Quarter Log Cabin Quilts Coming and Going

As usual, I've been hand quilting in the evenings. It's amazing how quickly the meditative stitching always calms me right down. What's that word again? Oh yes, Woosah.....

Quarter Log Cabin #1 in the hoop

Finished up the quilt top for Quarter Log Cabin #2. The current quilt in the hoop was definitely good inspiration and motivation for round two. This was one of those projects where I kept on plugging and powered through until it was all done, very weird for me. The new name is 'Patina'. Not sure why, but that's the word that popped into my head while I was taking pictures.

Quarter Log Cabin #2 {Patina} is a completed quilt top!

Originally, I thought to combine the red with pinks instead of the greens, but it just wasn't working out. There's something about this entire color combination that feels timeless, though I couldn't begin to explain the reasons for that either. My main thought was that I didn't want it to look Christmassy and whatever else it might look, Christmas isn't the first thought that pops in my head while looking. {Mission accomplished.}

Strips were cut improv., free-wheeling style

After making the predetermined amount of blocks {sewn to a min. of 14" and then later another strip added on to ensure a 15" cut}, I suddenly latched onto the idea that the quilt could not be square after all. That left me scrambling to cut more strips in order to make six more log cabin blocks. Does not seem like a lot, but 15"? There's some time involved there, count on it! Making more blocks wasn't a problem though as I loved being able to completely use up some of these fabrics. They are a rather oldy, moldy bunch of fabrics after all, give or take a few prints. Getting them out of the way in such a positive manner is so heart warming. Gives me all the frugal thrills!

Really, really like the pieced side setting triangles...

The off-pink gingham fabric is a cut up button down shirt acquired from a rummage sale years ago. I absolutely adore the homey look it adds to this particular quilt and also, can't help but admire the little bit of 'clash' it adds to the blocks {when you look at the blocks very close-up}. That clash is something that almost always makes me smile as I consider it the secret sauce to a good scrap quilt. Gotta have some squabbling going on for good energy!

So nice to use up some of these older fabrics

As the quilt top neared final quilt top status, I became determined that it needed a floating border of the lighter pinks. Though it's hard to tell, all the very light strips are some very pale shades of pink, there are no whites at all. It seemed like a good idea to extend those tones out into a border and wake them up a bit from where they were so overpowered by other colors. No problem. I'm generally quite willing to spend time on a quilt to makes things better! So I set about cobbling together a pink patchwork set of strips from all the bits and pieces and then....

Glad I didn't sew this border on!

Was completely underwhelmed. What was I thinking? Total waste of time and effort. This quilt does NOT need a border of any kind whatsoever as it dulls it everything down and takes away from the wonderfully graphic look. So now I'm casting about for ideas that would incorporate these currently useless, scrappy strips into another quilt altogether.

The next project? Yes, no, maybe so...

I've scribbled up and/or envisioned several potential designs and even found some fabrics that might play nice. Definitely ready for a change of pace from using the older, tired green prints! If nothing ends up happening here, well, at least I tried. I can just pack the strips away in the orphan block totes and forget about them for now. Wont' be the first time that's ever happened!

This One Feels Like a Keeper

It feels so good to get this particular quilt finished and washed up before Thanksgiving. All along, I've had the hardest time photographing this quilt. The yellow just keeps getting louder depending on where the light hits it!

Quarter Circles Round #2 all finished up!

Had to get most of the holiday baking done today before giving myself permission to get sidetracked on the computer. Quilts may be very high on my priority list but the rest of the family wants their pumpkin pie cold when they get up tomorrow morning.

Never underestimate the power of adding quilting stitches....

It's been a long crazy year, but we have so much to be thankful for. Don't want to ever lose sight of that do we?

It may have started out as a mistake, but this layout
looks like it was always meant to be!

Reading and hearing about the wildfire devastation in California is just heartbreaking. Honestly I can only take so much before I have to turn away. Lori over at Humble Quilts has a wonderful way that we can help out some of our fellow quilters in that area.

Yellow isn't my favorite color but it's definitely
worth playing with....

It may seem silly to some. Worry about sending quilting supplies to people who have been burned out of their homes? But quilting is extremely therapeutic to those who are used to having it in their lives. Very few people will feel free to use any hard won recovery/insurance money on 'hobbies'. From experience with close friends and relatives who have been there, I know they will tell you that they struggle with feeling good about spending money on anything but absolute necessities.

Something about this quilt....

Just sending a little bit can make that decision easier for them and help them get a good start on regaining such a positive and important part of their lives. Money is very tight for me this time of year, but it costs nothing out of pocket to dig around in my quilt room and come up with a small care package of quilty goodness. The only cost then is postage!

Loving all the  imperfect circles

I'll never forget how good quilters in our country {and around the world!} were to my own mother several years ago. She has never forgotten that outpouring of love and kindness from so many good hearted persons. And now I'll get off my soapbox. Truly, this is not what I normally do as I just assume that people give as they see a need, and usually do so quietly and from the heart--no prompting needed. Please don't feel any pressure or expectation from here, and definitely don't feel like you need to tell me one way or another what you choose to do. That's your private business and we're all perfectly okay with that.

Getting back to my fabulous yellow quilt now. It's been a very happy finish. In fact I can safely say that I adore it now after so many ups and downs during the making of it. So many great fabrics in it that really melt my heart! Must be the perfect mix of sweet and sassy. As you can see, I kept the quilting really straightforward and simple. So many times it feels kind of lame and pathetic {in a comparison sort of way}, but in the end, that's the stitching that resonates so emphatically with me. It's good to do the things that we love the most. To finish up and nod our heads. Yep, this one is a keeper!

A Very Yellow Post

I have so enjoyed hand quilting on Quarter Circles Round #2. There's just something about this bold, in-your-face yellow quilt that makes me smile. Today has seen the first stage of the binding sewn on and surprisingly, {at least to me}, it's going to be red. Two striped pieces of homespun straight from the stash.

Ready for binding

More and more, I pull binding fabrics from the stash. Even if I have to use four to six fabrics? Who cares. I certainly don't! It just helps to add charm and homemade flavor to many quilts.

Next up in the hoop is the Basket Medallion quilt. The first post I could find concerning this quilt was from February 2013. This is one that I regret not getting quilted much, much sooner. You know, like during the time I was still enthused about it? Yeah, it wasn't always this way.

Starting in the  middle--already have the
top two baskets quilted!

I had a enormous amount of fun while building this quilt. It was something that kept me very engaged and I even typed up one of my rare tutorials, all about how to make pieced borders fit properly. A couple people asked and I gave it my level best. Most replied back that it did actually make sense, and might even help them just a little bit with future projects. That was pretty cool, even though tutorials are mind-numbingly time consuming....

Trying to figure out how to quilt that yellow sawtooth border....

Medallions are still one of my very favorite style of quilts as I'm sure you've all noticed. I love 'em! There's almost always one or two medallion style quilts in the works around here and often, I'm busy behind the scenes planning out yet another one. They totally, unashamedly, make my motor run.

But somehow, somewhere, through the depths of time, I've lost connection to this particular quilt. Maybe it's the old color palette that doesn't have enough happy in it to suit me these days. Whatever.  It was on my 2018 absolutely-gonna-get-it-finished-up list and by George, it's gonna happen. Too much money for professional long arm work {on something I feel 'meh' about}, I'm horrible at machine quilting and well, yeah. Guess that leaves hand quilting.

Most borders should quilt up easy peasy....

Which will only make it look nicer. I know!! It's gonna be fine and probably, like always, I'll fall back in love and get all sappy and sweet and you'll want to gag. But it will be crossed off the list and someday I'll even find the perfect person to gift it to. You know I will. That being said, I'm gonna push hard on this one 'cuz I want it done before December happens. Oooh, do I ever....

Love this giveaway so much!

On a different note, I won another giveaway! So much fun. I've been entering giveaways over at Okan Arts for like, forever. Always good stuff to drool over. This giveaway was one Uppercase magazine and a copy of the new Little U magazine from the same publisher. I've been eyeballing the Uppercase magazines for a long time now so am thrilled to get the addition with an article about quilts made out of wooden pieces! Now, thanks to Patricia Belyea and her generous spirit, I have some great weekend reading! Someday I would love to browse through her store in Seattle, if ever the opportunity presented itself....

A Little Here and a Little There

There's been a lot of hand work around here of late. It's so very calming compared to the hectic days and weeks we've been having. I know some people will say, just slow it all down, get off the fast train--it's your call how you spend your days. 

Moving on to the next layer with the Melon Patch blocks

Well, and so it is. We absolutely choose to be involved {or not} with our family and friends lives, and if that creates a bit of a whirlwind of activities at times? then so be it. This past weekend saw us attending the funeral of the last of my uncles on my fathers side. Along with the service was the church dinner {with which we always help out} and before and after, numerous gatherings of family, both from in town and those who came from elsewhere. These times are quite precious. We got to see a cousin and his family that we haven't seen in close to 10 years. The fact that these times usually come along in connection to a funeral is one of lifes little ironies.

Five out of twelve Dried Flowers blocks finished up!

And not to dwell on the sad, but we'll probably be attending the funerals of two of my husbands uncles before the year end as well. Definitely before the next year is through. So all the births, birthdays and family/holiday functions that come along will be a celebration of life to help balance out the melancholy. Are we living a life that will create a hole in our families lives when we're gone? How important are we really? It's always much, much more sad to me when someone passes who seemed to not made as much impact as they could have. Someone who lived more on the fringes of peoples lives than right in the middle. Yes, I'll grieve deeper for the ones who left that huge, gaping space in my life, but the memories will be sweeter and I'll absolutely remember them longer and with more fondness.

The Candy is disappearing....

Okay, on to happier things....  It's been a beautiful fall so far. I'm just baffled that it's already Halloween! Wowsers, where does the time go! Sometime between all that family stuff, there was a 'Trunk or Treat' at our church parking lot as well. With a 'princess' granddaughter to admire, we were NOT going to miss out on that! The funny thing was, we were also able to raid our tote of Halloween costumes to help deck out some of the visiting nephews and nephews. No reason for them to miss out! They proudly sported three musketeer, viking and nerdy fairy costumes {who knew that was a thing?}. And to think I've been been threatening to throw that 'junk' away for years! Anyway, my candy bowl is in dire need of a refill before the local trick-or-treaters start arriving this evening. I'm hoping they totally clean us out as the chocolate quota has already been filled by this family for the entire month!

Quarter Circle Round #2 progress

Oh--lets not forget the hand quilting update. I've also been slowly hand quilting on the Quarter Circles Round #2 quilt. My initial goal was to have it finished up by the end of October, but well, that isn't looking too good. Still have to go back and hand quilt in the long connecting strips of fabric, plus one more row of the circle blocks. No real stress though, just enjoying the stitching every single time it ends up in my lap. That's easy to accomplish when the pattern is kept super simple and the marking to a minimum....

Linking up with 6and6in2018-October for the progress on the Melon Patch blocks, but not much else from that list!

It Was Meant to Be

Another quilt made it through to the finish line lately. I've been kind of holding back on this one because I had decided to gift it and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. It's one that has been in the works for years and years.

Shattered is finished!

The first post I could find about this particular quilt was here in 2014. It's not been a particularly flashy or impressive quilt, but still, it's one that I. Just. Could. Not. Get. Rid. Of. Now I'm thinking maybe it was meant to be?

It's little, but it's mighty

This quilt named itself 'Shattered' way back in the early stages. All those little bits and pieces from the scrap bin coming together into a larger whole. I had big plans for this quilt and then the inspiration just melted away under the reality of making an entire quilt straight from the monster scrap pile. Too much good stuff in the stash totes to hide out in the scrap bin for weeks on end!

Loving the centerpiece now

I machine quilted wavy lines and ran into all sorts of troubles. Duh! While sandwiching and pinning, tape had popped loose on one side and it never really did get taut enough after that. You know me, nothing much slows me down once I get started, and I just shrugged it off and kept going.

The heart could be a little fuller on the left, but hey, that's improv.

I wasn't really too concerned as this wasn't something I felt especially invested in, if you know what I mean. And then I decided to gift it to a dear friend who had lost her husband of over 25 yrs. earlier this year.*groan.... I mean seriously, it's a perfectly good comfort quilt, right? But now what to do with my 'less than par' quilt? So I picked up a wash-out marker and roughly marked out a heart right in the middle of the quilt. Oh the symbolism! And then I stitched like a crazy woman for a couple days until it was all filled in. Let's just say that she is a very good friend.

I seriously considered putting the label over that red stain,
but thought that might be a little too weird, even for me...

And now let's just say WOW and leave it at that. I was {am}, frankly, in awe of what that simple stitched heart did to this little 'plain jane' quilt. So many, many times I almost dumped this quilt in the trash, or sent it down the road as an orphan project. Instead, I kept picking it back up and adding a little more to it. What if I use a recycled mans shirt for the border? What if I dig a little deeper into the stash totes and see what might work to bring this quilt to a good finish? I truly love it now. It all makes perfect sense and tells a wonderful story. All the scrappy bits, the meaning and symbolism, the texture, who it's going to and how much they might be needing a 'wrap-you-in-love' sort of quilt right about now...

So glad I didn't throw it away!

As usual, I washed the quilt after it was completed {in this case I did the 12 hr. soak},and wowsers, did this one bleed out! It was worse than any other I have ever finished before! Must be all those different red fabrics combined in one quilt. Very disappointing to see one little area on the back {see pic above} where the red had bled through to the back and would NOT go away. I'm sure if I had soaked it for another 12-24 hours that would have made a difference, but one day is about my limit to tie up the bathtub. Just so thankful that all the migrating dye didn't ruin the top and I don't think my friend cares one whit.*whew!

A nice little bundle of fun!

Something fun, I finally received my winnings from entering in the Bloggers Quilt Festival! Thanks Amy! It's been so long since I've won anything, that it felt a little like Christmas! It's a 'Lazy Days' by Gina Martin F8 bundle from Moda along with a cute bag, some lovely thread and a couple other fun goodies. Once piece of the fabric immediately caught my eye and will be washed up pronto. Exactly what I need for a project that I've been eyeballing as a new start! 

Quarter Circles--Round #2

I also was able to move another quilt into the hoop and get started stitching on it--Quarter Circles--Round #2. It's been a tough one to take good pictures of, but this quilt is making my heart very happy. Now. Back in 2015, it was one of those quilt top finishes that I made the best of and just moved on. So many good fabrics included in this quilt though, can't help but respond to that! 

My family is not very excited about the yellow, but it's Fall ya'll! And that means I like to get out some of those more seasonal colored quilt to stitch away on. Soon as this one is done then I have promised myself that I will finally get going on another one in similar colors that I'm not nearly as excited to stitch on. First the one that I WANT to work on and then, the one I've been dragging my heels about for the last several years. Even more than this one if that's possible....

Let's Just Call It a Finished Quilt Top and Move On....

I never just sit down and sew something from start to finish. Those books about making a quilt in a weekend? Uh uh. Not happening around here. The initial sew-on stage of the binding is done on my Scrap Basket quilt and now ready for some hand sewing. At the same time, I've been sewing my Quarter Circles--Round #2 blocks into vertical rows.

The new quilt and the old quilt

Shh.... don't tell anyone, but I sewed all my circles onto the background fabric presenting in the wrong direction {back when I was doing the applique work}. Yep. That's me. The original plan was to center the circle with the 'x' pointing into the corner of the blocks, not having them be on point to get that effect. Imagine my surprise when I finally pulled them out to sew into  rows!

Not all sewn together yet, but checking things out

Whoops! New plan. Way too many of those guys to unpick and start a do-over! So you know me, I scrambled around and came up with a new plan. It's not quite what I imagined, but it will do.

Looking at a possible outside yellow border

And all along, regardless of how the blocks were sewn together, I thought the outside border would be more of that gorgeous yellow fabric. I could just see a bright, goldy looking border making this quilt look more antiquish, more of a rooted-in-days-of-yesteryear sort of quilt. Yeah. That's not working either. So I played with the idea of more brown on the top and bottom of the quilt and thought about how to extend the quilt a bit. But I don't have the right color brown fabric so it ends up looking kind of 'meh'. And I don't want anymore piecing on the border or shockers, even any applique.

Or a brown? 

Which makes the quilt a funny size if you look at the quilt in the vertical row position-- 85" x 78". So I'm contemplating a change in the technicalities without actually changing {or adding} a single thing to the quilt. Looking at the quilt with the rows in the horizontal position, I now have a 78" x 85" sized quilt. Really, it's all in how you look at things. Now it's a perfectly acceptable size. Nothing weird here at all people.

Maybe this is how my quilt should present?

And then all of a sudden I was just done with the entire project. Who cares about weird sizing anyway? It feels finished. Completely. Done. With. Me.

A finished quilt top for now....

Unless of course I run across some great purpley looking brown that I can tack on to two sides of the quilt. Ack! It must be a disease.....

A Bit of This and That

I've really enjoyed picking up these Quarter Circles blocks and spending some easy time doing the applique work. It's been so amazing to me how much the colors and fabrics just speak to me. Like in song.

Quarter Circles Round #2

{Or something weird like that.} But I don't mind. It just reminds me how very important the fabric and color really are in quilting. I always say, buy what you love and use it well. It makes quilting fun. Plus, it can easily transcend into extra moments lost in stitching because it doesn't feel like work. Which is what my last project was feeling like there towards the end of getting the quilt top together. Lots of work.

Low Volume Log Cabin quilt

And so I took a breather and piddled around with other things. I'll show you all of the Log Cabin quilt in due time, promise. The camera and I definitely need to get reacquainted!

A baby pic of my youngest (14 yrs. old now)

And look at this pic of my youngest son. Ahh.... Wasn't he precious? We had to search high and low for a baby/toddler pic for the 8th grade promotion coming up next week. So hard to believe he'll be moving on to high school already! Where has all the time gone?

Prep Work on Quarter Circles Round #2

I expected this part of the Quarter Circles Round #2 project to go quickly, but alas, I was very mistaken. The circles were previously hand appliqued and then cut apart, so it was important to reinforce the outside edge of each seam.

Quarter Circles Round #2

At first I tried to backstitch at the seams while I was sewing the skinny sashing on, but then I realized that when I added the next quarter circle, I always sewed with the sashing on top. That made it difficult to to backstitch at the precise spot that needed reinforcement. Efficiency has not exactly been a by-word around here this week.

All stacked up...

But finally, I got it all reinforced, sewn together and in a lovely little stack. Lots of stray threads though. Wowsers, was I picking them off of me forever! My husband will probably complain that he's finding them everywhere, even in his just washed clothing, as I was running to answer the phone and doing laundry etc. while I was trying to sew.

It was an easy process to iron them flat and then cut away the protruding ends of the sashing. The fabric/color combination is still making me very, very happy which is a lot of fun. I often wonder why certain combinations are so much more lovable than others and why there isn't an obvious formula for making it happen every time!

Trimming off the excess....

I doubt that you can see from these pictures, but the circles do not come out all 'even steven' on these blocks. I deliberately cut out the circles less than perfectly round before the initial stitching, hoping I would end up with some 'wonk'. Some blocks have more wonkiness than others which {I confess} at first I found a bit alarming and then, after that initial shock of  'did I do that?', very charming. It reminds me of that wonderfully antique make-do look that is actually quite difficult to reproduce in our current era of abundance.

Ready for the hand applique

I also wanted to link up my latest finish with Julie's Binding Blitz! More details about this quilt over here. I'm kind of a slow poke about getting to a true-blue finish so I didn't think to wait for Julie's linky party!

Imagine a Quilt

Not sure when I will actually do the applique for the Quarter Circles, but it's nice to know they are all prepped and ready to go. It's always good to have some smaller pieces of hand work sitting around waiting for an opportune moment. Those larger pieces are just plain awkward to work on in a car or sitting on the bleachers etc.....

My Current Applique Round Up

I am on complete and total applique overload lately. It's not terribly unusual around here, but once it hits, then it's almost deadly, at least to my motivation. First of all, there is my Sunburst quilt. I've firmly deemed it a 'forever' project by now, so it only proceeds in little fits and starts. A leaf here and a leaf there. Not a lot of progress ever, but I think we're good. Aren't we? It almost always makes me happy, if a bit bored in the 'doing'.

Sunburst

Next up is the low volume Log Cabin quilt, which was very sneaky about inserting itself directly into the mix. I was very happily making my free looking Log Cabin quilt top and then the idea of adding applique just sort of crept into my thought process. Ha! No sneakiness about it now. It's been like a runaway train getting all the parts prepped and on their way to completion. Just a minute there buster, you are NOT a priority concern at the moment! So weird how that happens. I've had to make myself slow down in order to concentrate on a couple of other projects!

LV Log Cabin

Quarter Circles Round #2 has been placed on the back burner for now. It just needs a little sewing done on the machine before I can attack the hand applique, so for now--no pressure. It still makes my heart go pitter patter every time I pull it out though and you know what that means.... It's one that I'm very eager to start working on! Hmm... I could probably just power through this one in no time....

Quarter Circles Round #2

The Eagle QAL quilt is basically in the simmering stage for now. I really want the next border to be an applique border, but have no brilliantly clear picture in my mind. Perhaps a classic looking vine type motif? I'm definitely leaning in that direction, but am fairly content to let it incubate--for now. Deadline is July 4th! Just curious, how long can 'for now' last?

The Eagle QAL quilt

Lately I've also been very intrigued by the Marsala Challenge, if only because I have plenty of that drab, uninteresting color in my stash. Why I ever bought it in the first place is a question that is impossible to answer, but for some reason my mind has seized upon the idea of trying to make something work. This fabric pile keeps growing larger as I wonder, hmmm...? The main problem to starting this particular project {any justification will do} is the issue of what I would clearly want to use for a pattern. It, ahem! has a lot of applique involved.*sigh  Insanity, thy name is woman... But you know, it's not like the applique would be ready right away! The initial phase of the quilt would involve a lot of sewing on the machine???

Thinking about making a 'Marsala' based quilt

And then there is the quilt that is the culprit of all my quilting stress--the 2014 Fire in Pateros quilt. Stress is NEVER, ever allowed in the quilt room, but somehow sneaks in through the back door occasionally regardless. It's a quilt I really, badly want to make {sort of feel compelled to make actually}, but it's driving me insane. The creative stage of figuring out the details was fun and a bit thrilling, but the implementation is so, very difficult and yes, a lot tedious as well. I love and adore words on my quilts. Getting them there is the problem. Arghhh!!

2014 Fire In Pateros quilt

It's also possible that I've bitten off more than I can chew. Why oh why did I plan out such a largish quilt for such a crazy, emotional project? I now have most of two 'thoughts' appliqued onto my first panel, but there are six more to go, plus two or three other areas that have words included. Not to mention a panel of other applique 'shapes' and other various appliqued bits to be placed here and there. It's the real deal, 'whole applique' quilt and would be very, extremely interesting if I could just mix it up. The problem is, this first panel needs to be completely finished before I know for sure how to proceed with the rest. The colors, balance etc. depend primarily upon this first {very wordy} panel that somehow gets me all churned up. It's not like I was at war people! 

I've recently challenged myself to complete one 'thought' per week in an effort to make some real progress, not this namby, pamby, dinking around stuff. If this means all the other applique work gets shoved aside for now, then so be it. It really need to be determined if this quilt is actually 'doable', before it gets shoved in the back of a closet somewhere out of sheer frustration and temper tantrum type antics. Who, me? haha We all know some quilts are very, very difficult to implement, but this one feels like it could be well worth the effort if I can just tackle my antipathy towards sewing on so very many of these fabric letters. {And no, I don't want to do an iron-on type of applique. I don't like how they feel in a to-be-used quilt.}

So there you have it--a complete overview of my recent applique overload. It's important to make quilts we're gonna love, right?*wink