Arrrrgh

 Almost forgot again. Why do I keep thinking Monday night is Sunday? Especially when there are so many things that I have to take care of during the day on Mondays...you'd think the day would stick in my brain into the night.

Not too much exciting this past week other than it was busy with non-quilting related things (like an invasion of ants).

I did add borders to these...

The panel turned out cuter than I thought it would. I'm really glad I went with the blue inner border first. It really brightens the panel colors.

This block was on either the guild or QFK free table. I added borders and loaded it on the frame. Haven't gotten much further as I'm having tension issues and haven't taken the time to fuss with it yet.

I did a quick quilting job on this QFK sandwich.

I did scrap the Project Quilting Follow the Arrow challenge. The red and blue blocks are already in the orphan block bin, and I've pulled new fabrics to go with the animal print that I think with work better.

I decided to start a new project that I've been wanting to work on for a while. The pattern is Wind Drifter by Robin Pickens.

I'm doing a darker version like the picture shown. The prints are Australian fabrics that Donna gave me a few years ago. The black dandelion print will be the background.

The Arrrgh is because I screwed up the cutting tonight - twice. Luckily, I had more fat quarters to pull into the group. Just peeved. My own fault for not paying attention and not following the pattern instructions.

FYI, I've noticed that all my comments are coming in as no-reply blogger. I think it is a Blogspot issue not how either you or I have configured anything. If I can't respond to your emailed comment, I'll respond to your posted comment. I really do appreciate your leaving comments.

Yikes and more Yikes

 
Yikes, I went to turn off my laptop at 12:45 a.m. and realized I forgot to do my Monday post. More on why in a minute.

I decided to load another small quilt onto the quilt frame.  This was made in February 2023. 

Simple grid lines that took no time to quilt on the frame.

Then I chased a squirrel and made another March themed wall hanging.

Loaded on the frame and testing thread colors.

The shamrock is a free tutorial pattern from Lake Girl Quilts. I made it with a fat quarter ombre green I found when I was searching for fabric for another project. 

The colors are little dark in the picture. This was an easy, quick, fun project. 

A new Project Quilting challenge was released on Sunday. This is where the second "yikes" comes in. The challenge was Follow Your Arrow.  

Okay, after thinking about it for a bit I had an idea. Sunday, I found a pattern, pulled the fabric and cut everything out. Yesterday I started sewing. After a few interruptions during the day, I had enough blocks made to start laying it out on my design wall.

Ewwww. Neither the red and blue blocks or the design looked good with the animal print. I tried at least six other prints and a couple of different layouts and didn't like any of them. I stopped at 12:44 a.m. - see first "yikes" above.

This morning I decided that everything was going into the scrap bins and something would be made with them another day. Now I need to decide if I'm going to skip this week's challenge or make something else. I'll do that tomorrow.
 

Not Much New or Exciting

 Not much going on this past week. I did finish my Project Quilting birthstone challenge...barely. Scroll down to my last post.  I wasn't overly motivated and almost decided not to do it...but I already cut everything out and had it partially sewn. I didn't want another UFO.

I think this is the second time I've loaded a small project on my quilt frame.

I don't know why I don't do it more often (I have lots of little things that need quilted). It is actually quicker to load a small project than pin baste it. 

I forgot how much I like using my rulers. It took about 10 minutes to quilt each item.

Yesterday I did a major clean up of my sewing room. Cleaned up / picked up all the mess from the last few projects I've finish then vacuumed everything in sight. I also prepped (cut out borders and binding) a couple of small projects that I'll work on this week.

Today I finished sewing pieces and parts of flannel into another future back (no picture). I also put together a new chair.

Yes, I put the arms on backwards. I don't use them so I may not fix them. This thing is so comfortable. I haven't decided if it will be my sewing chair or my desk chair...or as Stephanie suggested buy another so I don't have to decide.

Project Quilting 16.4 Birthstone

 One of my birthstones is alexandrite.  The other is pearl. Stephanie told me your birthstone can also be determined by zodiac sign and month, which would have allowed me to use just about any gem color I wanted. I decided to stick with alexandrite. 

The stone's color can vary based on lighting. The few I've ever seen were small, man-made and VERY expensive. Mine are also small, woman-made and were very cheap to make (stash + scraps = free). 

The stone can be blue-green during the day and purple-red at night. I tried to give them gem shapes, but I think they look more like Easter eggs to me.

So, I put my mom's rock egg basket on top of one. Now I'm ready for the holiday two months early instead of six months late.

Check out all the other creative gems here.

Does it Fit?

 I adore this quilt. It is so incredibly soft. I have the binding almost done...

I've forgotten how much I like hand sewing binding. It's going to be a gift, but I may have to keep it a while so I can pet it more.

I also adore the texture this pantograph pattern creates.

I didn't take a picture of the finished puzzle, but I did take a picture of Bella in the empty box.

You know how it goes "if I fits, I sits".

Speaking of does it fit...this week's Project Quilting challenge is birthstone. My birthday is in June - which is alexandrite, which is very rare and very expense, and pearl. Alexandrite's change colors depending on the lighting. Daylight they can be blue-green; nighttime purple-red. While normally white or cream and round, pearls come in a large assortment of colors and shapes.

I'm stretching it big time by saying the center of these little table toppers are "pearls" and the outside is "faceted alexandrite".  Or maybe they are funny looking Easter eggs?

 I think I've already made and finished more quilts this year than I did in all of last year. Last year I primarily quilted tops others made.

I have the flannel quilt half loaded onto the quilt frame. Now I'm trying to decide on thread.

I don't have a large selection of thread colors. I think this dark brown works best. The back is a medium gray, so hopefully the brown won't peek through too much.

Then I will have to load my latest finish.

My oldest UFO is now a quilt top. Not my favorite layout, but it works and it's made. The binding is made and I think I have a fabric that will work for the back. I'll just have to stare at it a while to figure how I'm going to quilt it.

I haven't been sleeping great lately, I think it's the time of year, so I've been working on this late at night.

Having large cutting mats to cover the puzzle is perfect protection from Bella.

Project Quilting 16.3 Common Blocks

Rule one of this week's challenge was: You must incorporate three (3) common blocks in your project. I originally thought three of the same block when I read the challenge description.

Then I started second guessing myself. But I had already cut everything out. So I turned the half square triangles into three different common blocks: pinwheels, broken dishes, and flying geese.

The quilt is a variation of Happy Go Lucky from Quick'n Easy 3-Yard Quilts. The fabrics had selvage dates of 1999 and 2000! The back is the same fabric as the front, and I still had almost a yard left over.

Hello February

 Well, historically Punxsutawney Phil may not be very accurate, but I think he hit the nail on the head this year. We got about five inches of snow today.

Very wet snow. The kids across the street tried to sled down the road. It looked more like they were swimming on paddle boards as they pushed themselves down the road. Looked like they were having fun. The guy who got his truck stuck while slip sliding up the road did not look like he was having fun.

I worked on more miscellaneous stuff last week. 

Last year I threw my UFO list out the window. I don't think I worked on any of them. These three blocks and the coordinating fabric have been on my UFO list for the last five years with zero progress made. 

I finally had some inspiration on a quilt design using them. Stand on your head, this is actually upside down. The "bricks" are actually stacked 5 inch squares. I probably won't be able to sew it together until next week.

I loaded, quilted and added the binding to another two fabric donation quilt.

And added binding to two guild community service quilts (no picture).

This week I'll be focusing on Project Quilting 16.3 challenge: Common Blocks. We are supposed to make something with at least three common blocks - I don't know if this means three different common blocks or if we can use 3 (or more) of the same block.

I'm going very common...half square triangles.

Above is the pattern and fabrics I'm using. Some of the oldest fabrics in my stash. The pattern is from one of the 3-Yard Quilts books by Fabric Cafe'

Everything is cut. The half square triangles are made and trimmed. As a CYA, I'm going to make one row of pinwheels, one row of broken dishes, and probably one row of square in a square blocks.

Miscellaneous

 While it may seem like I've only been working on the Project Quilting challenges since the beginning of the year I haven't. There is a week between each challenge. During that time, I've been trying to get a few little things done. 

Like...

Piecing odd leftover backing flannel strips into new quilt backs. This is my third one. I have at least three more to go.

Don't faint! I've been making Aunt Daisy blocks. This is four out of five that are made...eleven more to go. I've made the executive decision that I'm going to make a queen size quilt using twelve blocks and a lap size with a pieced border using four blocks.

I quilted and donated another quilt top. 

And I have sorted through my fabric bundles and donated a lot to the guild boutique. A lot! The bin was full of flannel pinwheel blocks and HST flannel blocks - Angela brought them up last October. It went to our guild community service coordinator.

Little things but it sure feels good to have them done.

Project Quilting 16.2 Ombre'

 
I haven't made and finished a quilt in ages, much less making and finishing a quilt in less than a week.

You can see all of the PQ 16.2 submissions here. Here is my finished Ombre' quilt.

I put a soft blue flannel on the back.

I'm really happy that I got to use up some very old fabrics in my stash.

I'm not very happy at some of the ridiculously rookie mistakes I've been making lately. I don't know what I was thinking when I pieced the back.

I had to cut away the batting to make sure I wasn't hitting the leader pins.

I don't recommend playing backing chicken.

What to do?

 The new Project Quilting challenge is Ombre. Okay...my two rules, must be easy to make and must use stash. I have two ombre fabrics in my stash... a yard of a pink (not enough) and 1.5 yards of blue (might be able to work with this.

I've had this Villa Rosa pattern for a while and have been wanting to make it for ages. It calls for two yards, I only have 1.5 yards. So, I took a bit of creative license. I'm only making the center and turning it 45 degrees.

This pattern is really easy and fast to make. The top was cut and made in a little over 24 hours - maybe 6 hours total cutting and sewing time.

I'm going to donate the quilt...so, should I add borders and make it wider - 52 x 59?

Or leave it as is - 45 x 59?

I like them both.

FYI, when you fudge up and quilt the binding selvage to the back of your quilt.

Turn it into a label. Hehehehehe

User Error

 In my former work life one of the things I did on a regular basis was provide application tech support. I'd say 98% of the time the problem was not the application but user error. I never (rarely) told the user they screwed up - I told them it was a learning opportunity or that the user guide or tutorial videos were not very clear...I wrote and produced both.

In my case, I definitely screwed up.

In preparation of quilting my Project Quilting challenge (see previous post), I cut the backing out, cut the binding out, dropped the feed dogs on the Juki, set the pressure foot pressure to zero and the stitch length to zero. I practiced a little bit of free motion quilting on a test sandwich, made a few adjustments to the tension and was ready to go.

I had planned on doing a little bit of echo quilting and nothing more.

First issue: The fused tips of my applique piece were started to lift up. No problem, I switched to some raw edge applique. I suck at raw edge applique.

Second issue: After getting about 2/3's of the quilting done I couldn't move the sandwich. ??  Somehow, I had gotten the binding stuck under the quilt (I originally thought I'd flipped a piece of the back under the quilt). I had caught the raw edge of the binding and jammed it into the throat plate. I had to cut a hole in the binding, then dig out the fabric and thread from the throat plate. Okay, I'm done quilting.

Third issue: In order to sew on the binding, I set the pressure foot pressure back to normal, raised the feed dog and I replaced the free motion foot with the walking foot. Got distracted by something, who knows what it was it is easily done, put the needle down into the quilt - WHAM! Broke the needle on the unattached walking foot. Replaced the needle and very securely attached the walking foot.

Fourth issue: Again, put the needle down into the quilt and pressed the foot pedal to start attaching the binding...didn't move, thread jammed up in the throat plate. ?? Cleaned everything out and tried again. Same thing. Checked the machine - feed dog are working correctly. Checked the walking foot - looks okay, re-attached it. Tried it again, same thing. 

After adding more money to the cuss jar, I moved over to the Baby Lock. I don't have a working walking foot for it (replacements are $135 - ouch!). So I very carefully sewed the binding to the front of the quilt, and even more careful stitched in the ditch on the front to attach the backside of the binding. Might of missed a few spots.

Here is the back of the quilt.

Yes, I caught the selvage edge. No, I didn't cut it out as with my luck that night I would have probably cut a hole in the back. Yes, I forgot to change the bobbin thread to black. 

Luckily the front looked good, so I wrote my post and linked it up to the Project Quilting website.

About two hours after I posted and linked my finished project it dawned on me...stitch length! I forgot to reset the stitch length from zero to two! I definitely screwed up.

 

Project Quilting 16.1 Mythical Creatures

 

I think I spent two days looking up mythical creatures before I finally selected the phoenix. I planned to a simple silhouette. I found a free clipart silhouette and thought perfect, nice and easy.

Why don't I ever stick to the plan?

First, it was making the bird from the colors of a fire, not one or two colors but ten. Then I got to think about how the phoenix rises from the ashes of fire ... so I fussy cut flames - luckily, I had the perfect fabric to use. I also used the flame fabric to bind this 11 x 11.5 inch little quilt.

I do like how he turned out. Come back on Monday and I'll tell you about all my boo-boo's making him. ;o)

Mythical Creatures

I finished the flannel quilt top.

The binding has been cut out and the back is ready to be pieced. I'd really like to finish the quilt this week but...

The first Project Quilting challenge has been released: Mythical Creatures. Yikes! I've spent the last 24 hours looking up mythical creature images. Lots of dragons, fairies, unicorns and gnomes. Stephanie said Pegasus, Angela said Dragon. I was thinking Egyptian mythology. I'm settling for something easy since it has to be finished by next Sunday.

This phoenix will be easy to make - simple raw edge applique.

My inspiration fabric and a bunch of hand dyed fabric I've had in my stash since 2000.

Wish I had brighter oranges, reds and deep rust, but this will have to do. No shopping allowed (my rule, not Project Quilting's rule).