DWM 7/28/14: Prepping for Retreat



Today instead of my design wall, I have stuff spread out all over my sewing room. I'm gathering together all the things I want to take to work on at Girl Scout camp retreat.

First there are the parts for the sample of Kristin's quilt. Easy piecing, just a lot of 5" square patches. I'm bringing along a flannel-backed tablecloth so I can lay out the colors in the correct order.

Baggie with pieces for sample for Kristen's quilt

Next are the parts and pieces for the CSQ 30-Something challenge, due in October. This requires more attention and care because there's machine applique as well as piecing involved.  We'll see how much I actually get done on this one. If I'm too distracted I'll leave it for at home when I can concentrate.

30-Something challenge all kitted up

For a change from piecing, I'm bringing along a charity quilt to finish. Here are the front, backing, and binding. I'll get it layered and pin-basted this week so it'll be ready to go by Friday.

Charity quilt parts

Here's what the front of it looks like:

Charity quilt front

And if time permits, I can bind this one. I do all of my binding by machine, no hand sewing.

Ready for binding

Here's part of the front of it:

Blue baby quilt

I think I'll have plenty to do to keep me busy! Linking up today with Judy at Patchwork Times, where you can see what everyone else is working on.

Stash Report 7/27/14

No fabric in this week - yay!

And - I finished the special baby quilt top, so I get to count 2-1/4 yards out.

I'll total up the yardage in and out for July in next week's report. Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times; check out everyone else's stash management progress over there.

I can't show the special baby quilt yet because I don't want the recipient to see it. I know her sister reads my blog but I don't know if she does or not. These are the fabrics I used:

I have enough of the print for the backing and binding also. It's all prepped and ready to go.

Ready to go where, you ask? Well, I've been invited to a retreat at Girl Scout camp next weekend. One of my bee friends is a supervisor there and she has invited a few friends to keep her company between her other duties, so we'll bring our crafty and quilty stuff along and have ourselves a retreat. Should be fun!

DWM 7/21/14: Too Many Projects

I have a bad case of quilters ADD right now - I'm pulled in too many directions by too many projects. As a result, my sewing room is a mess, my head is spinning, and I've lost track of some of my priorities and goals.

These are the cut parts for the sample of Kristen's quilt. I'll kit them up for a weekend retreat coming up soon. Meanwhile I can send her the yardage requirements and cutting instructions so she can get the rest of her fabric and start cutting. Since the cut squares are 5", I'll suggest that she get a couple of white charm packs so she doesn't have to cut all those white squares. (Kristen's quilt was not on my July goals list.)

This luscious pile of batiks is for a guild challenge that's due in October. I've started working on it, but too many of my guild friends read my blog so I'm not going to show WIP pictures. The theme is 30-Something, in recognition of the 30th anniversary of Circle in the Square Quilters. (This challenge quilt was listed as optional on my July goals, as I hadn't been inspired yet when I made the list.)

This is what the wall looks like today:

1. On the wall: parts in progress for the special baby quilt that's due in early September, maybe sooner. (#1 goal for July, get that top done. Haven't touched it yet this month.)
2. On the ladder: Donation quilt top, back, and binding, all prepped. (#2 on the July goals list, get it quilted and finished. Haven't touched it.)
3. On the hanger, the reconstructed DCD top. (This never was on the goals list. Lots of Churn Dash projects on the web inspired me to try one, and after it came out so ugly it became a personal challenge to make something better of it. Way too much time spent on it this month!)

I need to regroup, clean up, prioritize, and focus. I will begin today by cleaning up, because I have friends coming over for a mini-workshop in making flying geese on Wednesday. No way could we work in the sewing room in the state it's in now!!!

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times; check out all the design wall inspiration over there. So much inspiration is how I get so distracted with so many projects!

Stash Report 7/20/14

More fabric in this week...  Sometimes you have to supplement your stash in order to be able to use what you have.

In my last post I mentioned that my niece wants to make a quilt and she's chosen the design pictured there (see below), simple squares alternating with white. In order for me to write the yardage requirements, cutting directions, and piecing instructions for her, I want to make a sample so I can make notes during the process. I need 9 fabrics, and I had 6 of them. So I bought some to supplement what I have.

My colors are not the same as Kristen's because I want her to have the satisfaction of creating a unique quilt in her own colors, inspired by the pool blue she already has. But the analogous color scheme and the value relationships are similar.

While shopping for the extra fabrics I needed, I found this fabulous dot in Kristen's colors, so I bought some for her. She can use it along with some of her pool blue for the backing. I'll be able to count this yardage out when I send it to her.

So, total in this week, 3-3/8 yards.

I counted the yardage used for the ugly Churn Dash top in June, but I used an additional 3/4 yards remaking it, so I can count out 3/4 yards. I'll tally up the totals in and out at the end of the month. I really need to get busy and finish something so I can count some yardage out!!

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - check out everyone else's stash management efforts over there.

A Reconstructed Flimsy

A marginally less ugly top...

I took apart my ugly top, cut my Churn Dash blocks into fourths, and used them DNP style. I added some red ones, as several commenters suggested the addition of red. I played with layouts on the design wall. This is what I ended up with. At least the balance of light and dark is better.

Disappearing Churn Dash, 39" x 42"

 

When you slice up a nine patch, which is essentially what a churn dash is, you lose 1/4" on each side of the cuts. That's why the little red and teal pieces are offset by 1/4" here. Kind of interesting, sort of... At least I didn't have to match up all those seams!

Because of unstitching the original top, there was some fraying of the seam allowances and when I resewed everything together I lost some of the points. Oh, well, this will have to be good enough.

Still not loving it, but I've put enough time and energy into it and I'm sick of looking at it. I'll set this aside for awhile because I have deadlines and commitments that need my attention. Later I'll quilt it and donate it.

Linking up with Friday Finish over at Crazy Mom Quilts and Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. At least I can call it a finished top, not just a waste of fabric.

In other quilty news, my 12 year old niece wants to make a quilt. She has almost no sewing experience, so we'll keep it very simple.  Here's the design she selected. It'll be throw size, about 50" by 59".

Kristen's Quilt

She's sending me a swatch of "mottled pool blue" fabric which is her color inspiration, along with her favorite colors of teal and purple. I'll go through my stash and see what I can contribute. After that Kristen and her mom will have to shop for the rest of the fabrics she'll need. Meanwhile I'll make a sample and write out the instructions for her. While I'm doing that, she's practicing good scant 1/4" seams on scraps and looking at video tutorials about rotary cutting.

This should be an interesting experience because Kristen lives in Tulsa and I live in St. Louis, so we're doing this all by e-mail and tutorial. Her mom, my sister, doesn't sew a stitch (in fairness, she's very musically talented and I'm tone-deaf), so mom isn't going to be much help if Kristen gets stuck. Maybe there's a Girl Scout leader she can turn to.

Wish Kristen luck with her project! Maybe we'll end up with another quilter (and fabriholic!) in the family.

DWM 7/14/17: The Ugly Churn Dash Saga Continues

If you remember the saga of the Churn Dash top that didn't turn out well (here and here), I decided to take the top apart, cut the blocks into fourths, make some more with red in them, and reassemble it Disappearing Nine Patch style.

Here's what my design wall looks like today, with stacks of parts pinned to it:

 

I spent some time last week unsewing. I also made the little red units. Because I didn't have any more of the dot fabric for the center of the Churn Dash, I had to use some of the sashing strips and construct those 1/4 Churn Dash units individually. I still have several CD blocks to cut apart and some more that haven't been unsewn yet.

 

Hopefully this week I can get them laid out in a pleasing arrangement on the wall and get them resewn into a new top.

 

In other news, my elderly neighbor is moving into a nursing home tomorrow. I'm giving her this quilt.

Trellis, 62" x 74"

 

I made this top a long time ago, before I ever got EQ5. Remember when hinged mirrors first came into vogue for designing? I designed 1/4 of this quilt on graph paper with colored pencils and then used hinged mirrors to determine the complete design. It's actually just Nine Patch and Kaleidoscope blocks. That was back in the late '90's or very early 2000's I think. I didn't have the skills to machine quilt it at the time, so it remained a UFO until 2006. Since then it's been hanging in the closet. Now it's time to go with Dot to a new home.

 

Linking up today with Judy at Patchwork Times. Check out all the inspiration on everyone else's design walls over there.  

Stash Report 7/13/14

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Stash Report Sunday -

3 yards in - backing bought on sale at LQS.
Nothing out. Moving in the wrong direction!

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