Working on that to-do list........

This year I'm hoping to make a dent in the creative to-do list that carries over from year to year.  First I sat down and updated the list which means more projects added to it. Last night I was able to cross a project off the list that's been sitting for years, so many years I can't even guess how long. I bought the pattern, Union Square Floor Tote, fabric, jute webbing, soft & stable foam and other materials to make two of these. One was made as a gift but then the bag with the supplies for mine sat under the sewing room desk for years. I worked on it the past few days minus one day when we were without power for many hours. Now I remember why I never got to mine - with two layers of the foam it's very hard to maneuver under the sewing machine. It's also big which makes it hard to machine sew. But I persevered and have a finished tote to sit in the living room with my many current knitting projects in it. The background color of the outside is actually a bit more colorful - a soft seafoam teal.  The inside is the same fabric with a brown background. And yes, those are sheep all over it. I love it. I will never make another one. 

Today's chore was organizing my knitting supplies as they were spread all out over the house instead of where they should be. I thought I was done and then found another basket full.  Now they're all organized. Two dilapidated knitting totes are off to the trash, all combined into a third one. I also went through my felted knitting books to share with others. I kept one. I will never make all those projects so best the books move on to someone that will use them. This freed up space on one shelf for more quilting books...........ah, there's always an upside to cleaning out. 

Other than the knitting projects I have going I'll have to go look over that very long to-do list to see what I'm in the mood to work on next.

I wish you all a Happy New Year - I wish you peace, good health, no chaos or crisis and lots of time to be creative at what you love doing..............
 

Almost done.......

The king size quilt for the trundle bed in the guest room is almost done. Some people call this a spider web quilt but I need another name for it as I have a spider phobia, don't even like typing the word.  I took my pieced quilt top to a long arm quilter, Stitched on Second, and picked it up this week. This photo shows it laid on the floor in the foyer while I trimmed it up. This was not easy.  I have since learned that Stitched on Second will do the trimming so next time I do a big quilt I'll pay them to do this. Smaller quilts I can easily do.  I now have the binding (the charcoal gray background fabric) sewn on the front, turned to the back and clipped. It will take me several evenings to hand sew the binding to the back.  I have very little leftover fabric but I think I can eek out some pillowcases using one or more of the prints as the borders on white on white fabric as the body of the placemats.  I have some bolsters that sit on the bed against the wall that will definitely need recovering but will have to find a suitable fabric for those (dreading that sewing chore).  So good to almost have this big project done. I'd like to make another king size quilt for our bed but that will have to wait........maybe next year........
 

Quilts.........

Recently I worked on some sewing/quilting projects.  The wallhanging above was from a kit a friend gave me. It's got many small pieces in the center, applied wool flowers, it's 15" x 18". I machine quilted it, some stitch in the ditch, free motion around the flowers, diamond window pane in the borders. I am not a quilter - this size is around my limit.  I'm interested in exploring tiny quilting so this has gotten me started. For tiny quilting I'm planning much smaller than this. Adding it to my very long to-do list.

I finished the 4 placemats I had started a couple months ago - I just did simple quilting on them. I had enough of some fabrics to make some serged napkins. 

 This turkey wall hanging was made from a quilt kit gifted from another friend. It's fused applique with crazy free motion quilting. As I said the quilting part is not my thing but I manage. I put a hanging sleeve on the back but it may end up being a table centerpiece around Thanksgiving - undecided as of yet. 

Also on the quilting front I took my king size spider web quilt to Stitched on Second for long arm quilting - it should be ready in a few weeks. 

I'm finally getting back to the loom. I wound a towel warp on the back beam the other day, threaded heddles and sleyed the reed yesterday.  But have other things on the calendar the next few days so will get back to it soon. 

 

spider webs........

 Earlier this week I finally finished piecing the spider web quilt. It's hanging over a table in this photo. I started this right after the holidays. Very slow piecing with all those fabrics and widths.  Yesterday I ordered some fabric for the backing - I was limited in my choices since I needed 118" wide to avoid piecing. I really don't like dealing with huge amounts of fabric at the sewing machine - putting this one together was a bear as it's king size. I'm hoping where all those 'slices of pie' come together in the center of the spider webs it's not too thick for the long arm quilter. 

Even though I have a need for another king size quilt that may wait until next year - smaller quilting projects as well as weaving and other crafts are on the agenda for the rest of this year. Yesterday I was working on a turkey wall hanging/table centerpiece quilt. A friend gave me the kit for Christmas. I've got the turkey all pieced, actually pieces cut out of numerous batiks and fused. Will post a picture after I sew the two borders on. I'll quilt this myself since it's small.  I've also got 4 placemats all sandwiched and ready to quilt which I'll also quilt myself. 

Our weather has finally turned to spring - we are out of the freezing temps at least for now. I've got apple and plum trees flowering so sure hope there's no hard freeze. I haven't planted any of the early veggie seeds yet - maybe this week.  I'm afraid what's going to happen is that we'll go straight from winter to summer in a week. 

It's been a while

It's been a while since I last posted. Back then I had taken day one of a quilt workshop on paper piecing.  I attended day two a couple weeks later and this is the start of my quilt which will end up being a 42" x 42" wall hanging or table topper. There are many more of these blocks to be made that will radiate out from this center.  I've found that I really like the paper piecing. But I had an issue with the teacher's instructions being different than the commercial pattern which resulted in pieces being cut wrong and me not liking my curves. I know my curves would have turned out better had I followed the pattern instructions. As far as pieces being cut wrong I did buy a bit extra fabric so I'm hoping I have enough. I may end up contacting the quilt shop to have them send me more of several of the fabrics just to be sure, hopefully they still have more. If I can get more of most of the fabrics I may remake these 4 blocks. (the background looks tan but it's really gray)  I never attended day three of the workshop - it snowed and was quite snowy around my town until early afternoon. I don't think I missed anything as it was just continuing to sew blocks. I did learn something new and loved it so in spite of issues it was a success and the shop where I took the class is great. 

Because of things going on in my family life I never got back to working on this project. My mother had a few falls, resulting in hitting her head, hard, and started going downhill quickly. She passed away two weeks after the last fall. Even though she was 94, had moved into a memory care facility and was getting more and more frail it was still a shock. I've always been certain she would live to be over 100. I can't say enough good about the memory care facility where she had been living - the Lodge at Countryside Village (Grants Pass, OR).  All of the staff are so kind and compassionate. 

As I wait to get things started with settling her affairs I decided to spend time at the sewing machine working on the quilt blocks from the quilt I started after the holidays. It's been very therapeutic. I now have only 3 more blocks to make and then I can start sewing them all together. I'm anxious to get it finished and off to the longarm quilter. I'm anxious to put away the piles of fabric strips and fold up the craft table. 

If the weather cooperates I'd like to get out to clean up the raised beds. Usually I would have had some early things planted but there's been no time and even if there were the weather has not been good - snow, sleet, rain, cold.  Maybe we'll be heading into more spring like weather later this week........maybe............

So, that's my life at the moment. I would like to say I'll post more often but it may not happen, at least not for a while. 

A little bit......

....a little bit of sewing happening here but not much. Did did come up with borders for 2 sides of the sample blocks to make them placemat size. They will have dark purple binding, it's already sewn, ironed and ready to go.  I now have 4 placemat tops set aside to quilt later on.  I've figured out my fabrics for the second part of the quilt workshop but now I'm questioning myself on what goes where.  For the immediate I'm back to making blocks for the teal quilt top for our guestroom bed.......I'm sure that will be set aside again soon to work on other projects. 

Snow off and on here the past couple of weeks, has been some on the valley floors but mostly a bit higher in elevation, enough to mess up driving on the passes to the north and south of our valley, and then many feet higher in the mountains, that is great thinking ahead to fire season. 
 

Paper piecing......

 Last month I signed up for a 3 day paper piecing quilt class at Stitched on Second in Gold Hill. Friday was day 1 which was to learn the technique. Here is my block from that day, it's made up of 4 smaller blocks. The pattern is out of a Carol Doak book, the instructor provided it. It's fittingly called 'Cindi's Block'.  It was suggested that we should make 4 more big blocks and use them as the center of a baby quilt. I have no use for a baby quilt and I don't have a use for a wall hanging in these colors (I was working from bits of stash fabrics). I have decided to use them to make a set of placemats - I will add borders to 2 sides so I end up with a rectangle. They will be bright and cheery to use on the deck table once it's eating out weather. 

I'd love to be working on this over the weekend but the weather is nice and we need to get the plum and apple trees pruned - 2 plum trees done yesterday, will do the apple trees today. Did grapes last month. Roses still to come sometime in March. And it's getting time to think about the garden. There has been lettuce, spinach and chard growing under ground cover all winter.  It's amazing how much we have growing on a city lot - more than we ever had when we were on acreage. 

Day 2 & 3 of the workshop come in a couple weeks. We have homework to do - buy our fabrics, cut out paper patterns. I already bought my fabrics but need to decide what will go where.  The pattern we'll be doing for those 2 days is called Arizona Cactus - more complicated and includes curves.  

This month was a bad one for me to sign up for a class but I'm so glad I did - I love learning new!  I'm really enjoying the paper piecing. Of course I 'had' to buy a lightpad from the quilt shop halfway thru the day.  I have a tiny lightbox that I bought for who knows what over 25 years ago but it can't compare to a lightpad that has cutting mats that fit on top and it's big too. And I even got a carrying bag. Added benefit of being so flat to store, it won't take up much space. Every new technique comes with a new set of tools that must be added to the cupboard!  

Yet another........

 Yet another throw size quilt top finished. Hard to see but it has a 5" white border, it will get a navy binding after quilting.  Next up in the queue is baseball theme with light tan background and medium brown accents. 

On the high seas.......

Another throw size quilt top ready for the long arm quilter. This one is all sea themed fabric. it's hard to see but there's a 5 1/2" white on white border around the outside.  Once quilted the binding will be red.  Now on to the next one.......another sea themed but will have navy as the accent. 

 

 Here is the first quilted throw top finished, it's ready for the long arm quilter but I think I'll wait until they're all done to deliver it. The background looks pink in the photo but it's really a pale lavender. It's a fun and quick quilt pattern called Fast Lane. Love these Kaffe Fassett prints. Next up is a sea themed quilt top. I grossly overbought my background and accent color (lavender & dark purple). I wasn't following the pattern exactly for the sizes they made so I had to figure out how much I needed on my own and obviously rounded up a bit too much. Live and learn..........

Life in the fast lane.........

 I'm attempting to start on some holiday gifts which will include some quilted throws. Here is the start of one using Kaffe Fassett fabrics in my favorite Fast Lane pattern. I'm using a pale lavender as the background and dark purple as the accent color - both will be used again in the borders and binding. Very cheerful project to be working on. 

Up above my 'design board/drape' is a framed double weave pick-up piece I wove years ago. There are two layers of fabric woven at the same time on the loom, one over top the other.  Working from a graph individual threads are pulled up from the bottom layer and pushed down from the top layer to create the design. It's very time consuming but it's a technique I've loved doing over the years. 

I'm trying to knit in the evenings again like I used to. I'm working on a simple shawl I've worked on off and on (mostly off) for several months. So much better for me to work on something while watching tv in the evening rather than just sitting and watching like I've done much of the past 2 years. Maybe life is getting back to normal...........

All in an afternoon............

 Last month in my zoom (ASG) sewing guild meeting one of my fellow members showed a number of mini-quilt wall hangings she had made over the years. Most involved objects attached to the mini-quilt. Immediately the wheels started turning and I thought of this cute knitting 'goddess' that had been hanging in my studio for several years. I went through my fabric stash and found 4 different satins and a silk, just small bits of each. It's hard to see the woven patterns on the border and binding but they are satin and are different. I learned to have patience sewing with slippery, fraying fabrics but all turned out well in the end. I'm hoping the ribbon the 'goddess' is hanging from holds up over time......I did put some dots of glue on the knot to keep it from coming undone. Did you notice I'm using an old metal knitting needle for a hanger?  This was a very fun project. I'll be looking at little 'things' differently now wondering if they could be made into a small quilted wall hanging. 

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Olympics, I've been dvr'ing all the curling and watching it here and there speeding through the commercials. I am not a sports person but I got hooked on curling several years ago and it hasn't let up. It's a little bit of an overload right now but I need to get my fill as there's very little curling to be found on tv the rest of the time. While some will be watching the Super Bowl I'll be watching curling, doesn't matter to me which country is playing............my favorites so far were the Italian doubles team who won gold in doubles, she especially was incredible. 

In progress.......

 Why in the world do some photos taken with my phone turn out sideways when uploaded to the blog??? It looked fine on my computer so I was sure it would be fine here.  Anyhow, just turn your head to the right to see it the correct way. 

Anyhow, this is what I've been working on the past couple of days - a small wallhanging. I bought this pattern and the fabric for it probably around 10 years ago. After making the sheep wallhanging kit that had been hanging around for years I decided to do another project that's been taking up shelf space.  This was really fun. All the fabrics were fused to the white background using fusible web. The black lines are fusible bias binding that comes on a roll, I had 2 sizes - 1/8" and 1/4".  Next up is machine quilting but it will have to wait until I buy some spray quilt adhesive, so I don't have to put pins in it...........and I need to start packing up much of the house in preparation for new floors and painting. Not looking forward to packing up stuff and emptying closets but it will look so nice once it's all done. We're doing everything except the master bedroom and bathroom at this time......holding off on those as we're going to gut that bathroom and totally redo it. 

This and that..........

The other day I decided to put a towel warp on for some Valentine towels. It's hard to get away from production weaving but then I also won't spend the time warping for just a couple towels.  I compromised and put on enough warp for 8 towels.  I'll keep a couple for myself and eventually gift the others.  Of course, I probably won't put them out to use in February as I have to pack up much of the house in order to have new flooring installed and painting............will be living in a disaster zone for a while. 

A friend gifted me with a mini-charm pack of already cut squares, 2 1/2" square.  She also gave me some fat quarters. Yesterday I had planned on weaving but ended up going down the rabbit hold playing with the 42 little squares. 

I ended up making a tote bag.  I mean, everyone can use another tote bag especially when we have to bring our own bags to shop with. If I'm buying fabric or clothing I don't want to put them in the same bags I use for groceries.  I used all 42 squares on the front of the tote, one of the fat quarters to frame the squares..........

 .........one fat quarter for the back and then 2 fat quarters for the lining.  I just happened to have some brown webbing for the straps in my stash.

So on to fabric shopping - in my local fabric store all the ladies I've encountered that work there wear those little clear masks that sit out in front of the chin & mouth.  I mean, what's with that???  What good do they do???  And they cut fabric so slow when all I want to do is get out of there. Good thing I rarely go in that store.....I wonder how many others rarely shop there these days because of this.  I want to support local businesses but not compromise my health doing so.  And it's not just that local store - we found the flooring store staff and customers weren't wearing masks, same at the door store and many other stores in town. We rarely go in stores but the past few weeks we've needed to and are shocked. We do have an indoor mask mandate. Our region has low vaccination rates because people refuse to get vaccinated, they also don't want to wear masks.........so the rest of us pay.  I'm growing very weary and very irritated at how inconsiderate others are. And I'll stop at that because I could go on.......and on...........

Finally finished..........

I'm not sure exactly when I started my hexxie quilt. Perhaps toward the end of 2019???  I can't remember and don't feel like going back in my blog at the moment to see if I can find the first post about sewing those little hexxies together.  I know I learned how to do them in a free mini-class at the Rogue Valley Piecemakers Quilt show in May of 2019.

So here it is finally finished.  It's afghan size. It's all beachy fabrics in seaglass colors and coral with seahorses in the center of the hexxie flowers.  It's not evident in the photos but the background hexxies are a white on white beachy print. The binding uses all 9 sea glass fabrics.

Here's a close up of the quilting.  I had it quilted by local long arm quilter who did an incredible job. It's not an all over design that was computer driven, it was human driven, flowers in the hexxies, feathers and such in the background. I was blown away by the quilting job. I would love to give the quilter's name out to give credit where it's due but I'm not sure if it's ok to put that on my blog so I won't. I'm very conscious of other's privacy and anyone who has read my blog for a while knows I never put photos of others, mention names unless linking to a website, or even put photos of myself up here. 

I have to say I loved hand-sewing all these hexxies. I can see more english paper piecing in my future although maybe next time a wall piece with different shapes, a more contemporary version of the traditional. 

Pumpkin season

 

I am trying to make a little time each day for myself rather than be consumed by all that is happening in my life.  My mental health is at stake. 

Remember the pumpkin quilt wallhanging top I pieced?  Well, it's still at the long arm quilter who is swamped but she contacted me earlier this week to get my decision on a stitching design for the quilting so I think it will be ready in the near future. I decided I need to work on making a quilted pumpkin table runner. I still have the borders to add to this and then the quilting. I'll be doing the machine quilting myself since it's a small project - either stitch in the ditch or freeform, undecided at this point.  This pattern is by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. I love her scrappy patterns and so enjoy reading her blog every day. 

I am more than ready for pumpkin season, hoping for an earlier than normal end to fire season this year. Sure wish the east coast could send those flooding rains out west.

Pumpkins.......

 The pumpkin piecing is done. It turned out to be around 48" x 66".  Next up is to call the long arm quilter to get it to her for quilting. I'm happy to say it should be hanging on the 'quilt wall' this autumn. Before I start on any other projects at the sewing machine I really need to get my machine in to my  Bernina shop for maintenance, it's way overdue because of covid restrictions........guess they apply to sewing machines too. 

Sideways pumpkins

 Here's my new quilting project although one has to turn their head to see it correctly.  I have this problem when I upload pictures to blogger from my phone but never from my camera so this is a first........and it's irritating.  Anyhow, these are pieced white/gray pumpkins and orange pumpkins on a dark gray print background. I learned something new with this project, how to sew concave and convex shapes to get curves. I'm coming down the homestretch on making the blocks, then it will be time to sew them all together. My goal is to get it to a long arm quilter quickly as she has a 8 week backlog.  My other goal is to hang this on the big wall opposite the dining room table this fall. Right now the barn quilt is hanging there. Another goal is to eventually have 4-5 quilts to exchange out in that spot during the year......that will take a while and I'll be working on other projects before that happens.  

This and that..........

We had a great long weekend on the coast other than just running over to check on the cottage and mow the lawn - it was wonderful. We spent time with vaccinated friends who camped over there. We did something we had never done before - rented a polaris rzr to ride the Oregon Dunes. Our friends have done it before and loved it so after 29 years of living in Oregon we finally did it.  Very fun and a bit a lot scary as the dunes are tall and have drop offs that we sped straight down as that was the only choice at that point. There were roll bars, we were helmeted and belted in our 2 person rzr so other than possibly rolling the thing we were safe. 

Speaking of the coast after getting back I decided to make two small wall quilts out of cross stitches that will go perfectly at the beach cottage. I love these sandpipers. I usually frame cross stitch pieces and actually have several sitting here stretched over foam core waiting for me to feel safe enough (covid) to get them framed. 

And here are some funny otters for my otter wall in the hallway over there. I didn't take a picture of the backside but for hanging I did the corner triangles and cut a dowel to fit across the top back.

And a few roses in my yard - they have gone crazy, there are hundreds blooming with hundreds more buds on my 16 rose bushes.  The breeze kept coming up so most of my pix didn't turn out but here are a few. 

I can't remember the name of this one, isn't it interesting how the petals are so close together?  If I weren't so lazy at the moment I'd go outside and check my tag on it.  Many of the bushes were here when we bought this house three years ago so I don't know what they are but this is one I bought to fill in an empty spot. 

This one is interesting too with the white & dark pink but a bit of yellow in the center. 

I cut my rose bushes back quite a bit in February but they're already way taller than me and huge. They obviously love that side of the yard. 

 

Thinking ahead..........

I'm thinking ahead to autumn..........or I could look at it as being far behind from last year.  A friend bought me this pumpkin wallhanging pattern and ruler christmas 2019. I had good intentions of making it to hang up during the fall months but as far as I got was to buy fabric. Yesterday I sat down with the pattern and took out some scrap fabric to try my hand at making one block. I've never sewn curves like this before. I did ok. My pumpkin isn't perfect but it's pretty danged close. The pattern is for a 36" square size but I'm going to make mine around 52"x72". I guessed at how much fabric I need, now I see I need a few more different oranges, I'm good on the neutral pumpkins.  I did not buy enough gray for the background so need to pick up some gray. It's amazing that the pattern as shown is exactly the colors I would have chosen since we have gray in our decor. I may have to resort to ordering fabric online as not all quilt shops are open at this time. But I can start on cutting out the neutral pumpkins in the meantime, but can't sew them until I pick up more background gray fabric as I'm sure I can't match what I have so will need to buy new.........except I'm busy for the next 5 days. My goal is to get this done and hanging by the end of September but who knows.......it's a lot of pumpkin blocks to sew and the current lead time on machine quilting here is 8 weeks. At least I'm starting on it.  

This week I worked on my community sewing that our neighborhood group does as part of the American Sewing Guild. I made a total of 19 tote bags and 10 fleece hats.  For Christmas we fill the tote bags with coloring books, crayons, treats, toothbrushes, toothpaste and a fleece hat for the Head Start kids in our town. Last year we also made them fun masks.