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

Camp Sefton Quilts - Part 3

Once the first quilt top was sewn together, I moved the sections for the second quilt to the design wall by my sewing machine so I could ponder what would make it better.

(done while Little Man was at school on 1/27 and 1/28)

I rotated the large center section 180 degrees and inserted two additional "really long strips" to break up the two darkest verticals.

The squirrels were removed and a full length column of Little Man's combinations was added on the left. Not to worry, the squirrels will be used to make a pillow cover as my own keepsake of our adventures.

Other existing segments were sliced and diced to fit into the remaining spaces.

And when Little Man came home from school Friday afternoon, he gave the new layout an enthusiastic two-thumbs-up. (shown here after being sewn together)

After dinner we talked about names for the quilts and ultimately settled on Isabela and Mirabel, two characters from the Encanto movie.

As an aside, Little Man did a fantastic job of keeping the floors in my rooms thread-free. Who knew a hand vac could be so much fun!

On Saturday 1/29 after he helped me unpack  the new "giant" roll of batting and load it onto its storage rod, we created a "quilt sandwich."

He found that term positively hilarious and rolling the top, back, and batting onto pool noodles was even funnier.

He learned all about pin basting to hold the layers together and did a very thorough job of securing Pinmoors onto the sharp ends of the pins.

He and Stuffie (and the green exercise ball) supervised me finishing the final rows of pin basting - while goofing around on the frequently moved stretching table.  That's the top for Mirabel behind him.

(He and Mommy used hand weights at home so he used mine to demonstrate some of their exercises.  I explained how mine are used to keep the quilt sandwich from sliding off onto the floor - which, of course, he found "okay but silly.")

When we finished pin basting, it was time to wind bobbins for Max. What a perfect opportunity to practice his fledgling math skills. (2 bobbins plus 3 bobbins equals 5 bobbins!)

And finally it was time to start free motion quilting Isabela.

Little Man sat beside me and handled the pins/pinmoors as they were removed, sorting and counting as he worked.

While I quilted, he was busy on the other side of the room.

He was adamant that I could NOT throw away all the colorful scrappy trimmings because "they could be used for something" so we came up with this idea.

Tiny scraps plus lots of tape on colorful paper safely tucked inside insertable plastic pages = his "super special scrapbook."

And once the scrapbook was finished, he brought one of his puzzles upstairs and worked on it while I kept quilting.  

The studio was filled with SO much fun . . . 

* * *

I'll be back with Part 4 of 6 on Monday.

Quiltdivajulie

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“The very best gift... is that anyone can experience those unexpected twinkles of joy that make a magical moment. At these moments, you feel true, deep joy because of a great new insight, a beautiful prospect, or a glimpse into the radiance of another soul. They are the magic moments when life seems better than you ever realized.”

Richard M. Eyre

She Did It AGAIN ...

Cathy has done it again . . . 

Before you read further, go read her last post.

Carpenter's Star is one of the blocks she's considering 

for her ongoing scrap-stash-assault.

As I read her post, my brain leaped to 

a pending future project of my own.

I posted about the original plan for  HERE.

Since then I've gone back and forth and actually 

decided I did not want to make the 

original Chips design in any fabric combination.

(more on that project later in the post)

The name SHIVOO moved to this waiting group of

200 KF 3" (fin) HST halves and some Tula Pink Fairy Dust.

I had been thinking in terms of Depression blocks

ala Gerful, but that plan really didn't excite me - 

and so SHIVOO sat on the shelf waiting . . . until now.

I will make six of the 20" blocks (2 wide x 3 long)

and then add some sort of border.

I also plan to change the four corner squares

from the background (see first photo) to a Kaffe print.

That way the blocks will connect and form 

some sort of secondary pattern.

These stars won't begin until after the first of the year,

but I'm certainly more excited about this approach

than I was over any of the earlier plans.

Edited March 2022

Shivoo did quite a bit of changing direction

and ultimately the fabrics became part of

a series of polka dot quilts.

(look for the 'polka dots' label in the side bar

to see what became of the fabrics)

And then Cathy shared this inspiration photo.

Clearly we all know I adore HSTs and often

use vintage quilts for inspiration.

My polka dot fabric pull for the project named

 JOLLIFICATION (formerly named Shivoo)

will work perfectly for this idea.

(and please don't worry - the switching of 

project names mid-stream confuses me, too)

Edited March 2022

Jollification did quite a bit of changing direction

and ultimately the fabrics became part of

a series of polka dot quilts.

(look for the 'polka dots' label in the side bar

to see what became of the fabrics)

I figured out that I have enough different dots

to use a different one for each set of five HSTs

and even have a few dot options leftover.

I am sure I have enough different black-on-whites

to use a different one for each set of five.

Again, this won't happen until 2022

but I'm happy to be excited by the plan.

Thanks for the inspiration, Cathy!

Quiltdivajulie

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“If you use color carefully, that is, placing a softer “off” color next to pure color, it helps add the magic touch to your work – and that special look.”

Gail Boyle

Squirrel No. 2 - Shivoo

Introducing SHIVOO

(a boisterous party or celebration)

I've been watching Cathy make her "big chips" project

for months now . . . and truth be told

I had saved off the designer's free pattern long ago

thinking it would be a great way to use up scraps.

You can see some of Cathy's most recent blocks in

the final photo of this post.

And while she is making her blocks as part of

this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge,

I have decided to go a slightly different route.

I didn't start out to focus on polka dots

but it didn't take long for those dots to become

my self-imposted "limitation"

("The enemy of art is the absence of limitations"

is a quote that I keep on the bulletin board

right in front of my sewing machine)

Since my version will be smaller than the designer's

I figured out that I will need 80 different colors.

Amazingly enough I found that many in my stash.

(some of those scraps are just enough to get a 5" square)

Here's the entire group - what a FUN gathering of colors.

This is a screen shot of the designer's layout.

Alison Glass Sun Print 2016

I have plenty of black and whites 

to generate a scrappy background.

* * *

I'm thinking that once I get the pieces and parts cut out

I can use this as a longer-term leader ender project.

IF squirrel no. 2 doesn't cause any more trouble.

* * *

Edited March 2022

Shivoo did quite a bit of changing direction

and ultimately the fabrics became part of

a series of polka dot quilts.

(look for the 'polka dots' label in the side bar

to see what became of the fabrics)

Quiltdivajulie

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“Color possesses me.”

Paul Klee

Dumpster Diving 11's September Blocks

My colors for September's RSC blocks - red and brown.

Brown?!?  

Yes - brown.

Not dull and boring browns

but warm and comforting tones with

sparks of pizazz mixed in for good measure

Red - what can I say.

Strong, cheerful, vibrant and more.

Here are the two slabs prior to being trimmed into 12.5" squares.

And here are the newest squares with the other 16 blocks.

Only two more blocks to go . . . 

When I was casting about for a name for Dumpster Diving 11,

I chanced across this children's book about a noisy  parrot

and DD 11's name instantly became Mischief Maker. 

Once the quilt is finished

Little Man and I will cuddle under it while

we read all about Papagayo, the Mischief Maker.

* * *

If you'd like to see what some of the others

are doing with their RSC red scraps this month,

click HERE to visit the link up.

Quiltdivajulie

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“O’ Great Spirit – help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.”

Cherokee prayer

Progress Update - Colorwash 360

When this photo was taken,

I had webbed roughly half of my 

color wash quilt top.

IF ONLY I had noticed it at this point . . . 

After somewhere between 5 and 6 hours of work,

I had the top completely sewn together

and pressed so it was ready for basting.

But where did that elongated yellow line come from?!

I pulled out my photo (top) of the squares 

when they were still pinned on the design wall

and compared it to the photo (bottom)

 of the finished top and THERE it was . . .

one extra square in the wrong place.

Time to walk away, fix dinner,

and get over my not-so-happy reaction.

This very cool book sits on my studio shelf -

it will be for Little Man's 3rd birthday next fall

but I'm enjoying it in the meantime.

In most of my quilts, I can make an "oops" work

without having to do major reconstructive work.

But in this particular top, that was NOT an option.

And so I sat and surgically un-stitched both sides of

 the column in order to remove the offending square.

THIS was the problem.

(clearly I had been auditioning squares

and this one had somehow stayed stuck

to the back side of the real square -

a definite "oops" that Wanda

had repeatedly warned us about)

I shifted the removed column up a row

and carefully re-stitched each of the 26 vertical seams.

Near the bottom I added in another orange square -

which is the way things were supposed to have been.

Each of the fifteen horizontal seams were then pinned

(because the seam allowances all had to reverse

from where they had been previously pressed)

and sewn one at a time across the width of three squares.

Two-plus hours later,

the top was really and truly finished.

(double click to supersize)

Now the batting has been fluffed in the dryer,

the backing (above) has been pressed,

and the binding strips have been cut.

 (that's the binding fabric peeking out 

from under the backing above)

Next steps will be to get this basted and quilted.

* * *

And as I was un-stitching last night,

the quilt's name made itself known --

MARATHON

(inspired I'm sure by the fact that the

St. Jude Memphis Marathon was held this weekend)

Quiltdivajulie

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"If I have accomplished anything good, then it's mainly because I've been driven by the need to know whether I can accomplish things I'm not sure I have the capacity for."
Vaclav Havel