206 Work Days Left

When I started this blog I mentioned that I would be retiring next year. I can hardly believe that almost 50 work days have passed since then. I had have a fairly stressful job and quilting has turned out to be a very relaxing hobby. It's relaxing in the sense that I can't think/worry about work when I am concentrating on the cutting/sewing/pressing/starching/measuring etc. involved. I also usually have my earbuds in and am listening to an audiobook.

My projects have been progressing right along. I finished my Urban Streets table runner.

So I have plenty of quilting in my future. I don't personally use table runners so I know this will end up being a gift to someone but I'm not sure who.




I had fabrics selected for Town Square but I bought wasn't entirely happy with it. I bought some Stonehenge Amazon fabric and thought it would work. My interpretation of Town Square doesn't have the contrast of the creamy yellow and pink but I really like how it came out.

My biggest problem was deciding how to put it together. I tried with lavender in the middle and liked it a lot.







Then I tried it with green in the middle. I still couldn't decide so I showed the pictures to my husband and asked him to decide which was better.

His preference was for the green center. He liked how the bright green pulled your eye into the center.

I'll put up a picture of the finished top and the fabric I'm going to use for borders another day. The top is done but I want to update the sampler quilt project, too. I finished the four patch squares for the corners I while ago but I forgot to take pictures. I realized that today. They were a little tedious to make but not nearly as hard as they appear. I just followed Harriet's directions and viola, the squares were done.

Shown at the left are my nine patch blocks for the border. Notice that there are two different patterns. Half have solid green corners and the other half has print corners. This is how the blocks are shown when you look at any the the pictures of the completed quilt top in either Freshman or Sophomore Year. The instructions tell you to make them all the same with solid corners but I liked the look in the picture better so I mixed them up.

I had to see what it will look like. I'm going to use cream for the background. I think it is turning out rather nice, if I do say so myself.

Tonight I'm looking at the fabric I have set aside for Interlacing Circles. I promised my sister-in-law her choice of quilts for her birthday. She looked at the fabric pictures I posted earlier and thought this might be the one she'd want. Cutting begins on it tomorrow!

From Log Cabin to Urban Streets: Part 2

Next project up is the Country table runner. I'm using Urban Odessey fabric from Connecting Threads so mine is Urban Streets Table Runner. I think the 4 patch squares look like city blocks with buildings an dthe fence post squares look like city streets. I've cut and pieced all of the blocks so I only have to stitch them together. That will probably happen this weekend.

Check out the seams in this 4 patch. My skills are definitely improving in the cutting, sewing and pressing. It takes all three to get consistently good results. It's hard to believe how easy it is when you just relax and take your time.

On another topic, I want to mention the awesome book I got called "The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns" by Jinny Beyer. It is published by Breckling Press. I bought mine from Connecting Threads. I must say that this book is marvelous. I thought i was getting a collection of patchwork patterns but I didn't - I got much more. What I got was a marvelous story about the history of published patterns and magnificent color pictures and line drawings of the patchwork patterns. There are even transparent overlays with the various grids so you can really see the detail in the designs. This book is both inspirational and intimidating. I'm overcome with awe just imagining the work involved. The time spent to compile all of the information must have been tremendous. What a daunting challenge when you look at the completed project. You can tell that it was a project driven by the love of quilting.

From Log Cabin to Urban Table: Part 1

I promised some pictures so here they are:

This is my Log Cabin after I completed the squares and sewn the rows together. I am so pleased with how both my piecing and the fabrics worked out.

The complete log cabin quilt top exceeds my expectations. I have several relatives that love purple so I'm sure someone will end up with this as a gift. One of my sister-in-laws had her birthday this week and I promised her her pick of the quilts from Freshman Year.

Here's a close-up of the center of the quilt top. I just love how you can see my perfect pressing of the seams. This is my favorite project so far.

Cabin is built

Tonight I finished stitching the my in-Patriotic Log Cabin. I need to work on making sure I am stitching straight. This quilt top reveals when you wander along instead of stitching perfectly straight. That's what I'm going to concentrate on this weekend as I stitch the next project. I'm not sure whether I'm going too fast or not feeding the fabric properly. Practice makes perfect so I'll just keep on practicing!

Continual Progress

I promised to upload some pictures of what I've accomplished. Well, here goes.

I used my Thimbleberries quilt with cheater fabrics to do a test run of layering. I had a copy of tucks appear so I did a better job of holding the backing still while I pinned Worldly Women. I think I understand layering pretty well now. I don't plan to do any more of that right away though. I want to work through the other quilt tops first.

Next was the machine quilting. I was nervous but I only did straight lines and it came out pretty well on both my practice and Women. Using a walking foot removes so much of the worry over fabric shifting. I know the starch also helps a lot with that.

I'm particularly pleased with my idea to do different color sticking in the black border of women. It repeats the fence post pattern of the blocks and their color.

Overall, Worldly Women became a terrific mix of traditional and modern just like the person I made it for. As you can tell from her smile, she really liked it!

One more post

I still have the other cheater quilt to do that I mentioned in my first post. I fell in love with some wildlife fabric and bought a kit online that will be perfect for our retirement home. Plus I started designing a quilt several years ago before I even had a clue. 

I sure have gotten bit by the quilting bug. I need to spend some time helping get our house ready for sale but playing, I mean working, on my quilting skills is more fun!

There are no guarantees but I intend to do better with updates!

Tough Choices

I have now planned out the fabric to use for the rest of the quilt projects in Freshman Year. I'm omitting two of them - Winter Wonderland and Asian Nights. I haven't selected fabric for Homespun yet. I'm planning to finish all of the others and then do that one from beginning to end in one fell swoop. That will make it a real final! 

I welcome any feedback you might have. I'm sticking with fabrics I already have so some of my choices are limited but so far my combinations have worked out.