I quilted across the whole row again this week. I only quilted the 3" - 4" swath between rows 3 and 4. This is the part of quilting this quilt I enjoy the most. I love seeing these quilting motifs come to life!
Starting with the left side border.
Left outside block.
Between blocks 1 and 2.
Block 2.
Between blocks 2 and 3.
I didn't take pictures of the rest of the individual blocks, it's just the diamond cross hatching in all of them.
Between blocks 3 and 4.
Between blocks 4 and 5.
Block 5 and the right border.
Quilting won't go so fast this week. As you saw from the pictures, there are a lot of little round circles and oval berries to be quilted and the quilting all the embroidered stems take time too. That's OK, I'm not in a race. I'm still enjoying myself which is the important thing.
On a lot of blogs in December, people showed their blooming Amaryllis. They were so lovely and colorful, I was envious because I had started going through color withdrawal. The winter dreariness had begun.
I have Amaryllis bulbs that I save and replant from year to year. Last year I had a toddler grandchild running around in my house. To make things easier, I put the potted Amaryllis upstairs. I thought as each plant bloomed, I would bring it downstairs to be enjoyed. It is cooler upstairs and there are no large windows. I don't know if it was because it was cooler or darker, but for whatever reason, out of 10+ Amaryllis plants, only 2 grew buds and then those dried up and fell off. I was so disappointed!
As usual last spring, I transplanted the Amaryllis plants into my flowerbed to grow over summer, just like I've always done. I dug them up after the first frost in October, then stored the bulbs in our garage. I left them there until the temperatures fell into the 20's and then moved them into the basement.
After Thanksgiving, I potted them to start their new growing season. I potted 10 large bulbs and a large pot full of the 'babies', the little sprouts that fall off. I gave away the intermediate sized bulbs, 20 plants just take up too much space.
I'm pleased to say, out of the 10 large bulbs, 8 of them have flower buds. One, out of those 8, has only 1 bud. Six have 2 buds and the final one actually has 3 buds. I've never had a 3 bud Amaryllis before.
The first of the buds have opened this week. Each bud normally has 4 flowers.
The first one to open was this red with the white strip in the throat. Two beautiful flowers in this picture.
The white doesn't show as well as I wished but you can see it some. Sorry the picture was blurry.
The second one to start blooming was this bright orangish red Amaryllis. This one actually has 5 flower buds in the large bud. Since this picture was taken, four flowers are blooming.
I showed them to my local DIL and told her to select one to take to her house. She chose the darker red one.
I'm so glad for the flowers. We had sunshine only one day last week, they bring a lovely touch of color on the dreary, gray overcast days of winter.
Linking to Peacock Party, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap, HQAL, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, WIPs On Wednesday
It was cold last week and this old farm house isn't very warm when the temps are frigid and the wind is high. Several years ago we installed a small gas heater in the dining room (which we never use to eat in). The downstairs stayed cozy warm, the upstairs (where my sewing machine is), not so warm. I sewed the binding on the string quilt Tuesday morning with my sewing machine before the temperature dropped. The rest of the week was spent downstairs in hand work.
I quilted all the way across row 3, progress!
Right side border.
Left side border.
This week I will quilt the seam line between the blocks of row 3 and 4.
Lucy saw some progress this week too. I completed 2 side sections and 3 of the corners. Corner 4 is being stitched now. I need 2 more side sections and then the sections will start being stitched together.
I also started a new dishcloth. You can see it at the top of the Lucy sections.
Linking to Peacock Party, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, WIPs On Wednesday
The string quilts I pieced in December and January have been quilted.
The queen sized one was quilted by Joy from Calico Point.
You'll need to be satisfied with pictures taken while the quilt is displayed on our bed. It is frigid outside with record wind chill factors. It's bad enough to go outside for barn chores, I'm not going outside to take quilt pictures!
This picture is of the bottom of the quilt. The center ended up square. To turn it into a rectangle I added a row of white sashing and then a row of straight strings to the top and bottom of the quilt. She measures 90" by 104".
For the quilting, I selected this happy flower design.
A picture of the center.
If whoever ends up with this quilt gets tired of looking at the front, they can turn it over and have the bright, cheery whole cloth side up.
I quilted the crib quilt myself on my home sewing machine. Quilting on my machine is not my favorite thing to do so I just do it and get it done.
My Babylock Melody has a curvy line design, I push a couple of buttons, change the stitch length and I'm ready to quilt.
A view from the front.
And here's the back which does show the quilting better.
This crib quilt was quilted several weeks before the other quilt came back. The temperatures were cold but not the frigid weather we're experiencing now.
A couple of pictures in the snow by the old tree stump.
This crib quilt measures 42" by 49".
I did wash this quilt. I was concerned about bleeding and wanted to take care of that before it was donated. I was very happy to see there was no bleeding.
In January I had show you a box full of strings or strips that I was going to empty in 2019.
So far I've pieced two queen sized log cabin quilts and the third one is waiting to be sewn together. These three quilts are in autumn colors.
This picture take inside because it's too cold outside.
There are very few of those colors left in the box but the box is still full! I must have had them really packed in there.
This picture taken last week before it was so cold.
This design was popular back in the late 90's in my area. It's especially nice for hand quilting. These two flimsies and the one not sewn together yet will be donated to the school auction my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Someone else will quilt them.
Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Stringalong, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap
I'm halfway finished with row 3 on the Pastor's Attic so this means I'm halfway finished with the quilting! What wonderful feeling!
You guys are so kind with your remarks. Several of you have talked about how competitive this quilt will be in a show. I'm not a show person, I make my quilts for me, that's what makes me happy. That's enough. This quilt may be exhibited at the Sauder Quilt Show in Archbold Ohio sometime but I'm not sending her out to a national show. I don't even exhibit at the Shipshewana Quilt show and that's only a 20 minute drive from my home.
Hand quilted quilts are going the way of machine quilted quilts, a LOT of quilting. Two years ago at the Shipshewana Quilt Show, the champion hand quilted quilt had been quilted with over 8,000 yard of thread and it took her 8 years! It was a whole cloth quilt but that was still a LOT of hand quilting.
At the Sauder Quilt show last year, the winning hand quilted quilt didn't have 8,000 yards of thread but it had several thousand yards. I'm not even going to attempt that amount.
If I quilted this quilt with diamonds 1/2" apart, I could have probably bumped the thread count up to several thousand yards but I have a life. I'm not willing to put that much work into quilting a quilt that would take me years.
This was the 15th week of quilting on this quilt. At this rate it will be the middle of May when I complete this quilt, if then. I have a more outside work when spring comes, it may be in the frame even longer.
If entering competitive quilt shows is your thing, go for it and I wish you well.
Here is the quilting I've completed this week.
I had started this center block last week but hadn't finished it.
Left of center block.
Left block.
Left border.
Linking to Peacock Party, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward
This week I started quilting the applique on row 3 which is the center row of the Pastor's Attic quilt. I'm not halfway finished, I need to quilt to the end of this row before that happens.
However, I have reached a milestone of sorts with my quilting. The first spool of thread, which held 400 yards of thread, is empty!
I really like YLI thread.
I buy my YLI thread at Yoder's or Lolly's in Shipshewana. I googled YLI thread to see where you can purchase it on line. Here is a link to YLI , there were other businesses listed. I suggest you google it and check for yourself.
Here is how far I quilted this week.
Right side border.
First right applique block.
Yes, this is the correct orientation for this block. On an older bed, this would drape on the side so it would look correct. You only notice when the block has a vase.
Second right applique block.
It takes awhile to get into all those little crevices.
I'm working on this center applique block.
Linking to Peacock Party, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, HQAL, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Needle & Thread Thursday
Thank you for all the kind comments you all leave about my quilting. I'm not very good about reply to your comments unless a direct question is asked. I really try to stay focused on not spending too much time on the computer reading blogs. An hour can slip by and it only seems like a few minutes. That hour is gone and I didn't stitch at all!
This week I quilted all the way across the row. The quilting
was mostly quilting the background fabric in between row 2 and 3 so you will get to see all the pretty designs in the corners!
I'm just going to show you the pictures and not make comments like I normally do.
Those pictures weren't in the correct order but they show you what I've done.
When I quilt in between the applique rows, I don't go straight across. I'll quilt the design in the corners .
Now the design is quilted. I'll quilt the diamonds and the applique.
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, BOM's Away, Esther's Wednesday WOW!
