Quilting

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

/ quiltinggail / 3 Comments

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!!

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

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!!!

/ quiltinggail / 28 Comments

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

/ quiltinggail / 14 Comments

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:

PHD in 2020: December 1 Report

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

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.

/ quiltinggail / 14 Comments

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!!!

Continue reading →

Virtual Retreat

/ quiltinggail / 16 Comments

This week, a bunch of us were suppose to retreat at a lovely place about a 45 minute drive from my house. There are usually 18. Then, since Covid, the facility reduced the number to 12, then to 10 and then said “no” to overnight stays. But they offered us “Day” retreats where we could go out to sew, go to a restaurant to eat and go home at night. Uh, no thank you … I probably live the closest to the facility and many of the others have about 1.5 hr drive. And who wants to drive home in the dark on a stormy November night? None of us. And, in the end, we would have had to cancel anyhow because of further Covid restrictions.

SEW … since we’re lamenting that we can’t retreat in person … I bit the bullet and paid for 1 month of unlimited Zoom. Everyone that is part of our core group and a few others were sent the link and we Zoom and sewed away for 4 days.! That’s a LONG time for a Zoom quilting retreat!!!

However, it seems like everyone got a lot of sewing done. One lady said, “I got way more done staying home because I wasn’t up wandering from table to table to chat with everyone!”

It was a LOT of fun to “see” friends that I haven’t seen for a LONG time.

SEW … you’re probably wondering what I got done. Actually quite a bit. A lot of this and a lot of that. I did finish 2 pillowcases with the John Deere fabric I bought.

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Catching Up

/ quiltinggail / 15 Comments

Now that some self-imposed deadlines are met, I feel like I’m catching up.

Connected Project

I haven’t mentioned this project before. Our guild decided to do the “Connected Project.” A fun project where it connects various guild members together. We’re not suppose to know what the finished block is like and although I’ve seen a Youtube videos, I don’t know exactly what my block will look like. The idea is that we are divided into groups of 8. Each of us is given a paper pieced block (with various options from simple to complex) and we make the block in the colours that are chosen by my group mates. It was fun to go through my scraps and use some of them up! I can’t show you yet … but I will show you what I’ve done when I’m allowed to.

On the right is s a picture of the scraps of fabric left after I cut the blocks into their finished sizes.

Below is the 7 envelopes all ready for the mail. AND, they are nestled into a UFO that is NOT even on my list. It was just sitting there when I was looking for something to show off the envelopes. OH my … how many more UFOs will I find when I’m not even looking for them???

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If you look closely at my PHD list, you’ll see “connected” is not considered “Finished.” I have done my part for now. I’ve got 7 envelopes from other quilters that I get to open Dec. 1. Then I’ll be putting my block together.

Hanging Sleeve

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In my last post (HERE), I showed you a B&W photo of a hanging sleeve using a blind hem. One lovely person asked if either Kathleen or I had a tutorial on it. Well, Kathleen, the very smart quilter that she is, has a tutorial on it. You can check out her blog post HERE. While you’re visiting Kathleen, check out her tons of tutorials. Well worth the visit!

Morewood Mystery

You can find details of the mystery quilt HERE. I’m all caught up. This is November’s clue.

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop

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This week you have the opportunity to win a fat quarter bundle of Venetian Marble or Tiki Punch! Both are wonderful collections!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Design Wall

Piecing:

After Quilt: This term is new to me … but I completely understood it when I heard it. It’s those bits and pieces that are left over when you finish a quilt. SEW … I’m going to be working on an After Quilt.

Scrappy 4 patches: This is in the same state that it was last week. It hasn’t moved off the design wall.

Quilting: 

Nothing happening … yet

Stash Report

A sad week in this department. A local quilt store was closing their doors … with some good sales. When I went, everything was 65% off. Can’t complain about that! One good thing: a quilting friend was right behind me in line … we chatted up a storm and the wait went quickly then!

Here’s a picture of the damage. My husband was with me when I bought the first pieces of John Deere fabric and he “ordered” me to buy more (6.5 yards). He has a plan for them … of course I’ll be doing the sewing! The blue with white polka dots is for backing baby quilts (4.5 yards). A total of 11 yards will be added into Fabric Added this year.

And yes, I bought some quilting rulers, glass head pins in a tin, and (2) 4 yard zippers by Annie (with zipper pulls).

SS yellow
  • Fabric Used this week    0 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       279.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      61.5 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                    229.0 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!

Stitchin’ Time

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

  • January – Sept: 290 / 304
  • 30 min days/  Nov:   22 / 22
  • Total days in 2020: 312 / 325
  • 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. Secret project  #3 : finish quilting, bind and photos √   done
  2. Work on UFO (Scrappy 4 patches) (to flimsy stage) not done
  3. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.  √   done (did this when Secret Project #3 was complete and I could put all the stuff away!)

Even though I didn’t get my Scrappy 4 patches to flimsy stage, I did get a couple of things completed that weren’t on the list:

  • Connected Project
  • Morewood Mystery

This week’s list:

  1. Work on UFO (Scrappy 4 patches) (to flimsy stage)
  2. Work on an After Quilt
  3. Make Pillow Cases with John Deere fabric
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

No UFOs finished.

Eekes … I didn’t add the UFO that my envelopes are nestled in … perhaps it’ll be a finish next week!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop: Week 3

/ quiltinggail / 5 Comments

I can’t wait to see what my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors create this week! Make sure you follow along! Scroll down for the rafflecopter link for your opportunity to win some awesome fabric!



November 23:

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
November 24:

Pamela Boatright, PamelaQuilts
Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde
November 25:

Vasudha Govindan, Storied Quilts
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
November 26:

Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads
a Rafflecopter giveaway

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Hanging Sleeves

/ quiltinggail / 28 Comments

OK … in THIS POST, I talked about how I hate hand sewing on hanging sleeves. I really dislike hand sewing. period.

Making the sleeve is easy …

Edited

  • Measure the width of the quilt. Add 1″
  • Take the width of the quilt and cut a 8.5″ strip
  • Turn under 1/4″ on each end of the strip.
  • Sew this strip lengthwise with a 1/4″ seam.
  • Secure the sleeve to the quilt
    • sew the top of the sleeve just below the binding
    • Press the bottom of the sleeve, measure up 3/4″ on the side towards the quilt. Press
    • the last pressed line is what you fasten to the quilt (this leaves space for the rod to be inserted so that the quilt can hang

When I’ve done this for quilt shows, I’ve made the sleeves and pinned them on. They’re only going to hang for a couple of days, so I don’t need to worry about rust or too much stress.

Anyhow … after talking about how I HATE hand sewing, I had 2 comments that I thought were worth mentioning.

  • Gene Black an Alabama Artist suggested fusing the sleeve on. I think this is a great idea for a wall hanging!
  • Kathleen, from Kathleen McMusing, suggested putting them on with a blind hem and using invisible thread. I thought this was a brilliant idea.

SEW … when a gal needs to get 3 quilt sleeves on, she uses her sewing machine. As you can see, I used the blind hem stitch. There was a grey thread in the bobbin (that’s what you can see) and I had Aurifil invisible thread on top. There is NO stitching visible on the quilt! Perfect.

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Inspired by Nature Blog Hop: My Day

/ quiltinggail / 43 Comments

I received “Ohana” fabric collection to use for this blog hop. Aren’t the fabrics awesome?

They made me think of flowers … Well, there are pretty flowers in some of the fabrics. H I thought of the Accuquilt die that I have, “Cleopatra’s Fan.” To me, this die never made me think of a fan, but it did make me think of flowers …

SEW … off to EQ and I played around with the design and the fabrics and came up with this …

Below is some of the pieces on the Accuquilt die. I wasn’t able to lay all of the fabric out at once because I wanted specific fabrics in specific places. So each fabric was cut and placed into the sections where they were destined to go.

I did need to have reverse pieces of each fabric for this block. However, working with Island Batik fabrics, it is seldom that I can decipher the wrong side from the right side. That made it super easy! I just needed 8 pieces of each cut and I didn’t have to worry about right or wrong sides! Island Batik fabrics are pretty cool that way!

Here are all of the blocks on the design board before being sewn together and borders added.

Here’s a close up of the quilting from the front. I outlined all the shapes and quilted little 3 or 4 petal flowers in the grey neutral portions. Wavy leaves formed the border.

And from the back showing more of the border’s wavy leaves.

Once the borders were added and the quilt quilted, … I only had 2 fabrics that I had not used in the quilt … and neither of them was good as a binding. A scrappy binding just didn’t feel right for this quilt. I was given “Marble-Purple-BE” as a coordinating fabric and it is perfect for the binding. Just a hint of the dark purple frames the quilt.

Stats:

  • 54″ x 54″
  • Quilted with Aurifil #2600, light grey.
  • Binding attached with Aurifil #2581, dark purple.
  • Hobbs 80/20 batting
  • Pieced and Quilted on my Janome Continental M7 sewing machine.

Be sure to visit my Blog Hop Partner, Mania and see the quilt she made with the same fabric collection! Ohana!

Ohana should be arriving in stores soon!

Opportunity to Win

There are 3 opportunities to win some fabric! One from me and 2 from Island Batik.

From Me:

You could win scraps from 5″ x 10″ to 12″ squares of 12 Ohana fabrics. If you live in Canada, in the comment section, tell me how nature inspires (or could inspire) your quilting.

From Island Batik:

Click on the link below to have an opportunity to win Fat Quarter bundles of wonderful fabric: either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses

Click HERE

Disclaimer: All of the fabric and supplies (other than my sewing machine and iron) were given to me by Island Batik and the industry partners!  Thank you! 

AurifilLogo3-Website
Hobbs Logo

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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The Latest about Masks

/ quiltinggail / 27 Comments

Did any of you see this article from CBC Marketplace about masks? Click HERE.

After reading this article, I asked Island Batik what the thread count is for their fabric. Here’s what Elizabeth Phillips (Marketing and Graphic Design) said, “Our greige goods are the highest quality we can purchase. The thread counts are stated a little differently when buying the prepared for dyeing cotton but It’s a little higher than 600.”

So there you have it! If you’ve been making masks with Island Batik fabrics … you’ve been doing the best you can.

And yes, I’ve made masks with Island Batik fabric … here’s a picture of my purse with the matching masks!

Design Wall

Piecing:

Scrappy 4 patches: The setting triangles are added as well as the first border. I need to dig out some fabric and audition it for the 2nd border. This needs to be bigger. At the moment, it’s 38″ x 44″ … if I add a 4″ border, that will make it 46″ x 52″. I’ll be happier with that size!

Quilting: 

About the secrets … Secret #1 & #2 are done … #3 is almost finished. Then I’ll add the hanging sleeves (with a blind hem and invisible thread) to #2 and #3.

Stash Report

No finished projects, no shopping …

SS yellow
  • Fabric Used this week    0 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       279.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      50.5 yards (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                    229.0 yards
  • Husband’s purchases: 11.5 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year).

Stitchin’ Time

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

  • January – Sept: 290 / 304
  • 30 min days/  Nov:   15 / 15
  • Total days in 2020: 305 / 318
  • 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.”

Well, I got the priority quilting done: IB November will be showcased on Tuesday as part of Island Batik’s “Inspired by Nature” Blog Hop. I was privileged to work with a fantastic fabric collection! Come back on Tuesday to see the quilt!

Last week’s list:

  1. IB November: Quilt and Bind √   done
  2. Work on Secret projects: Finish #3 not done
  3. Work on UFO (Scrappy 4 patches) (to flimsy stage) not done
  4. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Secret project  #3 : finish quilting, bind and photos
  2. Work on UFO (Scrappy 4 patches) (to flimsy stage)
  3. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   

No UFOs finished. One Start in 2020 finished.

I did add the remaining UFOs to my list … just so that you KNOW I have more! (grin)

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop

Click HERE to see this week’s awesome Ambassador quilts!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop: Week 2

/ quiltinggail / 1 Comment

Here is this week’s line up:

November 16:

November 17:

November 18:

November 19:

Be sure to Click on the link below to have an opportunity to win some wonderful fabric: either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses.

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Remembrance Day

/ quiltinggail / 6 Comments

On this Remembrance Day, I think of poppies. How they originally symbolized the end of WW1 and now include the remembering of the many fallen soldiers of various wars.

I made this quilt for a Quilt of Valour using the Island Batik fabric collection “Freedom.” It is my own design.

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
  That mark our place; and in the sky
  The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high.
  If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.

Written by John McCrae, Guelph, Ontario.

Busy week

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

Yes, I’ve had a busy week. Since Covid started, my calendar has been pretty blank. A couple of weekly Zoom things, daily walks and not much else, you tend to get use to it! Then BAM … all of a sudden, I had 2 dentist appointments (cleaning and fillings), a blood work appointment, a doctor’s appointment, a short guild Zoom meeting, a family Zoom quilting day, as well as the usual 3 weekly Zooms … Oh me, oh my … I felt almost overwhelmed. And to think, I used to have all those appointments, work full time and still managed to get a lot of quilting done! Sigh … Enough of my week … back to what’s important to me: Quilting!

Design Wall

Piecing:

Scrappy 4 patches: On point was the final decision on making this little quilt. I know it looks like a mess at the moment! I have some of the setting triangles sewn on … some are pinned and one row ready to be sewn together. I got most of this done at the family Zoom quilting day!

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