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!
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I've had these placemats ready for binding for about 3 weeks. I just didn't have binding fabric. I rectified that last week by dyeing a purple that is a reasonable match. These fabrics are leftover from a veterans quilt (in this post) that was made from scraps that I cut into 4.5" squares. I had leftover from that quilt and I couldn't toss the out. That means placemats! I will most likely use them as 2 sets of 2 and I found some napkins in my dyed collection that work with each set. They are quilted with all-over leaves. They aren't my favorite placemats but they will be serviceable and I can always use the back side as the front.
I already have an idea for another set that I absolutely do not need. But this weekend I need to focus on getting 2 veterans quilts quilted. 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. In 2021 I made this quilt for my SIL. I had a ton of fabric left over from it and I found that stash this week. It seemed a prime candidate for a masculine veterans quilt. I liked this quilt when I made it in 2020. I made a couple of versions and decided that it was a good pattern for these fabrics too. The enters will be different prints. The dark brown and ivory fabrics will be the outside edges of the block. There was even more of the fabric left over! I made this Crossroads quilt in 2015 and it was the perfect patter for the rest of the batik scraps. So I have 2 more veterans quilt kits ready! Then I went to the basement and finished quilting Anne's quilt. This quilt is about 60" square and I think it was a kit. The fabrics are all the same print but in different colorways. It's a nice effect. The backing is a hand dyed that I've had in my stash for years. The quilting doesn't show at all on the front but it does show nicely on the back. It's a pantograph called Spin and this is the first time I've used it.
Today we are going to Charlottesville to hike Ragged Mountain. It's a 6 mile hike around the reservoir. We did it last year and it was a lot of fun. Next I'll get back to some veterans quilts. I honestly haven't accomplished a lot the past couple of days. We were offered a FREE truckload of firewood so I've been arranging the various woodpiles and adding the new wood. We are almost fully stocked for next winter. We will pick up one more truckload from the same friend and that should finish it off. I did have some time yesterday afternoon to put the binding on the Tucson placemats. I made 2 sets of placemats from some fabric that I bought in Tucson and I used almost every inch of it making 2 sets of 4 placemats. I bought one large scale print, the yellowish stripe and 2 small scale prints. The two small scale prints did not work together so I decided to make 2 sets. One we will keep and one for our friends who invited us to Tucson. They aren't really my style because I rarely work with commercial printed fabric but they do bring up good memories. I found these peachy colored dyed napkins in my stash that work great with this set. The second set have the blooming cactus print and this set has the better quality center images. I cut them out first. I have solid black napkins to go with this set and these are the ones that will be gifted to our friends when we go to Tucson next January. I have one more set of placemats that need binding but I have to find fabric for those. I'm also starting to think about putting some veterans quilt kits together. These are all of the cutoffs of backing fabric for veterans quilts that I've quilted so I'm going to try to use these in some of the kits. While I'm waiting for the patriotic fabric to arrive I can start making some kits with my bins of hand dyed scraps and symmetry fabrics.
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! Tuesday was primary day in Virginia so I spent the day working as an elections officer. We have a nice group of people in our precinct so the day is really pleasant even if it's brutally long. We have to be there at 5:00 am and don't get to leave until about 8:00 pm. We had about 25% turnout, which was higher than I expected and it was fun to see some of my neighbors, friends and former co-workers. Since football season ended I haven't been watching TV so haven't been crocheting as much. But I do a little here and there and eventually finished this shawl for donation. This is the third time I've made this shawl using Ice Cream Cotton Blend yarn. It's a discontinued yarn and great to work with. I don't love the color pooling but it's going to be incredibly comfortable for someone in assisted living or a nursing home. I have yarn to make one more. I'm making some progress on the baby blanket too. I like the subtle stripes from this yarn.
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. I almost forgot to get the final photos of Red Sunset! I had a nice opportunity yesterday to go outside and get the official photos. This quilt was made to replace one on the guest bed that's now too short since I added a foam topper to the mattress. I started this in the summer of 2022. The back is a hand dyed mandala that shows off the quilting nicely.
I have a project page here that has lots of close up photos of the quilting if you aren't already tired of seeing the photos on the previous blog posts. |
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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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