Friday's "Not Quite Finished!"

Linking with " Finish Friday".

Being somewhat OCD I like to have order and few "unfinished" or "in transition"projects.

Out in the longarm area there are a couple of boxes of quilts ready to mail one filled with six QOV's and the other a couple of quilts ready to be returned to the piecer. Unquilted tops are stored in a cabinet so the area looks reasonably tidy but my working studio is a different matter!
On the design wall is Yessenia's graduation quilt for her Master's degree next month, and on the cutting  and sewing tables Carina and Rob's wedding quilt also for next month!
Yessenia's quilt lacks only the bottom border as I await delivery of one more yard of the outer border fabric- BTW I was super lucky that thousandsofbolts.com had just one yard of the fabric left, that was an almost disaster!

 Nearby is the comet quilt [hanging over the embroidery machine cart] that needs quilting, and on the chair back the Modern Quilt awaiting its binding. This is a very small room so every inch has a purpose.
Now to explain a little about the development of Yessenia's quilt; this is the original pattern from a McCall's magazine, but the young lady wanted it in neutrals, grey, black, cream.

Having selected the nine fabrics I was very careful to label each piece with the size and replacement order as I went along and I was very glad that I did or piecing would have been a nightmare of confusion.

But I found I also needed to make up a guide, a key, to more easily identify the fabric substitutions since placement is what ensures this design's appeal.

Numbering the fabrics helped in identification but I did lot of checking and double checking, check twice, sew once, and it worked to forestall frogging and resewing!

When the middle of the quilt was pieced and pinned on the wall I found there was one fabric that offended me, can you spot it? And to my disappointment the quilt appears bland and uninteresting.

 This is the culprit, the odd fabric,

 it is just too far into the blue range, although it doesn't appear as offensive in the photo as in reality. Anyway, the quilt is kind of blah to me, something missing, it needs a bit of punch so let's think outside the box! Time to audition a few possibilities from the stash and after rejecting a couple this black print hit the bull's eye, organic and with just enough pattern to catch the eye but not overwhelm! Thank heavens for the stash!
 It has just enough pattern and was the accent the design needed- and I was a happy quilter! It took perhaps an hour to remove the offending pieces, only four, and replace them with the black.
Today I will work on the wedding quilt and see how far I can get piecing the almost 400 blocks.

Happy Birthday Four Year Old!

The Boy

Two More "Nine Patches"

Well it occurred to me on further consideration, that Irish Chain quilts are actually 9 patches of a sort.
The color wash irish Chain below was made for a niece, the colors were planned and collecting the fabrics was about a two year process. I failed to take more than this one photo before it was mailed, but you get the idea.

 The one below was made to use up some leftover fabrics from another project I think, it's been a long time since I made these two.

 I am now wondering how many other 9 patches will show up from my past!

Nine Patch Quilts

I was browsing through some recent posts of my blog friend Heather over at "Books and Quilts" and she was talking about a joint project with her Mother and asked "Have you done a project with 9 patch blocks?" and invites her readers to leave a link to their own 9 patch projects.
Thinking back over my years of quilting I could only come up with two, although I have made many Disappearing 9 Patch quilts and after I became bored with those, Disappearing 9 Patch Second Generation!
The first 9 Patch I recall doesn't even look like a 9 patch! I had ventured into the realm of watercolor quilts and decided after the first one that the blocks were a wee bit small at 2" but being the OCD type told myself I had to use up all the left over pieces before moving on to a slightly larger size [2.25"] and decided upon 9 patches as the most efficient means of freeing myself from them!
I sorted them into groups of 9 from light to dark and began to sew them together, then I sewed the 9 patches together beginning with the darkest at the bottom and moving through to the lightest at the top.
Once finished, bordered and bound, it looked formless and uninteresting to me so I had to come up with something additional or consign it to the dog's bed!

I cut out roses from several different prints and appliqued them over the quilt and added a few butterflies. This was probably close to  twenty years ago and I still like the quilt well enough that it hangs in our guest room. So I guess that is one of those "life gives you lemons and you make lemonade" situations and a reminder that thinking outside the box can result in a new creation!
The other 9 patch quilt I have made is a baby quilt in 30's repros and white.........

The white is a WOW with gingko flowers and it's quilted with meandering feathers.

Then I remembered that Sudoku quilts are actually 9 patches, larger ones it is true, but 9 patches none the less, so here is a Sudoku quilt I made for my friend MA in Brisbane, Australia.

 And there you have the sum total of 9 patches for my 4 decades of quilting!

Another Green One!

This is the second of the all- green quilts, now ready to go off to be bound by the owner's sister.

 With the familiar peacock feather freehand quilting- this client does not care for tight quilting so it's important to leave the quilting design open and airy. The thread used is Signature "Parchment" 100% cotton thread, and the batting is Hobbs Heirloom 80/20.

Circle Lord Swirls

This Home Of the Brave quilt was my first adventure into using the CL template boards, and I am quite pleased with the result.

The Swirls are the templates I used on this quilt, they would work for almost any quilt top I think, the continuous circular design is quite generic.
This is our week with The Boy, so not a lot will be accomplished- there is another client quilt on the LA but I didn't like the way the yellow/green variegated thread was quilting in so I am frogging that one corner where I began in order to begin over with a more neutral thread.
This weekend I hope to get labels on some QOV's and launder them so they can be mailed off for our Wounded Warriors.

Allelujah, He Is Risen!

The Tomb is empty!

Why "Good" Friday?

So why is the day of Jesus' crucifixion called “Good Friday?" 

Well, no one really knows! In various countries Good Friday is also called Holy Friday, Black Friday, Great Friday, Long Friday, and Silent Friday.
One reason for the name may be that although what Jesus suffered in crucifixion is horrifying, it resulted in our sins being forgiven and the restoration of our relationship with God. That is indeed good news for Creation.

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he bowed his head and gave up his spirit, (John 19:30).

These are Jesus' final words from the cross and part of "the seven last words of Christ."
 However it is interesting to note that in the Greek, "it is finished" is actually only one word, “Tetelesthai”!  
In Colossions 2:14 St.Paul explains that “the written charge against us is cancelled, nailed to the Cross,” every sin ever committed is forgiven.
 In Roman times "tetelesthai" meant ”the debt is paid in full,” it only remains for each of us to say “yes” to the offer.

March BOM Blocks

Last night I stayed up until midnight finishing the four BOM blocks for March. They each measure 12.5". 

Today I purchased the second fabric for the wedding gift quilt, the white on cream. The other fabric which I really wanted wasn't reasonably accessible so I chose this one, I think it will be OK.
I bought eight yards, probably will need around six but I am not taking any chances and this sort of neutral fabric will always come in handy. This photo represents about a 3'x4" swatch.

So I can begin working on that kingsize quilt this week, the planned size is around 110" square. The zig zag design will go together fast I think, I will use the four at a time HST method for the blocks.
There is still one more of those green quilts awaiting quilting but I plan to get it done Saturday with my new Circle Lord, then they can both be mailed out next week. As long as I can bounce back and forth between the sewing machine and the longarm it will benefit my back!

In Memory...............

Of a beautiful soul, a joyful, delightful lady and a quilter to the last.

Rebecca Steiner, 1917-2013

Photo taken recently on her 96th. birthday.

Rebecca was a member of the Montrose CO. Huggy Bunch Quilters.

She will be sorely missed by her devoted husband Fred and their family and everyone who knew her.
There wil be a hole in our Huggy Bunch group too.
We all admired her greatly, I used to tell Rebecca that she was my role model.
Her favorite colors were red and purple.
Requiescat in pace, Rebecca, you have earned your reward.

Green Pinwheel Quilt

All done, and I am quite happy with it.

 I think the leafy custom quilting gives life to the monotone green and is in keeping with the organic color. I used Aurifil #50wt. 100% cotton thread in a pale green.

The owner of this quilt sent me two rather similar green tops to quilt, the other will get an edge to edge design. These quilts go to Florida so the light weight Hobbs batting will be perfect for the warm climate.

The weekend........

Not nearly as productive as I hoped but something at least. About two thirds of this quilt is done and the  plan is to have it finished tomorrow.

 The leafy quilting is pleasing, and I really like the Aurifil thread both color and performance.

 To my surprise, as thin as this thread is at only 50wt., stitching at hight speed on the longarm has not caused any thread breakage.

The thread is so nice and light it doesn't look heavy with all the backtracking, so I am inclined to order a few more colors. Should be ready to load the next top tomorrow.
Now I am off to bed to catch up on sleep, last night was one of those sleepless ones!

Friday, No Progress!

My week with The Boy so I have little to report, but next week should be very productive. DH will be in CO. with the oldest DGS's for spring break skiing/snowboarding so I am a single lady for a week, yippee! No cooking, laundry or cleaning required.

 I do have another quilt to plan- a graduation gift. The young lady would like grey with black and cream accent. She chose this design that I think will work well in neutrals.

The pattern is in this issue of McCall's Quilting magazine

I made a grayscale version and I think it will work nicely.

I have appropriate blacks and creams in stash but need more grey! LOL, how odd that I decide to make a grey quilt then have requests for two more! I spent a while online at www.thousandsofbolts.com and found a few fabrics that may work. I will check locally first before I order, but I suspect I will still need to buy online. It is unfortunate for the local stores that in order to find the widest selection we often discover that we are better off letting our fingers do the work rather than our automobiles! And the savings in gas more than compensates for postage, e.g. to drive to the 35th. Avenue quilt store I would spend $7-8 in gas and that is just one store I would need to cover. These days I am more than ever sensitive to the need to reduce auto use to save $$$!

 A close up of the greyscale photo shows the detail of some of the fabric patterns. I think once I decide on each of the fabrics the quilt will go together fast.

With my recent purchase of the Circle Lord system for my longarm, I think I will use the Swirls templates. They quilt up like this.

Pretty cool, eh?

News Flash!

This just in:

Dear Roslyn,

CONGRATS!  You are the winner of our Rose Parade 1/2 yard bundle, over on the Fort Worth Fabric Studio Blog!   I'm so happy you won! 

http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/

Please email me back with your full name/address and we will ship the bundle right away!

Have a super weekend!
Warm regards, 

Jodie Heinold
817-788-2395
Fort Worth Fabric Studio
www.fortworthfabricstudio.com

 OMGosh are't these simply beeootiful! I loved them as soon as I saw them and am thrilled to be able to add them to my stash. I hope to use them soon in a lovely, girly quilt, something simple to show off the fabrics. Any suggestions?  

Thank you Jodie and Fort Worth Fabric Studio for this very generous gift, you made my day go from grey to gorgeous! 

About Quilt Labels

This week was not very productive sewing wise, I loaded a quilt on the LA then decided I did not have appropriate thread so I had to order. Drat. This is one client who prefers 100% cotton everything so I keep some King Tut and Signature cotton thread but not a huge inventory. I wanted a finer thread than either of the aforementioned which are 40wt. Threads are numbered sort of backwards in that 20wt is heavy/thick, and 60wt is fine and thin, go figure. I think it was just some man who made this one up- he didn't make clothing sizes run that way though!
The thinnest cotton thread seems to be 50 and 60wt so I ordered a spool of Aurifil 100%cotton 50wt. to be on the safe side for use on a high speed quilting machine. I will report back after I have tried it. I have lots of 60wt thread which I love all by Superior Thread Co. but none of that is cotton, it's either polyester [So Fine and Bottom Line] or trilobal polyester, Art Colors and Highlights. Someone on my professional quilters list suggested Presencia so I will look into that too for the future.

But I digress, this post is about quilt labels! No quilt should leave your hands without one and it needs to contain some information of a provenance nature. Normally at a minimum that would include the recipient's name, reason for the gift [Christmas, birthday, wedding etc or "just because you love them"] the maker's name and location, and the date.
The labels above are for Wounded Warriors so I do not know specific names, and the organization does not want us to put personal info. for safety/privacy.
However using first names is ok, and I like to do that because it tells the recipient that this quilt was made specifically by a person who wanted to bless a military hero and not just mass produced in anonymity.
One more thing about labels and their importance-you may not know it but there is quite a problem with lost quilts, many of them stolen-from various places, in transit on route to their destinations, from vehicles, classroom walls, exhibits, quilt shows, quilt stores etc. In case you are skeptical you may check this website "Lost Quilt Come Home", some of the stories will break your heart!
Of course it is easy enough to remove a label, unless you take a couple extra precautions. Attaching the label to the backing before quilting makes removal somewhat daunting once it is quilted on, and if you write the pertinent information under the label with an archival permanent marker it will make removal of your provenance extremely unlikely. If you read a few of the articles on these "lost quilts" most appear to have been stolen and the labels hand sewn. FYI .

I made these labels on the Brother PE700 11 that I purchased a couple of years ago specifically for quilt labels, although for an inexpensive, dedicated embroidery machine it does much, much more and includes a 5"x7" hoop size.
Because I am a Mac person I have been limited to what the machine could do using the touch screen for their few fonts, one line at a time, so time consuming.  However, an enterprising company came up with software for Mac to run embroidery designs, hallelujah! I recently purchased this software called "Embrilliance Essentials" and the labels above are my first experiment into the program.
First I had to read the manual and figure out the software but being Mac based it is user friendly. The other challenge is that I do not know my machine's capabilities really well so there was a lot of trial and error, I bought it online and never went to an orientation class! I was in regular contact via messaging with my really techie TX friend who has a Bernina embroidery machine-the very person who recommended the software- to ask her help too, what did we ever do without the internet [thanks Al, LOL] and smart phones!
BTW, did you know that the correct terminology for the way we write text messages is "text orthography"? I looked it up after a discussion with a DS who insist that "texting" is not a real word!

There is a Windows version also and I do recommend this software, the tech support is amazing.  After receiving a prompt answer to my email I was fairly amazed to have the designer actually call me to be sure I understood!
 Hmmmm, wonder if he knew I was blonde...............

Monday Quilting Update

After adding a lot more quilting circles I am calling this done and ready to bind!

 I am still not sure if I will ever make random circles like that in the future, it isn't as effective as I had hoped. Maybe now there are too many circles?  Probably I should have used a wool batting too, and there would have been better definition. Well, one thing is sure, it will never fall apart in the wash!

In an attempt to add "something" I even went back over it with some red thread circles, that you can hardly even see! Sigh.............

I have a choice of binding and I think I will use the darker grey to frame the quilt. I can use the light grey on the next quilt I need to make, a KS for a wedding gift.

And, while I am on the subject, you may remember this lovely P and B Textiles fabric from this Modern Mystery quilt? I need more because I plan to use both it and the grey pin dot from the MM for the wedding quilt. Fortunately I found another bolt of the grey and purchased all of that but there's only three yards of this cream on cream and I probably need another three.
So, if anyone comes across it please, please let me know, ok?
I did list it on the Missing Fabric website.

Not Quite "Finished For Friday"

No blogging for over a week, it's our week to have The Boy and in addition I was out of town one entire day.
The idea was to quilt this Mystery Modern Quilt with multiple, random, overlapping circles, but I think it needs more! I ordered a couple of larger, 7" and 9", circle templates and will re-load the quilt on the longarm to add more stitching, perhaps that will please me better!

 Circles are too much a similar size...........

 and not random enough.

I knew that I needed more large templates and I probably should have been less impatient and waited until they came! Lesson learned, I hope.

Here is a little progress report on the comet wall hanging. The squares are sewn together vertically and now I just need to sew all sixteen rows together and decide on borders.