Last, But Not Least, Huddle

We're coming to the end of the pile of my recent finishes.

This one is called Huddle and I was drawn to it by the placement of all of the light blocks in the centre of the quilt framed by a border of darker blocks. It's all the same block, just positive and negative versions of it. It reminds me of a woven coverlet.

My favourite niece gifted me the pattern a few Christmases ago and I am so happy that it didn't take me 20 years to get to it! Four or five, maybe, but that's a short timeframe in my quilting calendar 😉.

Roberta suggested quilting it with a really dense feather pattern and she wasn't wrong. It's beautiful. Just row after row of lovely, wavy feathers. Appropriately, it is called Abundant Feathers.

Here's a closeup of the backing fabric - a nice biscuit coloured print that plays well with the assorted colours on the quilt top itself.

There are several reds in the quilt and I chose yet another one for the binding. It's not bright and flashy so it doesn't affect any of the blocks and the beige in it works really well with the backing.

Like most of my quilts, there tends to be a little bit of everything in this one, but that's how I like them. Now to get back to that TO DO list....M

p.s. If you'd like to order the pattern it is available from Eye Candy Quilted. I added an extra row to mine.

It's Time To Bind

It seems that my quilts very seldom go from start to finish in a big rush. Instead, they simmer at various stages. Eventually the spirit moves me and it's on to the next stage, so now this bundle is ready for bindings. As a reminder, from top to bottom they are Snippets, God's Green Earth and Huddle.

All three have been quilted for a few months now but it has taken this long to trim them up and start prepping the bindings. That's okay. I've enjoyed seeing them and knew that once the spirit moved me I'd get at them.

It's amazing how much smaller the pile is now that they are trimmed of the excess batting and binding and how you really see the quilt without all of the extra bits.

And I get to enjoy another good look at Roberta's beautiful quilting...

I've taken a tally of how much I need to cut for each one to take the guesswork out of it.

These are the options I'm looking at: yellow for Snippets, purple and a bit of red for God's Green Earth and the red and cream for Huddle. Now to decide on which one to tackle first!....M

Huddling in Place

On Boxing Day our province went back into lockdown so everyone is huddling in place again, except for the most basic of needs. It reminded me that I have been holding out on you. This past fall (a few months ago already), in an attempt to divert my attention from something else that I should have been doing, I picked up all of the blocks for Huddle and arranged the final layout...

ensuring that all of my Xs were angled in the same direction. 

Within a day or so it was all together. 

I love the fabrics in this one. The choices were inspired by the image on the pattern and I'm not sure that I would have made them on my own.

It's amazing how many times you think, ah, this is my favourite...

and then you change your mind.

I find it surprisingly light in colour, but it still evokes the feel of a woven coverlet.

I took a pic of the flimsy outdoors just before the snows flew but it really doesn't do it justice. It will help you see the overall layout though. Not sure if I will keep this one or if it will be a charity quilt but it's nice to have it in the finished column. And with a name like Huddle, it is a good reminder for the times: stay at home and stay safe....M

Still Huddling, or is that Muddling?

In between hand quilting there's some Huddle progress to share, too.

It goes in fits and starts, but gradually the 'done' pile has overtaken the 'to do' pile.

Still loving the colour combos and getting a little anxious to see them all playing together.

Love this green print with the o-so-subtle quilt print in the cream (click on the pic if you want to see a larger version of it).

I like that the colours have very little repeat throughout the quilt - the variety makes each block that much more interesting to sew.

Five more to go and then I'll start putting everything together. These blocks are 13" so it should be a relatively quick process (she says confidently)....M

Message in a Bottle

Make 'A' blocks first. That's what my note says. Now if I could only remember why that is...

I think it might have something to do with getting a good variety of creams but it could mean anything. That's the joy of cutting out a quilt and leaving the pieces to steep for a year before sewing them - sort of like my own personal mystery quilt, or a message in a bottle that has rolled up onto the shore with a note from a far off land.

So I set to work on the 'A' blocks, but you had to know that I just had to try one or two of the 'B' blocks to see the reverse colour placement 😏.

I'm enjoying putting them together. Initially I laid all of the pieces out so as not to confuse myself, working in concentric circles until the last round of pieces is added, but lately I've been able to just group the pieces that need to be assembled into units before they are sewn and that seems to be saving a bit of time.

All 'A' blocks (a.k.a. the centre panel) are now together so I'm headed to 'B'. Fourteen down, 16 to go!....M

We Live In Interesting Times

It's been an interesting and somewhat stressful week, hasn't it? The world watches the evolution of the COVID-19 virus and all of its fallout. Societies are slowly being shuttered. Feeling as though we have been buffeted from one thing to another for the last several days it seemed like a good time to enjoy some comfort food. This Gingerbread Poke Cake fit the bill perfectly - the heavenly caramel sauce that is poured over it just takes things to a whole new level.

With more and more emphasis being put on social distancing I am looking to my quilting to provide solace as well. Somewhat appropriately, I started sewing together Huddle blocks.

This is an Eye Candy Quilts pattern - a Christmas gift the year before last - which has been cut and waiting for the better part of a year. Perfect. No need to think, just sit in and sew (but only after you rewind the bobbin, cut two missing pieces...you get the idea).

My version will be larger, primarily so that I don't end up with a square quilt (you know me!). I can't remember how many blocks I need - 30? We'll find out.

This was the first block off the presses and I have to say that it was easy and fun to watch it come together. I always find it interesting to work on large blocks because so much of my time is spent sewing tiny pieces - it almost feels like cheating 😏.

And this is the second. I tried to stay as true to the colours in the pattern as possible, including adding in this plaid. It makes me doubly happy because the fabric came from a thrift shop shirt which gives things a nice 'make do' feel right from the get-go. Not a bad way to begin National Quilting Week, is it?

As social distancing becomes the norm for the near future I hope that you too are able to use some of that time to relax with your stitches. Sending wishes for good health....M

The Scream Heard Round the Kitchen

If you heard a long and painful primal scream tearing across the universe lately, please do not adjust your set - it was likely just me at the cutting board. A year ago I received the lovely pattern for Huddle by Eye Candy Quilted for Christmas from my favourite niece so I thought it might be time to get it started. So, I commandeered a corner of the island in the kitchen for several evenings (its easier to cut there than on my table) and slowly worked my way through getting all the bits cut and sorted.

Now, I pride myself as being someone who was good at math but I'm thinking that pride might have been a tad misplaced. I'm not sure if it was 'user error', the fact that several of the piece dimensions differed only by 1/8", I was dealing with positive and negative versions of the same block, or that I was trying to squeeze all the cream pieces out of a piece of fabric that was just not large enough. I will spare you the blow by blow details, however suffice it to say that pieces were cut too small and some were cut on the diagonal that never should have been. Arrrrgh.

I started out wanting to use two creams, the solid for the centre blocks and the darker cream for the border blocks.

That changed to finding a way to incorporate three creams...

and ultimately ditching the solid cream for these three prints plus the scroll print in the image above. What was remarkable to me, the queen of yardage, is that I kept picking fabrics that I didn't have a lot of, which made the math even more interesting.

By the time I finished I was in a bit of a state and I had to let the smoke settle in the kitchen; if I was on blood pressure medication I would have been reaching for it. That said, Huddle is now cut and safely sealed in a project box and I will wait for a day when my noggin is in better shape to start assembling a block or two. Whew!....M

'Beeing' Me

Now that Christmas and Boxing Day are behind us you can almost hear the pitter patter of quilters' slippers around the world as they head to their sewing rooms to play. I know I will be, and I'll be trying out some of my gifts too.

This cream puff ring started things off Christmas Eve and it seems like we have been eating and drinking for the better part of three days so its time to switch things up a bit!

Bees and quilting seemed to be a theme of several gifts this year including a beautiful and delicate pair of embroidered PJs; I wonder if this is a hint to just stay in my jammies all day and sew?

Maybe it was a hint to curl up in them and read with a cup of tea because I also received this great looking read: A Hive for the Honeybee. It came with a lovely jar of honey, too.

My lovely niece included the pattern for Huddle from Eye Candy Quilts in my stocking which I have long coveted and I can't wait to start. But you know me and square quilts...I'll need to figure out how to make it rectangular instead.

Maybe I need to make a test block today because I'm now the proud owner of a pair of Perfect Scissors and a new fine point Mark-B-Gone water soluble marker. I just have this feeling that I will be decompressing in the sewing room soon with my new toys, and maybe, just maybe, doing it in my PJs.....M