Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Done!

Fractured is now finished and added to the list of 2014 finishes.





(Pre-quilting photo, just to show the top.)




The quilting was done by Cathy Peters of Longarm Quilting . The pattern is fractured, from the book Making Quilts by Kathy Doughty. I'm very pleased with this quilt. Now it will go live at Cinnamons Quilt Shoppe for awhile as a shop sample. No plans for it's forever-home yet. 

Nothing else to report today because I spent all day yesterday with my sewing group, then in front of the mindless TV so I could finish the binding.  

Oh - one final fabric binge for the year. I'm going to try - try - to not buy any new fabric in 2015 (I hear you laughing!), so I had that one last indulgence before the freeze. Sort of like that last big meal before the diet, only with fabric. Pics tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!




Monday, December 29, 2014

More Finishes for 2014

I've added two more quilts to things I've finished this year.  

This is a basic log cab, but all scrapped up with no light and dark side.  The fabric is from a bundle I purchased a few years back (oh, that never happens) from a store no longer open. It's not my usual color choice, but I went through a phase where soft colors were appealing  to me.  I really like this quilt. It's going into the guest bedroom/fabric room that is somehow becoming very girly. Hmmm. 


The backing is this fabulous floral. Giant flowers! If you sometime find that you love a fabric but don't know what to do with it, put it on the back so the back can make its own statement!

I didn't take a detail pic of the quilting (done by Lynne Graham Long Arm Quilting).



This is another Cheech and Chong, pattern designed by Lynn Provencher of Country Crossroads Quilt store (one of our local shops). The fabric almost qualifies for "ancient" status, but it's still just as cute as can be. 


It has a giant 4-patch for a back, but you can only see three of the fabrics here.


A closer look shows the colors more accurately.


There's a lot of fruit on this fabric. The quilter (Cathy Peters, of Lynne Graham Long Arm Quilting) chose an adorable cherry motif for the quilting. Perfect!





My morning walk was a bit foggy. Just a bit. This is fairly common for this time of year, when the weather cannot decide if it should be 80 or 50.  I often wonder what might be in that fog?


This is one of my favorite trees, so I could not pass up the opportunity to catch it drenched in fog.


When I got home, I found this little guy hiding in my staghorn fern pot. He stayed nice and still for his photo op,


This is my current binding project. I have this and one more I'd like to finish before the year changes. I think I can make it!


Thanks so much for stopping by!


Friday, December 19, 2014

On the Sewing Machine

This is just long strips of fabric, with just a pit of "piecing" in one of the borders, but the fabrics are great! 

The light solid is linen, and some of the blue stripes are almost linen in their feel.  The dark blue borders are a chambray.  There are still a few more borders to go. Very nautical looking, yes? A good "guy" quilt, or for a beach house. It will most likely be a sample for awhile before going to its forever home.  

The backing will be a great bark cloth I found on eBay about 10 years ago, but I have to check with the long-armers first to be sure that much heft of fabric will work.  The previous quilt (the brown/neutral one in my last post) was a challenge for them because the quilt was a mix of batiks and straight cottons, and the thread I wanted used was slippery (think almost rayon) and variegated. Long-arms can sometimes be fussy about both those things.  Will they ban me from bringing quilts in the future if I bring them bark cloth backing with a heavy linen front? Maybe. But probably not. 

The holiday season marches on and so do I.  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

The holiday season! Yay!

In no particular order, here's what I've been doing this holiday season.

This top (Fractured) got finished. It's also already been quilted, so I'll be able to show a finished quilt as soon as I get the binding on.

I put up a Florida wire tree with flamingoes and vintage ornaments (and I gave no idea why this font is red and underlined. It just happened. Computer magic, and I can't change it - at least not on the iPad.)

I made a bunch of stilettos for some sewing peeps I know. (Clueless why this ISNT red! Magic!)


And I finished the last of the pincushions. They were sitting around, stuffed, just waiting to be sewn shut and stacked. All done!


That's it for me. Time to bake now!  

Thanks for stopping by.


Friday, December 5, 2014

More Progress

It's been a productive few days. 

I've finally finished the last of the stacked pincushions. They'll also be in The Etsy shop soon. One is sold already.


I finished the last of the 16 patches.  I had only made half as many as I needed, which meant making the second half was not fun! But they're done, so now I can lay out this quilt and get it together.


I've finished sewing the blocks for the Fractured quilt and have started putting the rows together.


This was a lesson in perseverance. When I got the first row put together and on the design wall, my heart fell. I thought "oh no, I don't like this at all!"  But the blocks were made so I wasn't about to give up. When I got the second row on the design wall. I started to like it a lot.  Now I love it.  Perseverance!

This quilt needs discernible contrast, but not terribly stark throughout. The middle blocks need to be strong and stand out so that your eye immediately picks up the pattern.  You can see that in my row centers. I think lesser-contrast blocks are adding a bunch of visual interest to this piece, however, so mix it up!

I'm road-tripping today, so probably no progress in the sewing room will be made - but there's always tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by.


Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Time for an update

I've been working, thus not keeping up with the blog.

I've made 48 of these blocks now.  I need 56, and hope to be finished with them tomorrow. Then I can start putting the top together. I can't wait to see how this one turns out!


I finished a few more wristlets that will go into my Etsy shop (grand opening coming soon. Watch this space.)


Redecorating the house continues. I'm using chalk paint to change some of the items that are around the house.

Before

After

It's a bit plain, so I'll be adding to this. Not sure what yet, so I'll experiment till I get something I like.  It's paint. 

Thanksgiving presented me with a person to load my Etsy store. You never know what life is going to put out there for you! I hope to be stocked this week, because the wristlets and pincushions make great Christmas gifts!

Back to work! Thanks for stopping by.