Scrappy progress

I got quite a bit of piecing done on Scrappy Twist while we were still hooked up to power at the dock in Decatur. Here are six of the twelve blocks, hung up in front of our back door for the stained glass effect.

Three more are ready to be added. Backlit like this, it's harder to make out the individual fabrics, but I feel like I'm getting better at creating contrast. Most of the intersections where the squares overlap are distinct and not too "muddy."

The last three blocks are still sitting on the ironing board where I had to stop when my sewing room lacked sufficient air conditioning! We are underway each day on the Tennessee River now, and generally don't run the generator enough to cool that room down. The boat's main engine produces enough power to run the a/c in the pilot house, where we drive the boat all day. We'll be at a dock in Chattanooga later in the week, and I'll probably finish this top then.

The curtain rod holding the pieces in the top two photos used to be installed above our bed, just to display hanging quilts. However, the installation of the pilot house a/c required removing a nice wooden shelf. We wanted to keep the shelf, so Sean installed it above the bed where it now displays folded quilts. That meant the curtain rod needed to be moved, so into the salon/living room it went. Finding wall space on a boat big enough to display any part of a quilt is a real challenge! I'm a bit sad to have lost my large over-bed display area, but am happy with the tradeoff of having a good place to put up bits and pieces for taking photos.

The two bird pictures are just el cheapo canvas artwork from TJ Maxx, and cover some holes in the wall. Eventually I'll probably make a horizontal wall quilt for that space. It seems all my smaller quilts are vertical.

Linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday.

Back into a routine

We returned a couple days ago from a very long road trip from Alabama to Virginia and back to sell our motorhome. The gory details are up on our travel blog, but for the record, no quilting was done during that trip. I didn't even bring along some hand sewing, since my right shoulder has really been bothering me lately and I wanted to just let it rest and heal.

Today, though, I sat down in my little studio on the boat and got a few things done. I pieced two more blocks on the Scrappy Twist quilt. They are the top half in the photo above.

I also added asymmetric borders to the Dragonfly quilt. The basic pieced top was only 42" square and I wanted something better sized for an adult lap or couch quilt. Kat suggested making the disappearing four patch blocks "float" in offset borders and I really liked that idea. This photo shows it laid out on our queen sized bed in our very, very dark bedroom, but you get the sense of how big the borders are.

I've decided that I will use the quilting to extend the four patches out into the negative space, using matching cream thread. The effect should be subtle but interesting, I hope!

Baby quilt doing what it was meant to do

This photo makes me so, so happy! There is no greater reward for my work than to see the recipient literally wrapped in the love that went into a quilt. Little Brooklyn is pretty sweet, isn't she? She is the great niece of my stepmom, Kay. 

Kay and Dad were able to visit Brooklyn and her parents this week, and give the quilt to them. Thanks, Kay, for sending these lovely photos. And thanks to Brooklyn's mom and dad for giving me permission to share them. It's always a treat to make a gift for such a happy occasion. 

Stash serendipity and a finish

Let's start with the finish. This baby quilt is done and ready to be sent off to welcome little Brooklyn Faith in Nebraska! She is the brand new daughter of my stepmother's nephew and his wife. 

Earlier this month when we were visiting California, I asked my stepmom what colors and/or theme new mama-to-be April had chosen for the nursery. The answer was turquoise chevrons with touches of pink and purple. Oh, and maybe there were owls on some of the decorations. 

I knew I had exactly the right fabric: this super cute panel featuring owls, and their friends the hedgehog, the little birdie, and the fox. 

I pieced the chevrons out of coordinating fabrics from my stash, and used a tonal white on cream floral background. The back is pieced with pale turquoise polka dots and a subtle, small chevron print. A darker turquoise binding ties it all together.

I free motion quilted this cute little baby blanket with an overall flower motif that echoes the background fabric. You can see the pretty background fabric in this photo, too. I admit I was pretty darned proud that I was able to pull together this quilt completely from items in my stash. My Dad and Stepmom will be visiting the new baby next week and will have a chance to see this quilt in person, which is also really fun.

In stash accumulation news, I received this big batch last week. The stack on the left contains some brown and gold silk dupioni and some cotton/linen blends. In the last several months, I've tried quilting with both of those types of fabrics and really liked the results, so I decided to keep my eyes peeled for good deals. The linen blends in those citrusy solids will make an interesting piece, I think.

The middle and right hand stacks are all from the same eBay seller. The listing that originally caught my eye contained the solid-reading purples and a couple of nice metallics. With shipping, the price came to around $4 per yard. When I find a seller who is listing largish (2+ yards) pieces at those kinds of prices, I look at their other listings to see if combining the shipping on multiple listings will net even better per yard prices. Sure enough, this seller had some other interesting batches and I loaded up. My net cost came down to closer to $2 per yard and I'm happy with that!

These kinds of mixed lots often contain "weird" fabrics that I would have never given a second glance to in a quilt shop. I'll unpack them and think, "Huh. What will I ever use that for? Maybe I'll resell that later." And yet, they all seem to work their way into some project or another, when I least expect it.

One of the lots contained the four black and white fabrics. I have almost nothing in black and white, as it doesn't usually speak to me as kid-friendly for Project Linus. However, I often admire other quilter's work in black and white, so I added them to my shopping cart. Someday I'll find them useful.

The day after my order arrived, Kat announced the August Covered in Love blocks: disappearing nine patches in black and white with one bright accent color. Woo hoo, I now have EXACTLY the right fabric for those! I sewed up five blocks for her and put them in the mail today. 

Whooooo would have guessed stash serendipity would happen so quickly?

Cleaning up and catching up

Yesterday I started on a gift baby quilt for a family member. When I found out that the nursery was decorated in chevron shapes and owls in turquoise with touches of pink and purple, I knew I had just the right fabrics in my stash.

I cut up this panel to remove some of the dark brown edging, which I think makes the design too heavy. I'll sash around all the pieces with off white, and add pink and turquoise chevrons made of half square triangles along the top and bottom.

I also worked on the Pretzel Twist top a little bit, and did some design work on a Christmas quilt. But I kept having to move piles of disorganized fabric from surface to surface and this afternoon I reached my limit of tolerance for the chaos. 

I have a large bag of trimmings, tiny scraps and pieces of batting too small to use. It sits next to the cutting mat so I can toss in little bits as I sweep them off the bed. That bag has gotten quite full, so I sewed up these four pillow covers and stuffed them to make pet bedding. I make the covers out of fabrics that aren't quilt friendly. The kangaroo print is a very thick canvas, the white with maroon dots is a polyester blend, and the brown one on the bottom is a strange, slippery mystery blend of synthetics that the seller claimed was silk. (Nope.) The local no-kill animal shelter said they could use the beds, so I'm happy to donate these. I also had two ratty old bed pillows that I deconstructed and added to the fillings. One turned out to be feather-filled and it made quite a mess! Most of the bag of trimmings is now gone, and about half the cover material, so that cleared up some space in my quilt studio.

I also refolded and put away a bunch of fabric I had pulled for various projects, plus my last batch of eBay orders. Hiding at the bottom of a pile was this red and white orphaned Christmas star, so I emailed Kat and asked if she thought it would be OK for her July star blocks. Her request was for red, white and/or blue stars and I wasn't sure if this one represented the wrong holiday, but she said to send it in and someone would be surprised. I made this star in the fall of 2014, and boy howdy was my piecing bad back then! Lumpy seams, wonky squares, and uneven points. It's good to know I've made progress since then.

Now my sewing space is neat and tidy and I can return to the owl quilt. The baby is due soon, so I'm hoping to finish it within a week.

Mountain View, CA

We spent the last week in California, visiting friends and family, and giving away quilts. It was a great visit, but jam-packed and a bit exhausting. I'm glad to be back on the boat.

My husband and I met in the San Francisco Bay Area, and lived there for 20 years, so it's a familiar place. However, I only started quilting in 2014 after moving aboard the boat, and never paid any attention to quilt shops when I lived there. On this visit, I had an opportunity to stop by one of the local shops, Eddie's Quilting Bee. It is located exactly three blocks from a little house I rented in 1988!

They had a very nice selection of novelty and children's prints. They also had lots of pretty batiks and the wonderful, saturated bright colors that I love to work with. Ironically, though, I bought two gray-based neutrals and a funky muted fish print, all from the sale table. I just can't resist a bargain, I guess. 

I brought five quilts to California: three for Project Linus and two as gifts for friends.

A few days before our trip, I received a batch of fabric in the mail that included several pretty purples and a gray Essex linen. It immediately reminded me of my friend Linda, who has a beautiful home decorated in a sleek modern style with touches of purple as accents. I thought I'd make her something modern, but wondered if I really had enough time before the trip. I had recently come across a Nancy Zieman pattern called "Windchimes." It's sewn up in columns of various widths and pieces up very quickly. I hunkered down and worked on this quilt for three solid days so I could present it to Linda in person.

I quilted it with swirls and horizontal waves to look like wind blowing through the chimes.

Here it is on the bed in our hotel room. It isn't huge, just a lap size, but I was happy with how it turned out. The only patterned fabric is a neat antique map design with metallic silver accents. I love how the cottons feel so smooth next to the nubby Essex linen.

The back is pieced with left overs cut to make the 45-degree angles of the windchimes, plus a few more purples and grays. I named the quilt "Fair Winds." In the boating world, the best wish you can make for a friend is "fair winds and following seas," which means a smooth and pleasant journey. This is my wish for Linda and John, that friendship and love are the winds that bolster them. They seemed to really like their quilt, so I'm really glad I was able to give it in person.

This quilt, which was finished many months ago, was given to my friend Marjorie. I squirreled it away so I could surprise her with it in person. It is a sixteen patch, and among my all-time favorite quilts. I just love how the symmetry of the squares play against the romantic florals and little birds. The fabric was a jelly roll of a line called "Vienna Garden," and I named the quilt "Marmona Garden" after their neighborhood.

This photo from before the binding was sewn on shows the colors a bit better. It contains pinks, burgundies, greens and soft yellows, with just a splash of orange for some interest. Marjorie laid it on the back of their burgundy easy chair and it coordinated very nicely.

The quilting is a simple cross hatch through the center of each square, but that gave it a nice, snuggly softness. You can see it a bit on this rather bad photo of the back. The back was pieced with some cream and pale green left over fabrics: a good unobtrusive backing.

And finally, I had three Project Linus quilts to deliver to Donna, who will take them to the next chapter meeting in Alameda. All three have been written about before on the blog: Cat Family Portrait, Animal ABCs, and Charming Cupcakes. I brought them along to several of the visits we had with friends and family, to show them off. Most of our CA crew have never seen my quilts in person so I seared their eyeballs with my luridly bright children's quilts! I'm going to say the show-and-tell was a success, since one friend wanted to keep Animal ABCs, and another asked to commission a quilt using the remaining cat fabric from Family Portrait. 

Each quilt showcases a different quilting technique, so I had a little spiel I did about free motion quilting, turning a fabric soft baby book into a quilt, flannel vs. smooth cottons, etc. The third or fourth time, Sean did the talk himself, which was just too funny! He's really been paying attention...who knew? He's more than just a pretty pair of feet at the bottom of my photos!

Best of all, though, was when I handed off the three little quilts to Donna. Because she's also a quilter, it was so much fun to "talk shop" with her, and to see her lovely home with the gorgeous views of San Francisco. My Mom and I spent the afternoon with Donna and had such a fun visit. Now I have a mental picture of what her sewing and crafting spaces look like, and I got to see a couple of her super cute receiving blankets, too. Wouldn't you know it, though: we were eating home baked cookies and laughing and talking so much that I didn't get a single photo!

Animal ABCs finish

Animal ABCs has been quilted, bound and washed. It's ready to be donated to Project Linus and cheer up a little girl or boy. The top was completed back in March, so this one was long overdue!

I bound it using prepackaged 2" wide satin blanket binding in this pretty variegated rainbow colorway. Instead of sewing it on the standard way, which makes a very wide binding, I doubled it up and used a half inch seam allowance, sewing onto the back then folding over to the front. The binding on the back is 0.5" wide.

Here it is on the front, which ended up about 0.75" wide. Leaving it 2" would have covered too much of the edges of the quilt blocks. I machine stitched it to the front very close to the binding edge.

I did wavy line quilting on this one because I wanted a quick finish with nice texture. I installed my walking foot and did a single wavy line, which puckered and pulled and fought me, no matter how slowly and carefully I tried. Ugh! I decided to try using my free motion foot instead. Perfect! Each line went twice as fast, and ten times more smoothly. No puckers at all, and only a few bobbles as I moved my hands. That's it; from now on I'm doing all my wavy quilting with the FMQ foot! (Not to be confused with Sean's feet, which I decided not to crop out of the photo.)

This shot of the back shows the quilting a little better, plus those cute circus animal butts! The fact that they are all wearing formal tail coats makes me smile. I think I have enough of this fabric for one more quilt back, plus the eBay seller has another chunk of it at a great price. I should go snap that up.

Gratuitous "tossed casually over a patio chair" shot. I'll never be a world class quilt blogger, because I have no patience or talent for taking decent photos. I'd rather spend my energy quilting!

Some of the animals on this fabric were a bit unusual: vampire bat, iguana, jelly fish, newt! I wonder if it was made in Australia? Each animal, no matter how poisonous or dangerous, is drawn in a happy, harmless style, though. The dizzy, cross-eyed bat is one of my favorites.

Quail has a bit of an attitude. Note the eye roll. 

Now I have three little quilts ready for Project Linus: Cat Family Portrait, Charming Cupcakes, and Animal ABCs. I'll be bringing these with me to California next week. I'll hand them off to Donna, my friend who takes them to the meetings. I've never actually attended a meeting, but the Alameda chapter graciously allowed me to join as their "member at large." Living full-time on the boat means we're never anywhere long enough to join geographically-based groups, especially ones that only meet monthly or quarterly. So having a chapter accept me in absentia is wonderful! Donna emails me to report that the Alameda PL ladies enjoy my quilts, and they've all been so supportive of my quilting journey. It really means a lot to me to hear that feedback!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday over on Crazy Mom Quilts.