Today I'm helping my friend move so I thought I'd share the rest of my weekend events. It was sewing weekend for my quilt club. I always look forward to our 2 days of sewing together. On Friday we had 16 people, one of our largest groups ever. During the 2 days I got all of these blocks made and I sewed the top together Saturday night. I now have 3 of my own veterans quilt tops that need to be quilted along with about 7 more....once the big blue quilt is done. On Friday afternoon I went into Short Pump (yes, that's a town name because "back in the day" there was a short pump where people could get water for their horses) and met up with Chris. Chris is a super nice lady who work with that Lutheran Relief organization that I mentioned last week. She takes all kinds of fabric and craft donations from people. What they can't use she passes on to various organizations around town. She gets a lot of linens in the donations and she now passes those on to me for dyeing. She had 2 bags for me this time! Saturday evening I sorted through it all and have piles of things. Some are complete sets, some is fabric that I might be able to dye and some I can't use and will pass on elsewhere. Most of it, though can be used and some will be used for a specific patchwork project that I have planned. While I was at sewing Saturday this happened. There's a park area there and the parking lot gets a lot of traffic. So now I'm working on dealing with this through the insurance company. It will be an annoyance but much worse things have happened.
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Our friends left this morning to return to England. We had a really lovely visit. We had tons of rain during their visit but out last day, yesterday, was beautiful. We love it when they visit. We are so compatible that we could all probably live together. We are already planning their next visit. In between time with our friends I got the last 2 quilts quilted and ready to return to the piecers tomorrow night. These two quilt were made by either Jennifer or her mom, Clara. They are a dynamic duo and make lots of quilts for our veterans. I'm still favoring my shoulder, although it's better. So I'm quilting from the front of the machine and I did a ribbon meander on these. I really love the effect and it's fast and easy to do.
I'm ready to pick up some more quilt tops tomorrow night but I think I'll quilt the big blue quilt next before I do more veterans quilts. It's time to get back to my normal routine! These two quilts were super fast and easy to quilt. I'm glad my shoulder pain had forced me back to the front of the machine and away from the pantographs. This one was made by Becky. She fussy cut those strip borders so that they look pieced. It's made with 4" blocks and borders so it was perfect for a wavy crosshatch. I think this quilt was made by Clara and I decided to pull out the rulers for a very simple continuous curve pattern. I used red thread on this one and it shows nicely in the tan blocks. It's a nice orange peel pattern on the back.
Today is going to be spending time with our friends. They are back from a few days away. I might get some placemats finished or get two more quilts loaded. I was able to get back to quilting but just a little at a time. Daily stretchy yoga has really helped to start unwinding my shoulder enough so that I could quilt about 30 minutes a day. So these 2 quilts were on the frame about a week. Yesterday I tried an acupuncture treatment and will do a couple more. It did seem to help quite a bit but there's a ways to go before I get the knot totally undone. The best thing about quilting the veterans quilts is seeing the creativity of the quilt makers. This quilt was made by Margaret and she made great use of some African fabric scrap blocks. It's quilting pantographs that really set off my shoulder so I have to do any quilting right now from the front. For this quilt I did one of my favorite, fast overall designs. I used a variegated black and white thread and I'm not sure I did the quilt any favors with it. Chris says he likes it. Hopefully the eventual owner will like it too. I used the variegated because I'm making a concerted effort to use some of my unusual threads this year. I have SO MUCH THREAD and I need to try to stay away from the creams and blues and use up some of this stash. This quilt was made by Gwendolyn and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It's so unique that I had to do something different with it for the quilting and I could use lime green thread! Quilting this one was so much fun with a little ruler work. The bonus is that I almost finished off a cone of lime green thread. I'll use the rest of this cone for basting and I still have one more big cone of lime green. What was I thinking when I bought it?
I have two more on the frame now and another 2 to get done before our meeting next Tuesday. Well, my trip to Nebraska was canceled! I was going to Lincoln to meet my friend who was driving in from Colorado. Then I was going to travel with her back to Virginia. Then a big storm came through the West and she can't leave Colorado yet. We'll have to do a road trip in her campervan another time. So I'm back to cutting veterans quilt kits. My order of patriotic fabrics (on sale) came in and I got started with 4 kits. The kit on the left has 2 quilts in it. I have a lot more fabric to cut!
Today I'll get back to doing some dyeing and I hope to also get some time to do some longarming. By Monday I'd like to have 4 more veterans quilts quilted. Then I'll have 2 more to get done before the next meeting. If you look close you can see that these are not the same quilt. I always like it when someone gives me two matching veterans quilt tops. It makes it an easy job to pair up for a backing, thread and quilting pattern. These are the last two I'll finish before the meeting tomorrow. I'm using the heck out of this Woven Wind quilting pattern. The next quilt on the frame is a 60" square picnic quilt for my friend. Then I'll be back on veterans quilts after I pick up more tops tomorrow night. Friday and Saturday were sewing days with my quilt club and I finished this veterans quilt top. I really love it and when I make the next set of kits (very soon), I'll cut more of this one. When I cut this quilt I did cut two of them. The second one has a beige background and will have a dark brown border. I got all of the blocks made Saturday.
I only have one kit left and it's a string quilt that will go together quickly so I went online shopping and found a good sale on patriotic fabrics. I like to make both patriotic and scrap quilts so I'll cut out lots of kits of both and will likely get started this week. Our friends from England arrive Thursday so who knows if anything will get done for the next few weeks! Mom and I went to the Mid-Atlantic quilt show Friday and went to meet her new Great Granddaughter Saturday. It was a fun trip and we really enjoyed the quilts at the show. Between Thursday and yesterday I was able to kick off March with 4 more veterans quilts. This one was made by Peg. This one was made by Ann. They were both quilted quickly with this fern or banana peel motif and turquoise thread. I even finished off a cone of thread with this quilt. Quilt #3 was made by Clara. She's quite the prolific piecer. It was quilted with loops and stars. I don't know who made this one but I like it a lot. I quilted it with this free-motion fan motif. I hadn't use this in a long time. I need to get it back in rotation because I like it a lot.
I have 2 more to get quilted before the meeting next week. They are on the frame, basted and ready. Tomorrow I'll be working the primary election so I don't expect I'll have anything to post Wednesday. Two more veterans quilts are done! Both of these were made by Peg. I think she was working through brown and gold scraps for these. Whenever I get a quilt with any sort of autumnal feel I like to quilt it in all-over leaves. I did that on both of these quilts and I love the effect. I have 4 more (2 sets) left to do before the next meeting. I have 2 other quilts but they don't have mates yet. Before I do the last 4 I will quilt all of the placemats and do a small quilt for a friend. Speaking of placemats, I got this set quilted and they are ready for binding. But first, today I have to hem some new pants for Chris. We have a funeral to attend tomorrow and we both desperately needed some new "nice" clothes. I did my shopping last week. This funeral is the most expensive funeral we've attended. LOL! It's for the parent of one of Chris' high school friends so it will be nice to catch up with friends. There's only one parent left in his high school friend group now and she's 94.
The rest of the weekend will have a placemat theme. I hope you have a great weekend. It was a very productive weekend. I got the binding on Red Sunset and that should have been the focus of today's post. But I couldn't photograph it. I do my photographs on the back deck and it's got some old furniture on it that's to be discarded this week. Once the deck is cleared this week I'll get all of the Red Sunset photos taken to share here. Meanwhile, I got 4 more veterans quilts quilted. That's 12 so far for 2024 and I have 6 or 8 more in the closet to be quilted. I also have a quilt for a friend to quilt and the big blue quilt waiting it's turn too. At the meeting last week people were bringing quilt top after quilt top so I don't know who made some of them. That's the case with this one. It's a very clever way to use a small amount of a novelty fabric. I like this quilt a lot. This one was made by Ann. It was meant to be even more scrappy but she said that she rearranged the pieces to have the center stars. She used the extra points for her top and bottom borders. This one was made by Glenda (Mom) and she's been working through her string bin. She started with a 2 foot trash can stuffed to overflowing and, after several quilts, she only has a few inches of strings left in the bin. I love the color palette for this string quilt made by Ellen.
More quilting ahead! Here are the other 2 quilts that Sharon made. I got them quilted yesterday after I went out to run a bunch of errands. I like all 4 quilts that she made with this pattern but this is probably my favorite. Here's the last one. They are both quilted with the Woven Wind pantograph. I have really gotten my money's worth out of this pantograph. Next I'm starting on quilts with blue backs and I have these two basted and ready to quilt today.
This weekend I hope to get 4 more veterans quilts quilted, get Red Sunset bound and get some placemats started. |
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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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