Snow Days = Sew Days

This is what our front yard looked like yesterday morning, as we headed out to church. Beautiful!!

Once I saw this and heard the forecast, I knew that it would be a perfect day to sew. 

I pulled out the fabrics for the additional three blocks I decided to make for my toddler version of Disco Stars and I spent a little time working on those. 

I have all the sashing and small star units made and got excited to see how it was going to look, so I put everything up on the design wall. I really like the deep purple stars and background fabric (Kona Solid - Eggplant). 

On a side note...I am hosting a Disco Stars Sew Along for the members of the Friends of Chestnut Ridge Sewing Facebook group. I fell in love with this quilt when Modernly Morgan shared progress on her Facebook and Instagram pages at the end of last year, and then finally on her blog. I knew I wanted to make one of these quilts and decided to kill two birds with one stone when I chose that to be the long-awaited CRS Sew Along quilt. Toward the end of this post, you'll see a glimpse of my first Disco Stars quilt. This purple version is actually my fourth version. LOL I'll share pictures of the other two versions soon. 

Unfortunately, the machine sewing stopped at this point. I had to step away from the machine and for a variety of reasons, never got back to it. That will change today. My goal is to have this top sewn today and to start thinking about the quilting. Of course that means I have to think about the backing too. This is pretty small (40.5" x 54"), so I'm thinking that I will quilt this on my domestic machine and am pretty sure that I have fabric in my stash that will work for backing. We'll see...

Back to the snow...

We are fortunate to have double glass doors in our kitchen that look out to the back yard. Longtime blog readers know that I enjoy the view from those doors and have seen many pictures of wonderful green trees, lots of snow, and plenty of wildlife (deer, birds, etc.) Last night, I glanced out the door and noticed some snow that had "landed" on the door handle. I thought it was interesting and decided to see if I could get a picture of it. 

Don't ask me why, but I love how this looks. I love the layered look of the snow and the detail of both layers. I find the mirror-like effect of the handle both beautiful and intriguing. 

Jack suggested that I like it because it looks a bit like the front end of a ship and some of my friends just embarked on a week-long cruise. Maybe he's correct...LOL

While I didn't get back to the sewing machine, I did begin the hand-stitching on my first version of the Disco Stars quilt. I love everything about this quilt! 

I am thrilled with my binding choose. I don't usually choose binding until the quilting is complete, but I had chosen this binding even before I started piecing the blocks. I just knew it would work! 

Unlike the binding, I didn't know what I was going to use for the backing until I walked into a store one day as they were unwrapping a new bolt of wide backing. I saw it and just knew it would be perfect. I had only sewn a few blocks, but I just knew. :-)  

Maggie at Chestnut Ridge Sewing quilted this and while I don't remember the name of the quilting design, it is perfect! My other two completed versions of Disco Stars were quilted by Maggie and Linda at CRS, and they are perfect too. Maybe I should just have them quilt the purple version so it looks just as good as the others.  LOL

It's President's Day and we have no appointments. I've got a pot of soup cooking on the stove and Jack is working on a couple of projects at his radio desk. It's the perfect day to head back to the sewing machine and work on my goal. Tonight, you'll most likely find me on the couch hand-stitching while Jack is there reading a book. 

Packed and Ready to Go

Yep...it's been a hot minute (months!) since I've posted. I will try to be more consistent, but when fabric or the sewing machine calls my name, I choose that over computer work - EVERY.SINGLE.TIME   😁

I snapped this picture early yesterday morning as I was heading out for a workshop and trunk show for the Maumee Bay Quilters.

27 fun-loving ladies attended the "Charm School with Head Mistress Joanne Hubbard" program and started their journey of creating quilts made from 5" squares. There were four pattern options from which to choose and we had at least one person making each of the quilts. Did I take pictures to share? Of course not! I am really bad at that, but in my defense, I was having so much fun that I completely forgot. 

After the workshop, we broke for dinner and then reconvened for their monthly meeting. Approximately 70 ladies were in attendance and many shared their latest creations. (I love watching guild show and tell!) 

We ended the evening with my trunk show/lecture, "Quilting for the Health of It". This is my most requested presentation and it is so much fun! From pumping iron (pressing seams) to meeting your daily fiber requirements (using 100% cotton fabric), we explore (make excuses) for why we NEED to keep quilting. Plus, I get to show LOTS of quilt eye candy, which provides the perfect excuse for why I have so many quilts at my house.    

I'm home for much of today, playing with fabric and sewing another version (my fourth) of Modernly Morgan's Disco Stars quilt. I promise to share pictures of those soon. 

Quilting Design Choices

I think I've said it here before, but in case not...I admit that my least favorite part about making a quilt is the actual quilting.  

Much of it is the process of trying to figure out how I want to quilt the project. I get stuck thinking that I want to do a custom quilting job even though the quilt is meant to be used and will not be a show piece by any means. I then have a reality check moment and admit that not only do I not have the patience or time to do that, I don't have the skills. 

I also struggle with choosing what thread to use. It's really not so much what thread, but what color thread. I am always tempted to try to match the thread color to the fabric so I can hide my lack of quilting skill. But let's be honest, most of the quilts I make have a lot of different fabrics and colors in them so that is not a realistic thing to do. Can you imagine how many thread changes would be needed, let along the thread stash that I would need to do that? 

On a side note...here's a fun picture from many years ago. Quinn and Sadie used to love playing with my thread. I let them do it and called it my version of thread play.  LOL

Back to my decision making...

I ponder my quilting options for a while and then ask Jack for his opinion. Jack thinks I have much more skill than I actually do and he usually has ideas of custom quilting too. He has some really awesome ideas, but they are simply not realistic for me. He steps back and thinks for a while and often comes up with his thread color choice first. He then moves on to the actual quilting design. Isn't if funny how we all have our processes and how different they can be from that of other people?

So...long story short (Too late, I know!), the top often gets pushed aside for a while and another project gets started. That is just one of the reasons I have so many UFOs. My quilting indecision is a problem that has many ramifications.  

I'm trying to make a concerted effort to make faster quilting decisions and finish some of my UFO backlog. The other night, I realize that if I get more tops quilted, I can do some binding, which I enjoy. LOL  Ahhhh, If only it was that easy.

Fast forward to Saturday morning when I was driving to a softball game. I noticed a farmer had planted a new crop recently and I thought that the rows looked cool. I was driving, so I couldn't take a picture, but it got me thinking. I have often seen fields that were planted with interesting designs. The reason for the designs was to accommodate various equipment used, the landscape, and possible obstructions in the field, like trees. Why can't I transfer that into quilting designs?

When I returned home, I did a quick internet search and came up with the following images. 

Even though I know the rows are equally spaced, the plant color makes it look like they aren't. I like that look!

I really like this image below. I think it would be fun to quilt "a river" on the quilt and then quilt vertical lines coming up to it. I even like the white that shows here and might be tempted to make that thread color change so it really stands out on the quilt. 

I really find the image below fun! I like the spacing of the straight line quilting here. I also like the idea of adding some kind of circular design on top of that. Heck...I might even be tempted to make the circular design an applique. 

Time will tell if I put any of these images to use in my quilting, but at least I am thinking and feel a willingness to try something new. 

How do you choose your quilting designs? 

Sewing Again...

I finally did some sewing over the last few days, and it felt really good. 

I can't remember a time when I have gone this long without sewing, but I'm sure it has happened before. It had been quite some time since I sat at the sewing machine and did anything other than a quick mending job. I seriously think that I've done very little, if any since the end of July or beginning of August. I just wasn't feel "it," and there always seemed to be something else that needed my attention right away. 

I didn't abandon quilting/sewing all together. I was sketching projects in EQ, writing a few patterns, teaching some classes, and even pulling some fabrics. I just couldn't force myself to sit at the machine and sew. I think the fact that my sewing area is a mess and I've spent a lot of time running around for appointments and meetings had a lot to do with my "break." 

I didn't clean my sewing area, but I did take a look at some of those fabrics I pulled and cleaned up enough that I could do some sewing. I won't lie...it felt good to sew and I think I might even take a day and clean up my space so I can get some real work done. LOL

I didn't take pictures of most of what I've sewn, but I did take a picture of the plaid bias binding I'm attaching to the table runner I made today. Oh how I enjoy binding! 

I'll be back with more soon... 😊

More Grandkid Fun

The last time I posted, I shared a couple of pictures from when Noah was visiting. As we do whenever we spend time with any of the grandchildren, we had a fun time. But the time always goes way too quickly. We only had two days with Noah, so we tried to do as much fun stuff as possible. Besides the bonfire, Jack and Noah spent time reading, playing cards, and talking about the Cat in the Hat. That was a fun conversation.  :-) 

David and Noah left way too soon, but Jack and I still talk about our time with them. We hope for another visit soon!

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when we had the long Labor Day weekend. We were excited to have Lynn, Ty, and kids here "camping" in our driveway. Lynn and Ty thought of everything when it came to entertaining five kids for three and a half days.

We don't have a pool but that didn't stop the kids from having "water fun." It was a warm weekend and the kids cooled off in this little wading pool and played with the water table a lot! Jayme even found a microphone to entertain us. :-) 

There was some work done to sight in Ty's crossbow. I love this pictures of the three guys working together. 

After the work was done, there was some target practice. Looks like it was pretty darn successful. 

You can't really camp without a bonfire, and we had one every night. Monday's lunch was also cooked over the fire - thanks to the pie irons that Sheryll brought. It doesn't look like it, but we put a pretty big dent in the "outside wood pile." 

Ty's parents came over Friday night and joined us for the first bonfire. We all thought it was pretty ingenious of Lynn to set up a barrier for the twins to be able to roast their own marshmallows and stay cool at the same time. 

Experimenting with campfire pies was fun!

There was a lot of chalk drawing done on Monday and that was fun!

Sadly the time together came to a close but we could still see the remnants of it for a few days until the rain hit and washed away the drawings. 

I think I'll go spend some time at the sewing machine now. It's been a while!  

Fun Times

We've been having fun and staying quite busy here - some quilting, some not.  

After quite a few days of very hot weather, it was nice to enjoy a comfortable evening out back and use the fire ring. 

Honestly, Jack and I have not spent nearly as many evenings doing this as we used to, but we had visitors and it was a perfect way to relax and chat. The picture above is with the second addition of wood; which we did, even though we knew we would not be out long enough for it all to burn.  Since there are still some unburned pieces in the ring, I think I'm going to suggest we do it again tonight - just the two of us.  :-) 

Our visitors may be gone, but we still have a few reminders that they were here. Young ones often forget to close the back door tightly, so we get flying creatures in the house. This butterfly has been hanging out on the kitchen window and I can't seem to coax it outside. 

I have been at the sewing machine today, doing some final prep for upcoming classes; but I sure am looking forward to going outside later tonight. 

Thoughts on Productivity

In my last post, I lamented that I haven't been very productive recently and that I haven't had time to sew at home because life has been filled with lots of other things that had to be addressed before I could sit and sew just for the sake of sewing. 

But...I did sew while I was in VA and that was wonderful. Truth be told though, I was working on projects that I kind of "had" to do. The Fall Foliage quilt below is a pattern by Krista Moser and since I will be facilitating a workshop she is teaching at Chestnut Ridge Sewing next week, I figured I had better get my quilt top done so I can help as needed and know what I'm talking about. LOL  I am very happy with the result!

This next quilt is a Bargello that I made using two identical 2.5" strip sets. The packages were a Fossil Fern - Bright from Benartex.

This is the second quilt I've made like this, but this time I was writing my steps as I was making it. I showed some people my first quilt and they asked me to create a class for it. Of course I said yes, but with the qualification that I had no idea when that would happen.

Since I was "exploring" when making the first quilt, I took my time while making the second quilt and jotted down notes about seam allowance, pressing, cutting, etc. It added time to the process, but that's ok. I need to do that when I'm making a quilt for a class - especially when I'm winging it. LOL  Here is a picture of the top half of the first quilt. Jack and I were playing with border ideas and snapped this picture. I do not have a picture of the completed quilt or top, but will try to get one soon. These strip sets were batiks, but I don't the information handy to share right now.

This quilt does not need a border and I won't be putting one on the second quilt. It is already a pretty good size at approx. 65" x 84". But, Jack liked the idea of making the first quilt a bit larger, so we decided to add two borders - one small framing border, and then a larger outer border. I am happy with both quilts - with and without a border.

So...back to my comment about productivity. I have come to realize that sometimes making a quilt with a deadline or because I "have" to is not fun. It changes my mood and I often feel stressed or anxious when I'm doing it. That is NOT what I want my quilting to be! 

Jump ahead to an email I received this morning from Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting in which she discussed how to be more productive. Of course my interest was piqued, so I clicked on the link and was happy to read that she was saying that it really isn't all about making MORE quilts, or keeping up with Sally who makes six quilts a week. She gives us permission to sew with fabrics we love, take a break when we don't feel like quilting, and to sew in a way that we can embrace the process. You can read the article HERE. 

Sew...give yourself some love and don't make excuses when you need a break.  💗