Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Spring is in the Air
Spring is a fickle season, don't you think? It's cold one day, warm the next. Sunny in the morning, snowing by nightfall. I'm not complaining. I can take springs mood swings because I know it won't be long until the flowers start blooming and everything turns green again. Until then I can make my own bit of sunshine in the Studio.
This weeks weather is looking pretty yukky. There might be a couple days where I can squeeze in a little veggie garden prep. The Farmer's Almanac says I should have already planted a few things but I think I'm going to wait for the late spring planting for my above ground veggies like peas. Maybe this afternoon would be a good time to plant the radishes and beets. The rest of the week is looking pretty soggy.
I went out on the back porch this morning to get a feel for todays weather. Sometimes temperatures can feel warmer or colder depending on the wind and humidity. It was crisp this morning but not freezing. This mornings sunrise was gorgeous. Do you take time everyday to watch the sunrise? It's a nice way to start the day. Letting the eyes see the sunrise every morning helps set our circadian rhythm which is good for our health or so they say. It can't hurt to try and maybe get to see a beautiful start of the day. Today was a real beauty. Lots of reds and purple. A picture is never as good as the real thing.
Red in the morning, sailors warning. Maybe it should be...Red at daylight, quilters delight!
Yes, I'm delighted to be stitching up more gingham porch quilts. Cutting and piecing the yellow and pink quilts at the same time seemed like a good plan. I love the two colors together. So springy! Assembly line sewing or chain piecing makes quick work of these 2 quilts.
The instructions for this free pattern called for making large width of fabric strip sets. I found this to be hard to subcut into accurate strip sets afterwards.
Cutting and piecing squares works better for me. Whatever works right? Counting the squares was very simple quilt math.
Well, it was working until I forgot that each row starts and ends with the same color.
So me and Jack had a little quality time.
If you choose to make one of these gingham quilts using my method of piecing squares. Make sure you set aside 6 medium squares and 7 dark to be sewn to the end of each row.
It took a little over an hour to sew sets of two, remember that included a little ripping. The plan for today is to get the rows stitched together for both colors.
But before working on the gingham quilts I need to get busy quilting the scrap buster baskets quilt. She needs to be quilted and off the frame so I can quilt the gingham quilts when they are finished.
Hope you all have a lovely spring day!
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
Monday, March 20, 2023
Omigosh! It's a Quilt Kit!
Yes you read it correctly, a quilt kit! Quilt kits and quilt patterns are rare in my Studio. I'm more of a free pattern and do the quilty math or design my own quilts kind of gal. The first project below has no name and was designed by the local quilt shop called Back Door Quilts.
This kit was designed as a Block of the Month for 2022. It requires the use of Thangles of which I am not a fan.
The biggest reason I don't like them is I'm cheap. And the second reason, I don't like dealing with the paper. I can make HST's without the mess of ripping off the paper So why did buy this BOM? I didn't. My neighbor Miss Judy did. We both had been admiring it at the quilt shop. It was unspoken but.... Miss Judy is a fairly new quilter and calls on me when she needs my quilty know how, so I think her thinking is.... if we both make this quilt she can call on me for help or we can make it together. It'll be fun either way. If you're reading this Miss Judy, am I right? 😅
Back to the Thangles, Miss Judy is a fan of them and finds them to be helpful. To each their own, whatever works for you as quilter. No judgement for those of you who like them. I have used a similar free option in the past, that's how I know the paper is an annoyance.
I have several rulers for making HST's and QST's. The one below with the red star is the one I plan to use. Here's a video tutorial for this ruler if your interested.
Miss Judy is also a big fan of the color teal and all things Lori Holt. This quilt is both. There's some issues with the kits. They were from 2022, so this is leftovers and they didn't have a kit for one of the months. Each month is two blocks, reversed colors. We are missing the two with purple around them below. All the blocks are simple so I can do the math.
Since I'm somewhat of a collector of Lori fabric, I think I can find the right fabric in my stash to make the two missing blocks. Below is my collection of Lori FQ bundles that haven't been opened. There's more Lori fabric scraps, FQ's and yardage in the other cabinet. The next issue is we also still need to curate fabrics for the block borders, sashing, cornerstones, border, binding and backing because these were also sold out. The shop carries many Lori lines of fabric so I'm sure we can find something that will work just fine in this quilt.
Miss Judy will more than likely try to finish the quilt with the teal sashing and borders. However, I'm considering some color changes. Nothing wrong with the original quilt, I just like a little more white in my quilts.
The next thing new in the Studio is the Omigosh quilt pattern. I've admired it for years at quilt shows and online. I've never been to a quilt show that didn't have at least one Omigosh quilt entered into the show. My latest trip to the Indiana Heritage Quilt show only had one. It could easily be drafted in EQ, but why? I'm getting older and my time is getting more precious with each passing year. Math takes time too so it's worth it to me to spend the money. Oh my gosh! I'm getting old and lazy...LOL! So be it! After battling with myself for about a week I found PDF version to purchase online. Instant gratification! The designer, Sue Garman, passed a few years ago but her website is kept alive by her family. You can read more about Sue here.
This quilt is called Omigosh because the piecing is so small for a quilt finishing at 70 x 88.
It took a bit of searchig for me to find Sue's original quilt on her blog but here she is, isn't she beautiful? Itty bitty pieces. Just how big? Well I can't tell you but she can. Click here, then scroll until you see this quilt. She gave a measurement for the finished squares in the quilt blocks.
I don't plan to make all those little HST's when I have a slew of them already made. I've been making and saving flippy corner cut offs for years. How many flippy corner HST's? At least 3,500 of various sizes. You can read more about them on my blog post here. The plan is to use as many HST's as I can from this stash. However, I won't be cutting down the bigger HST's just to use in the pattern. Well maybe...we'll just need to wait and see how I feel about that when I start making the quilt.
The little squares for the nine patches in the quilt will also be pulled from scraps. Tossing out scraps is hard to do. If I think I can use it I keep it. This is just some of my smaller scraps.
Some are very tiny. See the green piece below? In my mind I see a flower stem ,so it's a keeper. Yep I'm a crazy quilter! Waste not want not.
Now y'all need to remember, this is just a plan.
This year I'm focused on UFO's and Gingham porch quilts. The urge to start new quilts is overwhelming. So you may have to put up with me planning new quilts all year long and know I'm not starting them anytime soon. The Gingham Porch Quilts are supposed to help me stay on the UFO finishing plan by allowing me to quickly cut, piece and finish a quilt. Piecing gives me a break from quilting the many UFO's on the frame. How many UFO's?
A LOT!
If you missed seeing my UFO stash, click here.
Until next time....
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Feeding the Fabric Addiction
When was the last time you were in the same building with fabric for sale and walked out empty handed? No fabric, no notions, nothing, nada, zilch, just you and your purse walking out the door. Yeah, that doesn't happen very often for me either. This latest little haul is from mine and Judy's day out that I mentioned in yesterdays blog post. We both love happy and bright colors in quilts so fabric shopping with her is fun. She leans more towards quilts with a 30's vintage look. Whereas I just look for bright and happy so I can design my own quilts, not sure if I have a style other than bright and cute.
The plan was to go to the quilt show, look at the pretty quilts, browse the vendors for inspiration and come home empty handed. So we'll blame this purchase on being overly excited to be at the quilt show and good marketing. The vendors are very clever. What better way to sell an apron panel than by wearing it and wearing it well I might add... she looked so darn cute. I want to look cute too!
Judy stirred the pot by asking questions and fondling the selections of apron panels. Before I knew it... SOLD! to the lady slobbering all over herself and the fabric! The crazy thing is I don't like panels. I could make this without the panel. No pattern needed. Lord knows I have enough Lori Holt Fabric to make several aprons, but here I am with an apron panel.
The free instructions for this panel can be found here. The instructions says 7 yds of Lori Holt bias trim is needed. The vendor used the Red Gingham Crochet Edge, $20 a spool, so that's what I wanted but she didn't have any in her booth. No problem, I'll buy it online. Now look at how much trim is on one spool, 6 yds. The vendor never said anything about needing 2 spools of $20 cute bias tape. Marketing got me again!
My apron will be made without the cute little trim because now I'm at home and the excitement has dissipated and I'm able to think a little better before making impulse purchases. It'll still be cute without the trim. Our local quilt shop(Back Door Quilts) has a tutorial for making it without trim. If you're interested you can find it on their Facebook page and Instagram account.
The apron was my only purchase at the quilt show. There was so much I wanted but I resisted temptation. Remember, my quilting goal for the year is finishing UFO's and making small gingham porch quilts.....and now an apron.
After the quilt show we headed over to the local quilt shop called Klaiber's Sewing Center. Hands down this is my favorite local shop. So much pretty bright and happy Lea Anne fabrics. I rarely go to this store because the temptation is so great. On this day they were having a sale on skinny bolts. The Moda yellow gingham sang to me as soon as I came in the door. She was on the sale table. I don't have a need for yellow gingham at this time. As I placed her back on the shelf Judy quickly snatched her up. This made me happy. I may not have it but it's nice to see someone I know putting this little cutie in their stash....or so I thought. Judy gave me the yellow gingham as I was getting out of her car at the end of the day. She wouldn't make a good sponsor in a twelve step program.😂
The last addition to the stash is this yummy Moda jelly roll called The Flower Farm by Bunny Hill Designs. For weeks I've been eyeing this line and the kits featuring this line at the Shabby Fabrics online store. You can see all things Flower Farm at Shabby Fabrics by clicking here.
I'm not sure what I'll do with this jelly roll but she sure is purdy! This was an impulse purchase made while waiting for Judy to pick me up at the door of the quilt shop. You see the parking lot was flooded and the only place to park was in a mud puddle on the passenger side of the car. It was fate, the powers that be wanted me to have the on sale jelly roll or it wouldn't have been right by the door.
Maybe next time I'll stick to my plan of not buying fabric...maybe.
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
Friday, March 17, 2023
Indiana Heritage Quilt Show 2023
How long has it been since you last attended a quilt show? For me it has been about 10 years. So I was super excited when my neighbor and quilting buddy Judy suggested we needed a girls day out at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show.
There was so much to see but I'm only sharing a few of my favorites. If you would like to see all the winners you can find them by clicking here
Please forgive me for not being able to give credit to the makers of these quilts. I forgot to take pictures of the piece of paper attached to the quilts.
Each quilt shared with you today is hand quilted with lots of other handwork.
This one is called The Crossing.
Take a look at this trapunto. I've never seen little stuffed balls that look like marbles. Impressive! Now tell me, will these flatten if the quilt is folded? How would they hold up to washing?
Next is Joy in the Journey. 100% handwork. So many tiny pieces.
The last quilt is Let Freedom Ring. My favorite from the show. Again, all handwork. The detail isn't as impressive as the other two quilts but it's patriotic and that's the reason I love it so much.
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
🍀🍀Never iron a four leaf clover because you don't want to press your luck!🤣🤣💚💚
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