Distracted by Unity

Do you follow Bonnie Hunter on Quiltville?  If so, you probably know she is doing a FREE (for now) quilt-along project over the next few weeks.  She calls it Unity and was inspired by the Covid-19 social distancing happening around the world.    

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/unity-quilt-along.html

It's kind of like her annual winter mystery quilts, as she will release a new clue each week for about 8 weeks. But this one she is telling us will be a medallion style quilt, and the first week's clue is the 18" center section.  We'll build around this medallion center with the future clues.  So it isn't entirely a mystery.   

I have no idea whether I will actually do all of the clues, but I couldn't resist making this medallion center.  Her followers have been posting their finished blocks on her Facebook group and I've been blown away by some of the gorgeous color combinations.  The dark background in this block was inspired by one I saw online.  All of these fabrics are from my stash but I chose not to do a totally scrappy look in this first block.  Once I see what the next week's clue looks like I may pull more lime green, pink, and aqua from the stash for a scrappy look.  And I'll probably keep doing a black background but will use other black prints as we go.  

Design Wall Monday - Puzzles

The sun is shining brightly today (and yesterday) and the grass is actually beginning to turn green.  And it may reach 60 degrees again today. Yay!!

No sewing yesterday but I opened windows and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.  My sewing room is in the basement and gets very poor light . . . so I decided to find other things to do upstairs.

Four loads of laundry, cookie baking, sorting through a stack of old quilting magazines for recycling, cleaning out one shelf in a closet - and working on a puzzle.

Today - I'm working.  A "pre-construction" meeting being held by Webex instead of in person, and processing more invoices out to the clients are on my radar.  But my window is open and the birds are chirping.  Maybe some sewing and finishing the puzzle will happen after work today.

What's on your design wall this morning?
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Just needing a border

Smack Dab in the Middle is now about 20" square and just needs the final pieced border added.  That border is made of tiny 4-patches made of 1.5" squares of all of the prints.

If I've counted correctly I have 44 of those tiny 4-patch blocks to make.  Maybe it will happen later today, or possibly tomorrow.  It took most of the morning to add the log cabin sections and the flying geese sections, so it's time to do something else.  Maybe some laundry . . . or maybe I'll just pick up the book I was reading and curl up on the couch while the rain pours down. 

Smack Dab in the Middle

Smack Dab in the Middle - that's the name of this little quilt from Kim Diehl's Simple Whatnots Club #8.  I've been trying and failing for 3 days to cut out the zillion tiny pieces for this adorable little quilt.  But this morning I finally finished the cutting and even neatly refolded all of the fabric and put it back into the box for the next project. 

And I began to sew.  The 8.5" center is done.  Only 2 interruptions today and I made myself go back down the stairs and focus. Yay - a small victory over my brain!!

I think the most difficult part of this little quilt will be laying out 200 tiny squares (1.5") for the outer border.  The main part of the quilt has a log cabin vibe.  

This was one of my short term goals that I set just a couple of days ago. Lots of opportunity for mistakes when the cutting stops midway through the pattern, especially when there are hundreds of tiny pieces. 

Struggling with focus

Like most people these days I'm very stressed out and worried.  With that, for me, comes the inability to focus on anything very long.  My brain just refuses to calm down.  I flit from thing to thing to another thing - currently trying to read 2 different books, have several sewing projects just laying around, takes me twice as long to process any invoice for work.  It's just NUTS!!  And my temper and emotions just get the best of me at the oddest times.  Guess that is the picture of stress!!

The parts are all cut for the next Sew Together bag (Butterflies) and the outer shell is quilted, but I need zippers.  Or at least I need one 22" zipper in an appropriate color. Bubble gum pink, lemon yellow, and bright aqua just didn't look right.  I can live with white or tan zippers inside for the pockets.  So I may have to get online and find what I really need.  Our closest Joann Fabrics store was destroyed last fall in a tornado, so online is probably my best bet for zippers.  

And just now, in looking at the photo of the fabric above, I believe I need to rethink the color of the binding too.  The green I picked out is way too bright and that binding will determine what color zipper I ultimately decide to use.  Decisions, decisions!!

I do have some other things that I really want to accomplish in terms of sewing, and I'm hoping that putting my short term goals in writing here will help me focus on them a bit more.  Not likely, but I'm going to try.  Sewing usually relaxes me and I need that. 

So, here are my short term goals . . . 

** finish cutting out the Simple Whatnots project I began to cut this morning before a "work" phone call distracted me. 

** make my March blocks (2) for Saturday Sampler

** make my Barn Quilt Block for Sew Vintage - pick fabrics first of all

** add 3 more pieced sashing strips to Harvest Road - & the border

A long time coming . . .

After several years of languishing in a project box, the Batik Stars quilt is done!  Check this very old UFO off the list.  It turned out much better than I anticipated it would.

Design Wall Monday - Sew Together bag #13

The 13th bag made from the Sew Together pattern was finished over the weekend.  More are in the works as I prepped a couple of pieces to quilt for the outer shell of 2 new ones.  Those may get quilted right away, but will need to wait for assembly later as I need a different color of zipper than what I have on hand.  

This floral print is very springy.  And the lining has a combination of flowers and text. Such cute fabrics!  They were meant for this bag!

Check out more design walls this morning at: https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Saturday Sewing - bag making

The Sew Together bag (#13 I think) is coming along.  The hardest part of this bag pattern is attaching the end sections. The pleats in the ends folds around the pocket edges. Then the whole thing is attached to the quilted front. There are LOTS of layers of fabric. I broke one needle this morning as I crossed a zipper. 

Small finishes

Both of the finishes for this week were small "lost and found" UFOs.  They were in a drawer with other random stuff including UFOs, kits, and just pieces of fabric with no plan.  That drawer is now collecting backings for future projects. 

The Hot Peppers table runner is done - quilted with some simple lines of serpentine stitching done on my own machine by me.  It's so bright and cheery.  This table runner would be so fun for a Cinco de Mayo party.  Some other year maybe . . . unless it's a party of two.  

Here is one of the two Day and Night projects from that drawer.  The other one is also quilted but I'm trying to decide if it's going to become a pillow or a table topper.  In the meantime, this one is done.  It was amazing to me that the binding was even safety pinned to the project so it wasn't lost over the approximately 15 years it lived in the state of needing completion.  Bonnie quilted it with a bright thread in this loopy design that almost looks like flames.  

Needing some distraction

I needed a little distraction - from work and from worry about the Covid-19 situation. Most of the world has things worse than me, but that doesn't stop my brain from the overload of information and worry.  Just like everyone else!!

Hanging in my sewing room closet is a bag full of zipper sets and fabrics that I've set aside for future Sew Together bags.  I thought I had one bag all cut and kitted up, but if that's the case it wasn't with the others.  So it seemed like a good time to get one started to work on in between some other projects like hand stitching binding.  

The floral outer skin of the bag is now all quilted and trimmed to size.  The "text" pieces are the lining and the interfacing is ironed on.  Same with the end pieces - pink (this one may change to yellow or green) on the outside and text print on the inside with interfacing.  The white will be the pocket linings.  The narrow grey strips are going to be the bindings used on the ends and top zipper area.  Ready to sew!

Staying busy

I do feel sorry for folks who have no hobbies in this time of staying home.  Boredom is a brief condition for me because I can always lose myself in a good book or go play in my sewing room.  Tuesday morning I spent a lot of time sewing while waiting on a some budget documents I needed for work.  It was fun to just relax and sew for a couple of hours.   

It was a perfect time to make another teal Diamond Tile (Bonnie Hunter) block.  That brings my total up to 10 little blocks.  These blocks are only 7.5" square so it will take quite a few to make anything.  But I think these will make a cute kid sized quilt for donation - eventually.  It's a fun little block and uses up plenty of small pieces from the scrap bins.   

The Australian Outback pillowcases that I kitted up the other day are now completed and in my stack of gift and donation pillowcases.  I like to have plenty of pillowcases, especially for kids, handy to give as gifts or for donations.  A great mindless sewing project and they each use up approximately a  whole yard of stash fabric. So . . . 2 yards out of the stash with these finishes.

And I finished up the 2 small drawstring bags as well.  I already have 3 of these made and filled with toiletries like shampoo, a new toothbrush and toothpaste - all in travel sizes.  My plan for these is to give them to a needy agency when I have more of them.  Two squares of fabric and a little ribbon or cord is all these take.  I think these were made from 18" squares which makes them fat quarter friendly.  

Last but not least I added another little On-Point 9 Patch block.  There are only 4 of these so far - clipped together and hanging on my bulletin board.  So cute and something that makes a good Leader/Ender kind of block.  These end up 4.75" square.  I have 3 little cookie tins of postage stamp blocks cut from scraps over the years - 1.5" - in every color, including the white.  The bigger side triangles are coming from my 3.5" block box.  Both are sizes that I cut quite often from scraps, along with strings, and 2.5" and 5" squares. 

Just as I was getting ready to sew a binding onto a UFO quilt, an email popped up on my phone with the budget docs I needed for work.  Fun was over - back to work!!!

A Quilt of Valor presentation

I was very honored to present a Quilt of Valor on Sunday.  This lovely lady is 93 and is a Navy veteran from the Korean War era.  It was a surprise to her and I'm sure she wondered why her family asked her to bring her American Legion hat to her birthday party.  Thank you Dorothy for your service!

First I should clarify, that I didn't make this quilt; it was actually made by members of her family from out of state.  They contacted me to do the presentation and then mailed the quilt, pillowcase, and certificate to me. I've been in touch with the family for a couple of months as they planned this for her.

I was quite worried that the family might postpone this presentation due to the virus concerns, but there were only about 10 family members there so it was a small group.  And it was really an honor to be a small part of the day.  I asked 2 of her children who were also veterans to drape the quilt around her as I gave the little presentation speech.   

Teal string block

One more block is done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month. Yay!

I dug deep into the scrap bins and found more teal strings.  And I did recently buy a small amount of a pretty teal floral that just jumped out to me.  So I added a strip of that floral into my teal string block too.  There are now 19 total rainbow string blocks.  I'll need 5 more to make the kid sized quilt I'm planning.

The picture makes the color look very blue, but they really are teal and turquoise.  I got quite excited when I saw how these blocks look together. My plan is to put a narrow black sashing in between the blocks.  That should make the colors pop even more.

Design Wall Monday

My design wall is quite random and varied this morning. But I made a little progress on several things that have been laying around.  What's on your design wall this morning?
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

The Hot Chili Pepper table runner is now quilted with some simple serpentine stitches and the binding has been sewn on.  I went with black binding which I always find hard to see except in daylight. Although with a rainy grey day again I can't really call this good stitching light.

In the little stack of "found" projects were 2 small drawstring bags, that I hadn't shown yet.  They were all ready to sew up the side seams and add the channel to pull the cords through.  But they needed a good pressing first.  Now the side seams of one bag are done.  But I ran out of time to do the other one right now. Maybe after work.  

Both my husband and I already work from home, so our work lives haven't changed much with the recommended isolation.  He backed out of traveling to a trade show this week and then it was cancelled completely anyway.  Fortunately neither of us have any underlying health concerns but we are both turning 66 in the next weeks, so we're in the higher risk age group.  We're trying to be cautious about where we go but are not in a panic.

South Dakota has had 9 10 cases of Covid-19, but no new cases for several days with one new case today.  That is reason for optimism.  Only one case is in my county.  The schools in the state are all closed for the week, like many other states. Both of my daughters work in health care (respiratory therapist and occupational therapist) and work in hospitals. They are most concerned about day cares staying open because they don't have an option to work from home.  And their children are all age 8 and under so they can't be home alone either.  At some point I am sure that my husband and I will be called upon to help out with child care.  

Getting ready for some weekend sewing

I mentioned in a previous post that in cleaning out a drawer I found several very interesting things, including a couple of partially done projects and a large quilt kit.  Just what I needed - more UFOs, right?  And this wasn't the only UFO found in that drawer.  More on that another day however.  LOL

One of the "found" projects, is this Hot Peppers table runner that was a complete top.  This was a pattern from a small card, and I have made several of these over the years.  It's basically just large flying geese units.  Over my lunch break today I spent a relaxing hour in my sewing room prepping some weekend projects.  I found a scrap of batting just the right size for the table runner, and also found some leftover backing from another project.  I did have to piece the backing, but this one is sandwiched and ready to add some simple quilting. 

Also during that same hour I kitted up 2 pillowcases using this Australian Outback themed fabric.  I had bought the brown last week to use for the cuffs but had the green.  These will be adorable pillowcases and they are ready to sew. 

Purple Dresden UFO is finished

This is an old one and it’s finally done.  Check it off my list.  

This quilt was something I made while playing with scraps and a Dresden plate design with some blades made larger.  The yellow background worked with the purples.  Even the backing was something I pulled out of the stash at the time. And it’s hung in the closet for a couple of years gathering dust. It’s about 45” square.  And it will probably be donated.  

College basketball fun

We just got home from 4 days of college basketball fun.  We love college basketball and love to follow our South Dakota State University teams.  The Jackrabbit women played this afternoon for the championship but lost by 5 points to USD.  It was a great game.  The men lost in the first round on Saturday night.  But we love going to this conference tournament every year as we get to see lots of family and friends.  And this year we had tickets in a Suite for most of the games. 

My husband even got his picture taken with the cheer and dance team at the pre-game hospitality room.  My daughters each brought a grandchild to games. Mason got to come on Sunday afternoon. Sophia even got to skip school this afternoon to hang out with her mom.  Future Jackrabbits hopefully!

Design Wall Monday - Day and Night

What's on YOUR design wall today?

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

My design wall today has 2 small projects that were made years ago with leftover blocks from another project.  I made the Day and Night quilt (Eleanor Burns pattern) more than 15 years ago.  The quilt itself is showing it's age as it's been used and washed a lot.  But the colors have stayed pretty bright. This yellow was WAY outside my comfort zone at the time!

Evidently I had 10 blocks left over from the quilt and this is what I did with them.  The top project is 24" square, and the bottom on is about 24" x 16".  There was also an octagon shaped block made without the corner squares - just the right size for a pot holder.  The binding was even prepped and pinned to both of these pieces.  And then I obviously folded them up neatly and put them in a bag, and then in a drawer. They've even been moved from one house to another.  Well . . . it's time to finish these - an unexpected goal for the month of March. 

 One of the pieces of muslin from my organizing last week is just the right size to use as backing for both.  It all needs a good pressing and then they are going to get quilted.  

It's kind of fun to find long lost things so close to being done - and it's also humiliating to find things and wonder why I didn't finish them at the time.   

Lost and found project

While cleaning out the drawers for my neutral and white fabrics I came across this really old kit all wrapped up in a sack.  That makes it a PIG instead of a UFO.  I bought this kit many years ago but I have no idea when or where exactly, and it really doesn't matter.  It's OLD and that I can't dispute.  This bargello quilt kit includes a gridded flannel foundation fabric.  The colors are apparently laid out on the grid.  I'll have to read through the instructions carefully.  

I've always wanted to make a bargello quilt, and I love red. So why did I put this away?  I'm guessing that I was intimidated at the time by the skill level required for this project.  Since it's now found and all the parts of the kit appear to be there, this may be one of the PIGs that I will work on in 2020.   

Paper pieced pineapples - Mai Tai is done!

Back in August 2019 I rewarded myself with a new project and pulled this PIG out of the drawer as my reward.  It's a paper-pieced project called Mai Tai that was in a Sew Sampler box from the Fat Quarter Shop.  The box included the foundation papers and 2 charm packs.  I already had leftovers from a white jelly roll that worked perfectly.  I started the blocks, but then got distracted and set it aside where it became a UFO - although a recent UFO.  

The original pattern for this project called for 12 paper-pieced pineapple blocks.  But I decided that I wanted it to be square (about 24") rather than a rectangle.  The pineapple blocks were very simple paper piecing.  The only new purchases I made to finish this was the floral background (a Lori Holt fabric) and an aqua fat quarter for binding.  This is so bright and cheerful, and will look good on the wall this spring.  I may have to add a hanging sleeve to the back. 

I put this on my UFO list for 2020, as well as on my PHD (projects half done) list for The Pin Cushion.  And I'm happy to say that I can now check it off BOTH lists as a finish.  And I'm linking up with: http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

A lesson in contrast

The teal Ohio Star block turned out great, but that gingham block - it needs more contrast.  It's interesting how, in person, the 5 dark teal squares show up better than they do in the photo.  I definitely noticed the lack of contrast when I pressed this block but hadn't noticed when I had the pieces laid out on my design board.  Lighting makes a difference for sure. Hmmmmm - I may (or may not) make some changes on this block before it goes into a quilt.  It definitely loses that gingham look.  And I do still need one more teal gingham block anyway since I'm making 2 of each color of these blocks. 

I still need to do a teal string block this month as well.  Guess that will wait until next week as my days and evenings will be filled with college basketball this weekend.   

Saturday Sampler progress

Last weekend I caught up with my Saturday Sampler blocks by finishing the second applique block and making the big block too.  So far the mix of 12" and 24" blocks looks like this.  I've been doing a scrappy pale batik background in a variety of very light colors like grey or green.

There will be a few more applique blocks before we finish.  And I'm guessing that they will not be quite a simple as these were.  But that's OK, because I enjoy having my skills challenged.  The center of the big block is a great design and I'm thinking that I'll want to use this pattern again.  

My sewing room needs help

I have been gathering all of the neutrals and white fabrics.  Gathering - a nice word for making piles on the floor - is the first step in getting it better organized.  And there were 2 big messy piles, ready for the next step of sorting and then folding it back into the drawers.

Notice the label on the drawer above the pile of cream fabrics says “UFO”.  Well - I started this process by cleaning out that drawer completely.  I found a couple of interesting items that I will share another day. But now that drawer has neatly folded neutrals, sorted by medium and light. 

The second drawer will hold my whites, and also muslin.  I’m still sorting those because there are a LOT of small pieces.  I’ve been using scrappy white backgrounds in a lot of the RSC blocks lately.  Once I get the bigger pieces folded and into the drawer, then I plan to cut those smaller pieces into the sizes of sections I’ll need for some future RSC blocks.

The bottom drawer is currently holding random fabric, but I think I'll clean that one out too and use it for backing fabrics.  I need to do a bit of  "gathering"  to find where those backings might all be hiding.  Organization takes some planning but will be worth it to tame the mess a little bit.

Last finish of February - la Caribe

La Caribe is DONE!!  This is a quilt that was begun in a guild sponsored class last fall with Patti Heinz from Pierre leading us.  The pattern is Rapid Fire Hunters Star by Deb Tucker. This is just one variation from the book we used.  Mine is made from a Kaffe Fassett fat quarter bundle.  It was all pinks and oranges, but I just used the pinks and have those orange tone fat quarters to use in something else. 

The quilting shows up best in the sea urchin print border. It is very geometric and plays nicely with the Hunters Star blocks.  

Design Wall Monday - orange and teal

What is on your Design Wall this Monday morning?  I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

I played with both orange (Feb. RSC color) and teal (March RSC) this weekend - in between some other important project progress.  Twinkle Star blocks in both colors were cut, along with some Diamond Tile blocks.  Some of these blocks were actually finished and others will be today.

This Diamond Tile block (7.5" square) is a Bonnie Hunter pattern from a past Quiltmaker magazine.  The this particular teal fabric is maybe more aqua but that's OK.  I'll need a lot of these blocks to actually make a whole quilt so I'll use some deeper teal later.  But like all of her blocks these use up scraps and all of these chunks came from scraps except for that aqua/teal.  

I did manage to finish one Twinkle Star of each color.  I really love that teal version with 3 different shades.  The other 2 blocks are on my sewing table ready to go later today.  And then there are 2 orange Diamond Tile blocks.   I think these could make a great kid quilt if I keep finding fun center squares , almost an "I spy" kind of theme.

Update - I got the other 2 Twinkle Star blocks done this morning.  Yay!!  And they fit in nicely with the 2 green ones hanging in the closet.