What's In The Hoop?

What's in the hoop? Basket Four Patch. 

I actually now have something in the hoop. It's been awhile. After I got it into the hoop that I like which is a PVC type square hoop, the hoop broke. Well, actually a couple of the side pieces that clamp on to the fabric have cracks in them and won't hold the fabric down. Then I put the quilt into this bigger wooden hoop and it cracked. I was able to use duct tape to hold it together. I guess hoops are not all they are cracked up to be! Ah, yes, I crack myself up!

So, anyway, I have this little 40 x 56 crib quilt in the hoop. I actually started the blocks back in 2017. The little basket four patch blocks were inspired by an antique quilt at Q Is For Quilter.  Before you call me crazy for hand quilting a baby quilt, well, that's about all I felt I could handle for now and I like to hand quilt. I NEED to hand quilt in the evenings to get out of my slump. And besides...a small quilt is all I could pin baste. I usually pin baste my quilts on the living room floor. Right now my living room has several card tables set up in it. Those tables are full of flowers and veggies we've started under lights in a corner of my sewing space and now have moved into smaller containers for  hardening off before I move them to the gardens. We take the plants out to the deck off the living room to toughen up and get used to the elements and then bring them back in to the card tables each day. Well, short story long or long story short...I don't have much room to pin baste a quilt much larger than this one.

I'm using ecru perle #12 for hand quilting - big stitching on a small quilt. 

Remember I said I wanted to move forward a few UFOs with baskets? Well, I am. This is basket quilt #2. 

I'm quilting on the diagonal in the squares. 

And I'm quilting around the outside of the little four inch basket blocks as well as inside the three muslin triangles in the basket which is kind of difficult to do with big stitching. Those little HSTs are 1 inch. 

I pieced the batting. Normally when I machine quilt I just overlap the batting pieces a tiny bit. I used to zig zag them together but found when quilting on my DSM that the needle would hit those zig zagged areas and have a fit.   Well, anyway, since I am hand quilting I pieced the batting together by hand with a herringbone stitch. 

And sew it goes...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

More Green Bits and Pieces

This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is green - sage and forest. I have been making a lot of different blocks with scraps in the color of the month so I'm using all greens this month and just completing some of the blocks.  I'll make the rest of the green blocks when the light and bright green month rolls around. 

Bear Paw

6 inches finished

I cut the HSTs with an Easy Angle ruler and use 2.5 inch scraps. I use 4.5 inch squares from the bin of squares. 

I just started making these blocks. I've seen them called Windmills and St. Bridget's Cross.  I started making them because the pieces can be cut from either 2.5 inch or 4.5 inch scraps as long as the scrap is long enough for four pieces. They finish at 8 inches so 35 of them will make a nice kiddo sized donation quilt. 

I've been making 12 inch finished Wonky Logs with my strings. I've been using some novelty squares with black backgrounds for the centers. 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Puss In The Corner. It's A Flimsy!

Puss In The Corner (aka Uneven Nine Patch)

It's a top!

42 x 60

In 2021 one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects was six inch Puss In The Corner blocks with dark corners. In March I finished up one quilt top I made with the blocks and found I had enough blocks left over for half a quilt. 

So I decided to make enough blocks for another top. This time I made the Puss In The Corner blocks with light corners to alternate with the dark corners. 

And now I have another Puss In The Corner top. And since I must not know how to count correctly I have two blocks for the orphan block box (orphanage). 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's A Jungle Out There!

I finished another small top! 

40 x 40

I'm continuing to work with these "not-quite-a-panel" pieces someone gave me a few years ago. I'll just call them center pieces. Maybe they are border prints or something. It doesn't make any difference what they are I'm making them into little quilts for donation. 

First I added that striped border around in order to make it square. The center piece was rather strange dimensions. Then I have a little drawer of 4, 4.5, 6.5 inch novelty squares swapped over the years ages ago. I looked for jungle type prints. Then I found some fabric for frames that were in the colors of the center made some six inch Happy Blocks. 

I didn't have quite enough 4.5 inch squares for Happy Blocks so I made the corner blocks a little different - 6.5 inch centers and 1.5 inch sides. 

I found another jungle print piece and with the left over stripe fabric I used in the border I think I may have enough to piece a back and make binding. So I'll keep these with the quilt top so I don't forget when it comes time to do the quilting. 

And on to the next center piece. 

And sew it goes...

 

Wednesday Wandering

The new tulips planted last Autumn have not disappointed.  The bulbs were a gift from hubby. For most of our lives together, for one reason or another, we never had much money to give each other gifts on holidays or anniversaries but every once in awhile we found a little money for a surprise gift for no reason. That practice has continued for most of our 48 years together (soon to be 49 years). 

I think the one above is a peony flowered tulip. I can see why! I just love that color! 

Not sure what kind of tulip this one is. It had clusters of flowers. 

This one has black centers and reminds me of poppies. I love the ruffles. 

Oh joy!

The Bleeding Heart has been covered in blooms this year. I meant to take some starts off of this earlier but never got around to it. I'll have to look up if I still can do it. 

I've always called this Bleeding Heart but...

...in an episode of Gardener's World it was also referred to as Lady In The Bath if you look at it this way. Funny! 

I might have missed these Shooting Stars if I didn't know where to look for them. I planted them last year after starting them from seed. I hope they naturalize. 

Most of the lilacs are blooming. I really need to prune the bushes because the flowers are higher up on some of the older bushes. This variegated one used to have dark purple flowers outlined in white. It was hit by lightning and split and started dying. I took a cutting and now I have this one blooming but the flowers are lighter in color. The air is lilac scented and a slight breeze is enough to blow the aroma through the house. 

The Allium is blooming. They are not as big as usual and I don't seem to have as many as usual. I was browsing through a bulb catalog and was amazed by how many different types of allium exist. 

I started Siberian Wallflowers from seed last year and they are back again this year. 

Rabbit or deer ate them down earlier in the year but they came back with a vengeance. 

Aren't they cute? They add a nice dash of color along the pathway in the cottage garden. 

The Lilies of the Valley outside the back door are starting to bloom and they also fill the air with their scent. My father-in-law told me years ago that it was his favorite flower so every time I see them in bloom I think of him. 

The Camassia (Wild Hyacinth or Indian Hyacinth) is starting to bloom. I have a couple of different varieties. Evidently Camassia was a food source for indigenous people and the roasted bulb tastes like a sweet potato. I'm not going to to give that a try unless there is an adult food shortage. It is in the asparagus family. 

The Aquilegia (Columbine or Granny Bonnets) is starting to bloom. I have several different varieties and colors. I fell in love with these many years ago and have grown most of the ones I have from seed. 

The Tree Peonies are in bloom. There are three different types of peonies - herbaceous, tree and intersectional. 

The tree peonies bloom on old wood and last year the deer ate most of the old wood so it was the first time in a long time I had no blooms. I'm thankful I have blooms this year. 

It won't be long before the herbaceous Peonies are in bloom. 

I love my gardens. They are my reason to get up out of bed every day. I can't wait to see what is new each day.  And so it grows...

 

And Then There Were Fifty

My May theme for the month is baskets. I have four UFOs with baskets in them that I hoped to move forward this month.   I had 26 blocks at the beginning of the month and now I have met my goal of 50 nine inch (finished) blocks.   So now I think I'm going to set them aside for a bit and move on to the next UFO with baskets. 

And sew on...

 

Another Panel Is Now A Top

It's a top!

I think it ended up at 42 x 54

Someone sent me the center that was about 25 inches square and pinked all around. It felt like a little heavier fabric. 

I mentioned previously that I have a difficult time figuring out what to do for borders on a medallion or panel quilt. I have this thought in my head that the borders should somehow relate back to the center. That's not necessary, I know, but it helps me think of what to do for borders and move things along.

For this one I tried to stay with the red, yellow, blue color scheme. And I tried to keep dots or circles in mind. 

First I added a red polka dot border to take it up to 30 inches to better accommodate a six inch block border for the next round. For small quilts I like to keep them 40-42 inches wide and figured a six inch block border around would make the quilt 42 wide. 

Then I had to figure out what to add in that six inch border around. I thought about it one night before I went to sleep and woke up the next morning with Snowballs in my head. Hmmmm, yes, they look kind of like circles or dots. Well, kinda...

I had a lot of bits and pieces of different yellow solids to use for the corners. Yellow because yellow is the background of the center panel. I dug through my 6.5 inch squares for possible Snowballs but only ended up with a few lady bugs in red and yellow. Next I looked through wide pieces I had trimmed from backings and found that multicolor chevron print. Then I looked through the red, yellow and blue scrap bags and finally I looked through the rainbow type prints left over after making comfort quilts for my deceased granddaughters' friends. After all that I still needed a few more Snowballs and found that rubber ducky novelty print fat quarter in with my blue fabrics. Of course, rhino in the bath needs some rubber duckies and the ducky with rhino in bath in the center appears not to be a rubber ducky. 

And sew it goes...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework