May 2017 – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

May 29, 2017

Moving Along and Time to Reflect the Past

Can you believe in 6 months it will be the end of 2017? Once Daylight Savings Time comes that is it for the year – it just races by. All the rain that has come this far South has missed us although we did get a few drops last night and rain is in the forecast the rest of the week. Just maybe….

This month did not go as I had planned it and it appears that June will be interesting. One of my Unforeseen Requirements (UFRs) was a problem with my hands, on 12 June I will have CTS and release of a trigger thumb (yup like a trigger finger) that appeared about 3 weeks ago one morning. So that has ended any ideas of entering quilts in the San Antonio Show this year! They will repair the right hand and if successful he will do the left hand. Looking like a “Surgery Summer” here. Wednesday we find out how bad the meniscus tear is in Clay’s right knee.

I was unable to attend the Kerrville Quilt Show but Jan sent me pictures of the quilts. I really missed a great show. Here is a picture of the Best of Show, it is Sue Garman’s Twirley Balls and Pinwheels. Sue passed away earlier this year and she has left a treasure trove of beautiful quilts for us to make! The person who made this quilt did an excellent job and I am so glad that it won Best of Show!

To prepare for some limitations for a couple of weeks from surgery I washed some of the wonderful fabrics I purchased last year for my birthday to have them ready to select for different projects that I can work on after surgery. I started that project on Friday and ironed for 2 days. Here are before and after pictures of the amount of fabric that have been washed and ironed.

This is my ironing board – I love it. I no longer have to lean over to iron. The fabrics are ready to be put back in place for future use. Our Studio is about 800 square feet and my two rooms are 14′ x 16′ and this room is 14′ x 19′. I am so blessed to have this wonderful space to quilt in. I have another room in the house where I have shelves for more fabric and all of my batting and knitting yarn. Now to just live to be 100 and have all my quilts made! LOL

My goals for the next two weeks are to have all the new fabrics washed and ironed, Xmas Heart quilted, Nesting Block 2 completed, and 4 blocks for Ms Potts ready for applique. I know that I will be able to machine stitch so I will cut out some more Dresden Plates and prepare one more quilt for stitching. I think rotary cutting will be limited for a while. Now the room is clean and the cutting table is ready for new “catch up” work.

Clay and I would like to thank all the Veterans for their Service to our Country, those who lost their lives serving and to those families who have been left behind. We so enjoyed the PBS Memorial Concert last night. When all the UFRs are completed this summer I would love to travel to Louisiana to the WWII Museum. We were born during WWII and lived through the Korean, Vietnam, the beginning of Terrorism, The Gulf War, 911, and the current wars. We owe a great deal to those who served voluntarily, or during the time when we had the Draft. Before the concert we watched the movie The Shack. It was such a moving and inspirational movie. It is based on the book The Shack and the movie is powerful and a must see for those seeking peace and tranquility in their lives.

God Bless America and the President of the United States of America! Have a great day with family and friends and be thankful for your gift from God, namely your Life.

May 21, 2017

The Difference Between UFO and UFR is Delay!

We all have our UFO drawer that holds projects that are unfinished and always hope to finish them. Then there are UFR’s (Unforeseen Requirements). The biggest difference between them is we can control UFO’s, but NEVER control UFR’s. In case anyone missed me, I have been on a forced vacation with UFR’s for the last 2 weeks. I prefer to drown in UFO’s. I am down to 2 UFR’s for the month of May and the rest of my time is for UFO’s. I just love acronyms how can we do with out them? My UFR’s are just about finished for May and now I am going to see if I can get back in the swing of quilting on my projects.

About 2 weeks ago, I wanted to take a break from all the fun I had with Robin’s Nest so I looked for appliqué projects that had gathered a lot of dust. This is one from 2010 (I think).

Here is what is remaining to be appliquéd. For this project I am doing back basting appliqué because of the large pieces! (what a mess I have in this stack of UFOs) Back Basting appliqué uses a technique that is different from traditional needle turn appliqué. The pattern is traced on the wrong side of the fabric and pieces of fabric are cut and placed on the right side of the fabric, and then using the pattern on the wrong side of the fabric to baste the fabric pieces. If interested in the technique check out How To Back Baste Applique . The only thing I do different in the tutorial is to take a white appliqué pencil for dark fabrics, or a pencil for the light fabrics and mark over the basting stitches before I start appliquéing. By doing that I have a line to follow while needle turning.

While looking for the finished blocks of my Jacobean project, I ran across the following blocks from a 2007 BOM from Sierra Vista Arizona Quilt Guild. Some of the blocks will need some embroidery work, but they are mostly finished. Different Guild members provided the block for each month. I located the remaining blocks from this project and some from a 2008 BOM. I plan on finishing this project too (SOMETIME). During my search for the patterns I was surprised to find 5 blocks that I had designed! So much to do, so little time.

I made this block a couple of months back to see if I wanted to make a quilt with the block pattern. As you can see I decided against that and made a pillow cover for a pillow to use when I am doing hand appliqué. The pillow lifts my work so I do not have to strain my eyes. My other pillow decided it was time to head for the trash can!

This morning I thought I was on the way to finishing Nesting Block 2, until I realized that I do not like the “grapes” outlined with embroidery thread!!! YUP you guessed it – ripping time. Of course the black thread will leave residue black circles, so now I will get some circles ready (think blue) to cover the marks up. I was trying to take a short cut and not have to do those tiny tiny circles! The bird’s beaks and eyes will be done when I finish the circle and then I will post the finished (at last) block 2. Lesson learned – always recheck the pattern picture!!!!

I am hoping to get this block finished by tomorrow (LOL) what a dreamer I am! Have a great Sunday and a great week – enjoy your stitching! We are hoping that the rain really does happen today – so dry!

May 5, 2017

Robin’s Nest is Resting and some May 2017 Goals!

Today is day 5 of May 2017!!! Can you believe it? It seems like the months fly by after May and June and before we know it – it’s Christmas! I hope this month goes by slower. Today is a great day – feeling like my old self! Did my stretches, walked, vacuumed the house, and made it out to the Studio by 10:45 to work on 2 post that were not finished Monday.

I have left Robin’s Nest for a few days (how about 5 days) to work on some applique and Brinton Hall. I am still wanting to work on some embroidery and knitting (someday). Now that I have RN started and know there may be pitfalls, I have had a nice break from it and will start sewing the 2nd ring tomorrow for sure.

I am working on a quilt called Nesting for the SA Show in September – BUT if I cannot get it completed it will be next year’s quilt to show. I have completed Block 1 and started on Block 2 – there are only 4 large blocks and a beautiful border.

Here is Block 1. It is an easy quilt to applique so I should be able to finish this by July.

When I appliqué, embroidery or sew my bindings and sleeves, I take small stitches – like 1/8″. Here is a picture of the back of this block. And of course I am a traditional needle-turn appliquér – no glue or starch. I cut about a 5/8″ of bias strips for the vines and sew one side down, trim and sew the other side – these are less than 1/4″ stems. I always trace the pattern on my background fabric with a pencil (lightly) so it makes it easy to follow a line when doing stems.

I finished the top and bottom hexagons on Briton Hall this afternoon (finally!). Next week I want to start working on the 4 left and right hexagon sections (probably more slowly). This hand work is definitely hard on the ole’ hands so I will take a day when I want to just sit and sew a section at a time. Maybe by the end of May I will be ready to start making the rest of the quilt – which MIGHT be easier! I love Batiks the colors really pop don’t they?

Each section will have to be laid out very carefully and sewn together even more carefully. I made a few mistakes and had to rip a couple of times and I do not like that because of the small stitches that I do.

I am going to load a quilt that I made in the 2003-2004 timeframe first thing in the morning! It was one of the first appliqué quilts I made. I used all different Christmas fabrics in it and thought it looked horrible. I was looking at some of the hearts and I had fussy cut some Santa’s for the hearts! Heck I did a scrappy quilt without even knowing what I was doing! Too funny.

Christmas Quilt – Ready to Load! It is 60″ x 76″

Goals for May are to get the Christmas quilt finished, work on Nesting, Robin’s Nest and Brinton Hall. Only 26 days left! Have a great week-end!

May 5, 2017

Primarily Quilts 2 by Di Ford – Beautiful Quilts

Primarily Quilts 2 by Di Ford is one of the best books I have ever purchased – it is book to add to your library. Especially for all quilters who love Reproduction quilt! There are 3 quilts that I want to make from this beautiful book of quilt patterns, Mary Queen of Bedford, Giggleswick Mill Sampler, and Cloverdale House.

I have 2 yards of the border fabric and 4 different 1 yard fabrics from the Cloverdale collection for the Cloverdale House quilt. I purchased it last year not knowing what I was really going to do with the fabric but loved it! So I will be able to use those along with my stash to make a nice quilt.

Giggleswick will be made from my stash. I just do not need to purchase 12 or 13 yards of fabric for something that I know I can make with what I have.

Here is a picture of the Mary Queen of Bedford quilt. This quilt was made with Mary Koval’s Tree of Life panel, along with Ophelia by Nancy Gere, and Charleston by Jo Morton fabrics.

I purchased two of Mary Koval’s Tree of Life panels when it first became available about a year ago or so thinking that it was a small panel. About 2 months ago I took it out of the package and almost fell over – this panel is NOT small! Almost the size of a lap quilt! I quickly folded it back up and put it away for another day when I MIGHT be creative and do something with it. Beautiful isn’t it? Di Ford cut the panel up to make the center medallion using broderie perse appliqué. Yummy! In case you might not be familiar with that technique, here is the definition.

Broderie perse (French for “Persian embroidery”) is a style of appliqué embroidery which uses printed elements to create a scene on the background fabric. It was most popular in Europe in the 17th century, and probably travelled from India, as there are some earlier findings there.

The background will be difficult to match as it is not really a color that matches with any of my Bella Solids, or Kona Cotton samples. I contacted Mary Koval and she will be in touch and advise me on which fabric would be best for the background. I also did not have any of Ophelia or the fabric from Charleston, but after looking long and hard, I found 2 quilt stores that had a little over a yard left of each. YUP snatched that up. I knew that as soon as this book was released that any fabrics required would have to be purchased immediately as they would go fast. As soon as Mary contacts me on a background fabric I will try to order some and then next year this will be on the cutting table.

Now I just need to quit eating and sleeping and may have the quilts done in a year (LOL). I lost a few days this week because (shame on me) I tried to eat like a normal person and it GOT me! I am getting tired of losing a few days here and there due to eating something that I know better than to eat. I have a feeling that part of my lost week was due to some medication that I was taking to help me with my tummy – tummy did not like it anymore!

Maybe this book and projects will keep me inspired and give me the control to only eat paper for a month or so….. that is another LOL! Have a great day! It’s Friday!!!