Four months and ten things.....

It's been awhile--okay months--since I posted.  And no, I did not sew myself into the new machine--at least not yet.  It's just the longer I go without posting, the more difficult I find it to post again....as in where do I start.....what to say and so little seems of any real importance, but here goes my best shot.  Since my last post....

1.  We helped my daughter move to a new apartment.  Did you know that 2 flights of stairs are farther up than they were 20 years ago?  Good thing she is young.  I've already told her to seek other help if she decides to move again. Boot camp would be easier.  :)

2.  I finally finished this quilt which I gave to my mom for Mother's Day.  (Stripping Vine from the book, Material Obsession) 

 

Yvette quilted it wonderfully--hope you can see the detail. 

She went around each of the white dogwoods, invented a special design for the orange triangles that mimics the fabric pattern, and stitched each of the star centers differently in a way that coordinated with the fabrics.

A really lovely job!

This is the back. I pieced the back in stripes, hoping to give it a different, semi-Bohemian look.  I made the stripes before I decided to give it to my mom.  Definitely too modern for her, but orange and black are the local college's colors and she and my dad are very loyal boosters/fans, plus Mom's favorite color is teal.

My mom's comment on the quilt: "You should have just made the whole thing out of the border fabric--it is beautiful".  Oh well.  She isn't a quilter.

3. I finished this Bordered Diamond quilt for my sister and her husband.  They actually liked it and it looks nice in their bedroom. 

Again the quilting is by Yvette and wonderful.  She used a variegated thread and quilted each diamond differently.

The outer border fabric is the same one I used on another Bordered Diamond quilt I made for my aunt.  Even though the narrow border, binding and backing are all different, the quilts look very much alike. 

For the backing, I used an out of print fabric by Philip Jacobs.  Not sure of its name--maybe Lilac Rose?









4.  I repaired the Teal Quilt that I had given to my son and his wife for their anniversary last year.  Their dog had chewed on it along the border and had made a couple of holes farther in--my fingers are in one here.  I was pretty disheartened when they brought it back for repairs, and stuck it in a bin for several months while I thought about how to fix it.
  

  

 

Luckily, I was able to find each of the damaged fabrics on the front and back, and able to match up the pattern (I had a triangle left from the original cutting--cutting too much does have its benefits, as does having an outrageous stash).  Here are some finished photos with a couple of the patches circled.  Being able to match the fabric perfectly really helped the patches disappear.  The repairs really aren't visible unless you look closely, and if you see like me without glasses, you almost have to feel to find them.  And, I gave them the repaired quilt back for this year's anniversary. :)

 

back

front

 5.  I completed one King George III block:

 

6.  I made a table runner of some leftover blocks for my daughter's birthday.

7.  I made potholders for my sister and daughter, as a project to figure out machine quilting on the new machine (and I know I need much, much more practice and shouldn't have used such a contrasting thread color, but there is a certain freedom in sewing for people who don't sew and don't know how bad something is.) :)  


Front

Back

Unfortunately, I was trying to be efficient as I made these, so I cut them out in pairs, stacked them, and began to sew.  I finished quilting the first one, and looked around for the second.  It was nowhere to be found...I looked everywhere--twice--was very puzzled until I realized I had sewn the two potholders together, and left out the insulated batting.  Now my sister has one very thick potholder.
  

Whoops--two sewn together!

Front

9.  I made a little quilt/table topper for my daughter as a piece to practice different machine stitching styles on.  Most were very roughly done, but hey, practice is practice, and I worked on it late at night to finish it. In other words, don't be judgmental, as I know it is flawed (but it IS finished) :)

front

back

10.  And, finally, this is non-quilting and sad news.  I spent a few weeks nursing our dog, Tessa.  Sadly we lost her last month.  Rips my heart out--she was with us almost 14, or is it 15 years?  A long time, but way too short.

Tessa and her duck

Although I've never been a dog person, Tessa seemed to know that right from the start and was on her best behavior, always trying to please me.  I will always remember the time I did yoga, and she saw me laying on the floor for the first time.  Knowing it wasn't right for me to be laying flat on the floor, she ran over and laid next to my head trying to revive me.  It was quite funny and touching that she cared, and she didn't give up on trying to get me up, even as I moved through the yoga.  Later she (and her duck) did their version of yoga on my mat (below).

Tessa was a great fashion advisor, and had a wonderful sense of style:

  

She had to wear shoes on walks due to a bad foot.  The day she got to go into the store to pick the shoes out, she was very proud,  but we were both disappointed in the color selection in her size. (She wanted red or purple)  She tried to be a good sport about wearing them, even though she hated that they made her stumble as she aged and couldn't lift her feet as well.

Tessa lived her life fully and with exuberance until the end, despite many ailments.  This photo was taken on her last trip to visit my parents, just days before she became ill.

 

Tessa, May 2013

 She was such a special sweetie.  I still look for her around the house, and I miss her everyday.  I hope she was as happy with us as we were with her.  I can't imagine a better dog.  Love you Tessa!

  

Long June Days

June's been flying by and I’ve been stitching like a crazed woman--and actually getting a few things done (for a change).  It must be the long June days.   First off, I finished stitching the Capriccio blocks from last month together.  Now they’re a completed top, but I didn't take a photo to show.  :(  (I’ll take one soon—maybe next month.)

Then, since I couldn’t seem to remember to have my husband move some heavy boxes so I could find my June’s UFO, and since my living room floor was empty after finishing up Capriccio, I started working again on this project from back in March.  Do you remember these blocks?

They were for a quilt based on the Stripping Vine quilt made by Kathy Doughty shown in the book, Material Obsession.

I made the star blocks in March, but then got sidetracked by other projects. This month, I decided it wouldn’t take that much longer to move them along into a top.

So the blocks were stitched together in columns (there are 3 columns here--not connected, just next to each other on the design wall.)

Turquoise strips of dogwoods were added in between the orange columns.

Then a black and white stripe was added to the top and bottom.  And I finished it all off with a floral border that just seemed to belong. I love the fabric--Pom Pom Dahlias by Philip Jacobs.  The extra borders are not part of the original pattern design. 

And now it’s a completed top! Hooray! This isn’t a very good photo, but it’s the best I can get of it for now. It’s a bit of an odd color/fabric combination, but it makes me happy, so I don’t care. Since the colors are similar to what I’m using for the Single Girl quilt, I’ve decided to postpone a decision on the back until I’ve finished cutting for that so I can see which fabrics are left before I decide if I want to piece the back for it. 

And then, the floor was empty again and since my living room was already a fabric disaster area, I decided that I could finish the borders on one of my UFO's (#7 Teal Quilt).  Here's the finished top--it’s now waiting to be quilted.  It's a king size, so I'll be stitching on binding for a L O N G  time before it's finished, but at least it's moving in the right direction.

June's been a good month—at least for stitching.  Not so good for my mother-in-law, though, who took a fall and ended up in the hospital with a fracture this past week.  She is now on the mend, and starting to walk again with help. It will be a slow recovery I'm afraid.  Although  the hospital's been a good place to stitch a little Flower Garden applique, I'm guessing July is going to be too busy for much stitching.

And, good news--my sister and her husband are back at work--still coughing and tiring way too easily, but they seem to be finally winning the Whooping Cough battle!  And lucky ducks--they get to spend the weekend with my lovely daughter!

And lest you wonder, I’ve even been working on my June UFO.  Really I have and it's almost done!  Photo of it soon... 
                                               Happy Stitching!  And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Nate & Kim!

Spring Flowers Growing in the Roseville

I've begun work on my April UFO, #4, which is another Roseville block.  Here's the beginning--choosing the fabrics to use--quite a messy process for me.  My sewing room floor, work table and ironing board are covered in heaps of brightly colored fabrics (I was too embarrassed to take a photo to show you, so just imagine.)

I thought the fabric selection process was going pretty smoothly, but then some strange flowers began growing on my design wall, right in the middle of the Roseville blocks.  I had promised myself that if I finished March's UFO on time, I could play a little on something of my choice. These are from my playtime.
 
They are blocks from another quilt pattern designed by Kim McLean called Flower Garden.

I made the center of the one on the left larger than in the pattern.  (A stray circle from the Roseville wandered onto it and decided to stay.)  I liked the way it looked at the time, although in the photo here it looks a bit odd/unbalanced and a tad too big.  But after seeing the large circle on the flower, the smaller ones just didn't look right to me.  I let the flower choose.

I have to admit it is a relief to choose the colors and fabrics for these large flowers after the Roseville--fewer fabrics to choose and fewer colors to balance.   The stitching is easier too (although I miss all the color changes, so there's no making me happy.)

Working on these gives me something to stitch on at night since my Roseville block isn't ready for stitching--mainly because I've been dithering over which fabrics to use for the bowl on the Roseville block.   Here are the blocks which will go around it:  (X marks it's spot)

I'm planning to use the periwinkle aboriginal for the vase, but am debating the fabric to use for the cut out portions.  Here are some of the choices--which do you prefer?  (Sorry for the rotten photos--between losing my battery power and having Blogger stubbornly refuse to cooperate, these are a bit of a mess--I'd hoped the photos would make it clearer to me which to use.  Sometimes seeing a photo clarifies things a bit.)

Mably Red Scales

Jacobs Turquoise Variegated Ivy

 

Liberty Red Meadow

 

Jacobs Magenta Begonia

And that's all I've been working on this month.  I've been surprisingly good at staying away from my other projects (thus far--the month is young).  The mess in my sewing room isn't conducive to new projects (how could you even find them?!)  And the hardworking college student currently studying at my dining room table is slowing down the cutting of my large strips for the Stripping Vine quilt I started last month (I need the space to cut), so I haven't made a bit of progress on it.

I'm not really complaining--it's been absolutely wonderful to have the dd home for a bit (too short of time).  I may actually learn to stay on task, for awhile anyway... Happy Stitching!

March UFO block--Finished!

I am happy to report that my March UFO in the Patchwork Times UFO Challenge is finished!

This month's UFO was #1, which was a block from the Roseville Album quilt by Kim McLean. I finally finished it last night--Hooray! Hooray!  And I've even started work on a couple more of the blocks too--too bad neither ended up being chosen as the April UFO block which is #4! 

I really enjoying working on the applique, but I'm very slow-- particularly slow at choosing fabrics for each piece, and then I agonize about the choices I've made.   Oh well...I am trying to just go on, promising that I will consider changing pieces only when ALL the blocks are finished and I can see them together.  It doesn't always work, but it helps stop me from changing everything.

Although I met my UFO goal for the month, I feel like it wasn't real progress because I actually started on THREE more new projects. (I just don't seem to be able to help myself--surprise surprise.) Here's a peek at one of my new unfinished projects:

This isn't how the blocks will be put together--just how they were up on my design wall.  I'll post more about these blocks as soon as I make a bit more progress, but they are destined for a quilt I saw in Material Obsession called Stripping Vine made by Kathy Doughty.

While I was cutting the pieces for those, I liked the colors together so well, I saved the scraps and cut some extra strips for another quilt (Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt) that I hope/plan to make soon.

I told myself I was just being efficient!  And while I had the cutting area clear, I cut out the background squares for the pattern, Flower Garden by Kim McLean.  I am using Kona Snow for the flower backgrounds, bright florals for the flowers, and am thinking about using a periwinkle polka dot for the border background.  I don't have any photos of that to share--there isn't much real progress.  I'll post again as soon as there's something more to see.  My dd is home from college for two more weeks and I plan to enjoy every moment, so it might be awhile.

Scorecard for 2011: Three UFO's completed (two Roseville Album blocks and one Cookbook cover) and SIX (yes SIX) new UFO's started!  Yikes!  I am beginning to understand how it is that I have so many unfinished projects!

Oh, and, everyone still reading this, please repeat after me...Happy, Happy Birthday Joanne!  Even if you don't know Joanne, I am sure she will feel the happy mental energy and positive thoughts from your birthday wishes.  Joanne H. is the nicest April Fool--well just the nicest person who happens to be born today. Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Joanne!