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I love making these rectangle block string quilts for veterans quilts. The veterans quilts are 48" x 60" and if I make blocks that are 8" x 10" then the setting is 6 blocks by 6 blocks and it makes a wonderful symmetrical pattern. We have our quilt club meeting in our new meeting space tonight and I volunteered to do the program. Since I just finished one of these quilts I decided that I'd do the program on how I make them. To prepare for that I started 3 more of them!
I already had kits made for these 2 quilts so I sewed together 4 blocks of each to show how they would look. Both are hand dyed fabrics but they look really different.  Then I acquired a great collection of batik strings and decided to start another. This one doesn't have a center strip. Instead I and doing half the block in green and half in multi-color. I think I'm going to keep working on this one in my sewing room since I already have the fabrics spread all over my sewing table. I'm also making a few postcards with them and I'll have those finished to share tomorrow.
We had a friend visiting last night so I stayed out of the sewing room and was social for the evening.  I had a big trip to the post office yesterday and then we had an appointment but I got to do some quilting in the afternoon. I hope today to get the other quilt done and maybe get another loaded.  Since we got the downstairs AC fixed I could finally turn on the oven and bake some bread. I have to eat gluten free but this recipe is about as good as it gets. YOu aren't supposed to touch gluten free bread until it cools down but I couldn't help it and I was able to get a photo with the bread still steamy.
Today's plan is to get some sun and do some quilting and research our January vacation.  The weather here is just spectacular this week so I am making sure that I spend an hour or so outside every day. It won't be long before it's Hades hot and humid and I won't want to be outside more than 3 minutes. After a thunderstorm in the afternoon we opened the windows and enjoyed the fresh air inside. I think the open windows will last a couple of day. That's a good thing since we can't run the downstairs AC until the breaker is fixed next week. Yesterday afternoon, while we had some rain, I decided to dye up some veterans quilt backs. We buy the wide backing by the bolt. I get some printed and some white. I mostly dye the white fabric in various shades of blue with some gold and an occasional custom color. I cut up a whole bolt and this is enough backing for 15 quilts.  Just like the batting, they are all pre-cut and ready to use. Because we make our quilts the same size (48 x 60) I can pre-cut the backing and batting into 2 yard widths and that allows us to load and quilt 2 quilts at once. The whole process is quite efficient.  I also got Becky's quilt loaded and the first pass quilted. I'm using a gold thread and the quilting isn't really going to show at all on the front.  But it should show pretty nicely on the back. I should have this one done by the end of the weekend. Although I have to spend a good bit of time this weekend cleaning and restoring the guest house after we had some drywall repairs done. We have some guests coming next weekend. They were one of our first Airbnb guests and they came every year for a homeschool convention. We've gotten so close to them that I wanted them to keep coming to stay even after we stopped doing Airbnb. It's been fun to watch the kids grow up. Two are now graduated and one is married! The daughter who took her first steps at our house is now 11.  Last night, while Chris watched Fargo, I started cutting out the Elizabeth Hartman farm quilt. I'm glad I have 2 months to get it cut out. It's kind of daunting but it's the perfect project for a fastidious organizer. I have a big supply of plastic bags that will come in quite handy.
 Today was a day of knocking things off the list. We started the morning with the chimney sweeps getting the chimney cleaned and inspected. I got the Big Blue Quilt washed and the label sewn on. It's ready to deliver next week.  I delivered 20 veterans quilts and met a very cute puppy at the coordinator's house.
Finally, I got the borders on these 2 veterans quilt tops that I started this past weekend. It's kind of hard to see but I used different borders for the top/bottom and sides to enhance the woven effect. I hope to get these quilted and bound before our June meeting.
Today I'll start packing for the family beach vacation that starts Saturday! I normally do a giveaway week on the blog during vacation but I don't have the time to pull that together this time. Sorry about that! I'll try to do one later this summer.  The Big Blue Quilt This week is turning into a week fo finishes because I had so many projects that I just couldn't share yet. This one was held up until I could get good weather outside to take photos.
I started this quilt was started last August while we were in Maine. It was a project to use up some of my blue hand dyed scraps. This made a good dent and it was a fun quilt to make. It's big, at about 93" square. I wrote a longer page with more photos and details here. I have one more finished project to share tomorrow.  I was just having too much fun working on the houses and I just had to finish them. I don't have any idea who will be the eventual owner of this quilt but I absolutely love it and had so much fun making it. The purple gradient background looks exactly the way I wanted.  You know how I am about scraps.... I was really good and I diligently put all of the scraps in the trash but now I keep looking at that pretty pile and I don't think I have leave them there. I think there might be some new postcards in my future. I certainly don't need to start another quilt right now so postcards might be a good project.  During my dyeing last week I also dyed this shirt as a special request from Chris. He has a shirt like this and wears it to his fraternity reunions. One of his friends has been coveting it for years so Chris asked me to dye one for him. It pains my Hokie heart to dye anything in UVA colors but I'll do it for Chris.
As I'm writing this, I realize that I forgot to get a photo of the big blue quilt off the frame. I did finish quilting it so I'll have a photo Wednesday and maybe I will have started quilting it.  I could have finished this yesterday but I'm holding myself to limited time quilting so I will finish it today. I haven't picked a binding yet so I might have to wait until I dye something for the binding. I'll be happy to load some veterans quilts again soon!  I am so glad that I started this quilt. It's really re-energized me for making quilts. I've been a little lost since the blue quilt was finished. I just love making these houses and I got another street done yesterday. The two longest streets are now done. I think in this photo you can now see the gradient effect in the background. I have 8 shades of this purple and I decided to use the lightest 6. I didn't want a very dark corner. I'll use the dark for the binding whenever it gets to that stage.
I expect that on Monday you will only see these 2 projects again. I'm visiting my SIL Sunday for a special project so I'll only have Friday and Saturday for sewing and ironing fabric for the shop.  Yesterday was "dyeing day" so I really didn't get much else accomplished. Most of this dyeing was for custom orders, including a UVA shirt for Chris to give to a friend of his.  I did get a couple more rows quilted on the big blue quilt. The end is in sight and I think it will be done this weekend. I should have it ready to deliver it to my SIL at family beach week.  I haven't done a ton of crochet since the end of football season but I work on this blanket a little each week and I'm almost ready to add the border.
Today I have some bloodwork, a errands trip to Walmart and acupuncture. Then I can get another 2 rows on the blue quilt and, maybe, make some more house blocks.  Yesterday I had lunch with Mom and my cousin and then I went to the repair shop to make the appointment to get my car fixed. May 6 is the date to drop it off. The weather has also been beautiful and I've tried to spend time outside every day. Yesterday it was for a long walk in the neighborhood. On the way out the driveway I checked on the baby bluebirds. We have 4 in this clutch and them are at least a week old now.  It's also been nice to be back to quilting. I've gotten a couple of rows quilted on the big blue quilt every day and it's about half done now.  I love the cloud look on the back.  I also got another row of houses built. It's coming together fast because the pieces are big and it's a lap size quilt. I am loving it!
Today is dyeing day so I might not get much sewing done but I might get in 2 more rows on the blue quilt. I didn't intend to stay away all week last week but I just didn't have anything creative to post. I helped my friend move Tuesday and Wednesday and that all went really well. I then spent Thursday just resting my back and Friday was errand day. On Saturday I had a chiropractor and acupuncture appointment and that helped a lot. By yesterday I was ready to spend some time in the sewing room and I decided to start another project.  I don't have any specific project that I want to work on but I've had this pattern hanging around for several months and this seemed like a good time to make it.  I went back and forth on what I wanted to do with the background. I knew I didn't want gray and I was leaning towards blue. But then I found this set of fabrics in a grayed purple. I thought that might make an interesting background bu grading the background from light to dark. I always knew that I wanted to use my "waste" fabrics for the houses.  Here are the first two rows of houses and I love them! I think you might be able to see that the purple HSTs under the bottom row of houses is slightly darker than the first row. I think this is going to come together pretty quickly and it's a really fun pattern.
I don't know who will eventually own this quilt but I think it will make a nice gift at the right moment. I got the news last night that the mosaic patio is all grouted and finished.I hope to go see it in the next 2 weeks and get lots of photos. |
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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
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