Summer Update

I use this blog mostly to keep track of my craftly accomplishments.  This is what I've been up to since the spring.

I had my machine serviced and wanted to test it out to see if the free motion quilting was still working.  I was having tension problems which resulted in thread breaking.  So, I went through some of the orphan blocks I have and put together this little table runner to test it out.  I'm not positive I have all the problems worked out yet, but the machine is better than it was.  And now I have a new table runner, too.

 This is the last of the grammy quilt tops basted and ready to be quilted.  I did get them all completed for the wedding I attended in July.  I decided that this last top would be going to my daughter, so I wanted to do a bit more elaborate quilting on it than I did on the others.  After basting this 9-patch, I put together a scrappy quilt and practiced  free motion quilting on it.  I then used that feathered wreath pattern on the 9-patch.

The quilts were all well recieved by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Laura.  I'm glad they are completed, out of my house and crossed off the UFO list.

 This Charlotte Hawkes scraptitude pattern that I used as a mystery quilt in my guild this year.  I have made the pattern before and really love the results.  The top is done and in line to be quilted.

I started thses socks in February and finally finished them in July.  There was no reason they took that long.  The pattern was reasonably easy to remember and the yarn was nice to knit.  I guess I just wasn't into them.  But I do like the results and they are comfy on my feet.




This completed ship block is 13th of the 16 blocks in the pattern.  The purple I used on the tulips never photographs well.  It often looks blue or black.  But really, they are lovely shades of purple.  Again, this took me a long time to complete.  One reason is that we were traveling from June 22nd to July 17th.  I didn't take any crafty things with me.  I usually take some hand piecing, but decided I'm usually so tired at then end of each day, that I never feel like sewing anyway.  This time I packed a sketch book and a variety of pencils.  When we sent a package home after a week on the road, the pencils and sketch book were included.


My version of Charlotte Hawkes' latest mystery quilt, Handy Dandy Scrappy,  was completed this week.  The top, anyway.  This is another top on the pile to quilt.  All of the fabrics came from my stash and scrap bin.  I wasn't sure about the background print.  I almost chickened out and used a plain muslin, but decided to give this a try.  I really didn't like the top until I got the scrappy border and plain fabric outer border on it.  The pieces of that background fabric weren't big enough to stand out in the blocks.  But, the border at the edge really pulls it all together and makes the background pieces in the blocks stand out.  This top willl hibernate for a bit while I finish some other quilts.

I FINALLY got the cat quilt basted today.  I've been itching to get the quilting done on this, but I really dislike basting.  I could give a dozen other excuses, but really, it's just that I wasn't looking forward to crawling around on the floor.  Avoiding basting is why the Handy Dandy Scrappy top is completed.  There are other tops that I could be completing, but I promised myself not to work on those other (more fun) projects until I got this top basted.  Now, let the quilting begin!