Air conditioning in October?

Tropical storm Nate is bringing us rain and sticky humidity.  So instead of cleaning on my day off, I'm forced to quilt. . . . rough, I know.

The length of time between sewing the top and quilting . . . is it procrastination or indecision?

Perhaps a bit of both.

 Original quilting plans involved swirling, intricate feathers.

Emulating Amish simplicity, an off-center line does the job.

I'm happy with this and will be even happier when it's done!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

You may recall this was begun in December 2007 . . .

It was quilted in October 2013.

 Now finally bound and finished, except for the label.

 Why has it taken so long . . . this was the quilt I was working on when my dad died.  Sometimes things have to wait.

 You'll notice I'm including the wonky pictures.  

 There's been a love/hate relationship between my Nikon and I for the past 3 years.  No matter what book, article, or video I absorbed . . . No matter what button, gizmo, or dial I adjusted . . . things just came out WRONG.  Well, except for the wee pup who is so photogenic Iams should put her on the big bag of chow.  Cover to cover, she'd fill the whole bag and look great doing it.

 But quilts are another matter.  Especially feather-quilted, solid-colored ones with lots of black.

 However I'm here to tell you THERE'S HOPE!  See that new title on the lower right hand side of my blog.  The one for Mike Browne?

Well, let's just say this man knows his Nikon.  His tutorial videos are very helpful.  Informative, succinct, not to mention funny.  I'm LEARNING things and they are actually starting to make sense.

Someone's getting tired just watching me adjust dials.  The smoke alarm almost went off I was thinking so hard.

So if there's hope for me, there's definitely hope for the rest of those who swore to never touch their camera again.

Go ahead, hop on over and check out Mike's videos.  And classes.  He has on-line classes too.  If you live in the UK, you can even join him for workshops.  How neat is that!

Just need to find Scottie to beam us over.  Dolly would like the beach don't you think?

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Do you believe in miracles?

Approximately 14 years ago this quilt was assembled.

 Then taken apart and reassembled.

 Then taken apart, reassembled and partially quilted.

 Then un-quilted and re-done with some quilting being un-done/re-done yet again before finishing.

Are you confused yet?  Me too.

The main culprit was a vaguely remembered gray-black fabric by Springmaid which came out around 1990.  It deteriorated after the first washing.

Since I mix my black fabrics on purpose in Amish quilts, there was no telling which fabric it was.  Thus the re-doing.  And doing . . .

But it's finished now and thank goodness for it.  I still love it after all these years.

Until then, keep stitchin'  . . .  

We had sleeting snow today,

so I put more peanut butter out.

The dish sits right outside the window and Dolly enjoys watching company fly in.

The birds show up in droves for PB fuel and fly off excitedly when they discover a peanut.  Generic brand super chunky makes for happy tweets.

Me, I'm happy when a big quilt finally comes together.  Whew.

Now for the borders, hmmmm.  It's always a conundrum deciding on width. Thankfully, I know which feather template to use.

Until then keep stitchin' . . .

A bright spot in winter.

I've been trying to get a shot of this guy for a few weeks now.

Amazingly, he sat there for several minutes today while I switched to my 300 mm lens, started adjusting the ISO, while balancing the camera on the back of the chair to decrease vibration.

Admittedly, it's not a very good picture, but I keep trying.

As with all things related to color, patience is the key.

 And diligence, let's not forget diligence.

30 years of gathering fabrics and playing with color does pay off  . . . eventually.

The goal is to have it together by Sunday, with borders and everything.

Now that's something to sing about.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Inch by inch, row by row . . .

I'm gonna make my garden grow.

my kind of garden . . .

Simple, colorful, growing slowly.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

This is so much fun it should be banned in 34 states.

Have you tried it?  The speed 9-patch method?  Surely I'm the only one late in joining this parade.

There are several tutorials, I found a good one here.

To test, I pulled out some pre-cut 5-inch squares, which turned into 4-inch 9-patches.  Cute, but rather small.

 So I pulled some colors to process 6" squares.

For a 9-patch that will be similar to these colors, but brighter.

This bar quilt is from Country Threads.  Of course I want to make one of these also.

Sigh, sew many quilts, sew little time.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Yeah, progress!

 Two more bindings were begun last evening.

 This small Amish project goes back about 9 years.

 Darker squares border the 25-patch simply because I ran out of the Marcus light blue print.  But hey, I like it!

Details make the difference.  The blue rose square is from around 1978, but the fabric may be older. I recall cutting out a long skirt, which never got done.  Do you remember those knee-length skirts with single and double ruffled hems?  They were so fun and frilly.

"The Stack" is getting taller!  It's almost time to set up my old lap top so I can watch Downton.

Until then, keep stitchin . . .

A small step and a big finish . . .

A while back, Lynn Dykstra posted a comment on her blog that has stuck with me.

She mentioned setting a goal of getting each quilt project one more step towards completion.

I'm embracing this concept for 2016.  I'm initiating the one-step program.

One border, one baggie, one block, or just one binding at a time.  We'll get there.

By the way, thank you Lynn.

This was a summer project using 1-3/4" solid and hand-dyed squares.  Finally, the border was applied last night.

And, yes, I completed the quilting on the 25-patch (shown last Saturday).

One small step for man, one giant step towards quilt finishing.
(apologies to Neil Armstrong).

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

First the good news . . .

This weekend's weather of sunny in the 50-60s, allowed me to work on 3 more windows.

 I did this chore a few years back, all sanded and sealed.  However they need re-doing.

My newest Amish piece is a combination of blues, pinks, violets, and purples.  The hand-dyed fabrics really make it shimmer. I've enlarged it to twin size and by Sunday night reached the half way point. This is the kind of quilt where left over pieces of solid black fabric can be used.  The varying shades add to the glow.  I'm searching for stray fabric in baggies in an attempt to use up odd stuff.

Dolly wanted me to pass the word that Santa has delivered extra large chewies to the big box store. Over in the Christmas section.  They're good for keeping wee munchkins entertained while sewing.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

I'm done with the blues!

 All ironed and folded in their designated cabinet.

 Next up are the peaches, creams, browns and reds.

In 30 years, I've never had the opportunity to organize all solids in one location.

However, I've managed to play with them often.

There's nothing like bright solids on black to cheer up a wintry afternoon.

For all of those in the USA dealing with extensive snow, do stay home if you can.  It's safer that way.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Rainy day . . . . play day

 It's been ages since I've had time to sort through solids.  This stack will be starched and trimmed into strips as time permits.

Here's the inspiration for my Fall quilt.  They used plaids.

I'm using hand-dyed and solid fabrics.  Fall-colored and "inside" black squares are cut at 2".  However, you could use 2-1/2" squares to make a slightly bigger quilt.  

The side black pieces are cut 2 x 2-1/2".  Sorting through bins, I pulled out 2-1/2 strips that got starched and trimmed a tiny bit. They're not perfect, as they shrunk some, but are good for this block.

The odd size is to allow easier trimming of the block once assembled.

Dolly is not happy it's still raining.  I'm hearing lots of complaining from the peanut gallery.

She really wants to go for a truck ride and doesn't want me sewing any more.

I believe it's time for a chew bone from the emergency provisions bag.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Thank you Canada!

For sending this lovely cold front our way!  It's been wonderful to turn the A/C off and not be smothered by humidity.

Even though I've had a busy work week, the remaining solids in browns, oranges, golds and greens are starched and waiting to be cut into squares.  I'm kitting up the 9-patch project to be sewn later . . . .

And moving on to another Fall inspired quilt top.

This one is so old, I don't remember when I started it.  But the saw tooth borders will go on next.

The log cabin blocks were pieced on paper for accuracy.  Final sewn size is 5 inches.

Do you believe we're more than half way through the year?  Christmas is just around the corner and I want to start on gifts before ol' Jack comes knockin' on the door.

Dolly will be excited when he arrives though, as she'll be able to ride in the truck again.

Enjoy your weekend.  Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Will someone please adjust the thermostat?

With a high of 90 today and a humidity level at 3 million percent, it's officially summer in my neck of the woods.

Today the house was cleaned up, the bunny cages were cleaned out, and as the heat index rose, I sequestered myself in the A/C room.

There, I starched and cut and trimmed and stacked.  My hand-dyed fabrics are going to add a lovely dimension to this project.  Bali prints would work beautifully also.

Inspiration came from a quilt store catalog dated 2011.  When I came across it yesterday, I knew it was time to switch projects.  As you can see, Fall is on my mind.

I'll need a total of 108 9-patch blocks, but I'm going to assemble them in a non-traditional matter.  

Will post pictures of that process as soon as possible.  If you'd like to join in, you'll need a range of browns, red browns, gold, orange, green, and black for framing.  (I'm using 2" squares, but 2-1/2" would work just as well.)

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Just a bit of binding and it's done!

How can 5 years pass so quickly?

 This Amish Boston Commons has been waiting a long time to be completed.

I love the contrast that hand-dyed fabrics add to the mix.

This quilt goes well with Fall I'm thinkin'.

 Dolly is simply very glad for cooler weather and prances around in the brisk morning air like a frisky colt.  She doesn't prance often, but it's a sight to see, LOL.

When I open my Etsy shop, this will be one of the first things listed.  Stay tuned.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .