This week in quilting

At my last guild meeting, I was asked how the renovations are going.  Very well.  The tilers have been and gone.  Eleven doors got painted (closet doors included in that tally).  It is now up to me to finish painting door frames.  We want to bring in the plumbers next week to get the toilets and taps installed.

But .... some quilting sneaked in.  I do need my play time.  :o)

On my Kaleidoscope quilt, only 3 borders to go.

This is what is being hand quilted in the borders.  Just a simple design.  Simple goes fast.  I like that!

Also, machine quilting got started on this quilt.  Stitch-in-the-ditch for the rows.  Then there will be some diagonal quilting and then some hand quilting.  Again, simple, simple, simple.

Just to keep me focused ... my pile of painting supplies within easy reach.  Got to get cracking on that painting.

Have a great day!

Oh stars ...

It was time to bring out my trademark stars again.  It has been a while since I played with them!

In my last post, I hinted at a new design and here is what it will be.  Initially, a design was sort of doodled, but it changed as soon as pieces started being placed on the strip of neutral fabric

With the addition of one piece after another ....

.... my idea is definitely taking shape.

Yep, I think this it it.  Or it may change .... we'll see.  Right now, all the pieces are just pinned in place.

Still adding some more pieces ...

... and this is it.  I do like this a lot.  This layout will be repeated again in the white space that you see below.  Yep, I like this!

This week, we had snow shoveled off our roof.  In places, it was waist deep.  That is just too much.

With all the noise going on with the renovations, Miss Ashes seems to be taking it in stride.   :o)

Have a great day!

Coming up for air!

The renovations are coming along quite nicely.  Two bathrooms almost done and once toilets and taps are installed, they are ready to be used.

Seven doors got painted and in between waiting times for the paint to dry and to keep out of the way of the tilers ..... a bit of quilting got done.

A huge box of scraps was recently acquired .... not that I really needed them ..... but scraps are scraps and I love scraps .... big time.   I won't be keeping all these scraps.  They will be shared amongst friends and what they don't want will be brought to guild to share there.

Out of the huge box, this container was pulled out.  There were strips already cut out.  A whole lot of strips.  So, what to do with them?  What you see are the left overs that were not used. 

A whole bunch of rail fence blocks were made.  The bottom section has been sewn into rows and that is why there is a difference between the top two sections.  Why are they in sections?  Well, you will just have to sit tight and wait and see what goes there.

So, what else did I do?

This top below got marked up and sandwiched ready for machine quilting and some hand quilting.

My Kaleidoscope quilt got a lot of hand quilting done on it.  The center is all done.  Now, it is just the borders to do.

Between the painting and quilting and renovations .... it has been a good couple of weeks .... but my paint brush is calling me.  There are 3 more doors and door frames to be painted.  Ah well, that is life.

Some days, it feels like nothing gets done.  Then, I look at previous posts and well, yes, a lot got accomplished. 

Today would have been my Mom's 97th birthday.  She has been gone 7 years now.  So, Mom ... Happy Birthday ... wherever you are ...

Have a great day!

Eau de Toilette and Break

Ah, the serenity of our master bedroom.  I did break down and buy a whole cloth cream coloured quilt.  My hexagon quilt looks so good folded up and displayed at the foot of the bed.  Years ago, I did take a week long workshop on how to make my own .... but you know, where will the time be found to make one?  So, next best thing ... buy one.

My quilt ladder was moved from the living room to the master bedroom.  A perfect fit, don't you agree?

Stop the press!  What in the world is that toilet (underneath a sheet) doing in the bedroom?  You guessed it.  Renovations.  The sheet was put over the toilet so that our nearly 3 yr. old niece would not use it.  You've heard the horror stores about kiddies in renovation stores using the displayed toilets?  We didn't want that to happen with us.

 Main bathroom waiting for tiles to come in.  The new tub looks gorgeous.

Basement bathroom.  That orange paint is going .... going ..... gone.  The shower tiles are staying.  they are old and funky.  I love them!

Our living room has become a painting station (once again).  There are quite a number of doors still to be painted.

Then, our brand new skylights will need to be fixed or removed.  Can you see the bulge in the wall?  Yes, we have leaks.  One way or another, I'm not going to deal with this anymore.

 This is the kitchen skylight.  Again leaks and more damage.  Can you hear me screaming?  Ugh!!!!

Good news, though.  I finally found my apple core templates.  They were misplaced during a clean-up in my studio before Christmas and it was such a relief to finally track them down.  So, this project is back up on the small design wall.

A few new additions (on the left) to my main design wall.  I will have to talk about them .... but not now. 

With all that is happening with renovations .... I will be taking a break from blogging. 

So, have a great day!

Ho Hum

These days, I'm jumping around working on different projects.  Boredom has set in and when that happens, different projects come out and get worked on.  Well .... at least they get worked on and that is a good thing .... right!

My Colonial Scrappy Garden has received much attention these past few weeks.  Much progress has been made. What has taken me the longest to do was cutting out all the pieces for the other half of this quilt.  Now that they are cut, I can EPP to my heart's content.

Below are pieces that need to be sewn into triangles.  They will go back in the bottom section (see above photo) where it looks like a chunk is missing.

Nine chicken pincushions have been made.   These six are for an event coming up in May and I will be talking about it then.

My kaleidoscope quilt still gets worked on every few days and I will have a post about that quilt maybe next week so that you can see my progress.

So, some things got done and that makes me smile!

From time-to-time, emails come to me asking about this quilt.  It is an original and there is no pattern.  This hanging pretty well sums up what our winter has been like.  Very cold with lots of snow. 

Have a great day.

Hand quilting

With friends urging me to start getting some of my tops quilted, I've taken their advise and have started the process.  It is my goal for 2015 but it doesn't hurt that others are whispering in my ear.

My Kaleidoscope quilt is the start.  So far, I'm  not happy with what has been done.  Red and blue threads are being used and they are not showing the quilting very well.  Some of the quilting may be taken out and replaced with my standard beige or white quilting threads.

The back shows up beautifully .... just not the front and that is where it is most important.

After removing some of the above quilting threads and going back to my standard white/beige threads is working much better for me.  Now, I can at least see some of the quilting and it is standing out more. 

Have a great day!

Going Modern

At our January meeting of our day guild (Near North Quilter's Guild), the topic was modern quilts.

The baby blanket below is my version of modern quilts.

Lately, my stash has been added to with more modern looking fabrics.  This is what the young are looking for these days.  So, it was time to get onto the band wagon and join in the fun.  That is what quilting is all about.  Experiment and try something different.

This baby blanket will be going to the NICU at our local hospital.

The size is 24-1/2" x 24" and a piece of white flannelette was used as batting.  Simple grid machine quilting.  No binding.  This quilt was birthed (get it?).


In keeping with modern, this is my latest project.  More fun!  :o)

The idea for this quilt came from here.

My squares finish at 5-1/2".  There will be no borders.  All the squares have been cut out and this is what has been sewn together.  Fast.  I do so like that.

Did I mention that this top was fast to do?  Well, looky here:

Before I knew it, this top was done!  

Have a great day!