Trying Something New

 

  Rose, from Pics & Pieces, showed a string leaf she had made that I just loved. I asked her how she made it and she posted a tutorial. You can find it here.  Here is my first attempt:

   I had so much fun making this. I have never made anything with a free form curve. Mine is a little iffy but I think it is pretty good for a first attempt. It is about 12 inches long (including the stem). I think I'm going to make two more then make a fall table runner with them. Thank you Rose!

   I finished the sports quilt. Bella's cat towers make a pretty good quilt display other than I had to add the candle stick (only thing in reach) to keep it up.

   After I took it off the frame I found the backing was just barely long enough but the last row of the quilt was so twisted it would have never laid flat - so I cut if off. If I didn't tell you'd never know. It still ends up at about 60 x 72 inches. A nice size lap quilt for a boy.

   And here's the back.

   Really soft flannels. As much of a pain as it was to quilt, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

   This is just wrong in so many ways...

   I thought it was supposed to rain all the time in Oregon!!! I am not a happy camper. Although my air conditioner is now working appropriately. My poor electric bill.

 

I'm Ready

 

   I finished the Forest Friends quilt top...

    Fussy cutting the border was much easier than fussy cutting the corner stone blocks. Why is it panel blocks are never square? I found a cute fox fabric for the back.

   I also loaded the sports quilt onto my frame.

   What a pain! First my thread kept breaking. After I changed to a different brand of black thread it worked. I stopped at the point the picture was taken yesterday, when I went back to today the machine carriage dragged. I never did figure out the cause but after about three more passes fighting the drag it started moving fine. Toward the end the quilt really sagged, I think this was due to the stretching of the flannel back (probably operator issue not stretching). THEN I ran out of backing (insert bad word here).  I swear I checked the dimensions three times. So now I'm trying to decide if I want to fix it and how. I was able to quilt it to the last row - if I cut it off there it wouldn't impact the quilt at all, other than the size. 

   All of this drama was why I was dreading loading a quilt. I think I would be much happier - even though I hate pinning - with a sit-down long arm. I'm going to quilt Forest Friends next. If I continue to have problems I'll probably take the Juki off the frame...maybe. 

   Today starts the 2020 Project Linus Mystery quilt registration. I am so looking forward to this mystery, Lucy's Love Notes, featuring a flamingo.

   Here are my past Project Linus Mystery quilts.

2016 Grace's Get Well Garden

2017 Exploring the World with Ethan (couldn't find a picture of the whole quilt)

2018 Sweet Violet’s Bakery and Confectionery

2020 Quarantine Sew Along - Side-by-Side

   I missed making last year's mystery quilt Logey Bear Leads the Way since I was in the middle of moving so I plan on sewing it along with Lucy's Love Notes. I am so looking forward to making both. 

   The patterns are very detailed with lots of tips, how-to's, and pictures. During the sew-along there is also a video for each step. These projects are perfect for a beginning quilter. There is also a very supportive Facebook group and prizes. If you would like to join in you can sign up at ProjectLinus.Org.

Garage Sale

   

   There is not much shopping in Grants Pass...Ross, Maurice, Walmart and Fred Meyers...not very exciting. There are a couple of pricey dress shops downtown but you have to be 25 years old and a size 6 to shop at them, I'm not either. For serious shopping you have to go 25+ miles into Medford to find a mall.

   So I hit garage and estate sales, thrift shops, and junk shops. I don't really need anything, but it is fun to look and sometimes I find a great deal.

   Last weekend I went to a garage sale just outside of town. The ad said sewing machines and a large like new cat condo.  Hmmm, I should check it out. She was even selling items before the actual garage sale. I email, she said come on by.

   Bella now has a new cat condo:

   She had a couple of sergers, a nice Brother sewing machine, a Brother embroidery machine that was already sold and a Singer 301 that was in mint condition - she was selling all of them crazy cheap. The Singer was tempting but I passed. She also had a lot of fabric, most of it was for clothes - dog clothes - including wool, corduroy, satin, velvet, and silk. She had some cottons and a batting.

   There was some yardage but mostly large scraps. I cut the scraps into 10 inch squares and 5, 2.5, 2, 1.5 inch strips. The fabric in the upper left corner is 100% cotton lawn, 4 metres from Liberty of London. I don't think it can be used in a quilt. It almost makes me what to try garment sewing. I'll have to see if I can find a pattern. It has been ages since I've done any garment sewing. I also got two Hawaiian prints that are almost upholstery weight. I think they will make great purses or tote bags.

   She gave me a bag full of fabric that she had cut up for dog coats. Most of the fabric had a coordinating liner. Since they are sleeves and jacket fronts and back for small dog jackets, none of the pieces are very big. I haven't decided how I'm going to cut them up. I've been wanting to make a scrappy Irish Chain quilt, maybe I'll cut  2.5 inch squares.

  

Finished quilt top

   

Thanks for your comments about the border color choices. When I finally read the pattern directions to get the border dimensions (not a part of the cutting instructions) it said cut a 1 1/2 inch light border, a 1 inch dark FLANGE, and a 1 1/2 inch medium border. Probably should have read the directions to begin with instead of going by the picture. So I threw out all of my selections and made a border as directed...problem: I tend to sew a scant 1/4 inch seam - consistently, so for the most part it is okay, however when attaching a pieced outer border even consistently is a problem. I had to add another inner border to make the pieced border fit.

After adding light border I used the black for my flange (I've never added a flange to a quilt before), red for the medium, and a dark navy for the extra border.  The finished top is about 46 inches square. While my seams may be small my star points are almost perfect! And if I didn't confess about the borders no one would have known. ;o) Now I have to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.

I recently won a fat 8th bundle of fabric and one of Pam Buda's new patterns.

I'm not a big fan of purples but these are beautiful. There isn't enough fabric to make the pattern so now I'm on a search for the perfect pattern.

I also did a little estate sale shopping this past weekend...I want to make every quilt in Civil War Legacies.

My picture doesn't do the colors in the print justice. I don't think the frame is original and I'm seriously thinking of having it matted and framed to give it more of an impact.

While I was adding borders I used the Forest Friends blocks as my leaders and enders. All the blocks are made, now I need to piece the center.

The border is a border fabric...

There is enough yardage to have the print frame the quilt. Any suggestions on how to fussy cut the border strips? The pattern didn't use this fabric for the border.

And here is a picture of my forest friend. Mama and sibling were also in the backyard but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

 

Who needs sleep...

 

...I do. I've never had trouble going to sleep in the past but lately it has been a real problem. I'm a night owl to start with so rarely go to bed before midnight. If I'm not asleep by 2 a.m. I get up and sew or read or play games on the computer. I'll go back to bed between 4 and 5 a.m. and hope I can get a couple of hours sleep. That's what happened last night (this morning). Luckily (hmmm??) it only been happening about once a week. I figured I'd better hurry up and write this post before I fall asleep on the keyboard.

I'm also posting this with the "new" blogger. We'll see how this goes.

I got all the stars made (48). It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

I'm still sewing the star border together. The pattern calls for two narrow inner borders. I'm trying to decide on which two. I'd like to tone down all the orange, so I'm lean toward the black and green on the right in the picture below.

Any thoughts?

(New blogger comments...Preview doesn't seem to be working. I get a pop-up saying it is preparing it but nothing happens. I've also had to resize the pictures as when I hit publish they were both huge and didn't fit on the page.)