When your quilt projects are going nowhere fast, you show progress on your stitch project.
The design spells NOEL, and each letter has a little something extra. I’m waiting to stitch all the french knot eyes and metallic background snowflakes until last. I don’t want to snag them on anything.
It’s a fun project to stitch. Not too many color changes! If I can only stitch for 15 minutes I still feel like I accomplished something. Smaller projects do have their perks.
No change in the numbers.
I’m working on the challenge piece with circles. I hoped to make more progress this week, but life continues to get in the way.
The circles are fused. I have a plan for attaching them more permanently and ideas on how to quilt it. This one is 10” x 12”.
The background fabric and the dark pink circles are my hand dyes. The light pink circles are my painted fabric.
I’m working on using up some of my dyed and painted fabric to create space for more. When I take the time to pull out all the supplies, I usually dye or paint several yards.
Fabric In: 7.125 yards
Fabric Out: 3.875 yards
Net Fabric In: 3.25 yards
How did you do this week?
Every week seems to go faster than the last. Before this one got away from me I sewed together the center of Waugh Street Christmas.
There will be borders…….maybe background, red and then more background. I won’t know until I audition it. I may also make the side borders wider as the quilt is narrower than I prefer.
That’s a decision for another day.
No change in the numbers.
I had a Guild meeting on Zoom yesterday that lasted hours. I used the time to piece Waugh Street Christmas, the project using the Sweet Christmas charm pack.
There will be two more rows at the bottom.
When I was little we lived in an old frame house on Waugh Street. The house had the wide wood trim all around the doorways between rooms. At Christmas we would tape all the Christmas cards that came in the mail around the doorways in the living and dining rooms. The arrangement of the charm squares reminds me of those cards hanging around the doorways.
I’ve seen variations of this pattern many times in the past ten years. Rather than use a published pattern, I played with spacing the charm squares until I liked the look. I simplified the construction because that’s how I roll. I’ll work out the borders once the top is sewn. I’m loving it so far.
Fabric In: 7.125 yards
Fabric Out: 3.875 yards
Net Fabric In: 3.25 yards
How did you do this week?
Things are happening in the sewing room. Each project deserves its own post, but I couldn’t pick and decided to summarize instead.
The circles are fused on the challenge quilt. No new picture because the group meets this week and I want to show it there first.
The pattern has gone though a couple revision and the background is cut for the quilt using the Sweet Christmas charm pack. It doesn’t look much different.
The “O” is almost stitched in the Noel piece. I’m about half way through the back stitching.
Big surprise, it will rain here all weekend (like it has for the past two weeks). That will give me plenty of time this weekend to work on a couple of these projects.
No change in the numbers.
We took a trip to Athens, Ohio for Quilt National this week. So many of our favorite stops had either closed, changed hands or moved that we spent a lot of time tracking things down. The quilt shop in the area had brand new owners, and they were still working to get the basics running. It’s a different world out there.
The exhibit was interesting, but not one of our favorites. Art is so subjective. Some years the pieces appeal to us more than others.
I made notes on some of the techniques I saw for future play days in the sewing room.
Fabric In: 7.125 yards
Fabric Out: 3.875 yards
Net Fabric In: 3.25 yards
How did you do this week?
Another month gone and two more projects finished. Time passes so quickly, or so it seems. Any month with finishes is a good month.
The Short List categories are UFO, garment, original design, hand work, finishing, classes and other. I’ve used this system for 6+ years to keep me focused. The categories change as my goals and interests change. Categories with nothing in process will not be listed, only active categories.
Original Design – The group challenge with circles is moving to this category.
Other – I decided on the pattern to use with the Sweet charm pack, but haven’t started cutting the background. This one should sew up quick.
Hand Work – I started a new stitch project, Noel from the book A Cross Stitch Christmas.
Garment – I washed the fabric to make a test pair of pants. The goal is to get the fit right.
UFO – I’m moving Open Dialogue to this category since I haven’t worked on it in forever.
As much as I’d like to work on a new project, I need to put time into a challenge project first. The circle challenge will be my OMG linking to Elm Street Quilts.
Happy 4th to everyone in the United States! Gotta love the long weekend with extra time to relax.
No fabric in, but fabric out for the pillow.
After two finishes last week, I’m not motivated to work on the next thing. Instead I looked online and found a couple patterns that will work with one charm pack. Pulled the background fabric too. Now I need to make a decision and get cutting.
I bought the charm pack a few years ago at the AQS show. I love that the line has that vintage Christmas feel. No sense letting it age.
Fabric In: 7.125 yards
Fabric Out: 3.875 yards
Net Fabric In: 3.25 yards
How did you do this week?
It took some effort, but I finished the sew-in piece using the Victoria Findlay Wolfe technique. It decided it wanted to be a pillow after all.
The front and the back are different.
The technique isn’t as hard as it looks, but all the partial seams make it a bit fussy. I don’t see myself doing it again, but it stitched up fairly fast. I enjoyed making it and am pleased with the finished project.
I used all my batting scraps to stuff it, which cleared valuable shelf space in the sewing room. That was the best part of the project! If only I could use up my fabric scraps as fast. The entire top came out of the scrap bins and didn’t even make a dent.
I’m linking to the finish party at Elm Street Quilts.
No fabric in this week. A little fabric went out replacing the waistband on a pair of pants.
The big win for the week was finishing the Mill Hill Digging Out kit.
I bought the kit in early April and finished it two months after I started it. That’s record time for me to turn around any project. It feels incredible to have it done already.
If only quilt finishes came as fast.
Fabric In: 7.125 yards
Fabric Out: 2.5 yards
Net Fabric In: 4.625 yards
How did you do this week?
Quilting Creativity
A Personal Journey through Quilting and Home Life
Quilting, Scrapbooking, Gardening and whatever else catches my fancy
Quilting and other things I love in this colorful world
