Last week was the 5th week of quilting the Pastor's Attic quilt and I made it to the end of this row.
When I'm not quilting, I cover the quilt with the striped cloth on the back.
Last week I showed the quilting design between the applique blocks. Now here is the quilting in the applique.
Second Block
Third Block. The pin is to show how high I've quilted.
Fourth Block
Stencil in between 4th and 5th blocks
Fifth block - This block took the longest of them all so far. Those spaces in the vase took awhile.
The hearts in the corner stencil show nicely.
And the left side border.
None of these pictures were cropped. I had trouble downloading the pictures and was very happy they didn't end up in cyberspace again!
I also EPP'd a different section of Lucy. I need seven sections like this one. This is very a slow project. I'm so glad I decided not to make a whole quilt, I'd rather be hand quilting!
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,
Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward
After spending most of this year finishing UFQ's, I've started a new list for this quilting season. One of the challenges I've given myself is to make at least two different projects using precuts that I have on hand.
The first precut project is Starlight Express from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott. The jellyroll used is Heart's Content by Laundry Basket Quilts and gifted to me by Nanette several years ago.
Thank you Nanette, these were nice colors to work with.
The finished quilt from the book looks like this but my quilt won't because this project is a two in one project. Not only am I depleting a bit of the precut population, I'm going to enlarge the quilt to queen size and then I'll have a donation quilt for the school auction my Pennsylvania grands attend. And!, I don't have to quilt it, win win!
It was a very windy and drizzly day when I tried to get pictures of the stars on the clothesline. I thought about laying the blocks on the leaves and taking a picture that way but the leaves were wet and I was afraid the wind would blow the stars down into the cow pasture. I pinned three of the stars to the quilting frame and took a picture that way. There are four stars, but the 4th one didn't fit.
I'm a control freak and wanted the red and teal to be continuous in my stars so I added red and teal from my own stash. Don't worry, I'll use the rest of the strips as I finish the quilt. I have a rough sketch of how I want the the quilt to be set. This project will be traveling along with me to the Jane Stickle retreat next week. Who knows though, the flimsy may end up looking nothing like my sketch.
Last spring I pieced a Boston Commons flimsy for the school auction. I liked it so much, I decided to make one for our bed here at home, but of course, in blues and yellows. These strips have been sewn, sub-cut and are ready to be sewn together at the retreat. This is another project on my list.
A lot of people are excited about Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt starting Thanksgiving weekend. Do you know about the mystery quilt sew along with Charlotte Hawks starting in January 2019? Check out her blog. I don't think her mystery quilts are quite as labor intensive as Bonnie's.
I won't be participating in either of these mysteries. This year I am only going to make quilts that I want to make, mysteries and BOM's are NOT on my list.
Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap!
I did work on a different segment for Lucy. I need 2 of these sections and the first one is now completed.
Here is what I accomplished during week 4 of hand quilting the Pastor's Attic quilt. I didn't make it to the end of this row. I've started quilting the applique blocks and I really like the contrast of the stencils I added.
This is the right corner. All 4 outside corners have the same stencil design. You can see the heart there though. I'm also stitching along the edge when I've marked with a stencil.
Going to the left, I've used half stencils for the outside edges of the center. The first one.
Second one.
The third design has been quilted and I'm working on the background diamonds and around the applique.
Stitching around the applique makes it looks so nice. Quilting really does bring a quilt top to life.
I'm not going to show the outside borders. They're quilted with diamonds and look the same as last week. Next week I'll take a long photo of the completed row and show you close ups of the applique.
Our trees have been beautiful the last couple weeks even though this maple doesn't seem to show it's brilliancy in this photo. It seems like it took forever for them to change color this year. It rained last week, now the leaves are falling and soon they'll be bare.
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Esther's Wednesday WOW!
The binding has been completed on a couple flimsies I sent to the long arm quilter, Tammy from Three Sisters Fabric.
The first one is the 4 X 4 quilt which I pieced in September from leftover fabrics from Sweet Surrender.
I organized the blocks differently than the pattern arrangement.
I asked Tammy to use the same quilting design, Paisley Flowers, as she did on a different quilt. I think it turned out very nice.
She measures 56" X 64".
For backing I used fabric I had purchased years ago for a different project which was never made.
The second quilt was one of the tractor quilts I pieced earlier this month. I had originally planned to donate both quilts but decided to keep this one for myself. You never know when you'll need a crib quilt and it's nice to have one on hand ready to go.
This crib quilt measures 45" x 49".
I had no idea what overall quilting design I wanted on this quilt. I told her to do what she thought looked good. She used a geometric design with kind of circles. I don't know the name.
For backing I used a JD tractor print with a piece of leftover border to make the backing wide enough.
The corn has been harvested so I couldn't take a picture of the quilt with the cornstalks. Instead I took a photo with the tractor hanging on this little tree.
After spending most of 2018 finishing unfinished projects, I'm actually going to start a brand new project!
Linking to Let's Bee Social, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday, Let's Make Baby Quilts!, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap!
Three weeks of quilting have been completed on the Pastor's Attic quilt. I had thought that I might pick up some speed with the quilting once I got used to quilting again, but that's not happening. It takes me a week to get from the right side of the quilt to the left. This quilt is just going to take a long time to quilt.
There may be less diamond stitching in the applique blocks but I need to stitch around all the applique.
Last week I told you I was quilting up into the appliqued blocks but working around the marked corners. This is what I was talking about.
Next week I'll have quilting in the applique blocks and you'll be able to see the corner designs.
A full side view.
I've been trying to get back into baking every week. I've been baking bread on Saturdays for several weeks and now that autumn is here, fall desserts are making their way into the kitchen too.
This is Apple Custard dessert. The custard does look very yellow but I have my own laying hens and their yolks are much darker than eggs from a grocery store.
The is a recipe from the days long ago when I subscribed to Taste of Home magazine so it's a copyrighted recipe. I like it because it's not overly sweet. The farmer likes it because he likes any dessert.
I didn't work on any Lucy stitching this week. Those needlebooks kept me busy whenever I wasn't quilting.
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, HQAL, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Jo's Junction, Esther's Wednesday WOW!
This past week I've worked on needlebooks. The directions are located in Gail Pan's Patchwork Loves Embroidery book but the embroidery for the books completed so far come from Gail's Christmas Patchwork Loves Embroidery.
First I made these books and followed the directions fairly completely.
I made the inside pocket finish at 3-1/2" instead of following the directions. I mean, if you're going to have a pocket, make it large enough to hold stuff.
Also the back of the book was supposed to be pieced but I didn't.
I don't like top stitching on the books so for the next 5 I made a few more changes. I did binding on all four sides which I turned and hand finished. I added snaps as my closures because I dislike ribbons on things. Ribbons never stay nice for me. I also sewed a velcro closure onto one side of the pocket to help keep items from falling out.
These embroidery designs came from Patchwork Loves Embroidery. I have to admit it is taking a lot more time to make these books than I anticipated. I'll be glad when they're all completed. You can be sure the people I gift these to will be lovers of hand work and will appreciate all the work I've put into the book.
This one is mine. I didn't notice I had switched the back and front before I sewed them together and I didn't want to take it apart.
There are 6 more books to be made but I'm not going to make them. I'll use the embroidered squares for something else. I just can't make anymore of these! Maybe I'll use them to make more pincushions someday.
Linking to Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday
Here is what I accomplished quilting this week. I finished this row with the border applique.
This the left side corner.
Sorry this is a dark picture. If I turn on the overhead light or use a flash on the camera, the quilting doesn't show.
Now a section with just diamonds. A section like this is also on the right side but I won't show it again.
The left side of the center applique.
Center of the applique.
Right side applique.
On the right side of this applique is where the next section of solid diamonds are located.
The right corner applique, same which I had already quilted last Sunday.
This corner is closest to a window so it didn't show up as dark as the rest of the pictures.
The lines in the diamonds are space 1" apart.
I've rolled and started finishing the border.
In the corners of the center blocks are quilting designs. The diamond quilting is going to run into the center except where the alternate quilting is. Those will be stitched in the ditch along the outside edge. Confused? You'll see, just wait a week and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
I did work on some Lucy blocks this week. Block 5.
Block 6.
There are other sections to be stitched for this table runner. I'll start working on them when I'm finished with the hand sewing on the needle books I'm making. The needle books will be the topic of the midweek post.
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Esther's Wednesday WOW!
