Another small finish



9.5 x 10.5 wide orientation

I have a bunch of small things that have been hanging around for a while. It is nice to work on them and be able to have something finished for my effort.

These photos show two different orientations 


9.5 x 10.5 tall orientation

I layered this up with batting yesterday and started quilting it. This morning I trimmed around the quilted circle and layered it with the black background and batting and backing and quilted the background and again over the main design lines in the circle, then satin stitched around the outside of the circle. I finished it up with binding and corner triangles. I like the extra dimension with the 2 layers of batting behind the circle which makes 2 levels of quilting inside the circle.

Back

I like to use the triangles in the corners for hanging so that it can be oriented with any side up. I  can use one of those easel type plastic sign holders or a piece of stiff poster board or cardboard to use it in a decorative easel or with a little flat balsa wood craft stick to hang on the wall with a thin little nail.

Another finish

I finished another one of my circle projects. This was what I started out to do when we embarked on the circle challenge. My inspiration was the "Rosies" from Diana Hire's book "Quilter's Playtime". Mine didn't look so much like the Rosies in the book, maybe because I didn't read all the instructions. There were some other people who  started out making Rosies but they didn't bring them to our final circle show and tell so maybe they didn't finish them either.

I consider this finished even though I have to finish stitch half of one sleeve down on the back. My left hand thumb and wrist were so painful that I gave it up for the day. When I am done I will block it to make it nice and square. I think I will  also put some beads or something around the center as I did not cover my edges as well  as I thought. I  wanted the center irregular and the background showing through but I didn't do a really good job with my satin stitching. This is about 24 inches square and the background is more pink than yellow. I quilted with purple and metallic gold thread with lines radiating out from the wedges.  Best thing I can say about it is that it is done (well almost).

Today I am meeting a friend from our church quilting group and we are cleaning out the quilting closet at church. It is a mess. We are not the only group who uses that closet but we have the largest area and it needs to be organized.

I have also been organizing some more at home. This is a picture of my closet right now. I have had, as my goal reclaiming some space and getting rid of one shelf unit so I can hang things in the other half of the closet. This is as far as I got. Jack is going to take the  one shelf unit out today and then I will put everything back. I consolidated and purged and maybe this time I will be able to keep it under control. 

We'll see! 

Tree Skirt

I got the backing for my tree skirt yesterday and I started working on the Prairie Points.  I had almost a full Blitzen charm pack left over after sorting them for the second tree skirt. I cut a bunch of them into quarters and made my Prairie Points with 2 1/2 inch squares. I usually make them with 3 or 3 1/2 inch squares but I wanted to use the charm squares that I had.

Here they are, start to finish. They are now sewed around the bottom of the tree skirt and this is probably as far as I will get today, at least until later this evening. I have family coming to dinner today and I have to go to the store (even though we got everything we need on Monday). By request, I am making deep dish pizza, not having made it in a long time, I did not remember everything I  need.

I just realized that we are halfway through August, Christmas will be here before we know it. Hopefully this year I will have a finished tree skirt; I am planning on it, and maybe even one to give as a gift. However, I am not going to count my chickens (quilts) before they are hatched(finished); after my fizzled finishing frenzy I am going to be more realistic. 

Frenzy fizzle

 It was not a true finishing frenzy. I am still working on finishing and I have finished the quilting on the red, white and blue piece but I am giving it a rest while I contemplate what to do next.

 I had opted for no borders just a binding with faux piping. Now I am thinking about adding a 2 inch border. there is enough space to sew that all around. I am also thinking about embellishments so I will work on something else while I have it up on the wall to look at.

Our Friendship  group met last night and I picked up the ruler I am borrowing and I was really eager to get started cutting. I am not very good at following directions, even when they are very good, however I looked at the tutorial  and cut one wedge and then i read the instructions again and cut another wedge and then I put the rows of sewn squares from one charm pack in order on a foam core design board and cleaned up my space and put things away that I am not using right now. I made a nice clean space to work; then I called it a night.

This is what I have so far. I thought I would get more cutting done today but I had other things to do.

Today is Jack's birthday; his big birthday party  is in 2 weeks but Wednesday is the day our grandson comes to dinner and today one of our granddaughter's and her 5 year old son and our son were also coming.  I had to shop for groceries and of course a cake among a bunch of other things  to get ready. I finally got the dishes done and everything put away about 9PM so no more sewing today. Tomorrow looks good for sewing.

By the way the Birthday Boy celebrated his 80th birthday with a nice afternoon motorcycle ride.  

Finishing Frenzy??

I wonder if I am setting up for a finishing frenzy? I got all the charm squares sewed into rows all ready to cut into  wedges. Not exactly a finish but it could be by this time next week. I bought the thread to quilt the background of the zentangle bird; that should be finished this week.  

I stitched these circles on the background today and then layered it up and I have half of the quilting finished. I plan on finishing the edges of the circles with satin stitching after all the quilting is done. I am trying to remember if I have ever done it that way. I had a reason for doing it but now I am wondering it it is a good idea. I guess it is too late now to worry about it.

I got the idea for the circles from Amy Smart at Diary of  a Quilter; she called her quilt Peppermint Pinwheels and used the Easy Dresden ruler.  I thought it was a very clever use of the stripes; when  I found some similar striped fabric my mind was made up as to what my red, white and blue quilt would be.  I want this to be a summer wall hanging in patriotic colors and I am thinking of mine as fireworks. I wanted some smaller circles and I cut my wedges for them by centering the ruler lengthwise on the light stripes. I should finish this tomorrow. Maybe I will  finish my "Rosie" it is all layered and ready to quilt. 

We'll see how long this frenzy will last.

It was a long week

It has been a long week. Our son was admitted to the hospital 4 hours away from home with Legionnaire's disease. He was very sick when he was admitted and it was a worrisome time waiting for some real improvement. He is much better now and will most likely be on his way home tomorrow.
We did not drive down to see him but his wife and his sister were there all week and kept us updated.

I did a lot of cleaning and cooking and laundry and other busy things this week. I find it hard to concentrate on anything creative when I am troubled or worried. Once John's condition started to improve I began to sew a few things that have been waiting to be done.

 I  had made curtains for my great grandson's room last year and I had just enough left over to make a pillowcase for a small pillow; I finally got around to it yesterday.  This giraffe quilt below is on the wall of that room and there is a jungle animal rug on the floor so this was perfect for the curtains. I had just enough monkey fabric left over after the pillowcase to  make a little drawstring bag big enough to carry a few small cars or transformers.

I got the spiderweb wall  hanging quilted and bound also late in the week. I really like this quilt very much. I love the colors and the pattern; the quilting turned out pretty well also. I first quilted in the ditch around the "stars" and  the wedges. I didn't intend to quilt in the ditch over every single seam  but that is what I did. After I quilted all of the seams in the border I had to go back and quilt the rest of the seams on the body of the quilt. I am glad I did because it is nice and flat and spot on square.                    

I have more foundations prepared and I like this palette and pattern so much I am going to make more blocks and make a larger quilt. I am hooked on the citrus colors right now and I am going to keep on working in these colors until I am tired of it. My favorite color has always been red but I think that yellow is taking over the number 1 spot. I also find I have more yellow shirts than red and choose to wear them rather than red. That in itself was a big surprise to me when I realized it.