, this is what my garage still looks like...

I have a deadline to get this all cleared out by the end of the month. Hubby wants to park his car in the garage this winter.

 

Stuff is so overwhelming! I have a new organization plan for this year. I'm focusing on one area of the house each month. It is a relief to walk into a room and realize that I don't have to worry about it yet. I'll get to it later.

UFO's & 9-patches

I did some straightening and cleaning in my sewing room this weekend. Can I even call it that anymore? I never sew down there. It has really become a storage area. Anyway... I found no fewer than 27 (TWENTY-SEVEN!) unfinished projects! I'm a little overwhelmed.

This cleaning all started because my niece is looking to unload my mother's sewing machine cabinet. With a new baby, a toddler, and new dining room furniture, she doesn't have the space for something she doesn't use. So where will I put it? I can't let it go home with a stranger from a consignment shop.


I tidied up the fabric shelves first. (Yes, I know they should be painted. That might be a summer project for a kid who needs cash.) I restacked, removed old fabrics I'll never use, and moved fat quarters and smaller pieces. Next I'll need to figure out how to store them. I'll read through Bonnie's scrap system again and start cutting. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I'm so happy that I signed up soon enough to be part of the twiddletails three by three swap. I might have been one of the last ones to get in. There is so much 9-patchy goodness going on! Have you see this tutorial? It's brilliant!! I made these 2 in about 5 minutes. I think when I start chopping up scraps, I'll make a pile of 4.5" squares.


Pete at bat. His team is not off to a good start, but it's early. He's not thrilled with me crocheting during sporting events. He'll get over it.


Julia went to Hershey, PA with the high school band for a music festival on Friday night. They spent Saturday at Hershey Park and on the way home today, they stopped in NYC to see a show. She sent a couple of texts, so I know she's safe and having fun. I can't wait to have her back home, especially because she's bringing chocolate!

Pete's band is done rehearsing, so it's safe for me to return to the basement. Have a great week!
Tina

Two for Tuesday

I love rock stations that play two songs from each artist on Tuesdays. So, I'm going to try to show you two quilts every Tuesday. The pictures I took this morning are a little dark. It's cloudy today, so I had to use the flash.

Quilt #1: The racecar quilt is done! Yeah!
I almost love it. The only thing I'm still not happy with (after trying a couple of other options and ripping them out) is the quilting in the big white triangles. It probably would have been fine with white thread, but I wanted to try using thread color to match the block. I'm trying to let it go. I'm really proud of the "vroom" quilting in the green border. Overall, I think it's a pretty cool quilt. And big enough for a little boy to grow into, 42" X 62".
Quilt #2: Pete's train quilt.
When Pete moved into a big bed he needed a new quilt. He was a train kid, so I used train fabric on the back. I can't remember exactly what year it was- no label!- so I'm guessing ~1998. Isn't it funny how little boys are into either trains or cars or trucks? I loved the flying geese border.
Here's the photo of my stash that I wanted to show you a few days ago. You might be able to see the bag of dreaded puffs shoved under the white shelf. The stash actually looks better in the pic than in real life. Maybe because you can't see the rest of the room! Someday, I will make the time to re-organize. There are piles of fabric and bags of supplies that need to be put away. Every tote bag I own has stuff in it that should be elsewhere. Someday!

Ciao,
Tina

Stashbusting

I have taken the Stash Buster's Pledge for 2009. My personal goal is to use twice as much fabric as I purchase this year. As you can see on the sidebar, I'm just barely keeping up so far. I'm not sure when to count yards used. When it's cut? Top done? Quilt done? I'm going with top done, backing pieced, or binding made. So the racecar quilt has been counted, eventhough it has not been quilted yet. Judy, thanks for the inspiration!

I've only made a couple of trips to my local quilt shops and tried to stick to the necessities. On the first trip, Julia needed thread to quilt her boyfriend's quilt and I let her pick up some Kaffes. We just cannot resist when we're together. My sister wanted to thank me for some sewing I did for her art-student son. Here's what I picked out from eQuilter, my favorite online store. Isn't it gorgeous? I'll be making a quilt for our bed as an anniversary gift for Bill. Thanks, Anita!

I wanted to show you my stash, but iPhoto doesn't want you to see it today. I'll show you today's "before" picture in a few months, when my stash is smaller and neater.

I'm off to finally put away the remnants of Christmas decorations and do some flinging in the storage room. The whole house is a disaster. I need to get back on Flylady's list. She'll help me tame the chaos, 15 minutes at a time.

Ciao,
Tina