Summer's End

 It's always amazing how fast the summers go.  We have had a very hot and dry summer here so fall is a welcome prospect.  Winter, not so much.  But we will not concentrate on the upcoming cold.

My siblings were finally able to get together this summer after trying for several years.  We rented a house close to Lewis and Clark Lake near Yankton, South Dakota.  It was wonderful being together and out and about after being so closed in during the restrictions of COVID this past year.  Yankton was the closest town to where we grew up that had more variety for shopping, eating and things to do.  Our small town offered the necessities, but not much in the way of non-essentials, which are fun to check out when shopping.  And the lake seems to pull all of the local--and not so local--people to it's waters.  It's such a relaxing spot with friendly people to meet.

2020 had been a busy year for the quilting business, as my customers were home piecing quilts instead of enjoying their usual activities away from home.  I had only been able to finish one of my own quilts, so prior to this year's fair I took a couple of weeks to finish projects.  I wanted have some quilts to enter at the fair.  My quilts did well,  I captured the Champion and Best of Show ribbons.  One of my customers was awarded the Reserve Champion and Viewer's Choice ribbons.  Together we captured all of the top prizes!

Tennessee Waltz won Best of Show

Appliqued cats made in honor of my friend won the Champion ribbon

My bright elephant wall hanging received a first place ribbon

My baby quilt received 2nd place in it's category

I also entered another quilt that did not receive a ribbon.  It was one of those quilts that didn't take much skill so I wasn't surprised.  I do think it is striking though.  Of course I didn't take a picture when it was hanging at the fair so at the moment, this is the only picture that I have.

That's it for today.  Stay healthy everyone!

Mary

Two More Days

 I'm getting pretty excited here.  In just two more days I will have my stitches out and be ready to quilt.  Actually I could probably go mount my next customer quilt right now, but I don't work on Sundays--at least not for money.  Tomorrow we have a meeting out of town so I probably won't accomplish much at home.  Not that I won't try.  At this point I can move my hand and thumb around without pain but the hand does fatigue easily.  It is amazing how much strength is lost when muscles aren't used, and it doesn't take much time to lose that strength.

It is cold here today.  Just 5 degrees with light to moderate snowfall.  A good day for staying in the house and doing whatever you are in the mood for doing.  That might be why I have strawberries thawing on the counter.  A strawberry desert, piping hot from the oven, is what I'm in the mood for.  It really is too bad that we don't have any ice cream in the house.  

I did manage to stitch up a pillow today.  I have some pillow forms that I ordered last month and fabric to cover them, so what better time to get started.  Since I only had one zipper on hand, I could only make one pillow.  I decided to start with the pillow that I need for the small of my back when I'm sitting on the loveseat.  I found some fabric that I had initially planned on using to make a bag.  There is still enough fabric left from the pillow, that by adding some contrasting fabric, I can make a bag.  The pillow's not fancy, but it is already serving the purpose.  

Time Off From Quilting

On January 28, I had surgery on my thumb.  Having trigger finger in my thumb wasn't something that I would have anticipated a couple of years ago, any more than I would have expected a pandemic.   But since when has life been predictable, right?  

Last year was a busy one for the business so to be brutally honest, a couple of weeks off feels pretty good.  The surgery did cause a flair in my myasthenia gravis and that has not been pleasant.  I have honestly not been able to get many of the things done that I had planned for my time off, and that has been a bit of a bummer.  On the bright side, however, I did get one quilt of mine quilted after Christmas.  It is still waiting for binding, which is prepared and ready to go when I can again use my left hand for more than very light tasks.  I also finished a customer quilt which is custom quilted.  Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures of both.  First up is my king sized Labyrinth quilt.

Back:

Borders:

On occasion I get quilts that require hand guided quilting.  These quilts must be reasonably small for me to accept them, as again, there is a limit to how long my muscles will hold out while machine guiding.  This is a quilt from Julie, which needed hand guided background fill around the applique.  

 

The back: 

I was so happy to hear back from Julie that she liked the quilting.  Customer feedback is so much needed so that I can continue to refine what I do.  Thank you Julie.

It's the End of the Holiday Season

 Despite being home more because of the virus, the past year has still gone by quickly.  It seems as though I just finished posting last year's mug rug project.  Actually it has been a very busy year.  As people stayed home they also put together quilt tops for me to quilt.  My quilting projects are still waiting to be finished.  I have pieced several tops but they are in the pile with the other tops that are waiting their turn at the machine.  I have gotten a couple quilted that are waiting for binding. 

This year, since we would be spending Christmas alone, I decided that a small tree would suit us fine.  The living room has plenty of things taking up space so a full sized tree wasn't necessary.  I order a 4' tree online and when it came I was quite pleased with it.  It was on sale so it wasn't expensive, but it looked very nice when decorated.  Of course when I set it up I realized that none of my tree skirts would fit it.  It would need a smaller one.  I looked around at patterns and videos online for inspiration, and found what I wanted.  I liked a skirt that one lady had made that just had a hole in the center but no split in the skirt.  She said that because it was one piece, she could also use it to sit a centerpiece on, and still slip the skirt through the tree trunk before putting the tree in the stand..  When using under a vase or centerpiece, the centerpiece would cover the hole in the middle.  I thought that was a great idea!  

Of course I didn't have the proper ruler for cutting the pieces so I found some template plastic and created my own.  The guides for the angles were provided by my quilting ruler, and all I had to do was add the seam allowances.  I used a piece of snowman fabric for the backing and quilted it on the longarm using an edge to edge pattern.  Since the snowman fabric appeared as though it would show through the white, I used two layers of poly batting.  I think it turned out well,  It is reversible, but I didn't get a picture of the back. 

Back Again

Once again it's been a long time since I've posted. It seems the entire world has changed in that time. It's a sad and difficult time, but a time with the promise of better things to come. Many have stepped up to make masks for medical personnal, friends, relatives and strangers alike. Others have peacefully shown their support for equal justice regardless of skin color. For many of us quilters, our quilting passion is the little bit of solace that we need in this time. I wouldn't be honest if I were to say that the events of the past months haven't weighed heavily on my heart, and turned me into something of a recluse.

Today I posted some pictures to Facebook of quilts that I have quilted this year. I have more, but I've been having a difficult time getting them off of my phone. As usual I have missed getting pictures of a few quilts. Just par for the course here.

A couple of days ago I finished another quilt top. At some point I have to start adding my quilt tops to my quilting schedule. Yesterday I had talked with a friend about not adding new customers, today I added a new customer. I can still sneak a few of my own quilts into the schedule, right? Sure I can. I haven't taken any pictures of the new quilt top but I do have a picture of another top I finished a couple of months ago. It is a combination of fabrics from my friend Mary and my fabrics. Mary loved animals so I thought this pattern was a good one to honor her.

Hopefully I will get this quilted in the near future as I plan to quilt an edge to edge pattern on this quilt.
Happy quilting!
Mary

On Quilting and Kolaches

December 20, 2019Uncategorized

Once again the quilter’s Christmas party was postponed. We had heavy fog with below freezing temperatures, making for the possibility of icy roads. The party is now scheduled for our regular meeting date in January. Now I’m doubly glad I didn’t make my mug rug with a Christmas theme.

For the January meeting we are making 12 1/2″ blocks using the leftover challenge envelopes from a few years back. Each year the group defines a challenge which can then be entered in the competition at the county fair the following year. The challenge we are using for next month’s blocks consists of an envelope with a shape and a sample of fabric. The blocks must contain the shape in the color that was in the envelope. The blocks will then

be assembled into a quilt to be raffled off at the 2020 fair. My envelope contained a egg shape with a blue scrap of fabric.

Contents of Challenge Envelope

Since the shapes in the remaining envelopes are likely to be circles, rectangles, squares, and stars, I don’t want to make something that looks like an Easter block. I have thought about using several of the egg shaped pieces as flower petals to make a flower, or as leaves on a tree. There aren’t too many blue flowers or tree leaves out there but that’s the best I have come up with to date. Any suggestions or ideas would be more than welcome. Just comment below.

Today I baked kolaches for the family for Christmas. I decided to use unbleached flour this year. It is amazing how different they turned out compared to when I have used bleached flour. They are much less fluffy. Since I can’t eat them, I am not sure how much difference there is in the taste.

Normally I make my gluten free kolaches before venturing to the well-glutened variety. For some reason my organizational Zen has abandoned me, and I ended up making the regular variety first. That was probably not a good idea as it added quite a bit of extra work scrubbing everything down to prevent cross contamination. My gluten free kolaches did turn out to be much moister and softer this year. I’m not sure how that happened but I’m good with moister and softer.

Happy Holidays everyone, and for those of you in the cold regions of the country, stay warm!

Quilters Christmas Party

December 16, 2019Uncategorizedmug rug, Quilting

After postponing the Cedar County Piecemaker’s Christmas party due to weather last week, it appears as though the weather will cooperate this week. Our exchange is a mug rug or coasters. My initial thoughts were to make a Christmas themed mug rug. After thinking about it a little more, I decided that a mug rug that would be appropriate for a greater part of the year would be more practical. Yup, that’s me–practical.

I had found a quilt pattern that featured a variety of cups and mugs that I thought was cute. Why not make one of the blocks for a mug rug? It turned out to be an easy block and I did use colors that are somewhat wintery. The block is from a quilt called “In From the Cold” by Kate Spain. The full pattern can be found here: http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_in-from-the-cold.pdf. Someday I would like to make the entire quilt. There are additional ide

as on using blocks from the quilt here http://blog.modafabrics.com/2013/06/in-from-the-cold-mini-project-and-gift-bag/ This is how my block turned out. I hope the person that receives it will like it.

Since I may not be back for a bit, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, whatever holiday it is you celebrate. May the season bring you peace and joy.

Mary