Small stuff keeps happening

I gathered my courage this week and quilted my version of Primitive Gatherings Pinwheel Garden.

Of course, I made my units smaller than the pattern called for, and I made mine square. 

It has been awaiting quilting for some time, but I couldn't make up my mind.

Linda Hrcka posted one on
Facebook a while back that she had quilted in an all-over pattern. I really liked it, but couldn't bring myself to do it here. Since my units are smaller, I was concerned that the all-over quilting pattern on such small units would overpower the piecing. I ended up doing mostly SITD and some curves.









I can't recall now what made me choose to do it in scrappy browns, and blues. The photo on the pattern shows a beautiful, totally scrappy little quilt, but I think I may have had some blue/brown HSTs leftover from something else, and I liked the combo. So there you have it!
















I will continue to work on quilting up the small quilts, until I can get "the beast" basted. My shoulder is not looking forward to that quilting job!

This is what is under my needle now. It is shown here getting some SITD.

Some happy mail arrived recently. Kevin, the quilter, shared some lovely repro scraps with me, and it appeared the be the perfect bundle for making something I have long wished to make. Lisa Bongean's "Tiny Tears" is a very scrappy little thing, and I think this bundle will be great for this scrappy look.                                                      
Lisa designed this little quilt after she lost her son a few years ago. I thought it would be an appropriate quilt to make with these scraps, which were sent to me soon after the passing of my Father. Thank you, Kevin!

Betsy's fabric bundle

So maybe I have caved in for a SAL this year. I went ALL last year only doing Lori's doll quilt SAL, as had been my plan (and continued to be my plan this year). But the Moda Blockheads SAL called to me and I even ordered a bundle of Betsy Chutchian's fabrics. I have plenty of Jo Morton's and Lisa Bongean's lines. I was going to order Jan Patek's bundle, too, but I stopped the insanity at that point and figured I could get by with what I had.
I won't be making any applique blocks that may be a part of the SAL, and if I don't love a block, I won't make it. Very likely I will fall behind, but I am hoping I won't get discouraged and give up, like I usually do. A block a week may not seem like much, but it is often a block more than I accomplish in a given week. I'm hoping I don't regret this. : )
 

Found a duplicate pattern as I am slowly sorting through things in my sewing room. If you are interested in this, please say so in your comment and I will draw a name to receive it.

Thought I was going to keep this short. Didn't happen.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Could.Not.Resist!

Did you see the little doll quilt Lori D. received in her swap? It was made by Karen Dever. You can check it out here.
It called to me like a siren and I found myself powerless to resist. That is pretty sad. So here is my little version--not an exact copy, but "inspired by."

I have no idea the size of the original, but mine finished at 10 1/2". I was working from a little bag of these scraps that a friend had given me, so my pinwheel size was based on what these bits and pieces could do. They also dictated my color scheme.
I see there will be another mini pinwheel quilt in my future.

The patchwork border gave me some grief--with my pieces so small, I would have been cutting something to a 16th of an inch. Not this time, thank you. So I cut and recut to try and see what I liked. That left me with a lot of odd squares and rectangles and that inspired me to make these.

I found a small piece of a pretty stripe that was just enough to create the rows between the patchwork strips. They measure 6 x 9 1/2, and 9 1/2 x 12. Why do I keep adding to my pile of little quilts to be quilted, when I was almost finished with them?

And while we are on that subject, my Primitive Gatherings Pinwheel Garden is now a flimsy, though at 14 1/2" square, and with all of those seams, it isn't extremely flimsy.

It is supposed to be comprised of 12 blocks, but when I had 9 made, it told me it was done. There is also supposed to be another row of the tiny HSTs around the outside, but it told me an emphatic, "NO!" (Or maybe I was the one telling it--my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point.) Since I made my blocks smaller than the pattern (any surprise there?), the outer HSTs would finish at 1/2". I have done that before on another one of Lisa's designs and I foundation pieced those. I didn't want to foundation piece anything on this quilt, although the pattern recommends it, so I stopped. Besides, as small as this is, it is looking very busy.

On this photo you can see a quarter to gauge the size better, and you can see the pattern to know what I am not doing to mine.

It isn't all little quilt finishes around here. Recently I improvised a couple of pillows. The one on the left was from a retreat with Stacy West (of Buttermilk Basin fame) back in January of 2015. It is designed to be a picnic hamper cover, but I don't own one of those.

The snowman pillow is one of the blocks from Lisa Bongean's Warm Winter Blessings quilt. Back in January of 2013 I attended a retreat where Lisa taught us her wool applique methods, using blocks from this quilt. I made three of the quilt blocks before I decided I needed to make the mini version instead.

And just for fun, before I gave away a couple more of the little quilts I have finished this year, I spread them out on the dining room table, stood on a chair, and took this photo. Twenty of the twenty-three I had finished at this point are in this photo. Since this was taken I have gifted a couple more and finished a couple more.

I promised a shorter post this time, so I'd better stop. But I'll leave you with this view after a recent rain.

 Until next time, 
Janet O.

Finishes Number 18, 19, 20, and 21, and other stuff.

Number 18 received very simple clamshell quilting with cables in the border.

This quilt began as a quiltsbycheri blog SAL, but I fell behind. Then I discovered some orphan blocks the same size as the ones in this sampler and combined them with what I had made and called it done. It has been in the closet for some time.

Number 19 was made when Kindred Quilts blog hosted an every-other-month-"Simply Charming Book" little quilt SAL some time ago. I made six little quilts that year from Tara Lyn Darr's book.

 This is the only one I hadn't yet quilted. And now I have. : )

 You can click the photos if you want a closer view of the quilting designs.

These two (20 and 21) are not my usual style, I know, but I do love playing with batiks. The quilt on the right was another creation from the wealth of batik scraps I received in a swap years ago from Sandi (kwiltnkats blog). It was one of the first things I made from her scraps and is one of the last to get quilted.
I'm trying to think of a "K" name for this, in honor of Sandi, who names ALL of her many quilts (she is prolific and very talented) with names that start with "K".

The basket quilt on the left was one of the four quilts I made when Temecula had their Blessing Baskets SAL. I call this one Mystic Baskets.  I did a different fill design around each basket.

There are pebbles, meander, paisley, hooked swirls, and feathers. The baskets finish at 4", so some of that fill work is pretty small.

I have decided to hand quilt this one, so it won't get finished quickly. This was a SAL by Lori (humblequilts blog) named Harmony.



Did you notice that four of the five quilts here were from SALs? Further proof that I have had no resistance in the past. I have been so proud of myself this year, I have made it 3 months without joining a SAL, and that has to be a record!

My ornaments were completed in time for Easter and will remain hanging through Spring. 



Made a little progress on one of my two little long term projects. This is Pinwheel Garden from Primitive Gatherings, as I have said before. The pattern calls for 12 of these blocks, so I am halfway there. But I can't decide if I want it square or rectangle. When I get 9 blocks finished I will decide if I am done.

There are two pieced borders, as well, and I have been cutting pieces for those as I go along. The pinwheels here finish at 1", and the blocks will finish at 4".

Have had the good fortune to receive zippered pouches from a couple of good friends in the blogging world. I love these, but have never ventured to make any myself because zippers are not my favorite thing to do. These bags are the handiwork of Teresa and Betty. Quality workmanship here on both bags. I love them! Thank you so much, ladies!

Until next time, 
Janet O.

A Sewing Frenzy

Though I'd had a full schedule of appointments, Thursday ended up being a sick day at home. I probably should have slept,  but I needed to sew. I really needed to! I wasn't feverish, but I was feverishly sewing.

Made some progress on my blue/brown version of Primitive Gatherings Pinwheel Garden.

The pattern recommends paper piecing the HSTs, but  I opted for the "optional method" without the papers.


These blocks will finish at 4", which means that each pinwheel is 1". It is really fun to see these blocks come together.

The little pinwheel star quilt top I made recently was created from a bag of HSTs a friend had given me. She also gave me a little bag of Kansas Troubles 1" strips in a variety of lengths. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that they were for log cabin blocks. I used them as leader/enders for my day of frenzied sewing.

These blocks will finish at 3 1/2". Haven't counted to see how many blocks I will get out of these pieces.

I used some leftover pieces of other projects to whip up a couple of pincushions.

And I got a stack of little quilts pin basted so I have no excuse not to get quilting.

In fact, I have started stitching on the two in the bottom of the photo. 

This is what I created from the little purple stars in my previous post. The ditch stitching is done and I am marking it for FMQ.

A lovely surprise came in the mail from Sue. She made such clever, collapsible  thread catchers and showed them on her blog. She offered to send me the pattern. Well, it wasn't just a pattern that arrived all the way from Australia. A beautiful cheddar thread catcher was included. Thanks so much, Sue!!

Had lunch earlier this week with my good buddy Kris, from Lavender Quilts blog. Look what she brought me. Does she know me, or what? : )  Thanks bunches, Kris!!

I have already drooled over looked through it a couple of times. I need to finish some other projects so I can start some new ones!!







Felt so good to finally have a sewing day, even though I didn't feel good. : )
Until next time, 
Janet O.

Multiple little things.

 I hadn't intended that this little quilt would step ahead of other projects in line. Some projects get so unruly--even though they may be small, they throw their weight around. These HSTs finish at 7/8", so the quilt is just over 9"x7".

I'm nearing a finish on the little Kim Diehl Porchside Garden.

All I have left to quilt are the squares in the outer border. I'm stitching an X through those, as Kim recommends. I'm excited to get this completed.

 I also whipped up three of the little blocks for this Primitive Gatherings quilt I have all cut out. Mine will be in blues and browns, and my blocks are smaller than the pattern. The instructions will give you 3" finished blocks. Mine finish at 2". The idea of doing all of those little HSTs all at once kind of made my mind go numb, so I decided to just stitch up a little block now and then. Eventually it will get finished.

 I spent the last day of July making this little block from a pattern I discovered recently. I wasn't ready to let July go.

This block is about 5" unfinished. The pattern didn't have any words on it, but I wanted them there. Maybe the variegated thread wasn't such a good idea. The lighter shades don't stand out too well.
This pattern was in issue 22 of the OOP Miniature Quilts Magazine.

Remember this little flag wall hanging  and tumbler table topper I made this summer? Well, I had a few leftovers and I decided to see if anyone would like to play with them. . .

. . . along with the extra copy of Issue 22 of Miniature Quilts Magazine that I came across  in my sewing room.



So if you are interested in the assortment shown below, leave a comment and I will draw a name sometime next week. I realize this isn't much fun for international readers, and I am sorry.

There is the magazine with the tiny paper pieced flag pattern, the leftover flag from the little flag wall hanging, and about 70 tumblers cut in R/W/B fabrics. I used 90 in my tumbler topper, but I think I could have gone a row shorter.  You could make something a little smaller than mine, or cut more tumblers for whatever size you'd like.

I'll announce the winner next week when I can find a minute to post. It is our county fair week and that is a busy week for me.

Giveaway Now Closed!

Until next time,
Janet O.