Are you feeling overwhelmed by your UFOs or New Starts? That’s OK! The feeling is real and you can’t deny it! However, if you arise from your computer chair and go forth to your sewing machine, you WILL conquer a little bit and that will decrease your overwhelmed feeling!
June’s Accomplishments!
I did not finish any UFOs this month. I did finish 2 Island Batik catalogue quilts and they are on their way to California – but I can’t show you for many moons. However, I can show you my “Here Comes the Sun” project and my Pop Star quilt. Both finishes for this month! You can read about them by clicking on the links. I also finished a little zipper pouch and you can read about it HERE.
A Christmas panel was quilted and I took it to Essem before I remembered to take a picture of it! However, Simina sent me a picture of it and some of the quilting this morning. If you’d like the panel, contact Essem Textiles. It’s such a cute panel with Santas, reindeer, bears and snowmen!
The Tally Sheets
Here is an Excel File for you to use (if you want).
This little bag is made with 2 pieces of fabric that I got from the Trend-tex tour I took. It is a DrEAMI project. A Drop Everything And MakeIt. Sandra, from MMM Quilts hosts a DrEAMI linky party each month. You can see all of the DrEAMI projects HERE.
Carol, from Just Let Me Quilt is hosting this blog hop. Here comes the Sun is a great title for a June blog hop. However, I live in Western Canada … on the WET coast! We haven’t seen much sun and it has been cool! On the news, they are calling it “June-uary.”
What is the challenge for “Here Comes The Sun”?
Sew something that has a summer theme like: sunglasses, beach items, sunny skies, and/or yellow colors. It can be a quilt, a bag, a toy, or whatever you want it to be.
So, I took a class from Elizabeth at Epida Studio and made this great window hanging with the sun inside the flower! (She has several different classes and is a fantastic teacher! I highly advise that you look into taking a class from her)
The technique to make this was totally new to me. It’s called Pojagi. It’s a technique that Elizabeth learned in Korea. The seams make it look like stained glass.
And here’s a picture of it in the window!
The fabrics are Island Batik … The yellow is Ogee Petal Sunshine, the flower petals are Floral Wonders and the background is Butterfly Blooms.
Once this was stitched together, it was a bit flimsy, so I sprayed it with Terial Magic and it was perfect!
Here’s the list of all of the blogs that are participating! Enjoy the sunny eye candy!
My cousin, Connie, is visiting from Ontario and we’re having a blast! We spent one day at Quilt Canada, with my husband enjoying it as well! (I’ll talk about Quilt Canada in a future post). Then we did a tour of Trend-tex (a fabric distributor). Today, we went to a fabric sale in a home and to a fabric store. Such fun! There’s a few more days before she heads home … who knows how much trouble we can get into?
Pop Star
Pop Star is finished … and I will be linking to the Pop Star QAL Final Parade. If you want the pattern you can find it HERE. MMM Quilts has some fantastic designs! I LOVE making her patterns!
This quilt was made with Island Batik fabrics: the background is linen, the light blue is pool, and the dark blue is raven. It was sandwiched with Hobbs 80/20. I backed it with a light yellow flannel.
Here’s a closeup of the quilting in the corner … the star used Silly Moon’s Twinkle ruler.
Stitching Time
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Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
This week I’ve been doing more “unsewing” than sewing … but it still counts, right? And, I’ve been gallivanting around with my cousin, so that has cut into sewing time.
January – May: 119 / 150
June 1 – 20: 15 / 20
Total: 134 / 170
Percentage = 79%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
I was at Quilt Canada last week … and I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful fat quarter bundle. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it … but I do LOVE it. It’s called Bluebird, by Edyta Sitar and I bought it at the Chitterchatter booth. There is a total of 5.5 yards.
When Connie and I went on the Trend-tex tour, we did get a lot of swag … but I’m not counting it because it’s too hard to calculate different sizes of fabric and I didn’t buy it. Also included was a water bottle, a scone and a delicious treat! I have no idea what I’ll do with the fabric, but it’ll be used or it’ll go to the guild’s free table.
The Pop Star quilt used 1.25 yards of background …
Even I’m surprised that I don’t have anything being pieced at the moment!
Quilting:
Squirrel is sandwiched and I have a plan for the quilting!
2. The Island Batik Catalogue quilt tops are done – one is quilted and needs the hanging sleeve and the other is in the process of having all of the quilting removed and will be re-quilted … I used an OLD Aurifil Variegated Rayon thread that looked great on the top … and the back was HORRID!!!! Of course, I did not check the back until I was done! Call me dumb, call me stupid, but it serves me right for not checking the back!
Here comes the Sun Blog Hop
This blog hop starts this week! My day is on Tuesday!
Island Batik Blog Hop
Have you been following the latest Island Batik Blog Hop? With quilts featuring the New York Beauty pattern? It’s been quite a variety of wonderful quilts!
I posted mine on June 6 … you can read about it HERE. Here’s links to the blogs that will be posting this week:
You can win a fat quarter bundle of Tranquility or Woodblock Bouquets … both wonderful collections! Just follow the prompts in the Rafflecopper giveaway below
Have you seen the latest issue of Fons & Porter, Love of Quilting? I am super excited about this issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been looking high and low for it, with little luck. Until today! YEAH!!!
Why? you ask … Because, I have a quilt in the issue. They did a fabulous job photographing it. I absolutely LOVE the table in front of it.
I was so excited to see this in the magazine! A few people emailed me saying that they had seen it – but I hadn’t! It was pretty cool to see it in the magazine!
Quilt Stats:
Designed, pieced and quilted by ME!
42.5″ x 42.5″
Island Batik fabrics: Contempo and
Hobbs 80/20 Batting
Aurifil thread (yellow)
Free motion quilting on my domestic machine
Backing is Fireside
The directions for the quilt are in the magazine. If you make it, I’d love to see a picture!
Here’s a picture of my quilt where you can see all the quilting!
I have a finish to show you. I finished this quite a while ago, but couldn’t show you. It was the latest mystery quilt that the guild did! The pattern is from a book, but I re-wrote the instructions to use strip piecing. It makes it so much easier to construct the quilt. And because the original directions were from a “Mystery Quilt” book, I cannot share them with you! Sorry!
This quilt was made with fabrics from my stash. And I only put on the one border … the original directions called for 3 borders.
Here’s a close-up of the quilting … it sort-of looks like feathers, but in reality, it’s just an elongated swirl – way easier than feathers to do!
Stitching Time
‘
Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
Not many days of sewing this week.
January – May: 119 / 150
June 1 – 13: 9 / 12
Total: 128 / 162
Percentage = 79%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
Squirrel is sandwiched and I have a plan for the quilting!
2. Once the Island Batik Catalogue quilt tops are done – they need to be quilted.
Island Batik Blog Hop
Have you been following the latest Island Batik Blog Hop? With quilts featuring the New York Beauty pattern? It’s been quite a variety of wonderful quilts!
I posted mine on June 6 … you can read about it HERE.
I’m hosting TGIFF this week … see the Linky party below ….
A long time ago, in my quilting studio, I had the opportunity to use the fantastic Island Batik collection “Jewel Carvings” by Kathy Engle. It was for a quilt for the Island Batik catalogue. You can check it out HERE – on p.99. I absolutely LOVED working with this collection. It is SEW pretty with the teals, greens and soft yellows and purples …
Here is the quilt I made using Island Batik’s solid black fabric for the background.
My friend, Amy, tested my pattern and made the quilt with a light background. This quilt used the exact same fabrics with “Milkshake” as the background.
Here’s the 2 quilts together … which one would you make?
You have an opportunity to win!
If you’re loving the fabrics in these quilts, Island Batik is giving away a fat-quarter bundle of Jewel Carvings and Nightshade! Both lucious collections! (But you better hurry, the offer ends on Friday night)
Way back in December, I received this “Surprise” package in one of my Island Batik boxes. I didn’t know which line of fabric it contained.
Along with the 1/2 yard cuts of Harvest Night, I received 2 yards of Wheat Leaves Latte and 2 yards of Midnight Blue.
We were instructed to make a “New York Beauty” quilt.
P.A.N.I.C.
YIKES!!!! Google “New York Beauty” and you’ll see why I was in a panic!
EQ to the rescue! They have plenty of blocks to choose from. I chose to do a Checked Arc Beauty. Then, in order to have enough fabric for the design I chose, I foolishly chose a 9″ block. If I had been wise at the time, I would have chosen a 12″ block. But, I might have run out of fabric making those 9 blocks that run down the centre.
I printed out the pattern, taped the necessary parts together and started to sew. It took me over 3 hours to sew my first block. Oh my … what had I gotten myself into?
When I paper piece, I do NOT sew on the paper. This way, I can chain piece my pieces and use a regular sized stitch … and the bonus – I don’t have to remove paper!!! AND it’s easier to “unsew!”
When I was doing the curved seams … I pinned, pinned, pinned. I wanted those points to match up. And for the most part, they did! That was a LOT of pins for me to use – especially since I rarely use pins!
Here’s an assortment of pieces of one block …
I went to a retreat in March. I took my project with me … I only got 4 blocks completed on the weekend! Sigh!!! But, I must admit, I was busy visiting, taking pictures, eating, visiting, eating, taking pictures, visiting and only sewing in between!
Once I got home from the retreat, it was pedal to the medal and the quilt top was done.
This quilt told me it needed a simple, fairly skinny border which finishes at 1 1/2″. The dark border is “Midnight Blue” and the light border is “Wheat Leaves Latte.” Both of these fabrics are foundations that are available at any time.
To sandwich the quilt, I used 505 Spray baste and Hobbs Batting 80/ 20. It hung on the design wall for several days while I decided how to quilt it. There is a LOT of stitch in the ditch and some 1/4″ outlining … it took awhile to quilt! Aurifil Thread #2370 (Sandstone) was used. Schmetz Needle microtex chrome 70/10 was used for the quilting. The scrappy binding used each of the 20 fabrics.
Here is a close-up of the quilting. And yes, I like this thread so much, I’ve almost used a cone and a lot of a large spool! (Not all on this quilt!) I hate having to unthread my machine to wind a bobbin – that’s why I like to have the extra spool – just for bobbins!
I didn’t have enough of the Wheat Leaves Latte for the backing … SEW … I cut what I had in half diagonally, put it up on the design wall and measured what the distance was between the 2 pieces. I took some of the left-over pieces and made the center strip. Then I had a backing that was big enough – and pretty as well!
Here is a closeup of the quilting on the back:
There is a give-away!
Island Batik has a give-away! You have the opportunity to win a fat-quarter bundle of Jewel Carvings or Nightshade! Both lucious collections! Follow the rafflecopter instructions below!
Visit Elizabeth at Epida Studio. She received the same surprise bundle of Harvest Night as me. I can’t wait to see her New York Beauty!!! I bet they look totally different. But I need to wait until she posts to see it!
I decided that I needed to do some routine chores. Yes, you know the ones … the ones you put off until “next time!”
First, it was my rotary cutter. I keep 2 on my cutting table … one has a duller blade and the other, theoretically, has a fresher blade. Why a dull blade? you ask? Cutting batting DULLS blades. I don’t want a fresh blade to become dull quickly.
My blue cutter will get a new blade, the blue cutter’s blade will go in my yellow cutter and it’s blade will go into the “used” blade container. I KNOW that cutting with my blue cutter will be a joy! And I’ll ask myself, “Why didn’t I change the blade sooner?” (And I know that most of you are the same way! ~grin~)
My next chore was to clean out the bobbin area. I didn’t think there would be much lint in there – but I was surprised! I use a paint brush to get the easy to reach areas and I use a folded pipe cleaner to reach down into harder to reach areas. (make sure you fold the pipe cleaner, you don’t want the end to scratch anything!)
And, I change my needle. I didn’t take a picture – but I know that the next time I sew, I won’t hear that tell-tale “pop” that indicates a new needle is necessary!
SEW … are you thinking that you need to do some routine maintenance? Well – as soon as you finish reading this – go and do it!
Quilting Gail 