July Stash Report and Goals Update

Wow, July was quite a month. It's amazing what you can get done when you have 4 days at retreat! 

Prepping for retreat paid off. I was able to finish my Christmas tree top, finish the center portion of my floral X and Plus top, and make progress on my black, white and bright Mary's triangles top.  Other than at retreat, I made and quilted two small wheelchair quilts for Hospice and added the border to complete my X and Plus top. Flimsies finished means I can count the yardage used out of my stash. 

I did add a bit to the stash, too. Sheila, the owner/hostess of our retreat, has a small shop just for retreaters. I replenished my white-on-whites, added some prints that might make their way into a third Diabolical Jane quilt, and found the perfect plaid for the binding of my Christmas tree quilt. And I found special thread for making the loops for hanging the ornaments. 

With all that activity, let's see what effect it had on my stash  

July Stash Report

IN this month: 7-1/4 yards (from Ritter retreat) 
OUT this month: 12-1/4 yards (Second Mary's Triangles top with B+W prints, est 2-3/4 yards. Christmas tree top, 3-3/4 yards. Backing and binding for two purple wheelchair quilts 1-1/2 yards 108" wide. X and Plus top, 4-1/4 yards.)

IN YTD: 73-1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 77-1/4 yards
YTD Net Change: 4 yards OUT

Moving in the right direction! 

I had an ambitious goals list for July. I think I did okay, a lot of progress and only one "not touched." 

Goals Update: 

July Recap: 

1. Finalize and print label for the confidential project. DONE. 

2. Go on retreat and have a good time. Yes!!!

3. Piece the Christmas Tree top. DONE

4. Piece the pastel floral X and Plus top. DONE - pieced the center at retreat, added borders at home. Also cobbled together a backing for it. (separate post coming soon)

5. Finish piecing DJ2. Progress - center is pieced and squared up; still needs border. 

6. Quilt the two purple wheelchair quilts. DONE

7. If time permits, assemble the second Mary's Triangles top. DONE. Rows assembled at retreat, top finished at home. 

8. Look at parts previously cut and rejected for DJ 1 and 2 and figure out something to do with them. Possible progress??? Leftover DJ 1 & 2 parts are packed in a project box along with fabrics pulled for a possible DJ3.

9. Make progress on the walking foot quilting on the Kaffe Gradient project. No, did not touch this.

All those tops finished and all that progress means I'll need backs and I'll have a lot of quilting to do. Unfortunately I won't have access to PCQ's long arm until September, but I can prep backs and quilt on my domestic machine in the meantime. 

August Goals:

1. Bind and donate the two purple wheelchair quilts. 

2. Make backing for the second Mary's Triangles project and find or piece batting.  

3. Make progress on the walking foot quilting on the Kaffe Gradient project. 

4. Get Christmas print fabric for backing, sleeves and storage bag for the tree project. Talk to Gary about dowels. 

5. Add borders to DJ2

6. Pull "Found" UFO and determine next steps.

7. Piece batting together for X and Plus quilt. 

A lot of my projects are at the To-Be-Quilted stage but our Creative Arts Center is closed for half of August and I can't get a time slot on the long arm until September. I'll have time in August to work on backings and piece Frankenbatts (thanks, Cherie!) so I'll be ready when my reservation comes up. 

While packing for retreat I found a project box that I thought was empty, but it had something in it. It appears to be a UFO, a black, white, and bright project from retreat a couple years ago. I should see what's needed and finish it so I can free up the project box. Have you ever found a UFO you didn't know you had?  😉 Haven't we all?!!!

Here's to a productive and fun August!

Catching Up

 July has been such a busy month, on both the quilting front and life in general, that I'm behind in posting progress and finished projects. So let's catch up. 

The Mary's Triangles top that I pieced and donated for someone else to quilt was claimed by Linda who quilted and bound it. 

I had some leftover Mary's Triangles but not enough for another quilt, so prior to retreat I made some more with black and white prints, laid them out, and kitted them up to work on at retreat if I had time. I had time to sew the blocks into rows, and since I got home I've sewn the rows together. Like the first one, this is baby or wheelchair size, so it can go to Luke AFB for a young family or to Hospice.

 Earlier in July I pieced a couple more wheelchair quilts to use up some magenta purple wide backing fabric from Edna. Here are the tops before they were quilted. I quilted them on the long arm a couple days ago but haven't bound them yet. There was enough of the same fabric to quilt the two tops side-by-side. 

I think I'm all caught up now...

Finishes at Retreat

 In my last post, I showed all the tops in progress on the design walls at retreat. Well, we made so much progress that we had a lot of finishes! Here they are, in no particular order. 

Cherie got the binding hand sewn around a large quilt. Later she sewed on a label and a sleeve. That's a lot of hand sewing!

Later she assembled an improv project from blocks already made. She plans to use this for a background for a large floral applique.

Robin finished her Tumbler top and also a 3 Yard Quilt top featuring a French bulldog print. Both are destined to become gifts. We suggested adding the orange accent to the Frenchie quilt, and she found just the right fabric at the little shop at retreat. 

Jeri finished her plaid-like Picnic quilt. Note the ants! 

Nancy T finished her on-point top as well as a 3 Yard Quilt top. I just love the southwest colors in her jelly roll top.

I finished my Christmas tree top. This will become a hanging for my son's office cubicle at Christmastime. Apparently in his office they decorate, and he requested it and gave me the size requirements. He will hang real ornaments on it. 

I also finished the center of my X and Plus top; it still needs borders.

And most significantly, Linda finished this top. It has quite a story. 

Back in 2012 and earlier when Cherie and I, and Cherie's BFF Darlene, were all members of Circle in the Square Quilters, Darlene started this Jacqueline De Jonge project. Darlene was an extraordinarily gifted quilter. Blue was her color. She gave the Jacqueline De Jonge project her own spin by using a variety of indigo prints in it and navy batik instead of black. 

Then she passed away in 2013. Cherie took some of her UFOs and has finished several, but this one lingered. Last winter she posted it on her blog to anyone who would commit to finishing it. Knowing the Jacqueline De Jong patterns are Linda's favorite, I suggested Cherie contact Linda, already a friend from previous retreats. Kismet! 

Cherie sent the box to Linda, and Linda puzzled through where Darlene left off and what her plans were (Darlene went off-pattern a bit but left organized notes and drawings). Linda was able to make some of the missing pieces before retreat, partially assemble it, and complete the top at retreat. 

All in all, we had a very productive, and more importantly, FUN, retreat. All of us are already looking forward to next year! 

Link up: Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts 7/31

Design Walls at Retreat

 I had such a good time at retreat last week. How could I not, with this group and in this location! Breakfast on the patio. There were nine of us, but a few friends weren't up yet. Some of us were still in our PJs!

We had three and a half days of sewing, and everyone got a lot done. Here are photos of works in progress on the design walls. 

Several of the girls who took my X and Plus class at the end of May worked on their blocks. Here's Nancy H with her progress.

Linda and Edna shared a design wall and put their blocks up as they finished them. Linda's are the Kaffe with black background blocks at the top. Edna's are the Christmas print blocks at the bottom. 

Robin worked on a tumbler kit while I worked on my Christmas tree. We shared the large wall - plenty of space! - to work on fabric placement. 

Nancy T worked on a gorgeous on-point quilt in southwest colors. The fabrics - a jelly roll or two - came from the little shop at the ranch. 

Judy also worked on a jelly roll project. She has decided it's too small as is but she has a huge stash of batiks, so she'll cut her own strips and enlarge it. The pattern has several sizes and layouts.

Jeri worked on a picnic quilt, a more complicated project than at first glance because the blocks are different sizes and she had to mind the color and value placement to achieve the plaid effect. 

In addition to her Christmas X and Plus, Edna worked on her latest patriotic quilt. Oopsies happen in a social sewing environment, but these are easily fixed.

Linda made blocks for a modern quilt but ran out of the specific white on white dot background fabric she needs to fill in the top. I've seen the fabric elsewhere so I'm sure she'll be able to find more. 

Cherie worked on several projects. In addition to hand-sewing the binding on a large quilt, as well as the label and a sleeve, she helped Linda lay out an improv project with little blocks that Linda's been making as leaders and enders. She had a big box of these little blocks, enough for three quilts. Linda used a tablecloth for a portable design wall so she could roll it up and take the layout home. You can see more of Nancy H's block progress here, too.

Cherie has been gifted a lot of bonus triangles from friends, including mine from my first X and Plus quilt, the second one I worked on at retreat, and extras from several friends. She pulled all the greens and teals and started laying them out on the wall. This is the layout she decided on. The triangles finish at 2" so she's still collecting, to have enough for a larger quilt. 

So much fun! And lots of progress on lots of projects! We had lots of finishes, too, and I'll post about those later.

Link up: Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Prepped, Packed, and Ready to Go

 Crazy busy week here, so anything I can do ahead is good. Cherie flies in Wednesday and we leave for retreat Thursday. I have all the sewing stuff ready to go. 

I have all my projects prepped, cut out, and ready to sew. The white project box at the right is my Christmas Tree, per my son's request. This is a priority but it's a have-to project, nor a want-to project, so I will reward myself for working on it by working on my other projects. 

The tray with cut parts is my X and Plus project. Several of the girls who are going are making X and Plus quilts after they took my class in May. I'm going totally out of character for an X and Plus quilt and making it featuring pastel floral prints. So unlike the Modern X and Plus quilts! It'll be a donation quilt for Hospice. 

The project bag at the left contains the blocks for my second Mary's Triangles quilt. It's all laid out and clipped together, and it's small, so it'll be a quick finish. 

Under the tray with the X and Plus parts is my extra project, a double four patch, also a donation quilt. I always bring an extra project because I would hate to run out of things to do and still have retreat time left. I really don't expect to get to this, but just in case...

The blue project box under the Christmas Tree project is my tool kit, same as I take to social sewing. I cleaned it out and replenished what was missing, so I should have everything I need. I also put the 3 FQs and 3 dollar bills I'll need for game nights in there so I'll be sure to have them. 

Since Cherie is flying in, she'll use my spare sewing machine, in the floral case. I made sure it's running as it should, so it's ready to go. For myself, I'm taking my Bernina 1090, the one I use all the time at social sewing. She's a workhorse! 

All the sewing stuff is packed and ready to go. My project boxes are in the red bag, and my smaller projects are in the tote. There's also room in the tote for a bottle of wine and snacks to share. The blue bag is the confidential project Cherie and I have been working on together, and she'll hand sew the binding and the label. 

I haven't packed my personal stuff yet - still doing laundry. Cherie and I will have a third person in the car with us who also has a sewing machine case like my big black one. And we'll all have our personal luggage. No worries, we'll manage to fit all of us and our stuff in. 

Do you go on retreats? How much stuff do pack? Have you ever forgotten anything essential? 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 

DJ, We Have a Problem....

And a Fix. 

Somehow I miscounted when laying out the parts for DJ2. When I sewed them all together, I ended up with this. Look at the top and the sides. Should be straight, not dip in. 

If I square up the edges according to the current placement, as indicated by the horizontal line on the wall at the top and the plumb line at the right, I'll lose most of the dark fabrics in the corners and the quilt will be much smaller than anticipated. 

The solution is to add to the light sections and build it out further. I pulled all the previously rejected light colored fabric pieces to see if I could use any of them. Yes, in my frustration I was less picky and decided many of them are good enough. I still had to find more options in my stash, but I found fabrics that work. Above, you can see the additional pieces laid out in the bottom quadrant to fill in. Below, three sections are laid out.

DJ is built like a giant quarter log cabin block, starting at the middle of the edge and adding bands (logs) to build it up. That means I have to carefully take this partially apart, rebuild the light sections, and insert them. Much seam ripper activity is required. 

The center X out to the dark corners is fine. The light sections will have to be taken apart and rebuilt. Everything needs to be kept in order, hence the labels, batches of pieces to insert, and the Post-it with notes. 

The triangular units at the far left above are the new, additional edge segments. The larger triangular units need to be taken apart, replacement segments added to the bands, and added onto the units at left. 

Below, one replacement segment is reassembled and ready to be inserted. 

One down, three to go. Carefully taking apart and reassembling the first section took about half a day, so it'll be a few days until I get the whole top back together. 

This will work. When the top is rebuilt and the edges are squared up it will be about 54" square before borders. 

Surprisingly, this second Diabolical Jane has been much more challenging to design and construct than the first one. 

Update: for those who are interested, here's where you can find the story of the Diabolical Jane quilt, and there's a link to the tutorial. Diabolical Jane — DC Modern Quilt Guild

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 7/6 and Alycia Quilts 7/10

Mary's Triangles: a Small Donation Quilt

You might remember, I've been making Mary's Triangles and sewing them together at social sewing. After assembling the rows on point, I now have a small quilt top. 

One of the charities PCQ supports is Hospice and they want wheelchair quilts, quilts that are lap size but small enough to not get hung up in the wheels. Their preferred size is between 42 and 48" square or oblong. My top came out to 45" square with this on-point setting. My blocks finish at 4". 

PCQ's long arm committee prefers small quilts for training, so rather than quilt this myself, I'll put it in the queue for them to quilt. For training they use a panto that looks just like my usual free motion meander. I had a leftover piece of wide backing that's big enough for the back plus the binding. It's white with red, mostly light, so no worries about a dark back showing through all those low volume prints. I'll package the top and backing up and put it in the Needs Batting/To Be Quilted intake. 

As usual, I cut too many pieces when I was cutting for this project. That was partly because I thought I would make a larger quilt, but I changed my mind. Rather than make another quilt just like this, I made some more Mary's Triangles using black and white prints for the large triangle. I have enough blocks for another wheelchair size quilt, totally different layout, and it's all kitted up to take to retreat as an extra project. If I don't work on it there, I'll work on it as social sewing when I get back. 

Link Up:  Alycia Quilts