Inside the Greenhouse

Today I attached the label to last year's Moda project quilt.  I'm calling it "Inside the Greenhouse".  The original quilt had a greenhouse in the center, but I decided  not to make the whole quilt.  I decided that mine was just the plants, in pots, waiting in the greenhouse to be planted.  And, of course, the cat knocked over one of the plants.  What else would she do. . .

And speaking of cats, it seems like the best way to get the attention of cats, shy of giving them food, is to lay a quilt on the floor to try to take a picture of it. 

I thought one was asleep and I had no idea where the other one was until I laid the quilt on the floor.  Then they both showed up before I could even pull out my phone and take a picture.  Thus the transition to the wall-based photo above.  LOL!

Quilting in Watercolor

Over the weekend I decided to try my hand at some watercolor painting again.  I wanted to combine quilting with painting, so I drew a Storm at Sea block for the background and then put a silhouette of sailboat in the foreground.

I think it turned out okay for a first attempt of this type.  I was definitely too heavy handed with the paint.  I'm still learning what to do and not to do with watercolor paints, but practice is how you learn, right?

Crazy Ann block - Mischievous Wife quilt

Today I worked on my next "section" of the Mischievous Wife quilt.  This is section 5, but it only consists of one block.  I was actually excited to work on it, because I had to do half-rectangle triangles. 

I had to figure out how to make the half-rectangle triangles using the rectangles that I had already cut at 2-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches.  I'm not sure what my plan was when I cut the fabric.  I might have been planning to use the Recs Tool that I have from EZ quilting, but I kinda doubt it, because it seems like I would have told myself to cut a strip instead of individual rectangles.  I really don't know what I was thinking or if I had a plan at that point. 

The method that I used worked out really well.  It was a little more work than using the Recs Tool, but it was very accurate.  I measured in 1/4 inch from the left side and bottom and marked it with a dot on the wrong side of the fabric.  Then I did the same on the top right.  I drew a line to connect the dots.  Then I cut 1/4 inch from the line to the right of the line.  I did this with the purple rectangles and the white rectangles.  Then I matched a purple and a white, right sides together, and used pins to match the dots.  I sewed them together with 1/4 inch seams and then when I opened them out, they were perfect.  I only had to trim off the dogears. 

I'm really happy with how the block turned out.  It is more accurate than the Nurse's Cross block that I did last time.

Polka Dot fabric

Today I bought some fabric for the first time in a while.  But I'm still sticking with my goals for this year, because this fabric will be the backing for my Scrappy Hearts baby quilt.  I also picked up a quilt from the long-armer today and dropped another one off to be quilted.  I think that still has me at 14 unquilted tops because I found one from last year that wasn't in the original 18.  It's the one I dropped off today to be quilted.

Nurse's Cross - Mischievous Wife section 6

If you're familiar with the Gypsy Wife quilt - the quilt my Mischievous Wife quilt is a simplification of - then you know that section 6 is the biggest section in the quilt.  Not so much for my quilt.  My "Section 6" is only this one block.  When I divided mine into sections, I tried keep the same focus blocks in the same sections as the original quilt.  As it turned out, the only focus block I used from the original Section 6 was the Nurse's Cross and it was placed in the quilt in an area where the sections are only 12 inches.  Therefore it is a section unto itself.

I don't actually have the pattern for the gypsy wife, so I don't know how the author intends for you to make the Nurse's Cross block.  I found it to be a challenging block to figure out.  The center involved some piecing with rectangles, triangles, and a center square that were then trimmed down into a square.  (It was supposed to trim to 6-1/2 inches, but I guess my seams were a little big so it was only 6-1/4 to 6-3/8, but it worked out okay.  I should have cut my patches bigger since I was trimming it down anyway.)  I then added the yellow triangles.  Then I paper pieced the corners with the red and orange rectangles, and then attached them to the rest of the block.

It took me 2-1/2 hours to sew the one 12 inch (finished) block.  I had already pre-cut all of the pieces so there was only trimming down of sewn units in terms of cutting.  I can't say that I enjoyed it.  I really don't care that much for paper piecing, and I wish I had cut my patches a bit larger in areas where I was going to be paper piecing or where I was going to be trimming down the sewn unit.  But at least it is finished and I like the way the finished block looks.

Bandana Dress

On Friday, my husband and I were babysitting our one year old granddaughter while my son and daughter-in-law went out to dinner and to the movies.  While we had her, she had a total diaper blow-out - shirt, pants, high-chair, nothing was spared.  When I went to change her, I realized that the diaper bag they left with us had a spare pair of pants, but no clean shirt. 

It was a warm day and all, but we were planning to go for a stroll after dinner and I didn't want her out without some kind of shirt on.  I scoured the house for something to use and came across an old bandana that I was planning to donate.  I quickly made a make-shift bandana top for her to wear. It was really a little too small, had raw edges at the arm holes, and used cut-away selvage strips for the drawstrings - nothing to keep or use going forward.  Although she is extremely adorable wearing it.

But that really gave me the fever to make her a little bandana dress.  Something that would be cute and usable for real.  So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought 2 matching bandanas and some coordinating ribbon and made her a real bandana dress.  She loves dogs so I thought the paws and bones print was perfect for her.  I figure we can keep it here at our house for emergencies.  Bandana dresses are extremely versatile in terms of size.  As she gets bigger it just becomes a shorter dress or a blouse.  In fact, I tried it on and I can wear it as a blouse - I'd want it a little bigger if it were for me, but she can definitely use it for years to come if the necessity arises.

Heartline pillowcase

This is a pillowcase I made a several days ago, I forget when exactly, and I forgot to take a picture of it.  It is made from leftover fabric from the Heartlines quilt.  Once I get the quilt back from the quilt shop, where it is currently serving as the shop sample for the Heart Strings pattern, I will keep it in the pillowcase.  If I give the quilt away, I will give the pillowcase with it.

2018 Goals Update - 4 months in

Since my last update on my goals in late January, I have still stayed pretty well on track.

As for getting existing quilt tops quilted, I have completely finished 2 quilts from the original 18 unquilted tops.  I have 2 more that are quilted but the binding isn't done yet; and I have one quilt that is currently with the long arm quilter to be quilted.  So that brings me to 14 unquilted tops - definitely moving in the right directions here.

I have not started any new quilt tops since my last update.  However, I'm thinking that I need to treat myself to something new soon, because I'm getting a bit tired of working only on binding and year-long projects.  I did, however, make a pillowcase from fabric that I had left over from one of the quilts I finished.

The only fabric that I have bought since my update in January was some more batik fabrics for my 2018 Moda project (Mischievous Wife quilt) and backing for my guild project (2018 Mystery quilt).

All-in-all I'd say I'm doing pretty good on my goals this year.  Definitely better than in years past.

Mystery quilt - blocks #4

Today I finished my blocks for this month for quilt guild.  This is our 4th set of instructions toward our mystery quilt.  This month the blocks were simple to construct, in theory.  It was all half-square triangles.  The problem came in with keeping the angles going in the correct direction.  I did good - no seam ripping this time!

Lemon Lavender quilt

Today I finished sewing the label onto this quilt.  I finished the binding back on April 4th, but I was in a hurry to move onto the Heart Strings quilt so I put off labeling this one.  I actually finished the quilt top back in September 2013, so I figured a few more weeks of waiting for a label wouldn't hurt, right?

It was machine quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark with an all-over daisy pantograph.

I decided to name this one Lemon Lavender after one of my favorite Yankee Candle scents.  I still have no idea what I'm going to do with the quilt.

Heart Strings quilt

I finished the quilt for my newest pattern.  The pattern is called "Heart Strings" and it is available for sale at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark, AL.  I will probably be adding it as PDF download in my Etsy store soon as well. 

The finished quilt measures 64 inches by 70 inches.  The original here is made in Surrounded by Love fabric, an older line from Moda fabrics.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted.  The name for the quilt itself is "Heartlines" (because I always like to give individual quilts a name that is different from the name of pattern).  Using one of my common naming conventions, it is named after a song by Florence + the Machine.

Section 8 of Mischievous Wife quilt

Today I finished up what I need to have done for my next Moda group meeting.  Since my quilt is different from everyone else's, I try to at least show the same blocks as was in the original assignment.  I tried to group my sections so as to include the assigned blocks, but sometimes it just didn't work out that way.  So this month I have my section that includes the star block, plus the heart block as an extra.  The heart block will ultimately be in the center of the quilt, but I wanted to sew it and show it with section 8.

Section 9 - Mischievous Wife quilt

Here is my latest progress on my Mischievous Wife quilt (aka a simplified version of the Gypsy Wife quilt).  I'm really glad that I didn't have to do the actual section 9 of the Gypsy Wife for this meeting.  I totally wouldn't have had the time.  I just did get this one finished and it's due on Wednesday.  Yard work and babysitting my adorable granddaughter have limited my sewing time this month.

Mystery Blocks #3

I'm a little ahead of the game on my guild blocks this month.  I had to present the blocks because our normal teacher (the one who actually knows what the finished quilt will look like) wasn't able to be at the meeting.  Since I already had the pieces cut out and partially assembled for one block, I went ahead and finished it.  I decided to do the other one too, while I was in that gear.  So here are my blocks that aren't actually due until April.  Go me!

Mystery Blocks #2

Here are my two newest blocks for our guild mystery quilt.  I really don't like them as much as last month's blocks.  I don't know if it is my fabric choices or the block design itself, but to me they are just sorta blah.  Oh well, at least they are done.

Black & Gray Pot Holder

This is one of my UFO for this year.  The pieces are pretty small and I originally intended it to be more of an artsy piece, but then I really wasn't feeling it as art, so I made it into a pot holder.  It has both regular batting and insulated batting.  It is machine quilted in-the-ditch-ish around each of the little hourglass blocks.

Lots of little pieces, carefully sewn together to form a light to dark fade, now something to set hot dishes on.  Oh well, at least it is finished!

Mischievous Wife quilt - part one

This year my Moda quilt group at the quilt shoppe is doing the "Gypsy Wife" quilt.  I don't particularly like the Gypsy Wife quilt.  It's not really my style and it looks extremely complicated - lots of small pieces, partial seams, confusing directions, etc.  So, I decided that I'm not doing the Gypsy Wife, I'm doing the Mischievous Wife.  She's not as free and uninhibited as a gypsy, but she's still a little mischievous. 

I used nine of the focus blocks from the Gypsy Wife, and made them all 12 inches.  I used several of the filler blocks and made them either 4 inches or 6 inches.  All of my strips are 2 inches wide (finished) so that I can use jelly roll strips, and none of the placement requires partial seaming.  The focus blocks are in a symmetrical layout, but the filler blocks add some asymmetry and mischief. 

The group is doing one section of the quilt at a time.  The first assignment was Section 10.  I divided my quilt into 10 section, coordinating them to the sections of Gypsy Wife based on the focus blocks used in each section, as much as possible.

My plan for the quilt is to use all batiks.  The stripes alternate between white and light pastels.  The filler blocks are a shade darker.  Then the focus blocks are the darkest, brightest fabrics.

Mountain Sunset

This is my delectable mountains quilt from one of our guild projects last year.  I used a split complimentary color scheme - blue with shades of orange, red and yellow.  I was going for a look of mountains at sunset.  I had it machine quilted at Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in an all-over swirl pattern to somewhat mimic a wind motif.  I think it makes for a really striking quilt.

First two blocks - Guild Mystery Quilt 2018

This year in my quilt guild we are doing a mystery quilt.  Each month we will get directions for a block.  We are then supposed to make two blocks in that same pattern but with different fabrics in each.  These are my first two blocks.

Chubby Charmer

I finished this bag today.  It is made from a pattern called Chubby Charmer by Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated.  The pattern calls for 48 charm squares and 1-1/2 yards of fabric for the handles, lining, and pockets.  The charm pack is Mill Book Series c. 1852, one of Moda's Collections for a Cause (purchased in 2014).  I also used 1/2 a yard of fabric from that same line (purchased at the same time) for the handles and to cut some extra charm squares.  And I used some yardage from my stash for the lining and pockets.

Now I will have a bag that is large enough to carry a quilt in that isn't a reusable Walmart shopping bag.  I got teased about that recently.  This one is big enough to carry a 9x13 casserole dish in the bottom.  It says so right on the pattern!  The bottom is 9x18.