I’ve been pretty productive during the pandemic in my quilting endeavors. The other night I was trying to remember all the quilts I’ve either finished or made since March 13, which was the first day I started working from home.
I count four finishes and six new quilts. That’s kind of a crazy number of quilts in that amount of time for me!
First off, here are the four quilts that were begun prior to the pandemic but were finished after the COVID crisis started.
Aboriginal quilt on my own design:
Scrappy batik Lucky Stars Quilt:
Scrappy blue hexagon quilt out of KFC fabrics on my own design:
KFC Crumb quilt on my own design:
And now the six quilts that were completely made after March 13…
Scrappy batik wedge quilt. I made this in several days after seeing something similar on a blog.
KFC Moss Garden Quilt:
Ruffled Feathers quilt top made with KFC fabrics in the contrast color way:
Second Aboriginal quilt made from leftover blocks:
Flower Garden pattern made from dark KFC fabrics.
And then my most recent finish, the Lucky Stars quilt in KFC fabrics.
Next up will be finishing two UFO quilts that I’m making for myself. One for my bedroom and one for my guest room.
I had a little project I needed to get done before I could finish those two quilts. More on this tomorrow.
This thing went together crazy fast once I got everything where I wanted it.
I assembled each row as I finshed the blocks for that row, and then attached row to row as I went. So once I finished the last block, I only had a couple of long seams to sew.
Things I learned while making this quilt: If I make this again, I’ll use more fabrics. While the selection of fabrics looks good to me, it was a little tough to get it all laid out without getting clumps of color or same fabrics right next to each other.
Here’s some closer photos that show the fabrics better.
Here’s a list of the fabrics I used in this quilt:
Kaffe’s Antwerp Flowers in green
Kaffe’s Paisley Jungle in Tangerine
Kaffe’s Persian Garden in orange
Philip Jacobs Feathers in Green
Philip Jacobs Coleus in Turquois
Kaffe’s Lotus Leaf in Purple
Philip Jacobs Geodes in Yellow
Philip Jacobs Dancing Dahlias in Red
Philip Jacobs Poppy Garden in Red
Philip Jacobs Feathers in Yellow
The white with black spots background is a batik that I bought years ago. I don’t know who made it and I’ve never seen it since.
After a couple days of tweaking the pieces of this quilt to get it to where it feels right, I’ve thrown up my hands and said, “That’s good enough!!!”
Having only ten different fabrics in this quilt, and 8 different fabrics in each block, it was hard to keep fabrics from ending up right next to the exact same fabric, or to keep from creating clumps of color. But I was able to solve the things that were bothering me the most.
I started sewing the blocks together this evening and have the two bottom rows all done. This is another quick assembly as these rectangles are big. I should have this done tomorrow.
Here’s the final lay out with the bottom two rows assembled.
Ick. Photos taken late at night do not do these fabrics justice. But I do like the look when the blocks are sewn together. It’s just more cohesive and feels like it’s one piece rather than a collection of smaller pieces.
The backing to this quilt will be the green Antwerp flowers that appears in the top. I bought a big piece several years ago for a ridiculously low price from a wonderful quilt store in Corvallis, OR, that closed a couple summers ago. It’s so sad to see so many local quilt stores closing.
My friend who was working on a black quilt at the same time as me sent a photo of her completed quilt top today. We used a lot of the same fabrics, but not completely the same. Here’s her quilt.
And here’s mine for comparison…
It’s kind of amazing to me how different our quilts look. Granted, her photo is better than mine (mine looks like a flash bulb exploded on it). But I just love her quilt!
Her top looks more organized, you can see the individual blocks, and you can see different fabrics and colors.
Mine looks like a chaotic blob. I knew it was chaotic, but it feels really chaotic next to my friend’s.
I was hoping to get a better photo of it outside this weekend, but the rain is starting tonight and will continue for four days. So it’s not going to happen for a few days.
The weather has been so amazing the last few days. High 60s and sunny. Fall is definitely in the air, but it always makes me a little sad because I know the rains will come soon and the winter will be long, dark and wet.
On our walk last night we saw the tallest turkey I have ever seen… just standing, uncontained, in a front yard with a couple chickens.
Honestly, he must have been four feet tall!!! He stood there regally and let me snap several photos. The dogs were not impressed. Probably because they didn’t realize how delicious he would be.
Work has busy this week as we’re having our fall membership campaign on our radio station. It’s a ton of work and lots of early mornings. The drive ends tomorrow and it will be good to see it end. It’s been going well, so we’re all very happy about that. I actually get to be on the radio about a half dozen times during the drive, raising money to keep the news coming in Oregon!
I’m going to take Monday off to recover. I was thinking about heading out to the coast for a walk on the beach, but it’s supposed to be raining. I may just take the dogs for a good swim in the Columbia instead. That’s a lot closer drive for a wet and rainy walk.
I stayed up way too late last night putting the large rectangles up on the design wall with the stars for this quilt. Then after our walk this evening I sewed them to the stars. That went so fast that I sewed all the small rectangles together in pairs, got them pressed, and they’re all up on the design wall too.
This picture really doesn’t do these fabrics justice. But it gives you an idea of what this quilt will look like when it’s done. I still need to change a few things around, but it’s close to being ready to sew together.
Here’s a picture of all the large rectangles sewn to the star blocks.
By not sewing these into complete blocks first, I can add the smaller rectangle sets and then easily fix things I don’t like by moving the sets around, or even just flipping them over. Plus, I can flip the star block sets over as well. It gives me a lot of flexibility in making this look right to my eye.
This is really going to be a pretty quilt. I just love the way the fabrics all work together.
As I look at these photos I’m making mental notes of what needs to be tweaked. I hope I remember tomorrow night!
I got all my star blocks trimmed and squared up this evening and spaced out on the design wall. After a little bit of tweaking tomorrow night I’ll start adding the KFC fabric rectangles to the design wall.
I just love squaring up quilt blocks. It can really take blocks from looking a little messy and wonky to amazing. These blocks are pretty generous, so it was really easy to trim them.
You can see how crooked some of those trimmed edges are in the above photo. You can also see really clearly in the above photo how there is much more than a 1/4 inch seam allowance outside the points. This means the points will “float”… there will be white fabric between the point of the star and the outside seam. Floating points lessen the need for precision in piecing these blocks… I don’t have to worry about taking too big of a seam allowance and chopping off the point of a star.
All those crisp and clean blocks and that pile of trimmings… so satisfying!
I finished the final five stars for this Kaffe Fassett Collective Lucky Stars quilt this evening. I had thought I’d get more done today, but decided instead to go and visit a friend and her litter of puppies.
I’m pretty happy that I made all 20 blocks and only made one mistake.
Oops. Luckily, I just picked out the stitches and sewed the piece on correctly.
Tomorrow I’ll trim all these blocks to 9.5 inches square and then will get them arranged and all spaced out on the design wall. Once I have an arrangement I like I’ll start adding the rectangles. That’s when it will really get fun!
I had planned to spend most of my day working on this quilt, but decided this morning that I wanted to go visit a friend that I haven’t seen since the pandemic started. She bought a new property and started a new job south of Salem around the first of the year and I hadn’t even seen her new home. The bonus is that she has a litter of 7 week old border collie puppies that will go to their homes next weekend and I hadn’t seen them yet. You might not know this, but I really love puppies! I’m kind of known for it.
So I headed down there at around 1:00 and got to her house around 2:00.
It was really what I needed. Her place is wonderful, located on a beautiful hillside with amazing views. I spent over three hours visiting with her, walking around her property, I ate a gorgeous apple right off the tree, Rico got to do a little herding work with her three crazy sheep, and of course, I got to play with puppies. I even had one fall asleep on my lap while two others slept at my feet! Squee!
I’m so glad I went down for a badly needed visit. I spent three hours and got home around 6:30.
Back to work tomorrow. Another busy week with our fall radio membership drive going on right now. It’s a lot of work, a lot of stress and a lot of pressure.
I’ve been working on more stars, but feel like I’ve been pretty relaxed about it. I haven’t been attacking them feverishly.
And yet, I have 15 of 20 done. And I’m really happy with them! I just love the variation in color and those big prints are so much fun when they’re cut down!
Five more stars to make, then I need to square them all up, and then I’ll start getting it all on the design wall. I can’t wait to see all those rectangles up with the stars. It’s really going to come alive.
I just love making these stars because each one is so individual. Each star point differs from the other star points on that block. And I love the combos of the blocks and points… really some gorgeous stuff going on here.
And, or course, that background fabric is pretty magical. So many people have asked me what it is and where they can get it. I wish I was more help. I do know that if I ever see it in a store again I will buy all of it!!! I have another three yards of it and will save it for something really special.
Holy cow! Look at all the color!
More eye candy.
I just love the pops of lighter blue, the oranges with contrasting blue, the pops of green in the Antwerp flowers…
I was a little ambivalent about the yellow geodes, but I think it’s brilliant in this quilt! It’s really a stand out. It gives a pop of yellow and big pops of green, yellow and purple. Love it!
Rico had his weekly sheep herding lesson yesterday and he was so amazing. We worked on turning the sheep around the post and then we did a lot of getting them into a pen. He was so good… so relaxed… so responsive! I just love watching a dog do what they’re bred to do!
After our lesson we went for a nice walk on the trails on the Washington State University campus. It’s been a few weeks since we did that. It was nice to be out in the trees and off the pavement.
Today, I’m hoping to go and visit a friend’s litter of seven week old border collie puppies. Sounds like a great Sunday activity!
I’ve been waiting and waiting for one final piece of fabric to arrive so I could get started on my next quilt. Finally, it arrived yesterday and I started cutting. And tonight I sewed the beginnings of the first blocks together.
These stars will all be made from an eclectic mix of Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics and a spotted batik background that I bought several years ago and have been hoarding ever since. I just LOVE the way these first four stars are looking and I love all that riot of color with the simple but powerful background. I think this is going to be a really fun quilt.
The quilt will be made with 20 large blocks. I’m using ten different KFC fabrics for the stars. Here’s the star centers divided out with the points for each.
Each of the star blocks will be bordered by large rectangles of the same selection of KFC fabrics. It should have a somewhat scrappy and random feel when it’s all done.
As I had a few days to think about this quilt before the last needed fabric arrived I thought about doing each star entirely from the same fabric. After I tried out some different combos, I decided that a mixed approach was more visually interesting.
I was talking to a friend earlier tonight as I finished up all the fabric cutting and I told her how much I love the process of preparing fabrics for a quilt. I find the pressing, trimming and cutting all very relaxing and satisfying. it’s the first time I really have my hands all over the fabrics and see them in all their glory.
This is all the fabric for this quilt top cut and ready to start sewing.
As of now I have no fabric orders that I’m expecting to arrive in the mail. It feels a little odd.
I feel like I’m not quite ready to start my second Ruffled Feathers quilt, and want something bright and colorful and less chaotic that the last two quilts I’ve made. So I’ve decided that I’m going to remake the Lucky Stars quilt that I made out of batik scraps earlier this year.
Here’s the pattern.
So I went in and made a mess of my sewing room and dug through my Kaffe Fassett Collective stash to find some fabrics that will be bright and colorful and saturated. This selection isn’t final, but I like the color combo.
The background is a batik that I’ve had for several years. I saw it used for a background on a batik quilt that I saw in a shop in Salt Lake City many years ago. The store sold out of the fabric immediately and it took a long time for me to see it again. So when I finally saw it in a shop in Haley, Idaho, I bought five yards because I knew I’d use it eventually and would probably never see it again. I need two yards for a lap size quilt on this pattern.
The black dots are a very free form spatter type thing. I think a light fabric like this is much more interesting than a solid white or off white background. Plus, I do love a graphic black and white with all these bright prints.
Tomorrow I’m going to finish two quilt backs so I can get four holiday gift quilts off to my long arm quilter. I have to get them done if I want them back in time! So I probably won’t start this quilt for a few days.
My friend who bought my Contrast Ruffled Feathers quilt sent me some photos today with the quilting done. It looks so good all quilted. She added borders to make it fit a bed.
I know a lot of people have a lot of trouble with seeing dogs on a new quilt, but it actually makes me really happy! I love to see that someone has incorporated the quilt into their life! No higher compliment to me!
I started cutting the fabric for this quilt on Monday night and just finished sewing the final seam at 11 pm on Friday. Might be one of the quickest makes ever.
I love these fabrics. These close ups of the blocks are so yummy!
The fabric for the backing arrived today. It’s Phillip Jacob’s Spiral Shells in Red. It’s so crazy amazing!!!
I’m putting a full fabric list here so I have a record of it.
Philip Jacobs Glory – Dark
Philip Jacobs Bearded Iris – Dark
Brandon Mably Pomegranate – Black
Kaffe Fasset Guinea Flower – Black
Kaffe Fassett Lake Blossoms – Black
Philip Jacobs Wisteria – Black
Philip Jacobs Spiral Shells – Red
Kaffe Fassett Shirt Stripes – Cobalt
Philip Jacobs Mable Stream – Cobalt
Kaffe Fassett Trefoil – Dark
Philip Jacobs Big Leaf – Purple
Philip Jacobs Shaggy __ Black
Kaffe Fassett Row Flowers – Dark
Kaffe Fassett Persian Garden – Black
Tomorrow I’m going to finish the back for my most recent Aboriginal quilt and the batik wedge quilt I made a month or so ago. They are both for holiday gifts. I have four quilts to get off to my quilter so I can get them back by the holidays.
I may start my new Ruffled Feathers Quilt on Sunday, unless I decide to do something different. I do have another idea brewing.
agilejack 