A pair of wall hangings

  A pair of small wall hangings kept me busy over the weekend. 
  The first was simple and plain until I added the trio of butterflies. I found a few of these ready to fuse in place.  Some matching thread to zig zag down the edges and I was happy with the results.  With the warmer days right now, I long for spring.
   The binding on this one was leftovers I found in the scrap bin.  Both were the  flange binding but I simply joined them and pretended it was the same all around. 









 
    I also took a close up photo of the corner.  I get a lot of questions about my fabrics and  where I find them.  I have an assortment going back 20-25 years so don't expect to simply buy a couple of fat quarters for these projects.   You can see the fabrics are an mix of size prints, as well as different values.  A large scrap of fabric can yield a lot of 2'' squares, so you don't need much really.    So study this photo and hopefully that will help.



  The second one is part of the pre-printed panel I bought last fall.  The little bit of watercolor blending in the border is just fun for me.  It would be a good way to try your hand at this. 
  I just worked in one upper and one lower corner to frame the design.  A neutral tonal floral finishes off the border. 
   You can see I also added a few more butterflies....I just could not resist. 










   And I found space to work in a few feather motifs  for the quilting.  It has been quite a while since I tried feathers, I was glad to see I still had the touch for them.  The rest of the quilting was curls and loops.










  A nice pair for spring.
Happy stitching. 

A couple of finishes

   Remember the panel quilt I started last month?

   Finished with flange binding in red with black.  I thought it really set off the "stained glass" style border.
  Once I washed it, the quilt softened up and got all nice and cuddly.  It is not large, only 48'' by 58'' but enough for a personal throw.

  The quilted texture shows better here.  I only did a large meander in the center along with some free hand outlining of the main motifs like the barn, deer and some trees.  I added a few swirls in the sky for clouds.  The center section is also outline straight stitched along the first grey border stripe.






 
   In the stain glass sections I used a loop and curl motif, very much like the effect in glass blocks today.
  And that red dot backing.....it got washed twice  in Dawn before I put it on the back for quilting.  I can't tell you how long it has been hidden in the stash closet.   I washed the entire thing when finished with color grabbers.....yea!  No bleed.


Holiday Dreams is complete.






  And what else is lurking around here......a little walk down to the workshop to see if there is anything there. 


  Oh my.....a pair of lovely gifts I see.  Small candle holders for tea light size candles.
Sir Old Man has played around with these, being quite hesitant to attempt them.  The first ones he saw were made of simple pine and only held the plain tea tight, not like these in glass.  He claimed to not be creative.  Like I use to tell my students, don't copy: find your own voice.  It will be fabulous.







   He dug through his scraps of wood, glued some up and cut things out.  Sounds like a quilter's process, doesn't it?
   I ended up ordering the router bit that was large enough to cut the hole to fit the glass tea lights.  And I ordered new scissors for me....win/win!







  Sir Old Man added the final detail all on his own.  I think he found his voice now.  Sanding and rounding over the edges was good, but he went one step further.  He added another pass of a different router bit  to create a foot at the base with this relief edge.







Two finishes make you feel so much better!











  As for the iphone saga......It did require a 4 hour trip to the phone store.  But it was solved with a full re-load of the software! Thumbs up for Apple. 
   No new phone purchase required.  I now have to sort out all the apps I use and get logged back on to them.  I am deleting those unused.  And sorting thru the nightmare maze of passwords.  As for the big provider called ATT....2 surveys filled out with only 1 star review given.  I wrote my saga on both surveys and included details about the less than helpful guy at the store.   All of this frustration over a software glitch.  Technology the bane of our lives. 
I am heading back to the sewing room after this.  I need a breath of fabric and thread.
Happy stitching. 

My glass is half full aka The Distant View

   A finish finally on the floral log cabin quilt.  Big sigh.   I was beginning to think it would be a couple more months to pull this one off.   Yet, my wrist felt better after  a week of rest and I finished up adding the binding.
  I began working and planning this quilt in March.....this post.... has the block recipe/cutting and measurements that I used.
Then in this post in April I was beginning the layout and talked about second guessing myself in the fabric choices.







  Along the way, I did work on another quilt or two, and one had to get quilted.

   Fast forward to August and here we are!   She is done...quilted and bound.
Floral log half cabin blocks are set on point.  By paying attention to  the placement of the values of the fabric, the last round in the log cabin becomes the "trellis" that we are viewing the garden through.

 

      Placing the lightest value fabric at the top creates that dimensional effect of the garden in the distance.

    The setting triangles are a deep green with a faint tonal print.  I like the way it sets off the blocks and makes things pop.
While I quilted swirls thru the blocks, I stitched feathers in the setting triangles that make the border.

   To carry the florals to the edge, I debated on a floral binding.  Instead I decided on a flange binding using the floral as the faux piping.  I love how it turned out.

  I had printed up a label a few weeks ago, calling this  A Distant View.
You can see the binding flange here.

  Anyway, as I was sewing on the binding, my mind wandered.  I thought about  the trick this block creates and fools the eye to think we are viewing the distance.  And it came to me that altering our position or stance creates a different view.

Insight:   We can look backward, or forward.  Hindsight gives us wisdom sometimes.  Looking forward gives us options, choices we can make.


 
  So I decided this quilt should have a nickname.  And noted it on the label.  My glass is half full......my choice as I move forward.   The last 2 years have drained my glass, yet I will not let it keep me down.  My life, my choice.

   The Crepe Myrtles in the back are almost finished with their glorious blooms.  One low hanging branch  over the deck needs to be trimmed back, but before we do that, a photo or two.

    My Glass is Half Full aka A Distant View is 55'' by 66'' .  Machine pieced and quilted with swirls and feathers.  Binding is a 2 fabric  flange binding.  I have used this several times before as it is easy for me since I only machine stitch now.  Tutorial can be found at Missouri Star Quilts.




  I'm going to relax a day or two and just enjoy this finish.  Then I will jump in and pin to quilt the garlic knots top.   Enjoy your week, and stitch on.

Happy stitching.

One down, one to go

  I actually got more accomplished this past week than I expected.  Sir Old Man did very good with the cataract surgery ....and he is a much better patient than I expected him to be. LOL.....luckily the "put in eye drops schedule" is much simpler now than a few years ago, I heard.  So I managed to quilt up the strippy quilt that had been waiting it's turn under the needle.

  A partial jelly roll was gifted to me, and I added about a dozen fabrics from my stash to put this together.  Mostly browns, black print, a bit of blue and cream create a cozy, stay at home feeling. 














  For the binding I found a brown paisley in the stash and was just short of enough  fabric to completely bind.  So I decided to make a flange binding.  That allowed me to make narrower cuts of the paisley, add a neutral strip for the flange  to make it all work.   I like the finished look. 

I used the tutorial found at Missouri Star for the binding.

  And one to go is the Boxed Squares of floral fabrics.   I originally planned to use straight line quilting making diagonal X's thru the boxes, but now I am having other thoughts.

  The pattern is hard, straight lines, and maybe I need to use a curved quilting to soften the look.  Not much  of any motif will show against the busy fabric, so a general meandering would work. 

 I had questions this week about my fabrics, so here are a couple of close ups of the floral fabrics I use all the time.    These should give you an idea of what to look for when searching for fabrics.  You can't just buy a pre-cut package of a fabric line and get all usable floral fabrics.  In a pre-cut pack, you might get one or two.  So I rarely buy pre-cuts.   Fat quarters are the best size for accumulating a floral collection, I think. 

  And once again,  No Reply commenters.....please include your email if you want an answer to questions.   There are many tutorials to explain how to link your email to your google identity. 
Happy stitching. 

Repeating the binding

   I loved the flange binding so much that I did on the 9 patch quilt that I wanted to try it again.  So the small  wall hanging of raw edge roses with string blocks was ready to quilt.   Easy  meandering quilting over most of the quilt.








  The corner areas were wide open and I filled those with some feathers.  The flange binding frames it so cute!











    The only thing left to add is a label and give this a good wash to fluff it up and fray those edges.

  The report from the ophthalmologist was good!  With my old glass the left eye has 20/20 vision and 20/30 today in the right eye.....if I shifted and moved my head to find a clear visual spot.   He was very impressed with the improvement and progress, and we talked about the increased B-12 injections, and other co-factors I am taking.  So things are on the right track.....big sigh of relief.
Yesterday was one year since I was diagnosed and any  treatment began.   Thanks to all for the support and positive encouragement.
Happy stitching.

Timeless

   Timeless means something is lasting, enduring, and without beginning or end.  That is how I feel about those 9 patch designs.  A scrap quilt, planned fabric palette or not,   just turns those 9 patches into a timeless thing of enjoyment for me.

 I had to go back and look to see when I actually started this one......December of last year.  I think I had been making the 9 patch blocks before I got sick over a year ago, and pulled them out to work on then.

  So what does this pile of strips have to do with the quilt?   I found them tucked into a box with a note on them that said binding for 9 patch quilt!  Two different widths of mixed floral strips at 1 1/2'' and green at 1 3/4''.










  The added note said.... "Make flange binding".  Now, I remembered.   I wanted to add a little bit of something different for the binding.  The dark green was to be the flange and the assorted floral strips would be the visible binding.   The "flange"  is top stitched down as you stitch in the ditch.

   I love the effect it creates as it looks like a piped binding.  It is a good choice for me since I always stitch the binding on my machine now.

  Note:  I don't remember where I got the measurements I had cut for the bindings.  I believe they were a bit "off", since the flange is quite narrow.  A better size and tutorial can be found here at Karen's Quilts.

I had the label made and attached to the backing before quilting even.

Isn't that backing fabric great....love the swirly design.

 Timeless is 63'' by 67'' and machine quilted with  swirls all over.  Binding is mixed floral strips with the green flange.



 I love a good finish.....and off to look for something else to finish up.
Happy stitching.