With Thanks

The cat approves too. He hasn't seen a foot in a sock for months.

Elizabethsable knit these for me from yarn I brought to camp for swap last year. Imagine!

They are lovely. Many thanks!

Next?

Mailing out the quilt for machine quilting.

Next, I think, last winter's holiday placemats. And maybe a skirt. Or pants.

Baba might disapprove

Another quilt top quickly done. True, this is one of the ones which are for charity. But Baba was reported to hide the scissors on a Sunday. She might scold.

The cat Is scolding in her stead, as I iron seams.

Actually Playing on a Saturday

I am determined to use up the remaining fabric for the backing.

No one says you can't be determined while playing.

Competitive? Me?

Hot Spots

It's not news:  there is a lot of extreme unseasonable weather for this part of the summer.  Pick your place on a map:  it's either unbelievably hot or, in a few spots, unseasonably cool.

If I had to choose, I'd be in a cool spot.

However, I'm fortunate.  I don't have power outage in my living space.  My work space was shut down for a bit with power outage.  Today I'm using my office as my personal cooling center. 

In other news, my sewing machine has been the hot spot for hopping activity lately.  Made a graduation quilt for my niece*, finished at my mom's on the way to the event.  Nothing fancy - had a perky bundle of flannel purchased from a quilt shop in Iowa.  I had another plan for it, but the idea was only an idea for several years.  In the end I made nearly the same quick, big piece quilt I think they'd featured.  Tied, not quilted, but quickly loved and put to use on a very chilly graduation weekend.  

(Sorry about photo quality.  I need to get the camera back into use.  It's been awol and/or without batteries lately.)

Following that, I have been sewing some quilt tops to help with the grade school charity quilting project at the school where I volunteer. I don't usually help with that project - designed for the upper grade kids to do with the nearby senior center, the project involves the kids learning to sew, making large block quilt tops, and tying them.  The upper grade classes are currently pretty small - and the kids were kind of disappointed they didn't get many made.  New strategy, the project coordinator thought:  get some tops sewn up in advance so the kids can start tying, make progress in terms of quantity, and then start some to do beginning to end.  I totally get the excitement of having a LOT of quilts to donate.  The project coordinator was pretty clever, and she made up some quilt top "kits" to have ready at the volunteer luncheon.  I took one home, zipped it back the next week, and she promptly gave me three more.  I'm game.

And I don't mind some sewing to do while I plan the next sewing.  Witness the quilt of guilt that came out for finishing.  I knew one reason it stalled out, but I'd forgotten the other reason - I still had blocks to build.  Found a few stray triangles and squares cut out amidst the rest of the fabric.  And the fabric was AWFUL for triangles.  Way too much biasing,  I had one of the cardboard templates.  Who knows what kind of miscalculations there were in the math.  I don't know how many more I planned - probably another eight blocks, and those eight blocks inadvertently put this project on pause for YEARS.

I did the only reasonable thing.  I went for the finish line:  frames around the squares. wide sashing with contrasting blocks at the intersections, and a pair of wide borders.  I'm still contemplating one extra round of border, but I may call it quits.


On to the back.  I have nothing suitable.  I don't want to go shopping, when I have an embarassment of fabric to use.  Or at least that's what I thought until yesterday when I melted in the heat.


Looked at some of my fall purchase of blue quilt plaids I'd left here in my shop.  Not enough of them to substitute for a whole back.  I'm back to the first plan. I smell some kind of artsy finish.

I hope it isn't too odd.  It's hot.  My senses may short circuit.

*a quilt which is NOT the quilt begun when said niece was an infant..... that one went back to the back burner

Ugh. A flaw. Moving on.

Why does a flaw in the fabric surface after cutting and stitching. Why?

On to the reverse manual.
And on to piecing a section of the border, as naturally, not enough for a full piece.

That ugh also signals the path for machine quilting. Easier to camouflage that new seam....

From the Land of UFOs

A Guilt Quilt -

The blocks have been languishing for decades. Blocks are imperfect - fabric not all pure for quilt sources, and there's a bit of bias wobble and iron shrinking. (Golly, there's fuel for ignoring quilt finishing....)

Blocks were framed up with navy print two weeks ago. Sashing done this weekend. On to the borders and the backing!

Can't decide if I will tie it as was my circa late 80's plan and custom, or if I will ship it off to my former local quilt shop for machine quilting.

They may mock me. Some of those prints are lightly brushed, and there's a whack of polyester along with the cotton in those fabric blends.

Oh - the guilt part. I checked in with the friend. She'd be pleased to have it.

Some UFO's I can dispense with. This one I'll finish. The space opened up in the fabric drawer AND in the guilt pack will be amazingly free!