Short Term Goals

These three placemats are first on my list

of projects to complete sooner instead of later.

(younger son has been waiting patiently

for quite a while . . . )

I haven't quilted much of anything since 

early October due to the painful left knee

(which is doing better - 

not like new, but definitely improved)

so these were my first sit down with Max since the injection.

Given the way things felt that night and the day after,

I need to quilt in short sessions 

with plenty of stretching and time in between.

(I use my left foot for Max's foot pedal -

I've tried working him right-footed 

but my finesse and control aren't as good -

I think I need to work on that)

Dumpster Diving 7 - Respite is ready for 

the purple width-of-quilt sections to be sewn together 

and attached to the green/turquoise bands.

(I'm doing my piecing sewing using my right foot)

And then there are borders to add

and a scrappy squares back to be

laid out and sewn together.

There's no big rush to quilt this one,

thankfully.

Feliz Navidad is rolled onto the pool noodles

ready for batting and pin basting.

I really want to quilt it before 

the end of the month or sooner

if at all possible.

Eira is now ready to be rolled onto pool noodles

and pin basted - another one I would love

to finish by the end of December.

Bemused is the table topper planned for January.

These clipped strips are ready to be sewn into

sixteen patches for a 64" square postage stamp top.

I'm pretty sure I can get it pieced by the end of the month

but I don't know if I'll get it quilted before January 1st.

If Bemused is finished by mid-January, I'll be happy.

For the Birds is still ready for 

the blocks to be sewn together.

The pieces and parts are ready to assemble the borders.

I'd like to move this one along 

so I can empty the design wall

before it is time to lay out Bemused's blocks.

Maybe Santa will bring me 

a few extra hours this month?

Quiltdivajulie

Eira - the Flimsy and the Back

The scrappy back for Eira was pieced

using five different low volume fabrics

leftover from previous projects.

Fabric one . . . 

Fabric two . . . 

 (which you might remember as a previous 

covering for my ironing table) 

Fabric three . . . 

Fabric four . . . 

. . . and fabric five.

The "fix" has successfully

been made in Eira's top.

Now I can cut batting and get this pin basted

so Max and I can get to quilting.

(scroll back to previous post

for link to Snowflake pattern)

Quiltdivajulie

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"Do not spoil the wonder with haste."
J.R.R. Tolkien

Eira - The Flimsy (almost)

And we have a completed quilt top . . . 

except that I noticed something near the bottom

AFTER I took this photo.

Glad I saved those extra pieces and parts -

I forgot to include one of the snowflake's extensions.

I need to mix and match the prints before 

I take this apart and insert the correct blocks.

Thankfully this is close to an exterior edge of the top.

The back is ready to sew together

but decorating the house and other things

took priority this weekend.

All in good time.

* * *

And for those who asked how large the squares are:

in all fairness to the designer, please click HERE

to purchase your own copy of her well-crafted pattern.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire
to understand."
Neil Armstrong

Eira

This was my third iteration of a fabric pull

for my Snowflake quilt . . . 

(quilt top fabrics on the left, 

backing fabrics on the right)

After seeing several versions of this quilt on IG

I decided to give it a go and make one of my own.

I resized mine slightly so it wasn't quite so large.

After cutting all of the background squares

along with the white-with-color-spots for the snowflake,

I realized I did NOT like my choice of snowflake fabric.

(see lower edge of fabric stack on the left above)

I returned to the stash and selected this long-aged batik.

Since I planned for this to be 

a December and January couch quilt the

not-quite-true-but-closely-related-to-red was perfect.

Rather than use the pattern's and QAL's block assembly,

I chose to lay out my scrappy version on the design wall.

Since I did start far enough to the left 

 I ran out of space for the final four columns.

No worries - I stacked and clipped 

the first thirteen and then laid out the final four.

Amazing that a full size quilt top lies in these small stacks.

I've named my quilt-in-making EIRA

which is Welsh for "snow."

Sewing . . . sewing . . . 

. . . and then all 22 rows were sewn.

Next up will be pressing the seams

and then sewing the rows together.

After this long Thanksgiving weekend

and our annual "decorating for Christmas,"

I'll be back to share Eira's completed top and pieced back.

* * *

Quiltdivajulie

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“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” 
Gilbert C. Chesterton