What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Sunrise photo taken at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve, Thursday.

NEWS FLASH!  Easton John DePrez was born at 1:40 this morning.  Mother and baby doing well.  I'm a great-aunt!  

What I made in June

STASH REPORT:  I got a lot of bargains, including a stack of batiks at the ...

No change in the numbers.

I spent some time on the paint chip challenge this week.  I added embroidery to block 4 and stamped with the larger bubble wrap in block 5.  The bubble wrap was older and the bubbles had deflated a bit.  That resulted in great texture. 

I created a freezer paper stencil for block 7.  I wanted thicker stripes and a stencil big enough to cover the whole square.

In addition to having fun, I’m learning a lot revisiting so many surface design techniques.  I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.

Fabric Added: 13.125 ...

No change in the numbers.  I only wish I had enough sewing time to finish something.

I worked some on the Paint Chip Challenge this week.  Block 2 is oil pastel over a rubbing plate.  Block 3 is stamped.

I skipped blocks 4 and 5 because I wanted to continue with painted blocks.  Block 6 is stenciled.

I will go back and pick up blocks 4 and 5 this week.

Fabric Added: 13.125

Fabric Used:  6.5 yards

Net Fabric Added:  6.625 yards

How did you do this week?

No change in the numbers.

The runner I call Harlequin is now basted.

The blocks came from a class I took in 2017 on improvisational curved piecing.  This is the third quilt from the blocks made in that class.

A lot of the fabrics are my hand dyes.  I didn’t have enough of the blue or green for the border.  I got lucky and found the blue solid at my Guild’s fabric sale.

I could do simple quilting and finish it quickly, but decided to play around with the quilting on this one.  Except for the black and ...

No change in the numbers.

I finally started the paint chip challenge project.  I found fabric that comes as close to the paint chip as I’m going to get.  I masked the outside border with painter’s tape and gridded the center.  The paint chip is in the upper right corner.

My first love in quilting is surface design.  That’s the place where I lose myself, where time passes unnoticed.  If you are a regular reader, you’d be hard pressed to know that based on recent projects.  It’s time to fix that.

I have a sketch ...

 "Live Like Lulu--Be a P.E.O. Builder" was the theme for Fran's presidential term.  Fran is a historian with a specialty in women's organizations and Lulu Corkhill Williams was an influential early P.E.O. 

Fran, Lulu, and me

 I introduced Fran to ...

I apologize for combining everything in one post.  An internet outage prevented a separate OMG/PhD post.

No fabric in this week.  I had another finish for one yard out.

My May goal was to finish K’s quilt and possibly finish the beach runner.  I’m pleased to have finished both.  K’s quilt has been gifted.

The background fabric is one of my hand dyes.  When I cut the pieces, I made a huge effort to have the pink areas flow into one another.

The beach runner will go in the dining room until Fall.

I’m also ...

No change in the numbers. 

Work was really busy this week, and I had a few late nights.  The beach runner is quilted with a goal of finishing it this weekend.  Many other projects wait in the wings, and continuing to buy things doesn’t improve that.  Of course, that didn’t stop me.

The patterns came from the thrift shop and the DVD from the free table at Guild.

The cross stitch booklet is a Hallmark pattern book from the 1980s.  I had no idea they published cross stitch charts.  The quilt pattern intrigued me with its three sizes ...

When my numbers change, they change big.

I finished K’s quilt this week.  I can’t post pictures until she sees it at the end of the month.  No big usage because a lot of the fabric in the top was hers.

Yesterday was my Guild’s annual fabric sale.  I needed to replenish light fabrics in blue, green and yellow.  I also looked for binding for the beach runner and border fabric for a UFO.  I found fabrics for both and a whole lot more.

I also picked up a Nancy Halvorsen panel.  I love the whimsical nature ...

Happy Mother’s Day!  Do something nice for yourself today.

No change in the numbers.

I finally came up with a quilting plan for K’s quilt.  I’m about half way through the quilting.  I’d love to get the quilt finished this week.  I don’t like that I have to keep it a secret. 

I’m also looking forward to working on other projects and starting the paint chip challenge.  As a reminder, this is my paint chip.

In addition to the beach runner, I also started working on this UFO from a class several years ago ...

No change in the numbers.

I started quilting the beach runner this week.  It’s not complicated and shouldn’t take long.

I moved back to that project because I can’t figure out how to quilt K’s top.  I’d hoped something would come to me while basting it, but not so much.  I browsed several of my quilting design books, and nothing jumped out at me.  I’ll spend a little time every day auditioning designs until an idea steps forward.  One always does.

Fabric Added: 1.375

Fabric Used:  4.625 yards

Net Fabric Used:  3 ...

Tra la! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
That lovely month when ev'ryone goes
Blissfully astray.  

 I did say, "Rabbit, rabbit!" first thing today but I also remember listening to Julie Andrews sing  The Lusty Month of May on our Broadway cast LP* of Camelot.   

(*LP -- yet another archaic term from the 1960's.)

No change in the numbers.

Work continues on K’s quilt.  All the components are made, and I am sewing the top together.

I also basted the beach runner and REALLY want to start quilting it.  I pulled some coordinating threads.

I hesitate to start quilting because I won’t want to stop until it’s done.  The other quilt has a deadline.  I sometimes struggle with finishing projects on time and don’t want to get in a crunch situation.  My work days don’t always go as planned and evenings can be a bad time for sewing.

We ...

No change in the numbers.

I have no idea where the week went, but I don’t think I spent much time in the sewing room.

When I did, I worked on K’s quilt.  A few people in the group look at the blog, and I don’t want to spoil the reveal with pictures.  I admit using some of those tiny HSTs.  That surprised even me.

I also pulled backing and binding for the beach runner.  The backing is a nice pale blue floral.  It’s rainy and overcast outside, making the fabric look gray.

Fabric Added: 1 ...

No fabric out this week.

Girls day out yesterday.  We stopped several places that sold fabric.  I don’t usually buy fabric at quilt shops (I know, I know, if we don’t support them they won’t be there), but yesterday was the exception.  I love a good scrap bag, and this one was screaming at me to take it home and make a table runner out of it. 

The bag contained a section of panel, coordinating fabric and neutrals.  What’s not to love?

The trick will be fitting it in between my challenge projects and still making ...

No fabric in this week. 

I’m counting out the fabric for the striped quilt.  It’s quilted and bound, although I’m still adding the pink squares.

I REALLY didn’t want to add those squares.  Once I finished the binding, I just wanted to be done with it.  I tried to ignore it, but those squares make such a difference.  The quilt needs them.

I’ll finish adding them this week.

Fabric Added: 0

Fabric Used:  4.625 yards

Net Fabric Used:  4.625 yards

How did you do this week?

It's a flimsy!  

I auditioned a couple of red/green prints for the border but nothing looked right (or I didn't have enough) so I used the background.  

64" x 72".  6 yards in all.

Here's a closeup.   

Several people have commented on how small the 9ps are.   I cut 1-1/2" strips and the blocks are 3-1/2 (3" finished).   I don't think that is that small.  Maybe it's all the practice I had with the mini-9p swap I participated in for so many years.

# # # # # 

Stash report, March.  Fabric in:   ZERO   Fabric out:  91-1 ...

No change in the numbers.  Maybe next week.

My OMG for March was to finish the striped top and get it basted.  It was a good month in the sewing room, and I quilted it too.

I started the binding, but don’t expect to finish the quilt this month.  Once I bind it, I’ll decide if I want to add squares between the lozenge blocks.  I intentionally left them off because I didn’t want to quilt through them in dark thread.

I’m linking to Stories from the Sewing Room to share my OMG progress.

Hard to ...

No change in the numbers.  There was opportunity to buy but no motivation.

I had a Guild meeting yesterday with Jane Sassaman as the guest speaker.  She gave an interesting talk on her journey as an artist.  I enjoyed the opportunity to study her quilts up close.

I also turned in my charity quilt and the red, white and blue blocks.  With that challenge finished, the guild announced a “paint chip” challenge.  It’s something I did years ago in a different group, and many other quilt groups/Guilds have done it since.  Here is the paint chip from my ...

No change in the numbers.

My local library had a book sale this week, and I picked up this book.

I doubt I’ll ever make a quilt from it.  I bought it because it belonged to a woman I knew from a Guild I was in many years ago.  Her name and contact info were written in the front.  She was such a nice person and an amazing quilter.  Inside there were pages of hand written notes describing a quilt she designed.  It had to go home with me.

In the sewing room, I added borders to the striped ...