Sew I See!

The Christmas Gnome Quilt is a finished quilt top! Originally, I planned to make this quilt in a 6x8 layout, but once I reached that target, I still had so much fabric left over that I decided to make it a bit wider-- 7x8.  (Probably a more pleasing pair of dimensions, anyway-- not so skinny.)  I pieced the extra blocks and decided that the quilt was large enough.  (It will be a couch quilt, so no sense in making it too large.)  Some of the left-over strips will serve as binding, and the rest can either be worked up into a table runner/table-topper or used as strings.   There were too many blocks to fit on the design wall, so I had to put some of them on the table for the final layout arranging.  After it was all joined up, I spotted a cluster of red that I probably would have rearranged, had I noticed it earlier.  It's not really a problem, though, and I'm not sure I could have done much to improve the layout, even if I had noticed in time. ...

I didn't quite finish the Halloween quilt top by October 31st, but it was pretty close!  Here it is hanging over the lighting rail on the quilting frame: And here's a final "in progress" shot of the layout that spilled off the design wall and onto nearby surfaces, including the floor... I'm satisfied!  Just need to get around to quilting it (and another autumn quilt-top that's still lurking in the closet) before next autumn!  (Easy, right?) - - - - - - - Immediately after finishing this quilt top, I dove into some crumb strip piecing, because there were crumbs accumulating and I was in the mood for something spontaneous and carefree.  I already have enough crumb strips saved for the planned quilt, so I guess these will be saved for the next one... They're nothing special, but they were fun to make! - - - - - - - Since I didn't finish the Halloween quilt before October 31st, I thought I'd better start the planned Christmas quilt a little earlier!  I...

The Halloween quilt is still coming together, a few blocks at a time.   I've been selecting the fabric for three blocks, then cutting out the pieces (stacking them as I go). This is how I've been "storing" the fabric for this project.  😁 It's worked out well.  Makes it easy to see what I have available without getting the fabric wrinkled or having to dig through a pile.   I mark the squares destined to become hourglass units with one of these handy little rulers.  You do have to draw two lines per square, this way, instead of drawing just one down the middle and sewing a quarter-inch from each side of it.  Personally, I prefer this method.   Then I sit down and sew all three blocks-- put them on the wall-- and start the process over again.  As it now stands, the final three star blocks are ready to put together.  Even the hourglass units are prepared and trimmed down!   I don't think I've ever made hourglass units be...

Well, I wasn't happy with how the quilting machine was behaving (skipping some stitches), so I've left it for now.  Soon I'll need to get back to it, but for now, I've allowed myself to start another quilt, instead.  I had a set of Halloween-themed fat quarters bought on clearance a while back, and this seemed like a good time to finally use them.  Looking for pattern inspiration months ago, I found a starry quilt that seemed like a good match.  I selected a slightly larger block size, to make it come together a bit more quickly-- and also because I thought larger blocks might better suit the fabrics.   There are two types of star blocks in this quilt.  The pattern book I'm using calls them sawtooth stars and variable stars, but maybe they're known by other names, too.  So far I've only made some of the sawtooth stars.   Progress photos taken along the way: That's where I am, at this point.  I may not finish this quilt top by Hallow...

Making progress on the "Use It Up" quilt (a.k.a. the crumbs and words quilt)!   This week I've pieced a backing for the quilt.  Originally, I was just going to use a single large piece (or two) of flannel for the backing, but as I dug through the stash, I found that I'd marked some of the remnants with notes to indicate that they'd been pre-washed.  That reminded me that I've been prewashing the flannel before using it as backing.   I don't usually bother with pre-washing, but since (as I understand it) flannel can shrink more significantly and differently than quilting cotton, it seemed like a good idea to prewash in this case.  I was itching to get something done and didn't want to deal with the delay of prewashing, so I thought I'd follow the mantra of the quilt and use up those scrap strips and pieces of pre-washed flannel.  It's good to get those scraps out of the stash, but piecing it all together was definitely not a time-saving decision...

No, still not finished, but making progress.  Every bit counts!   This isn't quite where I left it: But it's close!   Let's back up a bit... Last time, I'd just finished putting the top and bottom padding/margins on the individual words.  After that, I put in the spacers between the words.  (I think it was something like 3" strips, finishing at 2.5" spaces, but I don't remember and don't have it beside me to check.) Then I added in the random dots of blue before or after the words on each line of text.  And at that point, it was time to remind myself of how many crumb strips I had, how tall each was (they're in three different heights), etc.  I decided on a layout by... laying them out.  😁  I used the floor-- the only surface in the room large enough.  (Pinning these strips to the design wall would've been messy and just not worth the effort, in my opinion.)   Now I've begun sewing the strips together.  I'm stop...

Trying to stay "in the groove" with this craft blog!  The key does seem to be posting regularly, even if there's nothing momentous to report.   You may have noticed the font size on this blog changed recently.  I've been increasing it, because when I checked how it looks on the tablet (and maybe the phone, can't recall), it seemed too small for comfortable reading.  I hope this will make it a bit better.  - - - - - - - I didn't do a whole lot of crafting this long holiday weekend, but I did some.  There are now a couple more string blocks for the HST project and another inch or two on the current diamond painting.   What I'm more excited about, however, is that I finally resumed work on the freestyle words that have been sitting on the design wall for ever a long, long time.  As always in these cases, once I started working on it, it went fairly quickly and I enjoyed it.  (Why does this happen so often?)  I didn't spend that ...

There's a new old sewing machine in the house.   That is, a new-to-me vintage sewing machine.   It's been here in the house for a while, actually, but what with one thing and another, I haven't gotten around to writing about it until now.   Okay!  Confession:  I actually wrote most of this blog post back in March, and I'm only now coming back to the draft in late August.  It's long and rambling, but I'll probably keep most of it.  There will be a "too long; didn't read" summary just before the photos.   - - - - - - - As much as I like the Minnesota, it has its drawbacks-- the special needles and the less-common (and more difficult to replace) shuttle.  I'm almost afraid to use it too much, for fear that I'll completely wear out the shuttle... I still will use it, I guess, and just hope for the best (and maybe find a spare shuttle, if I can), but I thought it might be nice to have a more modern vintage treadle.  Somet...

I finished a larger-than-usual (for me) diamond painting, since last time.  There wasn't much left to do, after I filled in most of it while Donald was travelling in July.  (He went to a figure-painting show in the Netherlands, then visited his family in Sweden.)  I needed a break from it, so set it aside.  The last 1.5 inches or so went pretty quickly, once I got it back out again.   It's a 40x60 cm diamond painting, with an image of jars of wildflowers against a dilapidated wall with peeling paint-- I mean, against a shabby chic wall.  😜   * * * Sidetrack!  Is shabby chic still "a thing"?  I'm sure some people are still decorating in that style.  In fact, I recently saw a decorating magazine where many things looked like the "primitive" or "country" style I remember from the 90s.  Are those things back in style or did they just never go away for the people who love them?   I think I've officially reached that ...