Elm Creek is Done

4 years later. Glad to cross this one off the list. 

Sydney was swimming and wanted to be in the picture

Close up of the border treatment.

So Slowly

There is a reason I don't do much hand quilting.  Although I consider myself to be a patient person, I enjoy seeing results.  Is it possible to be TOO goal oriented?   It feels like I've been quilting this same quilt for absolutely YEARS.  With only a small section of the border left I am starting to see the beginning of the end. 
It was a good day at school today so I thought I'd take a few minutes to enjoy a little quilting time before heading off to bed.  We are studying the neuron tomorrow and I got a little drowsy previewing an animation of the action potential.  Tomorrow is FRIDAY though, and I am sure to find some time this weekend to indulge in something fun. 

It HAS been years.  I checked!  I first posted about this quilt in January of 2008.  By then all of the blocks were done.  It has taken 3 years and 7 months to quilt this one.  I guess that explains why more of my quilts aren't hand quilted.  

Handwork

We've got several long car trips coming up in the next few weeks and I thought it would be nice to have a simple handwork project to pass the hours.  After sketching a basket pattern on scratch paper, I made a template and used freezer paper to prep a stack of blocks.  I tried out back basting and needle turn applique thinking I would do it that way, but it didn't look nearly as nice.  I also finished marking the border on my hand quilting project, so maybe I can get that one finished up soon. 
The last two days were for curriculum planning at school.  It was nice to go in and have some time to get everything organized and ready to go.  So with Honors Biology taken care of, I can focus in on AP Biology for a while again.  I don't think I want to take a whole stack of books and binders to the beach, but maybe I can just e-mail some of the pdfs to myself and work on the I-pad.  There is a new number book out by Janet Evanovich as well, so I won't be bored. 

Back to the Bs

I got home last night after a LONG wet ride across the state of Florida.  We've been in a bit of a drought, so it is nice to have the rain, but it made for slow going on the road.  The rain followed me home, which made it a great day to take the kids to see a movie. 
It was a great week at the AP Bio workshop, I'm full of lots of new ideas that just need to be processed and implemented.  It was nice to get away for a few days, but it is always so good to get back home again.  I took the Elm Creek Quilt along for hand quilting and it is getting SO CLOSE to being done.  I am on the last block, so all that remains are the borders.  With several long car trips on the schedule, I think it will be finished soon enough.  I am pondering a basket applique project as my next carry along, I know I saw a cute one on somebodies blog recently. 

This afternoon I pulled out the next quilt on the list in need of borders, backing and binding.  Starlight is now ready for the frame. I think I'll do free hand stars on this for obvious reasons.  I was thinking about white thread, but that would stand out a lot on that green border, maybe lime green? 
Sydney has two friends over for a sleepover, though there isn't any sleeping yet.  Maybe they will all sleep in tomorrow?  Well, maybe not.

Half a Tree but a Whole Lotta Quilting

We started getting the tree up this evening. We'll need a ladder for the rest, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. It's pouring rain right now, so getting the ladder out doesn't seem like a great idea.  All the neighbors got their outside lights up over the weekend so our house looks a little sad and lonely by comparison. 

I've been busily working away on the Elm Creek quilt. I've got most of the blocks quilted and started on the inner border. I'm still not sure how I'll quilt the outer piano key border, but the nice part about hand quilting is that I've got lots of time to figure it out as I quilt along. I'm trying to decide if I've got enough energy in me to hop up and start on the next step of RRCB, It wouldn't take much to at least go and rummage though the 3.5 inch strip drawer.  I could probably get at least that much done. 

Happy Mole Day

For everyone that doesn't teach or take high school Chemistry, today is mole day! At 6:02 a.m. we began our celebration of Avogadro and his number which allows for the conversion of grams to atoms or molecules.

After the Mole Day fun, we had a signing ceremony for one of my students who is going on to play basketball at the college level next year. He gave a moving speech where he thanked his teammates and his mom and left us all choked up in the audience.
I have still been going to Anna's school on Friday afternoons to do science labs. Today was physical and chemical changes. Then Ryan had tryouts for Lego Robotics after school and I stayed to help out with that. By the time I got home at the end of the day I was done. I can't remember the last time I took a nap, but it sure felt good.
While I didn't have a lot of motivation to sit at the sewing machine tonight, I did pull out my Elm Creek Quilt to work on a bit of hand quilting while watching a movie with the kids. Kurt was kind enough to take Anna to her ice skating practice, and I was happy to have a bit of time to relax.

Back in the Saddle Again

The first day back after a break is never easy, so I tried to ease everyone in today with some simple labs. Just 5 weeks until seniors are done, and then one more week for the underclassmen before exams -- not that anyone is counting down. The last of the spinning stars blocks are done and ironed. Since I don't have enough of any single green to make the sashing, I switched over to these leader and ender four patches. I've seen something similar to this pattern several places, I think most recently over and Candace's blog. It uses sixteen patches and four patches surrounded with white. I thought it would be cool to try red around the single four patches, but I didn't have any, so white it is. I've got a huge shoe box full of squares, so maybe if this one turns out well I'll do the next one with red. I'm making this the same size that I use for the Girl Scout Happy Blocks, so it can be a charity quilt and go with those when it is done. It is, of course, designed to be a practice piece for the new HQ 16 which is supposed to be here on April 20th (not that anyone is counting of course).
There was an e-mail in my inbox today announcing that Jennifer Chaiverini has a new book out. You can read the first chapter on the Elm Creek Quilts web site. She usually has a book released during spring break every year, and I looked for it, hoping to have something to read during the vacation. Maybe I can get it over the weekend when the rest of the group is off to the big OM state competition.
I hope everyone had a great first day back after the Easter holiday. Happy quilting to all.

Zooming By

The week has just flown by. I thought I would be able to get so much accomplished with two of my three in camps. Both camps start at 9. By 9:01, Sydney is ready to start Mommy time. So far we've seen a movie, gotten our nails done, and had a little shopping trip. By the time we finish that, it's about time to get Ryan. Three hours isn't as much time as it seems like I guess. The three of us head home for lunch and then it's another three hours until it is time to pick up Anna. I have gotten a little reading done while hanging out with the kids. I'm about halfway through Sister's Choice by Emilie Richards. It's part of the Shenandoah Album series which I've enjoyed reading so far. It is a quilt themed series something like the Elm Creek books, but a little more subtle in the use of the metaphor. I was already on page 100 yesterday before the first quilts were seriously mentioned. I also got some work done on the Jigsaw puzzle and sewed up a little curtain and some more organizer boxes like the ones I made earlier. Add to that laundry and the usual housework that seems to add up so much more quickly with extra bodies in the house and it has been a full week.

Out of Thread

I was ready to fall asleep on the couch at 8 o'clock, so I decided I needed to get up and do something. I could have cleaned or organized or put away laundry. Those would have been smart things to do after being in class all day. The OC quilt was calling my name, and I just had to get a few more rows of quilting put in. Just one or two more bobbins at most. Boy, 250 yards of thread doesn't go very far. Does dayglow orange thread come on a bigger spool? I'll have to make another trip to the fabric store tomorrow. I hate having to make a trip out for just one thing, but they are having a sale right now.....and it's not as if I can switch thread in the middle of a quilt, right?
So, unable to do machine quilting, I got out some handquilting. I got just this much done on the Elm Creek Quilt. Hand quilting has such a nice dimpled look to it, so subtle compared to machine quilting. I think I'll finish up this block and call it a night.

Borders Borders Borders

I haven't gotten much done in the past few days, but I have been plugging away on the borders, trying to get my last two quilts finished up. I went with piano keys on the Elm Creek Sampler quilt. I've never done them before, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. I think they add a lot of color the the quilt. Now I just need to get the layering and basting done. I started recycling the scraps from this quilt for a pineapple quilt I've been thinking about starting.
I've pieced the outer border for the OC quilt, but I haven't got my head around what size to make the inner border yet. I know the math isn't complicated, but I haven't sat down to think it through yet. I wanted the inner border to be pink, but I'm low on that particular fabric, so it might end up yellow or orange instead.
Yesterday was fathers day, so I mowed the yard and did some pruning and edging and other fun stuff. We don't usually fall into sexually stereotyped jobs around here, but the yard had fallen to Kurt for the last few years, and I always feel a little guilty about him being out there in the heat of the day. He got some more work done on the bathroom, if we can decide on faucets we may have a working bathtub again soon! We went out for dinner to Cici's Pizza (the kids favorite) and then all went to see the Incredible Hulk movie. Sydney slept through most of it, all curled up on my lap like a little angel, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

Done?

I just finished putting the Elm Creek blocks together. I had enough finished to make a 5 x 7 setting. The blocks are only 8 inches with the sashing though, so that still only makes the quilt 40 x 56 so far. I have about 8 more blocks cut out and ready to piece, but to keep a nice rectangular shape, I should make it 8 x 10, and that would be A LOT more blocks. So maybe I'll just add a border and keep it as a small quilt. I don't know why I have it stuck in my head that every quilt has to fit on a bed. We have plenty of quilts hanging on walls and hanging over the backs of couches around here. I'm thinking of trying a piano key border, I always love the way they look, and It would draw all the colors in. I've got two quilts now in need of borders. Why do I always get bogged down on the borders?

This and That

I had a good chunk of the day to myself and decided to do a little sewing. I got all the sashing strips cut on the Elm Creek Sampler and sewed a few of them. I got the movie 27 Dresses from Blockbuster and ironed for two hours. I have a scad of leader and enders ready for the next step, and the OC top is now ready for borders. I think I will have a thin pink border and a fat orange one. Primarily because I have a little bit of pink and a little more orange leftover. I also pieced a back for the sea star quilt and layered and basted the sandwich. It's so nice to be able to spread out all over the house and jump from one project to another.


I did a little organization in the kitchen today. There is a spot on the counter that collects everything. School papers, art supplies, any of the regular rubbish the kids bring home from school, all of it ends up here. I usually try to keep it under control, but the end of the year caught up on me and it exploded. So I went through everything after dinner and restored a tiny corner of orderliness to the house. I'm taking a series of before and after pictures to try to motivate myself. I am so easily entertained.

Two more Elm Creek Blocks

After pulling out my Elm Creek Sampler Quilt yesterday, I realized that I have enough blocks made already for a foyer quilt. I finished up these two, which were already cut and decided to turn the blocks into a quilt. After taking out the mysteriously large blocks, I'll have enough for a 5 by 6 setting. I think I'll add a simple sashing, a colorful border and call it good enough. As much fun as it is to make big quilts, I'd rather have finished ones to hang and enjoy. That will also liberate the scraps for something fun!
The kids are home early today which is very odd indeed. Usually semester exams fall just before winter break, and everyone gets out early while the older kids are taking exams. Well, the legislature got involved, and mandated a later school start date. So exams have been moved until after winter break. After having two weeks off, they go to school for two days, and then have early dismissal for the next three days. To make matters even worse, they get next Monday off for teacher planning. The Monday after that is Martin Luther King Day, another holiday, and the week after has another teacher workday! Having a day off every month or so is nice, but occasionally there has to be a full five day week -- doesn't there?

Elm Creek Jane Revisited

I was talking to Melinda at http://melinful.blogspot.com/ who is also working on Sylvia's Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts. I really haven't seen anyone else working on this one! Everyone seems to be doing Dear Jane. I was inspired to pull out my blocks and see where I stand. I was puzzled to find that most of them were 6 inches unfinished, but some of blocks were 6.5 inches -- I don't know what's up with that. I also put in some of the first Dear Jane blocks I made early on before I switched to a blue and white color scheme. I'm not planning on making the whole quilt, but I haven't decided yet when to stop. I still need to decide on setting options. I have been pondering making each block into a star using flying geese units. Maybe I'll make a couple and see how I like it. I guess I should figure out how big I want it to be and where I want it to go. I've got a quilt spot in the foyer for small quilts and have been trying to do a seasonal type of thing. This would work for the summer I think, but sashing might make it too big.