Much to Share From March

Couldn't believe when March came to an end and I hadn't found time to post. I had been stitching more than I have for a while, but never wrote about it, so I will dump it all here.

Rocky Mountain Christmas was finally bound and sent to its new home.

I had hubby hold it in front of the snow covered mountains for this photo to match the Christmas theme. Made from Men's thrift store shirts, this is based on Bonnie Hunter's free Smokey Mountain Stars pattern. Being a very overcast day, the colors are darker than in real life.

The picture below, taken in my living room, gives you a better idea of the true colors.

I tucked my little Christmas gnome into the quilt to give this a holiday touch. :)

I also FINALLY got the borders on my Churn Dash quilt. This was sewn along with Chooky last year. I had the blocks finished and arranged by the deadline, but hadn't finished sewing it all together and adding borders. I so often stall on borders, even when just doing these long, straight borders with no piecing.

I just draped this over my living room sofa. I don't have floor space anywhere right now to lay out a king size quilt, and it is currently wet in the great outdoors, so this will have to do. I have always loved the churn dash block, and these scrappy ones were a delight to stitch up.  Even the challenge of putting a 1" churn dash inside the triple churn dash blocks was fun to attempt. As soon as I get a back pieced, this will be off to my longarm quilter.

In March I also made another batch of the tiny blocks for my guild class. Only one more month of these and we will have been through both sets of blocks Lynn Hopkins has designed so far. These will finish at 2" square. The rotary cutter gives you a little perspective on the size.

Also for guild I got another 5 placemats made up for our service project for Meals on Wheels. In February the gal in charge of this service project sent me home with a large bag of strips she had leftover from the placemats she had made. 

She told me to make what I wanted from them--she didn't want to see them again. I had fun digging through the strips to find things to coordinate for each placemat. The two on the left are definitely out of my usual comfort zone.

With the talk of the upcoming eclipse (which I am sad that I will be missing), I was recalling our experience in 2017 when we car camped to see the total eclipse a few hours from our home. You can read that post here. Canuck Quilter has a great eclipse pattern out that you may have seen Pat Sloan making. What a fun way to commemorate this event.

This is more than I have usually accomplish lately in a month, and it felt good to make progress on some things. Time with family and friends, time in the sewing room, time with books or violin, and time outdoors walking all fill my bucket when stress presses in. What, besides quilting, brings you joy and peace when you need it most? Please share with me in a comment.

Until next time,

be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

Yesterday morning I saw a glorious sunrise. But to make it even better, when I hurried outside to catch photos, I could hear the Sandhill Cranes trumpeting to welcome in the day. Do you have 20 seconds to see (and hear) how my day began? Make sure your sound is turned up.

February Monthly Mini

Here I am posting my February mini and it isn't even the last day of the month--barely. What is up with that?
This month I finished up that little "Tree of Life" block that I shared last time. It is currently hanging in the Christmas Corner of my sewing room.

I may have to name this Charlie Brown's Tree, because it is pretty tipsy and sad looking. But having been made without a pattern, I'm okay with that.


The quilting is mostly stitch-in-the-ditch, with the feathers in the setting triangles. You can see the quilting a little better in this photo, where I had just finished sewing the binding to the front and hadn't yet wrapped and pinned it to the back. This gives you a better size perspective, too. It finished at about 8 1/2" square. (Linking with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog for the Monthly Minis.)
Except for the brown fabrics in the tree trunk, this is all made from fabrics from men's shirts found at thrift stores. All of the little HSTs were bonus triangles from when I made Bonnie Hunter's Smokey Mountain Stars pattern. Check out the link for the free pattern on her website.

I called my version Rocky Mountain Christmas. One of these days I might actually quilt it. Wouldn't that be a shocker!!

Another shocker is how short this post is! Crazy busy life prevents me from much stitching, though I have made progress on my "Mom's Flower Garden", and more hand stitching on my son's mission quilt. I'll share those soon.

Tonight DH and I are headed to Salt Lake City for a unique performance. It is a showing of one of my favorite old musicals, "Singin' In The Rain." It is shown in film, but the music is provided live by the Utah Symphony. Our children gave us the tickets for Christmas. Should be fun!
Do you like musicals? If so, do you have a favorite?

Until next time,
Janet O.

p.s. My oldest daughter sent me this link, and if you have a minute and would be willing to help her, please click it. She has joined a program that gives parenting help, and they are offering an opportunity for someone in the program to earn their help for life. She was chosen as one of the five finalists based on submitted videos, and they are accepting votes for those five until March 3rd. Her name is Angie, and you can vote for her if you choose, or watch the brief videos and follow your heart--her words, not mine. 
https://calmthechaosworkshop.com/calm-the-chaos-for-life/

Caught this sunset a couple of days ago out my sewing room window.

UFOs dropping like flies--kind of.

This is Bonnie Hunter's Smoky Mountain Stars free pattern, which I made entirely from men's shirts and named Rocky Mountain Christmas. Last time this was on my wall (years ago) I was struggling with whether or not to use the bonus triangles the stars created to make a sawtooth border.

 I finally decided it was too busy and distracted from the simplicity of the stars, but I put it away without attaching the borders that were already cut. How lame is that? Now it is bordered and we are both happy!

Currently on the design wall is another Bonnie Hunter pattern--her mystery from about 3 years ago--Orca Bay. It only needs the final border pieced and attached.

I made this one entirely from men's shirts, as well. I had planned to name it Sunset over the Rockies (Yes, I love my Rocky Mountains), but ended up going with Sunset over the Men's Department, instead. Bonnie's borders are always piecing masterpieces, but I run out of energy by the time I get to the border--and I like some calm areas for the eyes to rest, so I just used straight borders. If you enlarge the photo you can probably see that there is a small plaid design to the orange border. I had to fussy cut it so that the stripes of the plaid would match when I sew the pieces together (yes, I HAD to do that!!). Good thing it was a very large shirt!

Of course, there is still the small stuff happening. This is the piece I mentioned in my last post that I was going to quilt with an all-over design. It didn't happen. I had every intention, but I just couldn't do it. Those 9-patches were crying out for straight lines criss-crossing through them, and those snowball blocks wanted their own design. So "Herald Angels", a flimsy from 2012, got custom quilting, in spite of my plans.






My pictures usually load straight, but this one wouldn't. You can click on it to see the quilting, and just ignore the thread nests and toe-catchers. I was trying straight line quilting using rulers on Gidget, instead of my walking foot on my Pfaff. It was a new experience--one I will try again, but selectively.

That is it for the UFOs this post. Now for the new stuff.

A few months ago, on Diane's blog I saw the cutest little quilt for a cat lover. She gave the link and I ordered it immediately, thinking I would make it for my Mother's birthday in February. But time got away from me and that didn't happen. I consoled myself that there was Mother's Day in a few months and I could shoot for that. When I started this little thing last week I could not stop.

Cat Nap. Finished at 9 1/2" x 11".

The pattern called for just a little knot for each eye and a knot for the nose. I had to add a little more detail to the face and ears. I finished the binding last night, and I couldn't wait until Mother's Day. I dropped it by my Mom's today. She was so surprised, and really loved it. She has been a quilter for about half a century, and is a cat lover, so it was ideal for her.
It is paper pieced, and I used all scraps from my Mom's quilts to make it, except the cat fur fabric (thanks, Annie). I machine quilted the border, and SITD, but hand quilted the cross-hatching in the background.

Somehow I got talked into doing a trunk show for a local "Small & Miniature Quilts" guild. Do you all have a friend or two to whom you just can't say "No"? My reaction was, "What, me? Who am I to do a show, and I don't keep most of what I make, anyway, so what would I show?"
Somehow my protests didn't work, so now I am scrambling to make some of those miniature quilts that keep dancing in my head. Luckily, the show isn't until May!

"Scrap Baskets". The basket blocks are 2".
This will finish at 9", with a tone-on-tone brown binding.

This little basket quilt is waiting for feathers in the setting triangles. You can faintly see the white line I have drawn to keep my feathers out of the binding zone. I have done SITD around the baskets and blocks. I am trying to decide whether or not to quilt on the wavy line through the sashing with a matching thread.

Another Rocky Mountain photo for you. On my morning walk a few days ago the clouds were dark and the mountains were white. The wind was whipping at the peaks and you could see the snow whirling in the air against the dark backdrop. Enlarge the photo for a better look.

I know we have had enough of winter, but I love nature cloaked in white.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Robots Welcome!

Well, maybe not welcome, but you don't have to prove you aren't one in order to leave a comment!

As you can see, I have most of the Rocky Mountain Christmas (aka Smoky Mountain Stars) flimsy assembled. I am down to borders and wondering if I want to square up all of the little bonus HSTs created in the making of this quilt and slip them in between two of the cranberry colored borders. They are 1 1/2" unfinished. What do you think? I've put the few I have finished on opposite sides of the quilt in different layouts. The original pattern has the two plain borders.
Squaring up all of these little HSTs is not fun, I don't know about you, but on the tiny blocks like this the seam just seems to make a teeter-totter out of the ruler and it is so hard to hold it stable. I'm okay on the larger blocks--the bigger surface area allows more contact, or something. I had seen the Bloc-Loc rulers online before, and it seemed that they would solve the problem. Sandi has posted about them on her blog here, and I thought it was something I wanted to try. Then Bonnie posted about it here. There is a channel cut into them that you place over the center seam. It does kind of lock in place and make the job much easier.

They are kind of pricey for such little things and then to pay shipping besides, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But when I started considering doing all of these little HST I knew I would be playing teeter-totter again. So I was excited to find that my LQS now carries the Bloc-Loc rulers. They are still pricey, but at least I avoided shipping!

I have had fun playing with my new toy (I have GOT to choose a name!) this week and got my version of Pink Lemonade quilted.

I've played with the name for this one and "Flies in the Mustard" is settling in, I think. I used the Handi Quilter 2" clamshell template to do this. There is a learning curve to get used to it. Masking tape helped hold it securely in place. If you look closely you will see some misshapen shells in the finished product, but I think if you aren't looking for them they don't jump out at you. I unpicked the worst ones, but there are some that I am leaving in place.

Some fun mail lately--I got this LOVELY PURPLE PLAID cotton shirt from Doniene at Now It's Just Quilts blog. What a treat. She knows I am making The Farmer's Wife from plaid shirts and she knows I love purple. Oh, I love this fabric. Thanks again, Doniene. I owe you one!

Then Randy at Barrister's Block blog generously DONATED (she said dumped, but I don't consider this a dump) half of her Christmas scraps to my second set of the FW blocks which I am making in Christmas scraps. This is more than scraps, Randy--this is a prize package! I owe you, too.

Finally, I know many of you follow Judy L. over at Patchwork Times, so you have probably seen this new book. I have her Weekend Quilts book and I think it was her clever border treatments that really drew me in. So when I saw that she had a book devoted to borders I immediately put it on my Amazon wishlist. I checked local shops, but couldn't find it, so I finally ordered. Got it today and it is a great source for border inspiration! It includes 15 quilt patterns, which in and of themselves are fun layouts. But each quilt is paired with 4 different border options. The title doesn't lie--60 borders in all! How cool is that? And there are instructions on how to adapt the borders to any quilts. Judy uses primarily bright tone-on-tone prints for her quilts. Those are not my fabrics of choice, but lets face it--a beautiful quilt is a beautiful quilt, no matter your fabric preferences, and Judy makes beautiful quilts made all the more beautiful by her creative borders. This is a keeper! Check it out! No affiliation, I just appreciate a job well done!

Lots of random stuff in this post. If you stayed with me, thanks! 

Until next time, 

Janet O.

Orca Bay (and a few other things)

I decided to get in on Bonnie's last Orca Bay link-up, though my "Bay" is currently not much more than a puddle.

This is less than half of the blocks I will make, but it still won't be as big as the original. You may recall that "Sunset Over the Men's Department" is made from thrift store shirts and there just isn't enough coral plaid and purple stripes to do the full size quilt. It can be tricky to get all of the stripes (and strings for most of you) pointing in the right direction. I've read in blog after blog of quilters realizing that one piece or another was sewn in wrong. I've had to do a little unpicking myself. But I do love the bold graphic design in this pattern. Bonnie hit another home run!

I got my Raspberry Lemonade version of Lori's doll QAL quilted and bound. I used Leah Day's paisley heart design that LuAnn at Loose Threads blog linked me to. It was my first attempt with variegated thread and I'm not sure it was the best choice. When the lighter thread color would come through I couldn't always see my quilting and I would sometimes think the thread had broken. 

The stitching is anything but perfect, but it will have to do. You can't really see it in the photo and that is probably a good thing. 

Now it sits on my hutch beneath my soup tureen. 

I got block number two of "Ramblin' Rose Meets Jamestown" finished. I am definitely messing with the value placement on these blocks. Since I don't have the fabrics specified, I am using a bunch of fabrics from my stash and I don't always have the same number of lights and darks for a block as the pattern indicates.

The one on the right, that looks crooked, is the newest addition.

And finally, my Rocky Mountain Christmas (aka Bonnie's Smoky Mountain Stars) Is coming along. Last time I mentioned that mentally I had divided it into twelve sections. Now I only have 4 sections to finish, but I'm toying with a border idea in my head that may take some time to complete, if I decide to add it. Good thing I have plenty of time before next Christmas. I definitely want it done by then!

It is late and I am typing some pretty silly things as my eyelids droop. I hope I have caught and corrected them all. If not, have a good laugh on me. I'd better call it quits. Tomorrow morning my new HQ Sweet Sixteen is being delivered and I want to be awake enough to understand the training. : )
Until next time,
Janet O.

On the Wall

Rocky Mountain Christmas (aka Smokey Mountain Stars by Bonnie Hunter) is back on the design wall. I intend to at least get it to flimsy stage in the next 2 or 3 weeks, amid all of the other projects. I won't be quilting it until much later this year, but I want to have the top ready. Right now I do have all those corners sewn to the squares, but the squares and borders are just stuck to the wall. I wanted to make sure I could get enough border cut from the shirt I wanted to use. It was only an XL shirt. I have made the quilt a tad larger than the pattern and I wasn't sure if I could get enough 5" strips from the shirt. I made the border 4" instead and I could have still cut 1 or 2 more strips. I had to fussy cut them in order to match up the plaids when I piece them. Maybe I am the only person who would have done that (no, I think I know at least one other blogger who would do the same. Do you know who you are?) but I had to do it. : )

I'm not sure which was the leader/ender and which was the real project, but today Pink Lemonade by Lori D. got assembled along with Block #1 of Marti Mitchell's Ramblin' Rose Meets Jamestown. The name "Pink Lemonade" doesn't seem to fit mine  because my yellow isn't anything like lemonade. I've been trying to come up with a name for it. Cider Squeezin's comes to mind. Have you ever had cider from an apple press? I don't know--I'll have to give it more thought.

I'll leave you with this shot of the cloud cap over the mountains out my back door. The alpacas came to the fence after I took this shot and I took a couple of photos of them looking me right in the eye, but those turned out blurry, of course. 

Janet O.