Month: April 2020

This was the first weekend since we’ve been in isolation where I felt like it went by too fast. And I even managed to be a little productive. I had a much needed sleep in on Saturday, then started sewing hexagons together after breakfast and a really good cup of coffee.

I made some good progress.

I really wish I could get a better photo of this. It looks darker and harsher than it does in person.

Once I started putting blocks up on the design wall I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough blocks to make a nice throw size quilt. Who knows what I was thinking when I put this project away. I was sure that all I had to do was sew it together. I had even divided all the pieces into sets for blocks.

So I dug into my Kaffe Fassett Collective scraps and found some 2.5 inch strips, sewed them into strip sets and cut more triangles. I needed 8 additional blocks to make a throw size. I like to make a throw quilt long enough to be over both my shoulders and my feet. I don’t want to have to choose one or the other.

Once I got some blocks up on the design wall I cut a pile of the blue spots background triangles and put them in place. And I absolutely love how it’s looking. It’s bold and colorful and blue. I’m not a huge fan of blue, but I really like this quilt. The bright colors really pop off of that blue background.

These blocks just make me so happy. As I look at each one I can remember how they made me feel when I first put the fabric combos together for my first hexagon quilt. These fabrics are so amazing!

Other than sewing, the dogs and I walked this weekend. We did nearly six miles on Saturday. It was warm, sunny and muggy. I had to stop a couple of times and let the boys rest in the cool grass. Their tongues were hanging out!

On Sunday, we walked in the evening so it was a little cooler. It’s just gorgeous here this time of year. So many things in bloom so our walks include a lot of stopping and looking at flowers and taking pictures of the boys.

One day last week I started taking photos of the blooms I saw on our walk, and it completely changed how I saw my neighborhood! I saw beautiful things that I’d never noticed before. Here’s a bunch of blooms from just one walk. Click on each image for a bigger view.

Here’s what these are, left to right:

Row 1: Pretty sure the first one may be a gardenia, apple blossoms, Stinky Bob, and I don’t know what this yellow flower is.

Row 2: tulips, some kind of iris, and a yellow bloom that is not forsythia.

Row 3: Tulips and rhododendron.

Row 4: Azaleas

Row 5: Azalea and dogwood

Row 6: Rhododendron, Azaleas and tulips with candytuft

On our four mile walk this evening we ventured into a new neighborhood. I’m really having a great time getting out and seeing the details of the neighborhoods around my house. I’m using an app that tracks how far I walk, and also saves our route on a map. It’s really fun to see how far we venture. This one is from our hot walk on Saturday.

My friends bought me some tomato plants and potting soil on their visit to a garden center today. I like to have my tomatoes in pots by mothers day. I have to keep this guy away from them or he’ll dig them out of the pots!

Getting these into big pots will be on the agenda for this coming weekend.

I’ve been working from home now for six weeks. When we first started working from home they told us it would be a couple of weeks. We were told this week that it will likely be at least through the month of May. I think that may be enthusiastic. I have a hard time seeing how we’d be back in the office by then.

I consider myself really fortunate that I’m still working. I have friends who run their own businesses and they can’t work. Not only do they not have income, but they have a lot of time to fill every day.

I’ve been frustrated that I’ve done virtually no sewing in these six weeks of isolation, with the exception of finishing up my Aboriginal quilt top. So the other night I sat down and made a list of all my unfinished quilts that I want to complete during isolation.

I have four tops done that need backings pieced. And I have five quilt tops that are in motion, but are not finished.

Here are the four quilt tops that need backs. I have the backing fabric for all of them. I just need to take some time and put them together and get them ready for my long armer.

This Aboriginal quilt is for my brother and his wife.

This quilt will go to my other brother and his wife. She has had a lifelong love for rainbows so all this color is perfect.

No plans for who will receive this blue Algorithm quilt.

No plans for who will receive this red one either. I just love these fabrics. I would love to keep it, but how many quilts do I need?

Here are the five quilts that are in progress:

I had almost enough of the Aboriginal blocks left over to make another quilt, so I decided to make one of these for my godson. I had to order some more of the sashing fabric and it came in the mail yesterday. I picked out a few fabrics from my stash to cut for the additional blocks I needed a couple evenings ago. I bought the backing (at the bottom of the photo) in an online sale a few weeks ago. The blocks all have the sashing on one side. Now I need to add the sashing and cornerstone to the second side. This one will go together quickly. Here’s my blog post about how I do the sashing on these blocks. And this post about how I assembled the sashed blocks.

This blue quilt is being made from fabrics left over from my Kaffe hexagon quilt. Here’s a link to my blog post on that finished quilt. The blue spots will be the background for the front, and the shields fabric is the backing. This will be a really fun and vibrant quilt. Blue is out of the ordinary for me. This is the quilt I plan to finish first, but I’m working on this and the Aboriginal above at the same time. Once the blocks are done I’ll have to make a decision as to which one goes on the design wall. they will both go together quickly. Here’s my blog post about the first moments of this quilt coming together. And another post about selecting the blue spots for the background.   I don’t yet know who will get this quilt.

This is a Japanese X and + quilt that I’m making for my guest bedroom. This has been in the works for a couple of years. I only have about ten more blocks to make and then I can start putting it all together. I keep going back and forth on whether to use sashing or not. I’m a little worried that in squaring up these blocks I’m going to make it impossible to match all those seams. I’m a bit indecisive on this one. I just need to make a decision and get moving! This one will have a big border in the brown dream and the darker Lotus leaf. The lotus leaf will also be the backing.  I just love this quilt pattern and I think my fabric choices are different and exciting. I can remember when I decided on the Pond spots for the background. It sort of makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

Here’s a picture with the sashing. I think I’m leaning toward not using the sashing because then I get the effect of the pluses and Xs. These blocks are big, so once they’re all done, it will go together quickly.

This is my recent Kaffe crumb quilt blocks. I have all the blocks done, and have ordered and received all the spots I need for the block borders. I just need to start cutting strips and sewing it all together. I ordered the backing fabric for this a couple of months ago, so this is all ready to get done. I don’t have plans for who will receive this one. I might have to keep it for myself, I love it so much. Here’s a blog post about making these blocks.

This is the Jewel Frames  quilt I’m making for my bedroom. I have all the blocks done and sashed. These blocks were just tossed onto the design wall as I finished sewing on the sashing. So, the blocks are done and I have the fabric I need for the border and backing. What’s holding me back on this one is that I want to get a queen size bed and then make this quilt to specifically fit that mattress and bed frame. So this is on the back burner.  Here’s a blog post about putting these blocks together.

And then I have this wall hanging that will go in my office. the top is all done and I have the backing fabric. I just need to quilt it. I decided I want to do the free motion quilting on this myself on my domestic machine. But I find it a little intimidating. I just need to dig in and do it!!! Here’s a blog post about making this.

I’d better get cracking!!!

This might actually be the quickest quilt top I’ve ever made. And it’s one of my favorites.

I had planned to finish up this quilt top last weekend since I only had a few horizontal seams left to sew. And those seams are really quick because the blocks are so big — there aren’t a lot of seams to line up. I am a died-in-the-wool pinner when it comes to sewing rows of blocks together. So the fewer intersections I have to manage, the happier I am!

I typically sew rows together in sets of two, then I sew those sets together. And then sew the resulting pieces together. This makes it a little easier to manage all the bulk. I really don’t love maneuvering all that bulk through a sewing machine.

I like to accordion-fold my pinned rows to make a more compact strip that I have to move under my needle.

I had so much fun making this quilt top because the fabrics are just amazing and it went together really quickly! The colors are so vibrant and the large prints are so dynamic. I love that the blocks are irregular — the fabric designs are not carefully organized within each block. I love that it’s very organic and not overly manipulated. I think that’s part of what makes it work.

I’m in the middle of my third week of working from home. It’s been really busy and stressful. My internet the first week worked really well, and the last week it all went to hell. I couldn’t do much of anything that required the internet… which is pretty much everything these days! It took me several days to just reach a person at Centurylink. And finally, I had new internet installed yesterday. I really didn’t like the idea of having to bring someone into my home when I’ve been so careful about staying isolated. But I really didn’t have much of a choice… I have to be able to work.

And my new internet is screaming fast! It’s going to take some time for me to stop being startled by it!

I spent a little bit of time making a few face masks last weekend. I made six masks out of my substantial stack of batik scraps and still don’t have the pattern adjusted to where I like it. I got another pattern from a friend that I’m going to try this weekend. It’s really fitted and has less bulk. The pattern is pretty simple.

When I first told my dogs that I’d be working from home, they thought it would be a lot more fun. Not sure who is having more fun here!

Rico (with that big old ear) is a pretty chill guy. He slept on the bed next to me for a good portion of the day today. Bender, on the other hand, spends a good portion of the day gated out of my makeshift office. He just won’t leave me alone and I can’t concentrate on work with him shoving toys at me and climbing on me. He occasionally gets to make an appearance during a video meeting.

And once in awhile, he’ll take a nice nap.

Sometimes, this is my view as I work….