Orange Sashiko Kitties

Posted on April 18, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

My friend, Sarah, at Sarah Goer Quilts hosts a monthly linky part entitled, “Show Me Something…” Each month has a different theme which can be a color, a shape, a quilting style, etc. This month Sarah is asking us to share projects with the color orange.

This past week I had the pleasure to meet in person my friend, Wendy, who blogs at Pieceful Thoughts. She and her husband came to New Mexico for a short get-away, and they hosted me for lunch at the casita they rented. I knew that Wendy likes the color orange, and she and I both have orange cats, so I decided to make Wendy a Sashiko Kitties Mini using a Sashiko template I bought awhile back and traced the cats with a brown Frixion pen (which isn’t typically recommended as the ink that disappears with a hot iron can reappear in extremely cold temps. I decided to chance it!) I used a pretty orange variegated Pearl floss which shows up fine up close but isn’t very visible at a distance. It’s the same thread that I decided not to use with my Two Cranes Sashiko project. I first saw this Sashiko pattern when Wendy shared about her pretty version with blue variegated thread last year in this Post. 

I sure was glad that I showed up with this little mini as Wendy also had a handmade gift for me. Look at the lovely pouch she made for me, complete with some Sashiko thread and some cute button pins. It was fun meeting Wendy and spending some wonderful time talking and getting to know each other better.

Wendy snapped a quick selfie to document our visit (I’m in the polka dots).

Linking up to Sarah Goer Quilts: Show Me Something Orange.

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To-Do Tuesday 87 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of April 6th-12th

  1. Work on my Lotus Bloom project. √ Done
  2. Make progress on my Indigo project. √ Done
  3. Do some stitching on the Two Cranes Sashiko project. √ Done

To-Do #1

After the graphite confetti ombré fabric arrived, I was able to cut another strip and get the my Lotus Bloom quilt top sewn together and sent off to Sew Shabby Quilting for quilting. I will hand appliqué the lotus when I get this project sent back to me:

To-Do #2

I finished sewing my Indigo quilt top. Here’s a sneak peak:

To-Do #3

I did a little more stitching on my Two Cranes Sashiko project and have changed my mind about using the orange variegated thread. It is just too light in places. I’ve ordered some other thread to try and will put this project aside for a short while. Sorry for the horrible photo!

To-Do for the week of April 13th-19th:

  1. Since you all were so positive about my ombré projects, I’m happy to report that I have started another one with more beautiful ombré fabric! It’s kind of like my friend, Wendy, at Pieceful Thoughts who can’t help starting another improv project, that’s me with color gradients 🙂
  2. Quilt my Indigo Mini Quilt.
  3. Write a post and link up with Sarah Goer’s Show Me Something Orange linky party.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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To-Do Tuesday 86 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of March 30th-April 5th

  1. Start yet another ombré project! √ Done
  2. Make progress on my Shoal fish project. √ Done
  3. Start stitching the Two Cranes Sashiko project for my brother’s 75th birthday in July. √ Done

To-Do #1

You’d think I’d be sick and tired of ombré projects by now, but that’s not the case! Several months ago I downloaded the Lotus Blossom Quilt Pattern from Wefty Needle and really liked the ombré metallic dots confetti version, I so bought a quarter-yard bundle along with ombré metallic confetti graphite and dark grey quarter yards. I wish I’d bought more of the graphite (second strip down) because I want to insert another strip either in the 4th or 5th position and also will replace the dark grey strip that is above the orange section. I found a remnant of the graphite on Etsy for a good price so I’ll have to wait until it arrives to finish putting this simple quilt top together, though I can get the bottom two sections sewn together while waiting for the graphite remnant to arrive. I will send it off for quilting, and then when I get it back, I will appliqué by hand the lotus blossom on the quilt.

To-Do #2

I’m still trying to figure out what I want to include in my Shoal Fish mini quilt. Getting this mini finished is my April 2021 One Monthly Goal to go over the exceedingly ugly fuse box in my room. I’m now calling it my Indigo project since I’m including pieces that aren’t fish. For example, I traced the lotus blossom image that was included in Wefty Needle’s instructions and then stitched it with white Sashiko thread on dark blue Sashiko fabric. 

I also found a simple paper-pieced fish pattern and so far have made one fish.

To-Do #3

I did a little stitching on my Two Cranes Sashiko project and have decided I like the orange variegated thread. I’ll share a pic when I have a bit more done.

To-Do for the week of April 6th-12th:

  1. Work on my Indigo Mini Quilt.
  2. Work on my Lotus Bloom project.
  3. Continue stitching the Two Cranes Sashiko project.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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April 2021 OMG

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

My April 2021 One Monthly Goal is to make a mini quilt that uses the Shoal fish squares I have improv pieced and Sashiko stitched. 

I may end up making a few more improv and/or Sashiko squares and will use more indigo prints from my mom’s stash from the 1990s to cut filler squares and rectangles to jigsaw all the units in a mini quilt that will cover a very ugly fuse box that is exposed during warmer weather months. Currently that eye sore is hidden by my design boards, and the door to the back room is closed to conserve energy. When it gets a little warmer, I will open that door and prop my design boards against that open door. I used to have a tapestry that hid the fuse box but removed it when my room was painted three years ago, and since then I have repeatedly said to myself, “You really need to make a mini quilt to cover that ugly fuse box” but until now, it really wasn’t a priority. Now it is!!! 

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: April 2021 OMG.

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To-Do Tuesday 85 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of March 23rd-29th:

  1. Work on an equilateral triangle baby quilt top with the triangles I cut from a lovely Boundless ombré fat quarter bundle. √ Done
  2. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. √ Done
  3. Finish my Snowflake Embroidery BOM Month 2 block. √ Done
  4. Write my Dumbledore Finished post (March 2021 OMG Finish). √ Done

To-Do #1

I found out recently that a friend who lives in Missouri is due to have a baby girl any time. This past week I designed and made a baby-size ombré equilateral quilt top that measures 36.75” wide by 32” long using the Boundless Fat Quarter Bundle on the right in the second photo below. To the left of the quilt top is a beautiful bookmark that a friend from Michigan sent me. And peaking out underneath is my pretty new cutting mat from my friend, Laura.

 

To-Do #2

I just finished up five weeks of daily practice with EQ8, and the program makes so much more sense to me. I enrolled in an introductory class called Shoot for the Stars by Kari Schell of On Point Quilter that was really helpful. And I also participated in her Spring Fever Mystery Challenge as a VIP (which meant that I paid $14.99 to watch extra live video help sessions that were also recorded for later viewing, and Kari also provided the paper-pieced patterns for all the blocks). During the final video, Kari mentioned a previous mystery challenge called Foundation Friendly Christmas and offered the Spring Fever VIPs the opportunity to purchase the Christmas program with all the videos and patterns (again for 14.99). Being the Christmas freak that I am, I couldn’t resist. Below is a star that I drafted and then manipulated using Serendipity function. I also made a much bigger financial commitment and signed up for six months of Kari’s Tech Know Quilters (TKQ). I’m not going to commit any more to daily EQ8 practice, but I definitely plan to continue putting in consistent time learning and using the program.  I’ll be sharing from time to time some of what I’ve been doing with TKQ.

To-Do #3

Over the the weekend I finished my Snowflake Embroidery BOM Month 2 block. I’ve decided I’m going to make two Christmas wall hangings from the blocks of this Block of the Month, so I’m sticking with my favorite Christmas color combo of grey, white, red, turquoise, and teal.

To-Do #4

I did get my Dumbledore Mini Quilt Finish post written (where I shared about my fabrics including my hand-dyed hair/mustache/beard fabric) and linked to Elm Street Quilts: March 2021 OMG Finish Link-Up. Below is one of the pics I included in my post. 

To-Do for the week of March 30th-April 5th:

  1. Make progress on my Shoal fish project.
  2. Start yet another ombré project! 
  3. Start stitching the Two Cranes Sashiko project for my brother’s 75th birthday in July. I’m leaning toward using the beautiful orange variegated DMC pearl floss pictured below. But I’ll have to see how it looks once I start stitching. I may opt for the plain white on indigo look which I also like very much.

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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Dumbledore Mini Quilt Finished

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

My March 2021 One Monthly Goal was to make a mini Harry Potter quilt for a colleague at work named Tasia who loves all things Harry Potter. We agreed to do a trade where Tasia helped me with some strength training twice a week in February and March in exchange for the mini quilt. Tasia gave me free rein in the design. I found a great free-of-charge paper-pieced pattern at Fandom in Stitches of the wizard, Albus Dumbledore. (If you go into the link, it is the third image on the top row—Professor Dumbledore with Wizard’s Hat by Connie Tessier). He is one of Tasia’s favorite Harry Potter characters, and she has even named her cat, Albus. The size of the one I chose is 5” square which was smaller than I wanted for my mini quilt, so I enlarged it a bit on a copier. The nine sections weren’t separated, so I made 9 copies (and a few extra for good measure), so I could cut out each section to paper piece and then added a 1/4” seam allowance when I was trimming the sections. I would definitely say this pattern is NOT for a paper-piecing novice! The enlarged Dumbledore block finished at  7” square. 

I liked the fabric choices made by Connie Tessier in her pattern, so I chose similar fabrics from my stash. The purple is Zoltar by Libs Elliott from her Tattoed collection. The blue fabric in Dumbledore’s robe is from a 2011 Kona Bay Fabrics collection called MOVE-01. The background is a dark grey grunge fabric. The flesh colored fabric is Moda Bella Parchment. I looked online for a white fabric with grey streaks for the hair, mustache, and beard but could not find any fabric I liked. So I decided to streak my own. I ordered some Grey Mist Fabric Ink on Amazon. With a Q-tip soaked in water, I painted streaks on some Kona white fabric, and hung it up to dry. 

I then added three borders to make it 17” square. The inner most border is the dark grey grunge background fabric. The second border is a favorite Libs Elliott fabric, Moon Age in Cerise, and the outer border is Camelot Deathly Hallows Symbol Silver on Black from the Etsy shop Angelfabric. The binding fabric is Kona Purple.

The fabric for the back of the quilt is called The Boy Who Lived Harry Potter, and I found it at the Etsy shop, FandomFabric.

I quilted it simply with Aurafil 50-weight Stainless Steel 2620 first outlining Dumbledore and echoing the shape of his Wizard hat with 1/2” mostly straight lines. 

After quilting, I trimmed it to 16.5” square, attached the purple binding (and the 3 3/4” label and two 3 3/4” hanging corners) by machine to the front of the quilt, and hand-stitched the binding to the back of the quilt.

I borrowed the Harry Potter softie below from Tasia to photograph with the mini quilt and the two Harry Potter books pictured at the top of the post from another colleague at work, Raquel, who also loves Harry Potter.

Tasia was very pleased with the mini quilt, and it is hanging in her office at work. It is fun to see it when I go into her office.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: March 2021 One Monthly Goal Finishes. I’m also linking up with Meadow Mist Designs: Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup—March 2021.

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To-Do Tuesday 84 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of March 16th-22nd:

  1. Cut out some equilateral triangles from Fairy Dust Ombré and Boundless Ombré fat quarters. √ Done
  2. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. √ Done
  3. Finish my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block. Nope

To-Do #1

My planner at work has a wonderful color gradation equilateral triangle design on the cover (second pic below). I used this cover for inspiration to design and make a small ombré equilateral quilt top over the weekend that measures 33.5” X 36”. 

I used the Fairy Dust Ombré Fat Quarter Bundle below that is so attractively stacked in a star shape for this bright ombré quilt that will go on the back of my love seat at work.

To-Do #2

The take-home lesson this week for me with EQ8 is make sure that Snap to Nodes is off when drawing the main lines in my blocks. I had to start over with both the SPRING block and the Bees block. I am feeling much more comfortable with EQ8 and plan to continue spending time becoming more proficient with the program. I was reluctant to commit much time to learning this program because I already spend so much time on computers between work, blogging, and reading posts/social media, but it is starting to feel like a tool for creativity and is becoming more fun.

To-Do #3

I had more stitching to do than I thought to finish my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block. I got a fair amount done, but still have at least a couple more hours of stitching to do.

To-Do for the week of March 23rd-30th:

  1. Work on a second equilateral triangle baby quilt top with the triangles I cut from the Boundless fat quarter bundle that is pictured above on the right.
  2. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. 
  3. Finish my Snowflake Embroidery BOM Month 2 block.
  4. Write my Dumbledore Finished post (March 2021 OMG Finish).

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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Outstanding Blogger Award

Posted on March 21, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

My fellow quilting blogger, Wendy@ Pieceful Thoughts nominated me for an Outstanding Blogger Award. Thanks Wendy! I feel honored by your nomination. Your blog is one of my favorites to read. I’ve learned so much from you about curved and improv quilting, and I especially enjoy your quilt photography. Be sure to read Wendy’s post about being nominated for the Outstanding Blogger Award.

The Outstanding Blogger Award is given one blogger to another. It’s a way of supporting and acknowledging one another. As an award recipient, I get to answer some questions from Wendy which were fun to reflect on and answer.

Coffee or Tea?

Although I do frequently enjoy cups of tea, if I could only have one hot beverage it would hands-down be coffee. It is definitely what gets me out of bed in the morning along with my cat, Weebles, who wants  an early morning cuddle followed by a treat.

Who inspired you to begin quilting?

Although I wanted nothing to do with quilting when my mom was alive (and as a teenager I complained loudly about stopping at another fabric store!), I appreciated the beautiful quilts she made. For a number of years I made glass mosaics, and I used to say that I quilted with glass. Somewhere around 2008 I took a class from Laurel Skye and learned to make tapestry mosaics. Her book, Mosaic Renaissance, is still available on Amazon. I have one of the mosaic mirrors I made in the kitchen, and yesterday I took it off the wall, cleaned it up a little bit, and covered the mirror with construction paper to be able to photograph it better. I’m sure you will agree there is definite similarity in quilts and this tapestry-style mosaic.

In 2014 a woman named Beverly became a therapist at the community mental health agency where I still work, and it didn’t take long before we started talking about our hobbies. When she said the words, “modern quilting,” my life was changed! I went home and searched online for modern quilting and was amazed at what I saw. Elizabeth Hartman patterns were some of my favorites from the get-go and they still are. Shortly after that, I signed up for a beginning quilting class in the evenings at the local quilt store, Thread Bear, and I was hooked!

What is one unusual item we would find in your quilting room?

Probably my Keurig coffee machine that sits on top of a small refrigerator/freezer that holds the half-and-half for my coffee along with overflow from the main fridge in the kitchen.

When you are not quilting, we’d find you . . ?

I wish I could say something more exciting, but you’d find me at work. I still work full-time supervising the behavioral health therapists at my agency. I need to work another 2 1/2 years before I retire. Thankfully I enjoy my work, and we have a great clinical team that supports each other.

Where do you find your quilting inspiration?

From so many amazing bloggers out there as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I generally read at least a few blogs daily and several times a week I look at posts on social media, but I try hard not to waste too much time on those sites. I’d rather sew instead!

Now It’s My Turn

The last part of this award is two-fold. I get to bestow the award on some other fellow bloggers, and I get to choose questions (up to 10) to ask them.

I’d like to name a bunch of different bloggers that have inspired me over the years, but I’m limited to no more than ten. After some thought, here are the bloggers I would like to share with you because I enjoy their writing styles, and I’ve learned so much from all of them. To those I nominate, I hope you will have some fun, answer the questions, and choose some blogging friends. However, you are under no obligation to do so.

And here are the questions:

  • What advice would you give to yourself as a novice quilter now that you’re a much more experienced quilter?
  • Is there another handcraft besides sewing/quilting that you enjoy doing?
  • What is your favorite part about making a quilt?
  • And your least favorite part?
  • Where do you find your quilting inspiration?

Bonus Question added after I published this blog post because I forgot about it:

  • What quilt project have you done that would you like do again?

Thanks again, Wendy, for nominating me for an Outstanding Blogger Award. It was fun to reflect on your questions and spend some time answering them. And now my mosaic tapestry mirror in the kitchen is a little cleaner!

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To-Do Tuesday 83 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of March 9th-15th:

  1. Bind my Mosaic Tiles class project. √ Done
  2. Quilt my Harry Potter (Dumbledore) mini quilt. √ Done
  3. Work on my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block. √ Done
  4. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. √ Done

To-Do #1

I recently read the binding tutorial from Michelle at From Bolt the Beauty on How I Bind My Quilts. I’ve not had much success in the past with machine binding but spontaneously decided to try her tutorial with my Mosaic Tiles class project which I am now referring to as my Whale Tales mini quilt. It’s easier to experiment with projects that I’m keeping for myself. Overall it went better than my previous machine binding attempts (and certainly was MUCH faster than hand-stitching the binding down on the back), and glue basting the corners definitely improved the look of my corners. What doesn’t work for me is how the machine stitching looks on the quilt label I make for almost all of my quilts. So if I’m going to machine stitch the binding for a gift quilt, I need to change how I label the quilt. I have an idea how I might do it and will probably try it out on my Shoal Fish quilt next month. Below are pics of the front and the back. Some of you may recognize the Cotton+Steel Octopus print on the back. I’ve had it in my stash for a few years and recently used it on the back of my modified Meadowland quilt and had some leftover to use on the back of this mini quilt.

To-Do #2

I quilted my Dumbledore mini quilt and also got it bound. I hand-stitched the binding to the back in my usual manner. Right now I’m just going to share a pic of the back and will save sharing photos of the front of the mini quilt until the end of the month when I link up with Elm Street Quilts March 2021 OMG Finishes.

To-Do #3

I made more progress with my Snowflake Embroidery BOM Month 2 block. I should finish it this coming week.

To-Do #4

I am enjoying spending daily time with EQ8 particularly with Kari Schell@On Point Quilter’s Spring Fever EQ8 Mystery (though she talks really fast and I frequently have to back up the videos over and over to catch what she is saying). Below are the four EQ8 blocks I created this past week.

To-Do for the week of March 16th-22nd:

  1. Finish my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block.
  2. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. 
  3. Cut out some equilateral triangles from the Fairy Dust Ombré fat quarters arranged like a star on the left below. For a different project I’m also cutting out some equilateral triangles from the Boundless Ombré fat quarter bundle on the right. All of this ombré fabric is an early birthday present from my best friend, Mary. She did well, I would say!

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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To-Do Tuesday 82 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Quilting is in my Blood

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

To-Do for the week of March 2nd-8th:

  1. Work on my March 2021 OMG project. √ Done
  2. Quilt my Mosaic Tiles class project. √ Done
  3. Make more Shoal fish. √ Done
  4. Start my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block. √ Done
  5. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. √ Done

To-Do #1

My March 2021 One Monthly Goal through Elm Street Quilts is to make a Harry Potter mini quilt for a colleague at work named Tasia who loves all things Harry Potter. We are doing a trade where she is helping me with some strength training twice a week in exchange for the mini quilt. Tasia has given me free rein in the design. I found a great paper-pieced pattern at Fandom in Stitches of the wizard, Albus Dumbledore. He is one of Tasia’s favorite Harry Potter characters, and she has even named her cat, Albus. All of the patterns at Fandom in Stitches are free of charge for personal use. The size of the one I chose is 5” square which was smaller than I wanted for my mini quilt, so I enlarged it a bit on a copier. The nine sections weren’t separated, so I made 9 copies (and a few extra for good measure), so I could cut out each section to paper piece and then added a 1/4” seam allowance when I was trimming the sections. I would definitely say this pattern is NOT for a paper-piecing novice! But I was able to get all the sections paper-pieced on Saturday, and on Sunday I sewed the sections together to make a 7” square  Dumbledore. I then added three  borders to make it 17” square. I’ll share more about all the fabrics used when I have finished the mini quilt.

To-Do #2

I did get my Mosaic Tiles class project quilted on Sunday. My favorite quilting to do is organic wavy lines which hardly takes any time to get done. I’ll share a photo after it is bound.

To-Do #3

I made a couple more Shoal fish this past week. They are the fish below with the light blue fans. I plan to make a mini quilt next month with these fish and maybe more Shoal fish.

To-Do #4

I made progress on Month 2 of the Snowflake Embroidery BOM. I’ll wait to show this month’s pretty design when I’ve finished it.

To-Do #5

I am enjoying spending daily time with EQ8 going through a basic lesson book and this past week I signed up for Kari Schell@On Point Quilter’s Shoot for the Stars with EQ8 course. I have also signed up for her free Spring Fever EQ8 Mystery that starts tomorrow. (Thanks Roseanne for telling me about it). Anyone can participate, but they have to sign up, and Kari has three videos she would like participants to watch before the mystery project starts.

To-Do for the week of March 9th-15th:

  1. Quilt my Harry Potter (Dumbledore) mini quilt.
  2. Bind my Mosaic Tiles class project.
  3. Work on my Snowflake Embroidery Month 2 block.
  4. Continue spending at least 15 minutes a day playing with EQ8. 

Linking up to Chris Knits: To-Do Tuesday.

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