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Thursday, March 30, 2017

Hiding in the Closet (projects, not me)

In January, in this post, I showed you several small design boards with the beginnings of little quilts upon them.
This week I found more hiding in the sewing room closet, and a couple of them demanded attention--as if I had nothing else to do. One of the boards had lots of mini charms that had been randomly sliced into three strips. One row of them had been sewn into the beginnings of a mini Chinese Coins quilt. So I finished the other two rows, and found a lovely Betsy Chutchian stripe to fussy-cut for the border.

It turned out more square than I had anticipated. That is what happens when no planning whatsoever is involved in the design process. It is approximately 9".

Another bunch of mini charms that had been sliced up were mostly from Primitive Gatherings Old Glory line. I had originally intended to make rail fence blocks alternating with sawtooth star blocks, as I did in a few pieces shown in this post. I had a couple of the rail fence blocks assembled when the design board got buried in the closet.
The blocks finish at 2" and the whole things is 8" square.
I decided to switch things up. I put good old Abe in the middle of the rails, made  5-point stars, and after attaching the narrow red border, I decided it needed a sawtooth border. One more side to piece and it will be ready to layer and quilt. This may get a combination of hand and machine quilting. I'm trying to decide if this will be what I take to my family reunion auction this year.

A combination of hand and machine quilting is what I had planned to do on my Kim Diehl Porchside Garden, but after hand quilting the center, I just felt compelled to continue by hand, instead of quilting the borders by machine. Getting pretty close to finished.
 




My thanks to my friend, Mary, who has helped prepare me for the classes I am taking from Bonnie Hunter in July. She surprised me with this in my mailbox!


I am plodding along very slowly with the quilting of The Beast. I keep this picture of the blocks pinned to my design wall and whenever I finish a block, I cross it off.  You can see this is moving at a snail's pace, but at least it is moving.

I am quilting them by thread color (am I the only lazy quilter that does not like to change threads?). I started with all of the black blocks. Now I am doing the white ones. Then I will do the green blocks, the turquoise, the gold, and the grey. I will finish with the navy blue blocks. There are bunches of those!!


It will put a damper on anything else being quilted until this is finished. Not that I can't move this out and change the thread to quilt other things, but that is a lot of effort for a lazy quilter. :)

The winner of the "Bee" panel from my last post is Denise. I already had her address, so it is winging its way to her abode.

Until next time, 
Janet O.

In scanning through the photos I have taken this month to find what I needed for this post, I came across this one I wanted to share.Took it on March 1st.
 
We don't have all this snow now, but there is still plenty in the mountains. We are out of a drought for the first time in 10 years!

37 comments:

  1. Janet, I like your little red white and blue with Abe right in the middle! I am always fascinated by your littles. Do you hand stitch all the tiny ones? I couldn't imagine trying to machine piece something so small. I am sure the t shirt quilt is very heavy. You are probably very wise to tackle it slowly. **thank you for the pattern you sent. I have a small sampling of wool pieces and I hope I can make this and make it look beautiful! **

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  2. LOVE everything in this post! The patriotic little is just perfect - I really like those stars. And your Kim Diehl quilt...beautiful and wonderful hand quilting - just love it! Did I know you were taking a class with Bonnie? I'm going to a retreat with her in August. I was asked to give my presentation/trunk show (I'm like her warm-up band - lol) and decided to stay for the whole retreat! Thanks for sharing another fantastic post card!

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  3. Your little quilts are beautiful, and so inspiring!! I love them all. Wish I could see the little coins quilt in person -- only 9 inches square!! Thanks so much for sharing them with us!

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  4. LOts of eye candy in this post. I have been thinking about making a striped quilt. I think I could use up some scraps and it looks like fun to do.

    Mary

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  5. I love Chinese coin quilts regardless of the size :-) Yours is wonderful. Have a sweet time at your quilt class with Bonnie.

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  6. The Abe piece is my favorite. I love patriotic and the Lincoln fabric was much sought after by many people a few years ago.

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  7. I'm so happy to see a posting from you today. Thanks for sharing your projects, small though they may be... Have the time of your life with Bonnie in July! I will do the same in May. Love the Essential Triangle Tool.

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  8. So many cuties today! The border fabric really makes the coin quilt special--love it, as well as the little patriotic one. Do you paper piece your little stars or are they "stack 'n whack"? Good luck getting that t-shirt quilt completed! You will be smooth sailing when that one is done! BTW: I don't think anyone likes to change thread colors--lol!

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  9. You have almost tops like I have tops hiding in various places. I'll never get them all quilted it seems. I produce more tops and need to remedy this... should change at the end of July.... R E T I R E. M E N T YAY. As always your items are gorgeous!!!

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  10. You are so imaginative with your tiny pieces! Love Abe in the Middle! Coin quilts in mini are darling--sometimes they can look clunky to me with wider strips. They are all treasures. I'm a lazy quilter too, but block by block you are taming this Tshirt beast! We are out of Severe drought here in SoCal, but it will take a few more normal rainy seasons to get us out.

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  11. The loft and texture you are achieving with your Porchside Garden quilt is phenomenal, not to mention the cheerful mix of colors. I do think Honest Abe needed that sawtooth border too. Isn't it wonderful to find projects we've forgotten about and we can get excited about them all over again. It has been snowing huge flakes for the last 20 minutes or so, and building up fast on the ground, just when we thought spring was here. Good to hear that you folks are finally out of the drought.

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  12. I had my first class with Bonnie Hunter last month. It was an absolute joy. She is just so down to earth and friendly! My quilting has improved just by learning to cut with a rotary cutter (and I thought I was doing okay before.) Now I've moved on to more rotary cutting projects like Garden Party. Enjoy your class. Enjoy the process!

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  13. Nice progress on all of your little quilts. I too hate changing my thread, so I tend to use monofilament instead, when I have multicoloured backgrounds. Only problem is that it tends to break if you are FMQ, so I only use it for walking foot type quilting.

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  14. I'm glad you clarified that its was projects hiding in the closet and not you! It made me smile. Love all of your newest mini's, but the patriotic one with ol' Abe is my fave. Keep wranglin' the beast. On, you're not being lazy about changing the thread, I would call it being efficient.

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  15. Your little minis are wonderful (as usual). You make the best stuff. I especially liked the Betsy Chutchian stripe and border one. Just so cute.

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  16. Love all the "little" quilts in progress, but the mountains covered in colored snow really puts my soul at rest!!!

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  17. Super cute projects as always!! Such a blessing to be drought free!! You will have a gorgeous spring!

    Blessings and hugs!

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  18. Your minis are all very inspiring and I'm sure the family auction quilt will be quite the fundraiser!! Gorgeous photo of the mountains. We had a bit of a red sky this morning. If one follows the red sky in the morning/sailor take warning quote then that would explain the snow this afternoon. It didn't stick but I would prefer snow to the current rain.

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  19. Just love your Abe quilt and the 5-point stars! 2" blocks??? All I can say is wow. Also love the photos you share of your mountain--such beauty!

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  20. Wow -- some fun little projects out of the closet, there! That border for the Mini Chinese Coins quilt was just perfect! I like the squareness of it, too! And oh-my-gracious...how tiny was that sawtooth border?? WOW!! I adore your Porchside Garden piece. Handquilting it all the way was the right choice, in my VERY humble opinion. That was nice of Mary -- I love gadgets! Have you done a Bonnie Hunter workshop before? Thanks for sending the Bee panel along . . . I can't WAIT! Your last photo was the perfect, beautiful ending to a happy post -- what a gorgeous view you have!! And remind me to share what I just realized was 'packed' away in my 'garage'. Hahaha!! :)

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  21. I'm pleased it wasn't you hiding away in the closet! I wouldn't receive your lovely comments on my blog! Glad you are keeping up with quilting 'the beast'....the end is near.

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  22. Once again I am in awe of what you've done!! The little Kim Diehl top is great. I can see why you'd want to continue with the hand quilting! Fabulous. And your wool applique?? Terrific. I can tell you've been trained by the BEST. the rest of your little quilts are equally impressive.
    the view?? Just breathtaking...

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  23. Porchside Garden is beautiful! The hand quilting really makes it shine. I'm always inspired by all your projects!

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  24. All your little quilts are beautiful, but the one with Abe is really special! I truly enjoyed your 6-25-14 post again. Patriotic quilts are probably my favorites anytime. Again, I"m tempted by your work to get another one started. ---"Love"

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  25. As is usually the case, I am always inspired by your posts. I'm working on a couple of Quilts of Valor projects right now, and your rwb mini just gave me another idea for using up some of my leftover rail fences. I love the scenery shot of the snow. You live in aa beautiful place. Your KD quilt looks lovely too.

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  26. Lots of cuties as usual in your post dear Janet ans I especially love your quilt with Abe !
    I have a little question please : what is the green cercle on the Kim Diehl doll quilt please and it is used for what ? I know I'm a little bit curious !! :)
    I wish you a lovely WE ! Hugs !

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  27. Beautiful! I'm always amazed at what you get accomplished

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  28. Love the Patriotic mini. It is certain to do well at the auction. I'd be bidding on it for sure... You are going to just love Bonnie Hunter. Wonder if you could miniaturize the workshop project...would you attempt that? I have, but not nearly as small as you could, with the Scrappy Mountain Majesties. It is one of my 2017 projects to finish this year. I've already got a name for it Kilimanjaro (thanks to Susan C). Take care Janet!

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  29. What a gorgeous mountain photo!
    Love all your projects as usual!
    I am an odd quilter because I like to change thread colours and it makes me happy to have lots of colours!

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  30. That little Chinese coin quilt is wonderful. I'm thinking that those coin strips are less than 1/2" thick if the whole quilt is 9". Amazing. I like Mr. Lincoln and his stars, strips, and half triangle squares. (Did you know he never liked being called Abe?) And your Porchside Garden -- look at those perfect tiny quilting stitches!

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  31. Beautiful inspiration--I may need to "borrow" your idea and fancy cut some of my patriotic fabric and set with the rail fence. Spring is trying to come to TN--some days warm some days sweater weather. That quilt is huge--namely it the beast was a good name

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  32. what a fantastic post! I adore your little Lincoln quilt. It is so so great! I may ask permission to make one for myself. Your little coin quilt is charming. I love the border print you used. great great fabric.
    The mountain photo is so pretty. I love mountains and that is spectacular view. what is the name of the range?
    good going on the beast - that is a big quilt!

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  33. Your Kim Diehl is looking fabulous and I am really glad you are hand quilting it. And lucky Denise!! Now she will really have a taste of Utah besides you (oh yeah and me)!!

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  34. What stellar pictures, the scenery and the quilts alike.

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  35. I love each one! That border for the first one is so pretty! And, of course, I love the patriotic Abe.

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  36. The capturing of pink light in your photos is breath-taking! I love your impromptu Chinese coins, but the Americana quilt with Abe Lincoln is a MUST for the auction at the family reunion.

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  37. great projects! And yes, I've been known to quilt by block color...

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