The star adventure part 4

And again, Not quite the look I was going for in block one but getting better.


I would have helped if I had had some goldish star fabric bUt no. ad no I am not going out and buying more!

I'm very proud of myself, all the quilts Ive completed in the last year have been from my scrap bin and yet there is more.......

My goal is to buy as little fabric as possible and then just for finishing purposes like the back, sashing or bindings.


so far so good!

This one was fin to do as its constructed with all HST's
(half square triangles)

but a real challenge to keep straight while putting together

For my piecing wall I tend to use the louvered curtains in the front room where my sewing stuff is.

This is handy because I can fold and unfold them as needed to the full length of the sliding doors

which is a hundred inches + wide so I can easily do a king size quilt up there, it would just drag on the floor a bit.

The other nice thing is the morning sun does wonderful things to quilt blocks.
I'm almost tempted to make  a curtain for it, almost.

star adventure part 3

So these are the next few blocks in the challenge.                                                           the larger blocks in this series are the first ones tried  and so are a little off.                                                                            I'm learning more about that whole  don't put too many busy fabrics together thing.

                      It's the difference between a muddy looking block and a crisp block.                                                                   In the two blocks I made smaller you can see each fabric even though the picture is half the size.

Also tones were important here, I thOught I was going the graduating colors rout but that was not where I ended up.
They are still nice serviceable blocks but not the clear crisp outlines I was going for.

finished the Russian fairy tale quilt

So this got done in between all the star making

yay!

Each block has a border of ribbon, Each ribbon border is different.

I did this mostly to cover up the yellow I used to make the blocks the right size to fit the sashing.

To quilt the large border squares I used a template for the first time to do feather quilting, one big feather on each rectangle.




There is a learning curve, a new foot for bernie and some grey thread that blends really well with the many, many colors I used.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks and the ribbon I used.

I sewed it down on either side and folded the ribbon at the corners.

it works really well to cover that ugly yellow fabric.

The backing (isn't it gorgeous?) the blue and gold sashing were the only things I bought for this quilt.
so I'm still on track to buy ALMOST no new fabric for finishing.

And Molly approves so it must be good.

The star adventure

You may remember this pile of fat quarters fro the last post


but I need a refresher on how all this silliness started

so back to the beginning I go

I have since used all those fabrics (yay!)

and am now putting the whole blessed mess together

Ive had fun with this project,

I find it interesting how you can make the same pattern do different things by changing the color, tone or pattern of fabric

and finding out what works well together and what does not and what just looks like a hot mess might be mitigated by the border you put around it


I also didn't follow their directions exactly,

as you will notice, if you care to go to the site, there is a lot of waste and overcutting in her directions. so I took short cuts.

Mostly because I had a limited supply of my focus fabrics and one mistake,

like cutting a quarter inch to small or wide meant I might not have enough of a fabric to finish a block

So I did a lot of re calculating to use my stash to its best advantage.

The most used techniques in this whole challenge are flying gees and Half square triangles so once you have a good grounding in those ( a chart doesn't hurt) you're off an running

Adventures in sanity

As you all know I have been taking a break from crazy quilting,
Its not a permanent on just a cleansing, as it were.

I feel the need to have projects to do that can be finished quickly, mostly to keep my mind busy on things other than news, which I've switched off. For those that know me well that is a BIG deal as I am an itinerant newsie and have been since high school.

I'm still working on slow stitching and have several projects in the works but I'm a little brain fried with them right now so they will dribble in slowly as I get around to them.

I find it best to set things aside and work on something else when that muse has left the building, rather than trying to force it along or worse yet, let it sit there and stare at me, mocking my inability to create.

So instead I have taken on the NQS 9week quilt block challenge

looks like its going to be a fun quilt to make

It's much bigger blocks than I'm used to working on but I'm seeing the benefits to the larger format

the finished quilt if you follow the 9 block model
is 60"x60

but I want a bed size quilt so my first challenge is to make 2 of each block then pick 4 extras to make it long enough for a queen size bed.



my second challenge is to use as much of my star fabric stash as possible,



its mostly fat quarters with a few 1/2 yards mixed in so far so good

Blocks 2 and 3 have turned out spectacular!

Every thing I could wish for

nice defined points no missing ends or offset panels

notice how I said 2 and 3

Block one was, nice, bUt

was 2 whole inches to small, each finished block should be 16", this one was 14" NG

the pints were mostly fine but wonky in the crotches.

aaand the middle star has almost no definition between colors and so reads like a square at a distance, instead of a star.

Foo!

and I followed the directions too! Double foo!

so I took my stars destiny into my own hands and resorted to my comfort zone for making flying geese, instead of the stated directions

and it worked! whee!



 

the end

scrappy flowers test block#1

Scrappy flowers test block #2

of 2017 at least
Its been a challenging year
The boogar in chief notwithstanding

scrappy flowers test block #3

 I have made a total of 12 quilts this year!

Not all full size mind and not yet all finished but still impressive considering my usual 12-9" blocks and a few side projects

the quilting

  Most have been given to their expected recipients and I have fallen down hard on the picture taking,

which is ironic as i got a new phone with a fabulous camera in it this year.
So piece of coal in my stocking there.

the three scrappy flower quilts were the first to be quilted on my new bernina and for pracrice quits are not to shabby

all the Blue scraps quilt

they are all lap size and done with 1/4yds of the state flowers fabric from last year.

It's amazing just how far a few 1/4 yards will go!

woodland animals

the blue scrap quilt was done using all the blue and tan scraps i have been squirreling away for the last 25 years, lord only knows why.
its a full size quilt made of 1/2 square triangles and wild geese.

it's the first big quilt that bernie has done and came out a little wobbly but nice.

 

 

the quilting, I am liking my new machine

then the woodland animals for my dd#2 I still havent managed to get a binding on it,hopefully that will get done before new years.
as usual if you put it on the floor the inspectors come out to make sure your doing it right....

garden

Spring and summer were taken up by the usual garden stuff

Green house

plus I FINALLY got off the stick and built myself a greenhouse.
I used the old sliding doors from the deck and a slide window

It took till mid september to make it leak proof but that's just because it didn't rain until then and then rained for 2 weeks!

Machine quilted, I may have gone overboard

Now I just need to find it a proper door
I'm using an old rug right now but that wont last

I've only been planning on doing this for 8 years so its so nice to have gotten it done

French store quilt half applique, half machine

the French store quilt was done with remaining tan and all the red and green scraps from the basket of doom

Center French store quilt

because why not finally empty the silly thing out?
what am I saving them for anyway if not to use in a quilt
besides 25 years 4 homes and 2 husbands is long enough don't you think?



 this one is made from Julie Paschkis Russian winter folktales fabric

 aand scraps from the basket, are you noticing a theme here?


this last one is still in the works but its coming along nicely I have 3 more rows of 4 blocks and the outer border to put on, nce I can wrest it away from the minions


Then there was my early prezzie of a surprise gallbladder removal for the holidays, yay. -.-
I'm doing just fine but if this is anything like getting shot in the belly, TV and movies have been lying to us for decades!

You do not bounce up to finish the job, with  great sopping hole in your tum.
If you are in line for one of these it's not that bad, you're belly will look like a bowling ball after and the first few days are owchie

but they give you the good drugs to get you over that part and hopefully, those around you are inclined to spoil the invalid.
Happy Holidays to all and a happy new year!

CQJP Paris #5 bistro

 so trying to publish from my phone is a disaster as you have probably noticed from the lack of pictures or text since october. sorry about that when stuff doesn't work around here it really goes to the dogs.

This block represents all the wonderful little bistros that litter Paris like candy wrappers behind a careless child.











some do pastries,
            some are cafe' only
                            some only open for the evening
                                                               and some do it all
         



my favorite was a dinky little hole in the wall with one table
and an indolent cat who would beg the cream off your cappuccino in a demanding 3 pack a day meow











the waiter/owner would bring you your order and leave you to your devices to gossip with friends and neighbors inside at the bar





 and his wifes bread was to die for
 brown and crunchy crust soft fleshy inside
fresh from the oven

you could smell it down the block and around the corner

it would call to me in the morning, a sirens song of aroma drifting through my hotel window

woodland animals quilt

The danger of putting your quilt on the back of the couch to look at for a few days

is that it gets all covered in cats, hats, backpacks and coats.

but I finished the quilting on it



and just have to find thAt red from between the blocks for the binding.

CQJP Paris walking the dog

So this is sumething you will see in Paris alOt

a very chique lady walking her dog.

Parisians love their dogs, they take them everywhere










and like their children, these dogs are very well behaved.

You see them everywhere, under tables in cafes,

outside groceries guarding bikes,

or walking thir people through the markets or down the street.

this lady is dressed for work

walking her dog through the champs elise

on her way to her office job, not all though many,

who allow their people to bring their dogs to work.

hexipoluza #6

Another aspect of all this is using up your "odd bits and bobs"

I don't know  how closely you all can get on the pictures but I try to use as many odds as I can.

Many of the beads don't match in places like the bodies of the dragonflies on this block

and the butterflies on the one below


then there are the beads on the button bug on the penguin block

and the pink flowers I used at the bottom

If you noticed, none of them match

I have done this in several places throughout the block,s to show that you don't have to be matchie, matchie to have a cohesive whole.

It's very freeing when you realize this and makes for a whole lot more creative fussing.

here are my hexies so far all sewn together and spread throughout.

I see it getting much bigger as I continue to use it to demonstrate the stitches in class and use it as a teaching tool I also have a ton more blocks pieced together.
I hand them out to newbies who haven't a block to work on

Oh dear, it looks like I have run out of done blocks!  I  must finish a few more of these, darn the luck ;)