What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I've mentioned in my last couple of blog posts that I had a lot on my plate.  My plate is finally just about cleared off.  I need some time to let the dust settle and get my brains back in my head like my mom used to say, but hopefully, I'll begin to get my routine back.

When I'm completely done, I'll share what's been going on but in the meantime, I've done a little bit of stitching.  I can't focus on cross stitch for right now.  I keep making mistakes for which ...

In between my work on the McHenry Landmark Quilt, I've been stitching on another quilt which I call my Crazy Trinket Quilt.  These are 6 inch block featuring little do-dads that I've been saving and collecting my entire life.  Some are things from my childhood, some are little things that beloved to family and loved ones no longer with me and some are collected from the flea markets and antique shops that my former husband and I used to go to when we were still together.

This block just showcases some button covers from an Autumn sweater:

The ...

I pieced another block for the McHenry Landmark Crazy Quilt but I haven't started stitching on it yet.  Instead, I felt like playing with some glittery beads and sequins.  I wish the sparkle showed up better!

You might remember, I started a Trinket Quilt a few years ago.  I had all sorts of little things that I've been saving all my life and thought it would be a nice way to display them.

The little Bluebird on this block is a Mill Hill beaded pin that I made for my aunt years ago.  After she passed away, my ...

I pulled out the crazy quilt that I've been working on for a few years featuring the landmarks of McHenry Illinois where I live.  I still have a few blocks to go but this is the old Iron Bridge over the Fox River.  It was built in 1881 and replaced with concrete bridge in 1976:

The colors are brighter than they look here.  I need to get a new digital camera so for now, I'm just using the camera on my cellphone.

Here's the entire quilt so far:

Click on the photos to enlarge the images.

This ...

After the backing has been added to a crazy quilt, the next step is to simply tack it to secure the layers.

This sounds great in theory. After all the work of adding so many embellishments, you may be done with it and just want to finish it off so you can show it off and/or move on to your next quilt.

However, for me, it is a big pivot to move from maximalist, everything goes, to minimalist tacking stitches. I am not anywhere near tired of the quilt.

2021:  Week 26 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

Besides, you ...

A few years back, I started a crazy quilt using the little things I've collected my entire life.  Things from my childhood, things that belonged to my grandmothers, little flea market things like vintage jewelry and so on.

I thought I'd take a short break from my McHenry Landmark quilt and work on the Trinket quilt.  I had 2 blocks sewn up from before I had to leave my other house so I pulled them out and this is the first one:

The horse is a pin that belonged to my grandma.  She loved horses and was a ...

 Block 23 of my McHenry Crazy Quilt:

This is our first High School built in 1924 on the east side of town.  In the late 1960's, a 2nd High School was built on the west side.

Each block is 9 inches square.  The vintage photos are printed on fabric sheets that run through my printer.

The blocks are pieced entirely by hand on a cotton foundation fabric.

There will be 40 blocks all together.

Most of these buildings are still here although a few have burned down (a long match in my opinion).

I have to get some more ...

I recently finished the Basic Cray Quilting Course with Kathy Seaman Shaw.

This class is a prerequisite for all her other classes, which are all free.

The class started in early January. This class is divided into 12 tasks and each one must be completed before you receive instructions for the next task. There are extensive written instructions for each task. The class is at your own pace.

The class contained an incredible amount of information, especially for a free class. The printed materials contain a lot of pictures. For techniques that were better explained visually, there were links to ...

No fabric in this week.

I finished the Basic Crazy Quilt Course for some fabric out. I will post a review of the class and a reveal this week. I want to frame the piece but everything I have is too small.

For such a small project, I had beads, ribbon and floss everywhere. Now the sewing room is cleaned up and I’m ready to get back to Bonus Bunnies.

The next finish will put me back in positive usage.

Fabric In: 2 yards

Fabric Out: 1.625 yards

Net Fabric In: .375 yards

How did you do this ...

Until I finish the Crazy Quilt Course, I’m going to pretend my numbers don’t exist.

The beading continues. As of this picture, I have six more steps to complete in Task #12 to finish the class.

If any of you have ever beaded or sequined a gown, you are a rock star. I really disliked sewing those sequins. The bigger the beads, the better I liked them. Seed beads are evil. They are always trying to escape.

I did manage to work the pink/blue beads into the piece.

Fabric In: 2 yards

Fabric Out: 1.25 yards ...

I finished stitching Christmas Eve in April, but didn’t frame it. In spite of all the time spent on the Crazy Quilt Course, hours of work remain. That project feels like it will never end. Very little sewing happened in April.

The Short List categories are UFO, garment, original design, hand work, finishing, classes and other. I’ve used this system for 6+ years to keep me focused. The categories change as my goals and interests change. Categories with nothing in process will not be listed, only active categories.

Original Design – Open Dialogue is still waiting to be quilted ...

Let’s not even talk about the numbers.

It’s been all crazy quilt, all week, all beads.

I am a slow beader. If I worked with them more often it would go faster, but it’s never been my thing. I don’t dislike beading, but I don’t love it either.

The beads on the right intrigued me. Out of the package they look a lot less pink. They are actually pink in the middle and blue on the outside. Whether or not I will be able to work them into this project remains to be seen.

Either ...

I was finally able to get back to a little crazy quilting!  If you remember, I started a traditional Victorian Crazy Quilt a few years ago.  The purpose is to document the historical landmarks of McHenry Illinois where I live.

I plan to hang it in my home and use it to promote The McHenry Area Historical Society.  I'm  a board member and the editor of the Facebook page.

So I just finished block #19:

I finished stitching a project this week that was designated my do-a-little-every-day project. The concept is simple. Every day I did something to move that project forward.

This is not a new idea, or my idea, but something I’ve heard a lot about lately. Pat Sloan talks about it all the time on her daily videos and uses it to finish UFOs. Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts also talks about this method. Karen uses it to focus on her more complicated projects, using a timer to work on those 30 minutes at a time.

I’m ...

After some epic procrastination, I finished task 11, the iris and hyacinth cluster.

I’m embarrassed to admit it wasn’t that hard and didn’t take a lot of time. I just couldn’t face another task of silk ribbon embroidery. A couple weeks off helped put it in perspective. I like stitching with silk ribbon, but it can be fussy beyond the limits of my patience.

Only one more task to go. I believe the last task involves a lot of beading.

I finished the bunny runner last month, which was my OMG. It felt good to finally get one done. I also finished the star blocks (January OMG).

I have a couple more projects close to done and one small start. I’d be thrilled to get all three of those finished in April.

The Short List categories are UFO, garment, original design, hand work, finishing, classes and other. I’ve used this system for 6+ years to keep me focused. The categories change as my goals and interests change. Categories with nothing in process will not be listed, only active ...

I’ve made some progress on both of my slow stitching projects.

I finished task #10 on the Crazy Quilting Course.

I have two more tasks to go to finish the course.

The Christmas Eve cross stitch is in the home stretch.

The tree branches will extend further over the houses. The backstitching is complete from the right side to the middle. There isn’t a lot of backstitch in this chart. The design has a softer look.

Once a project gets this close to done I tend to sit down and power through it, just to move on to ...

The struggle is real.

Progress continues slowly. I finished task #8, and everyone was right. The needle makes a huge difference when stitching bullion knots.

I had a delay on task #9 because I didn’t have silk ribbon. I had to order it and wait for it to arrive, which happened a lot faster than I expected. Task #9 went quickly.

Now that I see task #10, I’m a little worried I didn’t order enough silk ribbon. In hindsight, I should have bought 5 yards of white so I could paint the colors I needed beyond the ...