Happy New Year!

Posted on by
6

Have you heard the New Year’s Day superstition that what you do on New Year’s Day will be what you do all year long? 
We spent New Year’s Eve with our daughter and her fiance.  I don’t like family out on the roads New Year’s Eve with all the parties and drinking and driving that goes on, so we had them spend the night.  Because my daughter missed our traditional “Wife Saver Breakfast” on Christmas morning, because she had to work, that is what we had for breakfast on New Year’s Day morning.  After breakfast, my daughter had to head off to work, but it was nice having her here for New Year’s Eve and then breakfast the next morning. 
After breakfast, it was time to focus on how to spend the rest of the day.  Linda and I discussed this issue on New Year’s Eve and decided that we definitely would not be doing laundry or housework!  We knew we wanted to focus on quilting, but which aspect of quilting did we want to focus on?  In the end, we decided to touch on as many different quilting aspects as we could manage to fit into the day.  


I started my day by doing a few passes on the current quilt that is loaded on the long arm.  This quilt is, “Fire Escape”, finished to the flimsy state on September 11, 2011.  I just love this colour combination–red and aqua!  http://www.silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html
 




The next project I worked on was something that could be considered a reward–something quick to finish that would bring instant satisfaction of accomplishment.  I purchased a table runner kit on a blog hop in June 2006 that has been sitting safely in its plastic sleeve since that time.  I decided today would be the day to work on that project.  This was an old project, not really a UFO since it hadn’t been out of the plastic, that needed to be finished.   This one is now finished to the flimsy stage.  This runner finishes at approximately 50″ x 20″.  I love how this one turned out!

This runner is the same pattern as the runner that I finished up for my Mom for Christmas this past year.  http://silverthimblequiltingarchive.blogspot.com/2006/06/quilt-shop-hop-2006.html
In September 2009, I purchased the fabrics to make Terry Atkinson’s, “Got Stripes?” quilt.  This quilt is comprised of two blocks–a block made from striped fabrics and a star block.  I made the striped blocks right away and then set the fabric and pattern on the shelf.

When I took this one off the shelf to work on it, it took a bit to remember what fabrics I had decided to use where on the stars.  Only some of the fabrics for the star blocks had actually been cut.  Further confusing the situation was a navy blue batik fabric that I had also purchased at the time I bought these fabrics.  At the time, I thought I might make the star points navy blue.  I remember not being able to decide between the brown and the navy blue.  I ended up buying both fabrics and decided today to go with the brown.

I am loving how this one is turning out.  I finished 5 of the 50 required stars for this queen sized quilt tonight before having to call it quits.  http://www.silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2009/11/current-projects.html
I think this was a very successful New Year’s Day! 
– I stared the day with a wonderful meal together with my family.
– I managed to keep activities for the day related to quilting. 
– I worked on using my existing stash.
– I resisted buying new fabric–even though there was a 50% off sale today at a local fabric store.
– I never did any housework or laundry.
2012 is shaping up to be a great year!

Merry Christmas!

Posted on by
3

This year was a very special Christmas for our family.  All 12 of the members of my family were able to celebrate together on Christmas Day!  We did have to wait for two members of my family to get off work before we could eat our turkey dinner, but the important thing was that we were all able to be together.

To commemorate this occasion, we took a picture.  Well, actually, we took several pictures!  It took some time to get all 12 people to be looking the same way, not be talking, etc.  We were a bit challenged because of limited space in our living room, but we managed to get a decent picture in the end.
Pictured, standing in the back row, left to right:  my husband, myself, my son, my son’s finance, my daughter’s fiance, my daughter, my nephew, and my brother.  Sitting in the front row, left to right:  my niece, my dad, my mom, and my sister-in-law.
Years ago, (I am not sure how many exactly, let’s just say many years ago) my mom and I were at a local quilt show.  My mom spotted a table runner that she just loved.  She purchased the kit and I brought it home.  I pieced the top right away and then the project sat on the shelf….for years.  While going through some things in my studio before Christmas, I came across the unfinished table runner.  I decided I would finally quilt the runner and then surprise my mother with the finished product in her stocking at Christmas.  My mom was surprised when she opened up the runner–truth be told, it has been so long since she purchased the runner, she likely forgot that it existed!
I also came across a runner kit that I bought from the same shop during a shop hop one year–poppies instead of sunflowers.  My kit is still in the plastic.  *Sigh*  Maybe I will finish my table runner in 2012!

Winter Prairie Window

Posted on by
1

After spending most of December long arm quilting for others, I was looking for a fun project that would be quick to finish–a reward project.  This project is a quilt that can be cut out and put together easily in a weekend.

The print in the center of this quilt was in my stash for some time.  The go-with fabrics were purchased during a Boxing Week sale after Christmas last year.  It was time to assemble them into the intended quilt.

This pattern is called, “Prairie Window” and is by Anne Wiens of Sweetgrass Creative Designs.
This quilt is lap size and finishes at 56″ x 68″.

Popsicle Sticks and the Fifth FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

Posted on by
2
Happy Thanksgiving to my quilting friends south of the border in the U.S.A!
Today is my birthday.  I am the fifth and last FAB to be celebrating my birthday this year.  We have postponed the PAR-TAY until the new year–either January or February.  With 5 busy people’s schedules to organize, Thanksgiving celebrations, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, we have all agreed that we will have more time to relax and celebrate after the New Year.
In the meantime, I have picked the quilt pattern that I want to work on during my PAR-TAY day.  I have chosen Popsicle Sticks from Atkinson Designs.
This is my test block.  I am glad I spent the time to put together a test block ahead of the quilting day as I now know that I will make the most efficient use of my fabric if I use WOF strips rather than FQ’s.
I still have many fall coloured / themed fabrics in my stash to pull from so this will be another quilt from my stash.  I am planning to make my quilt King sized – 112″ x 112″.  I will need 49 of these 16 inch blocks made from 2.5 inch strips of fabric.
Terry Atkinson mentions on the pattern jacket that you will need 4 jelly rolls (2.5 inch strips, 42″ long) or 50 fat quarters.  She goes on to say that if your fat quarters are smaller than 18″ x 21″, you will have to allow extra yardage.  When I was making my test block, I found that fat quarters did not work for me–too much waste.
This is a copy of the quilt from the pattern jacket.  This quilt is simple but effective–a take off from the traditional Rail Fence quilt pattern.  I have my strips cut and I am ready to PAR-TAY!

Green Work Basket Block #1 – Ivy

Posted on by
3
I have started a new project.  It is a good idea to have a handwork / portable project available for those times when you are travelling, watching TV, etc.
This is block number one in a basket series by Bee Tree Designs.  There are a total of 12 blocks–each with something different in the basket.  The designs fit nicely on an  8.5 inch square.  The level of detail on some of the blocks and the size mean these are quick-to-stitch so this project will take some time to finish.
I am using two strands of DMC #988 and a backstitch to do the stitching.  In hindsight, I should have likely used three strands of floss to make the design stand out more, but it is now done and IIWII.
Greenwork Ivy Basket
There has been a lot of discussion on the Internet about Pilot’s Frixion pens for marking designs on fabric.  I tried the green Frixion pen to mark this design and I love it!  The ink is thermo reactive and can be removed from paper with friction.  The ink can be removed from fabric by applying the heat of an iron.  I also read somewhere that someone removed the ink with a blow dryer but I haven’t tried that yet.  At 65 degrees Celsius, the ink becomes translucent (invisible).  The ink reappears if you cool your piece to -20 degrees Celsius by putting it in the freezer so be careful what project you are using this ink on.  Previously, I was using a permanent ink marker to mark my stitching designs onto fabric.  If I happened to make an incorrect line, I had to live with it and work it into the design.  With the Frixion pen, I can just use the tip of my iron to remove the mistake and remark.  I am not so sure I would use the pens to mark quilting lines on finished quilts, but for marking red work/green work, they are perfect.