Wind Spinner borders

This morning I managed to get the borders onto Wind Spinner and I was having major doubts about them fitting properly. The pieced border is made up of squares, tiny flying geese and tiny 4-patches.  Once I had the border sections sewn together they certainly appeared to be too long and not very straight, so I was pretty worried that my borders would ripple.

But I did a lot of pinning and surprise!!  The borders lay quite flat with no ripples.  Now I need to decide how this one will get quilted.  A simple meander might be the best option but I'm not very good at doing that myself. 

Small Talk is finished

Because it's only 15" square, this mini quilt packed a lot of detail into a very small space.  There are 48 Flying Geese blocks - each one finishing at 1" by 2".  Small Talk is a Kim Diehl Simple Whatknots pattern.  I swapped out 2 brown fabrics with 3 greens, and I like the color combo much better.

This little thing was so NOT SQUARE when I finished putting it together yesterday!  Because the pieces all start out so small I double checked my measurements before sewing.  So my problem must have been inconsistent seam allowances and too much pressing.  Very frustrating!! 

Second issue with Small Talk is that I used a thread for quilting that was too light in color.  I think a darker beige would have looked better.  I'm seriously considering a quick tea dye for this project to tone down that pale thread.  The quilting itself is very simple - straight lines every 2 inches, with a serpentine line in between them.

Ironically it is now much closer to square since it's quilted and bound. 

Design Wall Monday - Old Glory

All of the parts and pieces for Old Glory came together Sunday with no problems. And the binding was finished while watching shark week programs Sunday evening.

This Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots (collection 7) mini quilt was a relatively easy one to make. But I tweaked the design just a little by putting the star rows on the ends. In the original pattern there were 2 rows of HST, then the stars, and then another row of HST at each end. That didn’t really work for me. It looked kind of broken up, so I put all of the HST rows together and finished with the stars.

Check out the other Design Wall Monday posts at http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

It's ready to quilt

It's finally a flimsy!  It's really pretty and this photo doesn't show the pink/rose colors in true tones. The name Raspberry Cocoa is very fitting as the 2 pink fabrics are a raspberry color. I really like this one.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to make this because it isn't very big, and wasn't really difficult.  I think it was just the thought of making all of those tiny HST sections. But having an afternoon off and spending it in my sewing room was just what I must have needed. Now to decide how to quilt this - by hand, by machine, or by credit card. 

The items I have that are ready for quilting is beginning to pile up. I have 4 quilt tops plus several small projects, such as this wall hanging and my 2 pineapple (pink one and yellow one) mini quilts. Getting the tops done is often the easy part for me and then I get bogged down in trying to figure out how I wanted something quilted. 

More Raspberry Cocoa

I've made a lot more progress on the Kim Diehl kit.  Are you tired of seeing this yet?  All 4 of the pieced borders are done, as are the corner HSTs for that border.  I love these borders, but they were very slow for me to put together in the correct order.  One of the 4 bears' paw blocks is done, and I have half of another done. 

My design board is still full of pieces, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Plus I have some sewing time this afternoon, so more progress might be reported tomorrow.  I'm excited to have an afternoon to spend in my sewing room instead of working.

UFO #2 is finished

This 38" square wall hanging is a Kim Diehl design called Farmhouse Stars. And it's finally DONE!!  The original pattern had a dark border around the outside but I decided I wanted it without that border and I do like the change.  I used a piece of ugly cheddar solid from my stash on the back and pulled an older Kim Diehl fabric from the stash for the binding.  And best of all, I quilted it all by myself.  The quilting is very simple - diagonal lines through the brown squares and outline stitching around the stars. I can handle simple straight line quilting. 

 

Design Wall Monday: Farmhouse Stars progress

Sunday morning sewing brought me a step further on Farmhouse Stars.  One star out of 9 is complete. I decided to finish 4 blocks and make one of the stars just to make sure I was doing things correctly.  All of the pieces are laid out for the next 32 blocks (8 stars) and ready to sew the second round of color.  20 of them are here on my cutting board, and the other 12 are on my ironing board. 

This is a Simple Whatnots pattern by Kim Diehl.  I love the look, but it is taking me forever to finish it.  And I've promised myself that I can't start a new project until this top is done. Actually I shouldn't start anything new until I finish SOMETHING!  I realized yesterday that except for pillowcases, I haven't finished anything in over a month.  

Check out what other Design Walls hold:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

One down, three to go

 

I have 3 more of these blocks left to finish with the cream/green borders. And then there are pieced outer borders that go around all 4 of the blocks.  This Kim Diehl project has been slow going for me. Not particularly difficult, but slow going. 

 

But since our class is this coming Saturday afternoon, I plan to have the top done by then. Plus it's one of my monthly goals.

County Line is finished

 

County Line is finished - yay!  That makes one more small finish for August.  This might just be my new favorite Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots pattern.  It may end up displayed on my kitchen counter for fall.

 

It is definitely a pattern that would look great in any kind of fabric combo.  I can imagine this done with a dark background and bright or pastel in the blocks.

 

 

The quilting is a simple diagonal stitching line through the X's.  I may decide to go back later and add something simple in the larger background areas, but I don't think it really needs much else.

Prairie Sky

 

Prairie Sky is a new small quilt from Kim Diehl's Simple Whatnots #6 collection.  It's approximately 10.5" x 12.5".  Right now it's bound and finished, except I'm trying to decide if I want to do a little hand quilting on it for more texture.

 

I missed the class in June and had to just pick up my kit.  The class is great because Gwen gives us tips to make things easier.  Kim Diehl's patterns are generally pretty easy as long as you keep your patience with the small pieces.  In this case, the foundation was 2.5" squares and rectangles.  Easy peasy! Then I realized that all of the tiny light colored pieces were applique. What!!!  I don't mind applique, but these pieces were in that 1" category. 

 

And I have to admit that it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.  I realized that I could just do these in rows, going up one side and back down the other.  And I think it's adorable now that it's done.  Looking ahead at the rest of Collection #6 I'm thinking this isn't the last applique we'll be doing.

Cranberry Chutney is done!

 

I'm not totally happy with the quilting I did on this, but it's done.  Each of the white squares got 4 loops, kind of like a flower. Then I just did some straight line quilting through the red triangles, and stitch-in-the-ditch on both side of the narrow red inner border. I struggle a bit with stitching in the ditch, especially when any errant stitch shows up on a dark fabric like this red.

 

So I have finished 4 of the Kim Diehl projects from this sessions classes and have 2 left to do.  The new session starts in June. Will I be caught up by then? Your guess is as good as mine.

Ready for quilting

 

Cranberry Chutney (by Kim Diehl) is all pieced, and sandwiched for quilting.  I love this top but have no ideas yet for HOW I want to quilt this. I think those 4 small cream squares in the center need something special.  So for now it's laid out over my coffee table and I'm "living" with it for a day or so while I play with ideas in my head.

 

Any ideas for me?  I'm open to suggestions.

Two borders left

 

I had this morning off so I worked on Cranberry Chutney (a Kim Diehl pattern) and managed to finish the center, add the solid inner borders, and add the top and bottom pieced borders. So I have just the 2 side pieced borders left to make. There are still 2 strip sets to sew together, and then the 14 blocks to make.

 

Check Design Wall Monday to see what others are working on today.

Not much to report

 

I just haven't spent much time in my sewing room lately. I did get 1 more center block and 3 border blocks made for Cranberry Chutney by Kim Diehl. And I've been working a little on a quilt binding. But it's a cool, rainy day today - just perfect for some sewing time. And I will have most of the afternoon free to sew. 

 

We really need the rain, so no complaints on the weather. It's been raining, not drizzling, for most of the morning, so hopefully we'll see at least a half inch or more. That will keep those leaves popping out. Maybe this weekend I'll make a visit to the local greenhouse and do a bit of browsing.

Simple Whatknots - Cranberry Chutney

 



The cutting is all done for a new Kim Diehl Simple Whatknots project.  This one is called Cranberry Chutney and is done with just 2 fabrics/colors. I really love a red and white quilt so I'm excited to get this one done.  I made one of the center blocks. These finish at 6.5" square and the other 8 are ready to sew, hopefully later today.

 

Our group met for lunch last Saturday and several of the gals talked about the outer border blocks not fitting properly on this one. Most ended up adjusting the width of the border separating the border blocks from the center blocks so they would fit, which turned out OK.  They mostly used the template in the pattern and complained that their blocks finished 1/4" too small.  So I decided to try using my Companion Angle ruler instead and tested it on some scraps.  With the ruler my test block came out to a perfect 4.5" square.  So I know that's the technique I'll use for making the real blocks.  

 

The Companion Angle ruler is perfect for cutting hourglass block pieces from strip sets, and the Easy Angle ruler that goes with it is perfect for cutting HST from strip sets. Notice the flat spot at the tip? That lines up with the edge of the fabric.  I use them quite often. There are a couple of different "brands" of these rulers made by different designers.

 

A little bowtie progress

 

This might just be my favorite Kim Diehl mini quilt so far. I have my pieced borders done and 7 bowtie blocks made.  These little blocks are just 3" finished but have come together very nicely. Only 22 more itty bitty bowties to go. Maybe tomorrow however, because I'm headed out now to have lunch with a girlfriend and then going to a college basketball doubleheader with my husband this afternoon.

Starting a new Kim Diehl project

 

Yesterday morning allowed me about an hour and a half of time in my sewing room and I took advantage of it by cutting out the Kim Diehl  Simple What Knots project called All Dressed Up. This was the November project and I hadn't started it yet even though our group meets tomorrow again.  I fell behind didn't I?

 

We got all of the fabrics for the project all wrapped up with a bow.  Almost too pretty to disturb . . . but I did.  All of my pieces are now cut and ready to sew.  I cut a few extra pairs of the bowtie pieces and will decide which to use as I work with them.  Hoping I get a little bit of sewing time later this afternoon after work. Right now I'm headed to a bid opening. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I'm hoping that this year will bring peace and happiness to all.

 

 

The final finish of 2016 was hiding in my handwork bag and totally forgotten until this morning. I put the binding on this Kim Diehl project while sitting in the hospital waiting room on Wednesday morning.  It's about 24" square.

 

I machine quilted this one myself with straight diagonal lines going both directions. It's funny however, that in this photo you can't see the diagonal lines going from top left down to bottom right. Wonder why that is?  Must be a trick of the light.

Hand quilting tools

 

I really enjoy hand quilting small projects and that is what I'm doing for the Harvest Stars mini quilt. It's only 14" square so it won't need a ton of stitching to look great.

 

Notice the white tool laying on the piece. It is a Clover powder stick and is working perfectly for marking the quilting lines on this dark fabric. On light fabrics I use a disappearing purple pen which vanishes in air after a couple of hours.

 

But the purple wouldn't show up on the black or burgundy, so I am trying this tool that I bought recently.  It has a narrow end with teeny tiny holes so you can draw right in the slots in the design stencil, just like using a pencil. The powder comes out of the holes and leaves a clean line on the fabric.  When done, it brushes away quite nicely. 

 

I'm marking one small section at a time so that I'm less likely to smudge the lines off.  My quilting frame is a plastic PVC type that is about 10" square.  It's perfect for holding small projects. And it's a good travel size, so I'm planning to take this with me tomorrow when I go to babysit granddaughter Sophia for the day.  She had an umbilical hernia repaired yesterday and can't go back to day care or pre-school until Monday.

Harvest Stars progress

 

Just a little progress on Harvest Stars, but I did get the center section done and start on the outer borders. Those borders are completely made with flying geese that are 1.5" x 2.5". The colors in this photo are terrible - done under my cutting table lamp on a dark rainy evening. In reality these are very rich cheddar and burgundy with a black.

 

I also dug through my quilting stencils and found one that might work for this small project. Right now I'm thinking that I might hand quilt this one, but we'll see how it goes. I do enjoy some hand quilting, in particular on small projects.