Last Quilts of 2018

I got a good start of the last star quilt binding yesterday.  It should be easily done before the end of the day today.  I thought that Anna might take it back to college with her because of the backing matching her dorm room quilt, but she is back already.  She will be back again in a few weeks for a doctor's appointment.  Maybe I can give it to her then.  

I also got the border finished on Squared Away.  I think that I will hand quilt this one.  It might look great with some bright Pearle cotton.  I'd like to get it layered up and basted in any case.  

 The next 16 and 4 patch quilt is ready to load onto the frame.  Since the last one was Four Squared, maybe this one should be the Square Root of Sixteen?  I was ready to get it started yesterday, but I'm out of batting again.  We tried to pop into Joann's after dinner last night, but they were already closed.  Kurt is supposed to pick it up on his way home from work today.  We'll see how that goes.  The kids both have New Year's Eve parties to go to tonight.  That will leave Kurt and I rambling around the house alone.  I have a feeling that it the way it is going to be more often from now on.  They grew up so fast!  I am sure that they were all babies just yesterday.

I've just finished up the first Tiny Tuesday block!  I'll get that post set up to go live first thing in the morning.  January is going to be red this year.  I can't wait to get started!

Standstill

I was only going to quilt until the bobbin ran out.  Instead, it was the top thread that was the limiting factor.  It is my favorite color too.  I nice rich caramel color that blends with all kinds of scrap quilts.  I'm sure that I can find some more, but for now, I will take it as a sign to call it a night.  The last push before exams is underway as we all rush to finish up the semester and wrap it all up before winter break.  I think that Ryan has just finished his last college essay and Anna finished her last test of the semester this afternoon.  It is nice that there are such natural breaks in the school schedule.  I am looking forward to the holiday and some uninterrupted sewing time.  Next time I'll make just sure that I have a full spool of thread.  

Odds and Ends

School starts for teachers the day after tomorrow.  I am soaking up each and every last minute of vacation and using it to cross all the odds and ends off the list.  Productive things like detailing the mini van and polishing the hard wood floors.  Also fun things like finishing quilts and whipping up small sewing projects.

 I ordered some slipcovers for our tired and torn kitchen chairs.  They came with nifty zipper cases.  I hated to throw them out, but I'm on a roll right now with clearing out.  Instead I harvested the zippers and used them to make four little zipper cases for silverware or pencils.  There never seem to be any forks in the teacher workroom, so I'm going to put one of these in my mailbox and stash one in my desk for lunches.  Anna has one for college too, as she is supposed to provide her own silverware for the cafeteria.  They are very environmentally aware at her school and don't like disposable silverware. 

I added one more row to the framed four patches.  

Then cobbled together the back out of leftover four patches.  I might like it a bit more than the front honestly.  

 

More four squared blocks were next out of the bin of bagged WIPs.  I used extra fabric from the back of the framed four patches to create the alternate blocks and then webbed the top together yesterday afternoon while binge watching an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in the background.   

There is enough of this brown fabric for a border and matching backing.  

That frenzy let me cross the first three projects off my list.  I think that the next two might be doable as well, after that it looks like more effort might be required.  We'll have to see how far I get. 

Superbowl Sunday

 I thought I had cleaned up and organized everything at the new year.  Still, I keep finding extra blocks all around the sewing room.  Hiding in a stack leaders and enders were plenty of multi color four patches to finish off the borders for four squared.  It needs a good ironing and then I'll dig for some backing fabric. 

 I've finally decided on a new handwork project.  These hexie diamonds are simple and small enough to carry along without too much thought or planning.  I had planned originally to border each block with white all the way around.  It is a lot of white though. 

Now that I have finished a few, I think I might snug them together a bit more tightly.  I kind of like the little three hexie shape that forms between the blocks.  It might make a nice secondary pattern.  Plenty of time to figure that out though, isn't the long slow decision making process one of the best parts of handwork?
It is Superbowl Sunday and we have been invited to a party for later.  First though, there is time for puttering around the house with normal weekend chores.  Kurt has gone to drop Ryan off at robotics, and we ordered some groceries online for pickup.  One of the other teachers at school does her shopping that way and says it is a big time and money saver because you don't end up putting so many impulse snacks into the cart.  The online shopping part was certainly easy and quick.  We will see how the pickup goes.  It will be a busy week at school, but fortunately Kurt is home again.  He's had a lot of weeks out of town lately and it is always nice to have him back home again. 
I've been watching The Tudors while I sew now that I've finished off The Crown and am up to date with Victoria.  It is a bit spicy and not something I would put on the big TV where the kids would see it.  Always interesting to watch a historically based show when you know the major plot points if not all the details.  Henry has already been through two wives and is just starting on number three. 
I'm linking up with Oh Scrap! and with Slow Stitching Sunday.  

Sewing in the New Year

 I have been frantically sewing for the last two days, but not on a project that I am ready to share yet.  Instead, here are the leader and ender blocks that I have accomplished along the way.

 There is always a stack of 2.5 inch squares sitting next to the machine, and eventually, they turn into bigger blocks. 

At some point I will put these together into quilts, but for now, I will just let the collection grow. 
This morning I went to the dentist and had to scrape ice off of the windshield!  I don't have an ice scraper!  We tried to buy one once for a fiend moving to Colorado, but no luck.  So I used my handy library card.  That and a few minutes waiting for the defroster to kick in had me on my way.  Hard frost doesn't happen here very often, so it is always quite an event.  We had to bring the tortoise in and I'm sure the palm trees are not happy. 

Here is a photo of our recent ski vacation.  We were waiting for our time on the tubing slope.  I think that might have been everyone's favorite day.  Kurt is back at work this week, so it is just the kids and I bouncing around the house.  The girls want to see a moving this afternoon and Ryan has a potluck party to go to.  I will wrap up my sewing and be on my way.  

Spring Cleaning

Fall in Florida feels a lot like spring did when I lived up north.  Beautiful weather is right around the corner and spring cleaning is in full swing.  Spring cleaning for normal people might involve mops and brooms, but for quilters it is so much prettier!

I am still digging into the orphan bin.  These monochromatic 4 and 16 patch blocks will go with a growing set of leaders and enders.  I'm thinking of choosing two or three colors to go together to make several quilts. 

I was thinking of maybe pink, teal and orange?  Maybe blue green and purple?  Or I could go complementary and do blue and orange together in one quilt and yellow and purple in another?  Each quilt needs 80 blocks total, 40 each of 16 patches and 4 patches.  I think I'll just work on collecting about 20 of each color while I ponder the choices. 
The main harvest though was LOTS and LOTS of mixed color squares.  With a bit of sewing and sorting I was able to bag up enough units for three quilts.  Those will be ready and waiting when I am in the mood for some power sewing.

Here is the backing for Running Zone, which I just realized was originally called running stitches.  A little of this and a bit of extra whatever came together for a creative and colorful smorgasbord.  Best of all, lots of oddballs are out of the deep stash.  The purple was part of Anna's toddler quilt.  The flowers and the border print were part of Sydney's nursery.   

Housekeeping

Today Ryan wanted to have a superhero movie marathon while his sisters were at camp.  He made popcorn for us both as we sat through Thor followed by Captain America.  Tomorrow we will top it off with The Avengers which is still in theaters.  Obviously I couldn't just sit and do nothing while all that movie watching was going on.  Instead I pulled out the little basket that sits on the end of the ironing board to catch leaders and enders and odds and ends.  Boy do those little guys build up in a hurry!  They are all neatly filed away now with a new set of nine patches are matched up and ready to go.  By the time that was all done it was time to go and start the camp pick up route.  Then we got home and tidied the kitchen after the kids helped me clean out my car.  Not a bad vacation day all.  If it goes on long enough I'll actually get to all the little projects on my list. 

Finishing Up

My finishing up never happens on Friday.  Or rather, the finishing up on Friday is always work related.  It was a calm day at home though, allowing plenty of time to stream holiday movies on Netflix while quilting up a storm. First up is a less wonky photo of Rainbow Crumb Parade.  This one makes me smile because I can remember where all the little bits came from.  See the tiny pink triangles?  Those are from Mom's Chemo Quilt.  And the purple, they were leftover from Lilac Potpourri, which was leftover from Anna's Purple Beauty.  Crumb quilting is such a nice way to revisit the ghosts of quilts past.

Next up is the four square quilt which I got quilted today. Kurt voted strongly NOT to have another border, so I left it at one and got it all loaded lickety split this morning.  Both quilts are still in need of binding, so that might be on the agenda for tomorrow.

The only other thing we accomplished today was gingerbread houses.  Sydney wanted to make them out of real gingerbread until she started reading the recipe.  Then we all voted to go with good old fashioned ready made graham crackers instead. 

I just updated my margins and am excited to see that the WIP list on the right is down from 17 to 14 and the Finished list on the left is up to 27 for the year.

Variations on a Theme

I let my top sit in the middle of the family room floor so that I could ponder what to do next.  Eventually I went and pulled out the 4.5 inch square drawer and dug for the darkish squares.  I think I'll sew these on and then finish with a band of nice chocolate brown.  I wonder if I have any nice chocolate brown?  Maybe I'll have to pop out to find some tomorrow.  The nice thing about having  relatively small stash is that I never experience quilt guilt when I need to shop a bit, especially when I need something to finish a project. 

Infinity

This one has been hanging out on the design wall for a while now.  It is another version of the same four squared quilt that I've made several times in the past, but this time with brown alternate squares from the November Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It seems on the small side, I've got the measurements written down somewhere for the standard donation size that I usually make....  There are still lots more leader and ender blocks I can add in there to make it bigger.  The nice thing about leader and ender blocks is that they never end, finishing one project is always the beginning of something else.  We had a long discussion in one of my classes this week about whether there was a connection between the infinity symbol and a mobius strip.  It turns out there isn't, but it still got me thinking about things that don't end.  Too bad weekends aren't on that list.

Scrappy Four Squared

I think this is one of my all time favorite simple leaders and enders scrap patterns. I call it Four Squared because it uses a combination of 4 and 6 patch units.  There is such a nice simplicity in square roots, isn't there?  This isn't my original pattern, but I've seen it in so many places that I wouldn't even know who to give credit too for the pattern.  I paired up all of my 2.5 inch squares and worked them through to two patches.  Then I paired those up to make four patches.  LOTS and LOTS of 4 patches.  I used every single blue square I owned and then dug into strips to cut a few more.  It felt good to get them sewn up. 

24 of them got sashed with 2.5 inch white on white strips.  The sides are cut to 4.5 and the top and bottom are cut to 8.5 inches. Those get sewn on and pressed toward the sashing. 

The remaining 96 of them got sewn together into groups of four to make 24 of these super cute 16 patches.  I tried not to have the same fabric show up twice in a square, but it didn't always work out that way. 

The plan is to set these together 6 by 8 squares and add a simple border. I have in-laws visiting, so the sewing will have to wait for a bit. Still, I should be able to get the top done this weekend.  Wish me luck.

Little Bits of Lots of Things

If I had chosen a focus project for the weekend, I'm sure I could have made good progress, maybe even finished something off. As it was, I chipped away at lots of projects and puttered around the house. It was a nice and relaxing way to spend a rainy holiday. This morning I got out the GO cutter and turned the extras from yesterday's moon fabric into string blocks. I'll take the extras from that, sew them together again and make some crumb blocks next. Using the 6.5 inch die is a nifty way of making strings without all that messy paper and flipping and sewing. These are all yellow and will eventually turn into a monochromatic string quilt (Amy suggested String Cheese for a name -- isn't that cute?).
Working here and there I got the words for the moon quilt put together into two big blocks with a moon and a star. I'll let this one continue to simmer and figure out what comes next in the light of day. Anna doesn't want a lot of different fabrics, but if I had know the background was going to be consistent, I would have used different yellows in the letters. It's all going to be very uniform and even if she sticks to her guns. It is her quilt though, so if she wants to to be boring, so be it. I'm trying to subtly sneak some variety in there without her noticing.
Next up, with the design wall empty, I took a lint roller to it and then rotated one to put up another. Now I've got lots more room to play so I threw up my current L&E project (another 4 squared) along with the nine patches for Mom's shams and the leftovers from my last few projects. While pondering all of that, I sewed the brown and green pinwheels together. They were the bonus blocks for the Sage Blossom quilt that was a baby shower gift. I don't seem to have enough of any of the others to make a statement yet, so they may all go into the orphan bin for a bit. I'm sure eventually something will grow into a quilt. Sewing is funny that way, isn't it? Make enough quilts and eventually something will come from the leftovers, much like the volunteer tomatoes that thrive in the compost pile.

Four Square is Done Done

The advantage of 16 hours in the car over a weekend is that it leaves lots of time for sewing down binding. Four Square was the first to be officially crossed off the list. It was a leaders and enders project using 2.5 inch squares sewn together randomly. Four of them were alternated with single squares sashed with white. The four patches had been sitting in a box for a while and were mostly sewn together with dark and lights paired. I think it muddled the effect of the pattern, so the next time I make this quilt I'll use all dark or medium squares.


Since it is a donation quilt, I pulled this hot pink and black fabric from the donation stash. I almost never have enough of a single fabric for an entire back, but this time I did. The binding is random leftovers.

Drive by Binding

8 hours in the car is very good for getting binding done. I've got one and a half quilts done and one and a half quilts to go. It's been a while since I've been caught up on binding. No pictures yet, but as soon as they are all done I'll do a celebratory photo shoot. Woohoo soon to come.

In a Bind

Today I was ready to be bound and tied. No, I really was just ready to sew down binding. This is my highly scientific method of figuring out whether I have enough binding made. I cut two strips for the long sides and one for the short sides and then throw in an extra just in case.


And here are the three quilts that are now ready for the hand sewing stage. Square Root is on the bottom, followed by Crumb Cake in the middle and Four Square on top. I should have plenty of hand sewing for the next few evenings.

4 Square Finished

It didn't really take me all day to do the quilting on 4 square. It just took all day between the normal Saturday things. Get up and check on quilt, get girls off to ice skating. Quilt a line and check on Ryan. Back to the quilt and give the dog her medicine. Do a little cleaning and rearrange some furniture while discussing where to put the craft desk. Wind a new bobbin and watch the kids swim. Eat some lunch and change the laundry before finishing the quilt off. Does anyone else have those days? As much as I say I am going to devote a whole day to quilting, it is really only a few hours interspersed with the stuff of life.

I'm not sure whether to load on another quilt or go ahead and finish putting the study back together. I'm thinking another quilt might win --- maybe just a small one.

Four Square Flimsy

I just finished putting the blocks together for Four Square. I think I'll save the ironing for tonight whilst watching some TV. I got the extra I spy squares cut out last night as well, so I could get that one put together, except that I don't have enough of any particular green for the sashing strips. I could mix in some more sashing fabric or just set it aside until I can get to the fabric store -- not sure which I'll do yet. I've been twice this week already which gives you some idea of the sorry state of my stash. I always have enough to start a quilt, but never enough to finish it. Sydney and I went into school this morning to help out with a solar garden that the students are putting in. That led into a birthday party this afternoon. The rest of the gang just got back from the big OM competition, so they are all tired and grumpy. Maybe they will all have an early night so that I can get some more blocks sewn together?

Blocks Done

I just finished the blocks for Four Square! There are 40 each of the 16 patches and the white sashed four patches. Just enough for a twin sized top. They aren't all ironed yet, but I have to put together a test for Chemistry tomorrow. After school I am going to make a quick trip to Joann's for some more backing fabric and then lock Lizzie in the kitchen so that I can have a little layout party. Lizzie has developed the really bad habit of peeing on quilt blocks laid out on the floor. The floor is my favorite spot to lay out quilts, so we are going to have to come to some sort of arrangement. Unfortunately I can't keep her in the kitchen and still leave the sliders to the pool deck open. The weather is at that perfect spot right now when the doors and windows can stay open because it hasn't gotten so hot the air has to be on all the time.
I've got finished blocks for five quilts ready to go, I'll see how many of them I can get to the finished flimsy stage this weekend. Kurt will have the older kids at OM, but I'll have Sydney for ice skating, then there is a gardening thing at school and a birthday party in the afternoon. Other than that, it should be a nice peaceful weekend though :>.

Four Square Part 2

I just finished the second quadrant of Four Square. It would be nice to get more done at one time, but there just doesn't seem to be that much time in the evenings by the time dinner, dishes, baths, stories and bedtime are all taken care of. The weather has finally been nice enough that we are taking evening walks or having swims after dinner. We are reading Alice in Wonderland with Anna and Sydney has a Dr. Seuss contest with her class, so it takes both of us right now to get all of that taken care of.
I got the fabric from last night washed and dried, so if sitting down in front of the computer doesn't take my last bit of energy I might get some of that ironed before my own bedtime routine. Interims end next week, so I'm trying to get caught up on all of my grading at work. I made a tidy stack on the corner of my desk before spring break and let it sit there patiently waiting for me to get back to it. Eventually people want scores and updated grades though so I'm diligently working my way trough it all and making sure it is duly entered into the computerized grade book.

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.