Star Shine and Blues-A Finally Finished At Last

My Star Shine and Blues (SSaB) quilt was finally finished this past weekend. I seem to be in a phase during the month of May with working on quilts started while I was recovering from my knee injury last October.  I'm thinking or maybe feeling after I finished the Jolly Jinny Jungle Quilt last month, the other projects from this time, are wanting to be worked on also and maybe preventing me from starting any new projects.

SSaB was started last August when I was in a mood to make a quilt with the many Cotton + Steel blues, yellows and lights in my stash which were accumulating too long in my stash.  Once again the fabric side of my memory bank finally merged with the pattern side when I realized the Hold the Pickle block which Sue of Seven Oaks Street Quilt posted in February, 2018 would be fun.  Yep, the fabric and pattern side aren't in synch but in my defense, fabric buying is done with the hope of one day finding the perfect project to  sew with it.  And when I do find a project, I like the challenge of finding the fabric in my stash rather than in the store. But then, I'm at the age when I'm beginning to forget what I bought until I happen upon it or it's thrown at me by one of those rascally Squirrels in my studio.

Flutterby (left), Red Pepper Pickle Dish by Connie (right)

I'm partial to the Pickle Dish Blocks and I loved Sue's version of a variation of the Pickle Dish Block which was to remove the Drunkard Path unit.  Back in November 2016 when I was visiting Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene (Country Threads), Connie proposed that the three of us do a Pickle Dish QAL, 'ala Red Pepper Quilts, and showed us a sample block and gave us a full-size pattern. I wasn't excited about the curved piecing and would have been more receptive if I was able to die-cut the quarter circles.  I thought by making my Flutterby Quilt would be a good substitute and once again I demonstrated my skill of being a QAL Escape Artist.

Sue's Hold the Pickle was perfect for die-cutting.  After deciding on the quilt size (60" x 72), this meant I needed thirty blocks: 15 Hold the Pickle Blocks and 15 alternate blocks which was sort of a framed four patch blocks. After much planning and deciding on which colors to use and where  (when I make another Hold the Pickle quilt, it will be just these blocks. I don't remember why I chose to do it with an alternate block but laziness may have been a factor--hard to believe, right?) I spent some time pressing, die-cutting and making a big mess (I will spare you a photo of this), I was ready to sew.

After making two of each of the blocks in September so I could test the layout, SSaB was set aside for other projects until November when I needed something I could sew in my Upstairs Sewing Room. If there's one thing that I appreciated from my accident is it's really nice to have projects which are ready to sew.  I also was very glad that the 26 blocks remaining were finally sewn together, sew many patches.

It was early February when the blocks were laid out and the top was finished.  It seems like SSaB was something I worked in stages spanning several months apart.

SSaB languished for one of the usual reasons, choosing a backing from my stash, because I'm on a fabric diet this year, which came down between a gray vertical stripe or a nice quite right blue Dear Stella print.  I decided on the Dear Stella print because sometimes you can't have it right on both sides and the one thing this print had going was that it had owls, birds and other forest creatures some of which appear on the C + S prints.  The really big hang up, though, was quilting with entire diagonal lines which I've never done before and wasn't sure how to pin baste.  It wasn't so bad after all. Once I prepped my Juki 2010 for machine quilting, much to my surprise, when I started I saw that the tension wasn't right since the quilt was puckering big time.  I ended up ripping rows several different times. Thankfully, I finally was able to figure out my tension problem and Juki might need to go in for servicing. 

I machine quilted with diagonal straight lines on the blue and yellow squares and wavy lines in between with light gray Aurifil thread. I quilted 3" apart and was easy to do by using the 3" patches as a guide.

I'm glad I decided to bind SSaB with the dark navy print since  it was needed to offset the navy prints already used in the top.  

I'm sort of regretting my idea of using navy but my thinking back then was to included all of the blues, ranging from dark blues to light periwinkle blues bordering on being a gray lilac.  I used some of these blues before in my Blue Ernie Stash Dash Quilt and I thought it turned out well. The yellow fabrics with the navy fabrics seem to fight with each other as to which one is the more dominant color; I would have preferred the yellow so the Hold the Pickle blocks stood out more. Maybe I should have placed the alternate blocks differently like away from the center. At least I did get to use all of my C + S blues.

As mentioned earlier in my post, the other projects, which used 2-1/2" strips, I started during my recovery period are now tops and ready to be quilted. No indecisions on the backing nor the machine quilting, I just need to find the time.

Also, I finally shipped my Bible Quilt to Nancy, Grace & Piece Quilting for machine quilting.  The top has been finished since March and I've been waiting for the endless snow to finally stop and I'm thinking maybe it's safe now.  I had visions of my package being strewned along a snowy highway after being ejected from an overturned USPS truck on the way to Minnesota. But then again, we sure are having a lot of rain and tornadoes in the Midwest, so I'm saying prayers and crossing my fingers.

I'm hoping to be able to start a totally new project this week, no more 2018 UFOs or any green fabrics Good Quilting friend Carol just gifted me (center photo).  Seriously, I'm thinking of calling Jinny Beyer's Studio to see if they would barred Carol from buying any green fabrics but I'm pretty sure they won't.  I have two already die-cut projects (left and right) with never before used fabric and I just love having ready to sew projects.

On a side note, you know the saying that old men sit around talking about the weather, well I'm thinking quilters who blog might be prone to doing this also.I can't  believe how long it took me to write this post because I need to take some photos outside which usually this is the time of year for doing this. I was waiting for the rain and clouds to go away so the Sun can make an appearance, which it did here and there, but then I wasn't ready to run outside to take a photo because I was still in my pajamas.  Today, the Sun is shining for more than five minutes and it is so welcomed and thankfully I'm not in my pajamas.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation NTT

November Block Busy-ness

I could have used another title to describe my November activities since all I have to show are blocks, blocks and more blocks.  Because of my knee injury and the inability to go downstairs to my studio until the end of the November, my projects were limited to those which were already precut and waiting to be sewn.  Thanks to the superior navigation skills demonstrated by my Hubby in finding them (Thank you iPhone and my idea for him to take photos of my project cart and certain shelves in the studio) I was able to show him which ones to bring upstairs so I can sew in my formal Upstairs Sewing Room, a.k.a., the dining room.  I really had my doubt if this was going to work since this is the same Hubby when I ask him to get something out of my purse, he brings my purse to me rather than search inside my purse. Seriously, I think he's afraid something is going to bite his hand.  But a good Retriever he turned out to be and I was able to work on the following blocks or as I like to call my UFOs for 2019.

Classic Meet Modern QAL hosted by My Quilt Infatuation

Just a couple of glitches with completing the filler blocks; one being these blocks were pre-cut before my accident and I thought I would have no problems finishing them by the 15th but they were not on the project cart. I didn't know if I should laugh or give Hubby, who was feeling confident in his newly acquired Retriever skills, a big hug when he offered, if I just gave him a sample of the fabric, he would go through each of my fabric bins on my shelves in order to find  where I put these blocks.  To prevent him from having a heart attack after realizing the enormity of this task and really seeing how huge my fabric stash is, I told him "No" and I would have to think about where these blocks could possibly be. This wouldn't be the first time I've "lost" and never found something. It took me several days to figure out that I put them in a FQS Blue Sampler Box and told Hubby to look on a certain shelf for a box marked "CMM".  The first time he looked, he said there was no such box on the shelf, which threw me for a loop,  but then later said there was a blue box on a table marked "Classic Meets Modern". In my Hubby's defense, I hadn't given him a lesson on Quilt Acronyms and what's really funny is that when I first was going to mark the box, I was going to write "CMM" but thought better, in case I forgot what it meant, I wrote it out.  And the second problem was that I was short three patches and couldn't finish some of the blocks until this past week.  I'm glad the blocks are all finished and ready to be sewn together in December.  I am loving how the quilt blocks and the Zen Chic's Figures fabric line look together.  You can check out the Classic Meet Modern QAL here.

Happy Flower EPPs

What was intended as a road project turned out to be a great project to do while laying in bed during one of the many Pajamazon Days (wearing pajamas all day-so named by Hubby who still had his good humor) I observed during my recuperation.  This EPP project was inspired by Rene' Creates and I die-cut the 1" hexagon sides and squares and the appropriate sized fabric hexagons using mostly scraps and stash of Cotton+Steel, Felicity Miller's Charleston and Lily and Loom fabrics.  I've finish basting 70 flowers and now will be appliquéing them to 7" squares of gray and light low volume prints which still need to be picked from my stash.

C+S Blue and Yellow Quilt/Hold the Pickles Blocks with Alternate Block

Here are rugshots of these 30 blocks which were already die-cut and ready for me to finish sewing. You can find the tutorial for the Hold the Pickles Blocks (on the left)  by Sevenoaks Street Quilts here.

Postcards from the Jungle (HRT Blocks)

Another rugshot of blocks made from fabrics my good quilting friend Carol, has been gifting me over the year which were purchased during her travels. Most of them came from Jinny Beyer's store in Virginia and I finally decided to finally make something with these fabrics by die-cutting rectangles and HRTs several months ago.  Once the top is assembled, it'll be ready for quilting since I've already have the green batik backing which was purchased from a friend of MMM quilts who was having a destash sale earlier this year.  I guess that was the impetus to finally use Carol's gift of these beautiful green fabrics, which she knows is my favorite color,

Malka Strips

2-1/2" strips of Malka Dubrowsky and a low volume prints have been die-cut for several months now and was another project waiting to be sewn.  I'm not sure if these strips will be used for another Ernie Quilt or a Staggered Strips and Squares.  In either case, it will be nice to have finally have a quilt made from these colorful prints which have been sitting in my stash for more than five years.

Pie Making Day 2x4 Quilt

The 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" patches were cut from a jelly roll and weren't enough to make a decent sized lap quilt so thankfully I had some yardage of the Pie Making Day fabric line which I can cut additional patches.  Once this top is assembled, I'm pretty sure it going to be a throw (just backing it with Minky) similar to my Gee Whiz Patchwork Throw which is now living at my dear friend, Dee's house.

Memory Lane Blocks

Now this is what I call scrapping the bottom of the project barrel with these blocks.  I ran out of Upstairs sewing projects so I decided to finally sew these blocks together. I die-cut these blocks from a fabric line purchased over fifteen years ago and have been sitting around for a couple of years.  I still love these prints, red gingham or any gingham print is near and dear to my heart and the yellow floral print is just yummy.  It's not my decor right now but once this top is assembled to a 50" square, it'll make a nice picnic or party topper.

Thirties Tart

I started these blocks in early October and was inspired by Shannon's of The Fleming's Nine, Sweet Tart Pattern (not an affiliate link).  There was no way I could duplicate the beautiful quilting she did on her quilt so the best way for me to do anything else besides straight-line quilts was to QAYG each block which one of the benefits is that it used up a lot of batting scraps. Ten blocks were already done so the past few days were spent in the studio finishing up the last twenty.  I'm hoping my modern quilt with 30's fabrics is going to work but won't know for awhile,

Before I was laid up in October, my track record for finally finishing any top made this year was, I think, 100% which is a major first and may never happen again for me. Now it looks like I'm going to start the New Year with at least six UFO's. One thing I'm definitely putting on my 2019 list, is to die-cut more strips and squares and prepare more quilts for sewing. It also doesn't hurt to have more EPP projects since learning they're not only for the road trips. I am thankful I had these projects waiting but sorry I had to have an accident in order to get them finish.

There were a few days when I was in between sewing blocks that I decided to take up some knitting after I was given the okay to finally walk on my injured knee using a cane.  This was the reason for my first trip downstairs to the studio which was to bring up my knitting bag.

Besides the project cart, I have a project cabinet located at the bottom of the stairs which stores mostly non-quilting projects and supplies. I didn't know which door my knitting was in and I didn't have the heart to send Hubby downstairs to look since I thought it would be too similar to having him look for something in my purse.  And lo and behold, I found it immediately. 

I'm a self-taught knitter and only knit scarves and dishcloths/washcloths. Usually I only do the garter stitch but found other stitches to knit online.  I have a Craftsy/Bluprint subscription so I'm thinking I'll be taking some knitting classes online.  I've ordered some circular knitting needles in the hopes of making a stocking cap for Micah.  I still remember the ones my mom knitted for my two boys when they were little and hopefully can now make them for my granddaughter.

Just one more week of wearing my leg brace and hopefully I'll be more mobile once physical therapy starts.  Sewing on the machine with my left leg straight out or resting on top of the right foot pressing the pedal will not be missed. Christmas quilt projects will need to be started and finished in a matter of a few week. Of course, they're both for Micah and her family.  And I have not yet started Holiday decorating and still need to buy presents so Hello Stress. I'm going to miss my Pajamazon Days.