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...

Mid-September - Heading into my happiest time of year

 

My Left-handed Leftover Liberal quilt has found its owner.  A lovely Iowa friend with whom I travelled years ago has made contact after almost 40 years.  It’s fun getting to know her again - we have both changed so much.  And I’m delighted that this quilt will be living with her.

I’m putting the finishing touches on this piece which will hang in my dining room.  Windham fabrics has issued a challenged using these this palette selected by Jacquie Gering. These shot cotton fabrics are wonderful.  Some shot cottons are so thin.  And some shot cottons, like the peppered ones that I have loved and used, are so meaty.  These?  They are wonderful.  I feel like the Goldielocks of shot cottons!  I tried to pleats these fabrics and think I was successful, thanks to an Aussie quilter who did a video on all things pleated.  

I love this time of year because the weather is getting so much cooler. Morning waking has been wonderful.  And soon the leaves will fall, and it will be even prettier!

And I’m slowly machine quilting my way through this!  But I gotta get back to purses! 

Projects - Past, Present, and Future

 

This is an organizational post.  I’m losing track of what I’ve done, what I’m working on, and what I want to do. I loved so much how the small backpack - Sew Sweetness Park Sloan pattern - turned out that I made the bigger version.  What I’ve discovered is that this bag is not cross body for me - instead it is over one shoulder, which works fine. The  other discovery is that unlike other back packs, this one is not meant to carry heavy books.  It can.  But my great niece is using hers as a dance bag, and I think it’s perfect for that use!  Does this mean I have to take dance classes? 

This scrap quilt, started last winter at a CMQG quilt retreat, has been completed, bound with a scrappy binding, and hand quilted.  It is on its way to former Hyde Park student Bridgette,  she who motivates me daily to get out and walk or elliptical or do weights, with monthly  challenges to her team of warriors.  I’m committed to walking 130 miles a month.  Last month I almost made it. This month, even with a soft issue issue on the top of my foot. I think I’ll make it.  I’m thankful for her daily support and her friendship.  

Buddy Lauren gave me a lovely pack of Cherrywood fat quarters, and this top has been pin-basted and has had some machine quilting.  Now I’m adding some handwork to each one of the blocks, following the subtle shadow line.  Instead of using wool, I’ve used Quilters Dream, a poly cotton batting.  And the quilting is a bit slow.  There’s nothing like sewing with a wool batting. But wool batting is pricier.  

My red door just needs an outer border on three sides.  And then?  Perhaps some hand quilting.  I think I’ve identified where I want to hang this, despite objections from the other person in this house.

The remaining fabrics I need for the Windham fabric challenge using their artisan shot cottons have arrived.  So now I need to make more of these twisted pleat blocks and figure out a layout and finishing techniques.  Some quilters in my guild are so good at sketching things out and having a plan from the beginning.  Although I can work like that, usually I don’t.  And with this project? It’s taking shape as I go.

  

I love working with jelly rolls because they let me touch various fabrics that I normally wouldn’t buy.  And look at this Jelly roll pattern.  It’s striking!  And the pattern was a free download. This is on my to do list and would be perfect for retreat sewing,  and we just happen to have a retreat coming up in November! 

Last spring we stopped in Paducah on our way to Atlanta.  This pattern was at the check out counter.  And of course there was a kit to go with it.  I picked up the pattern and have been looking through my black and whites to see if perhaps this pattern might work.  These blocks are mosty a variation of a log cabin, just set on point.   To be determined…

These fabrics from Zen Chic are lovely, just not in my house.  I am reverting to my favorite pattern, Trip Around The World.  Who will this be for?  Like most of what I do, I don’t know but somehow quilts find their way to owners. 

So what is this mess above?  It is a box of scrap strips that will eventually used for a design like these scrappy blocks.  These blocks are for a charity quilt organized by guild member Jane.  And I loved making them.  

Ok. This post helps me to keep in mind what I am doing and what I want to do.  The end! 

Working Slowly and Happily

When I was an EQL (emerging quilt learner), I focused on getting things done as quickly as possible.  Before I became an ardent hand quilter, I would make fun of hand quilters and remind then machines were so much faster.  Oh, how wrong I was. And oh, how I have learned to slow down.   I also have been focused on function by making only useable things, no art quilts.  And again, to my surprise, I have been wrong.  There's a Windham artisan fabric challenge for the MQG.  You see the six colors at the left.  Generous guild member Rob treated several of us to six fat quarters.  and not to sound like a broken record, but - again - I decided I wanted to play and began to think about what I wanted to do.  And then?  I spent three days looking at various web sites and using my scraps to make practice pieces.  This is not the way I normally work!  But it's been fun. I'm eager to get back to my notes and this project. Fabric manipulation is something that intrigues me but its not practical for quilt.  But I'm tamping that practical side down for what will be an art quilt. 

While I was working on how to manipulate fabric, I was also working on this Park Sloan backpack by Sew Sweetness.  It was a tricky pattern but I love how it turned out.  My niece has this small version but I am also making the same bag in the bigger version.  

Great niece Eloise is the perfect model and will use this as her dance bag.

That lovely set of fat Cherrywood fat quarters is almost a quilt, and I'm thankful for my design wall. It's like instant gratification before I actually sew the blocks together.  I just barely had enough of the light background fabric.  And I was actually two blocks short of fabrics so there are two improve scrappy blocks in the corners.  

Life's rhythms are changing. I'm working differently.  And it's ok.  

Finding My Mojo

Breaking rhythm has always been a problem for me.  Certainly that was true of the school year and summer vacation and then trying to get back into the swing of things in September.  And this has carried over into my quilting life.  On a week- long cruise of the Columbia River in Oregon, I did absolutely no handwork or plotting or planning.  The most quilty thing I saw was at the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.  These silk pieces, about 20” x 20”, were carried by Japanese soldiers and pilots during World War II and were made by their family members.  Some of these flags/pennants were returned to families, and some are on display here in this museum.  I think these are lovely pieces.

In approaching the studio once we returned home, I’ve been overwhelmed with how poorly I am using my fabulousstudio space and how much stuff I am holding onto that I just don’t use.  So I started to purge.  I came across a Noodlehead Trail Tote kit, complete with Carolyn Friedlander fabrics.  Of course I had to stop and make it.  The piping joining the purse front and back is a great design feature.  

Quilty buddy Lauren gave me a packet of Cherrywood Far quarters last October.  I love these gentle colors and have been pondering what to do with them.  Each colored rectangle is 7” x 9” and will get a bit bigger with the shadowing and neutral sashing.  I love having a project like this going because once the math and cutting is done, the sewing is kind of automatic.  On those days when I am not sure what I want to work on, I know this project is all ready to go.  A full size quilt is my goal.  

One project that has been on my radar for quite a while is the Park Sling backpack, shown below.  Sara Lawson’s projects are always fun to do, and my great niece in Ann Arbor is at a perfect age for this.  Below the pattern picture is a range of fabrics that I’ll be using   To be determined…! 

 

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A Lazy Summer

 

 My sewing rhythm has been off.  I’m sure I could come up with reasons why.  But what’s important is just to recognize and perhaps even honor this down time.   My red door is now ready for finishing.  It’s a great napping size.  However, I think this should be a wall hanging.  Where?  Haven’t figured that out yet. I know I want to hand quilt it.  Ohhh, a winter hand project!

Friend Lauren gave me a lovely pack of Cherrywood fat quarters.  And I’ve just now decided what I want to do with them. This project will be a great way to resume a normal sewing rhythm once we return from Oregon on the 16th.  The cherrywood fabrics are wonderful to work with - I’m excited about this! 

So many of my friends are readers and even librarians.  And I’m finding some of the best books. When I had reluctant freshmen boys, Hatchet by Gary Paulson was a pretty sure bet.  Quilty/librarian Beth told me about The War That Saved. My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Despite this book being a children’s or YA book, it is just terrific. And there’s a sequel. Quilty 

Eileen just recommended this book pictured.   And I’m eager to start it.  It’s not in audio format, so I will actually have to sit down and read!  Maybe it’ll be my vacation book…