Quilting like a Maniac- Relaxing through Quilting.: August 2016

Sunday, August 28, 2016

September's Goals

Well here's September, with school starting for another school year. This month I'm planning on making a butterfly quilt tabletop similar to the one I made my mother. The design is by JoAnn Hoffman Designs and is called "Kimimila Butterfly" Here is the sample picture from Craftsy where you can see her other patterns.

Simple goal, but what you can't see is how much quilting goes into this pattern. It will take at last 40 hours of quilting.

Another month has gone by....

And my how time did fly...... School starting, work as well.... I won't have as much time to quilt but

then again, I haven't quilted much this summer. I did try to catch up on many of the BOMs that I'm in this year (Canadian Mystery Quilt, Splendid Sampler, Quilt Doodle, Block Lotto, and more). But at this point I'm giving up in many ways. The Canadian Mystery Quilt is caught up, and some of the Splendid Sampler, but my main goal is to finish up 2014's BOMs and some of my UFOs. Most of the BOM's are sewn, it's the quilting that is taking me so long.... But I'll get there.

One of those UFO's is from 2012, the Midnight Garden - my goal for August. I didn't believe that I would be able to complete the entire quilt knowing that I would be away for half the summer so I set a modest goal - three of them. And I was successful!!!!! I even named which flowers I would complete. The tulip, small white flowers (Sorry, I don't know the name of them), and the Lily, the hardest one to do. Notice how small the stem is, and all those leaves. I did button stitching around everything, and then some embroidery on each one. I'm very happy with the results, and very happy that I not only completed my goal but then some. On to the next goal.

Linking up to Red Letter Quilts and the OMG (Oh my goodess!!!! - I did it) party!!

and my favorite one so far...

Look at the stitching. Very pleased that I completed this one.

That's five done and seven to go. Here is the completed quilt by Sara Tuttle and Sandy Brawner. Can't wait for it to be completed. See the tag "Midnight Garden to see all the others.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Back from Manitoba....

Been doing a lot of travelling, some for fun and some to get some stuff done. But what that meant is that I have been away from my house for about 4 1/2 weeks, so I didn't do much sewing.....

I did get plenty of new Row by Rows in Portland, California, Washington, Manitoba and of course British Columbia. But no time to actually stitch them. Being back one week and a little exhausted but I needed creative time I did do a couple of them. See below. This one is a laser cut row by Undercover Quilts in Seattle. Beautiful depiction of Seattle. You put the white on first, then the black over top of it. Notice the stadium with the Seahawks emblem? There is also the fins of the whales in the water. I love it.

Plus I've been away from the Splendid Sampler from Pat Sloan (you can still start and catch up).

Paper piecing on the left and applique on the left.

Plus to keep the creative side going I created these two dish towels. The pattern is by Meags and me "Birdie" . Material is L's Modern 2015 Spring

And I'm doing another block from the Canadian Mystery BOM by Shania Sunga Designs. This one is for up north. Can you tell where it is? It's the Yukin, and it's 12 1/2 by 1- 1/2.

And there is my Midnight Garden quilt. It was my OMG challenge this month. I said I would do three of them. Two were done this weekend. Check them out. Have one more to do and I should be able to get it done this weekend. That makes 5 out of 12 that I have completed. Still excited about this one.

I also did about two hours of quilting on my Art Deco quilt (my Quarter Challenge). The quilting is taking forever because I'm doing art deco quilting on it (lot of clear space to fill up). You'll have to wait until it's done to see it. That's it, that's been my weekend. Going to keep on relaxing and doing my sewing. School starts in two weeks.....

Friday, August 19, 2016

Updating where I'm at....

Well over the summer I was in California and in Manitoba and I did visit a number of quilt shops to get the Row by Row blocks. There are a number of them. My girlfriend and I went crazy. We got over 50 of them again! And once more it was fun as heck.

So where am I now? Well my list has grown but I have marked DONE where I finished it and what quarter I had finished the quilt in. Also below I marked what is new from the 1st quarter to the second. Many of these new quilts friends gave to me. In order to understand my list below please be aware of the following key:

Q - Queen

L - laptop

W - wall

T - table top

L - You and Me by Zen Chic - got material and pattern (haven't started)
L - Chic Shells by Sew Kind of Wonderful - got pattern only (haven't started)
L - Sew Kind of Wonderful - Sew along - got pattern only (haven't started)
Q - green small flowers in a column - need to finish and quilt. YES it's DONE - look at the 2016 finished quilts. It's on my bed now. DONE 1st Quarter
large L- Flower quilt from Aurifill - need to finish and quilt - it's called Secret Garden.
L - Vise Versa - need to finish 2 blocks and quilt - it's on my 3rd quarter list this term.
NEW - Lap - Blue Deco quilt by Siobhan Roger - looks like hearts - just quilting it now. Almost done. On my 3rd quarter list this term.
Q - Block Lotto - 2014 - need to finish 8 blocks and quilt.
Q - Flowers in a circle BOM - some wool. Applique. All material and pattern. Need to start.
L - Modern Crossroads by Madeleine Roberg in Easy Quilts Spring 2013 magazine.- got pattern and material - Some of it now cut.
L - Snow/Christmas quilt - got material and pattern - need to start
L - beach quilt - no material, but got pattern.
L - Sew Emma Snapshot quilt - did two blocks, have material, need to finish.
L - Dogs quilt - have fabric and pattern, need to start.
Q - Driesdon Craftsy - have material and pattern - need to start.
L - Learning to quilt on Craftsy - have 6 done, 6 to go. Need to finish. On my 3rd quarter listing.
L - Learning to quilt as you go - 2013 Need to continue on with it. YES - Modern green and red queen size quilt all completed - DONE 1st quarter
L- Crazy barn applique - have pattern, material, need to start.
L - Gro's tea quilt. Material, pattern for it all, need to finish. Have 3 to go. YES - DONE 2nd quarter
L - Midnight Garden - wool - Lost pattern, but have material. Need to start Have 3 blocks done.
L - Cattail - blue quilt - start
L - Frogs, have material, pattern, and have started to cut. Need to finish.
Q - pink pin wheel. Need to finish.
T - Chinese circles. - need to finish.
L - Pink and green squares - finish.
L - Squares in the tin box - pattern and material, others doing that one. Got it back from the Tin Club. Many done, need to finish about 16 more and put the quilt together.
Q - Row by Row - Canada - all patterns, all material, need to finish. Got 3 more completed.
Q - Row by Row American side - all patterns, all material, need to finish. Got 4 more completed.
T - flowers pieced in black - Amish. - material, and pattern. Small one. Need to start.
Q - Squares with Hexigons - pattern, material, need to start.
L - Batique quilt - pattern, material, need to start.
Q - Circle quilt from Craftsy - material red and white, pattern, need to start.
Q - BOM 2015 buckets - material, pattern, need to start.
L - One block wonder - material, pattern, need to start. It's part of my 3rd quarter list.
L - Video 10" squares - disappearing pinwheel. Material - need to start.
Q - Swoon - material, need to start.
L - Stain glass BOM - material, pattern, need to start.
L - House BOM - material, pattern, need to start.
Q - Hand appliqué old fashion girl on white, with squares of color. top for queen quilt. finish.
Q - Girl on a farm - applique that I am designing - Some material - need to continue/finish
L - Blue HST's - all HSTs done, need to finish.
W - Big city/town pattern. No material, but I have the pattern.
Q - Modern pattern just bought on Craftsy on sale. Solid colours and then hexis around it. Have pattern and material. Need to start.
L - Tractor quilt with barns to complete. It's part of the Farm Girl Sampler by Lori Holt. I purchased the book. Have some material. Need to finish by June for my cousin. Not done. Gave him a different one instead..
T - Using charms for Precut Primer pattern. Have pattern and material. Need to finish. YES - did two - DONE one in 1st Quarter and one in 2nd Quarter.
T - Paper pieced tulips - have all material.
W - Spring Panel - all material there and cut. Need to sew and quilt. On the 3rd quarter listing.
L - Jelly roll quilt from the Precut Primer pattern book. Have pattern and material cut out. Need to start.
Large L - Fat quarter quilt block - have material but have not started.
Large L - migration from Craftsy Store. Have pattern and material. Need to start.
Large L - Large hexi flowers pattern from Craftsy store - have some material.
T - circular birds - have pattern only. Want to do this one with extra material I have and scraps.
Q- Apple Quilt - have all the material and the Thangles to do the quilt. Need to Finish.
L Scrappy BOM from IQuiltModern - scraps - to start.
Big Wall - Pixulated quilt Sun Flower - it's done just quilting it and that's taking ages!! Need to Finish. Already spent over 5 hours these last two months working on it.
Big Lap - Vice Versa Quilt - need to complete 4 more blocks and quilt it. On the 3rd quarter listing.
L - Pixulated Eye - have the material, the pattern, everything. It's the Craftsy free quilting class to learn how to pixulate. It's fabulous, go take a look! Need to start.
W - The Quilt Magazine, April 2012. of a bird on a Laundry Line. All material and the pattern. Half done. Need to Finish. DONE 1st quarter - see the 2016 tab above.
Q- Star Quilt from the FVRQ Guild - have the material and the patterns. Have all done but the last 3 starts and then the big middle one. Need to Finish.
W - Home Tweet Home - McKenna Ryan - 9 blocks. - have 2 of the blocks done and a friend gives me more when I complete the next block. One more block completed.
L - Skeleton quilt from "Dare to be Square". Material and some of it cut.
L - Curved red quilt using Sew Kind of Wonderful Ruler (material all there and cut.).
Q - Craftsy Red Circle Quilt.
NEW - W - Portrait quilt on Craftsy's Class - (no material yet)
NEW - W - Landscape quilt class on Craftsy (material and course work - just ready to start).
NEW - Wall. Home Coming.
NEW - Wall. Freedom - Canadian Eagle .
NEW - Wall - Police Car - just got it from Manitoba from my Aunt.
NEW - Table topper - hand dyed star quilt from Quilty Box.
NEW - Wall - Whale from by best friend.
NEW - Wall - Tea Time given to me by my best friend.
NEW -Table topper Star trek paper piece - started 2nd quarter and it's now completed and made into a pillow case. Excellent look. Wait for the next blog.... DONE.
NEW - Laptop Bears - got the material, need to start.
NEW - Laptop Star Trek - pixelation quilt of Spock, I made the pattern. Have material. Not started.
NEW - Amish Quilt - black with different blocks from Craftsy.
NEW - 3 queens - 54 Row by Rows for Home Sweet Home.
NEW - Wall - Pattern for Light house - no material, just pattern
NEW - Queen - Summer Sampler - joined online - blocks developed by many different quilters. Only have patterns, no material for this yet. Waiting to complete this one as I just have too much on my plate right now.

So in total - That's 6 quilts from this list completed so far. In total I have 68 quilts to complete. Now that list sounds a little big.... :) and it looks big, but it also is a bit of encouragement as well, with a few things in red, showing that they're done.... When you give out quilts like I do, you tend to forget what's been done and what you've accomplished. And with so many cousins now asking for quilts, it's a good idea to keep track of it.

So I continue on... but with pleasure because I continue to love to quilt.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

UFO Challenge update

At the start of the year I signed up for a UFO Challenge where I made a list of 10 quilts and every month a random number was called and the corresponding quilt would need to be finished. I am so behind it hurts. I have four done when I should have 8 done...... Jeewiz...... But in my defence I did do two other queen size quilts so I can't beat myself over this. Two on this list is on my 3rd quarter 2016 list with Debbie at .http://www.shecanquilt.ca/p/2016-finish-long.html

Here is the list and my update...

Project	Status Before	Status Afterward
1) Pixilated Sunflower I created	All cut out and sewn, needs to be quilted.	April- still haven't started... Next on my list for my second time......
2) Birds on a wire from Quilt Mania	Have a birds cut out, and some of the small quilts. Need to continue to put them on and quilt entire thing.	January - *FINISH* at the start of March - and it's fantastic. See 2016 quilts tab above for a picture.
3) Midnight Garden	All material there but haven’t cut anything	March - started, lost the pattern and some of the block. Bought a new book, got more fabric and have 2 done and three blocks more than 1/w block.
4) Garden that’s applique and wool – block of the month	All material is there but nothings been sewn or quilted.	July - Not even started... and still scared of this one.... This will be last for goodness sake.
5) Blue stars	Two stars made, need to come up with idea to bind	February - Have the design. Need to complete but not on any of my lists.
6) Houses – block of the month	All material is there,	August - ouch!!!
7) Block Lotto quilt - scraps	Missing 10 blocks – last two months, needs to be put together and quilted
8) Green strip quilt	Quilts entirely made except for a side edge to make it a queen size quilt. Need to put on sashing then quilt it all	May was to be #7 but this one was done instead. At least one more off the list. *FINISH*
9) Lily quilt - all flowers	All completed. Even sold. Need to quilt it.
10) two more quilts from the book PreCut Primers – authors Me and My Sister Designs.	These use small little precuts to create.	JUNE - Have Grade 1 and grade 3, not grade 2 so it's completed. *FINISH*
11) Modern quilt - quilt as you go...	New technique learned.	FINISH - see what the green and red quilt looks like.
12) Chic Pattern	using a precut of 10 inch squares. Easy - looks great.	All material and ready to go.

Still have a ways to go.....

Quilting like a Maniac- Relaxing through Quilting.