Can it be Wednesday already?

On Sunday, I realized it had been a while since I just finished something. And I had been doing laundry and realized just how shabby our old napkins were. So I got out my stack of prints from Angela Walter's Legacy line and a bunch of Essex linen and cut 10.5" squares.



I sewed the pieces wrong sides together, left a hole to turn through, pressed them and then topstitched around the edge, thus closing the turning hole in that process. Easy.



They are lovely and I am going to make more. Next time I think I will use 14 or 15" squares of fabric, but these are a good size as they are for every day use too.



I am also working to finish off the two slab quilts for Calgary. Cheryl gave me blocks, batting and backs for two quilts. I have pieced the blocks and finished the quilting, so all I have left to do is trimming and binding. It is crazy at my work right now but I am hoping to get these done and on their way back by Friday.



I am also still working on Sunset. You can see the improvement after the ripping out episode. I am just loving the impact of the quilting, so I hope to finish this on the weekend.

That is all I am focusing on this week in the sewing room, I should have more time next week to get back to my long list.

           

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced and The Needle and Thread Network, see you there.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers!

Best,

Leanne

Yikes, it is not always clear sailing

I took that photo this morning. That is the nice pile of thread left from ripping out about 3" of matchstick quilting in Sunset last night. It looks pretty, and I have an awesome seam ripper made by Amy's husband Mark - Amy blogs at During Quiet Time and sometimes lets folks know when Mark has made some more (in fact I just saw one still available in her etsy shop).

Last night I saw nothing pretty in this pile.



After dinner, I started on the second half of the quilting on Sunset, I turned the quilt over to sew from the opposite top to bottom as the first half so that the quilt would be less bulky in the throat of my sewing machine.

But at the end of my allotted hour of matchstick quilting, I took a good look and saw the big stretch in the piecing line caused by the change of direction of the stitching.



This end was even worse, it is the end that had become the top. You can see how the stitching pulled the piecing line down.

I should have looked closely at it sooner. I have even been discussing distortion in piecing caused by matchstickquilting on instagram with a friend so I knew this could happen. But the sewing was peaceful, the threads were pretty and I just didn't stop to look.



After trying to convince myself I did not care, I got out my seam ripper and sliced the stitched on the back, and pulled out the long threads on top. This is what it looks like when you do that.



It does not take that long, in the end, to remove all your evening's work.



And I went to bed happy to know that the stretching was all gone. My plan now is to just stitch over the pieced parts in the same direction as the rest of the quilting to date. Once I am well into the background I will change directions to make room as this quilt is about 48" wide and a lot to stuff into the throat, especially as it gets pretty stiff with all the stitching.



See, all fixed, well it is, even if the photo looks a little curved.

This bump in the road is gone, I will share what happens next. I did end up exactly where I started last night, but I also learned some lessons too, so it was not all wasted time. I hope to have some time tonight to try again.

Best,

Leanne

A mug rug and a winner

Despite all your support yesterday for seeing my seemingly never ending quilting on Sunset as she progresses, I found something new to share. I actually made this little 7.5" mug rug in October for the mug rug swap at my Modern Quilt Guild meeting but I forgot to share it here. It is another in the cycles series. The circle is a Kona aqua and the background and binding is Essex Linen.



I used one of my favourite Sweetwater text prints from the Mama Said Sew line on the back and it is matchstick quilted with a variegated blue Superior King Tut thread.



I want to make more of these and also placemats - I think that they would look so modern and crisp on my lovely wooden dining room table. I wonder if I will ever tire of making these bold and stark circles.

And congratulations to Cynthia from Cynthia Brunz Designs, who blogs at Quilting is More Fun that Housework. She is the lucky  winner of the layer cake from the Fat Quarter Shop. Thank you to the Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring the give away.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on the giveaway, I enjoyed them all but there were just too many to respond to individually.

I hope you have a great Friday. I can hardly wait for the weekend, when, in addition to a lot of day job work, I can get back to the quilting on Sunset and also finishing my small share - 2 -  of the slab quilts for Calgary.

Best,

Leanne

This and that

The quilting on Sunset is half way done. It got harder and harder to keep the lines straight as I got to the bottom edge so I left the last bit to probably just trim off. This quilt is the biggest so far in the Cycles series, about 45" x 48". The weight of the quilt from all the threads together with it's not yet washed stiffness makes it pull the fabric and add too much wobble and bump to the lines. I know, it is hard to define the right amount of wobble, but it seems I have an idea of what I want.

Oh, and we are into the long dark winter here, so sorry this is a picture with a flash taken late in the dark, cold night.

I have a few things to ask you today:


1. Do you get tired of seeing these progress shots of the same old quilt, post after post? Every time I put one on instagram, people are so supportive and nice but I am wondering if they are tired of the same stuff too. It is a problem when you are working on a slow project, there is little new to share. Do you want to see her as I continue to quilt or should I shut up already till she is done?

2. Would you make a tutorial for Q4 of the Finish - A - Long? I need a lot more tutorials that will run on my blog from January 2 - 7, 2014. You can finish it well before then and post it into my blog nice and early so it does not become a holiday burden. These tutorials are fun for everyone and a chance for your work to get a bit of different exposure here on my blog. It needs to be a new tutorial and you need to not repost it for 30 days. Let me know if you would be interested and have an idea for me to consider.

By the way, I keep seeing FAL finishes all about blogland. How are you doing with your Q4 plan?

3. Have you entered my layer cake giveaway, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop? If not, you still can, it closes tonight. So go here to enter. And do you like giveaways on my blog, and would you like more or less or are we good?

4. Have you been meeting the Canadian bloggers featured in Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada? If not, their master post is here and you can visit the province bloggers who each have different links to more bloggers, a great way to meet some of us Canadians. Also do read the Sew Sisters blog this week as they have a give away every day. And if you are new here from the Blogathon, welcome and I hope you might come back to visit again.

Thank you for your answers, and I think this qualifies as random enough to link up with Really Random Thursday at Live a Colorful Life.

Best,

Leanne

Win a layer cake, maybe?

The Fat Quarter Shop has donated a layer cake of your choice for me to give away today. You will see from the video that they have a cute new free pattern - Layer Cake Lemonade - that they have released today that uses a layer cake, so winning one would be timely. I really like Kimberly's videos by the way, it is sort of like finally meeting the person whose shop I frequent often and who is a sponsor on this blog.

You can read about the pattern and see many versions of it quilted in their blog post here. You might also have seen several designers blogging about it this morning too. The link to the pattern is here.

I have to say (and they did not ask me to say anything - the opinions are all my own) that this pattern is lovely and would be an excellent choice for:

• a beginner quilter
• using a layer cake you cannot bring yourself to cut into and love to see the prints in large pieces
• a quick and lovely last minute quilt present
• a holiday quilt which you really want but have no time to make

I am enjoying the Fat Quarter Shop's free pattern series - each one is designed to be fun, pretty and straightforward. 

** The giveaway is now closed**

So to win the layer cake, leave me one comment letting me know which one you would pick. Go here to see what they have on offer - oh and the layer cakes are all 20% off this week too. I will draw the winner on Thursday night after 9 p.m. MST using the random number generator.  If you want another entry, share this giveaway somewhere or be a follower of this blog in some way and then comment to let me know you did or do and where and how.

Please make sure I can find you if you are entering the draw. If you are a no-reply commenter, leave your email in your comment. I need to be able to contact you if you win.

I have a busy week this week at my day job. But when I am not working, I am hoping to be doing more quilting on Sunset.



It is, in fact, mostly relaxing, except for last night when a spool of thread misbehaved and made loops on the back and I had to rip out several lines. Oops. I guess it is good to check the back more often.

Best,

Leanne

Bees and Bags

It seems like a good day to catch up on showing off my bee blocks from the last couple of months in my two bees. The log cabins were for Emily who blogs at Strawberry Patch in the Modern Stitching Bee. Every time I make a log cabin block I want to drop everything and make log cabin quilts, it is still one of my favourite blocks.



The Windmill block is from the 99 Modern Blocks Book and this block was designed by Lynne at Lily's Quilts. These were for Stephanie who blogs at Spontaneous Threads in Always Bee Learning.



Stephanie asked us to leave the quadrants apart, I am not sure what layout she is planning.



The Belle Waves Blocks - free pattern here -  were for Michonne in Always Bee Learning. I love the soft colours she picked for this quilt.



The peachy pinks and the greens look so pretty together.



These Scrappy Low Volume Stars are for Jennie who blogs at Clover and Violet, for the Modern Stitching Bee and I have to get them in the mail tomorrow. Jennie has a tutorial for this block here.



This block went together so fast, I used some of the low volume charms I had from a swap so it was even faster.



I have been making gift bags too. I used Jeni's Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern, which is here and her free tutorial for one of the sizes is here. This one used some Heather Ross fabrics (I forget the name of these cuties) with some Posy by Aneela Hooey inside.



I warn you, this pattern is so easy and the resulting bags are so lovely.  I will be making a lot more.



I love those Anna Maria Horner feathers on linen and there is an Amy Butler print inside.



This last one used Aspen Forest (by Basic Grey) snowpeople with some Grunge aqua  and was for the gift bag swap at my Modern Quilt Guild.

By the way, I registered for the Modern Quilt Guild's Nashville Sew Down in April, and I am very excited to be going - we get to go to Anna Maria Horner's house, seriously we do. And I will get to take a class from her, and some other amazing modern quilters too.

One last thing, I don't often confess to fabric purchases, but last night I saw this Downton Abbey bundle at the Fat Quarter Shop after seeing it posted here by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts, and I remembered this 20% off at the Fat Quarter Shop discount coupon at Fat Quarterly, and well, the bundle is on the way. Yup, a half yard of all 37 prints.

I will be shovelling more snow today, the storm has passed it seems, but not without leaving more snow last night. The snow, together with the return of the winter dark nights - we have sunset at 4:33 p.m. today - has made it clear that winter is here to stay. At least it is pretty.

Best,

Leanne

PS Amazon Links are affiliated links.

WIP Wednesday

Here is my latest project, Sunset. This is another cycles quilt - clearly this cycles thing has become a series for me. That picture is just before the pins when in when I basted her. In that moment the quilt is perfectly smooth.

She is about 46" x 48" with circles that are about 10.5" in diameter. The fabrics are Kona colours, greys and the background is Kona charcoal.



This is the first set of borders I put on. I did not have a lot of charcoal handy and let the amount of fabric dictate my choices. The next day I took them off and made the background much bigger. I can only say that I went with what felt right in terms of size, but I like it better now.



Matchstick quilting has begun. I am quilting horizontal lines with many red/orange/pink threads, changing them out when I feel like it. Again, about 8 - 10 wobbly lines per inch.



I follow the lines in the piecing and then mark a line with my hera marker about every 2" so that I don't start to tip to one side as I go. But mostly I eyeball it.



My thought is to carry the sunset across the background with the threads and the threads will also change the colours of the circles some. In Cycles 2, I used threads that were like the background and which muted the colours of the circles. So this one is similar but not the same.

I will be quilting for a while - I can manage about an hour a day of this, maybe 3-5" depending on the number of interruptions, bobbin changes, and such, before my back tells me it is time for a rest. I tend to hunch over to see better due to the closeness of the lines I guess.

Beyond playing with colour and matchstick quilting, these cycles projects are, for me, all about simplicity of image, colour, style. They are an experiment in modern quilting that is reminiscent of some types of modern art. It is a struggle for me to not add more complexity and leave it at this. This seems to be a part of the modern style that I am developing as my own.



Then there is the pickle dish project.  I think that a double wedding ring variation quilt has got to be about as traditional as they get.



And gosh, appliqué, that is pretty traditional too. You can see that I am learning how, and here I am showing you my best work so far. I have 196 more appliqué eyes to do, but I am picking up speed, honest. This is my other major work in progress for the next while.

These two projects are making me wonder about my "style" and do I even have one yet. A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll? Or just scattered? One day maybe I will figure it out.

Other projects on the WIP list are:

• 2 Slab Quilts for the Calgary flood project that Cheryl Arkison at Dining Room Empire is heading up - I am piecing blocks and finishing the quilts. I actually got to pick up blocks, backing and batting from her in person last weekend.
• Shower party prize for the online baby shower for Sarah at Narcoleptic in a Cupboard - I have an idea, just need to make it. Oh, and I got my shower present in the mail today, which should be in time for the shower.
• Placemats - urgently required (and in case you did not know this, don't put the pizza box on the beautiful wooden table, just saying...)
• Stuff from my FAL list - I am afraid to look at the list right now.
• Catch this blog up showing off  some other finishes, some beautiful things people have sent me and such.
• Start thinking about the holidays - Yikes!

           

I will link to Lee at Freshly Pieced and The Needle and Thread Network, see you there.

Best,

Leanne

Remembrance Day, 11 - 11 - 2013

Picture by Ian Britton, from FreePhoto.com

Remember

Best,

Leanne

ps, there is a lovely picture of poppies but it is not showing up in all the readers.

Pickle dish progress

I am loving how this quilt is going to look. It is a good thing that I love it because making this quilt has been far more work that I imagined. Last night I was sewing together the 8 dish blocks. I have just two to go and I will have all 25 blocks put together. The block is a 20" square.

The quilt will be king size, 5 blocks by 5 blocks or 100" x 100". I have to decide if I will add a border at the end, to add a few extra inches for more to hang over the sides.



That is the stack of two dish units that I was working on this week - I made these units and then pieced the blocks. These units are 10" square.

Each of these blocks has 20 coloured fabrics and two background pieces and 22 seams. To sew the larger block together that is 2 more seams, so 24 seams times 25 blocks, or 600 seams, before you add the eyes or put the blocks together. No wonder this quilt is taking a long while.



I am going to appliqué the eyes in. The pattern I am roughly following from the book Quilt Romance by K. Fassett instructed one to piece the eyes in as you pieced the 2 dish units together. But I could not manage that nicely without hand sewing them and I figured I would rather appliqué if I was hand sewing.

I did use my no pin method of sewing curves (here is the link to my post with the video) for adding the backgrounds to the dish units. I was able to chain piece them, which was good as there were 200 dish units to add background to.



A close up shows that I am not bad at the appliqué but there is substantial room for improvement. I have 100 to do so hopefully that will be enough to perfect this technique.

I left the paper piecing papers on the dish units. I did pull of the parts of the paper that would have fallen in the seams as I joined the blocks, which made putting the blocks together a bit slower than usual. But since these blocks are full of bias edges and I will be handling them a lot to appliqué, I have kept the papers in to protect it all from too much stretching. It also gives me a nice flat surface to appliqué onto.

Photos, however, will show the appearance of some puffiness in the background but that will all disappear when the papers are finally removed. By the way, I know this from experience, remember when Shine looked like a fried egg?



I quickly re-learned to appliqué by reading up on it in Sarah Fielke's book Hand Quilted with Love and by watching her great video which is on Youtube here. It is worth a look, it is only a couple of minutes and shows a great method for achieving nicely curved edges for the appliqué.

I have a fairly good idea as to how I would like to see this quilt quilted but I don't think I will be able to do that on my home machine because it is just too big. I am debating, should I go and learn how to long arm quilt at the local studio and rent time on a machine to quilt it, or should I chicken out and send it to a pro?

There has been some other sewing going on here, but I will show that later, hopefully tomorrow. You can always follow me on instagram if you cannot wait to see.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day in Canada and is a day off for many, including me.

Best,

Leanne

ps. Amazon links are affiliated links.