September Monthly Recap

September was a month filled with pondering, planning, stash shopping, and stitching.

Studio Squirrels Exhibit A  - the quilt top and scrappy pieced backing for Ludiosis were started and finished, neither of which were seriously on the radar until after the first of the year.

The long-planned set of twelve new pillows achieved a major milestone with the top slabs stitched and the batting and backing for those slabs cut.  Next month I'll get them sandwiched, quilted, and trimmed to size before cutting any of the pillow envelope backing pieces.   The goal is to have them in use by early November.

The vacuum sealed pillow forms were released from their packages and are expanding while the rest of the process proceeds.

Exhibit B for the studio squirrels is Candy Corn - a gift project that saw a quilt top and a finished quilt started/completed during the second half of September.

Exhibit B-Part 2 is the long runner made using the three extra columns from Candy Corn.  

On the intentional side of things, Rastro (the second bonus quilt from the Macnas series) became a finished quilt.

Githerments, the third bonus quilt from the Macnas series, was pin basted and is ready for quilting/binding in October with thread chosen and bobbins wound.

Motley, the fourth bonus quilt top from the Macnas series, was donated to Many Hands and Many Hearts along with yardage I had planned to use for binding.

September saw plans come together and significant prep work for several sets of seasonal utility mats and placemats.  

The squares cut for December's set of reversible utility mats (posted here) have now been sorted into groups for 5 top slabs and 5 back slabs ready for piecing.  Batting and binding strips were also cut.

(Above) Six 

tops (gray print), six backs (spotted black), and six pieces of batting were cut this month with lots of binding made for a second 

set of January placemats.  

I pulled this gathering of pieces from the resource boxes to make a companion set of five utility mats for January.

The scrappy tops will be pieced using these fabrics and the backs will be cut from companionable yardage (pulled but not shown).

I finished this pair of gift pillowcases on the 29th making them the last project of September.

Finally - squirrel Exhibit C - introducing Dug.

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Stay tuned for lots more stitching/quilting/binding during October. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Little by little, one travels far."

J.R.R. Tolkien

Trouvaille - the Flimsy

Trouvaille, the transformed squirrel project that just couldn't wait, has become a flimsy.

54" wide x 72" long - the colors above are very close to real life.

Fabrics for the pieced backing are waiting to be cut and sewn . . . 

While I finished piecing the top for Trouvaille, the remaining pairs for Wallaroo (Macnas-inspired no. 6) were sewn together - ready for their turn on the design wall.

The first 12 rows (of 18) for Vellichor (Macnas-inspired no. 5) have been sewn.  

Only six more rows and I'll have another flimsy reveal post to share.

As I'm sewing the top for Vellichor, I'm leader-ender sewing the pairs for Fandango (Macnas-inspired no. 7).

Fandango will be the first of the Macnas-inspired series to have rectangles made of scrappy strata.  Time will tell how that approach works out.

On the other side of the studio, Abendrot is pin basted and ready for FMQ action.  

(I had forgotten that Abendrot's backing yardage was in fact a wide back - that certainly helped things move forward more quickly)

Finally, the Bluey pillowcase laid out here is now finished and in use by its happy new owner.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Go to your studio and make stuff."

Fred Babb

Faffing About and Two Small Finishes

Because I will be traveling in June, I did get my second COVID booster on Monday .  Tuesday I was flat out with a high fever.  Wednesday I was fever free but fuzzy headed.  Thursday my head was mostly clear again.  

Needless to say, the only stitching has been straightforward things.  Wednesday evening I did some power sewing and completed the rest of the the four-strip polka dot sets for Ohana (label at end of post), but I haven't felt like pressing all of them yet.  

The yardage on the left (parrots) will be Ohana's eventual backing and the yardage on the right will become the vertical sashing (hence the way the four-part strip sets are laid out).

I also sewed up the last of the monthly pillowcases for Little Man.  

September's fabric features apples, which he loves.

And on Monday, before the shot's effects took hold of me, I finished binding the re-purposed Agglomeration-fabric placemat set.

See the Agglomeration label below for that 2021 Not a Mystery backstory.

Here, the top placemat is flipped over so you can see the backing fabric (Safari by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning - 2018).  

And lastly, Cathy L. posted about her current basket project and . . . because I love basket quilts and have long thought about making another one of my own, I used leftover 3" HST parts and some KF scraps to make this 18" test block.  

I'll size things down to 2" parts and make another test block to be sure before I fully commit to this basket design.

* * *

I have also added a new "gadget" in the sidebar with information on how I find/select names for my quilt projects.  

Quiltdivajulie

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“All you need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust.”

Tinkerbell from Peter Pan

Pillowcases and a Question

The new set of placemats will not be ready for Easter dinner because I felt more like sewing more than I did quilting (too many interruptions to get into the zone/flow of FMQ).

Instead I finished four more monthly pillowcases for Little Man.  This is the "April showers bring May flowers" that he'll have in his Easter basket.

June 1 is National Dinosaur Day (who knew?!) so choosing fabric for June's pillowcase was easy.

This is the one for July.  Little Man's Daddy collected thousands of stamps growing up so hopefully this pillowcase will spark a few conversations between the two of them.

This is the pillowcase for August (Little Man's birthday month).  Dr. Seuss stripes for the cuff and color bursts that look like fireworks to keep the celebration going all month long.

I still need to make the ones for September - they're cut out and ready to sew together.  

And a few weeks ago younger son decided he wanted a new set since his have become faded after so many washings.  His are also cut out and waiting to be sewn.  

Once September's pillowcases are finished and gifted Little Man will have a complete set of pillowcases for each month/season.  (October/Halloween, November/Thanksgiving, and December/Christmas were finished and presented in late 2021)

Now for my question.  

I've been doing a lot of random cleaning out to reduce clutter and make things work more efficiently (my bedroom closet, the closet in our bathroom, our kitchen pantry, lots of drawers, the glove box in my car, etc.).  

One of the studio-related decisions I made was to take all the pins off the Baobob tree quilt that DIL brought from Africa and roll the quilt onto a pool noodle to give it a rest so I could add another flexible use design wall in the studio.

DH had this sheet of foam insulation in the attic (leftover from who knows what) and it will fit perfectly on the wall.   I typically cover my design walls with a twin flat flannel sheet but the ones I've used before are no longer available and the first two sets I've purchased (and quickly returned) had miserable "so-called flannel." fabric.

Does anyone out there have an online source for good white flannel yardage that isn't thin or wimpy?  I really don't want to spend $85 or more for a set of twin sheets from Land's End (since no one seems to sell just the flat sheet).   

(I do know about the gray gridded design wall covering offered by KF but I prefer white without lines)

Thanks for your suggestions.

Quiltdivajulie

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“There is no magical perfect version of you waiting in the future.  You are here.  Use the magic you have now.”

Heather Havrilesky

In the Works

I'm happy to report that I have pieced and quilted the squirrel mat using leftovers from the two Camp Sefton quilts (Isabela and Mirabel).  This is the mat's intended home, atop my thread cabinet.

Here's a close up showing the top of the mat along with the back cover of my copy of Little Man's book.

I'm especially pleased as I was able to use the very last section of binding from the two quilts on my mat.  

This photo shows the reverse side of the mat.

Since the binding shown in the first close up wasn't long enough, I added some left after finishing the February utility mats.  Perfect blend of colors.

On the design wall are these first few blocks for Logophile.  All of the HSTs are pieced and I'm making a block or two each evening.  The two light blocks above read as "holes" so they ended up being replaced, as you'll see in the photo below.

Here's where things are for now.  A few seams at a time, this one will come together over the next few weeks.

 

This was Little Man's pillow case for February. 

And this is the pillow case for March.

I'm very proud of myself because April's pillow case is ready and waiting AND the fabrics for May, June, July, August, and September pillowcases are cut and waiting to be assembled.  

Over in the design studio, I am in the process of cutting into the many polka dot fabrics I pulled last year.  

I'm cutting rectangles for this project which I had previously been calling Jollification.  The new name will be DOT TO DOT.  Once completed, Dot to Dot will be set aside as a future baby quilt.

I'm also cutting larger rectangles to die cut 3" HSTs for a more colorful version of a quilt Cathy L. shared last year.  Again, my fabric thoughts for this one have been all over the map with GONE DOTTY and I find it hilarious that in the end I will be making it with the polka dots I first envisioned.  

My primary polka dot goal is to get the long-pending stacks of fabric cut for these projects so they can be re-folded and integrated back into the stash.   No more moving them from here to there and back again.

  

Quiltdivajulie

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“If you just keep your head down and just try and do your thing, sometimes magic happens.”

Gavin Rossdale

More Pillowcases on the Horizon

I went through the stash a few weeks back

looking for fabrics that might work for nine more

seasonal pillowcases for Little Man - and then 

I ordered the fabrics above to fill in the gaps.

I also ordered the remaining half yard of this print -

it will be used to cuff the pillowcase for July.

I knew my plan was a good one when I overheard

Little Man talking to himself as he was opening presents

during our early Christmas celebration last weekend.

He kept saying "I hope it is what I've been wanting"

as he opened each of the gift bags.

At one point Mommy asked him what it was

he was hoping for and he happily replied 

"more pillowcases from MeeMah."

Thankfully January's are ready and waiting.

Shortly after the first of the year,

I'll have a pillowcase day or two and get 

the rest of these made so they're ready 

for the first of each new month

until we catch up to the fourth quarter and

the Oct/Nov/December ones he already has.

And look at what is happening with my amaryllis -

the tallest one is showing signs that

its flower pod is ready to start opening.

(this one is called Apple Blossom

and should be a mix of pink and white)

Not only are all three of the pods opening

on the bulbs/planter from Costco,

but the predicted pink color is already showing.

Quiltdivajulie

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“I believe in pink.  I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.  

I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.  I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.  I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.  I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

Audrey Hepburn

Pillowcases for Little Man - Done

Left - October's pillowcase

Right - November's

These two will be for December.

These two will be Christmas gifts

for use whenever Little Man chooses.

Obviously two of these fabrics changed

from the photo shared in the previous post -

it's all good - just part of the process.

(I use the burrito method of making pillowcases

with French seams to contain the raw edges -

there are lots of tutorials out there if you need one)

Quiltdivajulie

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“I know I can not paint a flower.  I can not paint the sun on the desert on a bright summer morning but maybe in terms of paint color I can convey to you my experience of the flower or the experience that makes the flower of significance to me at that particular time.”

Georgia O’Keefe

The Next Few Weeks

I plan to spend the next few weeks

crossing a few more to-do items off my list.

First will be this set of five utility mats for October.

Second will be a set of five for November.

I have cut the fabrics for December's set

but have to wait until I pin baste the next two quilts*

so I can trim their leftover batting pieces to size.

*Trick or Treat, October's kitchen table quilt

will be quilted/finished this month

and Sweater Weather, November's KTQ

will be right behind it.

Merry and Bright, December's KTQ

is cut out and ready to sew together.

I bought this yardage to make two pillowcases for Little Man.

He loves asteroids/outer space and wants to grow up

to be an astronaut who is also a volcanologist.

(volcanoes are also very high on his interest list -

as are mermaids and the ocean)

The last of the October yardage

mixed with a couple of stash fabrics

will become another pillowcase for him.

Ditto for the last of the November yardage.

I'll use the remaining yardage from Merry and Bright 

to make two December pillowcases.

This pile contains the makings of eight XL (Artist) 

lined drawstring gift bags now waiting to be sewn together.

This stack contains the pieces and parts 

for nine of the XXL (Laundry - the biggest one) gift bags.

Side Note:  My idea to work by size rather than color

is making the cutting out process MUCH easier -

hoping it will be the same for the sewing side.

(next month will be the L and M sizes)

Then there is the matter of making a liberated bird

for Lynne's student bird quilt project.

And the list goes on and on . . . 

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Needless to say, I won't be posting 

quite as often for the next few weeks.

(p.s.  double-click the graphic

so you can really read/enjoy it)

Quiltdivajulie

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“I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade.  It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred orange and scrub the floor.”

D.H. Lawrence