Chock full of quilts

     On October 7th and 8th, our guild is having its triennial show. In order to hang the show cohesively and in good order and time, I take all the entries into my home and long arm studio basement. I photograph each one, crop the photos and then print them out. I take these photos and lay out the show on a large map with the help of my co-chair. Then, we label all the quilts with the place it goes, like (A10)- row A, spot 10. Each quilt is in its own clear plastic bag. Right now, my basement is chock full. It makes me nervous having everyone's quilt here, big responsibility.
    I will be so relieved when they go home from the show.

Inspired to try, Yay!

    I am inspired in reading other's blogs is to try something I never would have thought of. Jo of Jo's Country Junction described making "yard sauce". Since I use lots of tomato sauce, but canning would make me lose my mind with all that boiling water and such, this was something I could try. I made one small batch and then I visited my local farmer's market to buy more tomatoes. I used Roma and beefsteaks because that is what they had.
    It was so simple, smelled wonderful, and was so easy. I used a food processor instead of a blender, because blenders spit back hot stuff at me. I have a great Kitchen Aid food processor, no bells and whistles. I used parchment paper to line the sheets for easier cleanup as it roasts for an hour. The Corningware pan needs less time as the parchment paper got a little too crispy. My Nordicware baking sheets were perfect. I ladled the sauce into Ziploc quart freezer bags and put them flat stacking in the freezer. What could be easier?

    Some fall flowers blooming out front at the same time.

Last two Pink David Austin roses

Zinnias just keep going till it frosts

Special Delivery!

     One quilt blogger I truly miss is Deb Clarke. Her work, her help, her personality were extra special. When she died, her husband contacted me and said he was going through her sewing room with great difficulty. I can't imagine the grief.
    Russ let me know he found a couple of quilts that Deb had asked him to have me quilt. I had offered to quilt Deb's quilts when she had fallen so ill, but the shot hastened her death and I never was to hear from her again.
    This past week, I received a special box with two quilts inside, backing, and some batting. The first quilt I took out was a batik. I looked it up on Deb's blog to tell me some of the story. You can see how it came to be. However, when I pinned it on the wall, it seemed to need some border or ending to the piece, but I did not know if I had the right to change it.

    The next quilt has its first mention as a leader/ender in the link above, but later here. In her photo, there was no blue border around it like the one I pulled out of the box. Well, since Deb added that blue border on the leader/ender quilt, I knew she would be fine adding a similar border to the batik, so I found a perfect fabric and sewed it on.

Side auditions

With borders, I think it extends the quilt and makes the slashed pieces stronger

    Honestly, it is time consuming to put this blog together. Writing is hard work for me- takes a lot of writing/rewriting. But, the payoff in making/keeping the friends I have and being part of their lives is a huge payoff. It moves me from being a consumer of media to a creator/collaborator which is infinitely more rich despite the efforts.
    Thank you to all the bloggers who let me into their lives and enrich mine so fully as Deb Clarke did!

Seasonal finishes

     I am thrilled that I could finish all the seasonal fall pieces I was working on. I normally give away what I make, but I kept these small items and hung them in my house. I can't believe how much they perk me up and my surroundings. I have always resisted home decor stuff, probably because my mother used plastic and phony flowers everywhere at all seasons. I always try to go for the clean, uncluttered look (except for the studio). These bits of color throughout the house make me smile.

Claimed before FMQ finished

And a couple of blocks that I want to add some more to, but not right now based on free pattern, Rising Star. I have some more different fabrics to cut for maybe 6 more stars.

Fall Fever

     I am not sure why I have resisted making quilts that are seasonal. I know I don't like cutesy. Well, that is over. Fall is coming and it is the only time of the year I enjoy using orange and brown, my least favorite colors. Except for fall.
    Last year, I made some pumpkins from a Bonnie Hunter pattern and made a small wallhanging. And it sat all year unquilted. Originally I was going to big stitch hand quilt it, but I decided it was too busy already. So it sat.
    Inspired by the candy corn that suddenly appeared in the store, I pulled it out and FMQ it on one of my Singer 301s (the mocha one). I just have the gray border to finish and bind it. It is nice to work FMQ on a domestic machine from time to time.

    And then, someone gave me a couple bags of fabric and pieces. There were a bunch of not quite 5" squares sewn together by hand. Really weird hand stitching. The fall colors hooked me even though I normally never look at fabric like this. Here is a photo of a block I did not rip out because the color was wrong.

    I spent one evening sitting outside picking out those seams. After pressing the squares, I chain pieced the blocks in a long chain. I ended up adding 5" squares I had in my box of squares (trimming each one) in chains and pressing them.

    I sliced the blocks down the middle making rectangles. I chain pieced the short sides and then sliced them into 4 patches. I adapted this technique from Missouri Star on Katie's Quilt.

    Once I had 4 patches, I sewed them together and decided to use a cool print for the center and group the 4 patches around it.

    Now I was on a tear, finished sewing this, grabbed the extra pumpkins from last year to make a skinny hanging, and then more 4 patches with black wonky stars for a small table decoration. I plan on buying and adding black rickrack to the bigger one around the center fun fabric. Then I will bind in a black print with a yellow orange flange. Lots of neat seasonal quilt work from someone who was reluctant to do this. I have never been a decorating type or cutesy. However, I bought fall fabric every fall.
    I think Quiltdiva Julie gave me a kick in the pants with her arrangement of holiday pieces on a mantel. Then it fomented in my brain and grabbed some repurposed squares. You just never know.

 

A classy finish for Flaneur

    This is another wonderful comfort quilt top gifted to me by Quiltdivajulie. I did some rearranging, adding the skinny dividing strips. There was enough fabric left that she sent so I was able to put a skinny light border on, holding all those HST seams closed. Here is the process.    
    When it came time to quilt, I again printed a B&W photo and put it in a sheet protector to figure out the quilting. I had a hard time because there is not a lot of regular repeats. I ended up quilting diagonals in the corners, a center repeating square and other repeats-one top and bottom, and another the two outer long sides. I used Glide Blizzard in the top and Glide 60 gray in the bobbin. For some reason, I kept getting confused and had to do some ripping and consulting my plan.
    Julie had sent me the backing (so cool!) and binding, a very nice rich purple, but I was compelled to go with a flange binding using a yellow gold for the skinny part and the same blue I used for the dividing strips. I do like the way it came out. Right now, it does not have a recipient, but I know I will get a request soon as always and I will be ready!
    Thank you, Julie! I hope you like what I did with it and am happy you sent it.

Outside in the shade

Sunny view

Texture showing in shade/sun

In the shade

In the sun

Elizabeth's Leaves

    A great thing about making comfort quilts a mainstay effort is that other people help me at times, totally unsolicited. In this case, my friend Elizabeth gifted me this quilt all quilted she made so I could finish quilting my quilts for the guild quilt show in October. They are done.     
    I did get a request from a friend for her friend, Barb, who is undergoing cancer treatment again. She is a former elementary principal. I thought the colors and leaves were perfect for her and calming. After sewing on a label, sewing a pocket on the bag (orphan block) and packing it, my friend gave it to Barb when she took her for treatment. She loved it and was greatly surprised. Another quilt does it job well. Thank you, Elizabeth!

On the design wall when bound

Outside in the natural light (blues are tricky to get right)