scrap play

Scraps.  Lots of small scraps. 
Postage stamp sized little pieces of fabric... 
one inch finished little squares!
I've had this style of quilt on my 'someday list'
for almost as long as I can remember. lol

So when this quilt:

in this book:

was mentioned at the Fall quilt retreat...
well, I was hooked.  
But I wasn't the only one enthralled.  
There were handfuls of us that needed to do this quilt!
There was a movement of sorts. LOL
We all ordered or purchased books.  
We stocked our fabric stashes with setting fabric.
A facebook group was started for stamp-sized-fabric-minded quilters 
(Thank you Rosemary Youngs!!).


After Christmas, I started gathering scraps.
My scraps,

Scraps sent to me by friends:

Thank you Wendy! Constant Quilter blog

The pattern calls for width-of-fabric strips.  

I decided I'd like my quilt to be a little more scrappy, 

so I cut the equivalent of only quarter WOF pieces.  

Equaling a whole lot of scrap play!!!

And here are some of my strip sets:

There are many more strip sets, but that's a good representation.

I'm finding so many old favorite fabrics in working on this quilt,
and a great way to spend some of my leisure time.
Which is where I'll be this afternoon!

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you are having a wonderful week, too!!

wedding quilt gift finished

So only after 4 years - I have a wedding quilt ready to gift!!
YAY, me!

It's a big one!, and I love it.  It will be hard to gift, that's for sure.
I gave the wedding couple the choice of colors, and design.  
They chose the Ohio Star (like the one I'd made for the groom's sister's wedding quilt), but I didn't hear their color decision for a couple of years.
Then I took my time making it -
so now, for their fourth anniversary,
it's a finish!

I used fabrics from my stash, mainly from the lines of 
Kathy Schmidt - Piecemakers,
Laundry Basket Quilts - Snow Bird, and
Minick & Simpson - Lexington

The pattern I used is from an older book -
40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts by Evelyn Sloppy.
It's a great book, and well worth the original price.
Now it's available (through Amazon and others) for ridiculously low prices.
I've used many patterns over and over from this book, and
each has been a wonderful finish.
Definitely worth adding to your library!

Times are a-changing...flowers in the snow

With the time change here in Ohio this weekend,
there comes to me, not just a 'spring forward' on the clock,
but a change in perspective, too...

Whilst there is still snow covering the landscape,
drifted high against the wrought iron fence that is my rose trellis,
I feel that there is the warmth of Spring coming:

Snow drops, a rambling rose (or three), daffodils and tulips,
fruit ready to bloom and birds ready to chirp...
all kinds of signs of the Spring-to-come in the melting snow:

Winter IS slowly melting away, and though I don't have the hanging-sleeve stitched down to the backing, I feel that I've a finish for the coming season.

 Even the local wildlife came to inspect,

when they saw flowers in the snowy garden:

Our Flower Garden: a Hot Pad Quilt

The backing fabric was the main inspiration for my design...

 isn't it gorgeous??

I just fell in love with the 
faded pink and coral colors of the large floral print, 
which then made me think 

I NEEDED TO MAKE A QUILT FOR. THIS. FABRIC. !!

So, with the fabric of Rouenneries by French General in my mind,
for my own pattern design, 
I took inspiration from both
the blocks of an 1850's New York album quilt,
and the block setting style of Sally Post in her 1854 New York quilt
(Sally Post quilt pattern available from Gay of Sentimental Stitches) .
I came up with my own garden of faded, pink flowers, 
finished in the Hot Pad method used in Civil War times, 
and it all started because of that WONDERFUL French General floral!!

I designed the four-part pattern (of three blocks each) for this quilt
for a beginner's four-month quilting class,
The first two classes were methods of applique,
followed by accurate piecing techniques, and finally
with the finishing method in the Civil War Hot Pad method 
(The Hot Pad method is finishing each block individually, 
including binding, then whip-stitching the finished little quilts together).
The gals in the class were so taken with 
the finished little quilts of the Hot Pad method,
that I designed a fifth, bonus pattern (of four blocks) 
so they'd end with 16 blocks.
Each block measures about 14 inches,
so this sixteen block finish is 56 inches square.  
I designed it so that if the student wanted to make a queen quilt, 
they could make each block of the pattern
(in different colorways) twice plus 4 blocks, to end with a 96-inch finish
(or make the pattern three times, plus one block,  and end with a king-sized, 112-inch quilt).

If feels good to have the last of the stitches 
in this quilt as the time changes.
Springing forward, 
flowers in the snow!

Thanks for visiting, and
Happy Stitching!!

It's a wrap - a double wrap!

Challenge accepted,

and conquered! - 

the commission quilt project that I've taken on-

that's to be a Christmas gift-
is finished! 

As in, It's A Wrap!!! 

I ordered fabrics & prepped my quilting area.
The ordered fabrics arrived on the 12th,
and I was a sewing 'machine' - rotary cutting, sewing, pressing, quilting.
A fast motion blur. :)
Last night, the 23rd, I took the last binding stitch.
And it's being picked up this morning.
So it's a wrap!

And then I wrapped...
gifts that is.

My traditional, family Christmas Eve dinner party is tonight, 
so now I'm off to the kitchen.
Hope your plans are running smoothly
and your wrapping is, well, close to being a wrap.

Merry Christmas Eve!

pedal to the metal -

it's getting close to Christmas!

I've be working (frantically, it seems) on the commissioned quilt that will be a gift.
I had the machine cleaned, bobbins filled and a new blade in the rotary cutter when this arrived in my mail box:

Quarter-yard cuts of 'Irish', 
the top white dot for setting fabric,
and the bottom green, little stripe for backing.  

I ordered this green stash from Fabric Shack of Waynesville, Ohio, 
which is a couple of hours drive from me.  
I ordered after their closing on Wednesday 
and I had it on my cutting mat on FRIDAY by noon!
And, they only charged half of the shipping amount!!!  

So, thanks to the wonderful customer service from Fabric Shack, 
I was able to start almost immediately!
I cut 2 1/2 by 10 1/2 inch strips from each fabric, 
and sewed them into fours THAT DAY:

Trimmed, then sub-cut into strips and ready to make 16-patch blocks!:

By Saturday afternoon, all 32 of the 16-patch blocks 

and the start of the X-blocks made:

So I feel like it's a great start!

Yesterday afternoon, we did the family tree-trek:

 


It was a great day - partly sunny and about 45 degrees.

The little guys are here today, playing while mommy and daddy are shopping.
So no sewing on the gift-y quilt or decorating the tree, but we sure are having fun!!
And pedal back to the metal tonight.

Hope your Monday is wonderful, too!

my story and sticking with it

I have a wedding quilt gift to make.
The wedding was a few years ago, so, yes, it's due.
I awaited the color choice of the wedding couple before I got started.
Their answer was:  'Neutrals.  Maybe with some blue?'
My question back was which color of blue?
Marine? Baby? Navy? Aqua? Turquoise?, etc...

Finally, working with/talking through their momma, 
I got the answer: 
'Navy?'

So, after three+ years of awaiting answers
 (: That's my story and I'm sticking with it! :),
I've chosen some fabrics:

Some from the Lexington line, some from Songbird, 
and other random pieces from my stash.
Fat quarters totalling:  3 3/4 yards light, 2 3/4 yards medium/dark, and then 1 3/4 yards dark & blues (the pattern called for red/greens for this).
This fabric accumulation has been hanging out on my table this past week...
and after seeing this photo again, I think I'll pull out the light, fifth from the left - too medium looking.  Also, the flash on the blues make them look too bright, so I may pull the blue with stars, second from right.

I'm using a pattern called Anniversary Stars, 

 from the book: 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts by Evelyn Sloppy. 
I've used more than a handful of patterns from this book, and love it.  They are quick to cut, the directions are great, with nice illustrations.
But. 
Though the quilts ARE quick cut,  
they. are. NOT. quick. to. sew. back. together.
So, this may take me a while. Longer.

I used this exact quilt pattern for this recipient's sister's wedding gift.  
And it's great for this couple, too.  Ohio Star looking for an Ohio-born couple.  The title of Anniversary Stars, great for a wedding gift I think.
I just need to find a border fabric.  Hopefully THAT won't take me another year.

destination Destin & happy tears

Whomever said that a destination wedding
is less tiring, or is less work is totally WRONG!
After a wedding week away,
I need a vacation! lol

With multiple carloads of needed stuff,

and a 15+ hour drive down to Destin, Florida, 
my Sonny-boy tied the knot!
So excited for both him and his new bride!

Sonny-boy has always been a contrary child,
so when he fell in love,
got engaged,
had a baby,
had another baby,
then got married,
I was only a little surprised.

I've had 4 years (since engagement) 
to think about his wedding quilt,
and for this contrary child, 
I wanted to make a wedding quilt that was a little different...
a contrary signature quilt.
So I had Sonny-boy draw his 
true love's initials and a heart 
(like the time-honored tradition of carving into a tree).
I then quilted through his drawn paper, 
and used three colors of thread to carve/thread-trace it onto the quilt top,
and added some 'bark' lines to complete the quilting.

I finished binding it on the condo balcony the evening of arrival in Destin:

(It's not as dark brown as it looks in this picture.)

 And though the quilt was not pressed in the above picture, 

I think you can see the 'bark' quilting lines.

I think it turned out with just the right amount of contrary.
I provided black pens for the wedding guests to use to sign their sentiments,
and there are now signatures and well wishes written all around his 'carved' heart. 

Introducing the new Mr. and Mrs....
my sonny-boy and his beautiful family:

Beautiful, just beautiful...
The ceremony, the families, the weather, the unplanned three doves that did a fly-through after the kiss (which I believe are family members in heaven approving of this union), the  pink sunset and then the full super moon that arrived for the reception. 

Happy tears were shed. 

ahead of the game

I am the just-under-the-wire type of gal...

Instead of acknowledging that I procrastinate,

I tell myself that I work better under pressure

(insert big smile here).

So, by the 2nd of July,

I had sewn my blocks for the Quilt Doodle Doodles 

JULY Block of the Month! 

'Toasty Mugs' by Mylifeisastitch.blogspot

 

This month's finish in the first week of the month?

Unusual for me, I know.

I think it was because I had just finished (TWO days before)

the previous month's block (see? procrastination!),

still had all the fabrics on my sewing desk, 

and was on the *miniature 'roll'.

*Miniaturized because I can not follow a pattern

(I also acknowledge that I have that problem -which I call tweaking, but that's another story).

So for this BOM, 

I've tweaked half-sized the pattern.

Well, I've cut my strips at 11/4 inch - 

 half the size of the original 21/2 inch strips

Which is not really half-sized, if you know what I mean, 

as my blocks finish at 3/4 of an inch not an inch.

I did the cup handles by making scrappy quarter-inch bias

and pinned them into shape then starched them:

I pinned and machine stitched the raw edges into the block seams, 

then hand-whip-stitched them down to the blocks.

I added wool 'steam' to the mugs, and will use Valdani floss to applique.

It's another cute block, for sure.

Thanks, Cindy of Quilt Doodle Doodles!!

Happy

Independence Day!

mylifeisastitch.blogspot.com
wool on wool pillow, my design,
cotton backing

Here in the United States we celebrate

the country's Independence on the

4th of July.

 

Family, friends, laughter, cheer.

 

Hope your day is full of happiness, too!

Quilt Crackers, of the patriotic sort

I recently needed a wedding shower gift and
could not think of a single quilt pattern that
was 1) fitting for the bride-to-be, and 2) quick.
(Oh, I knew the shower was coming, and I could have made this gift eons ago,
but I like to think I work better under pressure :)

SO, me being me, and on the perpetual time-crunch,
I remembered that I had recently come across
the block pattern called Crackers
from the early 1900's, that I just loved.
Though the 'cracker' reference is probably
from the staple of flour-crackers sent to soldiers during wartime,
I liked the patriotic spin of 'firecracker'
so I made the vintage block in red, white, & blue.

Here's the finish, ready to head to the shower:

The table topper, unfurled:

It measured about 34" by 42" after washing.

the 'Crackers' block

I quilted with a variegated (King Tut) red/white/blue thread
on my Sashiko machine.

and here's the back:

(I always like to look at the quilting from the back of a quilt.
Do you also?)

Here's my pattern for

my Patriotic Firecrackers:

2 1/2 inch by 6 1/2 inch strips, and

5 inch squares cut in half diagonally for the corners (these are a little over-sized for squaring up).

(I do pre-starch (Best Press-unscented is my fav!) all my fabric pieces that are going to be cut on the bias, so there is less stretch apt to happen when piecing.)

I made my blocks all from scraps, with about 15 different cream fabrics and 12 or so each of the blue and red fabrics.  Though scrappy, I did still keep each block of the red/cream strip-sets with blue corners, and all the blue/cream strip-sets with red corners.  I think if you wanted, you could really mix it up and have a beauty of a quilt.
Pretty, simple, and a great stash-buster!!

I LOVE how it turned out, 
and so did the Bride-to-be.
Now I want to make another for myself!
Maybe I can squeeze it in right before the wedding quilt?? :)

Happy Stitching!

third time may be the charm

YAY! After lugging this project around to two different retreats,

I finally have a block! 

One of twenty blocks

One inch finished squares in the center...

two inch finished outside HSTs...

Twenty of these blocks needed.

 

Besides the above finished block,

here's a pic of my 'work' from this retreat:

Sewn and ready to half, press and trim on the bottom left.

Trimmings at the back.

Trimmed blocks on the bottom right.

 

Problem?

That is only ONE THIRD of the needed HST blocks needed for this.

That's why I'm thinking

that the third retreat may be the charm

for this quilt project!

another day, another unstitch

It was a good, late afternoon...
I'd been stitching away on my Ides of March quilt blocks...
aka Good Night Irene  (from Terry's Sew Along).
I had all 31 of the 16-patch blocks done
plus all 31 of the X-blocks done!
So, I started on my border pieces and

made 36 of these:

See how nice they look?  Ready to sew into pairs!

Hold your horses, or whatever you hold when something just doesn't look right...

Maybe I was working too long, or too late...

because after they were

all made,

and trimmed,

and pressed,

I realized that I really needed
36 pieces with
ONLY ONE CORNER OF GREEN 

so I could make 18 of these:

And because of limited fabric
 (I was using the 'found' stack of ten inch squares)

I had to unstitch all of these half-square triangles:

so I could re-stitch them.
And re-stitch them I did! 
Right then!
Before I called it a night.

Here they are - re-done, ready to trim and press:

But wait, OK, now I know it's time for bed!
Notice the block on the right compared to the blocks on the left:

What you don't want is the one on the right!

What would be left if you trimmed off that flip-y corner?

Not a square!!

Glad I only sewed ONE of those 36 triangles

back on the wrong way.

 

Tomorrow afternoon,

after I check and double-check all of my late-night-sewn blocks,

I plan on sewing all the blocks together.

Hopefully there are no more problem blocks, as 

I want to get this quilt finished for the Ides of March

so it can live up to it's name!

 

Good Night (Irene)!

end of October fun...

A little rain.
Then some freezing temps,
along with some sleet and snow blowing through the fallen leaves.
Seems like Winter is trying to sneak into late October.
Fun, huh?!?
But I'm not ready for that yet!

I have a little Halloween-y quilt finish to share first:

This little quilt finished 17" by 24"

and I used the disappearing nine patch block method

with a little charm pack of 2 1/2 inch squares. 

These little pre-cuts/charms were from the fabric line BooCrew.

The inner border was an orange scrap from Honey and Me fabrics with little pumpkins.  Outer border is also BooCrew.  The binding was a Lynette Anderson print - kind of a purplish-gray with little web-dangling spiders - too cute! 

I quilted it by hand in a big, freehand spider web design. 

I quilted it using the Utility Stitch (or big stitch) with a ball of

Valdani variegated thread - size 12, color O540.

I love Valdani threads!!! 

Color O540 is a black and green variegate

and just the perfect color for this little mat.

It took longer to finish than I had anticipated because I decided to hand-quilt it. 
But turned out really cute, I think, so totally worth the extra time.

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures,
but I took it outside to photograph. 
The slanting, late October sun and dry leaves tell the story of Autumn in Ohio.

That's some of my end of October fun!
What's happening in your part of the world?

more meandering aka quilting

Jean made this great table topper:

and I got to quilt it!

She did a wonderful job - no splaying corners in her log house :).

It finished about 42 inches square

and I used the Sashiko machine to quilt

each "log" in the cabin and the two borders. 

This is the quilt pattern and kit that made me think I needed this particular quilt for my bed/size and made to summer weight.  Hasn't happened yet, but it's still in the back of my mind.  AND I certainly have the stash to use, so it may just happen yet.

Valentine's week and I hope NOT a precursor

I'm still feeling like I'm in hibernation mode
from when my electricity was out last week.

Though the electricity was back on late that same evening,
I left many "things" off and enjoyed the quiet-
listening to the roaring fire in the wood stove and stitching away.

I did some relaxing hand stitching...

yes, hand-stitching IS relaxing to me.

I worked on:

my Lucy Boston honeycombs,

did some needle-turn applique on My Sally Post Garden blocks,

and put the binding on this little table quilt:

It finished 21 inches square, and is made of dark pinks and light reds scraps, with a little red/pink/checked binding.
As I had already had it put together, layered and quilted on the Sashiko machine before the power was out, I just had some hand-binding work to do.  (PS, I LOVE that Sashiko machine.)

But, I seem to have a reoccurring theme here...
now that I have taken the photo of it "finished",
I see that I don't have all of the quilting done!!!
The second diagonal quilting line within the heart (top, left)

is missing!!!

Aaakkk!!!  Just like my Snowy Days (last post) that I "finished" last year!!
Not really finished after all!!

Sure hope that even though
that's how the last couple of pics
I've shown as finishes-not-really-finished have been,

it's not a precursor

to how things are going to be

around here this year! :)

Guess I'll have to get on that, won't I?

Finished or not,
Happy Valentine's Week!

liberation

I was recently  commissioned to make quilt

AND then to quilt it.

The "making part" was quite a change from the usual for me.

I know... I make quilts all the time.

Quilts that I want to make or give.

But this time, it was different...

The request came from a non-quilter,

and there was no pattern,

just the idea of starting with some signature blocks...

I started by telling her the process of

getting good signature blocks,

then making suggestions about color choices,

 possible layouts and

 the amount of fabrics needed.

I guess I've been quilting long enough

 to guess-timate

the required "stuff"

needed to make a queen-sized quilt.

Even if there's not a pattern to follow!

Here's a pic of the finish:

There was just enough fabric left

to make a

storage pillow case

to gift along with the quilt:

I hope she will love it.

And, I hope the recipient will love it too.

Anyway, the whole process

of starting with a

"blank quilting slate"

was liberating.

I guess that I don't do that often enough anymore.

 Start with no pattern that is.

Changes to the pattern, yes, always! :)

And the Storage Case?
I almost always make one for the gift recipient.
I've found that it's really appreciated.
I figure,
if there is ever the need for some
"repair" fabric, it could always be taken for the storage case.