Author: quiltinggail

My Quilting Resolution Blog Hop

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Carla from Creatin’ in the Sticks is hosting this blog hop! It’s a one day blog hop … and all we have to do is fill in the blank for this statement:

My stitching resolution for 2021 is _____________________________.

Well, when I got to thinking about this statement, I thought:

  • do I fill in one word?
  • Or many words?
  • Do I talk about my lofty goals of reducing ALL my UFOs (highly unlikely)
  • Do I talk about what I’m going to try that’s new-to-me?

One word

Quilt

Can you think of another word that would fit? I can’t!

Many words

Another 365 days of planning, creating, sewing and quilting!!! Sounds good to me!

And Blogging … yes … many many words are in my blog posts …

And continuing to designing EQ … here are some of the designs with Island Batik Fabric (and some of them did not come to be finished quilts …

And also learning more about and designing with Artistic Digitizer. These 3 pouches were designed by me!

Lofty goals

Along with PHD in 2021 – which includes finishing 12 UFOs … and completing NEW projects … is it remotely possible that I could finish ALL my UFOs? Now that would be LOFTY! A Dream … but who knows what this year will bring?

Something New to Me?

I’m going to join in Joyful Quilter’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I’ve joined the “Table Scraps Runner Challenge.” Sew … each month, I will make a table runner or a table topper or a mug rug … with each of the monthly colours.

Here’s what Joy says about the challenge: In the interest of fairness to ALL tables, the rules will include quilted mug rugs.  I know it’s a stretch from the standard table runner, but  those of us who live in small homes may not have use for a larger quilted runner or topper.

SEW … are you going to join me in this challenge????

Blog Hop

Check out how other bloggers are answering the question:

My stitching resolution for 2021 is _____________________________.

Just Let Me Quilt
MooseStashQuilting
Words & Stitches
Sew Many Yarns
Websterquilt


Cocoa Quilts
QuiltFabrication
Stitchin At Home
Ms P Designs USA
Life in the Scrapatch
Kathy Kwilts and More


Karen’s Korner
Quilt Schmilt
selina quilts
The Joyful Quilter
Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 
Karrin’s Crazy World


Quilting and Learning: What a Combo
VroomansQuilts
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
PamelaQuilts
Quilting Patchwork & Appliqué
Kathleen McMusing


Quilting Gail YOU’RE HERE!
Homespun Hannah’s Blog
appliqueand…
Songbird Designs
Storied Quilts
Susie’s WorldShe’s Stitchin Again
Creatin’ in the Sticks

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!  
Gail 

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2020 Island Batik Projects

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Some of the projects were monthly challenges from Island Batik and are projects that I did on my own. Island Batik is very generous with their fabric, so there’s always extra available for other projects.

Island Batik is a wonderful, wonderful fabric line!  I absolutely LOVE it!

Enjoy the eye candy!

January

I started out making pinwheels, but wasn’t totally happy with them, so I made a bag for my AccuQuilt Go! Cutter.  The picture shows the front and back of the bag. You can read more about it HERE.  This was not my official entry for the Island Batik challenge.

Continue reading →

Holiday Seclusion Mystery Clue #4

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is screen-shot-2020-12-12-at-3.11.42-pm.png

Gather

  • (36)  HST from Step 1
  • 18  Squares made in Step 2  (Coloured and Background)

Sew a HST onto each end of a Square from Step 2.

NOTE: Ensure that the points of the Coloured HST meet with the Coloured portion of the square. I won’t tell you how many I had to rip out and reposition!!!

Press towards Step 2

Make 18    

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Holiday Seclusion Mystery Clue #3

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Gather           

  • Step 3   (9)  4 ½” x 4 1/2” Squares
  • (18)  Squares made from Step 2  (Coloured and Background) NOTE: You only need 18 of these!

Sew:  The coloured side of  Square from Step 2 onto each side of the Background square. 

Press towards Step 2

Make 9

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

The Best of 2020

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This post is inspired by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. We are encouraged to share our top 5 blog posts of the year. It’s up to us how we choose them. Oh, but it was SEW very hard to narrow it down to only 5!!! So much of my quilting is totally fun and I LOVE it. How to choose? How to choose? Scroll down and enjoy!

#1 Favourite Quilt Picture

The blog post with my favourite quilt picture is the one from February with the Island Batik Log Cabin Blog Hop. My husband and I went to a local park (Campbell Valley) and took a picture of the quilt with it’s reflection in the water.

#2 My Proudest Quilting Accomplishment and a fun Pandemic experience

This POST talks about International Quilter’s Day and how we were all disappointed that we couldn’t quilt together. So many people hung quilts outside for others to enjoy!

The same blog post talks about how I learned to piece curves with CONFIDENCE! I took a workshop at the guild and used the Accuquilt die to cut out the pieces. I no longer have a fear of curves!

#3 Elephant No. 1

I love Elephants. A fun baby quilt got a lot of attention. This POST shows it’s finish,

I find it amazing that this simple quilt was loved by so many!!! But I must admit, I love it, too!

#4 Elephant No. 2 is quite different

This quilt took a LONG time in coming to it’s final being. It did sit for a LONG time on my design wall. However, when it was finished it was well worth the wait! Visit the post HERE.

Ellie the Elephant

Is quite different from the other 2. But I love her all the same.

#5 The most fun quilt a-long

The Winnie the Pooh Quilt-a-Long was a LOT of fun! And I ended up with the CUTEST quilt! Thanks to Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts with the free pattern and permission for me to host the Quilt-A-Long. (You can access the pattern HERE.)

Make sure to visit Meadow Mist Designs and see what other quilters have chosen for their “Best of 2020!”

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!  
Gail 

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Holiday Seclusion Mystery Clue #2

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is screen-shot-2020-12-12-at-3.11.42-pm.png

Gather  Step 2    pieces      

  • (36) 4 ½” x 2 ½” Background rectangles 
  • (36) 4 ½” x 2 ½” coloured rectangles 

Sew each coloured rectangle to a background rectangle along the 4 ½” side.

Press towards the dark.

Yeild: (36) 4 ½” squares.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Holiday Seclusion Mystery Clue #1

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Making HST

Gather  Step 1     Pieces                  

  • (18) 5” x 5” background squares 
  • (18) 5” x 5” coloured squares 

Mark a line down the diagonal centre (from one corner to the other) of  either the background or the coloured squares.  (Shown as the black line) 

With right sides together, sew ¼“  from the centre black line  (red line).  Repeat on the other side of the black line (green line).

Cut down the centre line.  This will yield 2 Half Square Triangles. See Picture #1 below: shows the line drawn down the centre with the sewing line on each side. Picture #2 shows the opposite side where you can’t see the line.

Press open. (Picture #3 below).

Trim to 4 ½” squares. (Picture #4 below)

Repeat this with the rest of the squares. You should now have 36 Half Square Triangles.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas to all my loved ones (AKA: family and friends and blogging friends!) May you have peace in your heart as we celebrate the birth of the ONE that truly LOVES us!

I think this wall hanging was made around 2006 or 2007. Enjoy your day!

Merry Christmas!    
Gail 

PHD in 2021

/ quiltinggail / 43 Comments

Just so there is no confusion, I’m starting this post by giving you Quilting Definitions:

  • a PHD in quilting terms means Projects Half Done
  • UFO in quilting terms means UnFinished Objects
  • My own definition of UFOs for the PHD includes all projects started in December 2020 that are not complete by December 31.

Do you have 12 or more UFOs???

Do you feel like you’re drowning in UFOs???

Do the UFOs you have make you feel guilty???

Do you want to decrease the number of UFOs you have???

Do you want to make sure that your UFO list does not increase???

Join in the PHD in 2021!!!

Sew … what do you need to do???

  1. List 12 UFOs that you’d like to finish next year. If you have more than 12 … that’s OK – we only need to know about 12 of them. (And if you want to change one UFO to another – that’s allowed).
    • put your UFOs on a blog post, an Instagram post or a Pinterest page
  2. Keep track of your UFOs … some people like to list the steps left in completing the UFO
  3. You MUST finish EVERY project you start in 2021 (with a couple of exceptions). By finishing EVERY project you do not add to your UFO list! These are called “Starts in 2021.”
    • Exceptions include:
      • Project is a “leader & ender” that goes until it’s got enough pieces to complete
      • Projects that are started in 2021 and can’t be finished in 2021 because
        • you don’t have all the steps to the mystery or the quilt
        • a project is started in December ’21 and there’s not enough time to finish in 2021.
  4. Every month, link up and show us your PDH progress.
    • Again, link to a blog post, an Instagram post or a Pinterest page.

Here’s a link to an Excel sheet (2021 UFO Tally) that you can use for tracking your UFOs. You don’t have to use this sheet – but I’m offering it to you to get you started. This is what I use.

2021 UFO TallyDownload

SEW …. what are MY UFOs?

My list of UFOs is at the right. I have put a few aside and these are the ones that I want to work on in 2021. However, I might change my mind and pick a different one to finish. AND I sincerely hope that I do not find a single UFO as I go through my stash!!! On the right is my list of UFOs. I am aiming to complete 12 of them this year. I can’t show you a picture of the first 4 on the list, but there’s pictures of the the rest that I hope to complete.

With having 4 UFOs that were started in December added to the list, that brings my total of UFOs to 22. I’ll be happy to finish 12 of them.

#1 Stay at Home Round Robin … this was started this week … I know it won’t be finished by the end of the month … but it needs to be finished by the time the Stay at Home Round Robin is completed. You can read a little bit about it HERE. We’ll be giving you more information at the beginning of January.

#2 & #3 Holiday Seclusion Mystery … I have 2 in progress … one is ready to be quilted, the other is still being pieced. And obviously, I can’t show you a picture of them until later.

#4 Guild’s January Clue-Sew Mystery … currently being pieced … and will need to be completed by the end of the mystery in March.

#5 T-shirt quilt …. I’m not about to drag the bag out, but I have a zillion t-shirts from Echo Lake Bible camp and I promised to make a quilt with them. I’ve been promising for quite a while. Time to get it made, don’t you agree?

Next in line are the panels …

#6 These are 2 panels that I bought at separate times … one was bought in St. Jacobs, Ontario and the other was bought several years later in New Holland, Pennsylvania. I plan to combine them into one twin sized quilt.

#7 These are another 2 panels that I plan to combine into a single quilt. The date on one of them says “2004.” But I know that it was bought after that since I didn’t get back into quilting until late 2005.

#8 Birds … I made this into a small quilt for my aunt several years ago. I liked the panels so much, that I bought enough to make 2 quilts.

Next are the kits that are languishing … for too many years now …

#9 Town Table Topper

#10 #11 #12 These kits were bought in Newfoundland. Two of them include applique … which is not a favourite technique of mine. I’ve been often known to call it “CR-applique” … pronounced CRAP-plique.

Linky Party

You have until January 15, 2021 to officially join the PHD in 2021. Here’s the Linky Party to join. Remember, it can be a link to a blog post, Instagram post or a Pinterest page.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=a3325ea8d75a7b860d96

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

Holiday Seclusion Mystery: Intro & Prep

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The Holiday Seclusion Mystery will start on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. With most everyone staying put, I figured it’s a good time to do a simple mystery. Even though it’s called a holiday mystery – it’s not a holiday quilt. Unless you use holiday fabrics … it’s just a small quilt – 43″ x 43.” It will make a great baby quilt or table topper. It can easily be made larger, but I’m just giving you the directions for the small quilt.

Do you want a 2 colour quilt? Then this will do the trick!

Do you want a scrappy quilt? You have that choice as well.

Fabric Requirements

  • Background:  1 ½  yards
  • Scraps:   1 – 1½ yards …. (if making a 2 colour quilt, 1 yard)

SEW … what did I use to make this quilt? For the 2 colour quilt, I used a white background paired with a peach print. It will make a nice baby quilt. The scrappy quilt has a grey background and has dark teal, dark green and green prints. Yes, they are all Island Batik fabrics!

CUTTING

Cut fabrics ahead of time.  Label as directed

FabricHow ManySize to CutLabelMark when done
Background185” x 5” squares  Step 1 
 364 ½” x 2 ½ ” rectanglesStep 2 
 94 ½” x   4 ½” squares  Step 3 
 44 ½”  WOF stripsborder 
     
Colour185” x 5” squares  Step 1 
 364 ½” x 2 ½ ” rectanglesStep 2 
 52 ½”  WOF stripsbinding 

Once you have the finished cutting and the parts labelled, sit down and enjoy a cup of something warm! Clue #1 will appear on Dec. 26.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

We have SNOW!!

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When you live here … on the west coast of British Columbia … you know that snow is a rare occurrence. The grass has turned white, the trees are outlined and the roads are big slushy messes. Time to stay home! The snow will be gone soon … either this evening or tomorrow.

If you look closely at the picture, you can see a red rose that was attempting to hang in until Christmas. My hubby thought I had photoshopped the picture to make it black and white with the red … but nope … it’s just a picture from my phone.

My Memory …

Last month, when I posted my Island Batik blog hop quilt using “Ohana” fabric collection, I offered a draw for some of the fabric. I had totally forgotten about the draw until today when I was attempting to clean out my email stuff. I have sent an email to “Delaine” and as soon as I hear back from her … the fabric will be in the mail.

My last UFO for 2020

Is DONE!!!

And a close-up of the quilting, each block has a different motif (except for the 4 patches which all have the orange peel thingy):

Design Wall

Piecing:

I can’t show you a thing! I’m piecing 3 things …

  1. One of the Holiday Seclusion mystery quilts for the mystery that’s happening on December 26-31.
  2. My Stay at Home Round Robin
  3. A mystery quilt that I’m hosting for the quilt guild.

Quilting: 

Holiday Seclusion Mystery #1: Sandwiched and waiting to be quilted

Stash Report

SS yellow

Scrappy 4 patches is finished … It used up 6 yards of fabric …

  • Fabric Used this week    6 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       298.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      66.5 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   232 yards
  • Husband’s purchases: 17 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.

  • January – Nov: 320 / 334
  • 30 min days/  Dec:   20 / 20
  • Total days in 2020: 340 / 354
  • Percentage = 96 % 

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

TO DO 

I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”

Last week’s list:

  1. Finish  SECRET project (SAHRR) top NOT done
  2. Finish on Holiday Seclusion Mystery (Dec 26-31)  NOT done
  3. Make a Christmas gift √   done
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Get Holiday Seclusion Mystery #2 to flimsy stage
  2. Get Stay at Home Round Robin to flimsy stage
  3. Work on guild Mystery Quilt
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

I have successfully finished my PHD in 2020. If you look at the starts … I am unable to complete the Moorewood Mystery or the Connected Project. The directions for completing the projects have not arrived. The other projects were started in December and will likely not get done by the end of the month … they will carry over as UFOs in 2021.

What’s Happening

I posted yesterday about all of the events that are happening on my blog in the near future. See that post HERE.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

What’s in this blog’s future?

/ quiltinggail / 19 Comments

I thought I’d let you know what plans I have for the next little while …

Holiday Seclusion Mystery

Holiday Seclusion Mystery will start on December 26 and end on December 31. It’s a fun and simple mystery. This mystery is not related to the holidays – except for when it’s occurring. However, if you use holiday themed fabric, then it will relate to the holidays.

I’m busy sewing up the mystery and 2 tester s are also sewing up a storm.

Fabric Requirements

  • Background:  1 ½  yards
  • Scraps:   1 – 1½ yards …. (if making a 2 colour quilt, 1 yard)

Come join us!

Island Batik Projects of 2020

There will be a post of all the projects I’ve made with Island Batik fabrics in 2020.

The Best of 2020 Linky Party

This is a fantastic linky party!!! Everyone post links to their 5 BEST posts in 2020. How they choose the posts is an individual choice! It starts after Christmas Day.

My Stitching Resolution Blog Hop December 30th

Carla, from Creatin’in the Sticks is hosting a ONE day blog hop. And the challenge is about our stitching plan for 2021. Carla says “Let’s share new ideas and inspiration.  All you have to do is finish this statement in a blog post:

My stitching resolution for 2021 is _____________________________.“

It will be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

PHD in 2021

This will be the 4th year that this program has been running. I started it to decrease the number of UFOs that I have. In 2018, I had over 60 UFOs and I keep finding more, tucked away in containers with other stuff. I will be starting 2021 with 17 UFOs … will I get them all completed? I hope so, but who knows. My goal is to finish at least 12!

When I started the PHD in 2018, I realized that I have a passion for starting new projects and not finishing them. Well, the passion is for starting projects and passion for finishing them just didn’t exist. That’s how the number of UFOs grew. SEW … for me, one important aspect of the PHD in 20?? is to complete the new projects that are started. It’s working!

Stay at Home Round Robin with 6 Blogging Friends

The Stay at Home Round Robin that I hosted in the spring was a LOT of fun! This time, 6 blogging friends and I are hosting it together. It will start on January 11. Each week, one of us will post which border our Round Robin is suppose to have and there will be pictures! We’ll be giving you more information soon.

My blogging friends (in alphabetical order) are:

Heart’s on Fire Blog Hop … Jan. 21, 2021

Carol, from “Just Let Me Quilt” is having “Heart’s on Fire” blog hop. She states that the challenge for this hop is “Make something with a heart in any color, BUT NOT RED…get creative!” SEW … I need to make something with a non-red heart … what will it be??

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

A Christmas gift finish on Friday

/ quiltinggail / 24 Comments

I finished a tea cosy! It was a fairly quick item to make. Sewing the teapot took the longest time. It’s a free embroidery pattern from Kreative Kiwi. It’s supposed to be a coaster, but obviously, I did it as an applique. I used Island Batik solid “Dark Grey” and a white with light grey penguins on it that was in a stash builder’s bundle. However, once the stitching was on it, it was hard to see the penguins.

There are 3 layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting on each side of the tea cosy. It should keep the tea pot nice and warm.

What NOT to do!

I was in a Zoom meeting the other night. I put myself on ‘mute’ and started quilting away. I could hear everything that was being discussed. There was one time it felt a bit lumpy, but I checked, none of the edges had wormed their way under the quilt. But … remember these little ornaments I had made?

Well, they were stacked up on the other side of my sewing machine and one of them wandered … silly thing … it wandered where it shouldn’t … And it got itself sewn into the back of the quilt … It’s quilted on there pretty good!

Now, I needed to decide if it stays? (probably not!). Do I take out the quilting and re-quilt the front? Or do I carefully cut the silly wandered out? I know … a much of a pain as it is to re-quilt, that is probably the best solution! (And yes, that’s what I ended up doing.

The Holiday Seclusion Mystery will start on Dec. 26. With most everyone staying put, I figured it’s a good time to do a simple mystery. Even though it’s called a holiday mystery – it’s not a holiday quilt. Unless you use holiday fabrics … it’s just a small quilt – 43″ x 43.” It will make a great baby quilt or table topper. It can easily be made larger, but I’m just giving you the directions for the small quilt.

Do you want a 2 colour quilt? Then this will do the trick!

Do you want a scrappy quilt? You have that choice as well.

Fabric Requirements

  • Background:  1 ½  yards
  • Scraps:   1 – 1½ yards …. (if making a 2 colour quilt, 1 yard)

SEW … what did I use to make this quilt? For the 2 colour quilt, I used a white background paired with a peach print. It will make a nice baby quilt. The scrappy quilt has a grey background and has dark teal, dark green and green prints. Yes, they are all Island Batik fabrics!

Let’s Make this Mystery Quilt Together!

I was Featured

On Wednesday Wait Loss with the quilt Christina made! You can read about it HERE.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

I Won!!!

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I won fabric and a book! I donated several quilts last year to the Charity Baby Quilt program. Usually in June, they draw names for prizes. Of course, with Covid, and no in-person meetings, that did not happen. At the last Zoom guild meeting, my name was drawn. I received these in the mail. I love that the grey and pink fabrics are so “not me!” It’s going to be fun to play with them … and yes, there will likely be a baby quilt or two made from them. There’s a total of 4 yards – which I will add to my “bought” amount below. Thank you Nora and Carol for facilitating the Baby Quilt Program!

Design Wall

Piecing:

I showed you this last week … it’s still in the same state.

Hopefully, I can start on my SAHRR.

I did make a few Covid ornaments: They are approximately 2″ x 4″ with small pieces of elastic on each end and “2020” embroidered on them. I plan to stick them in a few Christmas cards.

Quilting: 

Scrappy 4 patches: Is still waiting to be quilted.

Stash Report

SS yellow

Nothing finished. No shopping and nothing added.

  • Fabric Used this week     0 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       292.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought Gifted this week:   4  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      66.5 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   226 yards
  • Husband’s purchases: 17 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.

  • January – Nov: 320 / 334
  • 30 min days/  Dec:   13/13
  • Total days in 2020: 333 / 347
  • Percentage = 95 % 

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

TO DO 

I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”

Last week’s list:

  1. Work on SECRET project √   done
  2. Work on Mystery (Dec 26-31) √   done
  3. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Finish  SECRET project top
  2. Finish on Holiday Seclusion Mystery (Dec 26-31)
  3. Make a Christmas gift
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

I have ONE UFO to finish and I’ll have completed my PHD in 2020. YEAH!!! However, I have made no progress on it … So the chart below is exactly the same as last week.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

Christina’s finished quilt!

/ quiltinggail / 30 Comments

Way way back in September, I told you about a 13 year old gal that was making her first quilt. I was very impressed!!! You can read about it HERE. And, here is a picture from September when she was measuring for the border. But, do you remember that she cut out this quilt with scissors??? No rotary cutter! Totally amazing!

Anyhow Christina finished the quilt and gifted it to her sister and new brother-in-law. I’m totally amazed at the job she did!!! She’s a pretty fantastic quilter!!! Here’s a few pictures of her with the finished quilt.

In this first picture, Christina is standing on a bench and using antlers to help hold up the quilt. It’s a BIG quilt!

Continue reading →

Medallion Quilt

/ quiltinggail / 23 Comments

The December Island Batik challenge is to make a medallion quilt. The instructions said “A medallion quilt is all about a center block and borders.” Easy peasy … right?

So, I went to EQ and designed a great medallion quilt using “Sundance” fabric collection (a 10″ stack), as well as “Marble Blackberry-BE” and “Copper” that I received as a companion fabrics. Aren’t these fabrics great? (And, as the quilt progressed several other fabrics were incorporated from other fabric lines).

The EQ pattern I designed had paper pieced stars and I started out with a bang. I made all of the paper pieced stars and then promptly decided to change up the design and put the centre block on point. I felt that it would be shown off better if I put it on point and framed it with my favourite dark fabric in the pack.

From there on, the measurements did not fit at all. And I had to do a lot of fudging. The quilt I ended up making is formally called “Sundance Fudge.”

I came across a tutorial from Deb Tucker with migrating geese. Oh … those look like fun and so, after figuring out that the width, with a bit of a border would work … I went to town and made them. They were a LOT of fun to make. However, I needed more light background and I used “121935500” from the Santa Fe collection.

The final pieced border was also fun to make. I’d used up all of the lighter fabrics for the Paper Pieced stars and migrating geese … so I used “Custard,” a neutral. The yellowish hue was perfect for this quilt!

Making the back

I took the copper fabric that I had left over and sliced it diagonally. Then I placed it over the quilt, leaving about 3″ beyond the edges of the quilt. I like that extra amount for handling the quilt on my domestic sewing machine. Next, the distance between the 2 copper pieces was measured (27″) and I cut a length of Marble Blackberry to form the stripe in the middle. Joined the 2 copper triangles to the middle stripe and called it “done” for the back.

Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of the back until after it was quilted. Here’s a picture of the finished back … taken outside so that you can see the front peeking through …

The Batting

I received a queen-sized fusible 80/20 bag of batting in my July Island Batik box. I took it out of the package and needed to let it “breathe” for 24 hours. No, putting it in the drier to fluff it up, no ironing to make the crinkles disappear. It was wound very tightly in the bag and I needed to gently pull it apart.

To read more about Hobbs fusible batting visit the Hobbs website HERE. (Picture was taken from the Hobbs website).

I layered the quilt back, the batting and the top on a queen size bed. The batting was cut about 1/4″ larger than the quilt top. When I pressed the layers together, I was very careful to avoid the edges. It adhered nicely. The back didn’t adhere very well, so I turned the sandwich over and ironed from the back. It was perfect! I loved how the fusible batting did not shift at all! No wrinkles in the back. Loved it!

The Quilting

Here’s a picture of the centre star – from the back … (I’m showing you the back because the quilting shows up much better on the Marble Blackberry!)

Here’s a picture of the centre star – from the front…

And the quilting on the back of the meandering geese and the squares from the outside border. As you can see, the quilting has a lot of stippling … (the colour is off in this picture … the yellow is actually the copper fabric … true colour above!)

The Quilt

Now that you’ve seen the back and close-ups of the quilting, here’s the quilt:

Quilt statistics:

  • size 54″ x 54″
  • Hobbs 80/20 fusible batting
  • Quilted with Aurifil #5021
  • Schmetz needle: Microtex Chrome 80/12

Thank You!

Disclaimer: This quilt would not have been possible without Island Batik and the wonderful co-sponsors.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Secret Sewing on a Monday

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Connected Project

This was a pretty cool project.

It was designed by Berene Campbell: If you wish, you can contact her at patterndesigner@Happy Sew Lucky

A couple of quilting masters organized it. We were divided into groups of 8 people. We each decided on a colour that we wanted our block to be. I chose blue (well, of course!) Then the 8 of us were emailed a piece of the puzzle to make in the desired colours of what everyone had chosen. Including the colour we had chosen.

Here’s a picture of my 8 blocks:

And then they were mailed to my group mates!

I received 7 envelopes with explicit instructions to NOT open them until I was told to. On Saturday, we had a Zoom meeting and opened our envelopes. It was fun to open the envelopes and see the “pieces” and the lovely notes that everyone had included. In my haste to get my block sewn, I did not take a picture of the individual blocks. Here’s my finished block. The idea is that the green and yellow will connect to the person standing beside me. To see the finished work of the Vancouver Modern Guild click HERE. (no, I’m not in the video.)

Design Wall

Piecing:

This is an altered black and white photo of what I might or might not be working on.

I know, I know … it’s a terrible tease!

Quilting: 

Island Batik, December: Is quilted and is awaiting it’s photo shoot.

Scrappy 4 patches: Is still waiting to be quilted.

Stash Report

SS yellow

Nothing finished. No shopping and nothing added.

  • Fabric Used this week     0 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       292.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      61.5 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   231 yards
  • Husband’s purchases: 17 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.

  • January – Nov: 320 / 334
  • 30 min days/  Dec:   6 / 6
  • Total days in 2020: 326 / 340
  • Percentage = 95 % 

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

TO DO 

I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”

Last week’s list:

  1. Complete December IB project   √   done
  2. Work on Mystery (Dec 26-31 not done
  3. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Work on SECRET project
  2. Work on Mystery (Dec 26-31)
  3. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

I have ONE UFO to finish and I’ll have completed my PHD in 2020. YEAH!!!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

A Funky Friend Finish on Friday …

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Try saying “A Funky Friend Finish on Friday” three times fast and then one more time faster! Actually, don’t bother … your tongue will likely not get as twisted as mine.

But yes, I do have a finish … The pattern is “Ellie the Elephant” from Funky Friends Factory … isn’t she cute?

She was made with fabric from the “Deco Revival” Island Batik fabric collection. She was easy to make as the Funky Friends patterns are excellent!

Ellie will be residing my my sewing room. She is not fit for young children because I used button eyes. However, if you use the appropriate eyes, Ellie would be fine with the littles. (one day I will find the appropriate eyes for my stuffies!)

Here is Ellie, posing in front of the elephant quilt that I made. You can see more about this quilt on the post “Thread Painting with Aurifil.”

I just realized that I must LOVE the Deco Revival fabric collection: I’ve used in in 3 other projects … all that I LOVE. See HERE and HERE and HERE.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

PHD in 2020: December 1 Report

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WOW!!! Can you believe it’s December?? One month left to complete at least 12 UFOs and finish off your 2020 starts!

SEW … how have you been doing? I know that some of you are doing fantastic and have already met your goals … and some have “given up” on 2020 and have their list ready and waiting to start in 2021!!!

YES, there will be a PHD in 2021. Personally, I’m hoping to finish the rest of my UFOs next year!!! However, I realize that I will need to be disciplined to finish every new start – otherwise my UFO list with grow and I actually hope to never have a HUGE UFO list!!!

I did not finish a UFO in November. BUT … it is sandwiched and ready to quilt. Priorities got in the way. Here’s a picture of most of the 2020 UFOs that I completed. Next month, I’ll be sure to include them all!

If you look closely at the list … For the starts in 2020 … my IB Dec should be finished within the next week. The Morewood Mystery can’t be finished until the spring … it’s an ongoing project. Connected … I have to wait until I have all the parts to decide what I’m going to do. I have all the parts, but they’re in sealed envelopes that I can’t open until I’m told it’s time to open them! Doesn’t it sound like fun??? It is!

Linky Party

Link to a blog post, Instagram or Pinterest to show us your PHD in 2020 progress!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=a3325ea8d75a7b860d96

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Some things are not meant to be.

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Sometimes things don’t work out.

Last week I said I was going to work on an “After Quilt.” Well, I did, I was trying to turn a piece into a cute stuffed animal. It was a piece of fabric that I glued hearts and teardrops on. Then I free-motioned them down. My plan was to make a cute elephant stuffy. When I sewed a couple of pieces together, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to work. The hearts and teardrops were sticking up and looked ugly. It did not work out … it couldn’t be fixed … (and some of my virtual retreat buddies agreed with me) … so into the trash it went. GASP!!!! I don’t do that! But there was no saving this one! So it died. But have no fear, it’s not going to the landfill! The useless fabric was used in stuffing another stuffy – that I will show you soon.

What’s in the Future?

Yup, I have some plans …

Mystery Quilt: Between December 26 and 31, I plan to have a mystery quilt … right here on the blog. It’ll be a smallish quilt (43″ x 43″) and it’ll be easy to have at least the top done before 2021 becomes a reality! I’ll give the fabric requirements in the near future.

Stay at Home Round Robin: Some blogging friends and I will be doing this, starting in January. More information to come.

I can show you!

This is the mystery quilt that we did at the guild! I was the “lead” for the quilt, so I HAD to make it ahead of time. But, until the guild was given the solution, I couldn’t show you. All of the fabrics were from my stash.

This is not my pattern design: it is from a book. We have permission from the author to use the patterns for the guild. If you are interested in the name of the book – contact me and I’ll tell you. I won’t say the name of the book here because I plan to do more mystery quilts for the guild from the book. And I want it to be a mystery for them!!!

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