Chirp is finished!

I met my self-imposed deadline and finished the Chirp quilt this past weekend!

Quilting it was nerve wracking, to say the least. This was my first attempt at quilting a wool appliqué quilt. I’m fairly happy with the result.

I have to give a lot of credit to Daisy, my Bernina Q20. Without stitch regulation, this would have been VERY hard!

The details:

Pattern: Chirp by Sue Spargo

Embroidery thread:

Eleganza 5 and 8 wt cotton from Wonderfil Specialty Threads. Most of my Eleganza is from the Sue Spargo collection but they have tons of other colors too.

Wool:

I’ve been collecting felted wool for a while and from different sellers. My favorite is Olympic Woolworks. Darlene is always helpful and will send swatches if I’m not sure of a color. She will also dye wool on demand if it happens to be out of stock.

Quilting thread:

I quilted this using Superior Threads Microquilter on the top and So Fine 50wt on the back.

Where did the year go? Again...

Well, here we are again.  It's the end of October and I haven't posted anything since May.

I'm not sure anyone even still reads blogs, but I do love documenting and sharing my sewing adventures.

My "Chirp!" project is on target to be finished by the end of the year. Probably not quilted, but the top will be done.

A block update:

Are they cute, or what?

I cut one block too small (of course). Fortunately, it's the center block, so maybe no one will notice?

There was no way I was going to redo it!

Birds!

It seems to be a bird-y kind of year so far. This is a total coincidence but I love them!

"Chirp!" by Sue Spargo is a project I started with two friends. We're making one block a month.

My quilt guild holds a "block lotto" every so often.  Everyone brings one or more blocks of a given design. Afterward, there is a drawing where someone wins all the blocks.  Unfortunately, I was at a retreat last time, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these cuties.

You can find the pattern over here and a video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company over here.

And last, but not least, these birdies are from Wonderfil's 2024 Block of the Month, called "Birdwatcher". I'm turning them into native birds because we don't have canaries or rainbow-colored hummingbirds in our woods.

And on the non-bird front, I made another little bottle cap pincushion.

It's pouring today, so more sewing is probably in my future.

A New Pattern!

The new pattern is out in the wild! I've called it "Gummies".

I've included 5 sizes: Throw, Twin, Full, Queen, and King.

(In reference to my previous post, I researched quilt sizes ad infinitum, and finally chose what would work for the size of blocks and sashing in the pattern.)

You can find the pattern here on Etsy and here on the website. You will save $2 by buying directly from me.

Quilting is in progress on my brand new Bernina Q20. She arrived last Wednesday and I'm in love.

I've been practicing hard and finished the Color Stack quilt. If you'd like to make one, I used this tutorial from Hopeful Homemaker as a starting off point.

The Quilt Size Dilemma

I'm working on a new pattern. It's been years since my last one! 

From experience I know that quilters like choices, so I've been researching quilt sizes in order to offer multiple size options.

Wow, is that a jungle to wade through!

First off, "ranges" are hard to do for anything that actually has to go on a bed. I think for beds you have to figure out the mattress size, then how much of a "drop" you want and do the math from there.

But even that is NOT easy. I'd never heard of a "Wyoming King" or "Alaska King".

Olympic Queen? Maybe, but doesn't that sound like the name of a riverboat? California anything? Yes. XL? Yes.

In short, I'm still trying to figure this out. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, a sneak peek at the pattern.

Scraps

One of my 2024 goals is to significantly reduce all my scraps. What do you classify as "scraps"?

Over here, anything that is too small to fold and put away is a scrap. I also don't save very small pieces of fabric.  I have friends who will gladly adopt these.

My first step was to take ALL the scraps and cut them into 2.5" wide jelly roll strips. I was AMAZED at how many strips I ended up with! I then sorted them by color because I am not a "just grab one" kind of girl. "Intentional scrappy-ness" is more my kind of thing.

Our guild donates hundreds of quilts to local charities each year.  That, combined with the fact that I'm getting a new quilting machine soon (stay tuned for a post full of excitement) and will need some quilt tops to practice on, kicked me into gear.

The first quilt was one I posted a couple of weeks ago, inspired by one I saw at show-and-tell at a guild meeting. I love it but it took a LONG time to put together.

So, the search began for a simpler pattern or two.  Pinterest is a mecca of jelly roll quilt inspiration.

Up first, the Color Stack quilt from Jennifer at Hopeful Homemaker.

Here's the result:

It took about a day to piece and I kind of love it! Her tutorial is great but, if you don't feel like figuring it out yourself, there is a pattern.

Being someone who does not like repeating things and gets bored really quickly, I am now on the hunt for the next idea.

Stay tuned.

Challenges are fun!

I recently joined another small group, the focus of which is to challenge your creativity. And it's so much fun!

Every quarter someone from the group presents a challenge word or phrase and we have 3 months to make a little quilt interpreting that phrase. We are restricted to a maximum size of 20" x 20".

Sometimes I'm really inspired, sometimes not so much.

These are my quilts from the last 3 challenges:

"Round and Around We Go"

"Slow"

"Twisted Triangles"

I encourage you to challenge yourself! You'll be amazed at how creative you are, even if you think you're not.