Back to Quilting!

 My back has healed enough that I am not in constant pain and can sit at my sewing machine long enough to make it worthwhile. While I was unable to do that, I did some hand work - mostly EPP projects. Lately I have been putting together and quilting smallish baby-sized quilts. Our guild makes up kits with donated fabric. The kit includes everything needed to make a small quilt from start to finish - 5" squares in various coordinated fabrics, batting, backing, binding fabric (already cut!), and a label. They do a really nice job with the kits and are generous with the items they include so you don't run short.

Currently I am working on Hexagon Charm School with Gyleen Fitzgerald. I am also participating in her sew-along from  her booklet, "Evolution." Although these blocks were made in the smallest size using acrylic template intended for EPP, I managed to sew them by machine to speed things up.

I have photos of several other things I have made since feeling better, but the photos are on my phone and I am composing this on my desktop. When I get the photos transferred over, more photos will be forthcoming.

Some Respite in Sight (I hope)

 I still have terrible back and leg pain from a piece of protruding disc that is caught between two vertebrae and impinging on a nerve root. I also have/had (healing now) a compression fracture of one of the lumbar vertebrae. Yes, it's as painful as it sounds. I have tried hot/cold, prednisone, acupuncture, physical therapy and pain killers. However none of this is going to move the vertebrae off the nerve. I will probably need some relatively minor surgery to fix this.

In the meantime I have been able to sit for a time in some comfort in a recliner and work on EPP and other hand sewing projects. That is truly a blessing as otherwise the time hangs heavy on my mind and hands.

Healing. Slowly.

 I am slowly healing from the pain of sciatica. Lots of clinicians/therapists visiting and treating me at home. That's one silver lining to the whole Covid pandemic. Many practitioners have already changed over to online or in-home protocols. I have found that ice and Aleve are more beneficial than heat and ibuprofen. There are daily stretches and exercises to do as well, which I am doing religiously.

I have mostly been working on the cross stitch project shown in the previous post - that is as my pain level allows. The past few days have been better so I am making progress. I have a few baby quilts for donation that are small enough that they could be sandwiched on my breakfast bar. If I feel up to it I may get them ready so that when I can again sit at the sewing machine, they will be ready to quilt. Needless to say, my therapists are not happy to hear that. They don't like the idea of sitting for any period of time. I am not sure what the alternative would be. Lying in bed? I certainly can't stand for a prolonged period. 

We had a big snowfall Wednesday overnight and all day yesterday, Thursday. We received around 8 inches where I live. It could have been worse. It was predicted that a record could occur of up to 18 inches! It's very pretty and I am glad that I can't drive right now. It's supposed to be in the 50s by this time next week.

With anticipation that I will have something quilty to show soon, I will sign off now. Wishing that you are all safe and warm.

Hiatus

 I won't have anything to post about quilting for a bit. I am not sure for how long. Sciatica has reared its head and I am not comfortable sitting at the sewing machine for any length of time.  I have taken up an unfinished cross stitch project for now.

I am working with a personal trainer, chiropractor, and physical therapist to vanquish the sciatica. Nothing is immediate as far as pain relief. Fingers crossed that I feel well enough for Quilting on the Beach next month. I am going come hell or high water!

Asian Attitude

This is the third UFO completed this year. It only needed the dark outer border cut and sewn on. This was a BOM from a local quilt shop started in 2009. The center of each block is an Asian print. Various indigos with a constant cream fabric are the alternate blocks. It's in the pile for the longarm quilter.

Next I am looking for another quilt made from BOM blocks from the same local quilt shop. I set the blocks on point with Kaffe Fassett fabric in autumnal colors. I saw it recently so it shouldn't be too hard to lay my hands on it. I even have a photo. BOM started in 2011.

 

Update 1/17/2022. I found the project box with this top in it. I also found plenty of extra fabric for borders.

And Then There Were Two

 Two finishes for 2022, that is. Stepping Stones, a paper-pieced Judy Niemeyer pattern, needed only the outer border, a print by Kaffe Fassett.  Truthfully, I don't know why I procrastinated so long.  It's really childish.

Admittedly this is not a great picture, but you get the idea. I like this pattern a lot and I remember that I enjoyed piecing the individual blocks. At the time I started this (August 2014) in a guild workshop with May Gunter, a certified Judy Niemeyer instructor, I bought an extra set of papers to make a second quilt. I can't find them, so I may order them again. I am forcing myself not to order them until I get a fair number of UFOs finished, otherwise I will be down the rabbit hole again, starting something new when I have plenty of things to finish up. 

One of my fellow guild members was working on this same pattern at retreat in October. She was using jelly rolls in neutral shades with gorgeous metallic highlights. If I was able to locate the same - or similar - fabrics, I would already be down the rabbit hole. She had bought the jelly rolls by haunting every JoAnn's for miles around. I was amazed that she had found them there, because I had never seen anything like them in JoAnn's.

First Finish for 2022

 Virginia Bound is a completed quilt top. I am pleased with how it turned out. Bonnie's directions are really well written. I had to do only a minimum of futzing and finagling to get the borders to fit. I changed the dimensions from using 3" squares, as her pattern directs, to 2.5" squares and I still got it to work. 

I intended to finish a second UFO today - Stepping Stones - a  Judy Niemeyer paper pieced top. The universe conspired against me, though. Power went off in my house shortly after noon today. Service was spotty. Refrigerator, furnace, garage door and some lights and sockets worked. The range, microwave, kitchen lights, sewing room, internet and wi-fi were out. The culprit was AT&T. They have been installing underground cable for a 5G network since the summer. Despite all the underground utilities being marked with literally hundreds of flags, the AT&T workers still managed to nick quite a few electrical lines. That was the case at my house. It's strange because some houses lost all or partial power and some not at all. The Ameren supervisor I spoke with a couple of months back said that AT&T will be getting a bill for all the damage they have caused.

Suffice it to say that by the time I set up a temporary sewing station in my living room, the power came back on but it's early evening here and I am done for the day. Tomorrow I will tackle Stepping Stones.

2022: Year of the UFO

 Two years later and Covid is still with us. After a brief period of relative "freedom", I am back to being more careful and restrictive in my activities thanks to the Omicron variant. With the start of the new year, I am focusing on completing some of the many UFOs that clutter up my sewing area. I don't make resolutions as such, but I t think it will be productive to take stock of things and work on some of the UFOs I have. This is one that was started in late 2018 or early 2019. It is Virginia Bound from Bonnie Hunter's book, "From Scraps to Shirttails" and uses thrifted shirts. It was taking up three large containers - a basket and two large plastic bins - in my sewing area so it makes sense to clear those out. After taking stock of what I had already completed, I only needed to sew together a block to make enough for the quilt top. Then I worked on the borders, which are now almost complete. Tomorrow should see this UFO done and dusted. Well, at least the top. I will have it long-arm quilted, putting it in the queue for quilting.

I have made several projects that Gyleen Fitzgerald gave us for getting through Covid. Here is "Library."

This is Men's Undercover (her title, not mine).

Both of these have been quilted and donated to a local charity organization. Here is a table or bed runner from one of Gyleen's books: It is not quilted. At some point I will quilt it myself.

Here is "Octo", a paper-pieced pattern that I started several years ago when Janie Lou, a local quilt shop, was still in business. The blocks are fairly large and I really think this would have been easier to do with conventional piecing instead of paper piecing. My daughter liked it, so I gave it to her.. 

The next photo is made from the alternate blocks of a local quilt shop's BOM from  ten (?) years ago. It just lacks some sashing and a border. I have the fabrics selected and stored with the top. I really don't like sewing on borders; I find it boring and several projects in the UFO pile just need borders. How pathetic is that? I have even taken this one to retreat with me, but didn't touch it. Time to finish it up. The setting was inspired by a quilt in one of Kaffe Fassett's books.

 

I have another BOM from the same shop that is in the UFO pile to finish. It also only needs borders. there is also a Judy Niemeyer project,, "Stepping Stones" - all done except for - you guessed it - borders. I may be able to get the two BOMs and "Stepping Stones" finished this month. Wouldn't that be great!

After these are dealt with, it will be time to take a deep dive and see what else I can finish. There are at least two Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts lurking in bags and bins somewhere in the chaos of my sewing room. There are also two leader\ender projects of hers around somewhere, too. One is Hourglass, which I got bored with but want to complete. I could probably stop now and get it into the long-arm queue, but I would like to add one more round of  blocks - possibly in red - to make it large enough for a queen-sized bed quilt (.https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/07/hourglass-leader-ender-challenge.html). the other is Cheddar Bow Ties. I have quite a few blocks made, but they are so small, finishing at 3", that it takes a ton to make a top of much size. I will see what I have and perhaps settle for a throw sized quilt.

I have been busy the past couple of years making a ton of small baby quilts for local charities that our guild supports. There are too many to show here and quite a few were made from kits  of  5" squares that the guild gives to members. The fabric is donated and they are not all that exciting. Someone else selected the fabric, cut the squares, then bundled them up with batting, backing, binding, and a label. I feel a sense of accomplishment when they are completed, but it's kind of mindless work. I appreciate the kits; having everything packaged up is a real time saver and I can usually knock one out in a couple of hours.

I cam back to my blog because it affords more opportunity to document things than Instagram. Stay tuned. I will try to be more regular in posting.