I'm Still here and Still Plodding Along

I'm still here, alive and well.  Had someone told me that we would still be battling Covid-19 while other countries are on the upswing, I probably would not have believed you.  But, it's still here, still raging and has not just disappeared as our national leader said it would.  Not that I believed him, but his incompetence has as astounded me.  I'm angry at the lack of respect for the scientific community and the ignorance of the population.  As such, I'm just a bit depressed and time seems mostly irrelevant.  This is a long way to say I haven't gotten nearly as much completed as I thought I would during our home-bound time this summer.

But, I did finally complete the quilting on Scrapitude Take 2 in May.  It's a fairly large quilt (92" square I think) and took me quite some time to complete.  But, here it is.  I used the opportunity to try out some new free motion techniques and practice my feathers.  I'm pleased with the results.  

 

The next project that got my attention was Bright Baby.  I was looking for some mindless sewing.  I had all the pieces cut out and all the 4-patch diamonds assembled and just had to put the top together. I'm looking forward to quilting this one.

As a consolation to myself for not being able to attend quilt meetings or  the cancelled quilt retreat, I decided to give a try to some on-line classes.  I took Beth Helfter's Accordion Sewn Half Square Triangles class.  I had never taken any on-line classes before and was a Zoom newbie.  The class was live with about 8 students from all over the US.  Beth is in my area and I had seen her speak before, so I knew a little about what I was getting.  The class was wonderful.  Beth was an attentive teacher with clear demonstrations and preparation.  The method for sewing the HSTs is fun and quick.  Now what to do with this block?  I'm going to make 3 more with different solid grey backgrounds and bright colors and assemble it into a lap/baby quilt.  Because, you know, I don't have enough projects to keep me busy.

Beth's web site is https://evapaigequilts.com/ where you can find more information about her classes, books and the tools she sells.

A few friends wanted to take a class together one of them suggested Timna Tarr's Stitched Mosaic class.  This one was a series of recorded videos that walks you through the steps of creating a stitched mosaic picture based on a photo.  The project I did was based on her class example.  I blew up the photo to about 20" square because I wanted the finished project to be a largish wall hanging for my sewing room.  I like the technique because you only work on one 2" square at a time.  I'm getting used to the fractured image and am holding our final judgement until I get it quilted.  I was regretting not printing the original photo in color because I think it would have given me better indication of color placement.  I think that would be more important of I were using a photo of an animal or multi-colored object.  I'm looking forward to quilting this one and will probably start it this week.  You can find Timna and information on her classes here:  http://www.timnatarr.com/

On an entirely different topic, I finally got an african violet to survive under my care.  My daughter bought this for me last spring with the special pot that is designed for violets to give them the right amount of water.  It survived the winter but was looking a little grey in some of the leaves.  I moved it to another window where it gets bright light but no direct sunlight, and added african violet fertilizer to the water and it's thriving!  I've never had one rebloom after buying it and never had one that looked this healthy after a few months.  I guess I've learned just how much care and neglect it can take.

You make have noticed a similarity in the last 4 photos.  Even though I do not have the creative energy that I thought I might have while mostly staying home, the creativity I do have is being translated into purples and bright colors.  It was a surprize to me.  I don't often work in bright colors, but I suppose those boost my mood and I'm not fighting it.

Last note - I do not like this new blogger interface.  I'm having a lot of trouble getting this formatted the way I want. Right now I'm tired of playing with it and want to get this posted.  So, here it is.  Done is better than perfect.

She's Getting Stuff Done!

Although I don't feel like I've gotten a lot done in the past 6 weeks or so, I do have quite a few finishes - just not very many UFO finishes.

OK, first a UFO finish.  I did complete the Left-over Stars quilt.  I think the finished size turned out to be something like 48" x 75".  It's just big enough to cover the top of my double bed with a few inches of overhang.  I like it, but I'm not in love with it.  Mostly I'm glad to have it done.















My next finish are these two adorable cats.  These patterns came courtesy of Val Spiers of Australia.  She published the patterns on her blog quite a few years ago and I used 2 of the 4 as decoration for an applique portfolio I made.  (Val is currently selling very nice American Girl clothing patterns on Etsy, by the way.)  I've always liked the cat patterns and decided to make these as entries to my guild's silent auction in May.  They're about 15" square each.  I hope they bring in good bids.



The next finish is this little purse.  I don't often carry a full-sized purse and my cell phone and my wallet don't always fit into the tiny pockets that are put into women's jeans these days.  I had been carrying another bag about this same size, but it's really not very attractive. I bought this fabric to make a full sized purse and had plenty to make this smaller piece for every day.  This will do just fine.






And there's this little zipper bag that I completed.  This was part of an estate that was donated to the guild.  It was mostly assembled.  I just finished it and am using it to hold a small knitting project. 

That's all for the finishes.  And, there was only one official UFO finish.  But, progress none-the-less.







 In addition to sewing, I started a pair of socks in January.  I've sort of lost interest in these once I got used to the stitch and got the leg on the first sock done.  I've been much more interested in hand quilting.  But, I've picked them back up this week and will try to plod along.

The biggest project is this baby.  I finally got Ladies of the Sea all together, completed hand basting and have started quilting.  As of today, I've completed outlining the applique and blocks on 6 of the 16 blocks.  I'm very much enjoying getting back to hand quilting.  I'm still thinking about what design I would like to use for the quilting.  There have been some gorgeous machine quilted versions of this that I've seen on the web.  I'm not sure how dense machine quilting would translate to hand quilting.  Sue Garman's original is quilted with a cross-hatch design and is stunning.  I've got quite a bit of outlining to do before I make this decision.

That's what's been keeping me busy lately.  I am still entertaining thought of knitting two cardigans.  I have the pattern and yarn chosen for each.  I just don't know when I will squeeze these into my evening hand stitching time.

Winter UFO goals

On the last UFO challenge I completed one quilt, made progress on two, created a new UFO and ignored the rest.  This is the list of UFOs I want to make progress on this quarter:

1. Ladies of the Sea

I

 I got all of the blocks completed and trimmed last quarter.  I am now working on the nearly 400 HST blocks that will be part of the borders.  I would like to have this top completed this quarter.

2. Left Over Stars

I put a border on this top in October.  It needs a back, basting, quilting and binding.  I'd like to make progress on this before the next quarter.

3. Scrapitude Take 2

This should be the next quilt I prepare for quilting and start machine quilting.  I would like to have it completed before our guild's quilt show in May.  I guess I'd better get working on this.

4. Bright Baby Revisited

Yep, still on my list.

5. Handy Dandy Scrappy

Still here, too.

6. Put A Chicken On It

This is new to the list.  The top is a bonus quilt with left over pieces that I cut for the border of the star quilt (above).  The chicken is the product of a guild tutorial from this summer.  She had no place to go, and I thought she looked good on this background.  I may give her a few eggs to tend.  I bought a quilting template this fall that looks vaguely like chicken wire.  I plan to use that and practice my machine quilting. 

 7. Maxine

These little blocks showed up in my stash and I don't exactly remember how they got there.  I probably got them at a guild UFO auction.  I've got a bunch of bright fabrics to use as borders around the blocks.  I think there are 25 printed blocks in total.  This should be quick and easy to put together.













8. Blue Floral

I haven't even given this on a thought.










That's the list of the quilting projects I would like to concentrate on this quarter.  This doesn't address the knitting I would like to do, or the tessellating lizard hand piecing project I've been playing with (it's not technically a UFO yet.)  I certainly have enough to keep me busy for quite some time. 

Progress This Fall

 The last time I talked about Flower Up was January of 2018.  I did complete it in 2018 (I don't remember exactly when), but I never showed a completed photo.  I still really like the border on this, although it's deceiving how long applique work on a border takes.  I needed to take a photo of this because a friend just bought this to give to her mother for Christmas.  I'm glad it's going to a good home.

I've completed all the applique for Ladies of the Sea and trimmed the blocks and borders to size.  I'm very thrilled to have this quilt nearing completion.  Many thanks to Linda for letting me borrow these gorgeous patterns for the 5 years it's taken me to get this far.  If she had not loaned me the patterns, I would have never made the quilt.  The patterns are now on the way back to her and I hope she enjoys the process as much as I have.  I have just started cutting out the fabric and putting together the 300+ half-square triangle blocks that will make the borders.  I was hoping to have the top completed before the end of the year, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

I've gotten a few other smaller projects done.  I completed these socks.  I've been playing with lace knitting patterns.  I've never really done lace before, and socks are a great project to try new stitches.  It took me a while to get the rhythm of knitting lace, but I did get the hang of it.

I started a sweater in a lace pattern, but after ripping it out 4 times, I decided I needed more lace practice before I tackled something larger.  This cowl was another quick project for lace practice.  There a still a few small mistakes at the start of the project, but I can live with that.  I will probably tackle a few more small lacy items before I start that sweater again.

This wool table mat was a gift exchange at the quilt guild last year.  I got it done in time for Thanksgiving.  I thought I would really enjoy the process of wool applique given my love of needle turn.  But, that was not so.  There are too many tiny pieces in this pattern and I don't like that the iron-on adhesive takes away the dimensionality of the applique.  I think I'll stay away from this technique.

The cat quilt is done!!!  This quilt started in 1993 as two Internet block exchanges.  One of them was black and white cats and the other was browns (I think).  They have been languishing in my closet for a very long time.  Once I finally decided to put it together, I needed a few extra cats to make the quilt the size I wanted.  I think I  made 3 or 4.  This quilt went with me to a couple of machine quilting classes until I decided on the quilting I wanted on each of the cats and the borders.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  When I posted it on Facebook, a friend offered to buy it, so it will be going to her home soon.

This little bunny quilt was a baby shower gift for DH's niece who is expecting her first child in January.  It went together quicker than I expected and was well received by the parents and the rest of the guests at the shower.  I hope it is loved to tatters.














Enough for now.  I'm still stitching and keeping busy.  The next project I picked up is complex hand piecing of M. C. Escher's tessellating lizards.  But, I'm contemplating starting a sweater or a new pair of socks or another cowl.  And, since my daughter just got engaged, my plan is to make her a full-sized Hawaiian applique quilt, so perhaps I should get started on that since I have the fabric and the pattern.  For me, deciding on the next project and starting are always the hardest part.

Until next time...

Autumn UFO Club

I'm in again for the Ravelry UFO club.  I skipped the summer session because I was traveling so much that I knew I wouldn't get anything much accomplished quite-wise.  But, now I'm home for the season, except for a quilt retreat where I hope to make a lot of progress.

So, this is what I'm focusing on for the remainder of the year:

1. Clutter Control

I fully expect to complete this.  It is basted and I've started the machine quilting.  Each block gets its own personality.  Some of them are easier to choose a quilting pattern for than others.  I really do like this quilt, but I have been procrastinating on quilting it for some reason.  This was started in 1993, so it is definitely time to get this completed.

2. Handy Dandy Scrappy

This is the newest top in my stash.  I have the back and binding pieced, so it's just a matter of basting, quilting and finishing.  I would like to have this quilt done in time for our guild show in May and I expect to do that.

3. Left Over Stars

This lap-sized quilt needs a border, backing, basting and finishing.  This is another quilt I would like to have completed by May.  I have the fabric and am planning a keyboard border and white binding.  I am taking this to the quilt retreat and will probably finish the top there.














4. Bright Baby Revisited

This was on the list for one of the quilts I wanted to work on in the Spring, but that never happened.  It  is another of the projects that I will take to the quilt retreat, but it's low priority to finish.  I'm looking forward to playing with machine quilting on this.











5. Ladies of the Sea

I am working on the hand applique on the last two ships in this pattern.  My second priority at the quilt retreat is to get all the 1/2 square triangles for the sashing completed and get the entire top put together.  I have no idea if this is a reasonable goal or not.  But, I want to have the top completed before the end of the year, and that is a totally reasonable goal.  Then starts the hand quilting.  Any bets on how long that will take?



6. Scraptitude Take 2

I completed this top in the spring as a mystery project with my guild.  I've made this pattern before and really like the results. This is another quilt that I would like to have done by May.  It would be great to have a few from the guild completed and displayed together.

7. Blue Floral

Another long-term UFO that I have dug out of oblivion.  I don't expect to have this done by the end of the year, but I want it out of the shadows so I can think about what I want to do with it.  I'm taking another machine quilting class in November and the plan is to use this as a show piece for the great skills I will possess upon course completion. (Yes, I can be that delusional!)



These 7 are still a fraction of the 29 UFOs that are still on my list.  But, I started the year with a list of 35, so 6 completions isn't too bad.  Of course, this doesn't include a few projects that may or may not have been added since I officially counted in January.  The focus is on these 7 for now.  Then I can reevaluate again.

Wish me luck!

A Not-So-Old UFO and Other Progress

Back some time ago, there was a group of quilters who worked on hand piecing and applique and created a mailing list (did it start out as a Yahoo group?  I can't remember) that eventually morphed into a Facebook group then fizzled out.  These things happen, but I do miss the chat of those ladies.  But, before we went on to other interests and groups, we made blocks and swapped them with a small subset of the original group.  This was done in 2015 and I was inspired by Linda, who dragged out her blocks over a year ago, to do something with these blocks.  I received 8 blocks from the other members and had intended to make one for myself using the pattern I used to make my submission to the other members.  However, I really like this lay out using only 8 blocks, so 8 blocks it is!  My intention is to have this quilt on my off-white living room couch, and this is a good lap sized quilt.  

I'm not a very practiced knitter.  I have knit one lacy baby blanket over 30 years ago that is long since gone.  I've been itching to try something that is more open-knit (not necessarily a big lace project) and this single skein shawl fit the bill.  This is one of the skeins that I got from a friend who is clearing out her stash of yarns and other crafty supplies in preparation to down-sizing into a smaller home for their retirement.  This skein is one that she spun herself.  This pattern (Lionberry) is one that I started one other time, but got confused and frogged the project.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly because I got lost somewhere towards the end plus I added some extra rows at the end to use as much of the yarn as possible.  I won at yarn chicken!  I had less than a yard of left over yarn after doing one lace repeat one extra time before binding off.  I like shawls that are relatively shallow and

long.  I would have preferred this to be longer and am learning that I probably need to look for patterns that use at least 500 yards of yarn rather than the 325-ish that this used.  I thought that using a lace pattern and slightly larger needles would make that 325 yards stretch further, but I guess it's not lacy enough.  I'm still learning.

I finished the first of the quilts from DH's maternal grandmother's UFO blocks.  I have a the second basted.  They're not large quilts, but there are 9 (or is it 10?) of them, so I'm just trying to work through them between other, more interesting projects.

I've been itching to do some needlepoint lately.  I had a project in mind - a chair seat or something.  Not that I have a chair to put anything on, but I thought it would be a great idea.  I even went as far as to start looking for needlepoint canvases on Ebay, but didn't see anything I liked.  This is a piece that was started by a friend.  She gave me over a dozen boxes of craft supplies and projects cleared out of her stash in preparation to moving to a smaller house for their retirement.  I chose a few projects and some yarn before offering it up to friends, the quilt guild and friends of friends.  This piece is probably 9" square - too small for a chair seat, but like the colors and pattern.  So, I guess it goes into my stash until I find an appropriate use for it.

The next thing I picked up is a small cross stitch project of a Patchwork Cat.  This shouldn't take too long to do.  Mostly I'm procrastinating on starting the next Ladies of the Sea block because I don't really like this block.  I know, I could skip it and do another, but I want to have this block in the finished quilt.  So, I will do this next, after this adorable little cat.

That's it for now.  Next time there will be more progress on Ladies of the Sea!

A Long Awaited Update

It's been a while and I've accomplished a bit in sewing and knitting.  Let me bore you with the details.

My quilt guild, The Chelmsford Quilters' Guild, had it's bi-annual show a few weeks ago, and my Iris quilt won 3rd prize for viewer's choice.  Yay me!  I'm excited about that.  Now that I've had it officially in a show, I think it may go on my bed.

Since February, I have completed 8 of the 9 quilt tops that are being made from my husband's maternal grandmother's UFO blocks.  Three of the tops are Drunkard's Path blocks and 6 are (will be) from 9-patch blocks.  I completed the Drunkard's path tops in February.  I had all the pieces cut out and assembled 5 of the 6 9-patch blocks on a quilt retreat weekend in March.   I just basted the first one yesterday and got the straight stitching done on the machine.   I used the same setting for all the quilts.  This is typical of the drunkard's path quilts.

And this is typical of the 9-patch blocks.  

The blocks aren't particularly attractive, but set on point with unifying sashing and setting triangles makes them all look handsome.  I will be machine quilting them relatively simply.  My goal is to have them all complete for a family wedding that is planned for July 2019.  That's why I decided to get started on the quilting , even though it wasn't a particularly wonderful day for dealing with ironing or a large amount of fabric on my lap (too hot).

I finished the fisherman's knit sweater in June, just in time to put it away for the summer.  I love how it turned out.  It's very satisfying to complete something so beautiful and useful  I have to admit that I've been looking at other sweater patterns.  I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into something this big again.  But maybe...  

I also completed a pair of  'monster' socks made from left-overs from other sock projects.  The white was bought  just to pair with scraps, but the three other yarns in this pair came from scraps.  I am pleased to have used every scrap of those three small balls, even though one of the balls ran out after the heel on the second sock, and the toe on the second sock is slightly less white because I wanted to use the last of the last ball.  I used these socks to try out a new cast on (tubular cast on) that is supposed to be a bit more stretchy.  I find the long-tail cast on that I normally use just a bit snug on my thick calves.  This cast on is a bit trickier, but it seems to have the stretch I want.  I will have to see if they stay up and don't slouch, though.  I also tried out different ways to join yarns using a tail that is woven in later and using a magic knot.  I like the knot since I'm not fond of weaving in ends, but again, I'm holding judgment until the socks are worn and washed a few time.  They did turn out pretty, though.

This table runner was a kit that I bought in a quilt shop in Canada last year.  It was their Row By Row pattern commemorating Canada's 150 birthday.  I love the pattern and colors.  I don't often but the kits, but this had so many colors, I could not have made this from my stash.  I was thinking about saving the block for a larger quilt of places I had visited, but finished is much more satisfying.

I'm still working on the Ladies of the Sea blocks, but it's slow going.  I'm trying hard not to lose interest in this because I love the pattern and it will be an amazing quilt.  I just have to add in different projects from timne to time to keep me interested.

Until next time ...

Scrappy Goodness and More Ship

Life is pretty good here in New England.  The weather is beautiful, I've been in a good place and things are settling down.  June can be a busy month; we celebrate my husband's birthday, our anniversary, Father's day and my daughter's birthday all within 2 weeks.  Now it's time to just enjoy the beautiful weather, do some riding and meet up with friends.

I've been owrking on the Ladies of the Sea blocks and am making progress.  I'be got 8 blocks, 1 border and all 4 compas blocks completed.  I'm now working on the bottom border.  These borders have a lot of applique and will take some time.

I completed the quilting on my Scrapitude quilt in June and am very happy with the results.  It has made me realize that I like simple quilting.   I like straight lines and geometric forms.  That may be why I love piecing (but doesn't explain my love of applique.)  Even when I doodle, I usually doodle straight lines.

We did a lot of travweling in July and early August - up to Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.  Then homw for a few days before heading out to NY, PA, MD, WV, VA, DE, NJ, CT and back home.  They were great trips, but I'm happy to be homw for a while and relax.