Cute Little Distraction

I found this to be a cute little distraction when I have big projects that I have lost interest in. (Dangling participle)

This project is from Julie Cefalu, TheCraftyQuilter.com. I have also posted this on Instagram and shared it at #sewhappyminiquilt.

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Back in the Sewing Room

This has been a crazy year so far. Not much posting has been going on. I have been distracted by a health issue and by the complications of setting up a snowbird place in FL. We now have a double-wide in Lakeland, FL for winters. The plan is to go there October - April every year. In February and March, we drove back and forth several times between KY and FL to complete the purchase and to get the home set up. A lot of work, but also fun. All clear on the health issue.

I have spent a couple of afternoons back in the sewing room. I have to get my groove back. I am ignoring the long arm for now. I have been working on the 2018 BOM from The Quilt Show, the blue barn quilt designed by Edita Sitar. Here is my progress so far.

I find the blues to be very relaxing to look at. I will be working on putting more of those rows together today.

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More Rulers

Here is a picture of my most recent purchase. More rulers. Yes, I really need these. Straight rulers, curved rulers, and the sweet little BFF.

These are Linda Hrcka's rulers from The Quilted Pineapple. Although the BFF is included in the curved set, Linda also gave each of us the gift of a BFF for taking her class. I took two days of classes from Linda at Quilted Joy in Louisville. I had planned to buy the curved rulers before I attended the class, but I decided that I couldn't live without the straight rulers after seeing some of her work.

The 45 degree angles are marked all along the straight rulers, not just in one place as on most rulers. This allows the quilter to sew accurate diagonal lines as seen above.
And those luscious curves...wow.

These photos are all of Linda's work. I am looking forward to using these soon.

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18 in 2018 Final Report

I think the 18 in 2018 list really helped me stay focused on my projects. I was able to prioritize and get many projects finished. I updated my original post as I went along. You can find the original post here.

Here is the final report.

1. Halo Medallion Quilt - designed by Sue Garman. This was the 2017 BOM from The Quilt Show.

Finished March 13, 2018. 
Hung at AQS Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August, 2018. As of this date, my Halo Medallion has also been accepted in the AQS show in Daytona in 2019.

2. Audubon's Christmas Quilt - designed by Kathy McNeil. Not finished, but well on its way.


The flimsy of this quilt is hanging on my design wall. I came to a stop because I wanted to get a 1/4" platform foot for my long arm before quilting this one. The platform foot allows the quilter to to use all sides of the foot against a ruler without the shank getting in the way. I have now installed the foot. You can see the flimsy here. I have decided to finish off the final sashing with beaded detail (per Bethanne Nemesh), not prairie points. This one is top priority on my 2019 list.


3. Wanna Build a Snowman? by pattern by Dana Michelle.

Finished 1/16/18

4. Double 9 Patch from Fat Quarter Shop.

Finished 1/15/18

5. Double 9 Patch Table runner - using left over blocks from project above, I created a table runner.

Finished 1/16/18
You can see the post for #'s 3, 4, and 5, here.

8. Red and Cream BOM from Fig Tree Quilts

Finished April 22, 2018. Finishing details here.

9. Red and White - 2017
Not finished. I will be taking classes from Linda Hrcka in March. I am hoping I will get some inspiration for the quilting design from those classes. The Kentucky State Fair will have a special division for two-color quilts in 2019. I plan to get this entered. This is definitely on my 2019 list.

10. Finished. Star Crossed from Fig Tree Quilts. Sewn in 2017
I bought this as a kit from Fig Tree Quilts.

Find finish details here.
Completed September 23, 2018. 


11. Sherbet and Creams by Fig Tree Quilts
This was a mystery project from Joanna. I made some changes to the pattern. I made smaller circles and squares at the intersections. I preferred to have more of the curves visible.  

Finished 11/27/2018
Find finish details here.

12. 2015 Designer Mystery BOM from Fat Quarter Shop

Finished May 26, 2018. Gifted to granddaughter. Finishing details here.

13. Vice Versa BOM from Gen W Quilters
 I think this was from 2014. I never quilted it because I was not confident enough. This really needs a modern quilting plan.

Remaining steps: design quilting plan, load on long arm, quilt, trim, bind, label, add hanging sleeve.
Not finished. I got some quilting ideas from friends in the Kentuckiana Long Arm Quilt Guild. This will also move to the 2019 list.
 
14. Twirl Quilt by Fig Tree Quilts

I didn't take a picture of the assembled flimsy.
Remaining steps are: load on long arm, quilt, trim, bind, add label.
Not finished. I haven't been inspired with a quilting design for this one yet. It will also be added to the 2019 list.
 
15. Wild Card
Believe it or not, I still have many additional tops that need to be quilted. I will allow myself to chose one that I feel inspired to quilt.
Steps: load on long arm, quilt, bind, label.

 I didn't pull out any of my additional tops to finish. I did, however, participate in several Fat Quarter Shop Quilt Alongs:
Wild Geese Straight Furrows: here
Coffee Koozie: here
Fat Eighth Fruitcake: here, and here

Other Off the List Projects: here

16. Diamonds in the Sky - by Tula Pink Not finished.

I discovered an iQuilt class taught by Karen K. Stone called English Paper Piecing by Machine. I used her method to complete the assembly of this top. Details found here.
I don't like the way the kit is finished. I spent some time searching for the right fabrics to finish this off. I found the fabrics at the Fall Paducah AQS show. This will move to the 2019 list for completion.




17. Zoo Nouveau by Ann Myhre. This was a summer sampler project from The Quilt Show. 

This one now hangs in my family room. Finishing Details here.

Finished 2/18/18

18. Pumpkin Patch Lane - 6 installment BOM designed by Arlene Stamper and Melissa Harris.

 

Finishing details here.
Gifted to granddaughter.
Finished 4/14/18

Fat Eighth Fruitcake

I posted some preliminary pics on Instagram about this project. It is the Fat Eighth Fruitcake quilt from Fat Quarter Shop. I love that you can get such a cute quilt with a fat eighth bundle.

I chose to use Winter Village from Basic Grey for a Christmas-themed throw. I love that this collection isn't 'slap-you-in-the-face' Christmas.

First block: You can see the happy little village design in the fabric. Love it.

The Fruitcake block design left lots of fun spaces to fill with quilting. 

Here are the finish photos.

Thanks, Fat Quarter Shop, for another great project. So much fun!

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Sherbet and Cream Finished!

I have completed another project from my 18 in 2018 list. Sherbet and Cream is #11 on my list. The post can be found here.

I have posted progress pics on Instagram, so this will be familiar to some of you. Pictures were pretty hard today. It is cloudy and we are getting snow. I finished it off with a scrappy binding.

Here is a pic of the back. It was a pretty tedious quilting design so I am happy that it is done.

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Audubon's Christmas Progress

Yesterday was a bummer. I was making great progress adding the sashing between blocks on the Audubon's Christmas project when I hit a major speed bump. The top row was .5" shorter than the already assembled blocks below. Do you see the difference on the design wall?

I was so pissed off that I stopped sewing for the day so I could attack the problem with a fresh mind this morning. I had to take sections apart and do more trimming to make the bottom part match the size of the top row. So many opportunities for math errors. I am sure that math errors is what got me into this mess in the first place. Here is the result.

If you look closely, you can probably see the places that were trimmed. No matter. I am satisfied with the result and am moving forward. I think this will marinate on my design wall while I decide how I will finish this off. Kathy McNeil put prairie points on every side of the project. I have never been a fan of prairie points. I need to think about how I want to finish this off.

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