Flower Power is a Completed Quilt Top!

One of the things that I was determined to accomplish in the past week, was to get to completed quilt top stage with 'Flower Power'. There was an idea or two from the initial scribblings, but in the end, as usual, the quilt made all the decisions.

Improv. strip sets

First up, there needed to be some space between at least some of the applique blocks. It was easy to decide on some easy, breezy improv. strip rows. As you can see, I made short little stacks of sewn together, free cut strips. Not too off kilter, but just enough to give a bit of character.

The reason you cut strips longer than needed

The wonkiness can usually be increased or decreased depending on how the strip set is lined up for cutting. For these rows, I decided to let it be a subtle thing. In determining the colors for those rows, I have to say, it was mostly about percentages. Less than 10% of the darker blue and darker pink/reds and lots and lots of the very light pinks and blue/white shirting stripe. I wanted a very light, airy feel to that part of the quilt in order to help make the moody blues look richer, and hopefully, *fingers crossed!, make the tulips pop even more. Mission accomplished!

Not quite done it says.....

The entire color palette was based off of the floral fabric pictured below. Here I was auditioning the fabrics for a possible outer border. Such a bad idea. Uggh! The quilt practically screamed in agony. It was so sad. I seriously longed for a scrappy sawtooth border before adding the floral 'cuz it just seemed meant to be, but yeah. Sometimes you just have to move on.

This is not a good look

There was not going to be any floral anywhere and the sawtooth border idea flamed out quickly too. Name a single color that might possibly work well in the pieced border position without seriously challenging the tulips preeminence? Uh huh. I couldn't do it either.

Keeping the borders intersting

So there you have it. Super simple border addition or nothing at all. You know me, the gotta-love-a-good-border-gal. I had to do something! In the final ruminations, I impulsively started cutting up all the leftover blue fabric pieces. Anything that was 4 1/2" wide or better was cut and eventually joined into long pieces for the outer border. 

Feels good to use up the scraps

I like the subtle detail in piecing of the blue solids verses the one dark striped shirting. Just makes it a little bit more interesting than if it was cut and sewn on out of a single yardage. And I basically used up all of the leftover shirting too! Score!

Love the look of the improv. strips

In fact, there was a total of three upcycled shirting fabrics used in this quilt, which felt kind of awesome. The darkest stripe had to be soaked for close to three days prior to cutting anything out as it bled and bled and bled. Gotta watch out for that with the darker hues!

Looking cozy

In the end, this quilt ended up looking similar, but different, to the original inspiration. My border {almost not a border} makes the tulips float a little. It gives them space to breathe and feel comfy. I love how Flower Power definitely also looks like a sibling to LeAnn's lovely quilt. So sweet! We each took elements of the original to make up our own version, while striving to keep a lot of the first quilts joy and charm intact. Obviously, the strings in my quilt are in the sashing rows rather than the tulips, but the scrappy vibe still remains true. And no, we didn't come up with this idea together. We just both happen to have a great love for antique/vintage quilts and often use these as a jump start for our own projects.

Flower Power quilt top is finished!
53 1/2" x 68 1/2"

Another item checked off the list is the Lillabelle applique blocks. Only nine blocks total, so it didn't really take an enormous amount of time. Very happy to have them moved on to the next phase though, 'cuz I really am soaking up the yummy color palette on this one!

All ready for the next step!

Next up for a quilt top finish is the Roman Stripe quilt after the spontaneous applique renovations. I have been feeling so very blah about this top. No ambition whatsoever to get it in the hoop and bring it to a true blue finish. Now that this applique has jumped on, all of a sudden I'm thinking it might could be next in line?

Looking so much happier!

What? The applique is over the top, silly and really kind of awkwardly primitive looking. Still, it fills my heart with gladness and makes me smile just looking at it. Will others feel the same? Who knows. The important thing is, I feel lots better about getting it to a finish someday and potentially gifting it. Yay! 'Chrysalis' is starting to come into it's own!

Chrysalis applique detail

The current quilt in the hoop is actually Love Apples. I know. It's only been in the drawers for a year or so! I just wanted needed something virtually decision-free in regards to the hand quilting. This definitely does the trick. Free-style Baptist fans are such a good over-all texture to any quilt that won't necessarily soak up detailed, fussy looking quilting stitches. 

Latest quilt in the hoop

This is one of those quilts started in an attempt to use up something abandoned by another quilt. In this case, it was the peachy pink scrappy rows that didn't have a home any longer. Many of you would have probably dumped them entirely, but I just didn't feel right about that. Too many good fabrics involved! Before the hoop, the overall effect is a fairly gawky looking quilt, but wow! Look at how quickly things change with the Baptist Fans emerging. Now, all of a sudden, it's looking like it could be one of your best friends snuggled up for a good coze!

Love Apples getting sandwiched and pinned

Okay, on to those Individual Quilting History questions I'm trying to answer with every post this summer.

2. At what age did you begin to learn to sew? Do you remember at what age you began to piece? When did you learn to quilt? How old were you when you made your first quilt? Why did you learn at this particular time? Were there any special difficulties?

I learned to sew from my mother somewhere around the age of 10, perhaps younger. For sure, I learned to sew on buttons etc. before she ever introduced me to the sewing machine work. By the time I was a teenager, I could competently sew my own dresses etc. It was mostly due to her endless patience in answering my questions and always encouraging me to try every more complicated patterns! As explained in the previous question, I first started quilting when I was in my early 20's. The absolute first quilt was a baby coverlet and the very first, full sized real quilt, a rail fence style quilt. Then I promptly returned to making very simple baby coverlets.

I didn't truly learn to 'piece' until later on. In the late 90's, when I was 28 years old, a few ladies that I spent time with asked for pieced blocks for a wedding quilt. That effort mostly baffled and frustrated me, as I was still using scissors to cut things out. It did lead to making a couple small children sized quilts, mostly with big squares of denim, corduroy and/or flannel!  Then, when I was 29, there was a group of ladies in our church who started gathering to swap quilt blocks and/or make 'challenge' blocks in the winter months. 

Home Sweet Home

My mother promptly bought me a rotary cutter and rotary mat for Christmas. Woohoo!! Quilt piecing horizons were flung wide open! Except that I was a fraidy cat and kept all piecing efforts very basic for the longest time. So dumb. Squares and rectangles for me, thank you very much! 

The quilt in the picture above, was probably the fourth full sized quilt I had ever finished. This was 2001 when I was 31 years old. It was the first time for making the effort to piece blocks to join in with any swap or challenge blocks that I had won. And.... this was my first real attempt at making blocks that included triangle shapes. Well, I had to use a triangle shape to make my Home Sweet Home challenge block didn't I? And then, notice the house blocks in the borders? Yep! I was inspired to add little town houses and cottages along the edges of the quilt. Uh huh. The border stuff happened early on too. 

This is also when I started seriously dabbling in my love for applique. Playing with different techniques. Along with the little stars and heart block, every single house 'challenge' block has a little applique addition {or two} done by yours truly. Some people had already added a bit of applique, but I didn't let that stop me from adding more where I thought needed! I had to do it on the down-low too, 'cuz some of those gals would have been offended. My thinking was, 'The blocks are mine now. I can do with them what I want!'

I'm super glad that this quilt is still hanging around as it ended up being a showcase for everything that was being learned up to this point. Making and swapping blocks with others definitely pushed me to learn good coping strategies in regards to ending up with equal sized blocks. Also, it quickly pushed me into learning how to make individual block colors play nice with all the other tricky colors in a group setting. Getting those blocks wrangled into an interesting looking quilt pushed and shoved me to get the whole finished-quilt thing properly figured out.*whew!  No more sewing three sides of a quilt and turning it inside out and putting ties in to hold things down! How to make things lay flat and square. What batting to use. How to make and sew on binding! Things like that. Good times!

All the 2021 Finish-It-Up Details and Looking Ahead At What's Next

It was a strange, bewildering year. A lot of us yo-yoed between depression and keeping our head down, just trying to get through. Why even bother with anger when the energy could be much better spent stitching our way to some sort of tranquility? Once again, I have been ever so grateful for this colorful, fascinating, soul-soothing hobby of mine. Though I often felt like the days were aimlessly drifting by, the 2021 finished quilts tell the real story. These hands of mine were busy, busy, busy....

I've been feeling a wee bit guilty about one particular quilt that never made it out of the quilting queue, but hey! What about that HST Medallion quilt? Huh? It finished at 102" square and the whole thing is hand quilted. Woohoo! And then I made up for all that effort by continually choosing out quilt tops that seemed easy as pie to hand stitch. Hmm... 

The baby quilts kinda took precedence this year as one of my nieces, my sister-in-law and also our daughter-in-law all had new additions to their families. The other baby quilt finished this year was the boy quilt. Of course, everyone decided to have girls this one teensy moment when I was actually on the ball and thinking ahead.

Another quilt that somehow insinuated itself into the line-up was Rhi's quilt. It was the lap quilt my oldest daughter asked me to make, starting from a cut up sundress she wore in her middle school years. It's one of the few quilts I've made with a large-ish amount of green included. One that actually turned out to be relatively successful. Yay me! Given another half dozen or so of 'green quilt attempts' and the dial might eventually be turned up to 'amazing looking'. lol  Working with green can be hard!

Okay, Details please!:

If you're wondering, the past year saw me bring a grand total of 16 quilts, plus a slew of doll quilts to fruition. Slightly less than in years past, but not too shabby considering that our family hosted a wedding and also had a new grandchild! I hoped to bring down the number of quilt tops languishing in the quilting queue, but alas, that number stayed fairly stable at 23. Apparently I reliably alternate the act of finishing up, with all kinds of excuses to start anew. See my worried face? Yeah. Neither do I.

Here's the 'finished' quilt statistics that I'm always looking for at this time of year:

• 11 Doll quilts 
• 4 Baby quilts
• 5 Lap-sized quilts
• 7 Bed-sized quilts
• 13 of the quilts were hand quilted
• 2 of the quilts were mixed hand and machine quilted
• Only 1 quilt was totally machine quilted {plus all the doll quilts}

Another number I generally keep track of is how many quilts are given away. This year saw me gifting 12 quilts, either gently used or new. As usual, there were/are mixed emotions in giving away so many of the quilts that I've poured myself into, and no doubt, spent countless hours working on. Some people are easier to gift quilts to than others and I'd never suggest it's a mandatory thing. I'll just link to an article written in 2013 by Mary Fons where she makes the point that 'Quilts are love, manifested.' When we find the perfect person {or reason} for one of our quilts, it's truly a beautiful thing.

As for what's on board for the new year? 

• More from-the-stash quilting for sure. I'm sincerely hooked--line and sinker. It's beginning to get more and more challenging as certain colors and tones are starting to be depleted. Still, I rather enjoy the adventure of make-do-till-you-can-make-it-work. 
• Absolutely more focus on specific colors where the stash tote lids don't close as well as they should. Gonna have to bite the bullet and attack browns and tans at the minimum. {Whether I want to or not.} Grr.. How oh how to make that seem fun?
• There is still an ever-growing list of applique projects that I'm yearning to dive into. Most are very simplistic with lots of repeats. Yawn.... I don't know why this is so appealing to me, but who cares? If it drives me forward, then I say it's probably worth the effort and needs to happen.
• I don't think there was a single project started from the scrap bin last year. That needs to change. Scrap bin quilts are just too interesting to write off completely. The main thing holding me back is the sheer amount of work involved in the doing.
• The Adhoc. Improv. Quilting party is still ongoing, and in fact, there is a brand new challenge issued for the new year. Definitely one that I intend to dive into, especially as this one pertains to playing with color. Should probably {deliberately} choose a color palette that includes brown...
• As usual around here, squirrel projects tend to beget other squirrels. 2021 will undoubtedly see me continuing on in some form of series work, whether it be playing with the cut-outs from behind my circle quilts or adding appliqued tulips in a slightly different style and shape than used before. Probably gonna see another basket quilt or two, and maybe even another log cabin quilt. The world can always use yet another log cabin quilt, right?
• More hand quilting with perle cotton thread is a given, at least until the outside world settles down into something more 'normal' and truck-loads less stressful. Oh, who's kidding who? I'm gonna hand quilt until my hands give out or I get too old too see. The thing is, I'm not going to worry about trying to push myself into more and more finishes with that faster method of machine quilting. Especially during this particular season of my life. The only time I don't crave snacky things is when my hands are busy with a quilt in the hoop. Can you imagine how large a person I'd be but for this craft? Uh huh. Bet you thought we all got the extra padding from the extra quilting time....

On a different note, after deliberately shedding a few minor responsibilities this past year, I have now allowed myself to be talked into doing a short series of quilt meetings with our church group. We will be making a simple, scrappy, improv. sort of baby {or sm. lap sized} quilt from start to finish, with yours truly as the teacher. Ahhhh... What a muddle that will be. Part of me doesn't want to do this at all. Period. End of story. But the other part of me thinks that it's important for women to have connections. Interactions. Community. Doing that while creating can be enormously nourishing to the body and soul, which obviously, might be a boon after the past two years?

I thought we'd have three or four women at most who were interested, but as of yesterday, we're up to ten.*sigh  All ages and states in life and involving all levels of quilting and/or sewing experience. The only stipulation I made is that everyone need know how to competently sew a straight stitch and be able take care of their own sewing machine issues. Yikes! So far out of my comfort zone with this. Though I'm not 100 percent an introvert, I'm way more of an introvert than an extrovert which makes this feel a little painful. And I personally hate to be told what to do in quilting. How can I 'teach' a method without doing that? So many questions. Am currently trying to walk through the entire quilt project and make notes; emphasis on the basics and trying to leave room for flexibility wherever possible. Wish me luck!

So Where Were We?

So I was afraid that this would happen. Even though this quilt has been finished for weeks, somehow the time was just never there for posting. And my eleven year blog anniversary was July 19, 2021! Oh well. Sometimes life takes a turn and all we need do is try and keep up!

Roman Stripe #1

This quilt was a result of just wanting to do something {anything really!} with a stack of fabrics that had been marinating together for years. I finally settled on this coin setting just to keep things simple and quite possibly fast forward the completion. It's not like any grand plan had ever materialized in the meantime!

A very simple quilt

Though I was actually following a pattern for once, the end result was in fact, 2 quilt tops, because you know me. Following pattern instructions is not necessarily my strong suite.

Using up fabric to make the backing

The backing for Roman Stripe quilt #1 ended up being a mishmash of some languishing fabrics from the cream/tan stash tote and a few reds thrown in for interest. I almost like the back of the quilt better than the front, but then maybe not. It's just sorta interesting because it's more than one fabric, that's all.

Going to give this one away this week....

After my last post, I put in a tiny bit of hand quilting here and there, but mostly, I promptly went into wedding mode with my oldest daughter. She's super organized and had been working on her ideas and shopping for months.

Photography by
https://www.instagram.com/crystalmoonphotography/

But then there's the implementation part of a wedding and well... there is sooooo many things to consider and take care of! I kinda figured my job was to provide constant reassurance and all the practical help and advice necessary to get through.

Photography by
https://www.instagram.com/crystalmoonphotography/

At about 3 weeks before the wedding, I started steam pressing table clothes in my living room, and then rolling them up on pool noodles for storage until the day we could start decorating. 

Photography by
https://www.instagram.com/crystalmoonphotography/

We had a final fitting at the alterations place and lots and lots of prep work, list making galore and all the myriad details that make up a lovely, special wedding. At one point my daughter asked if all this planning and doing was 'dumb' and I was like, 'Absolutely not! Your wedding day deserves to be just as wonderful and unique as you want to make it!' 

Photography by
https://www.instagram.com/cascadedayhiker1/

Both my daughter and I bought an extra pair of shoes just to reward ourselves for surviving though! But oh how I enjoyed the last two weeks when she finally took off work and we were full steam ahead on the wedding lists. Of course I still had fit in my evening walk with my younger daughter {we've been trying to walk regularly since October} so I could fit into my dress and not feel like a bloated whale. Both of them wanted me to 'glam up' a little for the big day and I tried to act like me and glittery dresses are a real thing. lol  It all came together so beautifully with a tremendous amount of help from my family right at the last. And most of all there was happiness and celebrating. 

Our new Son-in-law is a total blessing and makes our daughter happier than we've ever known her to be. Somehow they manage to be a better version of themselves when they're together and that just makes this mama's heart practically overflow. Do I sound sappy? It was a very sweet day with lots and lots of those almost over-the-top, happy vibes that still manage to look and feel genuine! Now they're off living in southern Oklahoma which is a very looong way from Washington state. I'm pretty sure that's why I let my daughter talk me into letting her pack up a couple extra quilts when she left....

We still have company and more coming in next week, so it's gonna be a little bit before I'm back to more regular quilting. Since the wedding I've been doing clean-up, organizing and some packing up of the wedding gifts etc. It seems never-ending, but I think today was the last of it until we have to pack up the trailer for long distance. Washing up the white tablecloths was the very worst! At least I'm starting to pick up the hoop once again. Yay! In my brain I have been trying to quilt, but in actuality, I have been drooping by the end of evening, and barely even looking at social media, much less engaging in hand quilting! I was starting to get worried that my quilting callous was disappearing for good! Oh no's!! My mind isn't feeling super creative at the moment, but I'm sure when things settle down, things will start to come back to life. It's been a good month. 

Starting the Summer Out With a Finish!

 Lots going on here as usual, just not much in the quilting department. I've spent the last two weeks either getting ready to go camping, actually camping, or cleaning up from camping. Whew! So much work, especially after a year off and kind of losing sight of the tips and tricks that make things more efficient.

Rhi's dress quilt is done!

I'm talking about the annual church campout thing we do clear up in the mountains. It takes place at an old Boy Scout camp and most every structure is somewhat primitive. That's why it's so incredibly important that we take our RV, so that at the very least, we have a decent nights sleep!

Started the spiral stitching at the center of the sunflowers...

Yah, I'm not much of a camper, I admit. This year I didn't even bother to take my quilting, 'cuz it just never happens. But I walked miles and breathed in lots of fresh mountain air, got to see my grandkids and fed lots of teenagers. No cell service so of course everyone HAD to unplug. 

Really enjoying the overlay of texture

I was hoping to have this quilt done for my daughters birthday on May 28th, but alas, there was just too much going on. It's the one that I started just for her earlier in the year, based around a pretty sunflower print sundress she wore as a very young teen. 

This is probably the only area I don't like...

I started with a pile of fabrics that I thought would look good with the sunflowers and then worked up a rough draft of an improv. style quilt. {Does anyone else find the absurdity in having a rough draft of an improv. quilt?} I didn't succeed in using all of the print, though it feels like enough was used to create the happy, summer vibe feel that I was aiming for!

Love seeing the back. It's a poly/cotton
piece of fabric and feels so light!

The design of the quilt is very free flow with most fabrics cut into larger chunks wherever possible. Mostly I just cut them and then started placing them here and there, until things looked alright. The coin border was added after it became obvious that there needed to be a better transition in certain areas. Though not a super stressful project, it didn't need to look ugly!

Just a fun, cheerful looking quilt. Hope my daughter
loves it as much as I do!

So glad my daughter bought me the compass to experiment with on her quilt. All along I was crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that the spiral quilting lines would help camouflage wherever the design of the quilt lacked! I have to say that this improv. thing is quite addictive, especially when using up some of the older fabrics that don't feel particularly impressive all on their own! And yes. In the event you were wondering, all of the fabrics minus the sunflower dress fabric and the backing fabric, came straight out of the totes. Some are old, some are newish, and many have felt hopeless auditioned anywhere else. Love using them up!

Finally, a quilt with lots of green that feels 
like a success!

I thoroughly enjoyed how in-the-moment the process was and how very, very forgiving it is too. There are a couple baby quilts coming up on my horizon and I'm so very tempted to throw caution to the winds and just chunk the fabric up and then start trying to piece them back together! It's been such an odd year.I find myself making way too many cutting errors and/or finding problems with all the math. Short term memory and stress overload probably, but it is what it is.

Roman Stripes in the hoop

I wasn't getting any help moving the dining room table and so the next up 'in-the-hoop' is this smallish lap quilt from a couple years ago. All I had room on the floor for! It's kind of a boring quilt and the stitching isn't going to be impressive either. Oh well! Just need to have something in the hoop to relax my mind at the end of each day. Someday I'll get caught up again and probably end up turning to wholecloth quilting or something equally ridiculous!*wink

Needing a Creative Lift

This past weekend was a rare, quiet pocket of time for us. I took full advantage and was able to get this #AHIQFlowers challenge quilt up on the wall. If you look closely, it's obvious that the left side is mostly sewn together while the right side is still in a state of flux. And yes, some of it is pinned well above the design wall. We do what we have to do, don't we?

U&U quilt interpretation for #UHIQFlower challenge

I've been craving a good boost from creativity time, so it felt absolutely wonderful to piddle around on such an oddball, no-pressure sort of project. In the lower right corner there is an empty space where 'the flower' should end up. Normally I've tended to work on one long strip at a time, but at this point in the quilt, I thought it best to look ahead and plan out/balance the colors in advance. For comparison to the inspiration, I posted a pic back in August at the end of this post.

Parts of the design {can we seriously call this quilt 'intentionally designed?'}, are driving me crazy and so I'm ditching those particular areas. Skimming over them or just cleaning them up a bit. It's mostly the areas that look super chaotic and don't even make sense to re-create. It's my quilt so I can do that! It's at a point now where I want to leave it on the wall for a day or two before sewing. There's something that feels out of whack but I'm not sure exactly what needs to change in the mock-up.

Only two more new starts....

Lately I've been thinking longingly about the potential of having, literally, stacks of Christmas quilts, but that would be absolutely absurd, even for a prolific quilter. Right? So instead I decided to just make two--to go along with my other two sorta, kinda Winter/Christmas quilts that get pulled out during the season. It's pretty insane timing and who knows how far I'll actually get. The fabrics for the first one, based on the spotty quilt in the 'Unconventional & Unexpected' book pictured above, having been stacked up and hanging around for well over a year.

Definitely gonna add some green after the blocks are sewn

The problem is, I'm never in the mood to make Christmas quilts until December {if then}, and then there's even more crazy going on than normal. At the same time that these thoughts have been swirling around in my brain, I've also been thinking deep thoughts about those pesky oldish quilting fabrics which seem to want to swallow my stash whole. In an impulsive moment I dug through the green totes and pulled out three different, very tired stacks of green fabrics. They definitely need to be used up or just go away. I am so very weary of seeing some of these float around unused and unloved. For the first pile, I gleefully challenged myself to incorporate them into a Christmas quilt, which, yep! Is very good timing. See? Just have to work the angles and then we can easily convince ourselves any brand new start is a fabulous idea!

Already prewashed and soaked the reds!

But first! I made myself cross something off the list. I do have a tiny bit of discipline in this freewheeling quilty world of mine, believe it or not. The Roman Stripes quilt was started back in September as a result of a problematic stack of fabrics that was giving me troubles getting off the ground. It seemed to demand a complicated quilt pattern, but then could never quite gain any traction. Finally, I used a free Sharon Holland pattern {unfortunately not available any longer}, put out while she was promoting her latest book.

Uh oh, getting a lot of quilt tops on the to-be-quilted list!

I had thought to use it in a baby quilt and then couldn't get her instructions to cooperate with the way that I tend to buy fabric. Oh yeah. Same problem with making the throw quilt. But I didn't let it stop me, just kept cutting fabrics and making sure there were plenty of 'pairings'.

The smaller Roman Stripe quilt

Which led to enough blocks for two quilts! They are both the same length {76 1/2"}, but the first one, above, is only 59" wide while the second one, pictured below with an extra vertical row, is 66 1/2". It's really hard sometimes to make these quick scrappy-look quilts with fatquarters {the most frequent size of fabric I buy}. Instead of agonizing about it or trying to determine which fabrics would work better, I just made more sets and determined to work it out later.

This one is wider

There's something about this 'coins' pattern that really intrigues me. It's all very formal, yet the way that Sharon encouraged a light/dark fabric pairings, it has a wonderful flow to the stripes. I especially like the repetitive stacks of like fabrics with the occasional scrappy 'make-do' element mixed from using smaller pieces of fabrics. See? Nothing wrong with adapting a pattern to fit what you have available!

Loved adding the easy borders to wrap it all up

One thing that I've been wondering about lately is whether strips are pre-cut or free-cut, is there always going to be a certain amount of seams coming lose at the edges or long lengths of the quilt top? I thought it was mostly a free-cut strip issue, but no. Anytime there are lengths sewn and then cut or trimmed later, I'll have to go back here when joining the long rows and re-sew random seams starting to come loose. This is something I had forgotten. It's just part of quilting because even when you back stitch, if the fabric ends up being cut in the middle of the lengths, there goes the reinforcement. Ughh! Oh how it annoys me! But now maybe I won't isolate it to free-cut, improv. sewing and let it hinder me from new starts. There's just something about wonky strip sets that make my heart go pitter patter but I was starting to get a little resentful of the extra time that it takes to clean up those coming-loose seams.

So happy with these fabrics!

I'm not at all sorry to have two of these quilt tops {instead of one} as they should make wonderful comfort type quilts for friends in need of a quick pick-me-up. The colors are just that warm looking, with a cozy and comforting  vibe that should only improv. with quilting texture. So glad I didn't throw these fabrics back in the stash totes! It's good to have a couple comfort quilts out in front of me for once, and not have to be all in a rush one day throwing something together!

Kinda boring to sew together, but great fun seeing the top finished!

Now I'm thinking about making some quick little Barbie quilts for my granddaughter and possibly a doll quilt or two for the nieces. I really, really hate last minute DIY Christmas gifts, but sometimes with quilting, it's just pure fun to sew these little bitties. Especially when there's no expectation whatsoever. I think the first place I'll look is in the orphan block totes. Doesn't that sound fun? lol

Just Hitting the High Notes Then I Gotta Run

Life has been so busy lately, it almost feels like I'm in free fall, no control whatsoever. I know that's not exactly true, but with Thanksgiving right in front of us {and a litany of things going wrong lately}, it's definitely been hard to manage all the things that need attention. Quilting is happening in very random moments of time and blogging is all about the speed reading and smiles.

Joining the rows for Roman Stripe quilt

I'll catch up real quick and then probably disappear for another couple weeks. Whatever little bits of time I have for quilting need to be just for that, not for proofreading my babbling blog posts! Roman stripes, above, is a project that was started back in September. It's a super easy project that concentrates more on the fabrics than on design and will probably turn out just fine, if not the 'fantabulous' that I usually strive for.

I LOVED the fabrics back when first stacking the fabrics together, and honestly, if I would have made the quilt at the same time? I'd be over the moon in love. Now I just feel happy and pleased, but ready to move on to a different quilt. We just never know how quickly our tastes can change do we? Somehow I cut out a lot more pieces than needed for the throw quilt suggested in the pattern and now am committed to making two of them. Oh well! Comfort quilts always seem to find a home around here and it will be good to have a couple ready to go when needed.

Blue Plumes

Blue plumes is currently out of the hoop and the first phase of binding is sewn on. I'm not sure exactly why, but this binding is taking me forever. I've been hoping to get this one completely finished up by Thanksgiving so I can gift it to the intended recipients for an 25th anniversary quilt! Almost there....

My washing machine went kaput this past week and I'm so ready for the situation to be resolved. A part is ordered and we're all crossing our fingers that my 'jack-of-all-trades' husband can fix the current issue cheaply. If not, it's black friday appliance shopping for us! Thanksgiving week company means lots of extra laundry plus I'd really like to wash this quilt after the binding is finished up. Gotta get rid of the blue marking lines and also, what's a quilt without that lovely freshly washed and dried crinkle look?

Autumnal Tulips

It felt really good to get all 30 tulip blocks stitched up to the point of needing leaves. First opportunity to lay them all out, I was busy trying to figure out the rest. The first leaves reminded me of slugs so that was a no-go.  All it took was a quick trim-up though and I felt satisfied with the resulting shapes. After a lot of time dithering, I finally decided to cut out the leaves in the rust, dark browns and also some navy fabrics. These are colors that I absolutely want to include in the quilt and in order to not lose the 'lightness' of the quilt, the sashing needs to be similar in color to the block background. So that's it. The leaves have to be dark. Decision made, time to trace and cut out the pieces!

Freehand applique

Lots of inward panic here with the holidays so quickly approaching. We've had different times of company being here with more to come, and in just a couple weeks there will be a Christmas tree in the house taking up room too. These are things which radically hinder my ability to sandwich and pin quilts, which of course, is a major problem. How can I survive the holiday season without a quilt in my lap Every. Single. Evening! Oh, you thought I was panicking about holiday preparations? haha  A person needs to have their priorities firmly in place!

Next quilt tops for quilting

I've desperately wanted to work on quilt projects 'in progress' but it seemed more expedient to get a couple tops ready for hand quilting. I sewed three {mixed fabric} backings together and then got two quilts pinned and ready for the hoop. That ought to be enough to take me clear though until January! If there's a good chunk of time between now and when the tree arrives, I might even get the third quilt sandwiched and pinned for machine quilting. Pushing my luck there, but it'll be nice to have it ready if somehow there's a window of opportunity.

Gather Ye Rosebuds getting sandwiched and pinned

I ended up choosing this 'Gather Ye Rosebuds' quilt for next-up-in-the-hoop. It's not one that I've been super anxious to work on, but the flowery vine is slightly reminiscent of Christmas Cactus and it's been in the drawers for ages now. Hmm... I can actually see this one becoming a quilt that only comes out during the holidays in years to come. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

Should be a good one for working on during the holidays

We made several trips over to Spokane in the last couple weeks so I took advantage and made a list to stock up on Perle Cotton thread that I might need for the next several quilts. Sew-EZ-Too on Garland street {where I take my Bernina for annual maintenance}, has Finca threads and now, a nice little section of Valdani too! Hey, hey, hey! Look who has less money in the bank account now! lol 

Love quilts with words

For the harder to find Valdani threads {usually the variegated}, I generally shop an Etsy store called 'NeedleCaseGoodies' first. After that, I will browse other Etsy stores and then, failing there, go to larger quilting stores if I'm looking for a specific number/color. And yes, I will use DMC threads or Presencia too--it's all good. I don't feel exceedingly picky, just preferential?

And baskets...

A couple of the quilt stores that I used to pop in occasionally have closed up shop in the past couple years. So disappointing, but it's not like I've been a regular customer myself, living three hours away. The good news is that the new quilt shop on main street, Reardan, Washington is a brand new fave. Check it out if you get a chance! I finally got to pop in an take a look about a week ago and am so happy that I did! Such a fun store. Love the exposed brick look and wow, really lovely fabrics and everything displayed in a wonderfully engaging way. I'm quite determined to dig deep and clear out some oldy moldies in the next year, but it's amazing how much easier it can be with some new lovelies mixed in. Okay, that's it for now. Hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving! I'm so looking forward to the family and food. The kids and granddaughters arrive in two days!! Still pinching myself over that term. Granddaughters. I'm not even 50 years old yet! Super sweet though. We're absolutely loving it! As my late father-in-law always used to say, 'If we'd have known how great it was to have grandchildren, we'd have had them first.'*wink