Hothouse Rose

When I showed you the quote quilt last weekend, I had pinned a paper pattern of the rose I planned to add next. It is a fairly long rose. Since it spans three rows, I had to find just the proper space that has room on the left and right sides of the quote and blue blocks as needed. I tried three or four spaces until I found one that would accommodate the motif.

I decided to make the rose using a satin stitch. Crazy quilts need satin stitch motifs and a rose seems like a good satin stitch motif.

What I knew but tried to ignore, is that satin stitch takes a lot of time to work up. Filling in the shape with color involved a lot of stitches. Satin stitches would require me to be more careful about laying the stitches correctly next to each other without pulling too tightly. A big shape would take a long time to fill. In my defense, it is a long motif and doesn't especially look like there is a lot of space to color in.

What I didn't know until it was too late is that it would be a particularly hot week. What I didn't think about until it was too late, is that adding a motif to the center of the quilt in a really hot week meant that the quilt would be covering me up. I managed to add the stitches on a pull out ledge on my desk which kept the quilt from resting on me, but it was still pretty warm.

One day, as I was watching a video, I braided some pieces of thread.  Since I had the braid, I decided to give the dog a braided rug. The plan was to give him an oval rug, but now it is a perspectively-challenged round rug or a maybe it's an exercise ball.

2020:  Weeks 32 and 33 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

During this two week period, I have mostly been adding the rose to the quote quilt. At this rate, it might take two more weeks before I am finished with it. This entire space has a lot of stitching. The tree on the left has lots of leaves, and the quote on the left is the one that is stitched.

15 minute days this week -- 14 out of 14

15 minute days this year -- 175 out of 229 days

Success rate  = 76%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch
Slow Sunday Stitching
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making

Snow!

It is warmer today.

And it snowed last night.about 3-5 inches.

So it is a much better picture taking day.

Quilt Reveal: Vintage Holiday

As you know, I have been working on the Vintage Holiday mini quilt. I missed the deadline for Project Quilting, and decided to take my time and hand stitch the binding. It looks much neater when I hand stitch because I don't have a lot of practice machine sewing the binding.

 I finished putting the binding on Vintage Holiday last night, and was very proud of myself for getting it done before the end of the month. After all, it is only the 30th and there are 31 days in January. It was even done way before midnight so I was more than a day ahead. It turns out everyone else was finished before me. They apparently don't know that when something is due on the end of the month, that means it should be finished at exactly 11:59 p.m. I couldn't post last night because I didn't want to show nighttime pictures of my quilt. My pics look bad enough during the winter day. Anyway, here is my grand reveal.

So here it is the end of the month

and time to share 

 my monthly mini challenge

organized by Wendy, the Constant Quilter.

Vintage Holiday was started January 21 and finished January 30. It uses solid red fabric and two white prints. The binding is a slightly textured red print. The pattern comes from Christmas Quilts and More magazine. I used an embroidery stitch to stitch down the red background and fused the applique down.  I sandwiched the quilt, and stitched all the applique pieces down with free motion quilting. I also outlined each of the applique pieces to make them stand out.  I realized that there was a blank space on the right side, and instead of making another sled, I decided to add a dog.  So now, this quilt fits in the dog quilt category as well as the red and white, the winter, the small quilts, and the holiday categories.

The red background is quilted with windy swirls and the white background has downward sloping lines to resemble a hill. I had a great time quilting it.

I woke up one morning, realizing that the dot under the O in Season's was supposed to be the dot for the I.  I was disappointed in myself for not following the instructions or at least thinking it through, because if I had switched those two O's, they would look more like a snowman. When I looked at the pattern, it looks like I did follow the instructions. In the unlikely event I ever make this quilt again, I will move the word Seasons so that the i is properly dotted. (It is unlikely because I don't like to repeat what I make, not because I didn't enjoy making it.)

I added a lace trim just over the  top because the lace wouldn't show over the white so there was no point in it. I also added a lace garland over a tree as a special treat for those who took the time to look closely at the quilt. In these pictures, the lace on the tree looks too white. I might have to find a way to tea stain it.

I added a corner triangle on the back for a label. The backing uses the same white as the trees.  I even went outside in the frigid temperatures to get you this and the picture at the top of the post.

Linked with:
Friday Foto Fun

Quilt Reveal: Red and White Tree

Two quilt reveals in a row!  I am on a roll!

The last time you saw this quilt, it looked like this:

This is a third generation of the red and white quilts, and I was pretty sick of the red and white by now.  I've already learned that the fabric looks pink from a distance and doesn't even play nicely as a red and white quilt, so making a third one of these was irritating me.  Whoever made up the arbitrary rule that I should keep making red and white quilts?

I looked at the package I won, and back at this quilt, and decided the green would look quite nice as apples.  I know you and I both thought that the red could be leaves or apples, but we were both wrong; the apples are green. Since this was supposed to be a scrap quilt, I found some other scraps that might work and brought them downstairs. (Yes there is a blue apple and yes I did that on purpose.)

I added a sun to the top left corner, because all of the drawings I made as a child had one of those. I didn't color very dark as a child so the fact that this sun isn't very bright is fitting.

We had a power outage and I decided to work on this quilt by candlelight. I did not get a chance to audition the fabric, but I kept telling myself "You have a red tree. Does it really matter what color this is?" The eyes are big because I didn't dare to make them any smaller. There is no way I would have found them if I dropped them. I like how the baby bird looks like it is about to fly. Maybe it is a flying lesson. Or animatedly telling Mama what happened at school.

I added the grass, and teased it  so it would fray.  I had to add a doggie. It doesn't look like Zeus, but it does look like a dog. I put him on top of the grass, because that is what I would have done in kindergarten.  This dog is so light, he walks on blades of grass.

I used some tulle to cover the quilt before quilting.  The gluestick was old and the glue is washable and I wanted to make sure everything stayed properly in place. I was worried that the glue might stick to the needle and make it difficult to quilt, but it didn't. The tulle makes the blue look like denim from a distance.

 
 I made cloud-like scribbles in the tree as I would as a child. I also added diagonal lines across the background to represent the rays of the sun.  Let's see, I have apples, birds and a dog on the quilt. A, B, D.  It seemed like I needed something that started with the letter C. I thought "color" might be too obscure.  I didn't want car or cat, so I had to look in the dictionary for other C words.  I added a clover.  While I had the embroidery thread out, I added other little bits around the quilt too, which you can see in the pictures throughout this post.

And in case that doesn't look like clover, or think shamrock instead of clover, I added a little carving in the tree.

Here's the finished quilt. I used the same apple green fabric for a wide binding. I wound up having a seam in the bottom left corner, making it bulky, but I think it is okay.

Here it is with its parent.The grandparent quilt had to be sent to the nursing home because there wasn't enough room for it.  This quilt was a lot of fun to make from start to finish.

Linked to:
ScrapHappy Saturday 
Let's Bee Social

Quilt Reveal: Dog Gone Cute

Dog Gone Cute is ready for a quilt reveal.

This is Lorna Mahon's pattern from Sew Fresh quilts.  She offered it on her blog for free.  She has many other dog patterns as well.  She is also getting ready to host an Ugly Sweaters quilt-along.

I adapted this one - okay, it was partly an error that I decided to keep because I thought it would get a longer nose this way.  Then I looked at Zeus and realized that I only see his nose when he is looking down but when he is looking up, I see his mouth and chin.  So I  gave the quilt dog a chin.


I quilted straight organic lines, like Lorna would do, but it looked like the Bad Dog picture in the Small Quilts photo album. He looked like he was in jail. I then quilted wavy lines between all the straight lines. I started on the right side, and didn't like the really wavy lines so I made them less wavy as I went to the left.

I bound it with a solid brown. To make sure it got finished this month, since I don't have hand work time, I sewed down the binding on both sides by machine.  It isn't perfect, since I am not used to doing to sewing down the binding by machine (and I was sewing from the front where I couldn't see if the binding was catching on the back), but I managed to get it done, and pretty quickly too.

I showed you the back of the quilt yesterday. With so many finishes so quickly and limited space, the improv elephant quilt didn't get to stay on the bulletin board very long.

It is 17"  x 17 3/4". To see other posts about this quilt, click on the Dog Gone Cute label under this post or in the sidebar. To see other posts about finished quilts, click on Quilt Reveal label under this post or in the sidebar. I think I finished more quilts this month than I did all of last year combined.

Wanda said that for each finished quilt, I can start three new ones. Who am I to argue with that?  So I have picked out three quilts to start!

Shirts Quilt

I received a stack of solid blue shirts from my brother-in-law and I have decided to make a quilt with these to give back to him.  I was considering all kinds of quilt patterns to make but I recently saw the Gee's Bend documentary, and saw a quick glimpse of a Courthouse Steps quilt. The steps are on two sides instead of all four sides.  It only uses two colors and there is very little of the other color.  I figure I could use a pair of jeans for my second color, and make this simple quilt that showcases the shirts.  I won't make it improv method though; I think he would prefer straight lines.  This will be a pretty big quilt though, even if it means I have to buy more shirts, so it won't be a quick finish.

Adinkra Quilt 2016

Debby Kratovil is offering an Adinkra Quilt 2016 block of the month.  I have decided to join her, because this quilt uses African fabrics in a beautiful way and I want to use my African fabrics. It is a simple quilt. Alternating blocks are pieced, and one design is appliqued every month. When I printed the pattern, it printed smaller than the size needed to make the block. This is probably my fault, since I didn't check to see if the printer was going to print actual size.  I was going to consider reducing the size anyway, and now I didn't need to. I decided to use the smaller size. I am going to have to remember to make my alternating blocks smaller.

Scrap Quilt

I am going to start cutting fabric for my next scrap quilt.  When I pull out scraps for the Quilty 365, I wind up having to put the remaining scrap away.  I think it would be better for me to trim these scraps down and get them ready for a scrap quilt.  I am thinking Quilt Vortex, which lets the scraps be the size they are for the most part.  I also want to start cutting fabric for the triangle quilt for my own bed.  I haven't made a quilt for my bed, and although it hasn't bothered me before, it is bothering me now. Mostly because my Walmart quilt is shredding to pieces day by day.

Linked to:
Fabric Tuesday 
Linky Tuesday 
Let's Bee Social #110

Quilt Reveal: Winter Scene

I have a surprise quilt reveal for you today.

This quilt was made for the Seasons Quilt challenge at Persimon Dreams.  The challenge is to make a quilt, from start to finish, in one week.  Yes, you heard that right.  It takes me an average of two years to make a quilt from start to finish.I have a spreadsheet that says so, although it is not accurate since it does not include quilts that have not been finished yet, so the average is actually much higher.  I - someone who takes an average of more than two years to finish a quilt - made this one in three days.  This quilt will really help with my average, so thanks for this challenge!

In order to make a quilt this quickly, besides dedicating a lot of time to do it, is to go with the first idea that popped into my head. I drew a picture, found some fabric (mostly non-quilting), used up a lot of my recently-purchased fusible, and quilted them down. I folded under the front and folded over the back to finish it. I made the drawing on a back of an envelope and then remembered I now have a notebook for such things

I then put away the drawings and just used my memory and fabric to recreate the scene. I chose non-quilting fabric in an effort to use them up. I put the tree up before the windows, and messed up the perspective of the house. Oh well, that's what folk art quilting is all about!

I like the sparkly velvety tree fabric. It looks like snow sparkles.

I quilted down the applique.  The needle became gummy and the thread kept breaking, but I kept on going.  The quilting added a lot to the folk artsy nature of this quilt. I hand embroidered the faces on the people, the dog and the snowman.

The size of the batting scrap determined the size. After carefully trimming the batting, I trimmed and folded the  background fabric to the back to keep it from unraveling. I then trimmed and folded the backing up and machine sewed it down as a binding.

The fusible did not stick to the wool very well, hence the pointy toe.

I guess it is fitting that the winter weather keeps these pictures so dark.  I used white boards to back light it, opened the window blinds, used a flash camera, and auto-lightened the image with an image editing program. 

It's about 13 inches square.

Please vote for my quilt in the challenge.

Linked to:
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Let's Bee Social #109 
Scrap Quilt Challenge