Month: June 2021

We’re having a heat wave

/ quiltinggail / 31 Comments

A serious heat wave. This is so unusual for Canada’s west coast! But our temperatures are over 41 C (translates to 106 F) and it’s not cooling off at night. No fun!!! It’s hard to have any energy to do anything … oh … and did I mention that our air conditioning is called a fan?

I have been working to get the Summer 2021 Mystery Quilt ready to roll. It takes time, but I was able to post the introduction on Saturday! You can read about it HERE.

Sew, even though not a lot is happening … here’s this week’s report:

Design Wall

Piecing

#1 Town Table Topper: This table topper is not finished, yet … On Friday, I showed the “unstitching that I needed to do … It’s now unstitched and the 2 offending blocks are switched around … but that’s as far as it’s gotten!

Quilting: 

#1 Island Batik July’s project: Still in progress … 2 days of ripping out did not help my progress or my mood with this project!

#2 Amish panels: put into one quilt top, sandwiched and ready to quilt. No progress on this.

Stash Report

No shopping, no buying … nothing finished …

  • Fabric Used this week      0  yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       69 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      24.75 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                  44.25 yards 
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes most days this past week.

  • January – May–  150 / 150
  • June – 25 / 27
  • Percentage = 99 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

  1. Finish July Island Batik project. not quite done
  2. Finish piecing Town Table Topper √   done
  3. Start quilting Amish Panel: Not started
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!   √   done
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes    √   done    

This week’s list:

  1.  Finish July Island Batik project.
  2. Quilt and bind:  Town Table Topper
  3. Start quilting Amish Panel
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

No changes from last week!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

******************

Linking to:

Summer 2021 Mystery Quilt – Introduction

/ quiltinggail / 21 Comments

Have you ever done a mystery quilt? They can be a LOT of fun. Yes, they take you out of your comfort zone, mostly because you don’t know where you’re headed. But you end up with a quilt that is maybe something you would have choosen, maybe not … but it’s all fun!

This mystery has 10 clues. The clues will be announced each Tuesday and Saturday. There will be a linky party at the end where you can show everyone your quilt. (If you don’t have a blog or IG to link to, you can email me the picture and I’ll post it.)

This quilt is 44″ x 59″ with one border.

** WOF is Width of Fabric

Fabric Requirements

These amounts are pretty close to the exact amount you will need. Please add additional fabric if you “want to be sure” that you have enough.

Fabric
Amount
Background / neutral      
              		2 ¾    yards 2.6 m
Focal Fabric
½ yard or more if fussy cutting 0.5 m  
Contrast #1
2/3  yard 0.6 m  
Contrast #2
1/3  yard 0.3 m  
Contrast #3
1/3  yard 0.3 m  

Fabrics used for Test Quilts

FabricWhat I usedWhat my quilt tester used
Backgroundsoft white off white
Focal Fabricdark floral mint with mauve
Contrast #1dark green2 different purples
Contrast #2tealsoft mauve
Contrast #3purplemauve

Schedule

July 3 Cutting Instructions

July 6 Clue #1

July 10 Clue #2

July 13 Clue #3

July 17 Clue #4

July 20 Clue #5

July 24 Clue #6

July 27 Clue #7

July 31 Clue #8

August 3 Clue #9

August 7 Clue #10

Linky Party: August 24

PDF document

Summer 2021 Mystery Quilt IntroductionDownload

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Final Friday’s Finish in June

/ quiltinggail / 26 Comments

Oh WOW! It seems like this month has flown by! And how can that be? We’ve had a travel restriction for most of the month. We haven’t gone anywhere. We haven’t been visiting friends … but the time has gone by ….

This month’s challenge for the Table Scraps is the colour purple. And I made this coaster (similar to others I made) … eventually, I will have a very pretty collection! The embroidery pattern is a free pattern from Kreative Kiwi.

And … since I did Drop Everything And Make It … it also qualifies for this month’s DREAMi!

Yes, the coaster is made with Island Batik fabric and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

UFO Progress

Ugg … somethings take a lot of time! I was hoping to have this finished by today … but I have to do some unsewing! Do you see what the problem is? Thankfully, I hadn’t quilted those last 2 blocks on the right!

I was Featured

Susan, from Quilt Fabrication featured this quilt: (you can read about it HERE).

Have a great weekend!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

*****************************

Linking to:

Progress ? Well yes … a bit …

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

I have almost finished my July Island Batik challenge and here is a close-up of the progress. I’m using Aurifil #2600 (Dove) quilted on Island Batik Coconut and using Silly Moon’s “Twinkle” ruler. There are 2 layers of Hobbs 80/20 to make those stars pop!

Design Wall

Piecing

#1 Town Table Topper: This panel will be a table runner … and yes, it is that curved! One of the main reasons that I highly dislike panels … they are NOT straight! And fudging is the main focus of putting them together! It is a UFO that is headed to the Finish line!

Quilting: 

#1 Island Batik July’s project: in progress

#2 Amish panels: put into one quilt top, sandwiched and ready to quilt. (I decided that this is it … no more borders …)

Stash Report

No shopping, no buying … nothing finished … well, I did finish this panel, but I didn’t buy the fabric and I didn’t use any of my stash … so it doesn’t count.

  • Fabric Used this week      0  yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       69 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      24.75 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                  44.25 yards 
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January – May–  150 / 150
  • June – 20 / 20
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

  1. Summer Mystery Quilt: still waiting for the testing to be completed and double check fabric amounts
  2. Amish Panels: sandwich and prepare for quilting √   done
  3. Essem Panel: finish quilting and deliver it √   done
  4. July IB project: work on it √   done
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!   √   done
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes    √   done    

This week’s list:

  1.  Finish July Island Batik project.
  2. Finish piecing Town Table Topper
  3. Start quilting Amish Panel
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

I was Featured

Tish, the Madd Quilter from Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland featured this quilt … Thank you, Tish for the feature!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

******************

Linking to:

A Fun Finish

/ quiltinggail / 26 Comments

This quilt was SEW much fun to quilt!!!

It is a panel from Paintbrush studio and Essem Textiles is selling it. (Hurry in, I hear the panels are going fast!) When I first got the panel home, I was very impressed with the feel of the fabric. SEW very nice. And it quilted like a dream!!!

It is backed with a “Fit for a Queen” flannel backing and Hobbs 80/20 is the batting. It is quilted with Glide, light grey thread. All of it quilted freehand on my domestic sewing machine (Janome M7). I did use a ruler for one block, can you guess which one?

Each block has a different free motion quilting filler … it’s always fun to play!

This quilt is now on display in the store (Essem Textiles).

I was Featured

Jennifer, from Inquiring Quilter, featured my 2 quilts from the Island Batik June challenge:

And Denise from For the Love of Geese also featured the same quilt(s).

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

*****************************

Linking to:

Moving Along with Projects

/ quiltinggail / 20 Comments

Design Wall

Piecing

#1 Amish panels: 

I think I have the top pieced … just deciding if I need to add another border … The centre square, the star block is what I bought extra fabric for. I’m sort of wishing I hadn’t bordered the rest of the small blocks and I could have done all of them like the star. But, since I’m not a fan of taking a lot of things apart … it’s not going to happen.

#2 July Island Batik project … it’s a secret for now!

Quilting: 

#1 Mystery Quilt … coming soon! I finished quilting it and am quite happy with the result!

#2 Essem Panel: Essem Textiles (the new store close to where I live) got a huge bunch of kids prints in. SEW cute!!! The owner is not a quilter (yet!!!) and I offered to quilt a panel for her. I’m having a LOT of fun … here’s a sneak peak! I hope she likes it when it’s completed.

Stash Report

The backing on the 2 maple leaf quilts used 9 yards of fabric. On the purchasing end of things, I bought some grunge fabric to use for the UFO, Amish Panels (see the star above!)

  • Fabric Used this week      9   yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       69 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0.75  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      24.75 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                  44.25 yards 
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Here’s the 2 maple leaf quilts I finished … you can read more about them HERE. Yes, the tops were were made with Island Batik fabric, using an Accuquilt cutter and dies. Hobbs batting, Aurifil thread and Schmetz needles were also used.

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January – May–  150 / 150
  • June – 13 / 13
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

  1. Summer Mystery Quilt: Quilt & Finish writing pattern √   done
  2. Amish Panels: Finish cutting out and maybe get it assembled √   done
  3. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!   √   done
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes   √   done    

This week’s list:

  1.  Summer Mystery Quilt: waiting for the testing to be completed and double check fabric amounts
  2. Amish Panels: sandwich and prepare for quilting
  3. Essem Panel: finish quilting and deliver it
  4. July IB project: work on it
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

******************

Linking to:

New Finishes?

/ quiltinggail / 26 Comments

No, not for me … well, at least not a new finish that you haven’t seen before. I posted these 2 quilts earlier this week for my June Island Batik Challenge “Spread Love & Joy with Accuquilt.”

UFO progress

I’ve been working on my UFO … these panels … attempting to put it into a quilt … lots of decisions … do I leave them like this? Separate them … what to do?

I decided that I wanted to highlight the small block with the horse and buggy … but, would you believe that I did NOT have any red fabric that was ‘right’ for this? All of my reds were too bright, too orange, too patterned, or too dark …

SEW … what’s a gal to do? Go shopping of course!! I went to Essem Textiles and bought the red and beige-brown grunge fabric. (The fabric in the corners of the star were from cutting the larger block panel.)

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Spread Love & Joy with AccuQuilt

/ quiltinggail / 34 Comments

This month’s Island Batik challenge said, “Our partners from AccuQuilt are asking you to create a throw quilt as a gift of comfort! This can include anything from baby to memory quilts, but should be inspired by spreading love through quilting. The challenge for you is to use the 8” or 12” finished BOB dies from your Ambassador box, the GO! Qube 8″ Mix & Match Block and create a whole new pattern by combining the two!”

I received the Maple Leaf die in my January box this year and the Go! Qube 8″ dies in the January 2019 box. Sew … what to do?

EQ to the rescue …

My original intent was to make a Canadian Quilt of Valour! So, obviously red maple leaves would be perfect.

The top left was too busy. The top right had too much black. The bottom left had the blocks too close. So, I decided on the bottom right. Maple leafs with double pinwheels (without the 2nd colour), separated by a sashing and cornerstones.

I used the Accuquilt dies to cut all of the pieces for the blocks. So very quick. And very accurate!!! Each block went together with ease.

I made all the blocks …

The maple leaves were all made with Island Batik’s “Wavy dots – Cherry BE” and white solid. The double pinwheels were made with all sorts of scraps with Custard as the background.

It looked OK on EQ, but in real life … Not so much. I really, really disliked the two together! The white with red maple leaves were crisp and fresh looking and the double pinwheel blocks, although pretty, were just not a good match.

SEW … I changed directions. I really liked the blocks together, but not the fabrics.

I made 17 more double pinwheels using only the solid white and fabrics from the “Mystery” collection. Oh yes!!! I was MUCH happier!!! Much much happier!!!

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of me cutting all of the pieces for the maple leaves and the double pinwheels, but I did take one of cutting the binding! The width of fabric fits perfect on the 2 1/2″ die. I placed 2 pieces of WOF on the die (total of 4 layers) and in less than 20 seconds, I had 6 perfectly cut binding strips. SEW easy, SEW quick, and perfect strips! (I pulled up the middle strips so that you could see them on the die.)

Here’s a picture of the finished quilt. All ready to go to the guild’s Quilt of Valour coordinator.

And here’s a closeup of the quilting …

Quilt Stats:

  • 57″ x 72″
  • Island Batik fabrics: Solid white, solid grey, assorted fabrics from the mystery collection and for the cornerstones and binding, I used “Pinecone Dark Teal” from the Napa Valley collection.
  • Hobbs 80/20 batting
  • Aurifil Thread # 2000 (Light Stand) for piecing, # 2600 (Dove) for quilting
  • Schmetz Needles

But wait … there’s more …

What to do with all the double pinwheel blocks with the custard background? I made some super scrappy maple leaf blocks and made a 2nd quilt. This is going to a young couple that just got married.

This one is quilted in a similar manner, but different!

Quilt Stats

Disclosure:

The fabrics, thread, batting and needles were generously supplied by the following companies:

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

FINALLY: Story-less Improv gets a facing

/ quiltinggail / 25 Comments

Oh, I put off putting a facing on my improv piece. I haven’t faced a quilt before … so why not procrastinate and put it off? and wait a little longer? and put it off? and put it to the side so it’s not staring me in the face? Maybe it’ll just disappear and I’ll forget about it …

Oh … it’s on my PHD chart of “Starts in 2021” and so in order to get my PHD in 2021, it does need to be finished. And a lot of my followers have seen me say in my “To Do” list that it needs a facing … for several weeks. Sigh …

Last week in my PHD in 2021 May post, I talked about how one can easily be faced with procrastination. I wasn’t thinking about this project, but it fits!!!

SEW … with a renewed determination to get it done, I decided to Google “How to Add a Facing.” The first link that showed up was a Youtube video from American Patchwork and Quilting. I grabbed a drink of water and started to watch it. You can see it HERE. AND my immediate reaction was

HOW CAN IT BE THAT SIMPLE ????

I quickly cut the squares for the corners and the side strips. I LOVE the fact that there are hanging triangles on ALL 4 corners, so I can easily change how I want it hung! I cut the squares at 4.5″

Then I pinned the triangles and facings in place:

The facings were pinned in place and I sewed as directed …

Turned the facing and triangles to the backside.

Then, the directions said to HAND stitch the facings down. OH NO!!! I hate hand stitching. What to do? I took my trusty Elmer’s disappearing glue and glued the facings down. If it holds for a period of time, I’ll be happy! If it doesn’t, well then I’ll pull out the black thread and hand stitch it down. But I’m crossing my fingers and hope that it holds!

This little piece used Island Batik solids, Aurifil, dove for quilting and Hobbs batting.

Design Wall

Piecing

#1 Amish panel: I’ve cut some of the blocks apart … I’m just deciding if I want to cut them all apart … Then I need to add black sashing …

#2 July Island Batik project … it’s a secret for now!

Quilting: 

#1 Mystery Quilt … coming soon! This will be a mystery quilt that you can do over the summer. I’m still writing the pattern, but I think there will be around 10 clues. (This mystery was originally going to use fat quarters, but I’ve changed my mind and have gone in another direction … so it’s no longer called the “Bunny Fat Quarter Mystery.”

Stash Report

The backing of Story-less Improv used 1 yard as did the “Follow Your Own Path”

  • Fabric Used this week     2   yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       60 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      24 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                  36 yards 
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January – May–  150 / 150
  • June – 6 / 6
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting it “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

  1. Follow Your Own Path: bind √   done
  2. SPEED DATING: ADD FACING GAIL: QUIT PROCRASTINATING!!! √   done
  3. Bunny Fat Quarters: Summer Mystery Quilt: finish writing the pattern partially   done
  4. June IB project: finish √   done
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!   √   done
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes   √   done    

This week’s list:

  1.  Summer Mystery Quilt: Quilt & Finish writing pattern
  2. Amish Panels: Finish cutting out and maybe get it assembled
  3. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

******************

Linking to:

A Finish for TGIFF!

/ quiltinggail / 30 Comments

For those of you that may not be aware, TGIFF is a weekly linky party, hosted by a variety of bloggers. TGIFF stands for Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday.

SEW … what have I finished? I have finished my “Follow Your Own Path,” designed by Sandra Walker at MMMQuilts!

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, the multi-coloured background is not consistent. But with elongated swirls on the background and straight lines on the arrows … I think it turned out OK.

You might notice that the bottom left binding is not complete … I’m waiting for a special little one to be born and when I know the details, the label will be made.

Here’s a closeup of the quilting …

TGIFF Linky Party

Join the TGIFF Linky Party and show us your Finish (or non-finish!)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=a8b40ada7693d64e5923

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

*****************************

Linking to: