Summer Picnic Dish Progress & Summer Goals

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Summer Picnic Dish is one of the quilts, along with Farmer’s Delight, that I want to finish the piecing of this summer.  Hmm, am I setting my sights too high with all these things I want to finish?  Probably, but this one does grow quickly — the blocks are 12″ which is, for me, huge.  I love putting this together as it’s so easy to get perfect arcs and points with the Inklingo Pickle Dish collection.  At the moment, I’m debating whether to make it a lap quilt or a bed-sized quilt.

On Barbara Brackman’s blog yesterday I saw an absolutely fabulous pattern — a marriage of clamshells and pickle dish!  If you go here, scroll down a bit in the post and see the design in different fabrics.  What a great design that would be to put together.  Wonderful curved piecing and triangles.  What more could one want?

Another quilt I definitely want to finish this summer is the Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses.  I’m going to try stitching the cream hexagons that surround each block by machine as that might make the goal a bit more attainable.  I’ll still be joining them to each block by hand, but that goes quite quickly.  Then all I’ve got to do is figure out what I want to use for the centre squares in between the blocks and add the outer edging pieces.  This picture only shows a few of the blocks — there are quite a few more.

The Drunkard’s Path baskets are something else I want to finish fairly quickly.  It will be a large wallhanging.  I just need to sort out the centre block for it, which is different from the one in the picture.  It won’t take long to do the printing and piecing.

Also on the list to, at the very least, spend some time stitching:  blue and white Seven Sisters blocks, pink and white Pink Ice snow crystal blocks, the Harpsichord Quilt, more klosjes, the hexagon stripe quilt — oh, the list is endless!!  I wonder which will be finished first!

Thursday was another lovely warm day.  We wandered up to a fruit and vegetable store and picked up some fabulous Ontario wild blueberries and Ontario raspberries.  The flavour of both is just incredible — nothing comes close.  I’m going to try freezing some of our raspberries to use in smoothies in the winter.

Lester had windowsill time on Thursday.

As did Smudge.

Little Pink Clamshells

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Stitching clamshells together is something I find irresistible.  They are so easy to stitch using Inklingo to print the templates right on to the fabric — just lots of lovely continuous stitching.  I have a funny little story running through my mind about some pink clams making their way to the surface of the water and then on to the beach and this little quilt will go along with the story.

Wednesday was rather exciting.  We had an earthquake.  Very very unusual around here.  Mr. Q.O. really felt it and said it almost gave him a feeling of motion sickness.  I sort of felt something, but really didn’t give it a second thought.  We had one about 20 years ago and that one I felt much more than this.  The cat I had then, Max, basically slunk out of the room on his tummy and hid under the bed about 2 minutes before that one hit.  But Smudge and Lester this time?

Lester slept through it completely.  Didn’t twitch a whisker.

Smudge also missed the whole thing.

Little Blossoms

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No flowers for a couple of weeks, but Tuesday night I decided to make the remaining blossoms for the Little Blossoms Top.  I’m going to use some of the hexagon flowers I’ve made using .50″ hexagons around the outer perimeter of this top and some small stars made with .50″ diamonds.

Right now the little top measures approximately 11″ x 6″.  Once the other blossoms are added with the green hexagons, and then the flowers and stars, I think it will probably finish at about 20″.  I have no real plan but am just playing with placement of the blossoms as I go.

We had a lot of rain on Tuesday.  The heat and humidity are building and it really feels like summer.  This is such a nice change from last year — the year of the summer that wasn’t.  It sounds like the weekend will be quite hot and humid and sunny — perfect for spending time on the roof garden.  My hands feel a lot better so I’m hoping to get Chintz Circles basted on Thursday and start the quilting.  With any luck, I’ll finish the quilting by Sunday and can spend time out on the roof garden tacking down the binding Sunday afternoon.

Smudge was lounging in the pink chair, looking like he was deep in thought — probably about when the yogourt was going to appear.

Lester took advantage of a rainy day and snoozed on the couch.

Farmer’s Delight Block 7

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As I had printed all the pieces for the remaining Farmer’s Delight blocks and as I have an idea for setting these together, I decided to work on them while I wait to do the final pressing of Chintz Circles and then baste it.  There will be 12 of these blocks in total.  The first six can be seen here.  I had forgotten how much fun these blocks are to put together.  The centre goes together in no time.  Stitching the bands of triangles that surround it is fast as can be, lots of continuous stitching makes it fly by!

The back of the centre part:

Lester was resting on the windowsill for a while after watching what was going on out there.  The teddy bear in this photo with Lester is a special token of appreciation from the kitties to Mr. Q.O.

Smudge, resting after his yogourt treat Monday night.

Chintz Circles Top Finished

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Saturday night I took the last stitch and the piecing of the Chintz Circles top was complete.   The backing is washed, the batting ready.  Issues with my hands started again on Saturday, so pressing of the backing and the final pressing of the top before basting will have to wait a few days.  I’m hoping to get it basted at some point this week and then do the quilting on the weekend.  It will have to be machine quilting as I absolutely need to finish it on time which won’t allow any wiggle room for hand quilting and hand problems.   As soon as the quilting is done and the binding is on, the quilt will be going for a photo shoot.  One of our friends is a professional photographer who has generously agreed to take a couple of shots of Chintz Circles.

Oddly, I felt almost lost for a few minutes when that last stitch was taken and the top was done.  It didn’t last long because I have more than enough projects on the go.  Now it’s a matter of choosing on which one on I want to focus next.   Will it be Summer Picnic Dish, POTC, the Harpsichord Quilt, the Drunkard’s Path baskets, Storm at Sea, the Drunkard’s Path in Rouenneries, one of the clamshell projects?  Who knows!!  I’m still deciding.  Sunday night I spent some time sorting through the pieces I have left from Chintz Circles.  Choosing fabrics for our Spring Circles quilt will be something I will work on slowly throughout the summer.

We had a glorious weekend with lots of lovely warmth and brilliant sun.  The flowers on the roof garden are thriving.

Very early Sunday morning, before the sun even had come up, I could hear a bird singing away.  I think perhaps a mockingbird has taken up residence on the roof garden again this summer.  The morning doves are back.  They haven’t been here for a few years.  I love hearing them.  Still no squirrels, though.

Lester spent a fair bit of time on the windowsill over the weekend.  There’s a lot for him to watch right now, although in this picture he’s looking into the living room.

Smudge, on the other hand, was having a lazy Sunday afternoon nap.

Pink Clamshells

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There was a bit of a distraction from Chintz Circles Thursday night.  A new Inklingo collection of larger, 3.5″ clamshells was released and I couldn’t resist.  I had my fabrics picked out and printed in a matter of minutes.

The first few pieces practically stitched themselves together in a matter of minutes.  I’m finding clamshells absolutely irresistible now that they’re so simple to print and stitch.  I can imagine making a whole series of little clamshell quilts as there are so many options — some fussy cutting/printing to get some special effects, some really planned colour placement clamshells, a charm clamshell quilt.  The ideas are just flying around in my head right now.  This one?  In this little quilt, a pink clamshell is going to appear rather randomly throughout.  And it will only be little.

The distraction has to be over now though.  Tonight I will finish piecing the blocks for my aunt’s quilt and probably get them joined into the final row.  I’m still on track to get the top finished this weekend.  I’d really like to be in a position to start quilting it by Sunday.

Lester was busy Thursday afternoon watching the birds on the roof garden.  Thursday we saw a glorious yellow butterfly, but couldn’t get a picture of it, and a couple of dragonflies.  He just didn’t know where to look next, so decided to have a snooze.

Smudge was lounging as he waited for his nightly treat of yogourt.

Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get a picture of the completed Chintz Circles top on the weekend to show Monday.  Have a great weekend!

A Little Knitting

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Carrying on from yesterday’s post, knitting was the craft on which I focused most of my attention after giving up crocheting.  Fortunately, I was able to make us both a number of sweaters before I had to give that up.  The cable sweater above is one of my favourites that I made for Mr. Q.O.  I think it was the last one I completed before having to give up.  There’s one other sweater that needs only to be sewn together and its neckband done.  I may try to tackle that this summer as it’s a fabulous deep pink cotton sweater which I made for myself.

In a way I’m grateful the issue with my hands forced me to give up knitting as that was the beginning of my fascination with quilting, although at the time I didn’t accept it very gracefully.  I kept trying to push my limits and keep knitting, to my detriment.  When I finally really got into quilting, I was thrilled to find that playing with fabric colours and patterns was endlessly fascinating.

On a quilting note, two more blocks are all that are left to piece for my aunt’s quilt.  I’m finding I can piece two in an evening so, with any luck, I’ll have them done tonight, put them together into a row on Friday and then stitch the row on to the top.  I’ll get the batting out of the package tomorrow to let it relax and will wash and iron the backing.  Now I have to decide whether to hand quilt it, which might be really pushing it as far as time goes, or do some simple machine quilting.  If I’m hand quilting it, no basting will be necessary but if I’m machine quilting I’ll be heading to a neighbour’s on the weekend to borrow her living room floor to pin baste.  Pin basting on the floor here becomes an adventure with my kitty helpers.

We had really odd weather on Wednesday.  Very windy but also quite warm.  Rain would pour down for a while, then the sun would come out, clouds would then start to reappear and then, a few hours later, the same would repeat.  By Friday we’re supposed to be in the beginning of a protracted heat wave.  I can’t wait!

The cats took advantage of a mostly cloudy, rainy day and snoozed.

A Little Lace

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In my pre-quilting life, I used to do a lot of lace crochet.  Over the years I made lace tablecloths for my mother and aunt and had started this one for myself.  Crocheting was the first craft that my hands rebelled against and I had to put this away when it was the size of a large rectangular shawl.  I’m thinking of trying to finish the last row and perhaps use it as a very lacy dress-up shawl when the occasion warrants.   There’s a dime next to one of the motifs in the next picture.  Lace was my favourite thing to crochet and I had great plans to make lace window treatments.

After crocheting was out of the question, I focused on knitting.  That lasted for a number of years until the rheumatologist and hand clinic told me that knitting was absolutely the worst thing for my hands.  Thankfully, quilting doesn’t seem to cause anywhere near the problems that the other crafts did.

We have been doing some reorganizing and during that, I opened the cedar chest and discovered the lace piece.  I had totally forgotten about it.

Smudge was rather intently watching as I laid the lace out on the floor to photograph it.

Lester wasn’t interested at all.  He was happily asleep curled up with a teddy bear.

9-Patch Blocks

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During the weekend reorganization, I came across these little 9-patch blocks that I had made quite a while ago.  I think I’ll keep making them, bit by bit, and eventually put them into a small lap quilt for us.  They’re made with 1″ squares, so each 9-patch block finishes at 3″.  They were all printed with Inklingo as I hand piece them.  Picking up 9 little squares to turn into a 9-patch block is sort of like quilter’s popcorn, a quick stitch and fun to do.  I have two boxes full of the squares to make these, although I think some of them are destined for a postage stamp quilt.

It seems there’s no real solution to the magazine dilemma.  While I have no problem tearing patterns out of some magazines, the Australian magazines are so full of great articles and pictures that I cannot bring myself to do that.  I’m glad I haven’t, as I’ve often found when going through the magazines again that I find a picture or pattern I didn’t give a second glance is now something I really like.  While I rarely ever follow a pattern, preferring to add my own touches, I do get a lot of inspiration from looking through the magazines.  So I’m still floundering about just what to do with the magazines.  The quilting books are a whole other issue!  I know I have quite a few that I’ll likely never use, so am going to cull those over the next while.  There are some that, just like the quilting magazines, I know I’ll keep because they are beautiful books to look through.

Both kitties had windowsill time Monday afternoon.  Lester was playing.

While Smudge was posing.

Chintz Circles

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It rained, on and off, all weekend so getting a shot of the top outside was impossible.  This is the best we could do inside.  If it’s dry enough later today, we’ll try for a better shot outdoors.  One more row to finish, which will add to the width of it, and it’s done!

We went to  Sew Sisters on Friday to pick up the silk batt.  I was hoping to find a wide backing that would be appropriate — thinking my best bet might be a mottled pink or green.  I was thrilled to find a Robyn Pandolph print in a wide backing.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

During the weekend, I also reorganized partially done projects.  I’m glad I did that as it reminded me of a few things that  need very little to complete them.  Once my aunt’s quilt is done, I now have a better idea of what I want to work on next.  One project in particular will jump to the head of the queue and be ready to quilt in very little time.

I have quite a collection of Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazines, which is my favourite of the quilt magazines.  Storage of them is something I struggle with.  If I put them in a bookcase, they are going to take up at least 2 shelves, probably more like 3.  I love having them available to leaf through so having them handy is rather nice, but I’m trying to come up with a different idea.  Do you keep all of your favourite magazines and, if so, how do you store them?

Smudge was helping me piece one of the Alabama Beauty blocks Sunday night. He’s often on my lap when I’m stitching.

Lester was watching out the window during the weekend.