Cooking on a few burners

      Lots going on in the making department. One of the many quilt tops QuiltDiva Julie has sent me went out the door this week to a family member dealing with breast cancer. I was able to quilt the plaid HST quilt, put the quilt package together (tote bag, quilt, card, music CD, pocket quilts and book- 50 days of Hope), and deliver it out of town.

All fluffed and washed

Quilted

Bag

     I was also able to complete 2 more Stained Glass mosaic butterflies and grout them. They went out yesterday to 2 recipients.

Ungrouted

Grouted

     In a bag, I had a number of nicely pressed HSTs that I thought just needed laying out. When I started to put them in a pattern on the wall, I realized they were leftovers from another quilt (forgot to label it on bag) and there were not enough to pull the pattern off. I did not want to just put white along the sides to fill it out. So, back into the bag it went.

Sampling the patterns

      Before I go gung ho on a new pattern (squirrel), I am trying to make samples so I can see if I like making it, like the way it looks, and anticipate any problems. Before, I used to jump right in. Trying to be mature. I collect patterns by browsing, mostly free one, but I do buy some and keep them in a clear envelope pocket by my cutting area and browse them regularly thinking of ideas and fabrics.
     I love churndashes and have seen some lovely ones. I may have bought Bonnie Hunter's new pattern. I am not a flannel fan exactly, but I have made a lot of flannel pillowcases for family. There are all these flannel leftovers and I thought what about a flannel churndash? I did three blocks to see. The corner HSTs are 3 1/2" unfinished. I used the Easy Angle ruler to make them (my favorite method). I am still undecided if I should go for it.

     Another pattern I found recently is Stacks, a pattern that uses layer cakes. I don't have any floral layer cakes, but I have a lot of floral fabric, and I tried some samples. When I put them on the wall, I loved them. I think I could really show off some quilting with color thread on the white.

     The floral fabric reminds me of Deb Clarke, who sadly passed away last year. When I settle in to make this quilt, I will dedicate it to her memory and call it Deb's Garden. Recently, Deb's husband, Russ, sent me a few of her mug rugs as a gift. I treasure them and am afraid I will spill coffee on them, so I use them on my hutch.

     I have been collecting indigo fabrics for some time. I would hate to cut them too small and lose the patterns. When I saw Crown and Anchor on Jordan Fabrics and watched the video, I thought that this might be the quilt for them. I had bought the pattern earlier. Good thing I did samples. The directions leave out a critical step in cutting squares on the diagonal twice. I had to watch the video a couple of times to get it. It has a really weird block assembly for part of it- I needed the video. Sample making paid off. I think this may be the quilt for these fat quarters.

Disordered Order

      The title about describes where I am at in fabric storage reorganization. What worked well a couple of years ago has since burgeoned into a mess. My storage for 1/2 yd to 2 yards was a white bookcase. However, since the shelves have about 12" space between, the fabric tends to cascade out when I pull a few out of the stack. The whole thing began to look like a spewing paint waterfall.

When I first loaded it up, nice and neat

 

 

 

 

What it became

Unloading, refolding, boxing up to empty

 

Bookcase removed, ready for something new which will fill from the window to the wall

Fabric tubs in my sewing space now, waiting.

      My husband has made me some tables recently- one for cutting and one for a sewing machine downstairs where the long arm is. I hated to ask him to make a storage wall unit, so I searched online to find something at least 9" deep and about 40" wide. I finally found a unit on Overstock and bought it. When it arrived, beside weighing over 50 lbs., the box top was damaged and it was only 6" deep even though the box and the listing said 9". Some of the side tall pieces were also missing from the box. I felt like Quiltdiva Julie with her vacuum cleaner debacle. When I got a hold of Overstock (only by email or chat), they said oh, it is one of our marketplace sellers, you have to deal with them. I said I bought it on your site and paid you and they wrote they would contact the seller. After many more emails that eventually got  a UPS label to send it back, my husband lugged it to UPS. I was supposed to get a refund three days later. It is day 6. Still unresolved.
     Meanwhile, all the fabric was removed from the white bookcase and is in tubs in my sewing studio. I had refolded it all to 9" in prep for the new unit.
    My husband, the saint, said he would make me a unit. He made me promise I would never buy online furniture again. He shopped for plywood and has the outside all screwed and glued together. Next is priming the shell and shelves and then polyurethaning it. Meanwhile, it is mess city here.

Outside of unit, shelving to come.

Some completions

      I love to sew. Sew quilts. I hate to write, it is like giving blood. I have all kinds of photos taken, labelled and ready to post, but it is tough for me to do.
     So, let me start with two quilt finishes. They are comfort quilts and not claimed yet. The first has blocks of 30s fabric that were given to me about half done.  I thought about putting them on point and adding lots of neutrals- cream, white and then a muted periwinkle blue. I wanted it longer, so I added the white strip top and bottom. The strip has specks of the same blue as the border so I thought it was perfect. Fun to quilt. I also have a stack of larger square 30s fabric blocks that I have not figured out into a layout yet.

Back, a soft older style floral

The larger 30s blocks, hmm, what to do?

     The second qult was a 4 patch quilt block swap from my guild. I did two sets and we had 20 participants. However, the unfinished size was not adhered to by all, so I had to cut down a lot blocks and make more of my own to get enough for the quilt. I stayed the on point track and used a lot of neutrals to pull all the varied colors of the 4 patches together. I was aiming for a quilt that a man would like as I am out of those. Blue stripe binding. I tried to keep the quilting masculine and not floral scrolly.

I even love the back!

Ready for Violet

     Finally, the last stitch is in Violet's quilt, just before she turns 4 months on Mar. 14th. I am happy with the longarm quilting. I just went for it and combined motifs. I did small swirls around the letters and a border design. I used Wonderfil Master Quilt lavender (recommended by Terri Cherne at the Wonderfil Booth in Canada years ago) on the  top and Dove Grey DecoBob in the bobbin. Birds, Butterflies, and letters made with patterns from Lynne on Etsy. Quilt design original.
     Now, I just have to get it to her.

Notice the difference in texture between the unquilted and quilted areas.
Quilting makes the quilt.

     Laid the quilt on the floor to check it and figure out binding, Tugger appears out of nowhere to anchor and inspect.

All bound and done.

Back

Packing it all up

      So far, five stained glass mosaics made it out of the post office. I heard from two recipients so I know they did not break, whew.  I had a hard time finding boxes- either the right size or in a quantity that was reasonable as I am not manufacturing these. I finally found boxes on Amazon and only had to buy 25.

     Inside went the mosaic, a letter, lyrics to Stained Glass, a pocket quilt, a window hook, and lots of bubblewrap taped down around the mosaic in the center of the box.

     I was surprised the cost to ship in these in the US was just under $6.00. Let's not talk about international shipping.
     I have two new ones started, the blue is ready to be grouted but I want to finish another yellow and orange one before I make more grout mess. I find that when the longarm is warming up, I can get some pieces cut and placed.