My Quilting Week

Once a month, if I get around to it, I share my favorite pictures I took during the month. Winter is not a good picture taking season for me, but I did manage to get a few. These are my favorite pictures in January. 

2020:  Week 6 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

My stitching week consisted of making the hearts quilt I showed in my last post. I made two blocks for the shirts quilt. I need to make just two more before the row will be finished. I also cut some fabric and started on the quilt I am going to show you in March for the Dust Off an Old Book blog hop. I tend to start projects as soon as I know about them instead of waiting until close to the deadline, because I know how life changes can waylay the best of plans.

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7 days
15 minute days this year -- 7 out of 40 days
Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:
Life in Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Heart Quilt

When I learned that you could make a heart with squares and rectangles instead of triangles, and saw the sweet quilts that were made that way, I wanted to make that quilt.  But every February, when I saw a quilt that was made that way, I resisted.  I already have enough heart quilts. I need to work on some other holiday quilt, if I make a holiday quilt at all.

But then this month, I came across a quilt tutorial from Sew Can She. I was about to resist again, but then Project Quilting made it their challenge to make something with a heart on it. I can make this quilt and break out of my cycle of desire and resistance. How long can it take? One week max.

So I made it, adapting the pattern to make a small quilt. It took less than a week.

February 2, 2020. 02/02/2020 was the first global palindrome day in 909 years. The next will come in 101 years on 12/12/2121 and after that there will not be another until 03/03/3030. It was the 33rd day of the year and there are 333 days left.  The date is so special, wouldn't it be nice to have a quilt with a finish date of February 2, 2020 on it?  I started this quilt on that date, knowing there was no way possible I could finish it that day. I figure I can use that as a start date. Who said you can't put a start date on the quilt?

I decided to make a quilt with 20 blocks on it. I made the 20 blocks. I made the setting blocks. Then I realized there isn't a way to make a quilt on point with 20 blocks (If it is possible, please let me know how).  This meant I had to make the quilt with a straight setting.

While you are still close enough to the picture above, did you notice how perfectly the quilt sits on the batting scrap? The batting scrap is just exactly the right size.

Unfortunately, I had already chosen a border fabric when I took that picture. To finish it within a week, I birthed the quilt. I carefully cut the backing in two and pressed down the edges so that I could piece it like a pillow without having to sew any edges. The quilting would seal in the space where the pillow would be inserted.

However,  I made a mistake with the layers. I had the top on top so I could see the edges, the backing under it, right sides together, and the batting at the bottom. This meant that when I sewed it together, the top was upside down on the top and the batting was at the bottom. I had no access to the backing.  It is good that I had to piece the batting, because I had to cut into it to turn the quilt.  I was afraid that I would have to rip out sewing the edges, but once I had access to the back, I was able to turn it again to make everything be in the right  position.

I lightly quilted it so it would retain the sweet, minimal look.

Since the Project Quilting challenge is Put a Heart on It, let me show you the quilt on point so you can see the hearts! See, there are 20 hearts to represent 2020!

Quotation Quilt

I told you in my last post that I was working on my quotation quilt. I don't think I introduced you to it and thought a more formal introduction would be nice. Readers, meet quilt. Quilt, meet my dear readers.

This quilt was started before this blog. The blocks were made during a block swap. The economy blocks all have a muslin center that has a a quote that is inspiring or comforting to someone who is going through a difficult time.

My best guess is that this quilt was started in 2007.

I don't do block swaps anymore, but have several sets of blocks I still need to put together from that time.

I put the blocks together and decided that I wanted to do more to this quilt than quilt it and bind it. I enjoyed working with the quilt and wasn't ready for a quick finish.

I wanted to turn it into a crazy quilt.  Having never made a crazy quilt, much less one made with cotton fabrics, I tried to learn as much about them as I could. I learned that I should back the top with some interfacing to help support the weight of the embellishments. Then it sat. I now have interfacing, although I haven't attached it yet. Since I am only adding embroidery at this time, and I like the feel of working with just the cotton fabric, I will hold off on adding the interfacing.

Maybe at some point, I will test the interfacing to see how it feels.

It's pretty big. Maybe twin size or just a bit smaller.

I wrote this post to link up to Previously Backlogged Jobs.  I will be working on this quilt this year as a way to make progress on a UFO.  I don't know how I will know when it is finished, but any progress is good progress.

Linked with:
Put Your Foot Down #37
Creative Compulsions 
Friday Foto Fun

Week-long Variety Show

02/02/02. It's the 33rd day of the year and there are 333 days left. Superbowl Sunday and Groundhog Day. It feels like spring. What more can you ask for?

I wanted to take a break from the yo-yo quilt, but wasn't done with handwork, so I took out an old unfinished quilt. This quilt is made with blocks from a block swap. I have some embroidery on it already, but there is plenty of room for more.

I am not good at embroidery but anytime I do improv or folkart work, I feel the need to say that I wasn't aiming for perfection, so this looks perfectly imperfect to me.

I had chosen a different UFO to work on for this quarter, but this one called to me last night when I saw a Deborah Boschert project.  She uses a lot of ladders in her work. I don't know if mine looks like a ladder or a sidewalk, but either one works!

2020:  Week 5 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

My sewing machine which I got cleaned last fall needs repair.  The part that holds the needle seems to have moved so the walking foot doesn't fit and when I tried to replace the needle, I can't get a new needle to stay.

I have a backup which works wonderfully, but I was out of sorts this week, so I spent this week on a bunch of random projects.

• I finished the yo-yos for the  yo-yo coverlet and played with them to do a photo shoot.  That brown paper is what I used to wrap the shirts quilt in for gifting. Since I had it out, I sloppily put it up to create a backdrop for the yo-yos. I like the crinkliness of it, but I didn't put it up high enough. There will be more, better, photo shoots before they are put together for sure.  
• I made a small quilt for the Color It Red blog hop. I couldn't wait until February to make it.  I will give you a hint as a bonus for reading this far. It is made with red yo-yos! 
• I made the face index card I showed you last time.
• I added the ladder and sun to the quotation crazy quilt as shown at the top of this post.
• I also cut another uniform shirt to make the last row of the blue shirts quilt.

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7 days
15 minute days this year -- 7 out of 33 days
Success rate  = 100%


Linked with:

 Life in Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5

Index Card Portrait

I am still making the index cards and wanted to show you the one I made yesterday. It's made with fabric scraps from the yo-yo coverlet. I used a marker to draw the glasses.

When cutting the circles, I was cutting over a recently-emptied shoebox so that the fabric trash would fall into it. I've been really good with throwing out the fabric trash lately, but the holiday moved trash day from Friday to Monday, so the box is really full. I think I may use more of these pieces before next trash day.

Yo-Yo Progress

The little princess was tucked neatly into the bed.

This is how I found her in the morning. She must have found the pea. Or maybe Zeus decided he wanted to sleep on the bed.

Where we left off in making the yo-yos:

I used up all of the reproduction fabric Wendy gave me to make yo-yos (pillows) and mattresses. Or maybe they are coins and billion dollar bills.

I used up all of the English Garden fat quarter pack.

I used up the parts of the other fat quarter pack I had bought for this. It was designed to give the feel of the 1930s although I don't think it was reproduction fabrics.  I didn't add the whole pack because there were some fabrics I put in a scrap quilt. At the time I had a different idea of what colorway I was using for this coverlet.

This is where we are now:

 

This is what 700 yo-yos look like together, minus a few that were too shy to get in the group shot. Only a few left to go.

I also went through my stash to find other fabric to use. Mostly micro-floral, dots and checks. A lot of these are calicos from the 80s and 90s so I am happy to finally give them a place to shine.

This coverlet uses a lot of fabric because the front and the back of the coverlet is being made at the same time.  And there is more fabric waste in cutting circles instead of squares. I don't understand how yo-yos were a depression era pattern because it is wasteful.


The additional fabrics were more saturated colors and darker that were added that changed the direction of the colorway I was using. In my defense, it is winter. And let's face it, I wouldn't have been able to make a pastel quilt in the spring either, unless I chose all the fabric at once and stuck with them throughout the making. I love the look of it, but like a minimal quilt, it is hard for me to do.

The last few (56) yo-yos have mostly pinks in them.

While the resulting yo-yo pile looks like a mishmash of everything, I was very selective in what I was adding.  I let intuition be my guide and can't really tell you why a particular fabric was selected or rejected. Hopefully they all play together nicely. What do you think? Do you see any fabric that doesn't belong?

2020:  Week 4 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

I spent this week making  yo-yos and mattresses for a yo-yo coverlet I am making to reproduce the one I saw in New Orleans. That one was all one color (cream).

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7 days
15 minute days this year -- 7 out of 26 days
Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:
Life in Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch 
Put Your Foot Down - Linky Party Thursday 
Peacock Party 
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

A Bed for a Princess

 

I took a break from making multiple yo-yos to make a bed for a princess. Hopefully she won't feel any peas under there. 

These are some of the squares that the yo-yos will encircle when they are finished.