Maybe next time

I have been working on the fusible comparisons and hoped this post would include the results. But my testing just raised more questions, so I am trying out a couple more things before posting any results. So hopefully my next post will have the results for you.

In the meantime, there has been another little finish--this is small quilt finish number #43 for the year.

 This little brick quilt was made from leftovers from the swap I did with Randy.

I quilted it with the 1" clamshell stencil I bought at HMQS last May. It has sure come in handy for little quilt finishes. And I love the backing fabric on this. It was the leftover from the backing I put on Randy's quilt. I had to border it to fit this quilt, but I really like the way the bird centered in it.

I got the borders around the little Kim Diehl wool piece. I hand quilted the first little quilt I made from this pattern and now I am debating if I should do that again, or just machine quilt it and be done!

The first block of the Buttermilk Basin "Give Thanks" wall hanging is finished. Actually I finished stitching down the words, too, but I am too lazy to go get a photo.

This is one of three new small wool projects, as of tonight.
I haven't fused the other two down yet. I will be comparing the performance of the fusible products as I stitch up these projects. I decided one little wool bird was not enough stitching to get a feel for the performance of each product.

Gorgeous sunset last night--just wanted to share it.

Until next time, 
Janet O.

Sewing machine is gathering dust

...while I play in wool. This is what I have pulled together in the past couple of days.

Nothing is fused yet. I just got all of the pieces cut out and laid on their respective backgrounds to see if they were happy there. I see that the crookneck squash doesn't have much contrast with its background, but I don't know if I will change it. I really like that piece of wool.


This is from a Buttermilk Basin pattern that I ordered a while back when Stacy had a sale. I've wanted a Thanksgiving wall hanging and when I saw this, I thought it was perfect. But I had not looked carefully at the size before I ordered.
With the sloping outer walls of our dome, the places where I can hang things are limited. Quilts need to be kept to under 3' square.
This pattern is for a 42.5" x 50.5" wall hanging.
I was sad, and stuffed the pattern deep in a drawer.
But as I have been up to my elbows in Kool-Aid lately, dying wool, I have come up with some rich colors that had me wanting to do something Fall-ish.

I have gone through so much Kool-Aid this week, I have had to replenish my supply twice. I wonder if the clerks at the store think I am addicted (I don't even drink the stuff). I have raised suspicions before when buying large quantities of lye for soap making (since it is also used in meth labs). But as far as I know there aren't nefarious activities associated with Kool-Aid (but even as I typed that, Jim Jones came to mind). (That was quite a parenthetical paragraph. Uh-oh, I am posting late at night again. Can you tell?)

I decided to dig out the pattern and reduce the designs. With the help of my scanner and printer, I believe it will work out to under 30" square once the borders are attached.

Excuse the glaring light over my kitchen island. Maybe this gives you some perspective, considering the pattern beside it is standard 8 1/2" x 11".  I think it will be very cute. : )
Half of the wools I used for this piece are from thrift store clothing, and then many of them were tea-dyed, or took a bath in Kool-Aid.

Another change I made, besides the size, is in Mr. Gobbler's coloring. If you compare the pattern with my Tom Turkey, you can see mine is not so pale.
Though the soft and creamy turkey on the pattern is pretty, we have wild turkeys in our area, and their complexions aren't that nice. Of course, I haven't seen one wearing a hat either, but I still included that.

For at least a couple of years now I have been wanting to run a side-by-side comparison of the fusible products different instructors use for wool applique. Lisa Bongean recommends Lite Steam-a-Seam 2, Stacy West is in favor of Soft Fuse, and Kim Diehl uses Heat'nBond Lite. Then there is one called TransWeb, that I hadn't heard of until my friend Kris introduced me to it.

So I divided a muslin square into quarters and used a different fusible in each one to attach an identical wool bird. I kept notes on the different properties of each one up to this point. Next step is to stitch around the edges and see what differences I can detect there. I already know from experience some of what I will find, but I am curious to get a feel for each of the four products. I'll let you know what I learn.

Until next time,
Janet O.

A Wooly and Wonderful Week

Thursday I did a kind of silent trunk show of wool applique at a local quilt guild to get them in the mood for the class I will be teaching for them next month. So I was trying to get a couple of WIPs to the point of flimsy so they could be in the display.

 This is a Kim Diehl design that I have made before. Still needs borders.

This was the one I made last year. I gifted it to a friend last year shortly before she died.

Then it was to go to her dear friend that had taken such good care of her during her illness.

I also added another border to Dedication Rose.

 Sometimes I love it and other times I think I will take the last border off. I'll have to ponder this one longer.

I've also spent a lot of time dying wool for the kits for next month's class, but I won't bore you with photos of that. That ends the wooly part of this post.

This is the wonderful part. Randy and I have completed our challenge. This is the quilt that arrived in the mail from her Friday. Doesn't it look great?

I love that Courthouse Steps block in the center with the other blocks forming a pattern radiating out from it. It is wonderful, Randy! Thank you so much!!
It was wrapped in this beautiful fabric. And look how fun that pieced back is!

This is what I sent to Randy.
It was really fun to swap, and we plan to try another swap when life slows down a little in the new year. Who are we kidding--does life ever really slow down?!?


The wonderfulness finished up Saturday when our church women's auxiliary brought in 5 of the Six Sisters and a bunch of their stuff.

They each spoke to us and then demonstrated some of their favorite recipes. They were inspirational, funny and delightful. DD#2 attended with me and we had a great time--laughing, crying, and eating.

This is my favorite time of year. Aside from the cooling weather, the golden hue of the sunlight and the colors of the changing leaves, I enjoy the Sandhill Cranes that migrate through our area. The other day they were so noisy and I could tell they were getting closer. I grabbed my camera and got out the door just in time to catch this. There were several more that wouldn't fit in the frame. I haven't seen this many together in our neighborhood before. I was thrilled.

This was a post of randomness, but that was my week. : )

Until next time,

Janet O.

This may not make any sense.

I am falling asleep over the keyboard, but I wanted to quickly update a few things.
Dedication Rose (block pattern by Lisa Bongean for The Splendid Sampler) is a flimsy now.

Those HSTs finish at 1/2"--and yes, I foundation pieced them.

And the scraps from that just keep on giving.

The 4 patches will finish at 1". I may throw a border or two on this one when it is all stitched up.

My secret challenge quilt is completed and will go in the mail today. (I think this is small quilt finish #42 for the year.)
The challenge was to make a 12" square quilt using French General fabrics Randy had leftover from a recent creation. It has been fun to plan and carry out a little surprise for her. : )

 




Randy is also hosting a pincushion swap and she shared a link to this Schnibbles pattern. It is a free download on the moda blog (the cutting table) here. I have this pattern, and if you want to make the pincushions boxy style instead of pillow style, check out my tuffet tab under my header photo.

The scraps from the challenge quilt seem to keep multiplying, too. This little brick quilt measures about 9 1/2" by 10 3/4". I am going to bind it in the pink. It is the only fabric of which I have enough. (That sentence structure was brought to you by Mom.)

A sweet surprise arrived from a delightful blog friend, Teresa. Look at these two wonderful quilt hangers--perfect for mini quilts. They both got put to use right away! Thanks, Teresa!!

This isn't quilted yet, but I thought it was the perfect size and colors for this hanger. After it is quilted I think this will be it's home.










That seems to be all, and just in time. The toothpicks holding my eyelids open are beginning to weaken.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Seeing Stars Again

Haven't touched a sewing machine for over a week, and even the hand stitching has been minimal. Instead, I have been busy making soap and testing some new-to-me gluten free flours.

I have managed a bit more stitching on Stars in the Garden.

There are two more flowers cut out and ready to stitch.
Trying really hard on this project NOT to make the flowers and stars all matchy-matchy.  I am combining fabrics I would normally never combine, in an effort to make this look like a real "make-do" quilt. On one of the stars I even used one hexagon of a different print from all the others in that round. I had enough of the original print, but I wanted it to appear that I hadn't. Can you spot it? : )

 Last night I felt like I should be stitching, but couldn't bring myself to drag out a work in progress. Then I remembered Lisa Bongean's recent block for the Splendid Sampler. I am not doing the sampler, but I really liked this pretty little applique block. Lisa did not do hers in wool. I did--and I changed the colorway.

At only 7" square, it is a sweet little block. Here I am auditioning Valdani flosses, and the possibility of adding tiny black buttons to the flower centers. Jury is still out on that.

I discovered that many of the wools I had chosen matched quite well with Lisa's Floral Gatherings line. I may need to piece a border to go around it--when I feel like it.

It is stitching up very quickly. Lisa named it Dedication Rose.

Fun mail today from my sweet friend, Pam Buda. Look at these wonderful scraps from her recent red/white/blue line of fabric. Love this line! Do you think I need to make a few more r/w/b minis? : )

 Maybe this will inspire me to get stitching again. I don't ever seem to stall with this color scheme!

I'll end with this photo of a photo of one of my Mother's quilts. Somehow the original photo became torn in half, but you can still see the lines of the feathered wreaths and diagonal lines Mom hand quilted. It is difficult to tell that the 9-patch blocks are double 9-patches.

She made this in 1991. It won Sweepstakes at our county fair and our state fair, and went to Houston that year. Just the quilt went--wish I had, too.
Until next time,
Janet O.