Project Monday

Hi everyone? How are you this week?

I wanted to share the block I posted on the Project Quilting site this past week. I teased you with pictures of sections of the quilt, but I wanted to wait to share until I was all done.

The Project Quilting challenge this past week was "Square in a Square".


I immediately thought of a block from our pattern Far East Holiday.

Here is a whole quilt using that block.

Then I thought it would be fun to use some of the hand dyes my friend Marcia and I have made. I had to keep the overall quilt small, as each hand dye is less than a fat eighth.

I showed this group to you all the other day. 

I tried a few other color combinations but just really loved this one. 

A good triadic color group: golden yellow, aqua blue and fuchsia.

I tweaked the block a little, adding more colors than the original called for- the original uses just three colors. But I wanted to get a shaded effect and the effect of more squares.

Then I made four blocks.

Once I had the four blocks together, I had to decide how to quilt it. I really wanted to keep the squares front and center and I was afraid that to much quilting in each square would take away from the effect.

So, I went with stitch in the ditch, except for the center.

After much debate, I decided to use a heavy thread to give it some extra pizazz since I was quilting in the ditch. I went with an variegated Aurifil 12 wt thread.

And that concludes my first Project Quilting Quilt. My Square in a Square challenge quilt called: "How many Squares do you see?"

Have a great week!

happy quilting,

Kate

Friday Finish Line

Friday! A great day of the week- the weekend is ahead with all its possibilities for fun and adventure and the week full of projects and accomplishments is slowly fading into the background.

A great day to review your accomplishments for the week and have a celebratory party.

So this week I have:


Finished a quilt top.



















Started a small quilt for Project Quilting and hope to quilt it today.











Lots of pattern writing, fixing directions as I sewed. Lily likes to help.

Finished the top of a runner- hope to quilt it this weekend or it will go on the docket for next week.

(Same pattern as the quilt- totally different fabrics. Fun!)

Fabrics picked out for the remake of one of our oldies but goodies.



Going to remake the cover quilt, update the directions and trim the name. Hmmm... a mystery project.

Any guesses?



Off to work for me! Today is less fun- no real sewing today; I have to do computer work! :(
But, I will approach it with confidence and a good spirit! and maybe a little retail therapy once I am done. I am in desperate need of some new thread for all that quilting- off to get me some Aurifil!

Have a great day- celebrate your week of successes!

happy quilting,
Kate

Thankful Thursday!

Today I wanted to think about things I am thankful for.




Many days it is hard to remember the good stuff; we get bogged down in the things that are not going well, or are hard, or... well it is easy to let the negative rule over the positive.

So today I am thankful.

For many things, my family, my friends- near and far- my health...



OK, maybe not my health this week as I have some sort of cold/flu thing that has rendered me speechless and coughing.




And... my Sew Steady table! Is really is great. I find that I am piecing a little better with it- my pieces are laying flat when they are meeting the machine and there is less wobbling.

OK- enough chatting- back to piecing! Fiona and I are on a roll! We are very thankful for time to spend sewing together!

happy quilting,
Kate

Wordless Wednesday

happy quilting,
Kate

Tip Tuesday

So I was thinking it would be fun to post tips here on occasion. And Tip Tuesday sounded nice. But they don't have to be all my tips, do they?

There are some great quilters out there- so check out this blog post from Lindsay Connors of Lindsay Sews on the Sew Mama Sew blog. It is to make 8 HSTs at a time.

Now I usually use the method to make 2 at a time- what was I thinking? How much better is it to make 8??!!

Check it out!

I know I am going to try it!

See? Two FQs and less than 1/2 hour and

I have 32 4" HSTs sewn,
cut and soon to be trimmed.



I bet you can do it even faster if your machine sews a little quicker than Fiona; Steady Betty she is, fast as a fox she is not!








I am thinking maybe a table runner...

 

I love skinny runners for my side table.






And maybe a mug rug. Or two. Options!

(I know- Christmas fabric? Isn't Christmas over? I am just getting a jump start on next year!)

Go have fun- It's a great tip!

Happy Quilting,
Kate

Manic Monday

How does that song go? Just another manic Monday.... wish it were Sunday...

When I was working, Monday mornings were among the worst days of the week as they are for many people. But in my business, Fridays could  be even worse. Most people think TGIF!

But not in homecare. That is when all the patients that have not been feeling well all week call, when the weekend schedule must get done, when the weekend schedule gets revised a million times as more patients get discharged from the hospital and or need help over the weekend, when...  you get the picture.

Now, I work from home. Monday mornings aren't as bad. But still, I can freak myself out with a huge list of to dos for the week and get stuck in "which way should I go George?" syndrome.  So I try to schedule my day so I can focus on one thing at a time and not get as distracted.

As distracted. Not not distracted at all. That is not possible!

So today, to keep the mania down, I have a list. First, I am going to work on my Project Quilting project. Have you heard about Project Quilting? It is named after my favorite television show.

Basically, every other Sunday, they post a challenge. A theme. An idea.
And then you have a week to make a quilt. Totally make a quilt. Start to finish. Concept to binding. Sound like fun? The good news is, any size will do.

They posted the first challenge yesterday so get moving! Pop over here and you can see the idea for the week.

So that is the first item on my agenda. I have my idea so I am going to pull some fabrics for it. I am going to try to use my new stash of hand dyed fabrics. Since I have been hand dyeing, I have developed a two bin stash. They are all small pieces- less than a fat eighth.

We even labeled all the fabric so if we really like a piece,
we know what dye mix we used!


Time to start playing with some of it!



This was my first group, but I am not sure if there is enough contrast with the two blues.

This is group two- a different yellow and a lighter light blue. hmmm.....

You will just have to wait to see what I am doing with this... no peeking yet!

Then I will cut out the rest of the fabric for the Row House quilt I am designing. These blocks were made yesterday. Cute, huh? 

I have a whole list of other stuff, but I won't bore you with the details. Just saying I am trying to focus on one thing at a time. 

As I learned in my business group: Scattered focus = Scattered results!

Keep focused!

Happy quilting,

Kate

Chain Piecing with Fiona

So, I was supposed to go on a photography excursion today and take pictures of butterflies. Sounds like fun, huh? But, I have a cold- a real humdinger and I was sure no one wanted me coughing, spreading germs and scaring the butterflies! So I stayed home.   :(

Instead, Fiona and I spent a little time together and did some chain piecing.

I love to chain piece! We were making four patches in three sizes. Why are there always more of the tiny ones? 

Got to keep that pedal to the metal!

Happy quilting,

Kate