A finish! Two Pinwheel Stars Done

One thing about getting quilts done in groups is that when the finish line approaches, it's very satisfying to knock out a couple of finishes very quickly!



That's the story with the first two of the Pinwheel Stars. If you've been following this saga for the last couple of years, you'll know that my desire to make one--ONE!--of these sent me down the slippery slope that eventually ended with a total of SIX quilts.

Moving put quite a crimp into my production on these. Hard to sew when everything is packed up so the house looks pristine to show and, hopefully, sell.






That was an adventure I'm not eager to repeat any time soon. Yes, the outcome was great, but it required a Iot of work especially from my kids. But I've told that story before, too.


Slowly over the last year, I've been able to get my sewing room up and functioning (with a LOT of help!) and I did get all six tops done.

Took me a while longer to get them all bordered so when these two were done, I sent them off to the longarmers.

More delays due to back issues, but before my surgery was scheduled I was able to get borders on the last four and get them sent off as well.
The first two came back before surgery, so I was able to get the first step of the binding done on them. Now that I'm home and convalescing, I've been able to finish the hand stitching on both of these.

One has blue backing fabric and is quilted with flowers and leaves, a design I think looks good with the 30s prints in the front.
This one has a piano-key border, which seemed like a really good idea for using up scraps. It's a lot of sewing!


The second one has a border of Flying Geese units. This was inspired by a quilt I had on my bed at the time, a Storm at Sea with geese around the edge.

The quilting on this one is a stylized lily, which I like well enough to have requested it for the other 4.

So now I'm just waiting for the other 4 to come home. In the meantime, of course I've continued working on a couple of other projects and started a new one. You can read my posts about the Mystery Quilt to see more of that--it's using up some more of my 30s fabrics.


I think I have enough to make a couple more quilts.. Oh dear.

At least my roster of finishes for the year has grown by two more. Not too bad considering that this year was a super busy one!

Clue Two Redux

Once again sharing my progress with other Mystery Quilters!
Clue Three has a few steps to it... and several choices of how to do them.

Finished half=units!

I opted to do half-square triangles and trim them down, rather than using specialized rulers. One of the things I love about Bonnie's directions is that she gives you choices. What works for one person may not work for another, and this method works well for me. Plus I have lots of little triangles already sewn. Maybe they'll go in the border. Maybe not.

Shyla is getting friendlier

Here's my lapful of grey catgirl. Now that she's an Only Kitten, she's suddenly my BFF. It's nice to see her out of the closet, out from under the bed, sleeping with me most of the night, and generally being a "real" pet. It's the first time in her 14 years that she gets to do this. Still hides when anyone comes over, though she's been known to sit on Anne's lap. She's a pretty cat and hopefully I'll be able to get some better pictures of her. Look at that adorable little white "ballet slipper" foot!

Sewing the second set of triangles

So back to the sewing... As you see from the first picture, the individual units are now done, trimmed and pressed, ready to join into pairs for a Double Diamond block. They're set aside for that for now...

Moving On with the Mystery

Joining the Monday linkup over at Quiltville once again. These are some shots from my prep work on Clue Two, which is currently in progress.

I'll be adding another post with my progress from Clues Three and Four later today (I hope!) but for now, this is an update!

Mondays are often a very productive day for me as far as cutting and pressing and that kind of prep.

Lining up the triangle markings..

My friend Anne comes over and we sit around and sew. Or cut.

Pieces are cut and ready to go!

Supervising. It's a job description.

Lots of good talk and some kitty petting, too.

Sadly, these are the last pictures I got to take of my beloved Highland (aka HiHi), Quilt Supervisor Extraordinaire.

He was 17 and beginning to fight some of the inevitable ills of aging. He was on two kinds of meds, which was no problem since he loved him some pill pockets.

Later in this same week, though, he stopped eating, stopped taking his pills, and was getting too weak to jump up on the bathroom counters for a drink from the sink.

Sleeping on the job is a perk.

So now he has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and I hope is reunited with his best buddy Simon. I sure miss him, though.

A last look at the fabrics I'm using for this Clue. I'll have more pics on the next post.

Color choices--one neutral, one black, many pinks.

It's A Mystery!

Fabrics picked out and ready to get started.

... a mystery quilt, that is! Because I'm mildly insane, have lots of fabric, and nothing but time on my hands (sure!) I decided to get in on the Quiltville Mystery Quilt--full info here. There's also a very active group on Facebook doing the quilt.

Notice I posted a badge/link to the blog over there. I won't go into a lot of detail here since it's all covered pretty thoroughly on Bonnie's blog and on Facebook.

I've joined the Monday link-up here.

I've been trying to recruit some fellow scrapaholics to join me in this but so far they're resisting. I think the first clue sorta scared them off... check my photos and you may see why!

Ready, set, go!

Got all my stuff ready to go--fabrics, cutter, camera, punchbowl for fabric scraps, notebook (I still can't use my printer so I just made notes of what to cut and how to lay it out in the journal), coffee, Kleenex... You know, what the well equipped quilter needs!
The supervisor will make his appearance shortly.

I'm not following Bonnie's color scheme exactly, mainly because so much of my stash is currently inaccessible with my limited ability to lift and tote and haul boxes around.

Love these happy 30s repros!

HiHi is doing his supervisory work.

 Besides, I have a lot of thirties prints right here in my sewing room!

The pinwheels made a dent, but it wasn't a very big one...

The black has a random dot print very reminiscent of stars. The scale of the print and the subdued color of the multi-sized dots makes it a good match for the small prints.

Bonnie is using a constant yellow, but since I've only got scrappy ones, I'll use the black as my constant.

I apologize for the different lighting in these photos. Some of them were taken with my digital camera, which tends to go with the ambient light. In this room, it's the overhead chandelier which has a bit of a yellow cast to it.

The phone's camera takes a truer color most of the time. I could probably play with filters and work on getting the color more consistent, but just so you know that the colors are the vibrant lighter shades--not the slightly sepia look!

I pulled all the pink and blue fabrics from my 30s box.

He's very meticulous about his work.

I thought there was a lot more in there! It turned out that most of the pieces were 5" strips from fat quarters--so I was only able to get one 3" strip from each, which yielded 6 squares.

Wound up using some fabrics that weren't in my first choice but I did have just enough, especially of the blues.

All cut out and ready for the next step!

But they finally were all cut out... I wound up with a nice collection of selvage strips for Anne, and a 2" strip of most of the fabrics.

There may be a Log Cabin or similar strippy scrappy quilt in my future. If I can look at 30s prints again soon, once this is done...

At the risk of being super boring, I've just captioned the pictures with what's going on in them.

Scroll down to the bottom to see the pictures from my other project-in-process! It is taking more concentration so it's not getting as much attention as these babies are!

Overview of the finished cutting spree

Drawing lines

Sewing one side of the triangles

Chain piecing the second side.

All done and ready to press and trim!

This is what I'm taking a break from and/or working on when I'm feeling fresh and "sharp."

You may recognize this as my project from Judy Niemeyer's class at Asilomar back in February. I've got all the parts done and have started to assemble them.

Just slightly finicky and fussy matching all the points so they look good and fit together properly.

First block done! There are twelve of these... 12 sections in each block. I don't want to do that math because I might find it overwhelming... so I'm just putting together a few sections at a time as I feel up to it.

Yeah, they may have cut up my back but I think my brain has taken a hit too. I can really tell where my deficits are when I start working on something like this.

But it's getting better. And maybe soon I'll have this ready to be quilted! I've got the perfect backing fabric for it...

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a good time to catch up on my blogging--there are many many things I'm thankful for this year!
First of all, to explain the hiatus, I have to give you a bit of an "organ recital" but I promise to keep it short and simple. You may or may not know that back in 2011, I had to have spine surgery. It was successful, and I've been mostly able to go back to my "usual" life--which included a massive effort on the part of my family and friends to get my old family house sold and get me moved into a nice new one-story place that's closer to some of the girls and pretty easy for the third one to get to--unless, like yesterday, the freeway and surrounding surface streets are all clogged up!



Anyway, I've had a recurrence of back issues, mainly a herniated disk that had even the ortho docs widening their eyes and saying my, that's a big one! So three weeks ago, I had surgery to have it repaired. I now have a double row of rods marching up my back holding up my lumbar vertebrae, and some very neat and tidy scars. Well, the newest one is still healing, but it's very neat and tidy!


Fortunately, while waiting for the surgery, thanks to a lot of steroids, I was able to get a few things done. I made 6 baby ragg quilts--the three shown were for online friends for whom we did a secret online baby shower. I also made two more for my two new great-grandsons, one of whom is in New Orleans and the other's in Las Vegas. The sixth one was a little different: it was woodsy prints in browns and greens with lots of forest critters, and it went to my granddaughter's mother-in-law, in Conn. I also sent two other quilts to the baby shower: a Many Trips Around the World that Alyssa had picked out for her baby, and a Trip Around the World in a darling Noah's Ark print with browns, blues, and reds, for my son and his wife to have at their house. That way baby Cora can have a quilt everywhere! (Baby is due in January.)

I was also able to get the last four pinwheel quilts bordered and sent off to the longarmers.


Then I got the bindings sewn onto the first two, and onto the Millennium Star quilt.

I've even started sewing that binding down. The back and binding are batik, so it's slow going. I love the weight and texture of batik, but it takes some effort to sew through.


On the furry friends front (say that six time fast!) we seem to have some detente. Here they are both on top of the desk. Luckily I have two hands so I can pet two cats at once. There really is a lot less hostiility these days, which I'm very happy about!

Since this was - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad - I can only upload 5 pictures at a time. I really need to find a good way to manage posting now that I take more pictures with my phone than with the camera! The phone syncs with the iPad, which is convenient... but I prefer typing on the laptop, which unfortunately is on its last legs. Among the several things queuing up for when I'm mobile and healthy again, getting a new computer is right up at the top of the list. So's getting new glasses!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with lots of food, fun, friends, family, and whatever makes your heart glad! For now, well, I'm baa-ack! 

One Done, Two Too!

First pinwheel quilt is on its way north to the longarmers--feels good to have that accomplished! The second one is ready to go--just needs a little pressing to make the borders lie flat and then it's going to be matched with a back and queued for mailing.
Right now it's looking a little crumpled but it's spread out on the sofa to breathe. It's too dark in the house to get a good picture, so this will have to do for now.

The quilt supervisor got a good workout today. He's sleeping it off now.


Anne was here and working on one of her ongoing projects, making adult bibs for the Memory Care unit at her community. It's a good way for her to use up some of her novelty fabrics, especially the ones that don't look as good cut up into little pieces.

A couple of weeks ago we started tossing fabric trimmings and scraps into the punch bowl that seems to have taken up residence on my dining room table. I love the way it looks filled with colorful bits of fabric!

Earlier today, it was wearing a "whipped cream" topping as I'd been throwing the white trimmings from the pinwheels into it--but today gave it a new layer of color.

More white tomorrow, I hope, as there will definitely be more pinwheel trimming happening!

I also worked on a little organizing today, and now these threads are sorted by type and ready to use. I made some room on one of the shelves in the closet, and these all fit there. Clear boxes, so I can see at a glance what's there!

Hard to believe that next Monday is Labor Day already! The local little ones have gone back to school, and my oldest great-granddaughter, Paige, started kindergarten today. Hard to believe time has passed so quickly--but then, I guess it has!





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More Stuff!

The basket quilt top is done! Now to find it a back, and send it off to be quilted.

I opted for a 4" border of the same background fabric. The HST (half-square triangle) idea didn't work out: it pulled too much focus away from the baskets, so in this case plain is better!

The quilt is much larger than I originally thought it would be, but then it was also originally supposed to be 2 smaller quilts, so I guess I should be glad that it isn't big enough to upholster all of Glendora!

There are two more blocks that I've pieced into a strip for the back. Both of them are orange and red, different reds (one leans toward orange and the other is more of a blue-red) but they look fine side by side and they'll jazz up the back. Assuming I can find what I want to put on it! 





Wrapping u with a couple more pictures of the quilt top. These were taken when I was experimenting with layouts--you can see that if I'd gone with the large squares in between the rows, I'd definitely have had a much larger quilt!









This post is a bit of an experiment--I was trying to find a way to post pictures that I've taken with my phone that works well. So I used the iPad to load the pictures using BlogPress, but it only lets me upload 5 pictures to a post.

I haven't done much with the cats here, so here's a shot of Shyla being not-so-shy any more! She actively seeks out attention and affection, especially if I'm on the bed reasing or playing games on the iPad. There have even been a couple of times when both cats have been up on the bed with me at the same time. However, since I then have to be petting a cat with each hand, I can't get pictures.  Still, it's progress!


The last picture is of the 18 (!!) bags of templates and newsprint piecing papers sorted and prepped for my project for Asilomar next year. I kind of hate to have to wait that long to start sewing on it, but it may take me that long to round up and prep all 22 fabrics for the quilt.Yes, you heard that right--there are 22 different fabrics used in this pattern!

I supposed I could have bought the kit--but while I do like the colors in it, mostly, they're not my favorites. So I'm audtitioning fabrics from my stash to see how many I can find at home!

Back to "work" here--I'm hoping that my feet will be up to at least letting me get one of the pinwheel tops pressed and trimmed--I'd love to get those done too! Also need to do some spelunking to find backing for the baskets and one other little batik quilt, then I can box them up.  That would be so cool!

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Celebration Baskets, and More Projects

 The basket quilt is coming right along! The blocks have been joined, and the top now needs a press and to have the corners trimmed down. The first border is going to be orange--I think I have just enough to make a 1" border. Then I'll audition a couple of ideas I've been playing around with. Default is just to put about 3" or so of the ribbon fabric for the border--but I have a LOT of half-square triangles cut out of the print, so if I can get enough to match them out of the solids, that might be cute too.

 This project has been a lot of fun. Finding the pieces all cut and ready to assemble was a good break from the pinwheels, which have reached the stage where they need to be pressed and trimmed so the borders can go on. A big job made worse by a persistent nasty pain in my back (it's right at the base of the incision from my surgery so probably nerve damage, though the doctor says the muscles are really tight.) That makes it hard to stand for a long time, which pressing 6 queen-sized quilts with lots of seams involves.

Oh well. I had to take a break to wind another set of bobbins. I got a cone of white Aurifil 50 wt, a thread I really like for piecing, so that made the bobbin winding go really quickly. Now I'm ready to rock and roll knowing I have a good supply of bobbins!

 Some progress pictures of the assembly process.

I have two blocks left over, which I'm planning on putting on the back of the quilt. Somewhere.

The pattern is the Grape Basket from Judy Hopkins' Around the Block.  It gives cutting measurements for five or six sizes of blocks--these come to 10" before the sashings are added.

I really like the book. It's an oldie but a goodie! I've used it for other projects, too. Fun if you wanted to make a sampler quilt.


 I'm still working on organizing and categorizing all the tubs and boxes in the garage (and the storage unit, oops. You remember that--it was just for "staging" the move. Sadly, there isn't room here for everything so there's going to be some more culling going on. Just takes time and effort, and summer is my least favorite time for working outdoors.

It's been very humid the last few days. We've had some spectacular clouds, which is pretty, but no rain and little relief. Even in the house, with the a/c running, it still feels sticky.


 Anyway I found another tub of mysterious objects. A couple of panels--the kitties are for a doll quilt and matching pillow.

I think that could be a very quick little project--and Robin just brought me (along with a trunkful of projects, two big bags of yarn, and a huge tub of fabric) a small roll of batting--Mountain Mist poly. Perfect for a dolly quilt, and to help me get my machine quilting chops back up to snuff!

Because the baskets, along with a couple of other quilts and the pinwheels, are getting sent to the longarmers. I've got a dozen or so projects I want to quilt, so I need to send some of these out.

The weathevanes are an older project--really nicely done, back when I was doing a lot of machine applique and had great control of the machine. Helps that the 1230 has a nice satin stitch, too. There are 4 other blocks--not sure what happened to the picture! Originally they were supposed to go with some red-white-and-blue sampler type blocks, but I decided that I didn't want to do that. I think they will just get some kind of alternate blocks--maybe Log Cabins?--and borders, and keep it all in the navy and white. Should make a decent size wall hanging.

The flower fairies panel has a price tag in pounds sterling and a Peter Jones label. Guess I got it in England, huh?  Might be a good practice piece for my FMQ skills. I'm pretty sure that somewhere I have something that will work as a back and binding.

Then there's the assortment of black/white/color blocks. I'm pretty sure these were from a swap. They are different sizes so my thinking is maybe angled borders--that kind of wonky look.

Why not?

Anne thinks she has some of the Christmas blocks. If she does, she'll get these to go with them. If not, well, we know a lady in Fresno (waves to Gerry) who will do something with them!

Anne and I have been kind of using up some of our theme fabrics--the pictures I have of them are from my phone, so I'll need to do another post with those.  It started with Ethel and her fruits and veggies quilt. She had a bunch of leftover fabric, so we thought they could go into a Yellow Brick Road-type quilt.

Yeah. Anne had some of those fabrics too, so we spent a Monday cutting them up. She's made 6 quilts out of the pieces!

Then as she was finishing up the last one, she mentioned that she had some patriotic prints that might work too. If I had been a good friend, or a sensible person, I'd have told her to forget it--but no, I had some patriotic fabrics too. Another marathon cutting session, and she at last count had 317 blocks. That will make anywhere from 6 to 10 quilts depending on size...  But, they can go to Quilts of Valor.

Have I mentioned that Anne is a quilting fool? Her description! Between her dogs and her quilting, she's always busy! A good thing...