[quilting] Jen's Quilt

The other quilt I finished and gifted for Christmas:

I've been working on this quilt for years. Jen picked out random fat quarter pieces at a quilt shop in Las Vegas in... Jan 2017, I think. I sewed random blocks off and on, when inspired. I really made a push to get the whole thing done this year.

The finished top:

I wish it was a little wider but I basically ran out of the sashing fabric. It was challenging to put all the different blocks together in a way that looked nice and balanced. I'm never doing a rando quilt like this again.

Here's a close-up of the castle and backing fabric:

I think I have enough leftover pieces that I can make a matching scrappy quilt for her dog. Some day. Maybe a couple years from now.

[quilting] Charm squares quilt

I'm back from vacation. I gifted a quilt to my sister for Christmas- a project I've been working on in secret for a couple years:

She gave me all the cut squares- I just had to sew them together. I thought it would be nice- she cut all the squares but doesn't have time to sew. I'd sew them all together and give it back to her. Turns out; she didn't cut the squares either. She says I did but I have no memory of ever cutting these squares. So... SOMEONE cut them but we don't know who.

I sewed them together randomly into 2 by 6 blocks, then added a muslin rail fence piece to square the piece up. Then you just rotate the blocks to make it zig-zag.

I finished the top and brought it to Hen House Fabrics in White River Jct., VT to pick backing and binding fabrics. I chose a blue batik for the back and an orange fabric for the binding.

Then I brought everything to Barnyard Quilting in Fairlee, VT. I picked out the batting, thread and actual quilting pattern. I went with leaves...

Man, every time I pick up a finished quilt, I want to keep it for myself.

Since I can't keep it, it makes me want to start another. I did pull out my Star Wars fabrics and the next one I make will be for Dollar. 

[quilting] Crazy quilt

Last week I brought my small finished quilt top to Barnyard Quilting in Fairlee. I wanted it finished in time to enter it in the fair and it was done in only a couple days. They're the best.

It's very small, maybe only to be used as a blanket when my niece is in her car seat. I picked out a geometric quilt pattern to bind everything together:

I really like this design with the crazy squares. 

The backing fabric is pretty crazy, too:

I love it. It's good motivation to finished the two (large) size quilts that I'm still puttering away on.

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Had a nice, long weekend. The weather was nice Sat and Sun. I went to watch Dollar play on the Lebanon green on Saturday afternoon, for a fundraiser. 

Did a lot of knitting- some on the shawl (the rows are getting so long- I only just started the 2nd ball of colorful yarn) but mostly a child's sweater in bulky yarn. All four pieces are done- I just have to sit down and seam everything. The shawl is taking forever, I wanted to work on something that could be completed quickly.

We've been watching the Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. O. M. G. This is def not a kid's series. Last night after seeing a very young creature with a mind control parasite on it's face, wheeze out a raspy "It... feels... like... dyyyyiiinnnggggg", I asked Dollar, "Can you imagine seeing this series when you were 6-years-old? You'd be f'd up for the rest of your life." I've been loving this series, though- it's funny and gross and scary and surprising and fantastic. And sooooooooooo many talented voice actors. It's pretty awesome.

[quilting] Old Windmill

I had the sewing machine out last week and worked on a quick quilt block:

All the original fat quarter fabric pieces for this quilt are dwindling- I've started randomly sewing together small pieces together and will continue to merge them. Then I can cut scrappy strips as needed. I should probably start laying out all the blocks and pieces that I have, to see how everything looks. And that should help motivate me to finish it.

[quilting] More squares

Working on more quilt blocks.

And another. Before:

After:

Down to the last couple piles of pre-cut blocks. Hopefully I'll sew them this weekend.

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TGIF 1000%. Had a loooooooong week of teaching but now there's a three week gap until the next class. Which doesn't mean I have three weeks off- I just get to do my regular work for three weeks before the next class. This week was particularly rough because I was still getting over being sick from a couple weeks ago and lecturing all day did no favors for my voice, throat, cough. But I'm going to relax this weekend.

The maple swirl bread I made on Sunday has lasted all week. It's smells heavenly when toasted. I think I'll try making some homemade granola next.

I'm ready to cast off my brioche cowl and start in on the next one. Although the weather tomorrow is meant to be in the 60's and I'm itching to start cleaning up the flower beds.

[quilting] Back at it...

Last weekend I got back to quilting:

I was folding laundry on Sunday and found a long rip in a pair of Dollar's boxers- from waistband to leg opening. I don't even know how it happened but it was a nice, straight rip so I brought it to my sewing machine in the craft room and... chugga chugga chug- all sewed up. It was so easy, I decided to get out some pre-cut pieces of fabric and sew them into blocks...

It's been nearly a year since I've sewed any blocks. Thankfully, I had the foresight to pre-cut several different sized-squares and stack them up with a label to the directions in my book of blocks. All I did was lay the pieces out and start sewing, pressing, sewing, pressing, etc. No cutting, no thinking- just right to sewing. 

I have a few more pre-cut blocks ready to sew. I'll probably do those this weekend (maybe... I'm kinda very wicked sick right now) and then see what fabric is left. And cut pieces for more blocks.

[quilting] Crumb Quilt Top Complete

Finished the little crumb quilt top last week:

Santana for scale:

This week, I've really got to sort out backing and binding fabric- and bring it to the quilt shop to be finished.

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Had a good weekend apart from a bit of food poisoning yesterday. I suspect it was a lemon meringue pie that I made- the filling didn't set up properly, so maybe it was undercooked eggs.

I was able to crank out a couple pairs of slippers this weekend and I'm ready to be done knitting for the holidays. I've been looking at three pretty skeins of sock yarns that I want to wind and knit into socks for myself. It feels like the temperature hasn't gotten above freezing for the past two weeks and I want some new bed socks.

I'm just going to make some hats for nephews and their girlfriends and maybe a few more small things... then it's just knitting for me!

[quilting] Crumb Quilting

Last week I was working on squares for a little quilt:

I'm working on a large quilt for a friend and I have tons of small, irregularly shaped scraps. I want to sew them together randomly to make "crumb" squares. I pulled out some other fabric from the stash to practice on. 

I sewed pieces together with no real plan in mind, I sliced and diced and sewed pieces together again:

The goal was to make 9.5 inch squares, like the two on the left in the above picture. 

I did get nine squares finished- but the last two have rather small sliver pieces along the edges- as I ran out of fabric and tried to add on thin pieces that I had cut away from other squares. In the end, there was more waste fabric than I would have liked and a lot of seams on the wrong side. But I'll add some sashing and (hopefully) bring it to the quilt shop this weekend. 

And now I have a better idea how to manage the small "crumbs" for the big quilt I'm working on.

[quilting] More squares...

Last weekend was too hot to crochet, so I went back to quilting. I had several piles of pieces that I cut a long time ago, all I had to do was sew them together:

12 inches:

9 inches:

8 inches:

Basically all the squares I've made so far have been 12 inches or larger. I was working with whole fat quarters of fabric. Now I've got piles of smaller pieces and so the squares are getting smaller. I have a book of quilt block patterns that range from 6 inches to 15 inches- I'm starting to have to cut pieces for smaller squares. Which is nice, right- it means that there's a finish line... somewhere? 

[quilting] Retro Drums Block

This is the last of my finished quilt blocks:

Some drum and blue deco fabric. Quick and simple.

One of my tasks this coming weekend will be to find more block patterns, pre-cut all the necessary pieces, label them and set aside for quick weeknight sewing.

I went on a yarn-winding spree last night and wound some skeins for socks, baby sweater, shawl, adult sweater (for me! omg I haven't made a sweater for myself in years!) and mitered cowl. That's the plan for the yarn, anyway...

[quilting] Castle Block

Some time ago, I sketched out a design for a castle quilt block and figured out all the proper sizes for the pieces:

I looked at the fabric I had and decided to used an as-yet untouched fat quarter that looked like birch trees for the castle itself...after doing all the math to figure out total area needed and the most efficient way to cut the fabric without generating a lot of waste.

Chop up the fabric (it does look like birch trees!):

Cut all the pieces and put them into place to make sure I have everything: 

Blue stripes/dots for the background. Black for the windows. Ruler fabric for the drawbridge.

Two days of sewing later:

It came out just as I envisioned and I'm so happy. The back looks like a nightmare but it's a recognizable Corps of Engineers castle. It is 18" x 24", so rather large but I've gotten lots of helpful advice in one my Ravelry groups about how best to layout all the disparate blocks I've made so far and fill in gaps. Someday I'll reach that point but right now I'm just making blocks whenever the mood hits me.

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After this, I'm filled with quilting ennui. Last night I started organizing/sorting my loose knitting patterns. I put away patterns that I've made (a pile that had been stacking up since before Christmas) and slimmed down what was in the TO DO binder.

I feel like making socks. And doilies.

[quilting] Spooky Block

A large 15-inch block:

I'm still at an "I don't know what I'm doing" level of quilting. I pre-cut all these pieces and sewed them together, but... you can see the apex of the black squares touches the edge. Really, there should be a quarter inch of the printed fabric above it. Now, when I sew this block into final place, the tips will be truncated a bit. (Oops.)

I'm not too bothered (definitely not bothered enough to do it over) but at least it's something I'll be aware of in the future now. I was wondering why the long edges of the printed fabric triangles were so much longer than the short sides of the black triangles. I'm learning...

Going to do more cutting this weekend. It is nice having a pile of pieces for blocks ready to sew during the week. Then sewing a block really only takes 30 min or less to do.

Maybe I'll finally tackle cutting the pieces for the Corps castle...

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So ready for the weekend. It still looks and feels like winter at home:

 

And we've got about an inch forecast for tonight. Le siiiiiiiigh.

My cooking goal this weekend: Kimchi Pork Buns. Dollar doesn't do kimchi, so I'm going to try a different meat-filled-bread for him: bierock. Because who doesn't like a savory stuffed bun? I think there's a version from every culture. 

What else? Finish sewing my biscornu. Knit a little hat for Penny. Read rules and play new boardgames. Then it's a long week teaching next week but it will be the last for me until JUNE.

[quilting] Map Block

Worked on a bit of quilting this weekend:

Still have to tidy up the edges but the pile of blocks is growing. Still trying to use up large areas of the bigger pieces of fabric- and I'm amassing a pile of small cuts for crumb squares. Must use every. last. scrap.

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Tried taking Penny for a walk yesterday:

Sensory overload. She didn't make it more than a few steps from the door before she started screaming to go back in (and then started crying to go back out the minute she was in. I mean, cats. Amirite?). 

I found a few green catnip leaves and picked some. I don't know if I thought this was going to calm her down but it obviously didn't. She crashed a little while later. The good news is that the catnip is spreading like the weed it is and I'll have lots of new plants this year.

[quilting] Castle design

Turned a crude sketch into a schematic for a Corps of Engineers Castle quilt block:

Still trying to find enough of the right fabric based on what I have. It won't be the traditional white/red. Or even gold. And it will be a big block (18 in x 23 in). 

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TGIF. I'm going to Netflix and chillllllll this weekend. Do a little quilting. Do a little knitting. Do a little cooking. I got a very special delivery from Penzeys last Friday:

I ordered the guajillo peppers specifically for pozole (which I made on Monday and we've been eating all week) but I think I'll use a good portion this weekend to make some guajillo chili sauce... for enchiladas and burritos. I'm not sure why we've been on such a Mexican kick but I made tacos last Friday night (I knew the taco seasoning was coming so I got all the stuff ahead of time) and quesadillas the next night...

I'll start some no-knead dough to keep in the fridge. I'm interested in trying this English Muffin Toasting Bread. I still have a bit of clotted cream from last weekend left- Dollar had band practice at the house Monday night and I made sure they came up for a scone, clotted cream, raspberry jam break. They thankfully took care of most of it.

[quilting] Dots and Waves

Sewed another quilt block this weekend:

Cutting the dots was a bit fussy- trying to get them perfectly centered so the dots would still be whole after sewing.

Pieces in place:

And sewn:

I've started cutting the pieces for many blocks during the weekend and leaving them in piles on the cutting table with a label. Then it's much easier/faster to sew a block during a week night.

[quilting] House Block

The next quilt block that I wanted to make was a house. I spend a lot of time looking for a good combination based on the fabrics I have:

Once I like that, I cut:

And then sew it all together and square it up:

Hope to do another block this weekend...

I'm creating quite a pile of waste fabric and I might start sewing them randomly together to make crumb squares.

[quilting] Country Charm - Done!

I dropped my finished quilt top at the quilter's in early Feb and just picked it up this past weekend:

I love it. I love love love love love it. One thing that I would have changed about the last quilt that I had professionally quilted is that the pattern was too large. (Having said that, I still love that quilt and have used it every day.) This time I specified that I wanted a tighter "all-over" design.

I'm glad I went with the brown border- I love how the quilt design stands out.

The backing (and binding) fabric is so nice:

The owner of Hen House Fabric in White River Junction picked it out and I immediately said yes. It's a sweet design and the leaves are red, blue and brown- all of which are the main colors used for the top. So perfect. She has such a good eye. 

Anyway, I brought the quilt home and had the audacity to put it on Santana's bed for pictures:

She obviously thinks this quilt is for her. I told her it wasn't.

It might get submitted to the fair this fall. It will prob get gifted at Christmas time. Either way, it's folded up and put away so it doesn't get covered in cat fur. 

Santana has vowed to find it.