What's in the Hoop? Sunflowers!

Sunflowers in the hoop. 

 I'm leaving tomorrow to meet up with five of my husband's siblings and spouses for a few days of camping. My house doesn't have air conditioning but our camper does so I thought this would be the perfect time to get something basted and in the hoop to take along. 

Last night I just had to give a stencil I won long ago a try in the center of the Sunflower. It fit perfectly (although I didn't center it perfectly) so I pounced it and started on the stitching.  We'll see how much I actually get done while I'm camping. There will be lots of games of Scrabble and Euchre and Hearts and Poker and singing and guitar playing around the campfire. Usually there are three generations at the camp outs but no one could get together until now this year and a lot of the grandkids are in school now. I'll miss all the kidoos and new babies I haven't yet seen. 

 The Sunflowers in the flower gardens were my inspiration. Lately I've seen a Goldfinch  perched on some old Sunflowers pecking away at the seeds. They should be full by now. They pecked away most of my Purple Coneflower seeds. You would think they would be grateful and pose and peck when I am out in the garden with a camera. But no!

Catch you later! 

It's a Flimsy! Milquetoast

 It's a flimsy!

Milquetoast

85.5 x 85.5

 The traditional block name is Bright Hopes and the blocks finish at 4.5 inches. 

There's several tutorials out there. I used the one at Red Pepper Quilts. 

 I named the quilt Milquetoast because it is quite a departure from my usual bright and wild quilts. 

 The reason I made it was because I wanted to use up a box of low volume scraps  

 Milquetoast doesn't have to be boring.  Milquetoast can be fun. 

I'm rather fond of Milquetoast. 

Finish or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

It's a Finish! Crumby Yummy Candy

From Cathy's Confectionery Company: Crumby Yummy Candy

56 x 64

 Ready for giving or gifting! 

 This was another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from last year. I picked through my crumb boxes for scraps in the color of the month and made these eight inch Crumby Yummy Candy blocks.  For the background fabric I used mostly white on whites but did also use a few pieces with what looked like sprinkles. A couple of backgrounds have jelly beans. 

I quilted it on my DSM with lots of squiggles in the candies and some streamers in between them. 

I figured I had used so much white on the front that I had better use a lighter colored backing. 

And on to the next!! 

This was my goal #8

for

Q3 Finish--Along

It's a Flimsy!

 Pyramids? Triangles? Wedges?

Whatever...this old UFO is now a flimsy. 

85 x 85

 Every piece came from the 2.5 inch scrap bin. 

I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of That Log Cabin

Back in October of last year Sally who blogs at The Objects of Design posted a partial photo of a log cabin quilt made in 1890 that was displayed at the Pacific International Quilt Festival. My comment on that post was "I can't take my eyes off that log cabin."

Sally posted that the quilt was part of a collection held by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Recently I did a search at the Museum website to see if I could track down a larger picture of the log cabin quilt and further info on size.  My search revealed the size is 71 x 82 and it contains 72 blocks. 

 I finally decided it was time to take my eyes off of that log cabin long enough to make a few blocks. 

After studying photos I could see that there were two different block configurations of alternating colors. I'm not sure if that makes a difference to the overall pattern but I'm going to follow along with the picture and make both configurations - blocks one and two. From the size listed I figured I would make blocks that finish at nine inches so the center nine patch uses 1.5 inch pieces and the rest of the strips are cut at one inch.  I grabbed some scraps and I made 15 blocks.  

After I made these blocks I can clearly see I will have to replenish my red fabrics. I've done such a good job of using my red scraps that I don't have any but the tiniest of bits.  I do have a few red scraps in the bins of scrap sizes I save ( 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5) but none of those include one inch pieces and the pieces in this block are so long that it doesn't even make sense to cut one inch off of the end of those scrap pieces in the bins. I used the red scrap chunks in the making of these blocks.  I have no red solids except a piece reserved for sashing a UFO. And my shelf where the red fabrics are kept has only a few half yard pieces. After being on "no buy" for the better part of two years except for backings it must be time to shop!

It's a Finish! Heartfelt

 Heartfelt

48 x 60

Ready for gifting for any number of reasons - heartfelt gratitude, heartfelt sympathy, heartfelt congratulations, heartfelt thanks, heartfelt wishes...

 Last year as one of my many Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects my goal was to make quilts from my many boxes of crumbs.  Each month I dug through the boxes for crumbs in the RSC color of the month and the biggest bits and pieces with straight sides got made into these slab blocks. 

 Each twelve inch block also contained a red heart...

 ...and lots of fun scraps. I quilted it on my DSM with what we shall call streamers. 

 I thought I had a piece of red fabric with little white hearts on it to use for the binding but couldn't find it so went with some red with white polka dots instead. 

I pieced the backing. The heart fabric was leftover from making the granddaughters pillowcases many years ago and the pink was a leftover piece of sheet I used as another quilt back. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

This was my goal #9

for

Q3 Finish-Along

All Creatures Great and Small

 All Creatures Great and Small

Most of the hexies have now been sewn together randomly by hand with ladder stitch.  I had a few left over that I guess I could place here and there on some edges. We'll see. 

I measured it the other day but now that I'm posting I don't really remember the measurements; however, I think it was close to 48 x 60. 

 This has been a nice summer project but now I'm so ready to be done with it. The basting stitches and papers need to be removed next.  I'm actually reusing papers from a hexie quilt I made long ago and they still aren't all that worn out. I used old yellowed printer paper that was for an old tractor feed printer. 

 I was trying to decide what to do with the edges. On the last hexie quilt I made partial hexie parts to fill in the edges. 

But for this one I''m thinking I'll applique the hexie edges to border strips. I just don't know what I'll use for those border strips. It might have to be a solid or tone on tone (TOT) because all of the wilder pieces of fabric I've tried so far for a border have given me a slight headache. And who needs that? 

For now it's on the back burner simmering while I work on some other nice summer hand work projects. 

Tulipa Errata

 Tulipa Errata

78 x 78

It's finally a flimsy! 

 Pattern is Now and Then from the book Material Obsession 2. 

I had posted the other day that I thought that the cutting instructions for all the background pieces was incorrect.   Normally that would not be a problem for me because I usually don't cut all pieces for a quilt at once but for this quilt I had to cut the pieces in order to applique the tulips. 

All of the pieces and parts have been thrown in a box for quite a long time. I got them all out the other day and measured and remeasured, read and reread the instructions, measured and remeasured and read and reread the instructions because I couldn't believe that ALL the background cutting instructions were incorrect. But they were. 

I wrote a note to Kathy Doughty: 

> Name: Cathy 
> 
> Phone or mobile: 
> 
> Your message: Now and Then 
> Material Obsession 2 
> 
> Has there been any errata issued for Now and Then from Material Obsession 2? I
have found the pieces and parts do not fit together properly. I've read and
re-read the instructions numerous times and remeasured all my pieces and parts
because I was hesitant to write and ask about this but I really think there is a
problem with the pattern. 
> 
> I'm trying to figure out what to do now that I've used most of my background
fabric and have all applique finished so just was wondering if some corrections to
this pattern had been issued. I searched online but didn't seem to find any. 
> 
> I just want to add that I have almost all of Kathy Doughty's books and have made
several quilts with the patterns in the books and have never run into a problem
until this quilt. 

I received a prompt reply along with a correction sheet: 

Hi Cathy,
Weirdly, I was just thinking about this quilt and wondering if anyone ever made it. 
It is one of my favourites.

There is a mistake in this book.  I am attaching a correction sheet:

I apologise for your frustrations in trying to get it together.  We wrote this book
early on and it is no longer in print.  I hope the correction sheet helps you get it
together.  
Best regards,
Kathy

 Ok...well... the correction sheet was not helpful at this point in the process but it did confirm my suspicions that all background pieces were cut incorrectly. 

It was  a dark and stormy day yesterday so I decided since I wouldn't have a day interrupted by gardening I would figure out what to do to move this quilt forward.  Improvise. Make do. The first thing to do was some math to figure out what the measurement should be for each side of the triangles.  Then it was a matter of adding some "coping strips" to the short sides of some. Thankfully I had just enough background fabric left to do that. 

 I suspect if the instructions had said to cut the squares for the 24  "Unit 1" parts from 2 inch pieces instead of 2.5 inch pieces the parts MIGHT have all fit together without further adjustments but I was not about to test that theory and make more of those units. Besides, I had used most of my 30s repro 2.5 inch scraps construction them and I used almost all of that red plaid too.  Most of the tulips were made of 1.5 inch 30s repro scraps.  

 Speaking of that red plaid...I used some strips of that  instead of the background fabric to make the side setting triangles the correct size. 

I was saving that piece of red plaid for the binding so now I'll have to use something else when the time comes. 

Now and Then

Tulipa Errata

And Then There Were Twenty-five

My August OMG (One Monthly Goal)  was to make 12 more Blind Man's Fancy (Tea in the Rose Garden) blocks.   I now have met that goal and have 25 blocks total. Next step is to make the Flying Geese sashing. 

I decided to get my August goal out of the way early in the month since I may be gone toward the end of the month for awhile. 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts

It's a Finish! Happy Cats

 Happy Cats

40 x 60

Ready for giving or gifting! 

 This is one of several tops I made last year when I had an attack of cat scrap fever.  Most cat scraps were used up; however, I still have lots of cat themed fabrics. This one consists of 10 inch Happy Blocks - 6.5 inch centers and 2.5 inch sides.  The sides are cut from scrap chunks or yardage. And now you know how I accumulate a lot of 2.5 inch scraps -- I've made lots of Happy Blocks over the years. 

 This one was quilted with spirals on my DSM. 

The backing is flannel with some happy cats. I've had this on hand since the grandkids were younger.  I don't normally wash fabrics before I use them; however, I do wash flannels since they seem to shrink a lot more than other fabrics.  I prefer to sew bindings down by hand but sew it down by machine now on most donation quilts. 

This was my goal #14 

for

Q3 Finish-Along

Feeling Flowery

 The latest AdHoc Improv challenge is "Feeling Flowery" - make something flowery.   I have something in mind that I've wanted to make for a very long time but while I plan that out I thought I had better move along a few flowery UFOs. 

This is as far as I've gotten with this pansy quilt. I started making those six inch blocks in 2013 and stashed them away for a long time. In March of last year I combined those blocks with some squares of large print fabrics and ended up with a top 42 x 54.  Now I want to add a solid border and some broderie perse. 

 I don't have any large pieces of any one purple so I guess I'll piece together several different small and wrinkly pieces of purple I found in the stash today for a border. I just have to decide how wide. Six inches? 

 I have several scraps with large pansies I'm going to cut out for the borderie perse. I'm kind of scared to do this step and that's why this has been sitting around as a UFO. I love broderie perse but have never done it on a large scale - just a few bits and pieces here and there mostly on crazy quilt blocks.  Today I told myself anything I do will be better than leaving the darned thing laying around unfinished for several more years. 

 I think I have also found a use for these old worn out pillowcases I made long ago. There's still some good parts with flowers I can use for the borderie perse! 

 Flowery UFO #2 , Moon Garden, started out as a medallion quilt along where everyone starts with their own center block and then every month we are given instructions for a new border. I started out with moonflowers for my center. All went well with the first border but the instructions for the bow tie border were incorrect - bow ties were supposed to be made of 2 inch pieces and not 2.5 inch pieces. I modified my border to use the bow ties I made with incorrect instructions and notified quilt along hostess of the error.  After that I lost interest in the quilt along. 

So now this is a design opportunity. I can add what I want for borders. But I can never think of what to add and that is why I thought a quilt along would be nice to try out some new and different border ideas.  (Sigh). 

I had decided to make the entire quilt in black and white and call it Moon Garden and quilt it with some glow in the dark threads I've had glowing in my thread drawer for ages.  So today I dug out some black and white fabrics...

 ...and I decided the next border will be these little 4.5 inch finished flowers. I'm not sure I have enough of that black polka dot for 40 blocks but I'll use it until it runs out and go from there.  And I have an idea for the next border too.  I'm not sure how many borders there will be. I don't want a big quilt...maybe a nice throw sized one. 

Flowery  UFO #3 has been thrown in a box for awhile.  All the pieces and parts are cut and made but I ran into a problem when I went to assemble all those pieces and parts. (Boo hoo)

 Quilt is called Now and Later by Kathy Doughty. I don't think the instructions are right. I went looking for errata but found none.  I also searched for anyone else that had made this quilt so I could see if anyone else had problems with the instructions. But I couldn't find anyone else that has made it. 

The pieces don't fit together correctly.  Today I took out all the pieces and parts and measured them to make sure I cut the right sized pieces that are cut twice on the diagonal and I did.  I've appliqued all 12 tulips to the triangles and center square and I don't have much of that background fabric left but I'm going to try to figure out how to get all these parts into a top.  (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can). 

My reward for getting the three UFOS to flimsy stage will be a new start - that new flowery quilt I've been dreaming about. I've been taking lots of flower garden pics as part of the planning process.