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

A Special Quilt

December 11, 2019Uncategorized

Yesterday I finished quilting a Christmas wall hanging that is somewhat special to me. The quilt kit was purchased by a very special friend, Mary, who passed away this year. Another friend of Mary’s pieced the quilt for Mary’s husband. I squeezed it in so it can be bound and ready for Christmas.

Mary’s quilt, pieced by Sue

I did get the block in the previous post fixed. It turned out to be quite quick and easy. It appears that I won’t be working on more of the Forest Floor blocks until after Christmas. We will be celebrating Christmas on the weekend before, and with having a couple more quilts to finish this week, time will be at a premium. I have yet to put up the Christmas tree and decorate, bake goodies or start any other preparations for the holiday. This may be the year to delegate some tasks.

Forest Floor block, fixed

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

A boo boo

December 2, 2019Uncategorized

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Our son and family were here and it was the kind of day you don’t want to end. But end it did. There are still the memories to warm the heart and draw a smile.

Unfortunately the weather forecast kept me home on Saturday, when I had planned to journey out to the quilt shops for bag day. If you have a bag from this year’s quilt shop hop you get 20% off your purchases at participating quilt shops. Since I do actually need a couple pieces of fabric I thought it would be a good day to go.

This evening I pieced together another block for the Forest Floor block of the month. I had hoped to get two done but they always take more time than you think they will. Granted, had I actually gotten a block done every month when I got the pattern and fabric the quilt top would be done. Not sure it would be quilted. I pressed most of the seams open on tonight’s block. When I started the blocks, most of the seams were pressed to one side. There are several places where the needle will go “thunk” while quilting if it hits places where there are multiple layers of fabric . That sound always give me a moment of anxiety.

Have you ever gotten a block together and discovered a mistake? As I uploaded the picture I immediately spotted a boo-boo, so I guess I’m not done with this block. Hopefully I can get it fixed without taking the entire block apart. I wonder if I should take pictures of the rest of the blocks. It is much easier to spot mistakes on a photo than just looking at the block. Time to pull out the seam ripper and start frogging. Sigh.

Forest Floor Quilt Block

Back Again

November 5, 2019Uncategorized

After a very long absence I have decided that I would resume my blog. I have been posting pictures of the quilts that I have been quilting on Facebook. Since I’m kind of a private person, I feel rather exposed there. I don’t post much of what is on my mind, just pictures. A blog just feels more personal–more of a place to share what’s going on among a more intimate group. I may have that all wrong, but hopefully not. I will still post pictures on FB, but share a little more of my process here.

It is the Christmas rush season. Today was one of those days where absolutely nothing went right and it seems I didn’t accomplish a thing. I had planned on getting a smallish quilt completed today but the thread I had ordered was not in the box that arrived today. For some reason the shipment was split so I’m hoping for the thread tomorrow in the 2nd box. If not I will have to formulate a plan B.

I will leave you with a picture of a cute panel quilt that I recently completed. I love the birds, and actually have a canvas picture that has similar birds hanging in my bath. Please forgive the distortion, I had to drape it across the couch as there was no one here to hold it up for me. It has a water design quilted edge to edge which is a good look for this quilt.