Quilting is in my Blood

To-Do for the week of Aug 24th-30th:

1. Finish appliquéing the petals on my Lotus Blossom quilt and write my August OMG Finish post. √Done
   
2. Make the binding for my Modified Fancy Forest Quilt. √Done
3. Pull some fabric for a family Sew-Along in September. √Done

To-Do #1

I did finish appliquéing the petals and leaves on my Lotus Blossom quilt and was able to finish it with machine binding (which is SO much faster than hand-stitching the binding down on the back side of the quilt. It doesn’t look as good as my hand-stitched binding, but as they say “Finished is better than perfect!”). I wrote about my decision to appliqué the circle where the petals and leaves join in my August 2021 One Monthly Goal post.

To-Do #2

I’m using the same Alison Glass Raven Kaleidoscope fabric for the binding for my Modified Fancy Forest quilt as I did in Lotus Blossom quilt above. It is ready to use over the Labor Day holiday.

To-Do #3

I am participating in a Blakely Quilt Sew-Along with several family members that starts mid-September. I’ve wanted to make a black/grey/white quilt for a long time, and when Meghan with Then Came June shared about her Black and White Blakely quilt, I felt inspired to make my own version. Some of you may remember me working on a “Blakely-esque” quilt in April. I explained about the family connection in this post. I only found two fabrics that I want to use from my stash, so I ordered more fabric over the weekend. I may add some grey solid fabric if it starts to look too busy.

To-Do for the week of Aug 24th-30th:

1. Quilt and bind my Modified Fancy Forest Quilt.
2. Make the first block for the North Stars quilt for my sister-in-law, Sharon.
3. Start cutting fabric for the second North Stars block.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Linky Party hosted by Chris at ChrisKnits. 

To-Do for the week of Aug 17th-23rd:

1. Start appliquéing the petals on my Lotus Blossom quilt. √Done
   
2. Bind my Positivity quilt. √Done
3. Make more progress on my Ombré Lotus project. √Done

To-Do #1

I did start to applique one of the petals for my Lotus Bloom quilt, but I was too heavy handed with the applique glue which came through the fabric. I know it is supposed to wash out, but I’m not sure I’m going to wash this quilt prior to gifting it. I imagine the applique won’t look quite as sharp once it is washed. At any rate, I have another petal prepped and will try it again shortly.

To-Do #2

I got my Positivity quilt finished on Sunday. For details about this project, please read my Positivity Quilt Finished post.

To-Do #3

I also got my Ombré Lotus quilt top done on Sunday (it was a very productive day!) I put quite a few hours into getting it quickly pieced. Part of that was to clear the deck for other projects, and it was partly due to me wanting to be able to enjoy this quilt on my bed for a couple months before the holiday season. I’ve sent this quilt to Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting for her to quilt a lovely star pattern. Here is a close-up of the center of the quilt top:

To-Do for the week of Aug 24th-30th:

1. Finish appliquéing the petals on my Lotus Blossom quilt and write my August OMG Finish post.
   
2. Make the binding for my Modified Fancy Forest Quilt.
3. Pull some fabric for a family Sew-Along in September.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Linky Party hosted by Chris at ChrisKnits. 

To-Do for the week of Aug 10th-16th:

1. Cut the rest of the petals to be appliquéd on my Lotus Blossom quilt and start appliquéing them. Partially done
   
2. Make more ombré triangles for my  Ombré Lotus project. √Done
3. If time allows, start my EQ8 Foundation Blocks lessons. √Done

To-Do #1

I got the other five petals cut out to appliqué on my Lotus Bloom quilt, but I did not start appliquéing them. I did, however, come up with a better way to add the quarter-inch seam allowance that I will need when I start to needle turn these petals to attach them to the Lotus Bloom quilt. I used one of the curved acrylic templates that I purchased from Jen Carlton Bailly, and I incrementally moved the curved template as I was cutting and kept lining it up with the curve of the petal.

To-Do #2

I have spent most of my free time this past week working on my Ombré Lotus project. Last week I shared that I decided to paper-piece the units for this quilt top. My main reason for doing that was the instruction in the pattern to cut down the jelly roll strips from 2.5″ to 2.25″. I just didn’t want to do that. So I made the choice to use my jelly roll strips without trimming them down on an 8-inch paper template which is a bit bigger than the pattern template. I found I was just a little short on fabric (if the jelly roll strips were even another inch or two longer, I would’ve been fine), so I purchased another Fairy Dust jelly roll knowing that I will use the leftovers for another quilt this year. I got all the triangles made by Friday and on Saturday I started sewing them together. It took me awhile to figure out the best way to match the odd angles so the seams lined up, and using a basting stitch first before sewing the regular-stitch seam is advisable even though I don’t always follow my own advice! Below is a pic of the first two rows without the background strips that will be added to make the quilt top bigger.

To-Do #3

I spent some time on the first lesson of EQ8 Foundation Blocks. My heart wasn’t really in it. Hopefully fairly soon I will give more focus and time to increasing my EQ8 paper-piecing drafting skills as I really like the precision of paper piecing. Many of my favorite quilt designers primarily design paper-pieced patterns. Juliet of The Tartankiwi is particularly talented, and once again she tantalized me to purchase another one of her amazing patterns, Sleigh Ride, and she is hosting a Sleigh Ride Sew-Along. Her schedule won’t work for me as I have other quilting commitments. But I will be following the SAL and hope to make a table runner for the holidays later this year.

To-Do for the week of Aug 17th-23rd:

1. Start appliquéing the petals on my Lotus Blossom quilt.
   
2. Bind my Positivity quilt.
3. Make more progress on my Ombré Lotus project.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Linky Party hosted by Chris at ChrisKnits. 

To-Do for the week of Aug 3rd-Aug 9th:

1. Cut some petals to be appliquéd on my Lotus Blossom quilt. √Done
   
2. Make some ombré triangles for a new ombré quilt project that I will share about next week. √Done
3. Start hand-quilting my Dahlia Sashiko project. √Done

To-Do #1

I got two petals cut out to appliqué on my Lotus Bloom quilt. I’m using the freezer paper method of appliqué recommended on the Quilter’s Planner website.

To-Do #2

My regular blog readers are familiar with my fondness for ombré projects. For my birthday earlier this year my friend, Mary, gave me an assortment of ombré pre-cuts. With the Fairy Dust fat quarter bundle, I made a wall hanging using a photo of my Planner at work for inspiration. I’ve been saving the Fairy Dust jelly roll for just the right ombré quilt that I can put on my bed with the Planner wall hanging behind it. Well, I found it last month when I opened a newsletter from Purple Daisies Quilting. I usually buy PDF patterns, but I liked the Ombré Lotus pattern so well that I bought the paper version. It is a Needle in a Hayes Stack pattern featuring Ombré Bloom by V and Co. for Moda. What I didn’t realize is that all the different ombré jelly rolls by V and Co. don’t have the exact same color distribution of the 2.5″ strips though the color distribution for Fairy Dust is not very different from Ombré Bloom. I ordered a couple extra Ombré Fairy Dust half-yards knowing that it is fabric I really like that I won’t mind having in my stash minus a 2.5 strip or two. The first pic below is of the pattern. I’m sure it won’t surprise my quilting friends (and even a few non-quilting friends) that I will be using a grey background rather than the white background featured in the pattern. The second pic shows a number of the triangles I’ve made so far though I must confess to paper piecing rather than following the pattern instructions.

To-Do #3

I did start hand quilting my Dahlia Sashiko project, but I found it really time consuming and not much “bang for the buck”. I read several blog posts on hand quilting on Pinterest, and they all recommended using thicker thread for “big stitch quilting” to add visual texture and interest with less of a time commitment than using 50wt thread. I don’t want to do that because I feel it would compete with my Sashiko stitching. So I’m going to take out my hand quilting and do some machine stitching instead. I want the quilting to recede similar to the quilting on my brother’s Two Cranes Sashiko Pillow.

To-Do for the week of Aug 10th-16th:

1. Cut the rest of the petals to be appliquéd on my Lotus Blossom quilt and start appliquéing them.
   
2. Make more ombré triangles for my  Ombré Lotus project.
3. If time allows, start my EQ8 Foundation Blocks lessons.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Linky Party that is usually hosted by Chris at ChrisKnits. 

To-Do for the week of July 27th-Aug 2nd:

1. Make a third Fancy Forest Hazel Hedgehog block and get my modified Fancy Forest quilt top put together. √Done
   
2. Finish the Two Cranes Sashiko pillow for my brother. √Done
3. Make a mug rug with Kaleidoscope fabrics for a work colleague. √Done

To-Do #1

I did get my last hedgehog made in blue and turquoise for my modified Fancy Forest quilt and sewed the quilt top together. I’m going to wait to do a full reveal until after I get this quilted (yes, myself, as opposed to sending it out!!!) I am going to try using Hobbs fusible batting for this 28″ X 42″ wall hanging, which is on order from Amazon. Have any of you tried using this fusible batting? I generally baste my mini quilts with Elmer’s purple glue sticks, but this wall hanging is a little too big for glue stick basting.

I would have no problem with paying for long-arm quilting or even the extra time to wait to get the quilt back from the long-armer, but if I do simple wavy quilting, I can control where the quilting goes, and I’d rather not have the eyes and nose of the hedgehogs and possibly the foxes show any quilting.

To-Do #2

For quilting my brother’s Two Cranes Sashiko pillow, I decided to use fusible black interfacing rather than batting because I was concerned that white batting would show through the loose weave of the indigo Sashiko cloth. I do have some black batting, but it’s buried in my shed, and I just didn’t have it in me to pull out lots of bins to access this batting. Because interfacing is much thinner than batting, I actually quilted the pillow front using a regular presser foot instead of my walking foot. I decided to quilt two lines around the perimeter of the design and then quilted around each crane and called it good. The quilting with a dark blue thread is almost invisible on purpose as I didn’t want it to compete with the Sashiko stitching.

The fabric for the back is called Dance Steps in Maize, and there is still some available at Bernie’s Needle and Foot Etsy shop. I think the bird tracks look perfect with the Two Cranes design.

To-Do #3

I designed the mug rug for my colleague at work using an EQ8 square-in-a-square-in-a-square block (see mock up in second pic below). When I sewed the block, I was able to use the eyedropper option in the color design tab that showed me each color in my mock-up. I used every single fabric in my mock-up for my actual block except I changed the grey from Pepper to Charcoal.

To-Do for the week of Aug 3rd-Aug 9th:

1. Cut some petals to be appliquéd on my Lotus Blossom quilt.
   
2. Make some ombré triangles for a new ombré quilt project that I will share about next week.
3. Start hand-quilting my Dahlia Sashiko project.

Linking up to Melva Loves Scraps: To-Do Tuesday.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Linky Party hosted by Chris at ChrisKnits. 

To-Do for the week of July 20th-26th:

1. Make a Fancy Forest Hazel Hedgehog block.√Done
2. Finish my Storm at Sea quilt top. √Done
3. Work on my 2021 Mid Year Check-in post. √Done

To-Do #1

I made two Hazel Hedgehogs for my modified Fancy Forest quilt that I am making as part of the Quilted Connections 1st Annual Spectacular Summer Sew-Along.

To-Do #2

I finished my Storm at Sea wall hanging and wrote about it in my July 2021 One Monthly Goal post.

To-Do #3

I did work on a mid-year check-in post and probably put in about 1.5 hours writing it and I’m not even halfway done. Because I still have a lot going on in both my personal and work life, I’ve decided that I will skip the mid-year check-in and will use what I’ve written in a full 2021 recap post in December. I do have a question for you folks who use the Word Press platform. Is there a way to link a photo in a post with a previous blog post?

To-Do for the week of July 27th-Aug 3rd:

1. Make a third Fancy Forest Hazel Hedgehog block and get my modified Fancy Forest quilt top put together.
   
2. Finish the Two Cranes Sashiko pillow for my brother.
3. Make a mug rug with Kaleidoscope fabrics for a work colleague.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.