Sunday, February 25, 2024

Memory Quilts

I'm excited to show you the 2nd Metamorphosis quilt (by Lo & Behold Stitchery) I made for the 2nd oldest niece of my colleague and friend. You can read about their story and see the first quilt here. As with the first quilt, the wings of the butterflies are pieced from their mom's clothes. 

The background fabric is Kona Dusty Peach. I quilted small connecting circles along the body, and some heart motif in the wings. In the background, I FMQ some wandering meanders with some butterflies. The butterfly block is 12" x 13" and the quilt finished at 55" x 67"



After my friend showed her family the 1st quilt, her mom was wishing for a small something to remember her daughter. I suggested a pillow and her mom loved that idea. After finishing the 2nd quilt, I made a small throw pillow. Since I had limited large pieces of clothing left, I decided to make the butterfly wings from quarter circles and then piecing them into the familiar butterfly from the pattern. 
I used a 12" pillow form so I made the butterfly 10". I also added an invisible zipper so that it could by removed. Again I quilted connecting circles in the body, but semi-circles in the wings. 
While I was working on this project, I felt a need to make a butterfly for my friend and her other sister. I know that they were close to their sister and her loss was very hard. I made smaller butterflies (8") with quarter circles, pieced and quilted then I stretched them over 10" canvas frames. 
Last Friday, I was able to visit my old school to deliver the quilts. My friend was very touched by the surprises. I hope that these small, special gifts help in the healing process. 

Now to make the last quilt for my friend's nephew. I won't be doing butterflies for him so I will be making something more masculine. This one will have to wait a bit!
I'll be back soon as I have more to share but this post is long enough! 

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Best Buds and RSC

 I joined in on the Best Buds QAL which is hosted by Lindsey @PenandPaperPatterns. I have made several of her patterns (and purchased several more). I am drawn to her designs!  Her patterns are well written and easy to follow. I am using fabric in my stash. To figure out if I liked the combination, I made 2 blocks - 1 in each color combination. 

I liked the outcome and it will feel so good to use these old fabrics in my stash!
In between sewing these cute flowers, I was working on the 2nd Metamorphosis quilt for my friend's niece. I am holding off showing these pictures until I deliver it. Maybe next week if I can get in a photo shoot. 
Today, I got back into sewing along with the Best Buds QAL.  It is week 3 and by Friday I should have 14 flowers stitched. This is what my design wall looks like now - 10 flowers finished!

These blocks are 14.5" (unfinished) and 5 blocks just about span the entire width of my design wall. 
I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilts,  and Wednesday Wait Loss @theinquiringquilter
Last week I also worked on my RSC block for February. The color is red this month.

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday over @SoScrappy.

For Valentine's Day, I made 2 fabric postcards for my grandchildren. I follow the tutorial by Annie @FreezeFrame03 

and I played with paints, masking, stencils and collage making several Valentine's for some special people in my life! 

Hope you all have had some productive weeks in February!

Friday, February 2, 2024

A Reveal!

 This week I finished my Harmony and Light quilt! On Saturday night I put in the final stitches in the binding. On Sunday, I buried threads before throwing the quilt in the washer and dryer. I pulled it out so soft and wrinkly! 

Since the sun made a brief appearance (the first in almost 2 weeks), I decided that I needed to go on a photoshoot right away. You never know when the sun will come out again! 

The Harmony and Light pattern was designed by Christina Cameli @afewscraps. Back in 2022, I saw an notice that there was a free tutorial and pattern offer by Quilt Daily if you signed up. Christina's version of the quilt is beautiful made in her Sagura fabric line. I fell in love! I signed up and received the pattern download. While my husband and I were vacationing out west, we decided to stop in Hamilton, MO on the way home. I shopped for the fabric for this quilt at Missouri Star Quilt Co! I decided on Ombre by V & Co. in several different colors. 

I did use similar colors as Christina but I basically used solids rather than prints. 

It took a while to start cutting all the wedges but Christina's method was very helpful. Once finished with the cutting, I was again intimidated by all the colors and how to place them. The video tutorial again was very helpful as Christina described her method. Slowly, I started sewing the wedges into triangles with the white wedge between 2 colors. Once I had the required 140 - 60º triangle pieces and 20 end wedge pieces in piles based on the progression of color, I needed to decide how to lay them out in the quilt. Once again, I turned to the tutorial to learn Christina's thought process on this stage of the quilt. I did want the diagonal movement across the quilt so it meant dividing up the colors into several rows while maintaining a flow of colors.  

   The cutting, piecing and placement took a good year to accomplish as I finally                                  finished the top in the beginning of January 2024!                      There was one last tutorial for the QAL and it was all about how to quilt the quilt. Again, Christina talked about her method of breaking down the shapes in the quilt - the white diamonds and the 'kite' shapes on either side of the white diamond. She suggested to start quilting at one of the kite shapes on either side of the white diamond (with feathers), then the other sides kite shape, followed by the whole length of white diamond (wavy line). Once you finish the diamond, you can turn your quilt and do the kites on the other side. You can actually go across the whole quilt in this method eliminating too many stops. 

I found the perfect wide backing that had all the colors that I used on the front of the quilt. I love it so much that I used it to bind the quilt also!

Harmony and Light finishes at 61" x 70"
If you are interested in my reveal video, you can find it on my Instagram or Facebook page. (I couldn't get it to load on blogger 😩)
Linking to Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Linky Party @Quilting, Patchwork and Applique, Wednesday Wait Loss, and Put Your Foot Down

Friday, January 19, 2024

Another Flimsy and a new skill

Today I finished another flimsy! While I was waiting for my thread order to arrived so I could start the quilting on my Harmony and Light quilt, I started deconstructing some more clothes that will again go into a memory quilt. Working on the last piece, I realized I probably should have taken a picture. 

Here I started deconstructing the sweatshirt. 

The useable pieces as well as the scraps!
Slowly, I pieced all the butterflies from the pieces, getting 2 butterflies from each deconstructed article of clothing. 
I used Kona Dusty Peach for the background on this quilt and again I'm using the Metamorphosis pattern. 
Here is a peek at the top!

After returning from the Holidays, my Knitting Club decided that we should try Tunisian Crochet. It is a cross between crochet and knitting. I tried it many years ago and I found it really hurt my arthritic hands but said that I would try again. We watched a video on how to do the Tunisian Crochet basic stitch and made practice swatches before starting the scarves.
We are making scarves to donate to our local school district to help the new immigrants and other underprivileged children during the cold winter months. Before Christmas, we donated 20 scarves with matching hats which were much appreciated. 
I finished my first scarf yesterday. 
Tunisian Crochet tends to curl at the ends so I added the pompoms to each end. 
Have you ever tried Tunisian Crochet? 

I'm not sure if I will make another one as I don't think I'm as fast as I am just knitting. Tunisian Crochet is also very dense and you need to use a needle about 
2-3 sizes larger than the recommended crochet hook for the yarn being used. 
My only Tunisian needle is an 8 so I should only use yarn that is DK or lighter.  Most of our yarn for donations are worsted weight so I would have to buy a larger needle. It was a fun skill to learn!
Linking to Off the Wall Fridays, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop, and Wait Loss Wednesday

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Happy New Year!

                             I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!                               The end of the year was quite busy for me. In between my busy schedule: Holiday parties, Christmas, New Year's, a trip to WI, and 2 birthdays, I managed to get some sewing done. This week I continued to work on my Harmony and Light quilt and today I finished with a completed flimsy! 

Let me backup a bit. In 2022, I saw the quilt, Harmony and Light by Christina Cameli @AFewScraps with a free tutorial and pattern sponsored by Quilting Daily. I fell in love with it so I signed up. On our vacation in 2022, we stopped in Hamilton, MO where I shopped at the Missouri Star Quilt Co for fabric for this quilt.

Christina's Harmony and Light quilt made with her Saguaro fabric. 
Isn't it beautiful! I'm still in love with this one!
My hubby holding my fabric selections - V & Co Ombre collection.
I chose to use similar colors but instead of prints, I wanted to do my quilt in solids. To get the most variation, I chose ombre fabrics. 
So here it is as a flimsy!
I'm linking to Wednesday Wait Loss @theinquiringquilter, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Finished or Not Friday, Off The Wall Friday, and Link Party@Patchwork and Quilts.

Once again I am participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) hosted by Angela @SoScrappy. January's color is green. This year I will be making the Circle
of Friends block. 

2024 is off to a good start!

Saturday, December 2, 2023

A 2023 RSC finish!

 I finished my 'Button Up' 2023 RSC quilt! After finishing, it took awhile to get some photos as the weather here was not cooperating. The weather finally cleared enough to have a photo shoot. I headed out to a local park! It was still a bit chilly so there were not many kids around.

 The RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) is made over a year, following the color of the month announced over @So Scrappy blog hosted by Angela. I have been following along for many years choosing 1 or more blocks to make. 
This year I paired down to only one block (button), however, I made 4 each month in the monthly color. 
Angela announces 10 colors, January - October leaving November and December to finish up. I generally add 2 more colors to round out to 12 which makes for a 3x4 grid layout. 
The button block was inspired by some fabric in my stash that I inherited from my mom's stash. It is the perfect backing for a rainbow of buttons.
It is a bit hard to see but those tiny rainbow shapes are little buttons. So cute!
The button blocks were all made from scraps from my scrap bins.
This quilt was machine pieced and machine FMQ with rambling loopy loops. 
I had enough left of the backing fabric to also use for the binding.

Finished size is about 42.5" x 55.5"
So what's next? I need to decide what to make for next year's RSC! TBD -  I have some time to work on that!
Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy, Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Linky Party @Patchwork & Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss @The Inquiring Quilter, Design Wall Monday @Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
'Tis the season to be jolly...It is a busy time and besides decorating the house, baking and visiting the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree, I've been busy with some Christmas crafting. 
Beautiful barn quilt square found at the tree farm.

Skate and elf boot felt ornaments made from craftymonkies tutorial.
Gnome/Santa's made at our girlfriends craft day!
Gingerbread boy and girl made for the grands!
Ornament making has been a tradition in my family for many years! I love making and decorating our tree with homemade ornaments!

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Progress has been made

 First, I realized that I never posted the finished quilt Oh Say Can You Sew. I posted process photos here and here , but not the finished quilt which I completed in September. We took it on vacation to Colorado to take photos! Hope you enjoy! 




I also have been working on a very special quilt for the oldest niece of my colleague and friend. Two years ago, my friend's sister died suddenly leaving behind her 3 kids, husband, parents and siblings. It has been very hard especially on the kids. 

 Shortly after I heard the news, I offered to make a quilt for each of the kids from their mom's clothes. Understandably, it took over year before they were ready to sort through her clothes. My friend asked if I was still willing to make a quilt from her sister's clothes. Of coarse I'm was willing to make 3 (or more.) 

I wanted to make something that would show off the fabrics with big pieces. I found the pattern Metamorphsis by Lo & Behold Stitchery which seemed perfect. As I was waiting for the pattern to arrive, I started deconstructing the clothes I picked out for the 1st quilt. 
I worked on piecing the butterfly blocks between our travels and babysitting time with the grandkids. Soon the flimsy was ready!
Then the quilting... I quilted 7 diamonds along the body, then I auditioned several possible patterns to quilt in the wings, choosing a star template I had and placed it so that one point was centered on the body and filled the rest of the wing.
For the background, I FMQ a loopy meander adding butterflies on occasion. 
Introducing 'A Quilt for Sylvie' 



I was able to visit my old school to deliver this quilt and visit with my friends. I love retirement but I do miss teaching!

Today I am still hopeful that I will be able to start the quilting on my RSC - Buttons quilt. I sandwiched and basted it yesterday!
Linking to Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link Party @ Patchwork & Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss @The Inquiring Quilter, and Design Wall Monday@Small Quilts and Doll Quilts