QOV for Leo

How long does it take to make a quilt you aren't working on? Oh, about 7 years! 

This quilt had to ripen for a long time. I guess it was waiting for the right recipient. I started it as a class sample in 2008. The lattice pattern is from a book by Nancy Brennan Daniel called "Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em." It is a variation of a disappearing 9-patch.

A few weeks ago, a friend was cleaning out her sewing room and found her unfinished Quilts of Valor. I suggested that we both try to finish one by July 4th. She finished quilting hers on Friday night and was on the hunt for some binding.

I really enjoyed quilting this one. I wanted stars in the blue squares, and meandered around from one to the next. The inner blue border is quilted with "USA" over and over. 

The backing is a great flag print that I bought on sale at least a year ago.

This QOV will be presented to Leo, a WWII veteran and my coworker's dad. I hope it will bring him some comfort following a recent stroke.

Lattice Quilt of Valor

52" X 68"

Started 2008

Completed 6/24/15

Gifts for Priests

 I promised you more pictures of the liturgical stole I made a few weeks ago. Our assistant pastor had seen some quilted stoles and asked if I could make one for him. He was celebrating his 5th anniversary and moving to a new assignment, so I was happy to oblige.

He wanted a blue stole to wear for baptisms. I've been excited about gradations of color lately, so I tried it here. This pattern was actually plan B. My first design was too fussy and the colors weren't working. This simple design with 1.5 X 5" cut rectangles came together quickly and I like the effect.

I quilted it with a light cotton batting and variegated thread, but I probably should have used an interfacing instead to keep it lighter. Father Joe gave me one of his stoles to use as a pattern. He likes the way this shape sits on his shoulders.

 

Yeah, I sewed the label on upside-down. Oops! I fixed it before I wrapped it.

 

The next event at our church was a 50th anniversary celebration for our pastor emeritus. I had been thinking about embroidering monograms on handkerchiefs for years. I knew I wanted to make something for Father Nick that he could use, and this seemed like the perfect gift. I know he always has a hanky in his pocket. (Yes, Fr. Joe, you need some, too. Christmas is coming!)

I have plans to make a couple more stoles. My cousin is a priest and will celebrate his 25th anniversary next year. And now I have a list of men to embroider handkerchiefs for.

Mrs. Chapman's UFO's

 About a month ago, Julia and I picked up a large donation of fabric from Mrs. Chapman. She heard that our guild makes quilts for Habitat for Humanity and she wanted her unused stash to be used for a good cause. Fast forward to last week when some guild friends came over to help me sort through our recent donations and to reassess our previous stash. 

In the middle of all the fabric, we found quite a few (more than a dozen?) unfinished projects. We each took a few that we thought we could finish. The rest will be offered to other guild members at the next meeting. Here are the projects I've been playing with...

There was a small pile of half-hexies that were pieced from a wide striped fabric. Rather than sewing them together into full hexagons, I had fun rearranging and combining them with solids from the stash. It was a good exercise in color and design. I found the perfect narrow stripe for the border in my own stash. This will be a sweet baby quilt someday.

There were just 10 half square triangles made from the same wide stripe. Now there is another placemat in the donation pile for Meals on Wheels.

This animal print top was almost complete. I pieced together the outer border from leftover fabric that looked like swiss cheese! It looked like she had done some fussy cutting for another project. Backing and binding fabric also came out of her stash, so this is waiting to be quilted, too.

My favorite UFO was a small pile of pieced butterflies. There were some spare parts and additional sandy fabric for the background, so it took no time at all to assemble the top. The fern border print came out of my deep stash.

The butterfly wings were cut from mirror images of the print. Isn't that nifty? If anyone knows the source of the pattern, please let me know. I didn't find it with a quick google image search.

I accidentally pieced in one of the butterflies upside down. Oops! 

I had so much fun quilting this little quilt. It took me a while to find a binding. This one is just OK. The backing was also deep stash. 

This one will go to the Adirondacks with us when we visit Julia at the Wild Center. They can hang it in their offices or sell it to raise funds.

Butterfly Wall Hanging

27" X 37"

Started by Mrs. Chapman at least 15 years ago

Completed by me 6/22/15

WIP Wednesday

 I only have a few minutes, so I'll quickly report on three finishes this week.

These fabric boxes will be filled with graduation gifts for my friend's daughter and her friends. If you haven't tried making one yet, check out my tutorial here.

I stitched the label onto the graduation quilt today. Here's a peek at the back. Full reveal after it has been gifted.

And the liturgical stole is done, too. This design was actually plan B. More pics soon.

All deadlines have been met, so I can start sewing for fun soon. That's not to say that these projects weren't fun, but you know what I mean.

WIP Wednesday

 Hello, everyone! I'm still here, just not sewing very much these days. My part-time job is going well. I don't know how people find time to quilt after working full-time. This job thing is really cramping my quilty style!

I needed to buckle down last weekend and make progress on this Stacked Squares graduation quilt for a friend. I picked up a fresh box of safety pins yesterday at my LQS that will be closing soon. (I could cry!) All my old pins are tired up in another basted quilt. It was quicker to buy new pins than to finish that other quilt. Anyway, the batting is in the dryer to relax the folds, then I'll be ready to baste this one.

By the way, by cousin received his blue Stacked Squares. His latest prognosis is quite good and he's hoping to attend a family reunion in August. Thank God!

 

There's another deadline looming on a project I haven't even started to cut out yet. It's something I've never made before (a liturgical stole), so I'm procrastinating. I'm running out of time, though.

 

I've been slowly making progress on the scrappy spool blocks. I've been piecing them as leaders and enders. 

 

I've completed 27 of the 48 blocks and my mitered corners are improving.

Wednesday will always be a day off for me, so we'll meet here for weekly updates!

Richard's Stacked Squares

This quilt is being shipped to my cousin today. I'm hoping it will bring him some comfort through cancer treatments. Cancer sucks.

So, back in February, I went fabric shopping with a friend. We bought the same focus fabric- mine in blue, hers in red. I knew it would be perfect with the stacked squares pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. I didn't have pre-cuts, but even with extra cutting, the top came together really quickly. Like two days. I know I get a little obsessive when I'm piecing. It's my happy place!

The quilting had to wait until after the wedding and baby quilts were done. The free motion quilting design compliments the pattern perfectly. 

The back is mostly the focus fabric: iHaus from Cloud 9 Fabrics. The solid blue is Kona Pacific, the dark gray is Kona Charcoal, the taupe is not Kona. The other prints are an assortment of fat quarters from stash. There are a couple of prints with flowers, but I hope it's not too girly.

Bound in charcoal. Labelled, washed, and ready to go. Yeah, this photo was taken before washing. It's crinkly and cozy now.

Stacked Squares

60" X 76" (after washing)

Started 3/31/15 

Completed 5/10/15

Pieced on Singer Featherweight 221

Quilted on Bernina 153

 Working time 5 days

Free Motion Embroidery on a Featherweight

Happy May Day!

I want to share with you my process for embroidering the eyes on my Elephant Parade baby quilt. In the quilt along pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts, Lorna suggests embroidering the eyes on the elephants and other animals. I had pieced the blocks on my Featherweight, so I decided to try some free motion embroidery. (I was too lazy to set up the Bernina for a zigzag!) It worked out pretty well. Here's how I did it...

1. Cut a small square of interfacing or stabilizer and press to the back of the block. (Not pictured here, but you'll see it later.)

2. Draw a circle with a Frixion pen or marking tool of your choice. You will be hitting it with an iron later, so keep that in mind when choosing your marking tool.

 

3. Set the stitch length to a high number so it makes tiny stitches. Pull up the bobbin thread to the top so it doesn't make a knotted mess on the back. You can't drop the feed dogs, so just start stitching. Push the block around under the needle, making the circle first, then filling in. I used a black quilting thread that I had in my stash. A thicker thread fills in quicker.

After reading some posts about machine quilting on a FW, I would suggest covering the feed dogs with a piece of template plastic or teflon. Cut a small hole for the needle and tape it to the bed of the machine. If you have a darning foot, use it. I don't, so it was hard to see where I was going.

4. All filled in.

5. Thread a needle with the thread tails and bring them to the back.

6. Tie the ends in a knot. Trim ends to about 1/2". (See the interfacing?)

7. To prevent the black tails from shadowing through, I added another bit of interfacing on top to sandwich the threads. This bit of ironing also erased the markings from the Frixion pen.

So there you have it. Let me know if it works for you.