Friday, April 27, 2018

I ain ga lie...


...my blogging mojo has been lacking. But I have been sewing. The title of this post is a nod to the local Turks and Caicos beer. The lager is called I-Ain-Ga-Lie ("I ain't gonna lie") which is delicious. We enjoyed a couple of cold ones on the deck of a restaurant on the island of Middle Caicos. You can see both shallow, turquoise water and deep, marine blue water in the background. Lovely!


A stack of long quarters in sherbet colored homespuns has been kicking around my studio, getting in the way, so I cut them up and pieced this top. I was inspired by Rose's Ernie quilt for the combo of solids and stripes, and wanted to try a little bit of transparency play. I offset the solid and pattern rows by a half block, which was a bit fiddly and tedious to keep track of. I think this quilt is one of those that will look a lot better quilted and I'm planning to play with some fun long skinny FMQ motifs when I get around to it.


And speaking of transparency, I pieced up this Five Alarm Chili top using Sandra's Playtime Plus pattern. She's having a quilt along that just started so feel free to jump in! The piecing went really fast so I got ahead of the QAL even faster than usual. I chose mostly hot chile pepper fabrics for the small pluses, with a few other veggies and blenders for variety. The cream and red solid backgrounds make another ginormous red cross, a nod to our years as volunteers for the American Red Cross. Or possibly it refers to the medical attention you'll need if you eat cousin Christopher's homemade hot salsa.


While taking photos, the wind gusted up quite strongly and I ended up hanging onto the corner of the chiles while it flapped noisily. I didn't notice until later that all the motion had actually started to disintegrate the fabric! Good thing I have more of this cream so I can replace this frayed corner.


This little piece isn't a quilt, technically. There isn't any batting between the top and the backing, so I'll call it a blankie. The fabrics are the fun, fish-themed scraps from Hugs and Kishes Covered with Fishes that I made for my newest baby cousin. I actually pieced the top at the same time as H&KCwF, so it's nice to move this UFO along. The backing is a thick cotton corduroy in similar colors, and I used pre-packaged satin blanket binding. It is quilted using wavy lines of stitching about 2" apart. The corduroy didn't slide well along my machine bed, so I ended up quilting most of it with the corduroy on the top, using my walking foot. I'm calling it Through the Reef and we'll see how it washes up. I'm hoping the corduroy will shrink up and add some crinkle.


Similarly, this piece is just the top with a flannel backing, no batting, and purple satin binding. Streak of Lightning was pieced ages ago with the scraps from our bed quilt, which is the big checkerboard one in my blog header photo. It's been languishing as a UFO for several years but now it's a finish! Woot!


Here's the backing, a cute blue giraffe flannel with a bit of green to make it big enough. The quilting on this one is kind of a FMQ sampler with 8 different motifs in the 16 rows. Without the batting thickness, the fabric moved much more smoothly/quickly under my quilting foot, which led to some distorted shapes. It's funny how my hands are so used to the drag and resistance of a regular quilt sandwich! I think all the cottons will shrink in the wash and hide any little oopsies. Again, I decided to use satin binding to give it a little extra pizzazz to make up for no batting.


I had to pull out my other sewing machine to put on the satin bindings because that requires a zig zag stitch. Once I had The Little Kenmore That Could set up, I figured I might as well use up the rest of my stash of satin binding. I had nice big pieces of this pink giraffe flannel and a coordinating cotton pique, and put them together as a whole cloth blankie. Kind of like a receiving blanket, but big enough for a toddler who really, REALLY likes pink. 

These blankies will be donated to Little Lambs as part of the Hands2Help challenge. Little Lambs provides a backpack full of hygiene and comfort items to kids who are in transition from temporary places like hospitals, emergency shelters, and foster care. These children can be any age from newborn to teens and often have no way to carry their few belongings. I got to thinking that the really little kids might struggle to fold and pack a bulky quilt into their new backpack, so I decided that these thinner blankies might be a good alternative. The flannel and corduroy are soft and fuzzy and the satin bindings feel smooth and soft against little fingers and faces. Although I prefer making quilts with batting, it was interesting to try these alternatives and I think they will still wrap three little ones in warmth and comfort.

29 comments:

  1. You've been busy, 'I ain't gonna lie,' !
    Your 'chilis' and 'long quarters' are fabulous fun.
    Good for you.

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  2. I guess less time blogging means more time for sewing so we get to see lots of pretty things! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I love Rose's Ernie quilt, and yours is fabulous too! Because you used solids it looks different, but nevertheless very, very cool. I think I might have to make an Ernie quilt some day, too! Less time blogging means more time sewing, right? It's not such a bad thing :)

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  4. oh my goodness you have been busy... that wonderfully named beer must have extra vitamins in it!!! I love your striped quilt especially.... so effective ...
    Hugz

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  5. LOTS of sewing has happened -- and LOTS Of finishes!

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  6. Still busy and still cruising I see! I've fallen in love with the Rose's Ernie Quilt, I have stacks of KF stripes, collected over a number of years, and I've been racking my brains as to what to do with them. I now have the answer and as I also have his shot cottons so it's going on my project list. Lovely hot looking quilt using Sandra"s Playtime Pattern.

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  7. Wow, you’ve been busy! I can’t think what would be more fun - sewing up the blankies or lounging in the Caribbean drinking local beer, LOL!

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  8. My goodness you have been too busy to blog by the looks of that output. Some lovely bright fun quilts for great causes - what more could you ask? Great job!

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  9. My you've been busy Louise, I love your version of the Ernie quilt, all those checks and stripes between the solids are fun. The hot chili peppers is a great version of Sandra's quilt. How hot is that chilli. And the blankies made of scraps are so cute and thoughtful.

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  10. You have been busy. Love your Chili quilt! Very fun. Your version of the Ernie quilt is beautiful, it's very dynamic.

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  11. You turned into a whirlwind of stitching! You have some great finishes for H2H and cleared out some stash. Always a good thing. The Chili quilt top is fun!

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  12. First of all, I love your Ernie quilt! It’s just gorgeous! The other accomplishments are super, too. Don’t you just love using corduroy for a backing?

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  13. Okay I can hear your machine humming! So many great finishes you make me look forward to my summer break!!! cheers!

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  14. You put out more quilts than anyone I know & they are all so very, very pretty, fun & colorful. I especially love the Ernie quilt. I'm going to have to copy that pattern & make one some day. Thanks for sharing all your lovlies with us all the time.

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  15. You do get a lot done and I enjoyed seeing it all! I didn't know you could buy premade satin edging for blankies - that is a neat idea. Do you have a post showing your studio on the boat, Louise? I would love to see it!

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  16. Well, there you go zooming to the head of Sandra's class again!! I love it. I'm glad you did blog about these. It is hard sometimes to keep writing when all you want to do is sew, right? But I learn so much from your blog posts--especially about quilting for children. I like your thoughts on making the blankies instead of quilts and using the satin binding. I remember having that on my blankets when I was a wee one, and rubbing that edge against my face as I fell asleep. They will be so comforting.

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  17. Louise, you have been quilting up a storm on those beautiful calm waters!!! Your quilts with satin binding are all wonderful! And I recognized Rose's Ernie quilt pattern right away. Love how you split some of your blocks in half. Keep on floating, swimming, sewing!

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  18. Love your Ernie quilt, especially the transparency effect. It's got me thinking about using up my strips. Also it is mindless sewing, which is about my speed right now. You always have so many colorful things to see.

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  19. My mouth actually fell open and how many quilts are in this post! And YAY!!! You do know that when I designed the Plus Playtime quilt (not my name, but the ezine's) I originally named it Red Cross, as a nod to all the help the Red Cross gives worldwide, regardless of race/political background/gender orientation etc etc. I SO am in awe of their work. Thanks for the shout-out and yeah it DOES just go together so quickly doesn't it? Oh that Ernie quilt...and oh those waters... :-)

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  20. I can't believe you have any UFO's since you have small quarters on the boat! And then to find you have more than one sewing machine on board! So when you are docked can you hook up to electricity? Or you are using a generator all the time? Just thought of that since we were camping, but could hook to electric or I couldn't sew, we don't have a generator and the battery wouldn't last long enough.

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  21. Your blogging mojo may have been lacking but your sewing sure wasn't, what a lot of lovely eye candy on display. I especially like the long quarters, I'm looking forward to seeing more of that one.

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  22. Love your interpretation of Ernie. I stared at it carefully and realized that it was a lot more work with the staggering of the rows. Lots of great finishes. So much to celebrate and savor!!!

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  23. I absolutely LOVE the Five Alarm Chili Quilt! We are lovers of everything hot in our home :) You've been one busy gal. Always take time out for a good beer and a beautiful view.

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  24. Your sewing has not been lacking! Lots of great finishes. It looks like a great place to have a beer and enjoy the view.

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  25. Louise! I think the wind that frayed your fabric came from your own sewing storm. Wow! Such fun to see your quilts, and I'm also happy to have found your blog.

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  26. you have been busy and that's not even counting Sandra's big pluses which I am still planning in my head! And a wind strong enough to damage fabric? Is that not a hurricane?

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  27. Wow. What eye candy you’ve shared. I don’t know why I haven’t stop by your blog recently but I’m so glad I did! I love Plus quilts and this one you’ve shared is spectacular. And Ernie’s quilt! You’ve made it your own in spectacular fashion. Thanks for all the references — I’ve already printed out the Plus quilt pattern. I wish I enjoyed beer because it looks like you were enjoying yourselves! Please do a post on you quilt studio. I agree two machines, a stash, and UFOs all on your boat??? I want a personal tour! Share girl. Get your blogging mojo going.

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  28. Love your quilts! The range is fabulous. The Playtime plus and the long fat quarters are stunning. Not sure what your weather is like now, however we are at 28 Celsius and sitting on a boat with the sea breeze, with beer, sounds like heaven!

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  29. I love the bright colors you used. They stand out so against the background and the photography is WOW!

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