Stage 3, Stage 2, Stage 1

Stage 3: a finish!

Angry Birds, Angry Birds, Find a New Home!

Finished!

"Picket Fence" or "Home Awaits" pattern. 70"x90"

Doggy Bag

Last month around this time something internal switched itself off, and I've spent the last 4 weeks drifting through a depression. I could get the bare minimum done that any given day required, but for the most part I acted as a lap for Zoe and read Dick Francis novels, starting with his first and chain reading the days away.

Last weekend it became apparent that I was going to have to get my rear in gear and get some sewing done. The annual Competition for Sweet Adelines Region 10 is coming up this Saturday, and I wanted to make a couple of things for my chorus Secret Sister. I mainly wanted to make a personalized Cabana Mesh Tote bag for her, and I knew it would take several days.

I started with this, a hastily photographed signature on a sign-up sheet at one of our rehearsals. My i-for-idiot flip-phone doesn't do close-up photography well.

Nothing finished, but plenty done

So we've managed to slide head-first into the first week of June!

After finishing the last log cabin, started by someone else and supplemented by me, I wanted to make another one right away using Elaine Adair's "Scrappy Rebuilt Log Cabin" pattern. It's intrigued me for years. I also had a drawer still crammed with scraps and strips gleaned from the CF!Q bins during The Great Reorganization, and felt they'd be perfect for this kind of project.

Many days were spent cutting 1.5" strips into the proper lengths for a traditional log cabin block. Having just worked with 40 blocks that seemed to have been constructed using the 'sew it down then trim it off' method of building, and not being terribly impressed with the results, I wanted to make blocks using known lengths.

Not ready for March

Like most people, February ended way too soon to suit me. I don't know why we can't borrow a day or two from other months. January can afford to be a day shorter, and March would never miss a day here or there. Too bad those decisions aren't mine to make.

Because of various factors eating up this month, I've decided to forgo the vintage machine swap out and resume it again in April. I'm already happier!

For the past several weeks I've been quilting the Shoo-Fly Leader-Ender project from 2019. I chose a clam-shell pantograph that came with the New Home quilting frame I bought way back when. Because the Glad Press'n Seal is twice as wide as the pantograph strip, I doubled up the pattern so I could trace everything in one go. The paper was long enough that I could loop it around the table and secure everything with binder clips.

Quilted

 Again I say: Yay!

There's still the final strip of Glad Press'nSeal to remove, but I'm going to bring this with me on my daily visit with my mother and see if she'd like to tear it off. 

Cataracts

 I'm finding that lots of light, strong light, makes it easier for me to do close work for longer periods of time. This morning supplied that in spades.

Worth it? I wonder.

 I've stitched the first segment of the green border, and while it does tame the wrinkles, you can't really see all the work that goes into it.

On Pens and Needles

Got the first baby quilt pin basted this morning (had to use painters' tape along one side because it was narrower than the pinning table) and decided to use one of my favorite patterns, the heart stipple.

It's a Full Line stencil that uses pouncing powder, but the light blue powder (I cut the blue powder with corn starch) didn't do a good job showing up on the light flannel fabrics. I basically ended up redrawing the whole design with purple chalk. It worked, but with twice the effort.

This stencil is the perfect size for these blocks. Two iterations of the pattern fill 3 blocks.

Pantographers Rejoice!

I just don't seem to have the eye/personality/"it" factor to do those amazing free-motion quilting patterns without a net! At least, I don't have it right now (if ever). Life's too short, and I'm not going to beat myself up about it; after all, somebody needs to keep pantograph designers in business, neh?

I decided on an edge-to-edge pattern for Sister (Stacked Snailz), and tried free-handing a larger version of it:

Uh-uh.

CA-bound #7: Handsome

Quilt #7 sent to Robert Kaufman for the #quiltsforCA drive:

Virtually awesome. Actually huge: 73" x 90"

This woven pattern was one I'd been wanting to play with for some time. I didn't have a place clear enough and big enough to lay the finished quilt out for its photo-op before mailing it to California. I was in a hurry--TFI's government shut-down was imminent and I wasn't sure how our postal system would be impacted.

Cue "Dragnet"

Dun-duh-dun-dun. Dun-duh-dun-dun: DONE!

The unremarkable and non-memorable block exchange quilt is finished, washed & dried, and bagged up ready for delivery to my friend for further donation.

48" x 72"

The quilting on this is a butterfly stipple pattern. When I have multiple colors and shades as in this quilt, I prefer to use a stick-on method of marking the quilt pattern, rather than try to find a single color of chalk or erasable pen. Those will usually become invisible at least half the time, based on the fabric hue I'm trying to mark.