I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
Greetings from South Texas where the weather is getting somewhat better, closer to Fall, and away from 100 + degree weather. I finished the 30 blocks for York Tuesday and have taken a few days to slow down and relax. But had to ramp up a little so I can put borders around the 30 blocks.
I have finished 14 blocks finished!
I have 6 more blocks ready to put the borders on the Stars. Today I realized that I will have to put a border on the quilt because without one a long arm quilter and I would have issues with just a 2 inch border! I have already decided on the border color and have plenty of fabric! I think it will really add to the quilt!
The other night I did strait hand quilting on Indian Summer, but did not get very far! Will try again tonight!
Have a great week and hopefully by next week-end the quilt will be a flimsy!
I am sure that everyone is going to be happy when I finish this lovely intense project that I decided to take on in late June! I do know one thing, I am now enjoying (slowly) completing a border around each block in order for the stars to float and provide a professional quilter to have fabric to play with!
So here is where I am now! I wanted the Stars to float and did not want to do a sashing. So here is what the quilt will look like. Unless I make the blocks smaller, they will finish at 14 1/2” This is not the final placement of the blocks. I am putting them on the design wall as I finish them.
By adding the borders, the blocks measure 16 inches and then I am trimming them down to 15”. The border on each block differs from the original quilt, but I like the idea I came up with.
Our weather is like a Sauna today – rain for the next 2 or 3 days! No complaints here.
I am so behind on RSC blocks 8 and 9. I do hope I can finish them by next Friday so I can do a post on them and be ready for Block 10 (October). I am going not going to use the pattern for September as it is not appealing to me. I will come up with something – HEY how about a Lone Star Block (UGH). Just kidding!
I am going to work on quilting my Indian Summer
And, if I am in the applique mood, A Bountiful Life. I have 4 blocks that have been waiting quite awhile for some one to applique them! LOL Once I finish them I will 10 blocks completed! Then only 10 more to go! Hum!
It is so hard to believe that my last post was 26 August! Since them we have been blessed with 12” of rain that was desperately needed. We now have great cell phone service thanks to Clay working all during the month of August trying 4 different Cell Phone Boosters, and climbing his 60’ tower 10 times! Pretty good for a 74-year-old!!!
I will now get back to doing more posts on my Blog. I will do more updates on projects as I make progress. I found that I had to get away from the Computer in order to focus 100% on York Lodge.
I have been working on York Lodge since late June. I wanted a challenge and boy did I ever find one! In my last post on 26 August I discussed the precision required to make this quilt. I never thought I would really get through the 30 blocks. Heck, I loved this project so much that I made and/or prepped at least 45 blocks (12 made it to the trash can) and the remainder never even made the finish line. I had a lot of interruptions during the process of making this quilt in July and August. This quilt requires 100% dedication, and no interruptions. One would have to go on a month-long quilting retreat where Life stands still! Life seemed to get in the way and that is OK. I have enjoyed every moment making this quilt, even the days where I would spend 6 hours trying to make one block only to have it not turn out. I learned how to work with bias, precision cutting on a 45 degree angle, and most of all, S-L-O-W stitching.
Today – 18 September 2018 – I finished the 30th block for the quilt. Now I am ready for the next step – try to figure out how to put the blocks together. When I as having issues with the blocks, I went back to the book hoping to find something I had missed in the directions. Was I ever surprised when I read page one again. At the very bottom of the description of the quilt, the last sentence stated, …”in the original quilt not one of the blocks were the same size…” I can attest to this statement because my blocks range anywhere from 10 5/8” to 11” square. I wish I had seen the small print at the beginning! Oh well. Many memories made in making this quilt!
Summer Time at York Lodge
I have two thoughts in mind that will allow me to square each block the same size. The pattern called for a light/white background sashing, but I will not use white. I am thinking that I will add a 2” border to each block that matches the individual block background and then either add a beige sashing OR I may put a border on each block that matches the color of each Star, square them the same, and put the quilt together. But the overall goal will be to make the Stars float! We will see what happens!
I will continue to work on different UFO’s the remainder of the year. I have decided to not increase the size of Mountmellick! I am no longer interested in pursuing it any further. I have some border fabric left over from. Lu Ann who was so kind in 2015 to send me a remaining piece of the Di Ford border fabric for Mountmellick. I will be making a mitered border and MM will become a nice Wall Hanging! – This will make 3 more finishes since July! YEA!
The next UFO that I will be working on (after completing the York Lodge flimsy) will be my Brinton Hall. I started this project in 2015. The quilt pattern is in Quiltmania Magazine Number 107 and 108. I will be using Asian prints for most of the quilt. Here is a picture of where I last left with this project.
I need to finish sewing the hexagons for the corners and then I can progress to the rest of the quilt. This is the Center Medallion. I will use this project as my day time work. There are a lot of blocks to make which will keep me busy. Here is a picture of the quilt that was featured in Quiltmania Magaine. Looks like I may have started this one in early 2015.
Here is a picture of the original quilt.
And I thought I was OCD with York Lodge!
My friend Lori from Quilting Needs is experiencing the loss of her Sister. They have taken her off life support and Lori saw her this afternoon to tell her goodbye. This is such a traumatic loss for Lori. Lori has really had it tough when it comes to losing loved ones. If you keep up with her on her blog, keep her in your prayers.
We were watching the movie The Debt and one of the characters played the piano and was playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I realized that I really how much I missed playing the piano, especially the Methodist Hymns and Moonlight Sonata. My Mother was an accomplished Pianist, a Smith marrying a Chopin! I started piano lessons when I was 6 and trained in Classical music. I am rusty, but it was very relaxing for me to go play for an hour or so and I really needed it last week. I am going to make time in my schedule for practicing Moonlight and my Hymns.
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 