The WEEK END!!!! YEA!!

Well I was off on Friday and I wanted to get some sewing done, but with the hundred and one other things that were on the agenda I didn't get a lot of sewing completed.  What I did get done was some work on my block of the month that has been kind of laying around waiting for me to complete the blocks.  Well it is almost the end of the year and the last of the blocks so I figured I better get busy.  The fact of the matter is, I have more than one BOM that I have started and completed 2 or 3 of the blocks and while I continued to go and pick up the patterns and I picked up sashing and borders and binding and even backing and they are all waiting for me to retire and get busy!  Now I have to say that I did complete one of my BOM that was from several years ago when I was traveling to Knoxville every month and doing a lot of quilting up there.  I did finish that quilt and my DIL has that one on her bed at home.  It was Thimbleberries and was a wonderful quilt.  I have to say that some of the blocks I really didn't like the fabric so I sort of substituted some of the fabric and some of the blocks just did not do anything for me so I sort of did my own thing a time or two.  There were also a couple of blocks that I didn't sew exactly like they said because I made mistakes but they were very interesting so I just went ahead and put the stuff I wanted in the quilt and I'm not alone in thinking it was a good quilt.  The problem is.........that is the only BOM I have ever completed.  I guess you could say I'm a starter but not necessarily a finisher.  Oh well, that's me!  But I am determined that this quilt will be finished!  So on to the blocks.

I've completed 6 of the blocks.  It seems I have misplaced one of my patterns so I will have to check with my bud, Peggy, to see if she still has her copy of that particular block.  Then I will pick up the November and December blocks and will be ready to go to finish the quilt.  I think I will go ahead and try to do some of the putting the blocks together since I do have the finishing pattern so I will have that done also.  The more I get done the more likely I am to be able to just pick it up one weekend and finish it.  I love it when I can go through and pick up several different items and sew them together and put the borders on and just finish several quickly.  Do you like to do that also?

How funny that these two pictures go together and almost look like one picture.  This is four of the blocks.  The peach with gray stripe is not part of the quilt blocks just in case you were wondering.  Each block is pinned to it's patter and the plastic bag the pattern and fabric was packaged in.

 

 

Okay here are the other two blocks I have completed. 

 

 

I am really very happy with the way the blocks are turning out.  Maybe this is something else that will inspire me to finish this BOM. 

 

I have been saving up things for several years and saying this is for when I retire.  Well now that I am almost to retirement I keep digging through my things and finding things that I actually forgot that I even had!  I found another BOM that came totally packaged and I really don't remember if I got it in Knoxville or if I got it from the Gypsy Quilter when she came to visit and teach at our guild.  She stayed here at my house and we talked quiting 24-7!  It was so much fun.  Poor Kenneth got to cook for her the entire time because we were so busy doing things that I just didn't even have time to cook! lol.  My friends that would come by the house and I benefited greatly from her staying here because she was a wealth of information!

 

At any rate I have either 3 or 4 or 5 more BOM that I can think of right now that have not been sarted or not been completed.  One of my quilt shop owner friends used to get all the stuff together for the entire BOM for me and just let me buy everything at one time and that was wonderful so that is one of the reasons I have so many.  I think it would be awesome for quilt shop owners to make up a few kits to have for sale as a whole and people not need to come every month for their block and sales pitch.  They could increase the price accordingly and I bet they would have a lot of people that would want to do those things.  One shop owner in Missouri let me take pictures of the BOM they were working on that was in 30's fabric so I could have the pattern since she had not completed the entire pattern when I was there.  She did not purchase a BOM by the manufacturer, but made up her own and wrote her own patterns.  It was a wonderful shop!  Gosh I miss that one!

 

I have also been over to FrogPond to see what Sandi is working on and I'm jealous.  I want to do a quilt like her's.  And I love Quiltworks and their site on FaceBook.   There are so many things I just keep putting pictures in and printing off patterns.  I told Kenneth today that I needed to pick up a couple of binders to put stuff in so I don't lose it or let it get messed up!  I really don't think I will ever run out of projects.

 

Well this is a short post but this is what I have been working on as well as working some more on the T-shirt quilt that I don't have the borders on yet.  I hope to do that this weekend also and I have the blocks from the guild that need to be put together and the tops for the Quilts for Kids that I need to quilt and get the binding sewed on before the next guild meeting which will be next week!  "Yikes, time flies when you're having fun!"  I hope you all have a lovely week of quilting.  Let me see what you are working on this week!

Why is it taking me so long to finish this???

There are so many different ways to make quilts that it is really hard sometimes to decide which project to start next.  Sometimes projects are just so time consuming that I find them difficult to complete.  It isn't that they are not pretty, it isn't that I have made some kind of error that just ruins it for me and it isn't really because I want to have another unfinished quilt laying in my stack of to do projects, they just take so long and I have a desire to complete something, or see something that I want to do now!  I'm so sure that none of you experience the same type symptoms (tongue in cheek).  The fact is that we are all human and sometimes we just pick a project that is larger than our attention span.  (I have a few of those.)  Through my few years of quilting I have learned that there are some projects that I just don't need to start, and there are some that if the size is adjusted then perhaps I would have some hope of finishing.

I have one project that I have been working on (I should say working on and off) that is just one of those that I want to finish, I love what I am doing and the meaning, it's just too darn big.  I wish I had gone with something smaller.  What inspired me to start this was a class I took and in one short class, (4 hours)  I basically completed my project of a small wall hanging.

I really had a lot of fun creating this in a class I took a few years ago.
Lots of great machine quilting and completed in just a few hours.

This was really a wonderful class and we spent the majority of the time doing the machine quilting on this piece.  Actually most of the class was the quilting and quilting is one thing I love.  Every leaf has a different quilting pattern as does each of the different sections of background and the borders.  All the different patterns were really neat to learn.

I was so enthused about how quickly the project went together that I immedately when home and finished the project and the started looking around for what I wanted to do next using the same technique.  Here are some of the things I did not take into consideration when I dove into my new project.

1.  When you do a class project you typically already have the fabrics that are going to be used or they are supplied for you in addition to any special supplies such as bias tape, fusables and spray adhesive or whatever is required for the project.

2.  If the fabric is supplied then typically the pieces are already cut for you, or at least they are rough cut so most of your class time is not spent at the cutting board.

3.  The pattern is supplied in a ready to use format.

Okay, lets start with number 3.  The pattern.  I now have the know how and want to pick a pattern.  I had been told where to look for patterns.  This was not something you could run out to the quilt store and purchase.  The advise was to purchase a coloring book and pick your pattern from the pictures in a coloring book.  That is a great ideal.  I now know that I could have picked dozens of patterns that would have made wonderful blocks for a quilt and would have been really easy to complete.  I could have even used the blocks in a Georgia Bonsteel type configuration and had the blocks all quilted and then put them together.  I could have made an awesome quilt in just a few days!!  I actually found the pattern I wanted to use in a relatively short time in a coloring book with Christmas scenes.  I chose a nativity scene.  Since I collect nativity sets I thought this would be wonderful.  I still think it would be wonderful.  Of course the next step was enlarging the pattern to the size I wanted which was large!!  This I managed on my copy machine by coping portions of the page enlarging them as I went to the size I wanted, then I had to tape all the pages together.  I believe I have something like 40 pages tapes together for this project.  Needless to say this took quite a bit of time to complete.  It was like a 3 day project just to get the pattern enlarged correctly.  Next I had to get my fusible fabric and the pattern was to be traced onto the fusible.  This part of the project only took me a couple of days.  Boy I was moving fast.  I had just spent a week just getting my pattern and getting it ready!

Now lets skip up the the very first consideration, the fabric.  I had to pick the fabric for this project and I really do strive to do things right and I know there are fabrics out there that are prints that when cut correctly you can get some wonderful effects.  I started to hunt my fabrics.  This process took about 4 months.  Every time I entered a fabric store I was on the lookout for fabrics that would give me exactly what I wanted.  I had the wise men the animals the doves the wood in the stable the straw, there was a night sky, oh this was a very detailed pattern, in case I forgot to mention that bit of information.  I would wind up purchasing 1/4 yard of fabric or a fat quarter for a beard.  This was getting to be a very expensive project also, but the effects are really worth the effort.

It may be a little difficult to tell at this stage that this is a dove, but the fabric I found
actually is feathers and I attempted to cut it so the feathers on the wings were
going in the right direction.  Yes fussy cut!



This section, which I believe you can tell is a beard I think is great.




Another section of beard and notice the skin tones. 
I actually used different skin tones for all the wise men
which meant different hair colors and types.



This picture shows two of the wise men and as you can see they are
very different.



The last picture also shows that this project is not complete.  As you can see, finding the right fabrics will make a huge difference in the completed project, when that happens. 

Now for the other thing I did not take into consideration when I started this project, cutting the fabric.  Almost every piece of fabric is fussy cut.  Doing fussy cuts takes an enormous amount of time if you are being very particular about the effect you are striving to attain.  The orientation of the pattern piece and the the orientation of that item on the quilt both play a part.  There are some pieces that I have cut several times before I achieved the effect I wanted.



My project hanging on my quilting room wall.

As you can see from the above picture, my project is not yet at the half way mark of completion.  One day I'm sure it will be a great show piece for my collection and will beautiful hung with some shelves around to hold a few of my nativity collections.  I actually have at least one nativity in every room of my house and in some I have more than one and I love them.  They are a constant reminder of my Lord and what he gave up for me.

I hope you have a great day, and a wonderful time quilting.  Let me encourage you to sign up for my blog.  I promise you will not receive emails trying to get you to purchase my products or use my services.  I hate it when I sign up for something and then get a mailbox full of junk!!

Some quilts take longer than others!! Quilting

I actually didn't start out to make this into a 2 part post but it got so long I really didn't want you to get bored and just quit reading so here is my method for quilting for the "Oriental Garden Path Quilt."



This is a picture of the blocks and I think the quilting did make the right
portions of the block pop up.

 The quilt itself began with a print fabric, oriental, with a oriental garden with pagoda and waterfalls which was given to me by Kay.  The name of the pattern used for the blocks is "Garden Path".  I had recently taken a class by Nichole Webb showcasing her book of quilting designs called "Garden Branching".  Okay, these things all just seemed to go together in my mind.  I had also designed the quilt to have some larger spaces for special quilting and Nichole's patterns just really seemed to fit.  First I did a simple stitch in the ditch quilting around the blocks.  Next I wanted to pull the fabric down in the second square so that the center square popped up and the eye would be drawn to that fabric because that was the focus fabric.  I did a sort of simple small paisley pattern.



Since the object of the quilting in the background here was to
pull it down so the other pieces seemed to pop up I did not want
to draw attention to the quilting by putting a contrasting
color in this area.  The object was to minimize.

 Now anyone who has flower gardens will tell you that the beauty of the garden is in the variety of flowers, colors and sizes.  Well I wanted my quilt to show that same diversity so I wanted to use patterns of several different flower and I wanted to use different colors in the flowers.  Anyone who does machine quilting will tell you very quickly that it is more difficult when you have to change thread numerous times in one quilt.  Most quilts will be quilted with one or two different threads.  Rarely will you see them use 3 different colors in one quilt.  When you are talking about a really nice show quality quilt though you will often find quilts that have used several different colors to enhance their quilting.  Well, my quilt isn't show quality, but I really wanted this to be special, soooo.  Here are some pictures of part of the flowers that I quilted into the quilt.


Picture #1
Chrysanthemum



Picture #2
Giant Camellia



Picture #3
Whoville Rose



Picture #4
Fuchsia



Picture #5
Star Flower



Picture #6
Iris




Picture #7
Orchid



Picture #8
Gerber Daisy



Picture #9
Drooping Thistle

 

Picture #10
Violets




Picture #11
Fuchsia




Picture #12
Fuchsia




Picture #13
Orchid





Picture #14
Drooping Thistle

As you can see, some of the flowers turned out better than others.  The yellow (Picture #14) just did not pop on the background fabric, so I didn't do very many yellow flowers.  I thought the picture of the thistle was great but it was much prettier to me in the blue (Picture #9).  I did do violets in groups and as a single flower and I did the fuchsia in the same manner.  You will notice the green around the flowers.  This was the branching or vines that pulled all of the quilting together and it was done with a verigated green thread.  There is a green bush shown in the fabric with the pagoda and I tried to duplicate this in the large outer border. 

I really enjoyed quilting this quilt.  My biggest problem was I got behind on my other quilting while I was trying to finish this so had to take it off my machine before it was finished and for some reason I let this lay in my quilting room, folded up for more than a year before I decided on the 4th of July to declare my independence from a UFO (unfinished object) and put it back on my machine.  The really interesting part is when I put it back on the machine and started quilting again I was finished in just a couple of hours.  I really don't know why I put it off so long, but am so happy I finally kicked myself into finishing this project.  Well it is almost finished.  My friend Peggy has the quilt now, putting the binding on for me.  There just isn't anything as wonderful as a great friend, but a finished quilt runs a close race.

I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in quilting, my trials and triumphs.  Let me know how you are doing with your projects.  I love hearing from my blogger buddies.

Lazy Days of.....What are you talking about, I don't have lazy days

Instead of Lazy Days of Summer, Winter, Spring or Autumn, it seems that I always have more to do than I will ever have time to complete, and yet I am always starting a new project, or looking up something new that I have heard.  There are times that I have to stop, take a deep breath, and look at what is there before me, instead of rushing off on a new tangent.  The wonderful thing about tangents is they are just spokes in my wagon wheel and eventually they will all connect and form the circle of my life.

Several years ago I decided that I would make paper pieced wall hangings for my step-daughter, step-daughter-in-law, and my youngest stepsons current girlfriend.  I started early, but found that I really didn't love paper piecing enough to finish the pattern I had started.  It was a lovely pattern, but....  What can I say, I just got tired of it...It had a gillion and one pieces.....My work area wasn't such as to easily accomplish my task...  Okay there are a million and one excuses but the bottom line is...they all got laid back and pushed back until they were just another UFO.

I'm sure we all have them, or have had them at some point.  That project that you started but didn't finish for whatever reason.  What do you do with those?  This week I want to give you some ideals that you can use or not, but just as food for thought.  There was that project that just wasn't coming together well and I had this large part finished but it called for more squares and then the border was pieced and the, well you get my drift.  Then there was that quilt that the colors, after I started just didn't do anything for me and it just didn't look the way I wanted it to look.  Gosh I had really worked on that one and then as I started putting it together I just didn't like it!!  Then of course there were those paper pieced pieced pieces, and several more that along the way had been shoved into the corner.  I really needed to clean up some of the mess!

Guess what, at a guild meeting someone said something about orphan blocks, and one of the ladies at that guild said just bring them to me and I'll do something with them.  She got all kinds of blocks, and they were all different sizes.  Some just didn't turn out right because of issues with seam allowances, or cutting problems and I'm sure I don't have to go into how many ways there are to mess up a block.  I know I've experienced my share of messed up blocks.  I gave some of my mishaps to her, but I still had plenty.  I really didn't want to carry them all to her because I didn't want anyone to know had bad I can mess something up.  Well you just had to be there to see some of the works of art Robbie brought to the guild meetings in the next few months.  No one would have ever guess those were orphan blocks.  I just didn't have the tallent she had for pulling things together.  She would just lay all her blocks out and pick a background color and if she had to add an extra strip on a block to make it the right size then it was added.  Some of the smaller blocks she put together with stripping and made a brand new 4 patch block of the right size to go with others.  It was amazing.  I learned a very valuable lesson from her.  We all tend to drift toward a particular palate of colors and with just an addition or two along the way, most of our orphan blocks will go together nicely into a brand new quilt.  If you want to try to bring some of your blocks together, I suggest you carry several of them with you when you go shopping for fabric so you can lay them all out with a background fabric to see if it works or see how many of them works and then adjust the size of the quilt, I mean after all you didn't have a pattern anyway so instead of a bed size quilt, how about a lap size.

Along that same train of thought, those quilt tops that I had completed a large portion of just as suddenly became lap quilts instead of half finished projects.  It was much easier to put the fewer number of blocks together with a border and "get 'er done" and it really felt good that it wasn't still just laying around and I still had the rest of the fabric that I had never cut that remained in my stash, or when I got really creative, because the fabric just wasn't one I ever planned to use again, I just sewed large squares or rectangles of the left over fabric together and had a pieced backing so I finished the project without spending any extra money, which was nice.  Another project wound up with a much smaller number of blocks, I think I had finished 6 blocks and I just sewed them together with a lasagna border out of the rest of the fabric and voila, another lap quilt.

What on earth does anyone need with so many lap quilts??  Well, I didn't need them so what would I do with them?  Gosh, I can't begin to tell you how quickly they disappeared.  One of them I kept because I found out I liked it after all.  Another lap quilt went as a gift.  Several went to a local nursing home for patients who were there and had no one bringing them those comfort items we all love.  Several more when to a hospice for the nurses to take out to their patients.  A couple went to people who were on chemotherapy for cancer and had to spend hours getting therapy in a large room that they said was always cold so they took them to chemo every week.  Some went to a church for their benevolence program.  Other places who can place your extra small quilts are home health care organizations, fire departments and police departments as well as your local Red Cross or Salvation Army or your local homeless shelter or battered women's shelter. 

Another place to use those quilts that you just don't have a use for is to wrap them around some food items, and personal care items and drop them off under that bridge where you know the homeless take shelter.  No you don't have to talk with them or come in contact.  You may want to include an encouraging Bible Verse, or pamplet.  We did this at a church I was attending several years ago with the teenage class and it was a wonderful eye opening experiece for some of those teenagers to just think about what was necessary to a homeless person.  Can you imagine living out of a plastic garbage bag?

Well back to where to I started....I took my ufo of the paper pieced flowers and cut off the unfinished edge and actually found a couple of fabrics for borders that really matched the paper piecing and I finished that UFO too. 

A really beautiful pattern for someone who is very much into
details and many steps.

I really think it turned out quite well, and It now hangs in my living room.  I just think that is where it belonged all along!!!  I'm so glad I made this project just for me, hehehe.  Maybe sometime down the road I'm show you all some of my wonderful potholders made out of stray blocks. 

Here's hoping you all have a great week and remember, giving is a wonderful feeling.