I've been in finish it up mode since I got the log cabin quilt top completed.
The hand quilting on my Fussy-cut Star quilt has been completed for several weeks. I finally got the binding and label attached. I EPP'd these stars in 2014 and finished sewing the top in 2015. This was a sew along through Temecula Quilt Company. I posted about my progress on Fussy Cut Fridays.
The stitching doesn't show on the stars but that is what I intended. I want the stars to stand out.
The backside looks interesting since I used 4 different colors of thread. I didn't quilt the outside border very closely. I just can't see black thread on a dark fabric anymore. I'm actually surprised the quilting looks as good as it does, I thought the stitches might be too long.
And a close up of the quilted stars from the back.
The Resale Shop Crib Quilt has been quilted with my sewing machine. I started with a curve in one corner and just kept going back and forth, alternating the direction I sewed each curve. It lays flat!
Pink flannel on the back makes this crib quilt nice and cozy.
And a close up of the front.
She was quilted with variegated thread to add some sparkle to the quilt.
I don't know what I'm going to do with this quilt. She will probably end up being donated to charity.
Several years ago I pieced this Amish crib quilt. I had seen a picture in a book about Amish quilts but it didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned and I was tired of it laying around. I decided it would be a practice quilt
Before I started quilting the practice quilt, I practiced stippling on some scraps. I need a LOT more practice before I'm comfortable stippling a quilt, even one that is going to charity. This quilt was a practice quilt but the quilting practiced was quilting 'markings'. The clam shells and Baptist Fan quilting aren't as smooth as I would like, but they sure look a lot better than my first attempts.
I've completed 4 more Sweet Surrender blocks. The pattern calls for the hexie flowers to be fussy-cut, but most 30's fabrics don't lend themselves to that idea. I did come up with some fussy-cut flowers though.
This flower is cute but doesn't really WOW! me.
I do like this butterfly flower better.
I decided to do another yo-yo flower with this block. The yo-yo's add some depth to the blocks.
But this flower is my favorite so far. In my opinion, these circles make the best flower.
There is a Sweet Surrender facebook group who show the progress of their applique. I'm not a member, I just don't do facebook. At the Jane Stickle quilt retreat, a friend was showing me all the blocks people have posted on the site. Cindy was making her flowers with the circles. They were so pretty that I decided to go with the idea. You will be seeing more flowers made with this technique.
I'm linking up with - A Quilting Reader's Garden, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Bits & Bobs, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Super Mom - No Cape, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts
April is speeding along. The first of the month was cold and snowy; now we're enjoying sunshine, warmer temperatures and green grass.
The spring Jane Stickle quilt retreat has come and gone. It's always wonderful to see the many out of state friends and I've met new friends this spring too. There are so many beautiful projects; it's hard not to start new ones. People have joined in on-line BOM's. There are the 365 Day blocks, Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler, the 1857 quilt from Sentimental Stitches, Circa 2016 from the Temecula Quilt Co. and many, many more. I checked these out after I arrived back home, but common sense prevailed and I haven't started any of them, not at the beginning of my busy season. I'll just keep on working at my 'old' projects.
So what did I work on at retreat? The first project was this Houses wall kit designed by Rachel's of Greenfield. The directions were very well written and the quilt sewed together easily. Now I need to get her hand-quilted and hanging on the wall. She finishes at 20" by 20".
People keep having babies so I keep making crib quilts. I pieced 2 dotted pinwheel crib quilts using the Pineapple Press pattern What Goes Around Comes Around. They both measure 40" by 46" and I plan to quilt them on my sewing machine, I just need to find the time. The pinwheels are not pieced, the dotted fabric is folded diagonally and then sewn to the yellow background square. The pinwheel is 3D and left open. Many people asked me if I was going to quilt them closed when I quilted the quilt and I said no, I like them the way they are. Maybe there is some obvious problem that they saw that I'm not seeing. Of course it will get caught on stuff if the child drags it around but I never allowed my children to drag around their quilts.
I did hand applique too. I appliqued several Sweet Surrender blocks at the retreat and then finished the rest when I was home.
I have completed all of the 18 applique blocks required for the original quilt which finishes at 69" by 65".
I don't want a wall quilt so I will applique more blocks and make a full size quilt. I drafted a rough diagram of what my finished quilt will be and I need at least 12 more blocks (I think it is 12, I'm too lazy to go check). I'll get them prepped and work on them this spring. After the additional blocks are appliqued, I'll put the project away until winter.
I didn't accomplish as many sewing projects as I often do, but the weather was so lovely, who could stay inside and sew all the time?
After I came home I made a list of quilting projects to work on this spring/summer. Some of them are fairly simple such as sewing bindings. Some are more involved. Here are a few of what I'll be working on.
Until more Sweet Surrender blocks are prepped, I'm working on block 7 of the Pastor's Attic Quilt.
Working on two applique projects has worked well for me. I normally have only one hand project going at a time.
At last fall's retreat I had pieced the blocks for a Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book. The fabrics are from a kit I bought years ago at Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewana. It is time to get this quilt top sewn together.
The very center (snail) blocks have been sewn together. The rest of the center section is ready to be pieced together. The blocks and border have also been pieced.
Progress is being made on hand quilting the Fussy-cut Star wall hanging. Since I've rolled the last time, I can see the last side border slowly making her way to the top.
As you can see, there will be plenty happening around here. I'll fit it in here and there in between my outside work. I enjoy being outside after a long, dreary, sunless winter.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm linking to: Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework,
Love Laugh Quilt, Patchwork Times, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts, Let's Book It
I've been sewing away since I've returned from Arizona and I have a lot to share with you.
Before I left for Tempe, I had pinned a Zippy-Strippy so she would be ready to quilt when I returned home. I had thought I would try to make all of these quilts from my stash but I took the easy way out and used a jelly-roll to make an easy Zippy-Strippy. As normal I did easy straightline quilting and stitch-in-the-ditch with my home machine. This quilt is for one of the granddaughters.
I pulled some fabric from my stash of mother's fabrics. Yes, I used some of mom's precious Jinny Beyer border print fabric for a quilt back! Let this be a lesson to you, this year's must have fabrics will be the next generations quilt back fabrics. Use those special fabrics now!
The 2nd Majestic Mountain quilt is also finished and will be delivered this week to the NY state grandson. Again, stitch in the ditch and straightline quilting. One of these days I will be brave and try something else, but for now I'm satisfied with easy.
Fabric from mom's stash once again used for backing. I often wonder how she had planned to use the stripped fabric. I know I have a plan for all the fabric I have, I just need to get it sewn.
Last fall I sewed a lot of 4-patch blocks, I didn't really have a plan for them at that time. I pulled that box of blocks out this week and pieced this quilt top for the last of granddaughter quilts. I won't get her quilted before I leave but hopefully there will be time to get her layered and pinned so she is ready to quilt when I return to Indiana. I've named this quilt the Scrappy Rainbow quilt.
Just for fun, while I was piecing Scrappy Rainbow, I sewed 4-patches together and came up with 5 blocks containing 100 1" finished blocks. I guess I've started a postage stamp quilt.
I've put this project on hold for now, I want to make more 4-patches so there is more variety in the quilt. The leftover fabrics from Sweet Surrender will look great in this quilt but I need to finish Sweet Surrender first.
The Sweet Surrender blocks that were on the WOF have been appliqued.
Blogger won't let me put these 3 blocks photos in a single row!
Block 7 in the Pastor's Attic Quilt has been appliqued too. It is so easy to back-baste needle turn these larger pieces.
Yesterday (Saturday) the farmer was gone to an all day dairy meeting so I had the house (and the TV) to myself. I took quilting needle in hand and started quilting on my long neglected Fussy Cut Star wallhanging. It felt good to be quilting again. By milking time I had completed a substantial amount of quilting and I'm ready to roll. The quilting doesn't show except in the white diamonds. I'm actually using 4 different colors of quilting thread; white, cream, beige and black. I want the stars to be the focus of the quilt, not the quilting. It is going to be interesting to see what the back of the quilt looks like when she is completed.
I'm taking a short break from applique until I return from NY. So what do I work on in the evenings? I knit dishrags! I'll be taking this project along to work on while I'm on the train and during downtime in NY.
Linking to -
A Quilting Reader's Garden
Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday
Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt
Quilt Story
Esther's Wednesday WOW
Welcome to my new blog, Gretchen's Little Corner which is a continuation of my old Wordpress blog, Gretchen's Little Corner. I decided to go with Blogger for the new blog for varying reasons. If Blogger doesn't work out, then maybe I'll go back to Wordpress.
If you are new to my blog you will find I post about quilting, farming, gardening or whatever is going on in my life. Special thanks to my daughter for setting up this blog way last summer!
I spent most of 2015 working on my version of the Jane Stickle, also know as a Dear Jane. I just completed her and I'm proud to show her off. If you would like to read about my Jane journey, click here.
I quilted her on the old stands and sticks frame my father made for me 40 years ago. The stands have been reinforced, glued and reinforced more. They are not very stable anymore.
During the Jane Stickle quilt retreat in November, I bought a Grace quilting frame at the resale table. I'm the 3rd owner of this quilting frame, but it has never been put together. My SIL started putting the quilting frame together for me while he and our daughter were here the middle of December. He really enjoyed this project as it was a nice change for him from his academia world.
When he removed the pieces from the box, it looked like this:
He completed structure work, but son 2 did the finishing work on her. Now she looks like this. There are 4 pipe rollers. On the sides there are bungee cords with clamps attached. I was concerned about the sides being taut enough, but they are! In fact I had them too tight and needed to loosen them. She takes up less room width-wise than the old frame did.
My DIL and Son 2 helped me load up the frame for the first quilting project. I decided I wanted to do a smaller quilt (I'm kind of burnt out on quilting at the moment!) and pulled out the Fussy-Cut Star wall quilt I hand pieced in 2014. I don't have a specific time frame to have this wallhanging completed. She'll be finished when is finished.
DIL2 started the quilting on the outside border. You can't see it at all on the top but the black thread shows nicely on the white muslin back. Since this is a wall hanging, I went with an easy decision for the backing fabric.
The borders have been sewn on the Snowflake Zippy-Strippy quilt. I'm going to baste leftover batting strips together for batting. Once they are sewn together, I'll start machine quilting her.
Thank you for joining me on my new blog.
I'll be linking to Esther's Wednesday WOW, Freshly Pieced, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Quilt Story, Crazy Mom Quilts, Slow Stitching Sunday, Podunk Pretties, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Love Laugh Quilt.
