I posted really late yesterday but that was because I scheduled it for 10:30 pm instead of am. This is what I got done while that post was waiting to go live. I got all the center blocks stitched together. I was motivated because I needed to get the blocks off the floor before the cleaning lady comes today. I'm hugely motivated by deadlines! I love how this is looking.
In the evening I worked on the blanket for Chris' friend. I'm determined to have that done by Friday. Today is dyeing day so I don't know what else I'll accomplish. Sorry for the late post. I don't have a newsletter today because I need another week to get the next batch of new fabrics ready so I'll share an update on my blue quilt. I also worked on the Red Sunset quilt yesterday but another photo would look much like the last photo. I'm also plugging away at the big blanket for Chris' friend. I pulled out all of the dark blocks and laid them out in groups of 4 to sew together big blocks. This quilt is designed to be put together in rows of smaller blocks but I thought it would be easier to keep the block orientation right if I pieced them into 4-path blocks first. I need 36 of the large dark blocks and I was glad to see that I made lots of extras so I was able to replace a few bow ties that didn't have enough contrast for my liking. Here are the first 6 blocks on the design wall. I'll keep plugging away at these this week. I really like it so far! We also got a little snow yesterday. In the end it was a little more than this but just the right amount to be pretty but not bothersome.
You can't beat a weekend that's mostly about making and that's exactly what I had this weekend. It kicked off Friday with 2 days of sewing with my quilt club, Country School Quilters. I generally work on veterans quilts there and I took a new kit from the 14 that I cut out over a year ago. This one, as it turned out, has 2 quilts in it. One had a blue background and one has a tan background. I started with the blue one and I got all of the blocks together by the time we left Saturday. I brought it home to lay out the blocks on the design wall and I have everything organized and ready to sew together when I go back in March. I found a medium blue in my stash for the border. I had cut another fabric for the border but decided that I didn't like it. I'll use that fabric the next time I cut a bunch of veterans quilt kits. I only have one left so cutting sessions will have to happen pretty soon. On the quilting front, I finished all the stitch-in-the-ditch for the bottom half of the quilt and I'm working from the middle to the top now. It's going really well but I still don't have a plan for the rest of the quilting. One of the things that's made the SID go fast is that I can do it all with just one ruler. I'm not searching all over the quilt top for a variety of curved and straight rulers. This one has several curves and a straight edge so I've done every inch of it with this Lily Lines ruler from Bethanne Nemesh. During the football games I've been crocheting. I got started on a summer sweater. This is one that will be blocked so don't worry about the wonkiness. I think it's going to come together pretty quickly too. But this week I'm going to focus on getting this one done. It's for Chris's friend and there's a good chance that Chris will see him next weekend. I have a ball and a half left so there is a good chance that I can get it done.
So this week will be about this blanket, the Red Sunset quilt and the blue bow tie blocks. It's going to be cold so it will be good to stay inside. Today's inspiration comes from Rachel Derstine. This is a series which she had abandoned but brought back after a student saw one of her posts. She asked about a class so Rachel developed an online course for this technique.. You may find it here. "Twists and Curves 3" won Second Place, Innovative, at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in 2023. Rachel was kind enough to send us some addition photos of details of the quilt. Just click on any image to see it larger. Rachel used multiple Gradients, Shades and Stash Packs in this quilt. She also sent us photos of 2 other quilts using this same technique. Be sure to check out Rachel's class here. For sharing, Rachel received a 20% coupon for the shop that's good for 3 months! If you have made anything with my hand dyed fabric I hope you will consider sharing it in the Customer Gallery. The only rule is that projects have to be complete. It doesn't have to be made totally from hand dyed fabric, just include a recognizable amount.
I had some chores that needed to be done yesterday, like filing sales tax, and none of those things happened. Instead I worked a little on several things. I finished all of the blue bow ties. Now I will sew them together in sets of 4 before I assemble the whole top. Then I went to the craft group at the library and I worked on the shawl. I finished the first skein and started a second. I think the whole thing will take 3 skeins. This pattern goes pretty quickly. I finished off the day with about an hour of quilting. I rolled the quilt down a bit and finished the bottom part of the center star (yellow arrow). Next I'll work on the sections with the blue arrow. Today and tomorrow I'll be sewing with my quilt club. I work on veterans quilts there and this is the next kit. I'll sort through it tomorrow but I think there might be 2 quilts in this bag.
At some point I need to file the taxes too. Maybe while I'm watching one of the playoff games. I finished piecing this quilt in October 2022 and I've been procrastinating on the quilting ever since. Now we've got some friends visiting in March and I want this quilt done for the guest room bed. I set myself a goal of getting it loaded, basted and ditch stitching complete in a week. Time to get started. I dyed the backing a few weeks ago and the hardest part is getting the quilt loaded centered. I wrote a tutorial for how to center a quilt back several years ago. I still do it the same way. I start from the center and work my way to the top and then the bottom. Once I have the center set I pin through the center seam to the back and make sure I have it lined up before I start basting. Once I get the center lined up the rest of the process goes pretty smoothly. I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it so I decided to start by doing all of the stitch-in-the-ditch to get it stabilized. By the time I'm done I hope I have some ideas. My SID stitching isn't perfect. There was a time, early in my longarming, that I would have pulled out this wonky line and re-stitch it. Over time I've learned that NO ONE notices this once the quilt is done, not even me. I do the best I can and keep going.
I'll keep plugging away at the SID through the weekend. Tomorrow and Saturday are sewing days with my quilt club so I'll be starting my first veterans quilt for 2024. Monday I needed to do some fabric ironing but I decided that I wanted to sew first. My next project was to empty 3 bags of batting scraps into pet beds. Once I started sewing I didn't want to stop so I spent the day (between laundry, stacking wood and vacation planning) making 6 pet beds to give to my friend for Richmond Animal League. Everything for these is free! Periodically someone donates fabric to our quilt club and once or twice a year I can get some free decorator fabric that's perfect for these pet beds. I have a stack of pre-cut pieces that will last me at least 2 years. It makes some pretty pet beds and all of this is kept from the landfill for a little longer. The stuffing is the trimmed batting from the veterans and my own quilts. I think I only made 7 all of last year so this is a good start to 2024. I did my ironing yesterday. I also cleaned the sewing machine, changed the needle and set up to resume the blue bow tie quilt. I can work on that today after I finish my dyeing session. January is starting off pretty good! I do have one more charity sewing project that I want to do and that's seatbelt port pillows. I have a pretty good stash of fiberfill that I've been saving for that. But I would like to get this quilt top together first.
This week of dyeing was all about restocking Gradients and Shades. First up the Gradients! Blue Sky, Niagara and Helios are all back in stock. I don't often talks about the Shades Packs because they are always "in stock" even if I need to dye them to catch up. But I try very hard to keep them all in stock in fat quarter packs. The only Shades Pack that I track inventory with is the Black Shades Pack. They have a little longer turnaround because black is the most complex color that I dye. This one is so dark that I offer this one in 8 steps and it's available in Fat Quarter and Half Yard packs. All other Shades Packs come in 5 steps but any Color can be ordered on more or less steps and I can also dye custom colors for you. Two other Packs that were restocked this week are Conch and Cosmos. Conch is often used for monochromatic portraits. There are over 40 Shades Packs to choose from and you can see all the options here. Fabric of the WeekThis week I'm offering the Maize Shades Pack as the Fabric of the Week. This is the first time there has been a Shades Pack as Fabric of the Week in over a year so it's a great time to catch a deal on one.. This sale is limited to only fabric currently in stock whis is only fat quarter packs. If you order more than 1 quantity you will receive multiple fat quarter packs, not continuous yardage. Maize is 20% off through Sunday.
I decided that I needed to get the serger put away to clear some space so that meant that I had to get the drain bag project completed....and I did! Here's 60 more bags, for a total of 102, ready to donate. Here's how I make them. The reason that all the ones I made are either gray or black prints is because the ribbon colors I had were gray and black. Plus, I like to make sure that they aren't too feminine. I know a lot of them go to women getting mastectomies but men need them too. Here's all 102 of them packed up and ready to be delivered soon. After they were done I cleaned the serger and my two sewing machine so I'm ready for something else. Next up will be pet beds to clear out the 3 bags of batting scraps stuffed under my cutting table. Those will not take as long! Then I'll be back on the blue quilt. The other thing I did the weekend, aside from watching the Eagles collapse, was to swatch up samples for 2 possible summer cardigans. I swatched them in the yarn I plan to use. The cream colored one is The Zahora Cardigan. The instructions are well written but I didn't enjoy the stitch so I won't be making that one. I'll pick something else for that yarn. The darker yarn is for the The Summer Fling Cardi. I swatched this one about 4 times because I just couldn't get it to work. Then I looked up the stitch in my stitch dictionary and was able to follow the chart. The stitch calls for chains of 6 3 stitches but I decided that I liked 4 chains over 2 stitches better. That's what's in this swatch and I'll so my sweater this way. It will be a nice little "jacket" to wear over tank tops if I finish it by summer.
This week will be about pet beds and maybe some quilting. Patricia Caldwell is back with our inspiration this week. She had been saving this one section of a Galaxy piece that she bought a while ago. It has been pinned and ready and finally decided to start and finish it. Added with some yarn and Crystals of Sardonyx, Lapis and Howlite. Here are some close up photos of her detail quilting. For sharing, Patricia received a 20% coupon for the shop that's good for 3 months! If you have made anything with my hand dyed fabric I hope you will consider sharing it in the Customer Gallery. The only rule is that projects have to be complete. It doesn't have to be made totally from hand dyed fabric, just include a recognizable amount.
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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