Blue Macnas Flimsy Done

 

I've sewn the Blue Macnas flimsy together. 

After I sewed all the blocks into rows, and then chunks, I added the white border.

Here it is on the design wall. The quilt will have a blue binding.

Green Deco Done!

 

I finished the Green Deco quilt and took it out for Beaty shots. This is my favorite. 

It's so gorgeous this weekend, I have to enjoy the lovely weather while it lasts.

I've been sewing the Blue Macnas quilt together and working outside to put the garden to bed. Inside I've been doing some cleaning and reorganizing of some areas that have been a bit neglected.

I've also been sewing the binding of the Green Birds quilt.

I have lots of student birds to show you from my trip to New York, but I've been busy settling back in, and it seems to have taken me a bit longer to get my groove back.

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

All Over the Place

I'm still wrestling with Sciatica in my hip and while that's getting better, if I sit too long it's really painful, so I do small amounts of each task and then stand up and walk a bit.

I've been doing a bit of this and a bit of that. I've sewn the blocks in the leftmost column above. 

I've been cutting up the neutrals I bought in New York into Macnas blocks and the side triangles for the Scrap Slab Triangle quilts.

I've also been sewing the binding on the Green Deco quilt.

That's just the sewing. I also made a beef stew and homemade bread this weekend. And I watched the new Masterpiece Theatre shows, Gold, and Maigret. And I finished one book and started another.

I'm BACK!

 

I'm BACK!  Last weekend I drove out to Clifton Park NY. (I took the 3 hour 31 minute route. It wound through the mountains in Vermont and was very scenic. I did not want to travel on the Mass Pike and 495 (the dark blue route.)

I gave a trunk show on Finding Inspiration and taught a workshop to the Quilt North group in Clifton Park. As you can see we had a grand time.

Speaking of Inspiration, my contact at the guild, Laura, were coming out of a shop and across the parking lot was this building. I took one look at it and stopped to take a picture. "This would make a terrific quilt! Look at those colors and those shapes," I exclaimed. "Gonna store that away for later." Laura stopped beside me. "Yeah, you're right. What do you do with the pictures you take?" I told her I put them in a folder or album on my phone called "Inspiration," so when I need ideas I can find them all in one place.

I'll show. you more of the birds the group made later, but right now I'm just so happy to be home and have all the quilts back where they belong.

I brought 23 quilts. That's a lot. This hotel rack came in super handy when it was time to move them all around.

I got home, emptied the car and the suitcase. I put the dirty clothes in the washing machine, and then unpacked my quilts. Since I store them in my closet, I fold them lengthwise after the trunk show. Makes it so much easier to put them away again. 

This makes me happy!

I put all the quilts back on the walls where they belonged. I love the Quick Brown Fox quilt so much!

I visited a quilt shop and bought some low key fabrics. These will be Lights in either Macnas or Scrap Slab Triangle quilts in the future. I've since run them through the washing machine and now I have to iron them.

I had a great time, and I'm glad to be back home in my own house and my own bed!

If you want to make your own birds, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy Shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away!

Binding Green Deco

 I've finished binge watching the entire six seasons of Downton Abbey, and I've rewatched the first two movies. I've seen the last movie, The Grand Finale, so I am officially done. Sewing binding on a quilt is a great thing to do while I "watch" anything. I've got quite a lot of binding in my future and it's good to have a list of stuff I want to catch up on while I do it.

Assembling the Blue Macnas

 

When I have a long row of blocks to sew together, I break it up into smaller chunks. 

I've been sewing the Blue Macnas quilt together and you can see what I have sewn together at the left.

It's pretty funny. I've already chosen the border for this quilt (the white) and the binding (the blue.) I don;t usually do that before I have completely assembled the top.

And I've even chosen and ordered the backing for it! 

This is going to be a table quilt, and I'll put it on the table when I have the Needle in a Haystack quilt on the couch. I guess this means I am going to have to get some blue pillows....

oh my!

Binding the Green Deco Quilt

 

I added the binding to the Green Deco quilt.

Then I folded it over to the front and pinned it in place. I'll be hand sewing it down in the days ahead.

Big, Bigger, and Biggest Big Red

The Big Red quilt is finished and I took it out for Beauty Shots. This was my favorite.

After I take a quilt outside for beauty shots, I put the quilt in the washer. Because it was made of red fabrics, I threw three Color Catchers in the machine.

Imagine my surprise when the Color Catchers turned out THIS red.

I was even more surprised when I looked at the quilt. OH CRAP! I had to deliver the quilt to Pam in a few hours. She was to present to her church group at 10 AM on Saturday. This was definitely not good.

After a second trip through the washing machine the quilt looked like this. Better, but no cigar! 

I contacted Julie and she told me about Vicki Welsh's Save My Bleeding Quilt.

The instructions say to soak the quilt in very hot water with Dawn dish detergent. For once I was glad I have a big bathtub.

The quilt must be totally submerged. I used bin covers, and weighed them down with pans filled with water.

I didn't have twelve hours to soak the quilt as Vicki recommends, but this is what the quilt looked like after soaking for four hours. Pam and I examined the quilt, and decided it was fine. So I threw it back into the washing machine for a rinse and then a wash. While that happened, we had dinner.

After a trip through the dryer, the quilt looked like this. Pam and I re-examined the quilt in detail and were both happy with it.

WHAT A RELIEF!

I can wholeheartedly recommend Vicki's method of dealing with a bleeding quilt.

Finishing Big Red

 

The Big Red quilt has been quilted.

I've added the binding and pinned it down all around. Regular readers know I hand sew the finish bindings on my quilts on the front.

Normally I set myself up on the couch, but I've been having problems with sciatica in my back/hip, and that angle of sitting hurts, so I set up a card table in my living room. 

I can sit more comfortably and when I arrange the quit on the card table it is closer so I can see it better and it is easier to "wrangle."

I recently saw the Downton Abbey Grand Finale movie and since I usually "watch" television while I sew the binding on my quilts, I have been binge-watching the TV series from the beginning. Since I have both green quilts (Green Birds & Green Deco) and this quilt and Blue Ribbon to bind, I've got a lot of Downton Abbey in my future.

Blue Macnas Blocks

I matched the blue and light pairs and sewed them up.

Then I pressed all the pairs.

 

Afterwards I put the rest of the blocks on the design wall and then did a little bit of rearranging. I'm content with this and will likely be the way I sew it up. 

The Amethyst Quilt

This is Fay. The Amethyst quilt is hers. As you can see, she is really happy.

I don't know Fay. So how did she get this quilt? It's a great story.

I have a knack of knowing what colors work for people. I don't know where it comes from. I also seem to have a knack for knowing when a quilt needs a home. That's kind of what happened here.

I made the all purple quilt because I had never made one. I made it last March. I liked the quilt well enough, but I wasn't really in love with it. I was picking up a quilt from Janet-Lee, my long arm quilter when I told her I had a purple quilt I wasn't in love with, and did she know anybody who would like it.

Her face lit right up. "I have a friend Fay who just loves purple. She has had a rough time lately..."

We agreed that I would give her the quilt, backing and binding I had prepared, and that she would quilt the quilt and finish it and give it to Fay.

I got and email from Janet-Lee last week and she told me that she had been invited to a celebratory birthday party for Fay. That gave her incentive to get the Amethyst quilt quilted and finished. She worked all weekend to get it done.

Janet-Lee finished the story. "Fay was beyond thrilled. As SOON as she saw the purple, she was almost in tears. Since the quilt was all half-square triangles, I quilted it with one of my own patterns, and it turned out gorgeous.

"Fay was an only child and likely not had a lot of outward love extended to her in her life. The quilt made her day in so many ways. Thank you so much for helping me make her birthday memorable."

The Amethyst quilt didn't sing for me, but I am thrilled it sang so beautifully for Fay. Just looking at the photo of Fay at the top of this post tells me that the quilt is with the right person.

Blue Macnas

 

Since I am giving the Blue Ribbon quilt to a friend, I decided I had to make another blue and white quilt for my table. So I gathered up some blue fabrics from the scrap and leftover bins.

I wanted clear blues that didn't lean towards blue-green (teal) or purple. For the lights I wanted white with blue and a very few whites have small amounts of other colors.

After I pressed all my fabrics, I cut stacks of each fabric.

After I cut all the blocks, I arranged them all so I could see stacks of each fabric. Next I will pair light fabrics with dark ones, trying to distribute them so each of the dark fabrics is paired with each of the light ones.

Here is the first batch of paired blocks. It has the feeling I like, so I think is going to work nicely.

Back in the Studio

 

I finally got back into the studio. It was messy, so I was avoiding it. Anyway I cleared off the crap that was all the tables and put it all back where it belonged.

And you know, in for a penny, in for a pound. Having done my work table and the ironing table, I just went back in after lunch and did the rest. I love it when the studio is all nice and neat. I washed all the tables and I even washed the cutting mats. (I feel so virtuous! LOL)

 Then I got some actual work in. I prepared the bindings for each of the green quilts. I'll add the binding to the quilts tomorrow.

Birds in Connecticut

 

The lecture and workshop for the Connecticut Piecemakers went really well. There was a big group at my talk, and had a lot of fun at the workshop making my Liberated Birds.

The gals had a real sense of humor. I got pictures of a few of the participants. This is Anne.

The gals were all really happy, even though they are pretty serious looking!

This is Linda and you can tell she was really happy!

A lot of very cool birds were made.

I had a lot of fun with all the ladies in the class. They were all pretty great!

This is Lucia. 

I had a lot of fun although they kept me on my toes!

You can make birds too! You can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away!