September Progress

The past week has found me tackling the ongoing project list. With only six open ended projects, I figured it would be an easy task to make forward progress on most of them!

Peace Always Medallion progress

First off, the 'Peace Always Medallion' center needed a smallish border. I've been dithering over the colors for this, but when finally settling on the very light pink and darker blues? Yummm.... Love it so much! It was super tempting to leave it in the rough, slapped up on the wall, make-do look, but I resisted and tried to sharpen it up a bit. After the border was sewn on, the basket looked way too plain. Had to dig through the orphaned applique tote to see what might help! Now it has a much, much better presence and feels ready for the next go-round. Which is intended to be baskets, because, why not?

Looking a lot better!

I put my fingers to the grindstone and managed to get all the hand stitching taken care of for the petals on the 'Melon Patch Blossom' quilt. These units are going to be used as sashing. The orange rectangles and squares plus lighter peach triangles are the cut-out pieces for the blocks in the quilt. They will be a chubby X looking thing. Very simple, leaving the sashing to convey the vibe of the quilt. I'm also in the process of figuring out the cornerstone units. Will probably be little pomegranates, mostly because I adore the look of them! Have the cherry red fabric soaking as we speak! 

Happy to see these petals moving on

Another quilt that I've been having great fun playing with is 'Tatterdemalion'. It's the orphan parts and pieces quilt that quickly captured my attention after getting back from so much time away from home.

Will have to do something good with this fabric

The improv. 9-patch blocks had already been determined on, cut-out and sewn up. Then I stumbled on the older Ana Marie Horner floral in the totes. Yeah, it briefly got my hopes up with the lovely, moody, look and feel and the almost haunting combination of utility and large floral. You probably can't see it, but it almost gave me the shivers.

Gonna have to go with these colors!

Then I threw the 9-patch blocks at the quilt and delighted in the lighter, easier look to the whole thing. It's like it lifted the quilt to a whole 'nother level of happy and I just don't want go down the road of moody and broody right now. Don't wanna at all! Feeling all kinds of pangs about this decision, but I know it's the right thing to do.*sigh

Have to cut new units

All the blocks are trimmed up and ready to go. The only problem is, they ended up being quite a bit smaller than the 12 1/2" that I expected and hoped for. Nope. They all had to be trimmed to 10 3/4" because of the smaller improv. squares. Soo... Will have to add another two rows or so of 3-patch strips to each side of the quilt. Oh the joys of doing things the improv., fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants way!

This could be a good quilt someday

Which brings me to the wheels quilt. I had these dresden wheels all ready for applique before taking the month of August off. Didn't sew a single one. They were a bit worrisome in the amount of stretch and how warped they were. Just didn't take enough time with the precision sewing like they so clearly needed! Anyway.... I finally got a couple of them sewn down to the background fabric and ughhh... Don't want to deal with this right now at all! {Are you sensing a theme?}

Next up will see me using a seam ripper, getting them into the half circle shape once again. Then I will cut the background fabric in half and start working on the hand applique. After that is kind of up in the air as to the overall look of the quilt. All I know is, these wedges are just too darn cute to leave languishing in the orphan totes. My daughter calls this the 'Mistakes Squared' quilt, but I'm sure we will find it a more fitting name eventually.

Loving these fabrics together

And the last project on the moving forward track is 'Good Vibes' from the Circle Game series. I'm thinking #3 in the lineup? These are big circles, needing background squares a slightly larger than a fat quarter {what most of the stash starts out as around here}. So yeah... pieced backgrounds are my new go-to as you've undoubtedly noticed! Good thing I'm learning to love and appreciate the look!

Never take pictures in the evening

Each circle will have a 9-patch circle shape stitched into the center except for three of the circles. They will have a rough, somewhat awkward looking tulip shape appliqued right over the top. It's been a whole thing getting the leaves and petal shapes figured out, but wowsers has it been a joy to work on this quilt! Will see how the quilt shapes up, but for now I'm positively thrilled with the way the colors and fabrics look together. 

Sometimes it doesn't even seem to matter what the design of the quilt is, we just need to sew specific fabrics and/or colors together and see them rest side by side in a quilt. It's like they belong together and our job is to facilitate that, no more and no less!

Trying somewhere new

On another tangent, I have belatedly decided it's time and past to order new clamps for my QSnap quilting hoops. Uh huh. Out of two 17" hoops, I am down to three clamps and even one of those is now showing a crack.  Decided to take a chance on this company instead of Amazon like usual as their prices and references seem good. Isn't it nice to order from a smaller company instead of the huge monopolies? That's been my goal for the past year though there are a few things I can't seem to find anywhere else. In a couple cases, I've switched out the product brands normally bought {not usually quilting related}, and am trying to see how I feel about that.

Okay, that's the quilting round up for what's been happening in the Quilty Folk quilt room {and living room}. There's one more project that needs lots of attention and then..... it's fair game. Gonna start a couple brand new projects guilt free!!

A Late Summer Quilt Finish

 It feels so very, very good to finish up with this particular quilt: 'The Mountains Are calling'. Not only because there's been so few finishes for the year, but because it's really ran me through the whole gamut of emotions from feeling rather blasé about the idea until now, when I'm actually rather proud of the cozy, warm vibe to it. Who would have ever expected it to end up this way? 

The Mt's Are Calling is a true blue finish!

This was started in March of 2022, always intended to be a quilt for our youngest son. In an odd twist, the back of the quilt was sewn first. Mostly because I didn't have a very clear picture of what the front of the quilt should look like. Masculine looking quilts? Not exactly in my comfort zone.... 

So glad that I bought the blue woven fabric
for the centerpiece

Our son loves living in the northwest and has always had an avid interest in hiking the high mountain trails. Though I always sort of knew that this quilt should be more of a blue, green and brown quilt, fabric and color options are pretty limited around here the last couple years. A lot of the green fabric languishing in the fabric totes is more olive in tones and I've been trying very hard to use up what I have. {Or at least dig through and start from there!} Olive wasn't doing it for me and this was second choice, these primarily blue and red fabrics. 

Always wonderful to see the spirit and vibe I wanted to convey come through regardless of material chosen for the foundation of the quilt. If I've learned anything in the past several years, it's to try and try again and never give up on what's available right here at home. This time I caved and bought the blue centerpiece fabric because I needed the simplicity of a single fabric background, but nothing else was purchased for this quilt! Making do can give off an authentic look almost impossible to achieve by running out and buying brand new for everything. 

The trees are weird and quirky but just
simple enough to be fun

This quilt was a long hard struggle to get to completion stage. Anyone following along knew that a long time ago. My heart was never really in it like so many of the projects that get started around here. Though I'm happy and satisfied with it now, it never took my muse on a thrilling little adventure the way the more interesting quilts do. Just not the style that I most prefer to work with these days! 

Anyway, by the time I had the details figured out for making this happen, our son was engaged to be married! After a lengthy time pondering, I decided to just finish it up as a 'marriage' quilt. Thankfully my daughter-in-law likes to go on hikes with him too so she wasn't being completely left out. And I did add more pinkish reds to the improv. strips at the front of the quilt after she was in the picture. Definitely more her than him so that's something!

And the crooked compass works too

And.... she has also managed to talk me into gifting her with a much more girly looking quilt in the meantime. Uh huh. DDIL2 already picked it out and hauled it to their new home. You know. Because the 'marriage' quilt was going to be belated! Funny how I can never say no to any of our kids....

Home is where the heart is!*wink

I am especially relieved by the texture on the front of the quilt as wide open spaces always fill me with terror. So dumb. They almost always look amazing when filled with the simplest of quilting lines such as the Baptist Fan motif. The way the lines pop instead of sink into the piecing {such as in the back of the quilt below} should be a lesson to remember forever.

Backing made up of lots of older indifferent
looking fabrics and a few mens shirts too

Believe it or not, the back of the quilt looks much, much more cozy than it does in the picture. Quite honestly, I almost like the back better than the front, which is something that happens fairly regularly around here.*sigh  Improv. seems to fill some need apparently?

I'd curl up in this quilt in a New York minute!

Loving the crumpled, wrap-this-quilt-around-you-and-be-happy vibe to this quilt soooo much. I would have been ecstatic to have this as a finish about 10 years ago and now I'm just sort of bemused and smiling. Yep, I can do this! Even when I don't know what I'm doing. So exciting when the 'me' voice comes through regardless of all the doubting and off perfect color and fabric choices happen. That's where experience and trust in our intuition helps bridge the gaps if we lean into it.

Next up in the hoop!

Next up in the hoop is a palette cleanser of serene greens and lovely pink pops of happiness. It's not a special quilt in any great sense, but the quirky spark to it makes me very happy to have in the hoop.

Should look a lot better with hand quilting

Summer is not quite over here yet so I didn't want to dive into fall colored quilts if I didn't have to. Autumn just needs to wait for its turn. Thankfully my have-to list of quilts is caught up until mid November. Yay! Have I mentioned how grumpy have-to lists make me when it comes to quilting?

Working my way through the middle blocks

Getting back into the swing of things quite slowly, but I'm beginning to accept that it's just gonna be that sorta year all the way till December. We had both of our boys and their wives come see us last weekend {for a long weekend} and had such a great time with the granddaughters especially. They are growing up too fast! Our oldest is making noises about moving back to the state and we are just so incredibly thrilled by that. Crossing our fingers that things work out where we can see them on a more regular basis. Funny how quilting drops down the priority list real quick when it comes to kids and grandchildren time....

p.s. The Legacy of Gwen Marston Exhibition is now open at the New England Quilt Museum. Makes me feel like kind of a fraud, but they didn't send my quilts back with a 'sorry, these won't work' excuse like I half expected. So exciting to have two quilts on display there!  My head is just whirling it seems so surreal. Big thanks to Barb Vedder for spearheading and helping to organize this event. If anyone attends, I would love to see pictures!

Connecting to Creativity

Well, that month went by in a screaming hurry! I ended up spending most all of August with my daughter in Oklahoma. Waiting for her to have her baby and then helping out afterward. So thankful to have the time and opportunity to make it all work out.

The sweet new grandbaby

Meet Miss. Gracelyn May! We just love her so very much. She's a little sweetie and definitely kept us all hopping for the first couple weeks. You know how some babies just take a little more time getting adjusted to the real world. Gotta get the mom and dad trained up properly! The picture below is with Ellie, another one of our {four} granddaughters. She was sooo fascinated with her new little cousin. We loved having her help too!

Lots of love from her older cousin!

Finally made it back home to my tired and grumpy husband. It's the longest I've been away for all of our married life, but he was totally on board with what I thought was needed. He actually survived fairly well and the house wasn't too terrible. Our youngest daughter had kept tabs on that. {If I could add heart emojis here, I would!} Still, I had mountains of laundry to do and some things that needed set to rights. Still do actually, but one thing at a time!

Probably won't be using the scrappy circles after all

I didn't get hardly any quilting done during the month of August {tiniest bit of hand quilting}, so you can only imagine my longing to dive right back into quilting. After a quick perusal of the quilting WIP's list, I decided what was needed most was something completely carefree. 

Working on the centerpiece

On impulse, I grabbed a bag of orphan blocks, bits and bobs that I had grouped together a couple months ago. The entire bag was thrown together based on color compatibility and not much else. Basically, I just started throwing things on the wall, moving things around until there was some good energy.

Top and bottom border sewn on, working on the sides

Then I started figuring out how to sew it together! First the middle improv. strips went together. Lots of partial piecing and trimming up in order for it to lay flat. Had to introduce one similar-look light tan fabric and then later, a couple darker prints in the border, but otherwise, this entire quilt top is strictly made out of orphaned parts and pieces!

This is the completed background centerpiece minus a 
thin piece of purple I'm gonna add up on the right corner

After the middle part of the quilt was sewn together, then I made an executive decision to trim it to straight. I waffled about that for all of ten minutes or so and then finally flipped the top over and bit the bullet. Why flip it over? Mostly so I didn't have to worry about what was being cut off! ha! Just couldn't face trying to sew the outside borders onto the quilt if I had to do too much easing and coaxing. 

Adding the applique bits that look interesting

Now I'm in a frenzy {a very slow, methodical frenzy} to add leftover applique bits and pieces to the center of the quilt. The whole process has felt amazing. I can't really adequately explain what this has meant to me! Very free spirited and fun just because of the loose, open ended determination for the outcome. It feels like it has woke up my sleeping creativity in just the right sort of way. Not sure what it's supposed to be or do or even end up looking like, but I'm totally okay with that. How about that? We're all good over here in this corner of the quilt world after all!  Maybe by next week I'll have my head above water enough to finally go check out all the blogs I've been neglecting....

Taking Some Time Off!

 I've been puttering around, sewing the wedges together from a project that got cut too small. It just seems like a waste to have it sit in the orphan totes forever. The plan is to hand applique these wheels to a background block and then figure out a center circle fabric. Perhaps blue? Some of the Dresdens are a little bit wonky, but I'm crossing my fingers the hand work will ease it out.

The new applique project

In other news, my mother got this lovely quilt in the mail a couple weeks ago. One of my cousins had found these old blocks when she was going through her late mothers belongings. 

A quilt made from my grandmothers blocks

They were hand pieced by grandmother years and years ago, and had never quite made it to quilt top stage.

Making do, making it work!

My cousin quite generously paid to have someone sew these blocks together and then finished into a completed quilt top! Then, in the sweetest of sweet things to do, mailed it off to my mother. 

Takes me back to the days of
fighting over my grandmas quilts
to sleep under....

My mother was very appreciative and actually in tears as all of the quilts from her mother had burned in the 2014 fire. I especially love the 'mistake' block, don't you? Many of my grandmothers quilts used cut up remnants of clothing the family wore and greens were always a favorite of hers to make quilts out of. My mother said the Drunkards Path was one of her moms favorite unit to work with and that she had made several different quilts with it through the years. So many of her quilts have been lost, either to fire or to mildew from improper care of them after they had moved back to Oklahoma in the late 70's.

As usual, I have been a busy, busy girl this summer. Starting to sound a little whiny with it I'm sure! This is a picture of me after I had thrown together an apron to wear at another cousins wedding. A couple of my sisters and I had to man the kitchens and replenish the buffet table after the wedding. A little ironing and it was all set to go!

I'm taking the rest of August off from blogging as there is simply too much on the schedule to keep up. Take care and keep quilting! I'll probably check in on your blogs and lurk if I have a spare minute or two...

All the Baby Quilts

So I got all the baby quilts done this week, labels and all! It felt really good to get these checked off the list.

Prickly Pears is done!

The first one is Prickly Pears, the baby girl quilt. It's made out of the cut-out pears from behind another quilt I made.

Loving the floral

You might think the gray pears are odd, but I really, really like it! I tried to use brighter, bolder prints for some of these blocks, even if they almost clashed. It ended up with a good cozy vibe and the backing fabric will hopefully make my daughter smile!

Who wouldn't want bikes on the back?

The second baby quilt finish is the Improv. Log Cabin quilt. The strips were not cut straight or measured at all. 

Improv. Log Cabin is done and dusted!

And in fact, the center Monkey Wrench block was improv. as well and never straightened.

Always a fan of Log Cabin quilts

If the quilt seems a little bit 'off' then that is why! Nothing to be ashamed of though, it just adds character. I did end up snipping a tiny hole in the backing fabric when pinning the quilt though. Just cutting a thread and missed and cut into the quilt.*sigh

How bout the dark backing fabric?

Thankfully, my daughter doesn't mind patches on things. Uggh. So annoying. The third baby quilt is made out of leftover blocks that have been languishing in the orphan bit totes.

Wish Upon a Star

It has a much softer look and feel, but it holds its own with the others just fine.

It's finished!

This one is being gifted to a long time friend of ours for her second baby. I rarely make or gift baby quilts to anyone other than family because our family is so very large. Well that, and I prefer making my big 'ol creative adventure quilts more.

The backing helps add to the baby feel

The backing fabric is a soft, babyish star fabric. Except that it had a surprisingly tough weave and was not the easiest to hand quilt. Got it done though! Yay!!

Hanging sleeves for the quilt show

I've also been working to get hanging sleeves on a couple of quilts. Not something that I particularly enjoy, but it needed to be done....

The Mountains Are Calling in the hoop

And last but not least, I've finally dove into the hand quilting part of the wedding quilt for my youngest son and his new wife. It's more a 'guy' quilt and I'm crossing my fingers the new DIL won't mind too much! {I plan on giving her a girly looking quilt later on.} Feels good to get this much of the freehand Baptist fan quilting accomplished. I'm loving the texture already! No marking whatsoever here.

Ok, that's it for now! We're just barreling through summer with hardly any time to breathe. Gotta get back to the to-do list and check a few other things off the list that aren't quilty related...

Summertime Happenings

Towards the end of June, we left on a 12 day trip. Before leaving, there was {of course} a mad rush to get the quilting sorted out so it would be easier to dive back in later. You know how us quilters think! 

Ready to the last little bit of handwork!

The funny thing was, I totally forgot about some of the prep work that had happened and so had to spend some time spinning my wheels anyway. These two little baby quilts had all the hand quilting finished up and just needed some binding attached. Thankfully I found the cut out and sewn binding in their neat little rolls just before I started cutting out a second batch. Seriously, where is my brain these days? Will have to find a good day to do the last little bit of hand sewing the binding down, but these are getting closer and closer to a true-blue finish!

When an idea starts on the floor

Two is not enough though. There is one more needed before the end of Julyd! I had a really great improv. idea all figured out and then when I got back from the trip, my brain was on severe overwhelm. Then one day I decided to dig through the orphan bits and pieces that had been set aside up a couple of months ago. Maybe one would be a good start for a baby quilt? 

Starting to take shape

This large applique block and the four churn dash blocks were given to me years and years and years ago in a larger box of cast aside fabrics. I have always liked them and thought to make a throw pillow out of the applique especially. Hmm... This baby quilt is a much better idea!

Did you notice how I put the hst on the corners of the border?

Even the blue fabric squares were abandoned from some late project or other so really, all that was needed was the in-between bits. At first I had zero intention of adding in the tan homespun fabric around the middle section, but something seemed to be missing. And then after that jumped into the quilt, well.... of course the yellow-gold cornerstones had to go too. At that point I was shutting out the lights in my quilting room to go to bed. 

Latest in the hoop!

And then something niggling in the back corner of my brain kind of spoke up and insisted that the cornerstones had to be a much brighter, happier blue than the one that I had chosen.*sigh  All the seam ripping just kinda gets exhausting sometimes! haha  I cut out mock-ups for the evening and went ahead and shut things down for the night. Next morning, I went ahead and made the changes for real, adding the same brighter blue over the top of the center circle in the applique too. Yep! That sealed the deal perfectly. Now it's all sewn together and in the hoop. Hope you can see how sweet and cozy this little baby quilt looks already!

A little bit of applique

Thankfully I took a bag of hand work with me on the trip, though I only managed to squeeze in time for nine blocks! Always soothes the soul to have some pretty fabric in my hands for those moments when there's nothing much else to do. I can't seem to hand stitch in the car like before I got my bifocal glasses. Just gives me a headache and doesn't seem worthwhile!

We love seeing the ocean

We went to my nieces wedding, which was absolutely beautiful. Love seeing the happiness of a young couple starting their new life together! After a long weekend there, my husband returned home and my youngest daughter and I started off on 'her' adventure. 

I drove these winding roads some my daughter could gawk
to her hearts content

She had it all mapped out and asked me to come along for the ride and a chance to see my 80 year old aunts. So sweet of her! We left Oregon and headed to California, taking a scenic side-trip along a little of the coast road HWY 101 and through the northern California redwoods. 

We loved getting a chance to hug these beauties

We managed to find time to hug one of these ancient trees and stand in awe of how totally magnificent they all are. I have been trying to go light on the pictures, but the mass of tree roots just from the trees lying down were larger than the car we were driving! And these trees!! They are so tall it practically gave us a neck ache simply trying to see the tops of these things. Wowsers, are they tall...

This was an incredible day

After a wonderful two and a half days with my aunties, we made our way back north again, touring through the redwoods once again even though that took extra time. Somehow my daughter also persuaded me to take a short hike through one of the forests, which is something my entire family could not believe. Me? Taking a hike? Very, very worthwhile though as we got to see more details of the beautiful redwood trees than we would have from the highway. Wish we could have had more days there!

A misty morning when we left

Totally surprising me {because I hadn't been paying enough attention to the itinerary}, we stayed for the night in Eureka, California at a landmark, historical inn. It was a fabulous experience and felt very surreal staying where a few presidents and a prime minister stayed once upon a time. 

Pro tip: Never leave home without the handwork bag!

Somewhere we picked up a nail in our car tire and ended up at a tire shop for almost three hours. Bah humbug. Look at me all relaxed and happy doing my applique regardless of the inconvenience! haha

Beautiful rocky beach here too

After the tire fix, we were in a time crunch. That meant we kept making short little stops along the coast line to gaze in rapture at the ocean instead of more leisurely visits like we originally supposed. One time we had made a hurried dash down the path to the ocean and a couple on their way to the beach started to turn around when right when we headed back. They thought it wasn't worth the hike down as we had returned so quickly! No, totally worthwhile, we just needed to jet!

An hour or two out from our camping spot

That was the day we were supposed to make our way to Winchester Bay, Oregon to meet up with some of my siblings who camp there every Fourth of July. My daughter still goes every year though my husband and I haven't made it there for over ten years! Anyway, long story short, she convinced me to end our adventure there with the fam and actually sleep in a tent for two nights. Uh huh. I told myself over twenty years ago that I was never, ever sleeping in a tent again, but yah. There I was. Thankfully she brought cots for the both of us and one of my sisters did the sweetest thing, she loaned me a skinny piece of memory foam for more padding. Yay! Two nights was about my max for these older hips of mine, but the worst part was probably having to get up in the wee hours of the morning and trek to the public bathrooms. Uggh. So not my thing. Much fun to hang out with four of my sisters and their families though! Loved, loved that part. Don't tell anyone, but I would probably do it all again in a heartbeat just for the good times!

Okay, that's it. A short recap of my incredible summer adventure! Wish my husband could have come along with us, but it was truly delightful, getting to spend this wonderful time with my amazing daughter.