 Yesterday I had my training to work early voting for the upcoming Democratic Primary. Then I ran some errands (more on that later). But I had time in the afternoon to finish off 2 veterans quilts with binding. I think this pattern is called "chandelier". Another member of our quilt club made 4 in this pattern past year. I have another one kitted up and ready to piece this month. It's very easy to cut and sew.  I've quilted it in a very patriotic pantograph.  I also finished this string quilt. I've made so many of these and I think this one is my favorite so far. I've had that orange/yellow dyed fabric in my stash for years. It was just "too much" to use. But when I pulled the blue scraps for the strings, the orange/yellow fabric was the perfect choice for the center strip and binding.  I had some fun quilting it with free form ruler work. I didn't measure or mark my stopping and starting points. I also got to use orange threads!  Here's the back. I love the texture and patterning from the quilting.  After my voter training, I decided to stop by Joann's and see what was left. The answer was more than I expected! Everything was 50 - 60% off. I picked up some vinyl for my Cricut.  I picked up a little bit of yarn. I wouldn't normally buy yarn but it was 50% off. I'd be comfortable donating it if I don't use it. The gray and green will be good for wheelchair shawls. The white and cream are just good basics. Everything I bought was about $40.
Today I think I will start on the beach etching project.
5 Comments
 I finished another crochet project this week! This is a donation shawl that I made with 1 1/3 Caron Cotton Angel Cakes. The yard is a cotton/acrylic blend. I didn't really love working with the yarn but I think the shawl will be comfortable enough.  I have one more cake of this yarn. I bought all of it on sale several years ago. I gave some thought to donating this but have decided that I need to use it up. There's not enough for a shawl like the one above but I think it will work in this pattern on YouTube. I'll get it started this weekend.  The other project that I'm going to start is a scarf using the yarn leftover from the poncho. I might have enough yarn for 2 scarves. The yarn was expensive enough that I'm determined to use it up.  In other news, we have another nest! We haven't had a clutch in the second box in a few years. If successful, this will be a Tufted Titmouse family.
Chris is away on his annual golf escape. I'm hiking with some friends Sunday but hope to make some progress on my veterans quilts and my etching project this weekend.  I got these 2 quilts quilted Sunday but just got them trimmed yesterday. My Mom made this one and it has an interesting history. This started as a UFO quilt top made by my Great-Grandmother. It was a very odd size and some of the piecing was a little wonky. I think it had all been hand pieced and we couldn't come up with a good home for it the size it was. Mom took it all apart, even little piece. The sashing is some fabric that was leftover from a previous veterans quilt backing. How's that for recycling? I think my Great-Grandmother would be impressed!  I do not know who made this quilt but I think it's really cool.  It took me a minute, but I eventually figured out that this is the block. It's 4 squares by 3 squares and the squares are 4" finished.  I also got this top together. I now have 3 of my own veterans quilts ready for quilting. But that's not happening today. Mom and I are off to Harrisonburg to meet up with Mary Quilts and her sister and Mom. We will also get to visit the Virginia Quilt Museum in their new location. It should be a fun day.
 I think this is the best crochet project I've ever made. A close second is the Lost Souls Shawl that I made for my friend. Lost Souls stressed me a little but this one was a joy to make from the first stitch. I think that the crochet pattern is really beautiful and it has the look of knit stitches. The stitch is the waistcoat stitch and it was a new one to me. The way it's made looks very much like a knit stitch but it's thicker, of course, due to the nature of crochet. The pattern is the Enchanted Crochet Poncho by Brianna K Designs. the pattern is made with a bulky yarn so I had to make some adjustments to make it with a DK weight yarn. I made more neckline rows to get the neckline size I needed and then used the instructions for an extra large size to add more stitches right at the beginning. That worked out perfectly. After a couple of rows of shells, it's easy to keep up with the pattern. I had to do 3 more sets of full shells (2 pattern repeats for each big shell) for my version to get it to the length. The yarn I used is Mirason USUN and it's 92% cotton and 8% polyamide. I really like this yarn a lot. I don't think it's actually made anymore but there are some yarn stores online that have a little in stock. I used an I hook.  I just love the look if this pattern. Brianna has also developed a tote bag pattern using this same stitch pattern.  I don't know if or when I might wear this. I don't really go out to social events very often. But if I get a chance, I'll have it ready! This photo will give you an idea of the length on my short frame. It's doesn't look great with a t-shirt, that's for sure.  If you have stayed with the post this long, here's your reward. Mama Bluebird is sitting on a clutch of 6 eggs this year.
 Oak Moth Quilt, 57" x 67" The Oak Moth quilt is done! I really enjoyed this one. It's a pattern by Pen + Paper Patterns. It's very well written and easy to follow. I used this project to make a dent in my stash of vintage and reproduction feedsacks.  I used more of the vintage fabrics for the back.  I don't have a recipient for this quilt yet but I did wash and dry it to get it soft, cuddly and ready for delivery. It was also good to test the fabrics to make sure the old fabrics would hold up to washing! Everything did well and there was no bleeding.
If you want to see more close up photos, check out the page dedicated to the Oak Moth Quilt. This weekend I also finished the crochet poncho and it's being blocked as I write this. But that's not all! I got 2 veterans quilts quilted but ran out of steam before I could get them trimmed. All these projects will be shared later.  These 2 veterans quilts should have been done Sunday evening but I had some thread problems on the second quilt and just walked away from it. yesterday morning I went downstairs, tried again and finished it in 30 minutes with no more thread breaks. This is the first quilt I quilted this weekend. Becky made it and, I think, she's made 3 like this!  A quilt like this is so busy that the quilting would not show so I used teh Macrame pantograph on it.  Some quilts, however, beg for more quilting. I generally do not do any custom quilting on veterans quilts. My goal is to quilt them fast so that I can quilt as many as possible in a year. But when I saw this quilt from Mary, I felt that it needed a little more than a pantograph. I get one or two quilts a year that inspire me to add a little custom quilting. This is the first one for 2025.  I only do light custom quilting on these but a little bit of extra can add a lot to the quilt. I'm sensitive to keeping the quilt soft and snugly. I started with some continuous curves and swirls in the star blocks.  Then I extended the flying geese to create an inner border. I finished with a fern outer border and stippling in the middle. It's hard to see stitching on this marbled fabric.  Here's the back. I'm really happy with it. I'm officially out of veterans quilts for a few hours. I'll pick up more at the meeting tonight.  This weekend Mom and I are going to Sandbridge Beach with a friend. The weather isn't going to cooperate but we'll have a nice sewing retreat. I need to quickly come up with a project to work on there. I could take a veterans quilt kit but I'm thinking about a new scrap snuggle quilt. Another idea is to take some scraps a make a bunch of new placemat tops to be quilted up later. I have to make a decision today and start packing.
 About every 2 years we (Chris) clean the carpets in the house, whether they need it or not. They always need it and carpet cleaning day came this past Saturday. That shot almost a whole day of fun stuff but I was glad to get it over. The next time it rolls around we'll be replacing instead of cleaning. Then I had a Cricut project (below) that needed to be done for a birthday dinner. But, but Sunday afternoon I had some time to work on the moth blocks and I got all of the back wings done.  I'm ready to start assembling the moth blocks and should get on with that today.  Late last week we got invited to a birthday dinner for one of Chris' best friends. They went to college together so it's a really long friendship! We decided that some t-shirts were in order. I hadn't gotten the Cricut out in a while so I was happy to play again. I got all of these designs out of the Cricut library. Buzzy is what his grandkids call him. It was a fun evening.
Today Mom and I are going to see a friend's new house but I should have some time for the moth blocks.  Here are the last 2 quilts that I have to quilt before Tuesday. This is one that I pieced a couple of months ago. This is the second time I've done a quilt like this. Periodically I get out my Go! Cutter and cut up my scraps. My favorite die is the 4" HST die. Once I've accumulated a lot of them I start sewing pairs with one light and one dark. There are a zillion ways to arrange HST blocks but this is one of my favorites. I think it kind of sparkles. This one is bound and ready to deliver Tuesday night.  The last one that I got quilted is this rail fence quilt. I'd bet a lot of money that this one was made by Betsy. I think it's very soothing.  The quilting on this one doesn't show without some side light. I quilted it with some free-motion contours.
Yesterday, I got my 4th truckload of mulch spread. Only 6 more to go! Today we will go to the Baby Sprinkle to deliver the farm quilt.  We do veterans quilts of all designs and colors but we do a large percentage of them in patriotic themes. The two that I quilted yesterday were patriotic. This one features a Coast Guard fabric and, I think, was made by Gwendolyn.  I quilt most of the patriotic ones with a star pattern and when I have large patches of a solid color I always pick a thread that will stand out. In this case, white worked best for both quilts.  This one was made by Dawn and is so striking. She has a good design sense. I like that the busy print is in the center and the last round. Dawn is a relatively new quilter and she got a dose of bias reality with this one so the edges were a bit big. She got some help from other members on understanding how to deal with bias but she was assured that we could work with the quilt as it was.  I stitched in some pleats on the longarm using matching thread. Then I quilted in white so that what you see in the border is the white and the navy pleats are virtually invisible. The finished result is beautiful and I think Dawn will be happy.
Just FYI, this isn't even close to the worst that I've had to deal with. Two more quilts and I'm done until Tuesday!  Fab Farm Baby Quilt After the Hanover Country Life quilt was finished I learned that we were having a new baby in the family. I had plenty of leftover fabric to make a baby quilt for the new baby. This baby is my cousin's second grandson. I made a teddy bear for the first grandson (older brother of the new one) and it was made from my cousin's baby quilt. It was fun to make another Fab Farm quilt with the leftover fabrics from the big version. the pattern is Fab Farm by Elizabeth Hartman.   When I make family quilts, especially for babies, I like to use some elements from my Great Grandmother's stash of unfinished quilt blocks. All I have left to work with are these 8-point stars that are crazy wonky and the centers are very bulky. These stars would have been made in the 1960's. They aren't usable the way they are. I decided to take a couple of stars apart and re-cut new diamonds so they would all be the same shape. I think the diamond chain shows off the fabrics much better than the stars and gives it a little more modern look. I printed the label with a diamond frame so that I could piece it into the chain. Adding a separate label off in the corner would have disturbed the design of the back. I feel like it's a legitimate two-sided quilt.  It's quilted with a pantograph called Happy Times. This is a good one for baby quilts to keep them soft and cuddly. Mom did the binding so we can present it as a joint gift. We will deliver it Saturday and my cousin promises that the mother will love it.
|
FeedsTo subscribe click the RSS Feed button and copy the URL of that page into your blog reader.
In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
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
All
Archives
June 2025
|
RSS Feed
