Quilting is in my Blood

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

To-Do for the week of Dec 1-Dec 7th:

1. Write my December 2020 One Monthly Goal post and make progress on that project. √ Done
2. Stitch a sixth rainbow Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

I am working on a new project that I’m very excited about. My friend, Kristen, is expecting a baby this Spring, and when I told her that I wanted to make a quilt for her baby girl, she requested one with cats and birds in teal and purple colors. In the design that my friend, Mary, and I came up with, there will only be one cat on the front of the quilt, but the quilt back will feature a large cat panel.  I belong to Kristy Lea@QuietPlay’s  2020 Pattern Club, and one pattern I’ve been wanting to make is her Geometric Cat. I made a fabric collage of the cat that I shared about in my December 2020 OMG post that featured many purple and teal colors along with blues to transition between the teal and purple. Below is the finished Geometric Cat block that measures 9 3/4” by 10”, but it will be 15” square when I finish sewing borders around it. It will be featured in the center of the quilt top. This was the easiest time I had sewing sections together, and I attribute that primarily to Kristy’s excellent pattern designing.

To-Do #2

I finished my sixth rainbow Sashiko square which was Star Crossed by Blair Stocker (It is also known as the rice stitch). This Sashiko square may be my favorite so far. I especially like how the not-totally-uniform stitches actually add interest to this square.

To-Do for the week of Dec 8th-Dec 14th

1. Make more progress on the Cat and Birds quilt top.
2. Make the binding for my friend, Amanda’s sunflower placemats and table runner.
3. Make a lined drawstring bag using the pattern by Jeni@In Color Order. 

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #70.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us. Since Roseanne has opened the linky party a day early and my post is written, I’m posting today and then hopefully I can post about my December OMG tomorrow.

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

1. Sew my Color Jolt quilt top together. √ Done
2. Write my Nov 2020 OMG Finish post. √ Done
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

From completion of the last Color Jolt block to the completion of the quilt top, it just took me four days to get ‘er done! I did deviate slightly from the pattern instructions from sizing up the length and width of my paper-pieced sections to opting to take the paper off prior to sewing the sashing strips on the blocks. I like the stained glass look of the teal blue sashing against most of the blocks (with the blocks that have more blue/green in them, it is more subdued), and I think it’s very likely that I will make another version the Color Jolt Quilt again in the future.

To-Do #2

Here is a link to my November 2020 OMG Finish post with all of the blocks on my design wall.

To-Do #3

I hope everyone isn’t getting sick of my rainbow Sashiko squares! I’m planning to keep stitching one per week unless I’m up to my eyeballs hand-stitching down binding 🙂 I tried something new this week which mostly worked for me. Awhile back I downloaded Sashiko coaster patterns from Blair at Wise Craft Handmade. She has generously shared two sets of free patterns along with links to her You Tube Sashiko stitching series which I found very useful when I first tried Sashiko. They can be found Here and Here. I decided that I wanted to stitch her Fundo (Scale Weights) pattern and used a regular ball point pen on top of the pattern placed over Olympus light blue carbon paper to trace the design on some plain indigo Sashiko fabric. Some of the lines were hard to see, so I went over a few with my Clover fine white marking pen. Here’s is my Fundo rainbow Sashiko square: 

To-Do for the week of Dec 1st-Dec 7th

1. Write my December 2020 One Monthly Goal post and make progress on that project. It’s really fun and colorful!
2. Stitch a sixth rainbow Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #69.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Make more Color Jolt blocks. √ Done
2. Take a photo of several of the placemats and table runner before sending them to my brother and sister-in-law as 50th wedding anniversary gift. √ Done
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

I got all the Color Jolt blocks done. Here’s is a pic of several of them:

To-Do #2

I did take a pic of the placemats and table runner on the conference table at work which is the second pic below and which shows the reverse side of the placemats. However the first photo is the one I like the best which is one taken by the happy recipients. The package arrived Saturday evening, and we FaceTimed with them while they opened the box. It was a lot of fun!

To-Do #3

Here’s the fourth rainbow Sashiko square: 

To-Do for the week of Nov 24th-Nov 30th

1. Sew my Color Jolt quilt top together.
2. Write my Nov 2020 OMG Finish post.
3. Stitch a fifth Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #68.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Work on binding the placemats that I will be sending to my brother and SIL as a 50th wedding anniversary gift. √ Done
2. Make a few Color Jolt blocks. √ Done
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

After I received my Sunflowers “quilt” back from Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting, I cut it all apart into one table runner and 11 placemats (there were supposed to be twelve, but there was an “Oops” with one placemat that eventually will be a Sunflower Mini). Luckily I had only planned to send ten placemats to my brother and SIL. I thought about machine stitching the binding down on both sides of the placemat, but frankly, when I’ve done that, I haven’t had great results. So after I machine stitched the binding on the front of the placemats, I slowly but surely got the binding hand-stitched down on the back of the placemats as well as the table runner, finishing the hand-stitching on Monday. Below is one of the finished placemats. I really love the Sunflowers quilting motif in goldenrod thread that Melissa used. I deliberately oversized them at 13.25” X 19” because I knew they would shrink when washed even if air dried. After the placemats were washed and air dried, they measured 12.75” X 18.5”. 

To-Do #2

I did indeed make a few more Color Jolt blocks that are pictured below. It’s a fairly easy paper-pieced pattern though I prefer to cut wider and longer pieces than what is written in the pattern instructions. 

To-Do #3

I continue to have fun making these fast and easy modern Sashiko squares using rainbow thread on a dark indigo background. I plan to sew them into a table runner. 

To-Do for the week of Nov 17th-Nov 23rd

1. Make more Color Jolt blocks.
2. Take a photo of several of the placemats and the table runner that I will be sending to my brother and SIL as a 50th wedding anniversary gift and then get it in the mail!
3. Stitch a fourth modern Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #67.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Stitch another modern Sashiko coaster. √ Done
2. Start sewing the triangles together for my Solstice table topper. √ Done
3. Start binding my Turquoise Christmas Tree Panel quilt. √ Done

To-Do #1

I got my second modern Sashiko coaster stitched this past week. I’m going to call them Sashiko squares as I plan to sew them into a table runner rather than make them into coasters. This rainbow thread sure is fun to stitch with. 

To-Do #2

I did get my Solstice table topper sewn together. I’m not totally happy with some of the points, but it’s good enough, and believe it or not, I’m planning to quilt it myself with minimal strategically placed straight lines :). I’ll share a pic after I’ve finished it.

To-Do #3

I also finished binding the Turquoise Christmas Tree Panel quilt. You may remember that this is the same panel whose dye bled on the Snowy Forest quilt I finished a couple months ago. I made sure to choose a dark fabric to bind it (Kona Celestial), and I definitely won’t wash this quilt with anything else. It’s such a beautiful panel, and I’m glad to have it as part of our Christmas decor. Below are two pics with the second one showing a close up of the wonderful snowflake quilting pattern used by Sew Shabby Quilting.

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

1. Work on binding the placemats that I will be sending to my brother and SIL as a 50th wedding anniversary gift.
2. Make a few Color Jolt blocks.
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #66.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

To-Do for the week of Oct 26th-Nov 2nd:

1. Make some sunflower blocks for placemats and table runner for a belated house-warming gift for my friend, Amanda. √ Done
2. Stitch one modern Sashiko coaster square. √ Done
3. Decide on my November OMG. √ Done

To-Do #1

I decided to make some sunflower placemats and table runner for my friend, Amanda, as a belated housewarming gift. The blocks on the main design board in front are all for Amanda with the top two rows being made into placemats and the bottom row into a table runner. On the right (the 4th column) are blocks that will be made into placemats that I will be keeping. Notice how the color placement looks on the block in the lower right corner. The dark fabric placement looks so different when it isn’t centered. I think I’m done making sunflower blocks for now!!!

To-Do #2

I really love how the rainbow Sashiko thread looks on this navy blue square. It’s a little wonky to be made into a coaster. I’m thinking now that I might sew this square (and others you will see in coming weeks) into a table runner.

To-Do #3

I  did decide on my November One Monthly Goal and wrote about it in this Post.

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

1. Stitch another modern Sashiko coaster.
2. Start sewing the triangles together for my Solstice table topper.
3. Start binding my Turquoise Christmas Tree Panel quilt.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #65.