Well, as I have been getting things done, I wanted to bind the two remaining quilts that are in that pile. But to keep my design wall clear, I decided to sew the bindings later, and get the Embroidery Vase quilt top done. It came together beautifully.
This actually looks like peonies in a vase, doesn’t it? At first I thought they were roses, but no, I don’t think so. The buds of a peony are round and I see those surrounding the bouquet. Now I will have to wait for a non humid day to quilt this. So this will probably get shelved until fall.
But it sure feels good to get yet another project to a point of actually looking how the quilt will look when completed. So much fabric, so little time!
If you are curious how the interfacing panels in this top go together, make sure to watch the video below:
I am in disbelief that another month has passed. This time traveling I seem to be doing at light year speed, ha!
First, the formalities. Happy Mother’s Day all! We are all here today because of our Mother. She may have spit removed dirt from our faces, but by golly it was because she cares.
Now to the more quilty part of this post. In the past month of scraps, I have worked on many projects.
I finally got to stitch the pillow case lace to the pillow case!
The triple irish chain is quilted! And is now in the pile for binding (yeah, you read that right, I have a pile of quilts to bind now)
The irish chain is quilted! And is now in the binding pile….
The tessellating tabbies is quilted! And I am currently stitching this binding by hand. The great thing about this one? The binding was already cut and sewn in the kit by someone before me, ahhahaha. That was great to contemplate: which quilt do I bind next? Ah, the one that is most ready that I did not even know about!
And I managed to quilt a quilt for mom too! Mom’s quilt was fun to quilt.
And I have curated a new way with a stress free hack for binding! Here I am binding the tessellating tabbies.
I have finally got this bound, labeled, and sleeved ready for a show!
And speaking of quilt shows, I have just returned from a show that I had placed the quilt below in. I did not expect to get a ribbon for two reasons on this quilt. I knew the judge would ding me for both, and so that is ok. However, I lost to a quilt made from a panel with very few seams and because there is very little workmanship to ding in a panel quilt, I am a bit miffed about it. As time goes by so very quickly, my miff will subside. But in the meantime, I am mad.
I will probably be filming a video about the judges comments and score very soon, so stay tuned to my youtube channel. And sorry, I have failed to take a picture of this one with the scalloped edges.
I want to sew, but when you have one on the table for binding, it is kind of in the way of things, so piecing some blocks is not in the picture at the moment. The next three quilts I have to bind, I may machine bind them for speed/time constraint. Make sure to check out and marvel at the scrap happy links below:
I have been busy, and busy hands make me happy. Let me tell ya, I have gotten a lot done this weekend alone.
This is currently on the longarm. I am a little over halfway done. The temperatures will be rising this week. Not sure I will have time to quit in the evenings, but I can’t wait to get this one in the done pile!
I did not get my last two panels sewn for the Embroidery Vase Quilt. There was just not enough weekend. But while I was cleaning up, these were the extras I had cut for the pattern. In the 2 inch box they went to be used in something else one day.
Tessellating Tabbies is now quilted too. I did not have a cat pantograph so opted for the good old panto, which resembles the beans of a cats foot.
And I finally attached the lace to the pillow case. This will end up at the county fair when the time comes. It was wonderful to have a finish!
Now, lets see how I have faired this year for my goals:
Quilts in the to be quilted pile is now down to 2! Yippee!!!
Quilts to bind:
This number has grown
the number is now 5
2 quilts did get binding!
Did I purchase any fabric? Yup, I bought backing for the embroidery flower quilt.
My list is dwindling and it is an awesome feeling!
Goals for the upcoming month.
I am entering quilt shows and will be working on these, I have one to bind. I have already bound one, and sewn the sleeve/label.
That will be my focus in the coming week. I am waiting to get that done and then maybe I will get back to sewcialites2.
For me, I have noticed, that things come in threes. This week a pair of random instances affected the quilt hobby.
Firstly, I scorched one of the panels I was working for #flowervaseembroidery quilt. The size of the scorch was exactly the size of my iron. It went thru was the fabric, the interfacing, and the top layer of my ironing board. The good news, the glue was unaffected on the interfacing, so I just peeled the browned bits off and put new ones in their place. I had not yet sewn the pieces, all was good.
Secondly, a slug made its way thru the crack in the threshold under the door and climbed up my design wall. ðŸ˜. He left his nasty trail and looked like he did some kind of many circles dance on one of my panels. Stuff like this can’t be made up folks, and everyone I asked, laughed at my situation. Although I laughed too, because this was just ridiculous!
I so worried about getting this out. Many said vinegar for a protein stain such as this. I really did not want to have a strong vinegar odor, as I am contemplating a show with this one. I figured out some of this would flake off with my finger.
Well I figured out the fix all on my own. This is how things were done before the Internet….thinking cap on. Or by accident 😂. I am relieved that my laundry skills and reasoning got this to this point. I have two more panels to sew and then the big 9 patch. Crossing my fingers this weekend the 3rd thing does not show itself!
This is not much to look at across the room, but the further away you are, the more dimension the flowers get. I just love doing these style quilts!
I have finished custom quilting of the irish chain. This is now ready for the binding pile.
And this morning while catching up on some Pat Sloan videos I captured a screen shot of how she is going to sew her sewcialites2 together. Genius! I may or may not do this as the quilt size will drastically shrink, but gosh isn’t it neat?
I certainly have the fabrics to make this happen. And remember I am making mine in black, so a monarch butterfly comes to mind with some orange? I rarely sew orange. As I finish the #flowervaseembroidery quilt, I will be diving back into sewcialites.
For those of you sewing the Sewcialites2, how are you going to finish yours? Will you be using their setting? Or will you be doing your own?
I also submitted and was accepted into the EQ8 gallery of photos, the Scrappy churn Dash. I am proud as all get out over that!
If you are interested learning more about these fabulous quilts, you can click through and browse for ideas here.
I have been a busy girl. The whirlwind continues. I am currently quilting the scrappy irish chain quilt I made last year. I had done so many pantographs on the last 4 quilts, I decided to give this quilt a little more beauty with some custom quilting. My blog has become difficult. Trying to have content for youtube and the blog, well I feel my blog is suffering. I will keep pumping life into it, it is just not at a fast pace anymore. But that does not mean I have plenty of content to share.
Made some good progress on this the past couple of days. I hope this one does not linger too long. My thinking in custom quilting this, it is not really that much of an eye popping quilt. It is a thing of beauty, but the colors do not really speak to me. So I decided to put some lipstick on this “pig” so to speak. I looked through my pantos and did not see anything that would compliment this. So, the option for custom quilting it is….I am liking my design choice!
Be looking for my explanation of this to drop via video format sometime in the next couple of days.
If you are here for the Tilda Flower Vase Embroidery Quilt A Long, welcome!
I have a playlist on youtube where you can get many details of the way I make this quilt come together. This quilt along is very informal and at your own pace. If you are interested in the free pattern, make sure to click the link here for the entire pattern including fabric requirements as well as all the contruction notes and fabric swatch colors.
I just posted the second video in this series. In case you missed that, here are the first and second videos below in chronological order.
I went with a lavender background. Looks very pastel and spring like. Which reminds me, Happy Easter!
All of these projects are made from the stash and from my scraps. You will be surprised what your scraps can do for you. I realized that when you make quilts from scraps, it is like it has no cost. All the cost went into the quilt before where these fabrics had a sole purpose. Now the scraps are freebies, ready to be used up. With the cost of living becoming so high of late, I find great pleasure of things I can squeeze out of those precious little scraps.
So many projects, so little time. I am off to do laundry and quilt up a storm. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!
Did you know that Lissa Alexander has teamed up with America Patchwork & Quilting to offer a free quilt along if you have EQ8 software? It is called Scrappy Celebrations.
You can find the download page with more information here. You have all the time in the world to sew this, but it is only available for free until April 16, get it before time runs out.
A free quilt pattern allows more budget for fabric.
Also available free for all you EQ8 users are the quilts below. Make sure to go check out the free patterns here. The two below are ones I downloaded, aren’t they awesome? Definitely worth the make!
A little detail I did not share when I got this quilted. This has been in the to do list for my yearly goal of binding. Why has this languished? Well, I had a very bad boo boo that I was unsure how to fix. Now that I have achieved the fix, I feel like an idiot for not thinking about this sooner.
Last July I was asked to do a demo, so I chose this quilt to show off perfect nested seams using this grid interfacing. Even though I did not have this quilt bound, I thought I could just trim the edges and then take it as unfinished. I was in a hurry and accidentally cut into the quilt from the opposite side as I was trimming. Yikes!
As you can guess, this is why it languished I was unsure how to fix the boo boo and the best course of action to minimize the work I would have to trim away. Time is money. Don’t want to put time in the trash can.
Below is a video of my cut error and how I fixed it.
Additionally you can watch me hand bind on this youtube live stream. Us ladies had a blast.
And my fix was a success. Just enough to remedy the problem, but not too much to even really notice the fix. This quilt’s story is probably not over, I will share more in a future post sometime in May and again in July.
Now this quilt is finished, I can cross it off the list.
Yup, this one was one of my list items. Lets see how I am progressing from my list.
Watching youtube videos will NOT plant seeds and make my stash grow, nor will it make me switch gears into another project. ✅
I am deeming 2023 with a zero tolerance of spending, and therefore everything will come from the stash
So, I have fallen off the fabric diet once again, this time purchasing 1/3 of a yard. I have also purchased interfacing this month. I am treating my fabric diet apparently as a cheating diet. With 3 cheat days for 3 months is much better than buying randomly without purpose. I am back on the bandwagon again.
Quilts to Quilt
I have managed to quilt, 5 quilts this month. With three finishes! Not pictured below is the 50 shades of gray crumb quilt. ✅
Quilt Backings to sew
I believe I am caught up on this✅
Quilts to bind
As I quilt my UFOs, this list will have to be updated every month
Here are the ones I have completed this month ✅
And here are the ones that still need to be bound
With all this progress comes a bit of failure. I have failed to keep up with sewcialites2. I have not done any handstitching on the La Passacaglia too. But, I am utilizing garage pleasant temperatures now, so I can quilt without running the AC and still be very comfortable doing so. It is kind of nice, to have all my backings and tops ready to quilt at a moments notice. I mean weather here in Texas can be one extreme to the next with the drop of a hat. Eventually I will get back to Sewcialites2. In the meantime, I am having too much fun playing with all the UFOs.
Hello everyone! I feel like a gob of time has passed since I last posted, but not really. I have been busy busy. I have noticed as I age, that the 40 hour work week is no more complicated as it once was. However, the older I get, the more I am slowing down. My energy reserves maintain while at work, but once I relax on the commute home, I am finding it harder and harder to stay active in the hobby. I am apparently a quilting weekend warrior now!
I want to keep my hands busy in the evenings, but do not have the energy to sew. So what does one do? Well I could bind several quilts, and that did happen in the last week.
Citrus, as I have named the quilt above, has been bound and placed in the done pile ready for exhibition.
I have also started binding on another quilt.
Last July, I was trimming the excess from the quilt edges and I felt myself cut more than I should have. No I did not have it all flatted out on a table. I was careless. I accidentally cut into my #embroideryflowersquilt more than a 1/4 inch. This quilt was on my list for the year to get bound. I was uncertain how I would fix this. As this sat on the back burner and at the back of my mind, I have figured out a fix, plus added greatly to the asthetic of the quilt. Be looking for a post soon on how I recuperated this mistake. I am hand binding this now. Amazing how each quilt I make, I learn just a little tidbit from it. I have learned much on this one! Be looking for a video to post about that soon!
Also, in the evenings, I have had the itch to pick up my tatting shuttles and give it a go. Very pleased at my success. A new spool pin doily for the old featherweight!
Isn’t this the prettiest of pictures? The purple backdrop is just all this stuff laying on a bolt of fabric. I tatted the blue one. The other doily was a gift from Gina Butler when I met her in person back in 2018. I guess I am my own worse critic, as I was tatting the replica of Gina’s, I kept thinking my gapsosis was terrible and that I was just not perfect in my hitch knots. And then I took the photo, and that little doily is so photogenic. It looks perfect (but it is NOT). I will retire Gina’s creation and change it out randomly through the year. Nothing like putting a little lipstick on the featherweight to doll her up eh?
This picture however, is not photogenic at all! LOL! I have been working on the Tildas Vase Embroidery pattern. So I am happy to report that I am officially a bag lady with this project, and all my squares have been cut, minus many of the background fabrics. I have announced a quilt along on youtube for this project. Be looking for this to post on youtube as well with tips and tricks as I create the content there. Be sure to go to my playlist to get all the details as they post.
And I cut what interfacing I had left. I will be buying more for this project. I only managed two panels. So the fabric diet will be broken again. However, one could argue is interfacing really fabric? Isn’t it more of a notion? And if I were dieting with food and fall off the bandwagon, I can just jump right back on. So a little diet cheating it is! If you are interested in the pattern for the above video, make sure to snatch the PDF and print this in color to get you going on this journey. You will be glad you joined in.
This is now quilted! My binding pile, as I complete one, another takes it place. Not sure when I will get to this one, and not sure what I will bind it with. I could dive into my kaffe drawer, but those pieces are relatively small. I am still scratching my head on what to bind this with. Once day when I am searching for fabric I need in my stash, I will come across the perfect solution. In the meantime, it can stay as it is.
And may I pose a question to the readers? What are you working on? Please comment below with your details. I love hearing from each and every one of you!
Well, even though February was a short month, it still flew by! I had to go back to my own post to see what I had been working on. Well, let me tell ya, much scrappin’ is happenin’.
I managed to make a shopping tote. Part of these fabrics was in a scrap bag from Sew Yeah Quilting, the other was given to me about 3 years ago, and I have almost used it all up.
If you are interested in the free pattern make sure to check out the shopping tote post.
I am binding this, glad this UFO is almost over. 🙂 The binding of this is the leftover 7 strips from the jelly roll that did not get used. I have named this quilt Citrus Spinning 9 Patch.
I also finished a baby quilt, a 3D one. I used continuous prairie points of various green fabrics to give the idea of dragon scales. This has been gifted, and everyone loves it! I calculated how many yards I had in this quilt. The quilt measured 43 by 40 and had almost 9 yards of fabric in it. Because of all those layers, it was weighted! Got fabrics you want to move quickly out of your stash, this would bust that nicely. I was a little sad to see it go. I can make another. This is a one of a kind. Please share this video on social media, as there is nothing out there like this.
I quilted what I have named my large gray crumb quilt, 50 shades of gray. A few months back, I just randomly sewed a bunch of large scraps together making this quilt. I finally got it quilted
And now, my binding pile has grown. I will be binding for weeks I believe. When I am not hand stitching, I will be at the machine quilting some Moroccan tiles onto a Kaffe quilt.
This quilt is made from a fat quarter bundle, cutting into 18 inch large squares and then making a 9 patch. Then making a couple cuts to disappear the 9 patch, I always have a hard time to utilize Kaffe. It is beautiful, large and loud. It is very intimidating for me to cut this up, because you may cut it twice and end up with three pieces of fabrics with completely different colors, which may mess with my scrap happiness LOL.
I was in another virtual sewing Bee. Practically Creative aka Melissa invited me to sew along with the group. Make sure to check out Melissa’s, Coleen, Brandy’s, and Sylvia’s youtube channels. And don’t forget to subscribe and give me some thumbs up on my channel. This international sewing bee was a bunch of fun, and it is lovely to connect with these ladies. I have known them for a while, but have smiling faces on screen makes the quilting and conversation special.
And please visit our scrap happy group links below. There are some amazing projects going on all over the world, and these are quick to just click and enjoy the read and eye candy of scraps.
myquiltprojects 