Finished Quilts 2019

1.  Love Knot

2.  En Provence

3.  Savannah

4.  Cloudy Day #2

5. Elephant Parade

6. Winter Solstice

7.  Tree Wallhanging

Finished Quilts 2018

1.  White-Out
(45)

2.  White-Out Bed Runner
(46)

3.  Citrus Sunshine
(47)

4. WordPlay
(48)

5. Sand in My Shoes
(49)

6. Cousin Camp
(50)

7. Mermaid Dreams (51)

8. Holiday Magic (52

9.  Pretty Poinsettia (53)

10. Daisy Days (54)

11. Halloween Fun (55)

Finished Quilts 2017

I still need to write the stories - but I did finish a few quilts in 2017.


1.  Frog and Princess
(43)

2.  Blueberry
(44)
       

WIP Handwork - Hawaiian Quilting #1 2017

There is something special about hawaiian applique quilts.  Thinking of a fabric tradition introduced to a culture with no need of a quilted bedcovering....  and the art form that emerged is so incredibly personal.  As always when I quilt, I imagine generations of women working together (even as I play alone in my studio!)

I fell in love with the idea of Hawaiian quilting years ago.... and even got a book or so.... and cut out two motifs.....  and basted them on..  and stalled!

In 2015 I had an opportunity to actually GO to Hawaii!  And I discovered that there are several classes held in the community where you can learn traditional Hawaiian quilting.  I blogged about my first class in the Royal Hawaiian Mall.   

This is the completed block I purchased that day.  (It was actually a pillow kit - and I still have the backing, etc.. that I will probably use as a quilt block.)  And I should clarify that the applique is completed - not the actual quilting.

But I got lazy and didn't share about the second - and much more important - to me - one.

The second class was held at the Iolani Palace on Saturday morning.  And, I might add, there is a gathering of quilters and a session for interested newbies almost every Saturday!  The cost was minimal... and I was to bring 2 pieces of fabric - 5/8 yd each of a backing and a color.

I had corresponded with the ladies who run the classes via email and felt like part of the family before I ever got there!  Their dad, John Serrao, is a designer of Hawaiian quilts and this is a family passion.  I am honored to be a little part of it.  I have to admit to a real FANGIRL obsession with the Poakalani family.  I own all their pattern books and watch their website religiously.

Anyway - they allowed me to choose a pattern and walked me through the traditional methods of folding and cutting, basting and stitching.  I thoroughly enjoyed the traditional wisdom and ease of learning.  Being a booklearner usually, it was wonderful to just be guided along.... (and, I admit, a little gratifying to be not too far off the mark!)

This is the block I started in that class - applique is complete!

See..... I do have all there books - and there is another by Elizabeth Root peeking out from behind.  Her designs are definitely simpler but I kind of like the tradional ones better.

Below is one of the two ones I originally cut out (also a Poakalani design)

I finished the applique during my handwork week.  I have one more ready to applique... which will make FOUR total.  I think I will work on a design for a quilt that is mostly these 22-inch blocks..... maybe I will feel competent enough to do a size larger one for the center?  We will see.....

Anyway - I also chose some designs for moving forward.. and cut out ONE to baste next time....

I will let you guess what it will look like.....  show you next Hawaiian post!

What are you stitching?

WIP - Handwork - New Hexagon Rosette 1

I spend most of my evenings doing handwork and watching either television or dvds.  This year, my focus is more on sewing than crocheting.

Each week I am working on a different project trying to make headway on all of the ones I've stalled on.

This last week I spent on the Millefiore Quilt Along I started this year.   In a nutshell, I will be creating hexagons and sewing them together into rosettes.  All by hand.  the end result is a quilt that looks like a kaleidoscope (or one of those Venetian glass paperweights known as millefiori [which means Thousand Flowers in Italian]



The patterns come from Katje Marek's book New Hexagon and she also hosts the
 quilt-along

It's made in smaller sections - rosettes.  I've decided for each rosette - to choose a floral pattern in a similar color scheme as that in the instructions.  Hampered a little by choosing from my stash only!  This will be a "free" quilt made from leftovers or fabric unused for some reason...

So - for the first one, I chose a floral that I love... it's bright!  I've used it in a Lovers Knot (sandwiched but not quilted) and in the Sister's Choice quilt I made for my sister. 

 The hot pink was used in my granddaughter's dresses.. and the green came in a bag of scraps somebody gave me.

By the end of the week I got to the third round of four:

..and have the next round all prepped and ready to sew!  See the little sandwich bags?  Those are the prepared pieces for the next round of hexagons!

Fabrics:  Let's see.... the outer round.... center peach is a solid of an uncertain age :-) (I have no idea where it came from!), the darker peach I bought once when trying to add this color to my stash, the darker orange I bought for my grandson's quilt I made in 2015, and the fuschia is a recent purchase for Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery - En Provence.  I did it when it was a free mystery quilt and now it is available as a paid pattern!  (still working on it!  I will share another day)

I also have - ready for basting... the bags of pieces for the Rosette # 2 -

I keep forgetting to mention the WHY of so much handwork this year.... travelling!  I expect that we will be doing a good bit of travelling this year so I want to make sure that - at any given time - I have sandwich bags of things to work on.  As you can see from the note above - ONE week of dedicated work got me ALMOST through the first rosette.

Anyway - Handwork Progress!   Next week - the Hawaiian quilt project :-)

What are you up to?

Home Days....

I feel so much like I'm getting little done these days.....

We've both had colds.. staggered a few days apart so the progress is predictable for me - since my husband got it first! 

Today I woke up to a day I always look forward to - a day at home!  So much to do... so much I WANT to do....  I felt almost normal yesterday so I had great hopes for today.  I planned to SEW. ALL. DAY. 

It seems like home days are either 'very productive' or 'at loose ends'.   It was all about 'loose ends' today!

We got up, walked the dog... got my husband out the door to a meeting..... and..... whoop!  the bottom fell out.  I was already pooped.  Didn't feel particularly bad... just pooped.

And, added to that... I think I told you my sewing machine had been in the shop?  Well, it's been a week - and I still haven't gotten back to it.  So.. where to start?

I looked at the cutting table.... 

I must admit..... this does not making me feel like working!  My friends here are not much help!

there is a) getting back to piecing and b) NON-quilting sewing I have promised to do.  B is really where I should start because there are things there promised to GRANDS.  And those promises are sacred.  4 SNOW-themed pillowcases, 3 dresses, curtains for my bathroom and sheets to de-construct for curtains for a granddaughter.   The granddaughter-curtain things morphed into a long discussion with my daughter about the fabrics and her desires and so forth...

So - during that computer chat (she was at work), I decided to take a little time to work on downsizing my marmalade tasting jars instead while I was thinking about it.  I have 8 (8?) pint jars of marmalades in my fridge + one half pint that didn't seal.  I decided to use up my quarter-pint jars sealing the different varieties on the off chance I can sell a jar or two.  I am preparing for a tasting day... so want to have labelled half-pints open for tasting instead of random leftovers from my fridge :-)

Two batches with the canner...... no more partial pints loose in the fridge......  10 new tiny quarter-pint sealed jars & 2 half-pints

Also started my first batch of limes while I was there....

I'm not sure I did it right...... but we will see.  First one is always an experiment!  (I chose limes because I think guacamole and margaritas are a possibility!  I hate to make something I cannot imagine using... and I can't find anything I would do with salted lemons yet.  I found lots of ideas but I don't really cook a lot so am a little stuck!)

 ... and I figured a direction to move in for resuming sewing.

In the curtain conversation.. I will find different fabrics for the curtains and we will use the sheet fabric to make a sort of curtain for under her top bunk... a play house of sorts...  And we chose fabric for me to find..... so there we go.

Tonight my son and his fiance will come over for Friday night dvd watching... so it's a good time to pin pillowcases, and deconstruct sheets, and other mending sorts of things....  Will update you on that later!  Hope you had a great day!

Marmalade - Batch #5 - Cherry Limeade Marmalade

So... today's marmalade adventure is Cherry Limeade marmalade..... which sounded awesome when I first found it!

The only real downside is the cost of frozen cherries... 2 pounds of them... yikes!  This had better be good :-)

This is the basic recipe.......  Cherry Key Lime Marmalade

I changed it up just a little... first off..... lemon verbena stems?  Really?  I can honestly say that these are not at my local Food Lion.... which is 30 minutes away AND the closest store.... so... yep - left them out.   I wondered about giving the mix a spritz of lemon juice - but then decided to just do without.

I also used regular limes because that is what I found.

And the recipe called for cutting the limes in half and then slicing thinly.  I did that - for 8 limes - and cooked as directed.  But while they were cooling in the fridge overnight, I decided the rind pieces were larger than I liked.....  so this morning, I chopped them up more finely.

I must say, my cherry-lime mixture on the stove smells divine.... enough that I starting singing the Lime & Coconut song...... and started thinking about a lime & coconut marmalade... hmm.......  I wonder if that would work....

....and then .... I got distracted here writing... and scorched it!  I sprang into action and dumped it into another pan to keep cooking - lowered the temp of the burner... and scraped all the burned mess into the garbage disposal :-(    I got a new oven for Thanksgiving and am still figuring out the dual burner thing on the top.   I try not to walk away from something cooking without a timer on but apparently did forget that this time!

At any rate - I think it is salvaged.... and I will know later.

It's pretty anyway - and I have a tasting jar in the fridge too.


I must say - the Orange-Ginger Marmalade I scorched the other day doesn't have any of that scorch flavor today so... cross your fingers!

I think though - if I do make another batch today - it will be later on when I decide to babysit it better!  I have one more recipe to try but I need to get some lemons.  I do have enough oranges in the house to make another basic batch and redo the syrupy #1 batch with it - so that WAS my plan.....   I will decide later and add a post script if I do it!

Tomorrow I have an appointment in town so will get the lemons and more seals and jars... and honey, too I think..  The Lemon-honey marmalade sounds awesome - particularly this time of year when everybody is sick - it sounds like it would be a great add-in for hot tea.

*****************************

ps..... I did NOT make another batch of marmalade..... It was a foggy misty day and I settled in to watch some dvds and stitch on my kaleidoscope hexagon project..... which I will share more about in another post.....

WIP - Flower garden #1 2017

It's not just marmalade happening here - though it seems like it!

My sewing machine is in the shop for maintenance so all machine projects are on hold!  I am finishing up a week of working on my Grandmother's Flower garden - with English paper piecing.

So - handwork.  I am thinking this year - when I am at home, I will be working on several handwork projects so will prob focus on something different each week.  At the moment for the Grandmother hexy project, I do have several flowers completed and am sewing them together in twos.

 I spent last week working on them and will have completed two by the end of the day to have a total of 8 sets of two.  I think I will need about 30 whole flowers for the quilt and some halves.... so am currently shooting for 15 sets of two flowers before I go further.  I am hoping that doing it in segments will make joining all 30+ of them a little less daunting at the end.

I know we will be traveling a bit this year - and the English paper piecing projects travel well - so I have been creating little sandwich bags with hexagons ready for assembly.  I can make the flowers on the road - and do the assembling at home.

I have more projects going on that I will write about as time progresses.

I do want to get my blog up and running again.  I seem to have somehow lost my voice in the last few years.

Quilt Stories - English Sampler 2016

Okay so this one is another of the trio of UGLY tops I made long ago.

Back before I ever took a class..... back when I was using online resources to teach myself to quilt ...  I was pulling blue and green fabric from my stash...

One of my favorite resources was the Block of the Month from the Florida Cabin Fever Quilt Guild     At the time, they posted monthly Block of the Month designs for members and non-members alike.  I began my quilting journey working from their pages!

I pulled pinks and blues and greens from my stash.  Now you have to understand, I did not have a 'quilting' stash of fabric.... I had a CLOTHING stash.... with very different fabrics!  I did know enough to weed out knits, and heavy duty fabrics like corduroy... but I have a good assortment of lightweight fabrics here... cotton, of course, but also broadcloth, gingham, seersucker.... it's definitely a combo!

And the colors were chosen from the prints I used in the different blocks.  I can honestly say that I used what I had.. so aside from batting and muslin backing, it cost me nothing but time.

And it's not bad :-)  Definitely not a fave... but a finish!  And it brings back many memories of learning and dreaming...

and it's perfect for a picnic!

Quilt Stories - Snowflake Mystery Quilt 2016

This is the saga of one of my UGLY quilts :-)  If you are a follower, you already know that I took my first official quilting class in Spring 2008  (which resulted in completing this sampler quilt in 2013!)

Well... anyway...... in 2007 or 2008.... I do forget which! ...  I decided to do a one day mystery quilt from Planet Patchwork.  I can't find it on the site any more... so I can't tell you anything for sure.   Except that I decided to do it.   And I did :-)

This is a fearless quilt....  I had NO CLUE about anything.  Except I did know how to sew :-)   But I used all different color threads.  And I knew nothing about quarter-inch seams, or blocking blocks... or making them FLAT... or anything.

I didn't take photos of my work back then.... but I did the blocks and I put them together and I folded it up and put it away.  Because - like all the patterns back then.  AFTER all the instructions on piecing..... it said.... "Quilt as desired"

I have always hated that phrase.  Since - especially then - I am mostly self-taught.... there is NO INSTRUCTION in the sentence.. "Quilt as desired."

So the only thing to do - was fold it up and put it away.  And sometimes pull it out and look at it.

I decided that this year I would figure out a way to finish it.  I had some of the original fabric... so added a border.

And then I sandwiched it ....   and couldn't figure out what to do next.  And decided to just go for it!  I got some ideas from Christa Watson in her Machine Quilting With Style book.... and decided to be a little bit random.  My thought was to start in one corner and quilt in white - making something like rays from the stars.  

Which left me with lopsided snowballs and stars with random white quilt lines running all over the place.   And it looked horrible (to me) but I took it as a great space to learn about machine quilting in general and MY machine.

And then I remembered my favorite bit of advice.... if you don't like the way your quilting looks - quilt some more :-)

So - for the finished product, I quilted beside every random line of stitching so they are in pairs... (which kind of makes it look that I planned it - no matter how bad it looks..tee-hee)

Anyway..... it is done!  I pulled it out this summer when the grands were visiting and my granddaughter - after locating a few spots that needed a patch! - told me how beautiful my FROZEN quilt was and how she thought it was perfect for pretending to be Elsa.....

And, after all.... isn't that the kind of thing that makes a quilt beautiful?

I always recommend following through on your terrible projects..  It honors your work...  It shows your progress...  and that is what quilting is anyway.

LOVE, not perfection.

Quilt Stories - Droid 2016

Oh, this one was such an adventure!!

In my quest to gift a quilt to each of my kids this year, I've been trying to figure out which direction to go in for each one..... which kid.... which quilt.... you know...

I have a child with an April birthday who is a Star Wars fan.... and there is a new movie out...

And this came across my radar.... a Droid Quilt Along hosted by Pam Cobb  from the Stitch TV Show. 

So now the pieces have come together and I have a child, a theme and a pattern..... a direction in which to move!

I found the quilt to be a challenge spatially.  The directions were clear.... with good photos.  But I found that I was surprised as each one came out the way it was supposed to.  Somehow I had trouble envisioning them as they came along.

There was a lot of twisting and turning and laying them out carefully as I went along.  I definitely had to use my seam ripper quite a bit as I went along.

And with the final assembly I noticed I had made one of the blocks absolutely backwards.  And decided there was no way.... NO WAY... I was going to do it over!  (But if I make the quilt again, I will do it correctly :-)

The next part - which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would - was the quilting.  There is a LOT of quilting in this quilt!  But I think it goes with the design really well, don't you?

Trying to get a photograph was a challenge!  With the bright sun and my little helper, Trouble....  and a deadline.  My son was actually driving home on this day and I wanted to make sure I had the quilt documented!

And there you are... Voila!    Droid 2016

Quilt Stories - Toy Box 2016

My Toy Box is another of the quilts I first started with in 2008.  What is so fun about these ancient WIPs is that I was absolutely fearless :-)  I had no idea what I did not know - and I didn't care :-)

I started this project with fabrics in my stash leftover from who knows what - probably sewing clothing when my girls were little :-)  I remember buying a fat quarter or two - which was still a novelty :-)... but specifically I didn't have anything to serve as tires for the truck and wood for the toy box :-)

I got the idea and pattern from Claudia's Quilt shoppe.  It was free at the time but you can buy it now using this link.  I thought it would make a great grandchild quilt when I ever got any (tee-hee... 7 years and 6 grandchildren later :-) ... and I think it's MY quilt now :-)

I did as much as I could... but put it away with all the other projects somewhere in 2010.... and pulled it out again in 2014 and finished the blocks

In 2015 I chose sashing fabric and put it together.....  I had it sandwiched by year end..  and quilted and finished it in January 2016.

I'm still not thrilled with the colors.. but it looks a LOT better embellished with a few buttons and a little embroidery.... and all quilted.

For the quilting, I just used a natural color thread and quilted diagonal lines.  It's a lot of quilting but I really like the way it turned out!

Quilt Stories Spooky 2016

One of the goals I set for myself this year is to make and finish quilts for my children and - as I figure it out - their significant others.

It just so happens that this occurred to me as the first birthday in the year rolled past.... so he will have to wait :-)  But his fiancee had the next birthday so I put my thinking cap on!  She loves Halloween so I decided a quick jelly roll race design with as many weird fabrics as I could find would fit the bill.

I found a couple of jelly rolls in black / white / lime / purple & orange [NOT Halloween per se] and went shopping for a yard each of anything I could find.   I pulled from my stash too - but managed to come up with a large assortment of sparkles and glow in the dark and skeletons and ghosts..... everything you need for a kooky crazy SPOOKY quilt.

I had a little help putting it together.....

And found a lovely deep purple for the backing...

It worked up quickly and I think it turned out nicely!  I made a coordinating pillowcase - deep purple with little black cats that have glowing eyes :-)

For a 2016 start AND finish.... it made me smile!