Finish Line: "Katie Loves Chris" and "Love Those Scotties"

I am in love with labels!!  Never a dull label again on my quilts.  :D


2011 Finish #15 is the quilt I made for my sister's wedding (Yes, this was in 2009~!) 

Katie Loves Chris (63 x 63) was pieced, partially quilted, and bound in a timely fashion, but when it came to the freemotion quilting I wanted to do on the Sue blocks, I just couldn't do it. Didn't have the skill yet and couldn't bear to ruin the quilt. Well, I finally bit the bullet and decided to finish it at the level I've acquired so far even though I have a long way to go for uniform stitch lengths, etc. So here she is, all finished! Had to make a heart label, of course! 

This quilt is waaaay different from my own styles. I purposefully chose a block and fabrics that made me think of our grandmother, who made hundreds of quilts and never let a significant event pass in a grandchild's or great-grandchild's life without making them a quilt. But she died a few months before Katie's wedding. This was my way of filling the gap a bit.

The hearts are all different reds, and were trapunto'd as the blocks were assembled. What a pain that was the way I did it! Really worth it, though. They pop out so very nicely. I let someone talk me into using filament thread on the Sue blocks so I wouldn't have to change colors 4 times - you know, to let myself focus only on the quilting. I don't think I will do that again. Convenient, yes, but it just goes against my grain thinking of a quilt with quality cotton fabrics and cotton batting suddenly having plastic thread. 


Anyway, it's completely finished and has its label!!  One more strike off the UFO list.  :)

~*~*~*~

Second quilt: An Oldie But Goody!!  

Love Those Scotties

Hubby's folks are down for a month - they bring their RV and park two miles away at the bay beach by the bridge to the Gulf. As long as I've known them they've had a cute Scottie dog that accompanies them. As newlyweds this adorable skirted friend was Maggie, and she inspired the 1991 Christmas present I made for them. I suggested to Mom that she bring it with them this time and I'd give it a label, so yesterday while the guys grilled, I stitched.

This quilt is a good sofa-sized specimen (58 x 75), made of scottie blocks with faux suede on muslin that are sashed with plaid flannel. Yes, I remember it being a pain to sew with biased sashing, but really, the plaid on the diagonal was the only way to go! The back is muslin - so perfect for this quilt even though I've never chosen it for anything else - and the batting is thicker poly from JoAnn's.






This is hand quilted. Scott even did one of the blocks himself for his mom! I actually had to scan the blocks twice yesterday to make sure I'd spotted the correct block - that's how good a job he did. I'm thinking I'll put him to work with me whenever I get around to hand quilting something for myself.  ;D


The label's made of cotton velvet - so soft and fuzzy.  Hmm - why didn't I take a pic of the current Scottie companion with the quilt?  ::sigh::  Lady Heather of Devonshire (named after our two older girls) would have graced my blog most adorably. . .

BOMs AWAY Monday #3

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 

(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

This past week I got three of the BOM projects on my list caught up.  :D

My favorite of all 9 is my Wild Rose Cottage project, a Marti Mitchell Patchwork Party quilt. Something about the cheery colors just makes me happy. And the blocks are intricate and interesting. Besides all that, I had already cut out all the pieces during a movie long ago! Can't remember the name of the first one, but the second is "Mexicali Rose" - apropos for May, no?  :)














The Glacier Star Project got the April portions added on (the spiny feathers at the bottoms). . . 

. . . and then the May portions. (There are eight diamond sections.)

And while I was in the paper foundation groove, I finished the GIGANTIC parts of our guild's opportunity quilt that Sandra sent home with me. That's a 12 oz. glass!

And I got the Selvages project up to date. I have no idea why they named this quilt "Selvages." You don't use any. But you do make two of each 9" block each month.

Oh!  And for your entertainment - I found this really super cool spider in the back yard today!!

It's about 1/2" diameter, and has a shiny hard-looking shell.
(No, I was not going to touch it to find out!!)
I just found out it's called a Spinybacked Orbweaver and does not have a dangerous bite.
Pretty little bright yellow fella. I guess it can stay. (Eat lots of mosquitoes while you're hanging around!!)

And now, it's your turn!  Show us the BOM you're working on lately, and check out what the others are doing.   

(Thanks for the courtesy of mentioning this spot on your own blog.)

Some Mother-Daughter Fun at a Guild Challenge Workshop

I had the best time at our guild's Challenge Workshop yesterday with my daughter! This was my much-anticipated allowance to veer off my UFO list!!  :D


We walked in with our packed lunch, and got a charm pack and a half-yard of fabric to do something with. No prior knowledge except that it would have summer colors (and a familiarity with Kelly's modern bent). Marissa had brought a canvas, Mod Podge, and a brush to make a collage, I had brought some cream and gray yardage, a wavy ruler, and my sewing machine. 


Kelly didn't let me down! The fabric was modern and fun - Sugar Pop from Moda, and the cream coordinated perfectly. I was going to use this activity for one of two family projects: A baby quilt for my quilt-buddy cousin's first grandchild (my cousin passed away a year ago and can't make a quilt herself), or a wedding quilt for another cousin.  Sugar Pop and the pastel mint green were perfect for the baby quilt.

Ahh. . I knew I forgot to move something around. Oh, well.  ;D

This is the result of playing with the fabrics and my ruler:  Hugs and Kisses from Above.   Soooo fun to freeflow instead of follow a pattern! I need to get a sheet of acrylic to test out my quilting ideas, because I can't visualize whether straight(ish) or wavy lines will work better on these waves within the theme (which has dangling circles and x's). I'm just waiting for the minky backing and Sugar Pop yardage that I ordered for the binding.  :) 


And this is Marissa's Sugar Pop Owl. I love the owl! She even put a little tufty on his forehead and the leaves are textured. A little green for the grass and a smidge of blue in the sky from my stash , and a bit of yellow from Ruth's for the sun is all she added to the charms. She enjoyed the process enough that we needed to stop at the art shop on the way home for another canvas and bottle of Mod Podge. Have at it, Angel Pie!! I've got an overflowing stash that will come to life in your hands. :D

My WIP Wednesday #9

Good morning!  Most of this week's WIPping consisted of catching up my Glacier Star "BOM" work.  It's actually a "Technique of the Month", but I categorize it with my BOMs. Like most of the BOMs on my list, it had fallen 3 months behind due to LIFE. But I'm just about finished with the May portion. 

For those of you who are familiar with this style of paper piecing: that huge cream piece at the end? Yes, it *is* gargantuan for that last remaining portion of paper you see poking out. When I press it over, there will be tons of overage. I did that on purpose - when I was cutting the section templates out of the master strip, these were on the end of the strip. I just left the last bit on to maximize the size of the scrap when I trim the block's outer lines.  :)

Psst - If you're working on any BOMs yourself, check out my new 

BOMs Away Monday linky feature. 

I started this up because Lee's WIPs have been incredibly helpful for me and I hope to harness that effect for BOM workers.

Also got Katie Loves Chris all quilted and it awaits a time when we actually sit down in the evening again to watch a show - just need to bury the tails and sew on a label.  Oh! Tonight's Movie Night with my gal-pal. Finish #15 should happen tonight!  :D

I really **have** to finish appliquéing those owls! This *will* happen this week.

Thank you to Lee at Freshly Pieced for hosting WIP Wednesdays - it really keeps me motivated to keep those UFOs going!

This week's stats:
New Projects - 0         (Yes!)
Completed Projects This Week - 0 
In Active Progress - 3 
        (Devon's Owls, Katie Loves Chris, Marissa's Moment of Freakishness)
UFO Firing Range - 36.667 (This is down 1, but higher than last week because I found some sneaky old projects hiding out)
Finishes for 2011 - 14  

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Two charity wheelchair quilts
Dreamy Unicorns
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Mr. Hernandez's)
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Heather's)
Be Attitudes
We Love Kelly
Sailing with the Flying Needles (is at the longarm studio!!)
Wagon Wheels West #2
Devon's Silk Spinners
Marissa's Minky Squares
Kelly's Thirties Hand Quilter
Kelly's Calico
Leap Frog Lily Pond
Poor Forgotten Orphan from 15 Years Ago #1

BOMs Away Monday #2

Welcome to my first Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 

(I know this is a little early - trying to set it up for tomorrow - new at all this Linky stuff.)

Feel free to link your latest Block of the Month project at the bottom of this post. Hopefully we'll see all kinds of styles from Modern to Appliqué to Traditional to Paper Piecing! Go ahead and link a new post or one from the past week or so. And welcome to the party!  :D


I hope this can become a fun eye-candy/motivation stop-over. I am in a serious crack-down mode this year, and have found that blogging habits really keep me on target for my quilting goals (or pretty darn close, anyway). 


Many of the BOMs on my sidebar are UFOs that I pulled out of boxes. Several are new ones that I committed to before I did my January Great Roundup and found out how many UFOs I have. >YIKES!!<


I've been catching up several that fell behind during the craziness of last semester. This past week I got all the Patriots in Petticoats blocks finished from March, April, and May. This project does not reflect my favorite colors, and I find them a pain to work on - however - a love of history combines most magnificently with quilting when there are so many marvelous reproduction fabrics around. I jumped on this one when it came out. Each feature block coordinates with a woman who helped fight for Independence. Let me share the stories:


March Gal #1 was Sarah Bradlee, who had the fun of dressing her menfolk and their buddies up as Mohawk Indians so they could go dump a bit of tea into Boston Harbor.

March Gal #2 was Mary Pickersgill, who used over 400 yards of fabric and the help of 3 family women and 2 servants to sew a huge battle flag commissioned by Major Armistead. (It took them 6 weeks!) This was the flag seen by Francis Scott Key - the one that inspired our nation's national anthem.

April Gal #1 was Hannah Hendee. This fiesty and determined Mama rescued her own 7yo son and her daughter from a British press gang after being kidnapped by Indians bringing men and boys for bounty. She also intimidated the British officer into releasing 9 other children, whose families undoubtedly loved Hannah for the rest of her days.

April Gal #2 was Nancy Hart. Obviously at ease with handling arms, this hothead shoved British rifles through a hole in her cabin wall as she served the food that was demanded by the British soldiers who'd invaded her home. After some helpful beverages were passed around, she trained one of the rifles on them, and shot one dead when he didn't obey her command to not move. A second lost his life in the same manner before her hubby and neighbors arrived to help. Stories say she also dressed as a man and entered Tory camps to gain information for the Patriots. 

May Gal #1 was Anna Marie Lane, who enlisted in the Connecticut Continental Line, where she displayed "the garb and the courage of a soldier and performed extraordinary military services." Wounded in the battle of Germantown, she was awarded a pension of $100/yr from the state of Virginia.

May Gal #2 was Lydia Darragh. Kudos to the lady who spied on the officers forced upon her in her Philadelphia home, then raced several miles on foot through the snow to warn the Americans. At the battle scene later, General Howe was not amused that his major offensive was obviously compromised. 


[For the Jan & Feb stories, just go to my label for "Patriots in Petticoats" and scroll though the results.]
 
I also got the March work finished for the Glacial Star project and am halfway through the April work. Each division of work is done on 8 identical sections. This task has been compounded by the addition of the GIGANTICGEST foundation-piecing sections I have ever done, which is actually some sewing for my local guild's next Opportunity Quilt. It is the exact same technique, and the same thread works, so I figured I'd do them simultaneously. (Check out my paper foundation piecing tutorial on the Tuts tab above.)

March diamonds sewn onto the Feb flying geese

The April pieces have the most interesting lines! (Quite small pieces, too!)

The longest stitching line is about 28 inches~! (This is the Guild project)

Lots of catching up accomplished this week! Here's to getting through almost all the backlog that's left before the month ends.  


And now, it's your turn!  Show us the BOM you're working on lately. (Thanks for the courtesy of mentioning this spot on your own blog.)

My WIP Wednesday #8

Whoa! It's Wednesday already!  My girl graduates tomorrow!  Grandparents are here!!  I think Grandpa was truly blown away at the quilt tops hanging by the machine, awaiting their turn to be brought to full life. Just a little bit of quilting has been happening this week, but here's what's up at the machine:

Katie Loves Chris - I have 5 gals left to do, then a label, and this is finished!


and Dev's owls have glue-basted wings and hearts, waiting for the hopper foot to be exchanged for my satin stitch foot.


Oh, and my piecing machine is seeing some intermittent BOM catchup activity.

Thank you to Lee at Freshly Pieced for hosting WIP Wednesdays - it really keeps me motivated to keep those UFOs going!

This week's stats:
New Projects - 0 
        (Good Girl.)
Completed Projects This Week - 1 
        (Romancing the Rose.)
In Active Progress - 2 
        (Devon's Owls, Katie Loves Chris)
UFO Firing Range - 36.667 (This is down 1, but higher than last week because I found some sneaky old projects hiding out)
Finishes for 2011 - 14  

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Two charity wheelchair quilts
Katie Loves Chris
Dreamy Unicorns
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Mr. Hernandez's)
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Heather's)
Be Attitudes
We Love Kelly
Sailing with the Flying Needles (is at the longarm studio!!)
Wagon Wheels West #2
Devon's Silk Spinners
Marissa's Minky Squares
Kelly's Thirties Hand Quilter
Kelly's Calico
Leap Frog Lily Pond
Poor Forgotten Orphan from 15 Years Ago #1

BOMs Away Monday #1

Whew! The last two months of last semester really took a toll on my block of the month projects. I think I overestimated how many I would be able to keep up with when I signed up for a couple new ones in addition to committing myself to finishing several from my UFO list this year. 


To help keep these on track, I'm starting a weekly goal of blogging about them each Monday, kind of a sister goal of linking up to WIP Wednesdays (since that's been so helpful in keeping me on task with my UFO list). Next Monday I'll make this a link-up tradition in case anyone else can use the bit of motivation as well. Plus, it's just incredibly fun to see what folks are working on.  :D


So. . . crazy me has no less than 9 BOM projects on my slate for 2011. Two are shorter ones, so some day it'll slacken up a bit. 3 of those fell behind one month, and 3 others fell behind two months during the term. Now you see why I'm starting "BOMs Away Mondays"!

Vermont Star

This week I caught up my Flying Needles blocks, which are actually done in triplicate - one to turn in at my local guild's monthly lottery, one for the guild's Quilts of Valor program, and one to keep. These will one day make a whole quilt top that celebrates the 235th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

I sewed my May Block Swap Adventure block for Pat in Oregon, who wanted a star in brights, NO black. (Yes, I used the same pattern so I could streamline cutting - besides, I thought it would be fun to play with a swirliness in the center.)

And I got all the pieces washed, dried, and CUT OUT (that part's a bit of a pain on these) for the March, April, and May blocks of the Patriots in Petticoats kits that have been stacking up. (I have seriously allergic reactions to the sizing on fabric, so I always have to wash them before sewing.) Hopefully I'll have all 6 blocks sewn before BOMs away #2, but Grandpa comes in tomorrow evening and Devon graduates on Thursday, so I'm not going to cry if they're not. These blocks are very fun historically - each one is dedicated to a gal who helped the Independence movement. I list the stories as I post the blocks, so if you like that sort of thing, just go to my label for "Patriots in Petticoats" and scroll though the results. :D


After these, I'm moving on to the more artsy BOMs on my list, because I tire quickly of working with these colors even though I love the historic quilts.

Kelly and Pam's Pastel Delight

Today brings a strong whollop of grief, as my beloved cousin Kelly died a year ago - on her mother's birthday - and the third of Pamela's children to leave this life ahead of her.  My aunt is traveling with friends in East Europe, in the hopes that being far away and in the company of good friends, she will be better able to face the day.


I've been going through the quilts in my closet, finding ways to place them out in the house where they'll be seen every day and loved. Most of them are gifts commemorating important days in my life and my children's. One of them is perfect for talking about today.

Kelly loved to sew - all kinds of sewing - and she did a lot of quilting in her short time here. She also loved to give, so making quilts for people for whatever reason she could come up with was a double joy to her. One day years ago, somewhere around 1991, I got a call from Kelly telling me a box was in the mail for me because she'd wanted to make me a quilt. Wow, how cool was that?!  :D   


I was enchanted when it arrived - a queen size lovely confection of pastel sponge-paint prints with wonderful hand quilting in pastel threads. I've used it on our bed a few times through the years, but not too much since we had young children and also cats, and didn't want it to be destroyed (all that white makes me nervous sometimes in regards to keeping a quilt out on a bed constantly).  

Kelly pieced a lovely top using a star block with LeMoyne centers that created a very nice secondary pattern when they were assembled without sashing. I love the sponge-paint fabrics, as they are very typical of fads during the late 80's - early 90's. They're just a little different from today's marbles and washes. 

Between the stars, Kelly alternated quilting motifs in the white squares. She even used different colors of pastel threads for additional subtle interest. There are green crosshatches, yellow tulips, and pink hearts. White ditchwork secures the LeMoynes and other elements. 
















I added a label a few weeks ago so that the quilt's crafters and story would be remembered. I decided to name it Kelly and Pam's Pastel Delight.

The really special thing about sharing this quilt today is that I remember Kelly telling me her mother, my dear aunt Pamela, worked on the quilting with her. And so, it is poignantly apropos to share this quilt with you today that these two special ladies in my family made for me. 


Kelly, I miss you. Pamela, I love you and lift you up in empathy. May you find some ice cream to eat in Kelly's name out there in East Europe!  ;D


Pamela's sister (another terrific aunt) wrote a wonderful tribute this morning that is special to me: "Dear Pamela and Kelly."