Christmas Decorations Down & Done

 On New Year's Eve I started to take down the Christmas decorations and put them away. I put the holiday quilts away. Then I packed up all the decorations and ornaments and put them away.

I don't have much storage space, and I hate to put this out in the shed, so I put it in the (tiny) stand alone shower** in my main bathroom. (You think I'm joking? I covered the inside of the glass shower door with some nifty wrapping paper.)

Here it is! the decorations, the wreath, the ornaments, all hiding away. (The quilts go elsewhere - into the Quilt Closet)

So this is what it looks like year round.

I love a great disguise.

**the shower is so tiny that even I (less than five feet tall), feel claustrophobic in it, so I don't use it.

Binding the Nightingale... and Real Life

I've chosen this brightly colored striped fabric for the binding of the Nightingale quilt.  (You can get the tutorial here.)

I've added the binding to it.

And now I'm hand sewing it down.

So that's the quilty side of things. Two days after Christmas my mom's boyfriend called me (remember she is 91 and he is almost 89) to tell me he was having stomach cramps and his doctor's office told him to go the ER. He wanted me to go over and stay with my Mom, who is a bit unsteady on her feet.

I threw some clothes on, grabbed ingredients so I could make some soup for lunch, and drove right over.

We all know how slow getting through the ER can be, and this was no difference. He was not seen until nine hours later, when it was discovered he had a kink in his colon, and needed a procedure to unkink it. They gave him the procedure and kept him overnight.

I slept in the guest room.

The next morning we discovered he would need surgery to fix it and they wanted to keep him a few days.

My sister came over to replace me, and his daughter came up a day or two later. On Monday the hospital discharged him, but his surgery has been scheduled for next week. The thing is, the surgery is a Very Big Deal and being almost 89, it's an even bigger deal with at least a week's recovery. Which means that during that time my mother's caregiver will need a caregiver and she can't do it.

Which prompted my brothers to ask what would happen to Mom if the awful awful happened to her boyfriend.

So it's been a challenging few days and that's what's been keeping me from blogging.

Happy New Year 2025!

 

Morning Garden Beauty Shots

 

The Morning Garden quilt is complete and here are some of the beauty shots.

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Taking Beauty Shots is always interesting and occasionally challenging. To wit:

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all have a happy day with friends and family.
 

Adding Binding to the Morning Garden Quilt

 

I added the binding to the Morning Garden quilt.

This definitely qualifies as quilt wrangling.

I got it done. Now I have to fold the binding over to the front and pin it down. Then I can hand sew the binding down. Given that it's Christmas week, and that I am hosting (and cooking) the feast, it may be a week or more before I can get it done.

Nightingales by Lynne & Susan

 

The first Nightingale quilt has been quilted. It's hard to see in this picture - I will try again later tomorrow when there is more light outside. 

Here's the quilting from the back of the quilt. Janet-Lee used a black batting in this quilt. I didn't even KNOW there was such a thing as a black batting, but I'm glad there is!

This is Susan's Nightingale quilt. It's also beautiful, but so different! It makes sense. I think each quilter's Nightingale quilt will be different from anyone else's. It's because each person's fabric choices will reflect themselves. That's what I think makes this quilt so exciting. Susan's quilt has been quilted and I am waiting for her to send photos.

If you want to make a Nightingale Quilt, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.

Murphy Reigns!

 

This is the backing of the quilt for Cat's quilt, and if you notice there is a big chunk of something else at the bottom of the green bit. This was not originally planned.  (Did you see Murphy's name in the title of this post?)

Long-arm quilters require the backing for a quilt be six inches larger on all four sides. The green bit above is barely three inches, so I had to add more fabric to the bottom. (The eagle-eyed of you will recognize that extra fabric as the leftover backing from the Cobblestones quilt. See! I told you I keep all leftover bits and re-use them where needed.)

So why did this happen?

Because I ordered the backing fabric before I decided to add a border to the quilt, so I didn't order enough backing fabric. Oh gee darn. That meant I had to add extra fabric to the bottom.

I knew I had to do this because I ALWAYS lay the backing fabric on the floor and set the quilt top on top of it, making sure I have the allotted six inches extra on all four sides. If I don't, then I add more fabric, as I have done here.             

Harlequin Scrap Slab Flimsy Complete

I've been sewing the blocks together for the new black Scrap Slab Triangle quilt, and I am really happy with it.

I'm not quite sure why I've been pressing seams open.

After I sewed the blocks together, and completed the flimsy, I stuck it up on the design wall and decided it needed a light border.

So I added one. I tried to make sure the assortment of fabrics I chose were not too strong, and seemed to blend into each other.

This will probably have a black binding. I don't have a backing fabric selected yet, but I am in no hurry.

That's it for me as far as quilts for this year. I have to get the backing ready for three flimsies (including this one) and I have two quilts away being quilted which I am scheduled to pick up late next week. The bindings are ready for those. Given the Holiday coming up I might get one finished by the end of the year.

I'll be blogging intermittently. Take care, stay warm (or cool) and safe.

 

Alison's Slashed Squares Quilt

 

I am always so excited when customers send me pictures of the quilts they make based on my tutorials. This is Alison's version of the Slashed Squares quilt. 

She based it on my Slashed Squares quilt, Terrazzo, which I made in 2017. (You can see my Slashed Squares quilts here. Terrazzo is my black and white version.)

Alison made "mini" blocks, and used up a lot of her black and white scraps. That means this quilt is about 56" x 70". 

I love the way Alison arranged the blocks, and the fabrics in each. I think the quilt is outstanding!

This is a Slashed Squares quilt. If you want to make one, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Cobblestones Quilt Goes Home!

I brought Deb the Cobblestones quilt, and she was really really happy. She wrote me the loveliest thank you note. She said, "It's absolutely stunning, and I am in awe of the love and effort you put into creating it. The colors and patterns are so perfect, and I can feel the warmth of your thoughtfulness in it. It's so me!"

She loved the book with the story of the quilt and said she would leave it out on a side table in the room so everyone who came over would be able to read it. 

It made my day. When I left, I said, "Thank you," and she said, "No, Lynne, Thank YOU." 

But I am pretty sure quilters know the feeling. It's wonderful to leave a quilt with a person who truly appreciates it.

 

A New Scrap Slab Quilt

 I've been sewing up the leftover pieces from the Nightingale quilts and making slabs out of them, then cutting triangles. I decided to make another one with the black triangles. The last black one I made (Black Abacus) my mother liked it so much she asked for it. I had wanted to keep that one, so now I will make myself one.

I've made eleven Scrap Slab Triangle Quilts and no two of them are alike. But I've never made one like this, that arranges the triangles into diamonds like a Harlequin design. So that's my plan.

Normally I try to separate triangles that look alike, but for this quilt, I decided to put them together, like this:

So if you look closely at the photo of all the diamonds on the design wall, you can see that I combined two triangles into diamonds that look like they were made that way - I have some orange ones, some green ones and at least one blue one.

I didn't get all worked up about it, but wherever I could, I made sure the diamonds looked like they were conceived that way.

It also meant that when I got something like this, above, with a big chunk of color at one end (that would "leak" out into the light background and not "read" as a dark triangle),

that I fixed it.

When I started adding the side triangles, I originally used side triangles that had some color in them, but that didn't really sing for me.

So I just decided to use black on white fabrics. Here I have sewn up four blocks, and I really really like this a lot.

I am sewing the blocks together. 

Oh, I finished that jigsaw puzzle.

This is a Scrap Slab Triangle Quilt. It is a GREAT way to use up your scraps. If you want to make one, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Questions and Leftovers

You have questions, I finally have some answers. 

Earlier this summer I wrote about making some simple ice cream sandwiches. I used Cool Whip and some low fat strawberry yogurt. I mixed them together and spread them between two crispy chocolate cookies and put them in the freezer. The important thing is to find a variety of low-fat yogurt you think tastes good. Otherwise, why bother.

When I was making the backing for the Early Morning Quilt, SewGirl asked if I kept the extra bits of quilt backing that got trimmed off the final quilt. The answer is YES. I save everything, and often reuse it for just what I did for this quilt backing - I add it to the outer bits knowing it will be trimmed off later. Sometimes those extra pieces get added into quilts.

I had so many blocks for the Nightingale Quilts that I decided to join them together to make slabs and then cut them into triangles. I have another black scrap slab triangle quilt shaping up in my mind. Scrap Slab Triangles are a terrific way to use up scraps. You can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Cat's Quilt, Flimsy Complete

I have sewn the top together for Cat's quilt. I like it.

After looking at it though, I decided it needed a border.

Here you can see it better.

I have the backing ordered for this. 

A Quarter of Cat

 

This is a quarter of Cat's quilt. I like the way this is turning out. It's perfect for a college kid.

I've been spending WAY too much time in the studio. I haven't been doing much of anything else, so I decided to set out a jigsaw puzzle.