Gimme Shelter Part Two

The first day of the New Year seems like a great time to show you the second pair of baby quilts that Dori generously made for the women's shelter this holiday. Whereas the first two were all about triangles, these two are very strippy.

The first one is made from a collection of greens and corals and finishes off with a very soft look. The same colours are used in the border.

It's backed with a pretty soft grey and coral print and was made for one of the little girls on the list.

And look at that - another pair of colour coordinated scissors! :)

Of the two of them apparently this one is Rob's favourite (Dori's husband).

So much so that she made him a set of matching potholders. He is an excellent cook so I'm certain that these will be more than welcome.

It sounds like these potholders are becoming a bit of an obsession with Dori and a great way to use up her scraps. She recently spent half a day organizing her smaller fabric pieces into colour coded shoe boxes so I suspect that there may be more on the way.

The second one is also a string quilt but made in blocks rather than rows.

Apparently this was the most challenging and time consuming of the lot. She had planned that it would be all blocks without a border, but it was taking too long to come together. Luckily, she found more of the blue polka dot at a new quilting/yard shop so the wide border came to the rescue.

She used orange with a small white dot for the backing but the day after she delivered the quilts she realized that she had put the dots to the inside so it is just a solid orange backing. Ha - too much going on!

I can only imagine the surprise and delight at the shelter when these four parcels were delivered - it is such a thoughtful gift and speaks to the generosity of quilters and their willingness to readily share the comforts of their creations. Good for you, Dori.

And happy New Year everyone! Nothing like a little quilty inspiration to start off a new year. May the coming year bring you peace, joy and time to truly enjoy doing the things that you love....M

Going Modern For The Blogger's Quilt Festival

As Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival rolls around each Spring and Fall I find myself wondering if I will have anything to submit (it has something to do with making all kinds of quilt tops but not quilting them...). Well, this time around I seemed spoiled for choice because I had three that I considered entering. How did that happen?

I've decided on Sea Glass. It is probably the one that challenged me the most because the colour selection is not in my traditional wheelhouse. That said, by the time it reached the finish line, I was smitten. Which category to enter it into was a bit of a toss up - it could easily be Scrappy (but it wasn't from scraps) so the colours and prints tipped it into the Modern category for me.

This was a commission for my friend Jean - a wedding gift for a very special niece - the only request was that it be in soft blues and greys with a little cream or white. After that, I could do as I liked.

Seemed easy enough. That was until I tried to find fabrics. Oh, and then decide on the pattern. "I trust you totally", was all the direction that I got. Gulp. It's hard enough picking a pattern and fabrics for someone you know, but for someone that you've never met??? A little pressure started settling in.
 

Needless to say, as I bought fabrics I was all over the map and I ended up not using many of the greys - it just need to be brighter. I tend towards a more colourful palette so there was lots of second guessing as this one came together. I also played with lots of alternative layouts but ended up with the square on the point that I had started out with and it was a good decision.

It was beautifully machine quilted with a delicate blue thread in a great feathered swirling pattern by the talented Roberta at Cocoa and Quilts; the swirls soften the geometric design perfectly.

And the light grey and cream print that it is backed and bound with was a contribution from my friend Linda's stash. It seemed made for it - something borrowed, something blue....

At 56" x 70" it was a good size as it was intended to be draped over the back of a sofa. Start to finish it took about four months which, for me, is pretty amazing (gotta love a deadline). It totally helped that it was machine quilted, otherwise the newlyweds would be celebrating their silver anniversary and still wouldn't have it if they were waiting for me to hand quilt it.

But enough about me. Make sure to check out all of this Spring's entries for your fill of eye candy and to vote for your faves...M

Ready to Wrap

Wonderful Roberta from Cocoa and Quilts had promised that she would have Sea Glass quilted by the end of the month so when she called late last Sunday to say that it was ready I was thrilled - she was more than a week ahead of schedule.

She has done another beautiful job of the quilting - her work is meticulous.

We picked a swirling pattern that has the slightest bit of feathering to it and it looks lovely against all of the strips. She chose a pale turquoise thread to stitch it and it is perfect. I know I called it Sea Glass, but the quilting is reminiscent of wintery snow drifts too.

She said she wanted to get it back to me quickly, not only so that I could get it to Jean on time but so that I could spend as much time as possible binding it, taking it at a leisurely pace and just enjoying all of the fabrics, because this would be the last time I would have with it, which I thought was a beautiful sentiment.

It's backed and bound with the same fabric, a light grey & cream print that has just a hint of blue. It is perfect - thanks again, Linda!

Last night I sat down to watch the Ryder Cup and cheer on the Europeans and got a little more than half of it bound.

Today, we enjoyed another spectacular day of weather - more summer than autumn, really - so I finished it off out on the deck, enjoying the warm sunshine, the fall colours and the last of the summer blossoms.

The Official Cookie Tester kindly agreed to hold it up so that I could get a full shot to show you.

So now it's off to Jean who will wrap it up and deliver it to the newlyweds. I hope that they enjoy it for many years to come....M

True Blue

Miracle of miracles! I sat down to sew a few Sea Glass blocks together on Sunday and before I knew it I had the entire top together, so I have a few photos that show it in a better light than the dull, greyish tones you've been seeing from the basement.

I'm really happy with it. I was a little leery of trying to join all of the white strips accurately because I noticed that a few of them had shifted slightly off centre when I was sewing them, but it worked out. Because the edges of the blocks are all trimmed on the bias there was lots of give if I needed to adjust.

There is only one join that I am not totally happy with but, short of making an entirely new block and inserting it, this one will do. In my mind that's what makes it a quilt (how's that for rationalization?!).

The final size is 56" x 70" and I draped it over the love seat just to see if it will be larger enough to catch a nap under; it's perfect. Whew!

It has since been pressed, the backing washed and sewn together, and on Friday I'll take it to the Roberta to work her magic on the long arm. It sounds like she is going to be able to have it ready for early October so I might just meet Jean's deadline after all....M

Measuring Up

There are 80 blocks made for Sea Glass now so I've laid them all out to get a sense of colour placement, and also to see how large it is.

Right now it measures 56 x 70" and I wasn't sure if it needed to be larger or not. If I make it larger it would need to have 2 rows added to both the end and the side (40 blocks), so I checked with Jean before doing anything further. She confirmed that the newlyweds want to use it on their sofa and that this size works, so I'm good to go.

I thought I might work on it today but spent most of the day at the church getting ready for our parish roast beef dinner, which is tomorrow. Between my friend Lynn and I we made a total 30 pumpkin, lemon butterscotch pies so I'm a little pooped; maybe I'll give it a shot tomorrow before we head to work at the dinner.

The colours in the photos don't do it justice (the joys of basement lighting), but I am really happy with how the blocks have come together. Its a soft, pretty palette with lots of variety and I hope that they like it too.....M

Piles of Progress

Evidence of progress on Sea Glass could be seen in various piles around the sewing room. First the trimmings from squaring up the blocks...

Then the paper strips removed from the backs...

And what to do with the pile of leftover strips that have been cut?

Why add chartreuse, of course, and make a few wonky Log Cabin blocks. I think I'll make a few more and work these into a pillow top. Early on there were two blocks where I made the centre white strip too wide; maybe I'll make another 2 to match them and work them into a pillow as well....M

16....15....14.....

Sea Glass has been sitting on the sewing table for much of the summer waiting to be picked up again. Jean called yesterday to say that she'd like to be able to deliver the quilt to the newlyweds in October, so that proved to be enough incentive to sit down to it again.

I'd been dragging my feet with it, but it really didn't take that long to finish putting together all of the blocks. I had 16 foundation papers prepped with the centre white strip, and lots of blue and grey strips ready to go, so in two evenings I've managed to get them all together.

I got to work ripping the papers from the back of the blocks only to realize that I had not trimmed the blocks first. Duh. Time for bed.





 

A while back my machine was freed from the painter's tape mummification that I had used to prevent the ink transfer from the phone book foundation papers to the table surface, but I noticed a little bit of build-up of ink as I was finishing, so I used some hand sanitizer to wipe it off and it's as good as new (I'd just used it a few days ago to take pine gum off the car so thought it might work here too - who knew?). The second thing I did was change my needle; it's dull as can be from working through all of that paper.....M

The Green Monster

My sewing machine has gone green lately, and I don't mean from an environmental perspective. I hadn't counted on the ink transfer from the new phone book pages that I am using for the foundation piece,s but they were really making a mess of my sewing surface, so I cleaned it up and did a quick fix job with my trusty painter tape to protect it. If nothing else, this will keep me focused on finishing the blocks quickly to avoid any residue from the tape. I keep checking, and so far, so good. Poor thing - looks a little beat up, doesn't it?

This quilt is to be used as a sofa throw so it won't be as large as some. I've cut 32 more foundations and I'm thinking that might do it. If I do 5-6 a day I could be done in a week. Did 7 the other day so that's a good start.

I'm still playing with layout options too. I'm wondering about a herringbone pattern....guess I should lay all of the options side by side and see who wins.....M

Another Rhubarb Recipe to Love

Happy Canada Day, everyone - 147 and  counting! It started out rather dull and gloomy and changed to thunderstorms early in the day so a day outdoors was not to be. That gave me the perfect opportunity to try a new rhubarb recipe, and it is fabulous.

Remember this beautiful cookbook (Butter) that I got from Stephanie for Christmas? Well, it has been on my bedside table for a couple of weeks now; I curl up with it at the end of the day and pore over the recipes (is that sick?). Nightly I would change my mind as to what had to be made first, but the recent heat spell has quashed thoughts of heating up the kitchen.

Today I threw caution to the wind and decided it was time to try the Sour Cream Rhubarb Pie. My, my, my... this is a delight and definitely on the 'make again' list.

It was still slightly warm after sitting on the counter for a few hours and everything about it was yummy - crunchy cinnamon topping, creamy custard filling, just enough rhubarb and flaky pastry.

I had fresh pastry and a jar of homemade mincemeat that I'd gotten from Bunny, one of the gals who is part of the quilting crew from the church, so I also made a couple dozen mince tarts. I know it's not the season for them but it just seemed like a good idea. Bunny can't be 5 feet tall, is 85 if she's a day, and is very much a going concern. She gave me this jar when I picked up my quilt a while back and I wanted to make sure that it got used. Delicious.

Before any of the baking started I had been playing with my Sea Glass blocks.

I've got 48 made now and wanted to see them all together.

I switched up the layout a little bit so it's more a zigzag than radiating white diamonds and I think I prefer it this way. It also gives me a little more leeway in terms of how wide & long I make it - the first layout meant that I was always adding 2 blocks if I wanted it wider or longer. What do you think? Do you have a preference?....M

Sea Glass

I laid 20 blocks for the String Quilt out on the floor and left them there for a few days to get a good feel for how it would look and two things came of it.

After several trips by it I realized that it could do with a little less grey. I had been including at least two strips of grey in each block and just got the feeling that it was becoming more grey than I wanted, so I'm making several blocks of just blues.

The second good thing is a new name. String Quilt is fine, but a tad on the technical side, don't you think? From here on in it will be called Sea Glass. The soft blues & turquoises remind me of a hand full of sea glass, and it sounds much prettier than String Quilt.

I've got a pile of blocks that the foundation papers need to come off of but I think I'll sew a few more and then do a larger batch....M