Category Archives: Storm at Sea

Recap of Projects on List

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It has been so long since I’ve worked on a few of these projects that I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at them again.  First up are a few of the 30 Pink Ice blocks.

Than a few of the 30 Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.

Looking at these first two pictures makes me realize how nice it would be to have a design wall!  I could lay out all 30 blocks for each quilt and photograph them. Reorganizing the living room is on the horizon, so perhaps a design wall can get incorporated into that reorganization.

Next up are a few of the harpsichord blocks.  While I had started putting them into the first row, I have quite a few more done but not added to a row yet.  That will be something that I think I’ll start doing every 10 or 12 blocks or so.

While only one Storm at Sea block is done, as shown below, I have the fabrics for my Stormy Seas quilt ready to print and have worked out how many of each shape I’ll need.  Perhaps this weekend I can get some of the printing done.

The Pickled Ladies, which have clearly captured my interest almost exclusively for the past month and a half.

Then the sunshine star clams which are almost twice the size of the Pickled Ladies blocks:

The final item on the list is the baby quilt, which is ready to quilt as soon as I find the right backing.  Who knew finding a wider flannel would be such an adventure?  I may end up making a pieced backing with some ’30s FQs for it.  No picture of it yet but as soon as it’s quilted there will be.

Every one of these quilts has been/is being made with Inklingo templates printed on my fabric.  It has made even complex patterns like the clamshell pickles simple.

Smudge looking angelic in lace.

And Lester curled up beside Mr. Q.O.’s desk chair.

I Got Framed!!

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See this picture?  This wonderful quilt frame?  It’s a fabulous solid oak quilt frame that does away with the necessity of basting, folds up easily for storage and is a great asset for any hand quilter!

On Easter weekend, my favourite quilt shop, Sew Sisters, had a contest.  Every purchaser of fabric got an entry.  Sew Sisters had a very similar contest last year at Easter.  That was the first time I saw one of these frames and I’ve been wanting one ever since as basting is a nightmare and holding a hoop is completely beyond my hands’ capabilities.  When Judy announced the contest on the Sew Sisters blog last week, I knew I had to buy something and get an entry in the contest.  A few half metres of red batiks were purchased and a lot of finger crossing began.

I don’t usually have good luck in contests like this but this time —  I won!  When I got the e-mail from Judy Tuesday afternoon, I was thrilled — once I got over the surprise I had actually won it, that is.  I think the cats jumped at the noise I made when I read that e-mail!!  There are 3 big quilts waiting for quilting, a number of smaller ones and now — well, now I can’t wait!  I’ve done so little hand quilting in the past couple of years that the first thing I’m going to do is make up a sandwich of muslin and batting and get back into the rhythm of hand quilting before I start on any of the quilts.

The frame is made by Heartland Quiltworks, a Canadian company.  We’re picking it up from the shop on the weekend.  I can’t wait to get it home and try out quilting with a frame.  I have visions of the cats curled up under the frame and probably being little mischief makers trying to catch  the needle and thread.

There’s a table runner pattern I’m working on that will feature, among other things, this star.  I made it with the 6″ Storm at Sea collection.  The background fabric I used is one that I’ve had for ages and absolutely love working with.  It’s almost of the same thread count as a good batik but needles so easily.  I’ve been looking for the right pattern in which to use it for years.

The back:

It was a rainy, drizzly, somewhat cooler day on Tuesday and the cats didn’t spend any time on the windowsill.  Smudge did spend a lot of time in my desk chair, though.  It seems to be one of his favourite spots.  I’m not too sure what that look is all about — perhaps a bit of a Morris look.

Lester also has a funny look on his face.  He was actually awake but closed his eyes as he really dislikes the flash of the camera.

Storm at Sea Block 1

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… is finished.  Finished size is 6.75″.  The back:

What I learned stitching this block?  That I really do need to get my machine piecing skills up to doing blocks like this.  Much as I love hand piecing, and it is my preferred way of stitching, this block would be super fast by machine and, with the stitching lines to guide me, I may actually be able to do it.  Maybe.  I think on the weekend I may print the shapes for one block on some other fabrics and see how I do on the machine.  Perhaps I’ll do it as a hybrid block — machine piece all the units and then put the rows and blocks together by hand.  Or perhaps, knowing me, I’ll break out in a cold sweat as soon as I sit down at the machine.

No gardeners on the roof garden on Tuesday.  And no activity for Lester to watch, so he decided to relax on the couch with a teddy bear for company.

Smudge posing, as usual, for the camera.

Stormy Sea

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Doesn’t this look like a churned-up, stormy sea? I am so impressed with how easy it is to put this block together.  I wish I’d had the time to finish it last night, but there’s only one long seam left to do and then I’ll press it.  Even though the bottom piece has yet to be added, the effect is already visible.  I can’t wait to stitch that last seam tonight and then press it.

We had a real surprise on Monday — the gardeners were out on the roof garden preparing the flowerbeds.  They have never worked on the roof garden this early in the year.  Makes me wonder if they have some long-range forecast from Environment Canada that says the threat of frost is gone.  The rule of thumb here is not to plant before May 24 and I cannot remember them ever working out on the roof garden much before then and definitely never this early.  I don’t know, but imagine we’ve broken all sorts of records this month.  I’m not complaining, as I love the warmer weather but I do wonder if we’re in for a really hot humid summer — oh, how I hope so!

Lester, of course, was sitting on the windowsill watching rather intently.

Mr. Q.O. brought home a new brush for the kitties on Monday.  Smudge was purring so loudly while he was being brushed that I could hear him on the other side of the room.  Afterwards, he was looking up at Mr. Q.O. as though he was made out of catnip or something!

Can You See Waves?

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These four blue batiks will all be incorporated into my Double Diamond Storm at Sea variation.  Five new Inklingo Collections were released Sunday night for various sizes of Storm at Sea — 4.5″, 6″ ,6.75″, 9″ and 12″ blocks.  There are a couple of extra shapes in each collection too, which really open up some design possibilities.  I already know there are some stars in my future using shapes from these collections.  I know I want to make a quilt incorporating different sizes of the blocks as well.  The free Design Book is a fabulous bonus that contains tons of information, including methods for constructing the blocks, as well as some shaded and unshaded design sheets.  The first thing I did was print out one of the design sheets and sort out what I needed to print for my first block.

I decided to first do a 45″ wall hanging using the 6.75″ templates in the Double Diamonds layout that can be seen at the bottom of the page here but with a twist.  I’m using all four of the batiks in the picture above as well as some white.  It took me only a couple of minutes to figure out my page sizes, cut and press the fabric to freezer paper, print and then start stitching.   I think batiks are my favourite fabrics to work with — and they’re perfect for this design as there are spots where a lot of seams are going to meet.  As batiks are such a fine fabric and press so perfectly, I won’t be fighting too  much bulky fabric at those points.  Here’s my centre square:

The back of my centre square was pressed in  a second thanks to the batiks.

I have the diamonds and their surrounding triangles printed and cut out, ready to go.  The little squares and their surrounding QSTs are printed, ready to cut

Last week Crispy asked about the cutting line, whether it was printed as well as the stitching line.  As I know the ink in my printer will rinse out without any problems, I printed the QSTs on this fabric in a darker red than I normally would use.   If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see that both the stitching and cutting lines, as well as matching points, are printed on the shapes.

I had hoped to go to the Etobicoke Quilt Guild show on Saturday but woke up with a monster migraine.  However, I got lots done on my Alabama Beauty blocks and have now got 3 of them put together.  One more block and the first of the circles will appear in its entirety.  I’m not sure how large this will grow but I think it may well end up as a large lap quilt as I want a dozen or more circles in the quilt.

Our weather this week sounds as though it’s going to be wonderful with a forecast that seems to indicate we may well see 70 by Friday.  I can’t wait!!   The nights are still quite cool, but to have days in the high 60s or low 70s in late March and early April?  Huge treat!

Smudge was very busy on the weekend, guarding the toys.  I think he knew I was about to grab them all up and put them back in the basket.

Lester decided it was a good time for a nap.