Jazz Cruise Quilt

I panicked as we were about to leave on the Jazz Cruise in late January.  Not only were we going to hot places (never my favorite), there would be over 100 jazz musicians on the ship.  To make myself happy, I grabbed the pile of hexies left over from the quilt I was working on when Doug was dying.  Despite the sadness of the hexie quilt, it would be the perfect thing for a week cruise.  There are no running straight lines, so hand piecing was really quite perfect.  Every night I would pull up the big venue on the ship and watch it on closed circuit tv as I pieced.  And every morning I would spread my progress  on the bed.   I used every hexie I packed and couldn’t wait to iron it once we got home..

Once we were home and the top was pressed, I needed to fill in the sides and top to square it off.  It measures 58” x 76. 

As you can see, it’s backed in a solid Art Gallery fabric.  And I have just started hand quilting this one.  I thought about trying to stitch a big trumpet and forever associate this quilt with jazz.  While I’m not ruling it out, I’m not sure that will happen.  

Stopping and Restarting

We’re leaving town this week - John wants to go on another jazz cruise,  I should be happy about this but that means a break in my rhythm.  What is so hard about stopping is then the resuming of that rhythm.  I’m hoping that the hand project I’m taking with me will be somewhat of a continuation of a regular rhythm. 

I love winter so much.  I love being snowed in or “colded” in.  Currently our temps are negative, and the fitness center here in the condo building is allowing me to maintain a physical routine, which means I can then spend the rest of the day sewing.  This quilt is 88” x 88” and I’m thrilled that this is the first project of 2024 and that the top is completed. Already I’m thinking of how I want to hand quilt this.

This quilt top, made from the same jelly roll as the quilt above it is ready for pin basting.  And I think I want to hand quilt this one, too.  I love the backing fabric.

These fabrics above I mentioned in my last blog post.  And I love these fabrics together.  It will be my next project, and I think i know what I want to do.

 And this lovely top is almost completed.  I need to finish hand quilting the last fifth of it and then bind it.  

I’m not mentioning Sew Powerful purses, am I?  I will get back to them, but only after the voices in my head tell me to stop making quilt tops.  

All Quilt Projects, Great and Small

 The end of the year means two things: wrapping up current projects and planning projects for 2024.  Sew Powerful purses are at the top of the 2024 list.  But I cannot stop myself from starting new quilts.  Look at this pattern by Robin Pickens.  The first real modern design I did was Double Plus Good by Rossi Hutchinson, back in 2009.  And look where I am today with Definite Plus, another plus quilt! Its hard to see the jelly roll next to a cream and grey, but these are the fabrics for this quilt.  It's snowy and a major football day.  I may go ahead and get started on this!

This scrap quilt is one I just finished quilting.  I started it as a kind of throw away project, just to use up scraps.  But as I began to needle it, I kind of fell in love with it.  Once it was completed and washed and the textured emerged, it is now one of those quilts that will need to find a very special home. so now I am moving on this this one using an off-center spiral.

 

One of my hand quilting tricks, and I know so many others do this, is to load several needles at once.  This little rug mug is my needle holder.  and if I'm working in multiple colors, this little basket made by quilt member Janette is perfect for keeping those various balls of Perle cotton.

But here's a quilt I would never attempt to hand quilt.  It is for my stepdaughter Jen and is a king - 116" x 116". The backing required 12 yards.  The pattern is Weighted by Alex Hoffman and called for 17 fabrics, not including the background.  The top starts with greens and folds into grays and develop into purples.  I love this pattern and am eager to have it long armed by Sarah Evans.  Below is my Christmas present from Jen who gave me a gift certificate to Quiltagious, a pretty neat little shop in Mukwanago, Wisconsin.  Three absolutely unique prints and a pattern that will show them off nicely without cutting them into bits. 

I'm looking forward to 2024.  2023 had a major sadness, the death of my little brother.  Even before Doug died, but especially afterwards, Ive been keenly aware of two things.  One is how good I have been feeling.  My health allows me to do everything I want to do, and I am able to do the things without pain or difficulty.  The second change is that my life rhythm is changing.  For a long time I have been a kind of maniacal sewer:  "get this one done and start another" was the unspoken mantra.  Now?  I'm finding pleasure in each step of the process:  the planning, the gathering, the preparation, the execution, the completion. I'm content to work on a new project without an old one being complete.  Yes, Red Door, I know you need to be finished. It's more than ever about enjoyment.  And I'm thankful for each day that I have and sad Doug didn't have the luxury of these kinds of days.

I'm a bit fearful of 2024 and what it holds.  What I want it to hold is another autumn and another winter.  I have always loved winter, but I especially love it here in this condo.  I hope for continued health for both of us.  And I do know that I will continue sewing.  As Doug was dying, my sister and I read "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In The End" by Atul Gawande.  It should be required reading for all of mankind.  Dr. Gawande asks the reader to identify what makes life worth living.  One guy in the book said as long as he could eat chocolate ice cream and watch baseball games, life was worth it.  For me it is the ability to sew and create.  That I can do this with the support of my life's partner?  I am content.  

Happy December Sewing

 This time of the year - I love it.  The cold, the early darkness, the winter sun.  Our December is a reasonable one with just the right amount of activities sprinkled in.  The busyness of Christmas Eve followed by the serenity of Christmas Day - perfection.  Every year I pray from one more Christmas (oh, and for one more Fall).  How lucky am I.  And how lucky that I love my sewing so much. 

One of the fun things about my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and the MGG is that I have opportunities to play with fabric in a way I normally wouldn't.  See the previous post and the Windham pleated fabric challenge.  The quilt here is for the "Take the Shirt From My Back" challenge lead by Diane.  She has already secured sites for exhibition.  In my previous life quilting I have made many quilts from shirts.  Look at Bradley LeGrand in this blog's index.  Deconstructing men's shirts? hunting them down?  No.  But new member Amy and Diane both gave me shirts in colors I wanted to work with.  And I already had the self-drafted templates for an elliptical drunkard's block.  The deadline for this project is the January CMQG meeting.  But I rushed to finish this because I am hand quilting a scrap quilt and really enjoying it. It is labelled and has a hanging sleeve.  John, who often comments about little I do, actually likes this one.  Go figure. 

In the daytime I've been working on a quilt for daughter Jennifer.  I think we have finally honed in our her fabrics, and we also have a pattern that both she and Rog like.  This pattern is Weighted by Alex Hoffman. I've made the baby quilt of this pattern and am just enjoying working on this king size. 

Here is a very tentative palette that I've been changing slightly as I go along.  And just below is almost half of the blocks needed for this quilt.  It's a bit difficult to keep track of things with 17 fabrics.  But the pattern is well written and even includes some hand organizers. 

And of course December sewing must include some little presents - pencil cases, zip punches, bigger totes, clever little zip bags.  Making these little things brings great joy.  Again I say go figure.   It's a most wonderful time of the year!

Two completed projects

It's always exciting when a quilt is completed.  This one is from a set of Cherrywood fat quarters given to me in 2022.  It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do.  What I did know for sure is that I didn't want little tiny bits - these fabrics needed to be left big.  I found a couple of beige-brownish neutrals and used a shadowbox setting that just barely shows up.  And to make this a quilt of size, I had to find a couple of fabrics from my stash, but I think they blend well with the Cherrywoods.   

 

Most of my backing fabrics are white.  My answer was to find scraps that read as brownish or tannish.  And actually I like the scrappy look of these warn neutrals.  Some of this quilt is quilted by machine. But each block has some hand quilting, just enough to keep all the layers together.

The second completed project was actually done in the summer of 2022.  This quilt features those lovely e bond prints.  Each block was hand quilted and then joined together.  The result was a quilt that was 60 x 80, the size of the top of a queen mattress.  My sister Paula moved from St. Joe to Ann Arbor, and I offered her a quilt for her guest room.  She chose this one.  But...it needed a drop all the way around.  The resulting quilt is 94" x 98". Of course I love how the borders fit in with the original, and I think she will, too.  

The back is an assortment of various fabrics - you can see that in the last picture.  Now?  Onto one of the several projects that need hand quilting - my favorite winter evening pastime!

So Many Projects!

 I use the exclamation point because I like having so many projects.  Subtitle for this post: there was an old woman who had a quilting studio and so many projects she didn’t know what to do.  But that’s too wordy, amiright? This post is my attempt to not lose track of these!  

My SIL in Florida needed a baby quilt, and I began sewing all these strips together.  Lots of lovely blues and naturals.  Just as it was reaching a big enough size, we went in a different direction for the baby quilt (see previous post about the cheater panel clamshell baby quilt).  Chris said she might be interested in having this finished and using it as a wall hanging.  Meanwhile, it's labeled and on the UFO shelf.

Years ago, before my college roommate died, I made her a quilt of tumbling blocks and hexagons.  And here's this packet of bits already cut.  John's hot to go on a jazz cruise in January.  Even I know I can't take my sewing machine.  But I can take a hand project!  And these shapes are perfect for hand piecing.  

A while back I bought a jelly roll of these colors.  What was I thinking?  So I passed this packet off to Eileen.  And she returned this to me, suggesting maybe I might want to finish this.  And you know what?  I do.  I think she was going for a herringbone pattern except these pieces have all been offset in the same direction.  I think I have a plan: a big log cabin using a light neutral to separate all the colors.  We will see whether it work.  And - this is even better - I think I know who this quilt might be for!

We have a lovely new guild member from Montreal.  And Diane is a mover and a shaker.  She has started a guild challenge to take the shirt off backs and make a quilt.  Over the years I have deconstructed more shirts than I care to mention.  But then these lovely shirt bits fell into my lap, thanks to another new guild member Amy.  I found my elliptical drunkard's path templates, and here's the result.  This is small - 24" x 43".  Handquilting it will be a breeze, and the deadline is January. Diane has already identified two places what will exhibit this challenge.

And this quilt is all ready to be assembled.  As the last retreat I did all the heavy work of making the blocks.  Each block is 12", and there are a total of 42.  Without borders, which I don't think I'll use, this quilt be  60' x 72" .  The pattern is Jelly Roll Sizzle, a free download from The Fat Quarter shop.  

I wanted glass door shelving because I need to see what I have.  This lovely group of fabrics are leftovers from my Jinny Beyer days.  I made several quilts from these fabrics and apparently I need to make one more.  They have been in a lovely box.  But now?  They are on the shelves.  Someday...

And just to point out that projects do eventually get finished, here is "Blowin' in the Wind" in situ.  Once John is finished with Christmas decorating, I will do a more thorough post.  Meanwhile, I am loving how this looks in the dining room!  For the rest of the day I am working on my sister's quilt, enlarging it to be a useable queen-size spread for her guest room.  Busy hands are happy hands.  I am happy.

A Supply of Soft and Stable

Soft and Stable is a foam underlining of a purse or bag that needs structure.  It's what makes a bag able to stand on its own.  I have bought bolts of this stuff when I was deep into bag making.  I kind of tapered off.  But now?  I've been bag making non stop.  For whom you may ask.  And I may answer I don't know.  All I know is that I have to keep making. The two bags above are Noodlehead's Super Tote.  It's a great pattern and may be made with a recessed top zipper.  One side of the bag has a huge pocket. The picture below shows a pleat in the side of the bag.  This is a great pattern.  And having a supply of Soft and Stable is a lot like having an open bag of M and M's:  they cannot be ignored or forgotten!

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My other favorite tote bag pattern is also by Noodlehead - the Fika Tote.  The Fika is a bit bigger than the Super Tote.  One side of the bag has those wonderful pockets. The other side has a recessed zip pocket, the kind you can put a file folder in.  And of course there are interior zip pockets.  Both of these bags go together so nicely and require lots of interacting and Soft and Stable.

But every so often I venture into something new like this backpack below.  It's the Chickadee from Sara Lawson Sew Sweetness.  This pattern uses metal frames so that the bag opens wide and can also zip shut.  It has two side pockets and interior zip pockets.  

There is a pretty nifty front pocket which zips open to reveal yet more pockets and a zippered net pocket.  

While Ive been playing with all things Soft and Stable in the studio, evenings I've been hand quilting this piece which has some glorious hand-dyed Cherrywood fabric. This is a very gentle quilt and has a wonderful feel.

This past weekend I joined about 40 of my guild mates at a local three-day retreat.  Its hard to describe what a nice group we had and how much fun it was to work together.  Seeing what and how others create is always just the best.  And we have several new young members!  I used my time to learn how to make pillowcases, work on enlarging a quilt for my sister, developing relationships, and starting this quilt above.  So far I have 20 blocks and will make another 20ish more.  Each block is 12 x 12.  This pattern is Jelly Roll Sizzle, a free download from the Fate Quarter Shop.  

My studio overflows with projects - the nearly finished, the in-progress ones, and the ones I want to start.  Good times! And I love my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild!

One Quilter’s Trash is My Treasure

I have a shelf of fabrics that are too ugly to live.  Yet others will look at the shelf and say I’m nuts.  Every CMQG retreat has a scrap table.  And I try to stay away from it because…well, you know.  But at a recent retreat I spotted this cheater panel, and I do love clam shells.  Recently my SIL in Orlando asked for a baby quilt.  I started something with blue and white strips and then remembered this panel  Chris liked it more than the blue and white.  So I added some borders and it’s 46” x 56”    Special thanks to guildmate Rebekah who put this panel on the scrap table.  

Another Scrap Quilt

I am overwhelmed by my scraps.  No matter how many scrap quilts I make,  I still have more.  And more. I joke that my scrap baskets have scraps baskets.  But that's not far from the truth.  Fellow MQCG Jane Shapiro spearheaded a community quilt project using the above design. She supplied us with the background fabric and directions, and then several of us made 4 blocks.  Those 4 blocks?  I really enjoyed making!  So I enlarged her pattern from an 8" block to a 12" block.  Scraps?  No problem.  Background?  For some reason I have two hunks of grey that are very similar.  So I used those for the background.

And then I got to work. And I like how this is turning out.  This napping quilt will be 60" x 72"

And in keeping with this scrap theme, I went through my stash for big hunks of neutral fabrics.  So, voila! the backing.  For another day I will Frankenbatt my scraps and come up with a batting.  

While I've been working in the studio, I've been handqulting this cheater panel. My SIL needs a baby quilt, and this appealed to hear.  It really is lovely, and I need to discover who put this panel on the retreat scrap table!  

This is the eve of my 74th birthday.  How lucky and blessed am I?  John just turned 84, we are both feeling very good, and we love where we are living. I cannot think how happy I am without thinking of how sad I am at life's changes, the biggest one being Doug's death last March.  Why him?  why not me?  Ah, life's mysteries...