Category Archives: hand piecing

Baby Windmills Quilt

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Friday evening the last stitch was taken to tack down the binding and the baby windmills quilt was finished. Nothing like a last-minute finish — the baby is going to be delivered sometime today.   I had decided how I was going to quilt it and, with a little advance planning, was able to get the machine quilting done within a couple of hours and had only 4 thread ends to work in.  All straight line quilting, of course, as that’s my skill level when quilting by machine.

When I found this flannel a couple of years ago, I bought enough yardage of it for the backing for 3 baby quilts.

The label is ready to be written and stitched on to the back.  As soon as we know the baby’s name, I’ll write out and attach the label, give the quilt a quick wash and dry and we’ll be off to deliver it to the hospital.   I’ve found that a 2″ hexagon is perfect for a label as it gives me lots of room to write.  I’ve got the turn-under allowance basted down as that will make the appliqueing on to the back go very quickly.  Right now it’s ironed to a piece of freezer paper to stabilize it when I’m writing on it and the fabric pen is ready and waiting.  I can’t wait to hear if it’s a boy or girl!

The quilt was made with “other” half 1″ hexagons which I printed using Inklingo. This was a UFO that had been sitting for a couple of years.  I love tessellating designs and had started this quite a while ago but then it sat.  However, when I learned my cousin’s son and his wife were going to have another baby I knew what this particular UFO was meant to be.  Once I made that decision, it only took a couple of weeks to finish piecing it.  With a tessellating design like this, there are tons of opportunities for continuous stitching which makes the piecing go very quickly.

Lester looking rather majestic — one of his house lion looks.

Smudge has definitely turned a corner, we think.  He’s more playful and is eating more every day.  Sunday night he was playing with the favourite toy, Cappy, and then decided to rest while lying on top of Cappy.  I think he wanted to make sure it didn’t get away from him.

Farmer’s Delight … Again

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Along with finishing the quilting of the baby quilt, I started piecing another Farmer’s Delight block on Thursday.  The photo above was taken back in April, and there are a couple more blocks that have been done since but this is another of the UFOs that has made its way up the list.  It will only take 3 or 4 more blocks to finish it.

Tonight I’ll add the binding to the baby quilt and make the label.  Pictures of the finished baby quilt and the newest Farmer’s Delight block will be taken for Monday’s post.

A surprise package arrived from a non-blogging friend that included the book EQ6 Simplified.  I was thrilled and can tell already, from just looking through it, that it’s going to make a huge difference.  I’ve already picked up a couple of things.

We were absolutely delighted when Smudge decided he wanted his yogourt treat again.  He hasn’t evidenced any interest in it for what seems like forever, so watching him go for the yogourt Thursday night made us both feel fabulous!  He has been eating a bit more each day on his own, and we’re still struggling to find a food that he likes and that is good for both him and Lester.

Lester seemingly will eat almost every  food we offer.  There have been a few he’s not liked, but he’s nowhere near as finicky as Smudge.

X’s and O’s

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My Improved 9-Patch quilt top which I’ve named X’s and O’s, and which was hand pieced in a few weeks.  I started piecing it on August 9 and took the last stitch completing the main body of the top on September 1, 2010.  The picture was taken on September 2, when the lawn on the roof garden was still green and there was no snow.  Without borders it measures approximately 41 x 48″.  One of the two borders I have planned for X’s and O’s will be pieced.

I used the Inklingo Orange Peel Deluxe collection to print all the shapes for this. Perfect stitching lines and matching points printed on the back of my fabrics made putting this together a breeze.  Even though I knew it would go together easily as I had just finished the Chintz Circles quilt made with shapes from the same Inklingo collection, I was amazed at how quickly I finished stitching it.  Once I got the idea for this quilt, I worked out a plan for my quilt using the design sheets and Monkey’s Cheat Sheet which are part of the Inklingo collection and filled out a cheat sheet, chose the fabrics and printed my shapes.  All done in one evening.  By the time two days had passed, I had all the 9-patches pieced and then it was just a matter of lots and lots of continuous stitching as I joined the melons to the 9-patches.

The biggest challenge for me with this quilt was keeping things in order.  Once I had the 9-patch blocks pieced, I laid them out with the melons and rearranged until I was satisfied with the placement.  Not having a design wall, I laid it out on the bed and we took photos.  Although I kept the pieces for each row of the quilt in separate zip-lock bags, I printed one of the photos and that was my virtual design wall to which I referred constantly to ensure I hadn’t mixed anything up.

My plan is to print the shapes I need for the pieced border sometime within the next couple of weeks and hopefully have the pieced border ready within a week or so after that.  I’ve already decided on the quilting design for the quilt, so I’m hoping to have this one done within a relatively short period of time.

We were lucky and didn’t get anywhere near the kind of storm they were predicting. It snowed for hours, no question, but we didn’t get the amount they had forecast. The migraine finally lifted Wednesday evening so now I’m just left with the bruised head feeling that always comes after and will get caught up on blogs and responding to comments today.

The cats found spots to snooze on Wednesday.  Lester on the pink chair.

Smudge got his turn on the pink chair a bit later in the evening.

Hexagon Frames

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It took a while, but the cream hexagon frames for the POTC blocks are all ready to be attached to the 10 blocks that are not yet finished.  A little more printing of the setting pieces and I’ll have everything I need for the outer edges of the quilt top ready as well.

Now that I’ve got the frames made and ready to attach to the blocks, I’m really quite enthused about working on this quilt again.  Stitching cream hexagons to one another endlessly was a real stumbling block for me.  Now that this is done, I can almost imagine having the top finished by the spring.

As I type this at around midnight, the snow has just started to fall here although the wind hasn’t yet picked up.  They say by morning  we will have near blizzard conditions.  I’ve taken enough migraine medication to take the edge off, but it’s not gone yet.  I’m hoping once the storm is over, the headache will be gone.

Smudge spent much of Tuesday snoozing.

Lester seemed to be almost posing for the camera.


Endlessly Stitching

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… cream hexagons together, that is.  When we took this photo last night, I had 48 left to join.  By the time the evening was over, I had finished stitching them into sets of three.  So now it’s solely a matter of adding 24 of them around each of the remaining POTC blocks.  Getting the cream hexagons stitched was a big hurdle, and one that I could have avoided had I done them as I finished each block rather than left them all to the end.  Lesson learned!

We have an enormous winter storm heading toward us.  Light snow today but then tonight into Wednesday, a lot of snow and high winds.  I’ve been battling a migraine since late yesterday, so the cream hexagon stitching was the perfect thing to work on — just lots and lots of straight stitching, no thinking involved!

Lester decided to curl up and have a snooze.

Smudge in an impossibly cute pose with a teddy bear!

Rainbow Flower

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(Click on photo to enlarge)

In the February/March 2011 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, there’s an article on Mosaic Patchwork blocks and Rainbow Flower is one of the blocks featured.  With all the fabulous curves in this block, I think it’s irresistible — particularly as a new Inklingo collection for the Rainbow Flower was released on Thursday.

I’m calling this “Cranes Circling Flower at Dusk”.  It’s not quite finished as one more round will be added to it, if not more.  This one won’t be a large piece, but rather a smaller one with a pretty border which I’m already planning.

Within minutes of downloading the collection, I had prepared my window templates so I could fussy cut the two larger shapes.  Within a few minutes after that, I had the fabric cut and ready to print.  A few hours later, my block was done.

I was tempted to start another shabby chic quilt with this collection, and may well do that yet but the Oriental prints were what first grabbed my imagination.  Imagine this with novelty prints fussy cut for a child’s quilt!  Maybe some stripes for the connecting shapes.   Or a wonderful polka dot print or — the ideas just are flying through my mind!

The back:

When we take photos of quilt-related things, we generally put a board on the pink chair with a piece of grey fabric over it.  As I was getting things ready to take the photo of the Rainbow Flower, Smudge decided he wanted to lay down and have a snooze.  I literally turned my back for a second to get the block, turned around and there he was, already asleep.  We gently moved him and carried on.

Lester found himself a comfortable spot on the loveseat.

Arcs for Pickle Dish Block

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Seeing Karen Dianne’s beautiful Pickle Dish block done in Kaffe Fassett fabrics inspired me to get back to work on my Summer Picnic Dish.  Another dish actually got added to those already joined but we didn’t get a photo of that yet.

Putting together the arc/melon combination is something I really enjoy so I think I’ll concentrate on making the arcs for a bit and hopefully get the quilt top finished fairly quickly.  I’m not planning to make the Summer Picnic Dish larger than a lap quilt, so it shouldn’t take too long.

The back of an arc/melon combo.  I prefer to press the arc towards the melon as it ensures that the points of the triangles in the arcs stay as sharp as possible.

Over the past few days I’ve been trying to decide exactly what my goals for this year are as far as quilting goes.  While I have a number of projects on the go that I want to finish, I also want to start concentrating more on designing.  Sometimes I feel like I want to do it all, and I know that’s rather unrealistic.  I’ve flirted with these ideas:

  • make a series of two-colour quilts
  • make a series of heirloom baby quilts
  • concentrate on designing and learning EQ or some other drawing program
  • make a series of shabby chic quilts
  • make a series of batik quilts

It seems like a daunting list, and I’m sure I’ve left off some items.

The baby quilt was basted on Monday and the quilting of it will begin today.  It won’t take long as it’s not a big quilt, but I’d like to have it done and bound by the weekend.  Then I’ll just be waiting to hear what the baby’s name is to finish the label.  Other than the baby quilt and some hand piecing in the evenings, the balance of my quilting time this week is going to be spent on learning EQ.

It was incredibly cold again on Monday and the cats found cozy spots to curl up. Lester on the couch.

And Smudge was in a kitty bed.

Lost and Then Found

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The POTC blocks, that is.  I was looking for a particular fabric and, along with finding it, found these blocks.  I knew they weren’t lost, just incredibly well tucked away.  It was a good thing I found them so easily as this is one of the projects that I’m determined to finish in 2011.

There aren’t many blocks that still need their cream hexagon frame, so I decided to add the framing hexagons to one block on Sunday.  It still needs the purple connecting squares, but those don’t take long to add.

The back:

The weekend was bitterly, bitterly cold.  We’re supposed to get somewhat warmer temperatures on Tuesday, so just have to get through today when they say we may have wind chills of -30 yet again.   I’ll be spending time this afternoon crawling around on our neighbour’s floor as I baste a couple of quilts, including the baby quilt.

On Saturday, we noticed Lester on the loveseat and had to take this picture.  Made us laugh to see his tail hanging straight down to the floor.

Smudge couldn’t resist an empty bag.   He was in it before we could turn around and we got this shot just shortly after he came back out.

More Stormy Seas

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A bit more contrast than the last one.   Putting these blocks together gets easier with each one.  Hopefully that means I’ll be able to keep to my goal of 2 blocks a week.  No guarantees on that as I found myself looking at the autumn colours fabrics I had pulled out for a Winding Ways idea.

There’s another design floating in my mind that’s made with Drunkard’s Path blocks.  That one is as irresistible as the Winding Ways.  So far I haven’t pulled any fabrics for it, but it’s getting awfully close. As soon as the baby quilt is quilted and bound, I have a feeling I’ll be starting one of those two.

My Patchwork of the Crosses blocks seem to have been put away a bit too well.  This may finally teach me to label the boxes in which I put blocks so that I don’t need to go through every one in order to find whatever it is I’m looking for.

Smudge was eating a bit more on his own on Thursday.  Still nowhere near the 250 calories he needs, so the syringe feeding continues.

Earlier in the day, Lester had been grooming Smudge.  Normally, Smudge would never let him do that but these days he seems to be quite enjoying the attention.

A Few Little Blocks

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The final few klosjes are done.  I think my total is somewhere around 120 of them finished.  Once I get a chance to lay them out and figure out the arrangement, it won’t take long to get the little teddy bear quilt put together.

Wednesday night I really couldn’t seem to focus on just one thing so, along with making the final few klosjes, I put together these LeMoyne Stars.  I have a total of 11 of them done, with the pieces for 19 more printed and ready to stitch.  Another baby quilt in the making — this one clearly for a girl as all the stars will be a pink of some sort or another.

The political ads are beginning — although no election has been called yet, it seems it may not be that far off.  I have a feeling we’ll be renting a lot of videos or watching things we’ve recorded so we can fast forward through the ads.   My tolerance for the self-serving or attack ads is zero.  I don’t usually say anything about politics on my blog, but the ad I saw Wednesday night made my skin crawl.  If this is what we have to look forward to, I’d rather ignore the whole thing altogether.

It was very cold on Wednesday and promises to be even colder today.  We are definitely back in the deep freeze for a few days.  Great timing to spend lots of time stitching.  Smudge found a spot to curl up.

While Lester decided to guard the toy basket.