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.

A Finish!

Finishes have been few and far between the last couple of years. In fact, my last list of completed projects was for 2016!

I saw a quilt like this at "show and tell" at my guild and it spoke to me. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the design, since no one seemed to know which pattern was used.

This is Aila. She joined our family in March 2022.  She's getting a much needed bath today. :)

I partially chose this design because I have a whole tote full of 2.5" strips that need to go. I still have piles left, so another quilt (or two, or three) is in my future.

Perhaps a rail fence quilt? I think that will use more strips.

This is the show and tell quilt. Isn't it amazing? Because mine is meant as a charity quilt and they need throw quilts, not king size quilts, I reduced the size.

A note: If you want a symmetrical quilt, you have to make it square.  I only realized that when I was pretty much done with the top.

The pattern was eventually found. It you want to make the quilt, you can find it here:

Garden Pathways from Quilt Sampler Spring/Summer 2018 magazine (apqshop.com)

Bottlecap Pincushion Fun

I seem to be trying all kinds of new things this year.

I do a lot of hand appliqué and have a little container to have all my supplies for a project contained and portable.

The small pincushion I was using was just a teeny bit too tall. When I close the lid, all the pins and needles get pushed down and I tend to lose needles never to be seen again.

I've wanted to make something a little smaller for a long time. When I saw a bottle cap pincushion on Pinterest (where else?), I knew this would work!

This took me about 45 minutes to whip up. It's a little wonky but not too bad for a first attempt.

I used wool from my wool appliqué stash. Wool felt will yield a more "perfect" result, but this is what I have.  If this becomes and addiction, which it could because it was SO much fun, I may invest in some.

I used the cap from a half gallon milk container, which yielded a pincushion about 1.5" in diameter.

See how perfectly it fits?

A New Adventure

In 2022, we built a new home. We love it, but old "stuff" doesn't always fit into a new place and we now have an empty space above our fireplace and nothing to fill it with.

Even though I do not consider myself an artist AT ALL, I thought I'd try to make a little something to fill the area while we search for the perfect piece of art.

Something neutral and unobtrusive...

 Apparently, I don't do "neutral and unobtrusive" very well.

This may be a forerunner to the final product, but I am loving the process. It may just take me the rest of the year to complete though.

And we may find the perfect piece of art in the meantime.

It's 2024 already?!?

 The older I get, the quicker time seems to fly by.

I took stock of all my UFOs like I usually do at the beginning of the year. I have 5 more projects than I had at the start of 2023! Not good!

The plan for 2024 is to work on the projects that are closest to completion in order to shorten this list, but there are SO many distractions!

This was my biggest accomplishment for 2023. It was Sarah Fielke's 2023 BOM. I may actually quilt this!

New projects for 2024:

• The Quilt Show's 2024 BOM designed by Jen Kingwell
• Sue Spargo's "Chirp"
• An art quilt - This is totally out of my comfort zone. Stay tuned for updates.
• By Annie's Travel Essentials
• A couple of "Clam Up" pouches.
• And who knows what else...

What are your quilty resolutions for 2024?