Hunkered Down

It has been very cold here and there is still a bit of snow on the ground. Not inviting outside, to say the least. Plus I have been fighting off a cold. So, plenty of time for sewing. Kaleidostar is as done as I can get it until more fabric is purchased for the final border. It will probably be black, but I don't have anywhere near enough, so maybe tomorrow I will get out and go on a fabric hunt.

The lily is from a photograph that my husband took. I printer it onto fabric and am trying my hand at thread painting. It's maybe 50% done. Lots more to do on it. It's a challenge piece for our guild's quilt show in March. The challenge was to make a miniature quilt with a flower on it somewhere. It's about 14" square.

Making Slow Progress

Making slow progress on Kaleidostars. I am battling a cold and the little energy that I have appears in fits and starts. The blue looks like, well, blue in the photo but in reality it is turquoise/teal.

Kaleidostar Block

On Saturday our guild had a workshop with Toby Lischko of  Gateway Quilts 'n Stuff. She taught her pattern, Kaleidostars. The tecchnique takes advantage of symmetrical fabric and you use mirrors to choose sections of the fabric to use. The two fabrics in the LeMoyne Star are by Paula Nadelstern. Jason Yenter and Jinny Beyer also design fabrics that work well for this use.

While I love my block as pictured, it is going to need revision because of how the purple fabric will be positioned in the finished quilt. Although it looks okay in the photo below, in reality the purple next to the black is kind of dark. I am thinking of switching it out for the turquoise.

It is snowing here today and thankfully we are not getting the 10" of snow that was originally predicted. If we get 4" by the end of the day, that is about right in my book. Good day for sewing. I am finishing up the binding on Grandmother's Choice. Photos soon.

Ready for Lights!

Holiday Lights is almost ready for the lights. I know that the the green cord line is not perfect, but I think once the lights are on, it will be okay. That's my plan anyway. The upper left hand loop is not done, by the way. It's where the strip starts and ends and will be done by hand to make it neater.

Making 260 inches of bias using Alex Anderson's technique was probably a mistake. It's not as even in width as I would  have expected. She uses a technique of cutting 1" strips, folding the lengthwise edges in to the center to get started, then feeding the strip through a pin anchored to the pressing surface. That works pretty well until you hit one of the seams in the strip. It was kind of a mess to do frankly and the only reason I didn't use my bias binding tool was that it makes a 1/4" bias strip instead of the slightly larger size that Alex's method is supposed to make - around 1/3". Frankly, I doubt that small difference would have been a bad thing and it would certainly have been neater. I debated taking it all back off and starting over, but after it was pressed and sewn down it looked a lot better. Any little messes will get a light slapped over them. I can then call this top done and get some sewing done on stuff that has to be finished for our quilt show in six weeks.

I still need to finish a bit of quilting on one wallhanging, sew sleeves on three more quilts, and bind one quilt that is still at the longarmer. Oh yeah, I also have to make the flower challenge quilt.

Puzzler Top is Finished!

When I pick up Grandmother's Choice from the longarm quilter, I will take The Puzzler with me for quilting. I already have the fabric for the backing.

Celtic Solstice, the Bonnie Hunter 2013 Mystery Quilt, is also completed and back from the quilter. Photo coming soon.

And, thanks to a nudge from Kevin, I have resumed working on the Christmas Lights pattern by Alex Anderson, seen here, 154 1" half square triangle units are currently under the needle. They form the first border.Then begins the task of making several yards of bias for the second border applique.

Puzzler Borders

Puzzler blocks are all finally finished and the first border (dark one) added. I finished this while on a quilt retreat with my quilting group last week. The next border will be the turquoise one seen on the right side of the quilt top in the photo above.  After that will be the final one, the Kaffe Fassett "Big Blooms" in the brown coloration seen previously here. I was able to shop the stash of one of my quilt buddies and found the perfect fabric. Thanks, Linda!

I have been adding sleeves and labels to the six quilts that will be entered into our guild's show in March. Not much else going on here.

Utility Sewing

I have been doing a lot of what I would call utility sewing. Our guild's quilt show is coming up in about eight weeks. I have entered eight quilts and every single one needs a hanging sleeve. One needs a bit more quilting and the binding as well. And then, there are two large quilts that just went off to the longarmer this week. I have been promised that they will be done in plenty of time for me to add binding, hanging sleeves, and labels in time for the show.

Last year I put together blocks made by elementary school children. I mentor one day a week in a public school. The project was led by the school's art teacher and was inspired by the book, "Sweet Clara's Freedom Quilt." This week I finally got it quilted and bound.The story is about a young slave girl who sews a quilt with secret map blocks that will aid slaves escaping to freedom. Quilt historians have pooh-poohed this idea and really, if you have ever seen one of the rare extant slave quilts, you will see why. Roughly made from homespun fabrics that resemble slightly refined burlap,  they are utilitarian through and through. There is no historical evidence whatsoever to support this fantasy. Nonetheless, here is the quilt with blocks designed by the students.

I have also been working on putting "The Puzzler" together. My small group of quilting buddies made the blocks for this quilt over a year's time. Each block has a bit of the inspiration fabric in it that we all used to get us started. The quilt show registrar has said that we need more quilts for the show and I was trying to get this finished in time. But don't like to be rushed, because then I just throw stuff together and regret it later, so this will probably not be in the show.

I gave up making the blocks on time at some point, and needed three more out of the 12 in the pattern. One has been made, but I still need to make three more. They are two of the three blocks in the next row, so work has been halted on the layout until they get made. Peeking out from behind the Puzzler blocks on the lower left is a bit of  Grand Illusion, Bonnie Hunter's 2014 mystery quilt, which has been put on the back burner while working on more pressing things.

I am auditioning border fabrics and the strip on the right is "Big Blooms" by Kaffe Fassett in the brown colorway. I really like it for this project, but wish it had a bit of turquoise in it. Maybe more fabric hunting is in store for me.