Crossing My Fingers New Blogger Cooperates

So pleased with the way this little quilt finished up. Wowsers! Why don't I just give up and make improv. orphan block quilts all of the time? Somehow this ended up being such a joyful, unpretentious little quilt, all quite by happy accident. Maybe because I didn't sweat the details?

Finished quilt!

Hmm.. Just one little problem. Gotta have the leftover bits and pieces around in the first place! This project was thrown together last March really as an exercise in escapism. Ha! What did I know then? I really, really hope you've been saving all your orphan bits too. You just never know when they'll be most needed!

Love all the texture

Adding the applique was done kind of on a whim {a very compelling whim?}, but it serves a good purpose here. Upping the 'oomph' in the overall messaging is never a bad idea. If you even have a message. It's perfectly okay not to.*wink  I know a lot of you grimace a little at needle turn applique, but I can't even imagine my quilting adventures without having the option. It's not nearly as scary as some people make it out to be. Like everything else, it DOES get a lot easier with experience. Promise!

Love the applique additions...

Though I'm mostly just using this quilt as the excuse for trying out the New Blogger today, I have to smile at this quilt message. So timely. I am many, many things, but good at computer techy stuff, I am most emphatically not. Ugghh.. Hate having to deal with change in this arena of life.

Good place for these leftover wordss!

I did not enjoy hand quilting the area around the letters. So many seams! But it's done now. Thankful I didn't try to do anything more complicated there. Oh, who are we kidding? Do I ever do anything complicated in regards to hand quilting?

Loving the washed and crinkly goodness.

Not so much. When I finally get the quilting hoop arranged in my lap, all I want to do is relax into the quilt. Stitch, stitch, stitch and it's like magic. If people aren't playing weird little videos on their phones in the same room {just saying!}, my troubles can just drift away. I guess we all have our ways! I'm sure the videos are much more interesting with context. Hmm.. Yeah. Pretty sure.... Have you ever thought about implementing a noise curfew in your own living room of an evening? 

Two good pieces of news for today. Our county was approved to move forward to phase #2. Finally! Minimum of 3 weeks between phases here in our state, so its still gonna be the end of July till anything resembling 'before'. And after a stressful day yesterday, {my youngest daughter had to be tested for Coronavirus along with a group of co-workers} we found out we don't have to quarantine for two weeks after all!*sigh  And Yay!? I was about to run screaming from the house and everybody I know. So, so grumpy these days without my second handing, library and quilting store fixes especially. Can't wait till this whole 2020 health issue/state lock down is firmly in the rear view mirror. Now if I can just avoid the news long enough to truly relax and unwind.... More quilting please! But no, need to go to the bank and do some grocery shopping. It's still a jungle out there.

Gonna Take Another Brand New Project Just To Get Through...

Some days I can focus and some days it is pretty much impossible. Definitely dealing with some depression over all this, though I know you don't want to hear that. I am not a happy person all of the time, not do I suspect, are you. It appears that we are on the slow-boat to open-up plan here in Washington State. Had to laugh at something Lori posted today about her state. Oh my. Sounds too familiar! On impulse the other day I started a new project. Yep. This could get dangerous as a feel-good activity....

Strippy Triangles , the new project

Just cut a whole bunch of 5" squares in a 'light' grouping of fabrics and also a 'dark' grouping of fabrics. It's got interesting vibe going on that I hope bodes well for the entire look of the quilt. Strippy Triangles is what I'm calling it and the plan is to mix these long triangle rows up between long strips of sashing fabric. Very scrappy antique. So far I have 8 out of 14 sets of the strippy triangles pieced together into stacks of 4-triangle units. Once the longest measurement of the quilt is determined, then I will go ahead and sew those units into long rows. It might all depend on the length of whatever suitable fabric that I find for the alternate sashing strips!

Starting to sew the lengths together

Then I saw a post over on Clare's Instagram. She's doing a QAL for her lovely 'Big Kiss' quilt starting this week. Most QAL's haven't tempted me in the least lately, but this one grabbed my attention.

Big Kiss quilt fabric contemplation

I pulled some likely fabrics from two different, simmering stacks of fabric {made a lovely mess}, and am seriously contemplating making an attempt. The problem is, most of my fabrics are not nearly long enough {she indicated 38" long for the longer pieces} and that might make me change my mind. Maybe. This is a very sweet quilt and one that I have long admired! Just noticed that she has the tutorial posted on her blog now. Hmm... This could be my happy place for this coming weekend. And don't worry. There is a top limit for open-ended projects around here....

I Am a Maker in the hoop...

And, as usual, I am still hand quilting late in the evenings. Not been picking it up quite as early as usual and some nights I am only managing a good solid hour with the hoop. Love how much it is picking up the stitching texture though and am so, so glad that I chose this one for this particular 'time out'.

One of the things that is driving me insane is that we have so very little time to ourselves these days. Love my kids and all, but wowsers. Sure miss those days when we had the occasional evening alone, just me and my better half! Cannot even imagine if we all didn't get along as well as we did! After dinner my husband disappears out to the garage {it's so tidy now!} and the rest of us head to the corners of our home or in the case of one of my kids, out to the garden. Oh well. We definitely can't complain about being lonely, which is apparently something many other people are having to contend with. But no matter which way any one of us are experiencing this, nearly everyone seems to be on the same page with the difficulty of having our existence suddenly narrowed down and tightly controlled. I'll admit, there is starting to be some rebellion, visiting extended family members and running to the store just for ice cream...

Playing With Fabric

I seriously thought about not posting this week as nothing very interesting has been happening around here. Life has been very quiet and restrained and as Kyle noted, creative juices seem to be acting rather sluggish. But I still have my quilt in the hoop and it's almost time to move the current one along and replace it with the new.

I Am a Maker next up in the hoop!

'I am a maker' is the next up in the hoop apparently. It's not the one that seemed like the most logical or sequential choice, but nevertheless, here it is! This quilt was put together last year out of orphan blocks and random bits and pieces that I just cannot throw away. Love the happy, sunny vibe to it. Should be extremely therapeutic to have in the hoop as there will be absolutely no wrong way to attack the stitching.

Orphan blocks and leftover bits & pieces

Most of you know that I generally sandwich and pin two quilts in the same afternoon. It's such a hassle to move the dining room table and get everything out of the way, I always try to be efficient about it.  This time, sewing two quilt backings turned into a several day affair, and wowsers! I somehow ended up with seventeen quilt backs!

A whole stack of quilt backings. Will properly iron when it's time...

They are each made specific as to size for the quilt top {of course}, but I am very blase about the backings. It's a sad failing of mine. No fabulous quilt backing around here. Oh no. Except for the fact that the colors have to at least 'blend' with the wonderful quilt top, anything goes.

Took a little bit of extra time with this one, just because it felt good to do so....

Most of the time there is a larger chunk or two of fabric that starts off the whole venture and then it's a case of finding some complimentary fat quarters to add on until the needed size is attained. These are almost always older or more awkward fabrics that I have fallen a bit out of love with, or perhaps they have proven to be difficult and grouchy about playing nicely with other fabrics. Putting them into a backing absolutely helps get them out the door in the nicest way possible.

The quilt backing for 'I Am a Maker'

A good solid ironing and then some careful attention to stretching that backing out generally takes care of the worst of the warples--all from not measuring and pinning precisely while sewing. I know it's a bit casual for some of you, but I never seem to have trouble with puckering on the back of my quilts except for that rare occasion when machine quilting more densely. Which I abhor doing anyway. Ughh. So not good at it. Hand quilting is much, much more forgiving.  

Fabric that I don't need anymore....

Throughout the year I tend to check the clearance bin at the local quilt store and buy several yards of potential quilt backing as the frequently updated list in my purse indicates a need. If a quilt needs 5 yards and I only find 3 yards in an appropriate color, then I don't sweat it. Usually there is something in the stash totes that can make up the difference. I'm always glad for a reason to use up some of these picked-over fabrics, whether I actually spent money on them or perchance they were given to me. It's just one of life's sweet little pleasures, getting to sew a languishing piece of fabric into its lovely new home and know that it's finally going to be appreciated.

After slogging through a couple days of making quilt backings {more than I've ever made all at once}, something did finally occur to me. There are fabrics in those totes that I will never, ever, in a million years choose to incorporate into a single one of my quilts. Not even cut down into teeny tiny little strips. It just isn't going to happen!*wah!!  Hard as it is for me to get rid of any fabric, all the truly awful {to me} prints have been culled today. I actually did it! An entire white kitchen bag full of fabrics is now awaiting the day they can be handed off elsewhere.*whew  That felt good!

Still trying to use up these old tired greens....

And....  because I was digging through the stash totes for days, it's only logical to assume that some new sparkly fabric stacks have appeared.

Second go around for this color palette...

They are simmering on the countertops for now, right out in plain sight.

Just appeals to me right now & yep, more of those old greens....

If I like them well enough, they will end up being moved onto shelves here and there with potential ideas drawn up and slipped into the smaller totes {kept just for these purposes}.

Might be a baby quilt for my sister-in-law. Maybe not....

Some of them might end up with more fabrics included before they become a final fabric 'pull', more colors added or deeper value exploration needed.  Others might end up being dumped back into the stash totes when I find them ultimately uninspiring. You just never know. Every quilt around here doesn't have to start from a well gathered stack of fabric, but it's often the first place I go looking when an idea flashes into full-on illumination. Where are those fabric stacks? Will this one work? No, this one? Maybe, Ohh... This one... Yes. This one.... And then I'm off and running, all ready to cut out and get started on a moments notice!

The New Quilt Top Finish and a New Addition To the Family

So I finished up the squirrel project that jumped on board all in a hurry. I can't remember the exact measurements, but it's around 56" x 72"? Something like that. Decent size for a lap quilt for sure.

I Am A Maker quilt top is finished!

It felt good to use parts and pieces that in some cases were over 10 years old. The most complicated new pieced units were half square triangles. Though I used every bit of the parts and pieces with yellow {no matter how green-yellow}, I ended up throwing out other units that had too much green fabric in them. And I didn't use the cut red squares at all, just the coral pink ones. Interesting how it all shakes out in a project like this!

Adding a little bit of applique, of course....

Yes, the applique flowers did end up staying for good. I just cut out similar sizes to what I was auditioning and made sure to add seam allowance. I kept the shapes very simple and naive looking on purpose. This isn't a quilt for fancy schmancy detail.

All the different parts and pieces...

The quilt states that 'I am a maker', but this last week I have been primarily a 'grandma'. Miss Reagan Anne made her appearance on Tuesday morning and we couldn't be more happy. Such a joy to be a grandparents to our sweet little girls!

Sweet little granddaughter

This is a picture her daddy took that I stole off Instagram. For some reason I always forget to take pictures and just concentrate on the snuggling! I love how he took off her little cap so we could see her fuzzy little hair. Ahh... My heart just melts. Since they live just up the road from us, we are trying to help as much as possible in the first weeks of trying to adjust to the new 'normal'. Don't expect to see much quilting out of me for a little while. Priorities!