Quilting At Last

The back story... or How years pass!

Once, a long, long time ago, someone got up out of bed in the morning, and said, "My, what a huge waste of fabric I have, in plastic bins, tucked away in a closet."  Yes, many of us have said this, and at least I'm proud to say mine is ALL in ONE closet.  Or, should I say that years ago my sauna became a closet?  Shame on me...

And, yes, that someone was me.  And I decided I could whip up a quilt top without shopping and OH! How rewarding that would be to diminish my fabric stash.  Do NOT be fooled, my foolish fabric friends... Today (August 25, 2018) I see NO difference in my stash.  

EIGHT years ago I pulled fabric out, intending to make quick work of it.  Here are the stories that lead up to today:

Quilt 1: Home Alone

Quilt 2: Count Down

Quilt 3: Shedding Light

Then FOUR years later:

Quilt 4: From the Past

Then Another Two years pass:

Quilt 5: Finishing?

I'm appalled that the bias binding has been hanging out for another 2 years...  and that had nothing to do with finishing at this date.  I was totally unaware of the timeline when I sat at the sewing machine yesterday and thought, I should really do something with that bias binding.

In the end, at some point, I took the whole thing with a backing, to my local fabric store and put real money with it so they would quilt it to make a coverlet.  And so I was pleased to see it when I pulled it out again.  Not so pleased when I realized that the brown bias binding that looked so promising reached exactly half way around it...  BUT, I soldiered on!  I found a section of a sheet (which I say proves I'm a hoarder) and I ripped, cut and sewed and cut more bias binding.  I intended to continue my "scrap" theme by piecing it together with the brown binding, but discovered that my new binding would be enough!  

It's a CRAZY quilt.  I started out symmetrical in the center, but lost my way and finished each side differently.   And my well-meaning idea to make it a duvet cover?  A year or so ago, I made a plain cover, so no need.  That would be just SILLY!

Interesting difference in colors, inside/outside.  Not bad for 8 years of work!

Finishing? More, please!

A photo repeat... just to confirm the fact that I don't seldom plan ahead, but try to prepare adequately.  Point is I have an abundance of dark brown bias binding.  Lucky for me, I have a truly scrap cover awaiting at home, and it could use a binding.  

Remember my many starts and stops:the coverlet/duvet cover  Only 6 years languishing in the closet.

I can dream! Maybe TWO QUILTING PROJECTS IN ONE YEAR!

At last!

How satisfying to sew by machine.  After years of hand sewing, not continually but in spurts, I think this is the end.  I don't know what happened to my plan to machine quilt the borders.  I'm glad I rejected it.  

I love this quilt.  Created by my daughter in 2004, as a project to keep her sanity between countries and education degrees, and discovered by me on an island off the west coast of Norway.  I scooped it up, and over the past years, as I spent a month or two a year visiting, I became obsessed 

...determined that it would finished in my lifetime, and NOT cross the Atlantic a second time.

Success it IS!  

I have to admit that it is not perfection.  The piecing design is lovely, but there are flaws everywhere.  I got so frustrated with the last border puckering that I had the scissors wrestled from me by my daughter, who insisted that it deserved to live.  So, people of the future, do NOT judge me by this beauty.  I used to make much neater stitches and measure more carefully.

I rest... until I finish here and pick up my knitting. 

The beginning of the end

The quilt from another decade...
And finally the binding for it!  I see a light!

Nanny Sewing

Sorry... These will be late reports on activities over the summer.  I could have posted in July.

Spending the summer in Norway, not a warm summer, but averaging 15ºC as the high temperature, I willingly put a quilt on my lap.  This is the quilt that my daughter pieced more than 10 years ago, and I have been quilting it periodically.  I pointed out (a year ago) that it wouldn't get finished if it was tucked away on a spare bedroom bed that was 100 miles away. It traveled back to Bergen with us a year ago, and this summer I managed to complete 3/4 of the inner border.  It had lots of competition!

Trips to the museums, the aquarium, playgrounds, daycare and school...and

In the first week I was there, I sewed this pretty dress.  She's a perfect size for a six-year-old. And lucky me...she likes to smile. (This is before losing her front teeth!)  Well, the tights aren't exactly a match, but I've learned to make decisions on things that matter.  The smile and photo are well worth it.

On Hold.

And then there was an unexpected project.
I can't stand to see (some) things unfinished.  Especially beautiful projects that have languished for years in upstairs spare bedrooms, with no hope of ever attaining FO status.
I'm guessing it has been at least 8 years since my daughter took over our house on a visit by creating, planning, and piecing this quilt.

Until I unfolded it this morning, I had no idea how HUGE it is.  What was she thinking?  This is stretched out on a California King-size bed.  It's turned so it is wider than long. And gorgeous, no?
As with many a quilt, I'm sure, the quilting got in the way.  It's so much fun to play with the colours and put it together, and so... time consuming, and heavy, and repetitious, to quilt it.  She has learned her lesson though.  She quilted most of the centre (not the outer two rows of inner blocks) and then put it away, and then folded it nicely on a single bed in her mother-in-law's upstairs spare room.  And she hasn't "quilted" a piece since.  She has made several smaller quilts, and sent them to be quilted by the local quilt shop.  And they are beautiful.
Unfortunately for me, obsessive-me, I slept in that bed last weekend.  Only it was 80 degrees in that room, I had to move it, and I discovered it needed binding.
Having 2-1/2 weeks left here, I thought... yeah, I can do that!  But this morning, I see how much work it's going to be.  When you count the borders, I bet it is half quilted.  I spent hours this morning replacing basting that had fallen out.  It will NOT cross the ocean, so if it gets closer to finished, that's what it will be.

 If I should get to the first border, it will be machine quilted from there.  In fact, I had grandiose plans to use the machine for the triangles, but the size of it, and the turning on those little pieces... to match what's there already, make it impossible.  I guess I'll be staying warm!

A 36 cm hoop.

No Yarn Was Harmed...

Sewing time again!

A few months ago, in my stash-busting phase, I selected projects to bring with me for summer.  Although it took me over a month since unpacking, I have been whittling away at my list.

First and most important was the dress for my granddaughter and a matching dolly dress.  I keep thinking I'll get a photo op of the two of them, but it won't happen until possibly this weekend, and ... I just can't wait.  She didn't receive the dolly (and dress) until her birthday, so she got some use of the dress for a few weeks, and she was happy to pose one morning!  She's getting tall... I had sewn this at home and waited to hem;   much to my surprise, I used the whole length. We call this her "New Mexico Dress."  Wild red and turquoise cactus print.

Much to my surprise, the Easter Egg wreath was still on the door, and it didn't go down without a fight--very popular, but last week this appeared instead.  I've had several wire wreath forms in my closet for a shameful number of years.  Confession:  I thought it would be a perfect project for my girl scout troop...uh, in the 90's.  A few leaves were cut out and assembled, so it was, like, "almost" done...Ha!  I used needle and thread for gathering, and a glue gun.  It's only a little more than 12" wide.  Kind of cute, and summery. (Do I have to make one for each season?  I'll keep that in mind.)

And most recently, placemats.  The dreaded failure of the first attempt (which still plans to be a doll skirt) set me back, but I'm still determined to stash-bust.  And certainly, if I carry this stuff to Norway, it isn't going back!  You can see that the funny (non-rectangular) pieces are from the snafu, and I sewed them together to make...strips.  As with any stash-busting project (of mine), I run out of colours, so each one is "unique".  The next four will be...very different.  Maybe there won't be another four...?

 This is the simplest of all patterns where you pile the batting on the backing and start stitching top pieces.  Trim them up and add a binding.  Even the binding I had from another project!  I'm happy!  (Will there ever be an empty bin from stash-busting?  A life-time goal, my friends!)

Sure, the sun is shining, and I could be outside knitting...  Happy Summer!

From the past...

A few months ago, I was sitting home alone, and I had an extra bed, and an extra room, and a wave of throw-things-out came over me.  The truth is, I'm a mini-hoarder, with stashes of yarn, and fabric. I don't even know for sure, but there are blogs from August 22 and September 4 and 8, 2010 showing my (lack of) progress.  Almost four years later I reached up to the top shelf, after moving the bagged pieces and project every six months, and I thought NOW IS THE TIME!
I was spurred on by a duvet that has never had a well-fitted cover, and instead of going out and buying fabric, I decided to be thrifty, and finish.
The truest sense of the meaning:  Scrap Quilt, yet it will be a duvet cover, with no batting.

It will be waiting for me to finish when I get home, so I can't promise a finished project until... it's finished.  I couldn't bear the thought of hand-quilting so my favourite fabric store took it with a 3 week backorder for machine quilting.
It could go back on the shelf....I wonder... 

A Little Quilt

Made with inspiration from Pinterest, using my daughter's ideas and my sewing skills, until (and this always happens during these joint projects) she suddenly realizes I'm either not dedicating enough time to this project, or I'm going too slow.  Or both.  Then she takes over, and I'm ironing and she's sewing.  Gotta love working side by side with my daughter on HER projects!

In a finishing frenzy this weekend... It needed the binding.   That means:

a) Find a color for the binding.  The other side is crazy hot pink and purple with Alice in Wonderland in light blue, with golden hair.  !!!!!!!

b) Find enough of that color (in my stash) to make a biased tape.

c) Confidently sew and cut to make the biased tape.  First measure out strips, re-measure, and re-measure, and then make it wider than I thought.  Binding can't be too big... it always seems too narrow. I like it to be doubled so the edges are durable.

d) Sew it on to the quilt, and hope for the best at the corners.

I do this every decade or so, so I'm always not-so-confident by the time I finish up, and give a sigh of relief when I don't have to seam-rip the whole thing.

It turned out well.

Why the frenzy?  My daughter writes to me:  Don't send the quilt until you've received a package I'm sending to you...  Ummm. Quilt? I think to myself... Oh, THAT quilt, the one folded on the sewing machine for the past 3 weeks.  I guess she would like it BEFORE Christmas.

Biased tape for binding? My grandma taught me to make my own.  Now I can't bear to buy it.  It's the right color, often made of leftover material.  I'm sure there's a youtube video with instructions these days.  I probably should have looked--it PROBABLY would have saved me some time.  Next decade...  

Finished: 57" x 43"

Ants and quilting

The ants are marching one by one... Hurrah!!  Taken a week ago, and now...not so many are marching.

And the machine quilting came back in record time!
I guess I didn't take a picture of the finished product.  It got a little hectic on the last days of our daughter's visit.  I tried to finish up projects, and managed to accomplish the binding off of that quilt, so it's in Norway, soon to be delivered to Denmark for C's sister-in-law's baby.  (GAH!  My daughter is going to be an AUNT!)
Meanwhile, the day she left, her second quilt was finished (at the shop for machine quilting), and suddenly it doesn't seem so crucial that I bind it immediately.
So I took pictures instead!  It looks like a dual-purpose quilt.  This side is suitable for company... Design: Thank you, Pinterest.

 And the machine quilting is amazing!

 The other side will be the popular side in a little girl's room, and probably won't be seen by company.

I just have to decide on the binding... Blue?  White?  Purple?  It will be awhile, because I see many other things I could be doing...

What happened to September?

Somehow, September became the shortest month of the year!  It takes a four-year-old to do that.  Her 12 hour days are cyclonic!
Much time was spent in the hot tub.  Grandpa helped her learn to use a snorkel, mask, and flippers.  I've never heard such silence!  She spent a lot of time UNDER water!!!

The sewing machine got lots of use, too.  Two crib/lap quilts were assembled.

A pullover that I knitted in 2007 returned for an updated collar.  It was "thought about" more than worked on, so it's still here needing to be tacked down.  I hope that the finished look will be this.  (It was a regular rounded neckline, with striped garter stitch.)  Ravelry link

It's a Loop-d-loop pattern.  A tricky fair isle with short rows.
I often become a "bag lady"... Used a pattern (from a previous post) to make a larger version as a satchel.  Dang... didn't take a picture of that either!  Maybe the owner will send me one!
And then there was the knitting that I carried around.  Didn't get much done...
Socks for the four-year-old, which if I don't get them in the mail soon, they won't fit.

Yes, photo is complete with cat tail...
And my Mystic Mosaic Jacket.  Ooooo... I love the colors which don't seem to reproduce well in photography.
I managed to finish both sleeves, and started the body, but yesterday I (again) thought that there seemed to be A LOT OF STITCHES.  Well, of course, there are a lot of stitches in the body of an adult knitted jacket... so yesterday, as I finished off row 10 of the chart I thought I ought to check gauge AGAIN!  The sleeves are fine... but the pattern is different on the body, (mosaic patterns), so I pulled some inches off of the needles and measured.  My calculations showed that with the number of stitches I had (which should give me a 46" diameter body, I confess---LARGE) I probably had close to 60" to wrap around me!!  I took it completely off the needles:

 Yikes!

 It was almost 60"!  Below I'm holding it out to show my friends... "Do you think it will fit?"

I spent the rest of the evening frogging and casting on.  Crazy lady... but better than discovering it later.
To my Shelridge Farms friend: I'm going to try casting on using the size SMALL, with lengths adapted for me.  WHEW!  Disaster averted, ....again and again and again and again.

A Day's Work!

The ANTS arrived!  In a tiny vial, in a big envelope, hurrying, and nasty looking... A quick trip to the refrigerator, and they slower down to less than a crawl, and were dumped into their new home.

It's some sort of space-age gel... and they went right to work!
Meanwhile, we went to work on a baby blanket.  It's for C's sister-in-law's baby due in October.  The idea of a blanket is always nice, but this one contains lace from a dress that C wore to sister-in-law's wedding!  More frogs, please!!

The back will be minkie material, and Oh-so-soft.  It will be machine quilted by Patchwork Pig! A quick project for little Robert half-Norsk-half-Dansk.

Blankets for memories

I like baby blankets. The ONE I made for my daughter was really not babyish, but a wool, self woven improvised blanket, that turned out to be just the right size for a baby basket bed.  I tucked my baby in under a little larger than pillow size duvet, and held it in place with my woven blanket.  Toasty!

Twenty six years later, my granddaughter got her own beautifully knitted blanket, knitted by her grandma (farmor).  It's a soft, flexible beauty!

A second blanket was handed down.  It was made by my grandmother for my daughter, and now is part of the nightly ritual for her daughter.  My grandmother meant a lot to my daughter and me, and though she never knew her great great granddaughter, her great great granddaughter cuddles with her every night.  The fabric is very soft, and the kitty is always popular.

The kitty's back is on the other side.  I'm so glad these blankets are signed!

More Art Forms

This isn't like me, but tonight I stumbled upon two great areas... (I'm not in the least enticed to attempt them, but I like looking!)
First, I follow Astronomy pictures.  Here's an astronomy Quilt!  Fascinating use of colors and shapes... and the next solar eclipse?
Second, I did something as simple as "Next Blog" when viewing my own last post.  And I found this:  Jewelry, which doesn't interest me in the least, yet somehow I couldn't stop myself from scrolling down, picture after picture.
Is this cheating?  Showing off the work of others?  Hope you don't feel cheated...

Shedding a Light on Countdown

My short blog from Monday evening was my attempt to let everyone know:
1.  They arrived.... C, H, and juju used 5 weeks to get to San Francisco.  Mick flew out there on Sunday afternoon, and arrived back 31 hours later.  For the latest highlights and advice on travel see:  Juju's Story.
2.  The quilt that needed to disappear by Labor Day... is finished put away.  I tried.  Really, but I overestimated my abilities.... (Maybe in November... or... who am I kidding?  It will be lucky to surface again in my lifetine!)
It's a "real" scrap quilt.  I'm making it because at a weak moment I decided to bust my fabric stash. I don't know what size I'm making or why or for whom, and no pattern--I'm just throwing pieces together.  Well, if that throwing bit were true, I'd be finished by now, yes?  So instead, I cut some pieces and look at it, and I look at patterns, and I sew and I move it around and... can you see why I'm not done?  I really put time in yesterday, as in 12 hours with a few hours off, and I added one (ONE) strip on one (ONE) side.

When I got the call that my family would be arriving in 4 hours, I put it together enough to make sure that when I get it out again, I'll have a plan to duplicate, and no more thinking involved. Now it's all nicely stowed in a tub to be forgotten  for just the right moment.  Good: There were lots of fabric removed from my stash. And snippings got thrown OUT. Bad:  It's in another sort of stash, labeled "UFO's".
2.1  The room needed to be useable tidied up to prevent a 14.5 month old from doing real damage to herself (i.e. ironing board, scissors, pins) or to me (i.e. unsorting of piles of pieces, and a place to sleep).  Here's before:

And after:

I like before and after pictures that have a happy ending!!

3. Will have to wait.  The dress that fits.... Juju is wearing it! Sans button:  See Princess Top.

Now do you know why I'm smiling??

Count down: 3 days

Even though my daughter has used her 2 hour a day driving to reach San Francisco in 5 weeks, I'm betting that M will get her back in 2 days...

Yikes!  I promised someone that I would have the quilt top pieced by Labor Day....
The reason:

And here's the progress since ... a few weeks ago.

As you can see, I took none of my options from then.

Home Alone

What can I do with a few days, and extra room to spread out?  First, I decided I needed to get rid of stuff!  What a noble project.  A closet? A drawer?  A shed!? 
I've been giving thought to my extensive stash of yarn, and then I remembered my "other" stashes...  I'll name only one: Fabric, left over from two decades of quilting.  (I wasn't knitting...)  
What am I going to do with all that fabric?  I know: Donate it, OR make something.  
I spent yesterday pulling all my fabric out of its hiding places in bins. I sorted it into colors.  And I figure I can sew up a quilt top, and sit and quilt in front of the TV ALL winter. 
I selected a colorway, and beginning in the middle, free form, (that is: NO pattern in mind) started to sew pieces together.  That's fine for the middle of a quilt, but from the middle, the quilt size grows... Yep, every time!  Hopefully I'll know when to stop!
Here are 3 placements of my triangles.  Feel free to comment.  BTW, I took the pictures NOT because I wanted to bore my blog readers, but so I could get a good view of the patterns.

I get a little too creative

A little too stripey: Why did I cut all the fabric?

This looks a little more orderly, AND like a quilt pattern.

Boring!  Now I'm stuck.

Lest you think I strayed, I have two huge bags of fabric to go to charity, and a lesser amount in the trash.  Still have 3-4 quilts' worth of fabric stashed.