15 Minutes to Stitch Recap

Debbi at Piecing the Past Quilts is hosting another quiltalong. This time it is for the redwork baskets quilt. Each weekly pattern is free for the week. Hurry if you want to join, it is starting! She is very generous and has hosted these quiltalongs for a while now.

2021:  Weeks 13 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

Now that the Project Quilting challenges are over, I can spend my time spring cleaning and replenishing my frozen meal supply.

I got my first COVID vaccine this week and spent the bulk of my free time with my genealogy addiction. On the quilting front, I did manage to finish quilting the shirts quilt. That's the shirt I gifted unfinished a year and a half ago. Now that winter is over, and the recipient won't need the warmth of a big quilt, I figure I should get it done and re-gifted so it is ready for next winter. 

It was like one of those chores you keep putting off and putting off because you think it will be difficult or inconvenient, but when you got it done, you thought you should have done it already because it was much easier than expected. There were three rows of quilting and I did sew only in one direction with the bulk of the quilt outside the throat, but it didn't cause any problems.

I plan to add some sashing on the rooftops blocks today, and today's stitching time will count on this week's numbers.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 87 out of 87 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

I was at 100% at this time last year too.

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Wild and Free

 

 Wild and Free, Just Like the Sea

 I wasn't going to participate in the Project Quilting challenge, but since it is the last one for the season, I wanted to help them finish out the year with a large turnout.

At the beginning, when I was making blocks for my Seaglass rooftops quilt, which will probably be officially called Amalfi Coast, I was only cutting the pieces for the blocks as I went along.  I didn't want to cut strings if I didn't need them. But then this week, I realized I could use leftover strings to make a string project. Sew some strings and see what you want to do with them, improv style. Use up more scraps.

I then decided I could use the strings to make a quick Project Quilting challenge so that is what I did instead. I have plenty of other leftover fabric for a string project.

Instead of straight strings, which I thought might be boring for a small project, I made a log cabin. The colors aren't true on my screen in these pictures.

It is about 10" x 11 1/2".

 

 

This week's Project Quilting Challenge 12.6 theme was Ab Intra, a Latin phrase that means “from within". This quilt fits the theme in many ways. First of all, there is a center, and there are layers around it. I use an onion analogy a lot in my life. In order to do anything - manage your finances, get healthier, learn to quilt, it is good to tackle one layer at a time, and build on your skills.

Second, the colors remind me of oceans and bodies of water. I don't live near water, but if I could live anywhere, it would be near water.

 

The quilt has an hourglass figure like mine.

Thirdly, to make it even more literal, I inserted a heart in the quilt.

 

You can see it in proper lighting conditions. It is something I had read about when I started quilting, and there may even be a quilt I did that in but I haven't done it since until I thought about the challenge rules.

 

Never give up 

for that is just the place and time

that the tide will

 turn.

 

2021:  Weeks 12 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I spent my week making more of the teal and aqua rooftops blocks. I decided to make more blocks instead of making more rounds. I have the planned 30 blocks made now, and will start sashing them this week.  I also made the Wild and Free mini quilt for the Project Quilting challenge.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 80 out of 80 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Peacock Party 

Patchwork and Quilts

Sea Glass Rooftops

 

 

There is no Project Quilting challenge this week, which is good because I was eyeing the blue green fabrics I used for the Oak Leaf and Reel challenge quilt. Making a rooftop quilt has been on my to-make list for a long time and those aqua and teal fabrics asked if they could help.  The name rooftop is a Gee's Bend quilter's term for a courthouse square variation that goes around and around a center square. 

 

 

Since I am using yardage, I have decided not to make it improv, but instead make a more traditional block in these brighter fabrics. Each block starts with a 2 " finished square of the floral fabric in the center and 1" finished rounds. I did add some rogue strips for some extra interest. Each block has a different combination of fabric. The bright light is muting the colors a little bit.

I got more aqua and teal fabrics from upstairs -- I am stealing from a box of fabrics I am saving for a triangle quilt, but I think there is enough fabric in there to spare. If not, I might have to go shopping. Probably from my stash because the triangle quilt has a plan with a wider range of colors. I know I will cut off the outisde points of the diamonds in the sashing, but I would have to waste a lot of fabric to save them. The inside points will be suffice.

I am thinking of a baby quilt and am still deciding on the size. I might add another round to these blocks.

2021:  Weeks 11 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

 

I spent my week making the teal and aqua rooftops. I forgot to show you this book with a fabric cover that  I received from Ronda Winstead. She runs the Stitching Fabrics, Papers & More Facebook group and has a YouTube channel as well. Thank you again, Ronda! It is so beautiful!

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 73 out of 73 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 Link Party Patchwork and Quilts

Quilt Reveal: Crazy Project

This week's Project Quilting challenge is to make a quilt inspired by crazy quilts. It came at a very opportune time since I had spent the week cutting up two wool jackets. The jackets were very well made and had lots of interfacing and sturdy features which made them good quality suit jackets to wear, but not really good candidates for wool gathering.  I now understand why wool is so expensive and come in small pieces. Next time I will look for skirts and pants.

The lining of the jackets were shiny and made me think they would make great crazy quilt material. I had three colors - two of them are shades of brown and are very similar to each other. I also have a fancy skirt with a lining which was a nice color to offset the browns. The fabric is slippery, but I thought if I made an improv crazy quilt, it would not matter if the lines weren't perfect.  The finished quilt only has one shade of brown. In the end, I decided I like the pleats and do not want to quilt them down.

There were several ideas, but my main focus was to keep it simple and easy, maybe a bar quilt with machine embroidery on the seams. I started on Saturday and since it is due on Sunday,  I just sewed them together, not caring if I got pleats or puckers. I figured I would add some stitching over them and no one would be the wiser. I also had a bald spot which I covered with applique.

While I always finish my Project Quilting quilts (it is a rule), sometimes it is a challenge. This week, I decided to be kind to myself and use the extras to make a small piece for the challenge instead. Big bars wouldn't be interesting in a small quilt, and since the edges fray easily, and to make it different from a bar quilt, I decided to making strings, cutting them up, and re-piecing them into three rows.

It is about 5" x 7".

2021:  Weeks 10 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

I spent my week washing and destructing two wool jackets. I also have two skirts and a blouse that will be deconstructed eventually.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 66 out of 66 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Monday Making 

Friday Foto Fun

Quilt Exhibit: People Quilts

Hello! Welcome back to the Musee de la Grande Route. You are in for a special treat today. I am showcasing a specially curated selection of quilts of my portrait quilts.  In this time of isolation and social distancing, I thought I would show you some people. 

 

First off, here is Kamaria. She is fairly new as she joined our collection in January. I really like her unplanned chin.

 

Next we have the recently named Rose. I just named her, even though she joined our quilt collection in February of 2020. I like her unplanned jaw line.

 

 Fuschia Fairy joined us July of 2019. 

 

Debi also joined our virtual quilt collection in July 2019. She fits the theme with two pairs of hands and four smiling faces.The physical quilt resides with Debi.

 Eyes joined our collection in June 2019. I find it curious that I made so many people quilts in 2019. 

 

Vintage Holiday was made January 2019. 

 Rey joined our collection in December 2018.

 

 

Winter Scene joined us January 2016.

Thank you for visiting Musee de la Grande Route. Lots of people, some dogs, even some birds, a robot and a snowman. I hope it meets some of your social needs.

 

 

You can see all of our Musee de la Grande Route exhibits or click on the links to see a specific exhibit:

People Quilts Exhibit

Holiday Quilts 

Elephant Quilts 

Scrap Quilts

Tree Quilts 

Red Quilts 

Belated 15 Minutes to Stitch Report

 

Hello! If you are here for my Dust Off an Old Quilt Book post, scroll down to March 1 post or click on the link.

 I didn't get a chance to post my 15 Minutes to Stitch report on Sunday because I was busy finishing up the Oak Leaf and Reel quilt I showed you in my last post.

2021:  Weeks 9 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

As I already stated, I spent this week working on the Oak Leaf and Reel Quilt and accompanying blog post,  but since I had the machine running, I also stitched up the edges for the little inchies I've made so far.  The inchies were supposed to be finished in the end of February, but since I enjoy the slow pace of the hand embroidery, I want to take my time and savor each stitch. I've made 11 of the 28 embroideries, which I think is a pretty good pace.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 59 out of 59 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

Quilt Reveal: Oak Leaf and Reel

 

 

Hello and welcome to my blog! Today, I am participating in the Dust Off an Old Quilt Book blog hop hosted by Beaquilter.  This is my third year participating in this blog hop, and I have enjoyed it each year.

In 2019, I dusted off a fairly new book, Cultural Fusion, and added a border to an existing quilt. I haven't quilted that quilt yet.

Last year, 2020, I made a Patchwork Envelope. I still haven't added the embellishments I am planning for that quilt. In that post, I showed you my oldest book, The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America, from 1935, but I didn't use it.

This year, I decided to dust off that old book and see what  I could make from that book. There lots of great choices. My favorites were pieced, but I don't have a lot of time, and thought a quick one block applique quilt would be a good choice. It could double as my small quilt of the month. I looked for a block with a relatively small number of pieces and chose the oak leaf and reel block.

The book doesn't have patterns, so I had to dust off another book, Folk Art Quilts, to get the pattern. You can see that book at the top of the post. I am expecting to get extra credit for dusting off two books for one quilt.

 

My fabric choices are shown in the first picture of this blog post. Even though it is winter and there was lots of snow on the ground, I chose an orange for the oak leaves. I chose the blues for the background to give it a modern twist. Then when I was cutting the fabric, I decided to give it another twist, and use the orange as the background and a blue for the leaves. Then I thought of using white as a background with the blue leaves. That would be the ultimate minimal modern quilt. Although I like them, I have a hard time making minimal quilts. I keep wanting to add more. So I decided against the white, and to leave the blue leaves on the orange background.

Well, it is nice, but boring.  I initially thought about adding a border. But adding a border would involve piecing, since I'd already cut the applique pieces so they would fit the fat quarter background.  It wouldn't be just four pieces to add to the border. I would have to piece the pieces to make them long enough and I'd already decided that this quilt would be applique instead of piecing.

I went to the Cave of Wonders to see what would help, and the genie threw some pieces at me that had been in the Maximum Minimal quilt. That woke up the Maximalist in me, and every day, as I walked by the table, I would add, remove, or move pieces on this piece. I didn't take pictures on this part of the process. This process took about two weeks and I have a lot of little bits that can be used on another quilt.

Then I looked at the calendar and decided I had to be done, so I used a glue stick to hold all of the pieces down.

With all these little curvy pieces, I knew that I had to free motion quilt this. The quilting holds down the applique. I haven't done any free motion quilting since my machine broke. I think it was the darning foot that broke it. It came in a kit with lots of different sewing feet and it was sturdily made but didn't have any give.  I have one that does have give and used it.  Free motion quilting is my favorite part of quilting. The only reason I have quilts that need to be quilted is that basting is my least favorite part of quilting and it has to be done first. 

I chose the dark teal for the binding and cut the pieces and sewed them together. But before I added them to the quilt, I changed my mind and decided to use the fabric that was used for the center flower.

I knew that it would be dark by the time I hand stitched this down, so I took a quick photo to prove that I had stitched the binding on the quilt.

And here is proof that I am hand stitching the binding down. I am scheduling this posting for early Monday morning, which means I can't show you a good reveal photo.

I took this photo before binding because I knew it would be the best lighting I would be able to get today.  I will replace this one with one of the bound quilt when I get a chance to get an image, so you may want to come back to see a grand reveal. This is my third year for the Dust Off An Old Book Blog Hop and my first year having a finished quilt. 

[Edited to add] Here is a quick shot I got before the wind blew the quilt away. I was able to catch it while it was still on the porch, but I will try for a better photo later. Maybe in the summer. This photo shows the colors pretty well. I've made several quilts lately with a yellow background. Each quilt has a different background and each one moved closer and closer to orange. This one definitely hopped the line to orange.

 

Thank you for visiting me during the Dust Off An Old Book Blog Hop. Thank you to Beaquilter for hosting this. Be sure to visit the other bloggers who are also participating in this hop.

Monday 3/1

Words and Stitches  

 Samelia’s Mum

High Road Quilter (that's me)

Tuesday 3/2

  Karin’s Crazy World

Lemon Tree Snippets  

 Anjaquilts

Wednesday 3/3

Beaquilter

   Cynthia’s Creating Ark

  A Quilting Readers Garden

Thursday 3/4

Kathy’s Kwilts and More       

Quilting Patchwork Applique

 The Darling Dogwood

 Creatin' in the Sticks

Friday 3/5

Beaquilter (the hostess)

Quilting at the farm  

 Kathleen McMusing

 

Also linked with:

Monday Making