Back in the studio....

This week I finally sat down at the sewing machine again!  For the past few weeks my quilting has been limited to perusing magazines and cruising blogs.  It was just too difficult to focus with a sick husband, a sick dog, and a sick me.  

But things are getting better!  My DH went to the office for a few hours the past couple days which allowed me a bit of time to try and get things back to normal.  Still a ways to go but I did finish his birthday quilt top...now I remember why I don't make a lot of king size quilts!  Putting borders on them is brutal!

Today I even got to slip out for a quilt bee with my quilt.  One of the members brought a box.  It belonged to a friend's grandmother and she asked her to make something with the pieces.

Isn't this piece of Alice and Wonderland fabric great!

Dating all of this is pretty easy...lots of paperwork with dates on it!

Even the box itself is interesting...

A finish of sorts....

With everything that has gone on this summer I've let some things slip...like the guild donation quilt!  In my mind I had moved this on to someone else when  my husband fell ill...well, I didn't.

Last week I saw it still sitting on my Dining Room table still missing one border....how hard can putting one border be right...silly me.  First you can really do a bad job with the math....(what is 10 inches give or take...)

Then you can cut angle with the inner border on the wrong side....

of course you can also sew the inner border on so the seam shows but I decided that was not worth a photo...

Anyway it is done.  Tonight I'll run it over the member of the guild that is going to quilt it.  We need to have if finished by the second week of October so we still have a bit of time....it wouldn't be the first donation quilt that has quilters still sewing down binding at its first showing.....

Home for Troops

Today SFC Sean Giddons received the key to his now accessible home thanks to lots of local volunteers and Homes for Troops.  It was a very touching ceremony.  His former NCOIC came out from Oklahoma and there were lots of vets in attendance.

Members of my quit guild had volunteered during build days and made a Quilt of Valor for him.  We wanted it to be both patriotic and to represent the new home that will provide more independence for him and his family.

(The pattern for this quilt is a variation on one from Bonnie Hunter's website - Quiltville.com.  I added a house block as a medallion and a checkered border.  Lots of members worked on the piecing.  It was quilted by Maggie Hunt and bound by Ille Waters.)

almost back...

I walked into my sewing room earlier today in a daze.  I haven't touched needle, thread of fabric for two weeks.  I walked back out to the living room a bit confused and not sure where to start!  Yikes!

I did read several quilting magazines, a few books, and did a lot of sketching.  (my favorite pass-time in the hospital had to be my block of graph paper and colored pencils...kept me entertained/distracted for hours.)  I'm not sure I am ready to start work on any of those.  I really feel like I should "finish" something on my design wall or the cutting table but here is my dilemma...I can't find my notes (that is if I made any!)  So even my old projects are like starting new ones again!  And that takes energy I don't have right now...

Speaking of energy...my husband came home from the hospital yesterday.  Yeahhhhh!!!  He is doing better but will still need a lot of time to recover.  He had a bout of acute pancreatitis...very, very painful.  My challenge now is to figure out a diet for him.  When they released him they said he had to be on a diabetic-soft diet.  I figured I should be able to find one on the internet...nope.  I can find soft and I can find diabetic but the closest to soft-diabetic is a list of things a diabetic can eat after dental surgery.  That is fine if you are on it for a couple of days but my DH is starting to sniffle at the idea of more soup and jello.  So I have been trolling the recipe sites and making a adjustments to fit what I think will make low fat, low sugar, low fiber meals.   Just trying to toss a bit a taste into the mix!  My first attempt was a faux "baked potato" soup...not bad and it really made him feel like he was getting real food...

The photos are of a Baltimore style crib quilt circa 1840 (39 by 39 inches.)  The applique is nice but the quilting is amazing.  One of the clues that it was made as a crib quilt and not a cut down bed size is how the feathers quilted around the border of the quilt fit perfectly...even making the curves in the corners.

Off the Grid for a bit...

Just wanted to let you know I will not be on blogger for at least another week.  My husband has been in ICU since Monday and will most likely be there a few more days.  It has been a bit crazy.  He has a good medical team though and I'm feeling more confident every day that he will recover.

Hope to have him home and be back to quilting soon....

Pensive Quilt Finished!

This is a real honest to goodness, binding on and everything, finish!  Happy dance!

About a year ago Tonya started a bunch of us making string quilts from 1-1/5 inch strips.  I made the center fairly quickly.  The top was quilted in January...and now in July I finally got the biding sewn on.  It was a slow quilt but it is now a Finished Quilt!

I love the backing.  It was printed for the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I found it in the overrun/seconds section and paid less than $3 a yard for it.  And I love it!  It was the only fabric I bought for this quilt.  The rest was from the string or scrap bins.  Amazingly the bins are all still full...

I did have another finish.  I made a small quilt for the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative.

But instead of sending them the quilt I am going to be sending them a check.  The electrician that worked on my house after it was hit by lightning saw it the quilt while I was working on it and liked the piece.  Well he was by again to fix one more outlet and asked if it was finished.  He had gone to the site and read up about AQI and made me an offer for the quilt.  How fun is that.  Now he would like a bed size and we are talking bartering...maybe those lights I want changed out in kitchen....this could work!

In the meantime I want to finish the green quilt and send that in the AQI....

So not finished...

I've been working hard on the second quarter log cabin variation that I showed you in blue mess.  Originally I planed to lay it out three blocks wide by four blocks long with 2 inch sashing.  Decided then it needed to be a bit larger so it could be used on a twin bed so made more blocks to make it 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks long with 2 inch sashing and a 7 inch pieced border on each side.

I had all the blocks and sashing sewn together when in steps my DH...he likes a the quilt.  (good thing...)  This is a quilt he wants us to keep.  (I give away most of my quilts...)  But, he wants it to be large enough to use on a King size bed.  Say what?!

I had just cleaned all the scraps and fabric for this project off the cutting table!  The only good thing (besides his liking the quilt) is he told me before I put the borders on!

So now the question is do I make it 5 by 6 or go all the way with 6 by 6 and have a 100 inch square quilt....no matter which I'll have to find more of the light blue solid and figure out another backing fabric!  (can you believe I actually got ahead of myself and pieced the back for this!  Oh well...I am way ahead on a future quilt....)

Somthig pretty...

I've had this 3/4 finished UFO in my to do pile for over a year.  The problem?  Instead of two borders I decided it needed three...which meant that I didn't have enough of the outer border fabric.  Don't you hate when that happens.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone with an elderly friend who has quilted for over 70 years.  When I mentioned this project she was quiet for a moment than she advised, "well honey, jus put somthin pretty in the corners and finish it.  Not doin anyone no good the way it is."  So that is what I did...stopped looking for perfect and instead went with pretty...it is now a top and I am happy.

I know...sometimes I need to stop obsessing over things and just finish.  Now I know how.

Wonder how many of my other UFO's this will work with?!

One more top for July...

I should be quilting some of the tops I've finished this month but instead I'm trying to get one more project checked off...

After making two small quilts I feel as if this one should be at least twin bed size.  Which means I need to make four more blocks...since the fabric is still on the cutting table I can do it pretty easily but I do need to cut it today!

To be honest I was surprised that I went with a solid white for the sashing.  It is has been a long, long time since I used solid white in a quilt!  I started steroid treatments for my eyes this week. and I am wondering just how much this optic neuritis is effecting my fabric choices.

For instance I know that this fabric is green and pink....it is the background and borders for my guild's next donation quilt.

Unfortunately I just see shades of muddy greenish gray....it sort of makes my "queezy" because my mind tells me one thing but my eyes something else.

Now this fabric I can see.....

I need to make a bag out of this to carry my stuff to the IV clinic....

Carnival Corn finish

I finished the corn and beans top today.  I also finally came up  with a name - Carnival Corn.  Do you remember the popcorn that was dyed different colors and sold at the summer carnivals?  Mainly I remember pink and blue...

So what did I learn from making this quilt?  First - Trust the math.  Making a pieced border is always a bit dicey.  Every time I do it I measure and calculate repeatedly but there is always the "Hogan's Heroes" (1970's American TV Show) moment when I tell myself I'm crazy...it will never work...what was I thinking?  Then I review the math and keep on going.  It pretty much always works...(this one just needs a good pressing!)

Second...I cut out way too many pieces for almost every quilt I make.  I have enough cut out to make almost another quilt!

Third, I would finish quicker if I didn't start two more (ok, maybe three) quilts while I am working on one.  (See step two and all those leftover bits....)

Fourth, I am much more likely to finish a quilt if it never gets boxed up as a UFO and stuck in the back of the closet.  Seems pretty obvious but there are some UFO's in my closet that I really do want to finish only it takes too long to get them back out and figure out where I left off....

Enough reflection for now...got to get back to cleaning up the mess this has left on my cutting table...or maybe go play with the cats...

Blue messiness

Well our extended heat wave ended with multiple lightning storms which again played havoc with our internet, TV, phone and other electrical "stuff."  I hope that we finally have it settled but if you don't see me post for a few days you can assume we didn't.

With the internet hiatus I did get a lot of sewing done!  I am putting the final boarders on Corn and Beans...the photo is sort of close...just flip the gray and the orange.

I started another setting for the half log cabin...this is all in blues!  Much lighter and clearer blues than I usually use...liking it!

This of course set of another setting for the same block...this time it will use up one of the older fabrics in my stash....

Today I have to put aside the sewing for a bit and clean house...sigh.  We are having folks over on Friday and if I start now the dining room (which has again become my sewing room annex) will be presentable.  It is killing me because I was on such a roll!

Crayon box

The little quarter log cabin I was playing with is finished...well the top is anyways!

It was fun and very fast to stitch up.  I used a 2 1/2 inch strips to make my 2-1/2 inch half square triangles for the center blocks.  To make the diagonal really stand out I used solids for these.

Then I dipped into the basket of 1-1/2 inch strips to use for the logs...the red striped are cut 2-1/2 by 1-1/2 and 3-1/2 by 1-1/2.  The floral is cut 3-1/2 by 1-1/2 and 4-1/4 by 1-1/2.  Easy no!

 I do think if I made this again I would use larger strips...say a square that finishes at 3 and strips that finish at 1-1/2 so I'd have a 6 inch finished block instead of a 4 inch one....what is the world coming to when I feel like a 6 inch block is "large!"

I am still slogging away putting the blocks together for the corn and beans...keeping the many point in tact is a challenge.  Getting close though...and like how the border is shaping up...

Chip It

So I'm trapped indoors for yet another day...I may never trust the weatherman again!  He promised the heat wave was going to break today...now he says tomorrow...ya, and tomorrow I'll wake up and fit in a size 6 again....

I did find something very fun to play with on the computer.  Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com is using a new program by Sherwin Williams called "Chip It!" to select paint colors for her diningroom.  This program is so fun.  Basically you upload a photo and it selects paint colors from the photo.  I used a couple of photos from my favorite lighthouse and got the color palette that I already have in my livingroom!

  So I then used one of my favorite garden photos from England and got a great palette that I could use in my kitchen!  Glisten yellow...

I know many of you are already thinking...I could use this to develop a palette for my next quilt!  You could also upload you quilt photo and find a paint color for the room....

I tried it with a couple quilts and was happy to see it doesn't match the colors exactly but gives paint colors that works with the entire quilt...all an all good fun and a good tool for the next DIY project!

Reason for the seasonal fabrics

I had a few emails from quilters surprised by my fabric choices in the quilts I'm working on right now.  No, I have not abandoned using reproduction prints but during the summer I tend to use brighter or clearer colors...and it isn't just a "fashion" thing.

One of the symptoms of my MS (not that I am possessive of my MS effects many people differently) is periodic eye problems...optic neuritis.  Most of the time I have a warning that it is starting - extreme pain.  Sometimes it just sorts of slips in and the vision in my left eye gets wonky...maybe I miss a few steps on the stairs or run in to a door.  When it is "full blown" I have partial color-blindness.  For instance the bottom of this pile of red fabrics I am pretty confident about but as you move to the top it becomes very grey...even though I know it is not!  (The good news is this all either resolves on its own or I can get a steroid treatment that makes it resolve quickly...)

Heat is one of the triggers to an MS episode.  So the heat wave the past few weeks have left me pretty much housebound.  This can lead to lots of quilting.  I do hate being housebound though and even the few ventures out brought on the optic neuritis...

So I put aside some of the project I was working on (sprigs and stars, Tennessee checkerboard, and 1908 Halloween) and opted for playing in the pastel piles.  The clearer colors are easier for me to see correctly.  Also I "know" these fabrics...besides I'm doing random scrappy so it is hard to go wrong.

Most of the things I'm working on right now are just play pieces.  Blocks I was curious about trying like a solid Aunt Mary's Double Irish Chain ...yes, solids are more of challenge for me right not but it is perhaps the  best organized part of my fabric stash!

or a mixed (solids and prints) Irish Chain... 

or donation quilt for AQI that would use up some orphan blocks (I think this needs more dots...it is nod to one posted on facebook.)

Often when I am on internet blogs or other quilt sites there may be a quilt that the construction is interesting.  Drafting them can be as good for the brain as a pile of Sudoku puzzles!  If you make them in doll, baby quilt, or table runner size then it isn't a huge commitment of time or fabric to test out the blocks.

Last week I saw an antique quilt made with a quarter log cabin.  What intrigued me was the strong horizontal design.  I tried making the blocks emphasizing the horizontal even more by doing a rainbow (my DH calls it clown colors!)  The blocks are 4inches finished so it will be small.   I'm  working on an interesting border for this....

This was only a half day's work.  Not a big commitment. Should finish it today.  It has kept me busy and in the air conditioning so maybe in a few days I'll be able to work with my repro fabrics again.

Seeing double...

There is a bit of half-square triangle madness going on in my sewing room...not sure if is the the heat wave or the pile of scraps on the cutting board but I feel as if I'm seeing double.

First, I finished making the 80 Corn and Bean blocks (ok, I made 84...I'll blame my poor math skills on the heat!)  A couple days ago I posted another block that uses half square triangles that I found in the same pile of vintage quilt tops in South Carolina.  The block is called Aunt Mary's Double Irish Chain.

As I was ending up the Corn and Bean blocks I used the test blocks for the Aunt Mary's as my leader and enders.  My first test block for an Aunt Mary (on the left in the photo below) was cut from 2 inch strips...for my next trial block I went up to a 2-1/2.  I tried two different ways of putting the blocks together.  

As I laid them out they looked oddly familiar...

I placed one of the bonus Corn and Bean blocks next to it...

played around with it...

imagine that...

put the block on point and change up the coloring...

Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds this funny?  I really did think I was making a totally different block!  Makes me wonder if the woman who made the first set of quilts had a wicked sense of humor....