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.
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It has been an interesting time since 6 July 2021! I have transitioned out of the Computer World (which definitely eats up time) back into my quilting world. I have accomplished a lot in spite of last week’s Unforeseen Requirements (remember them?). I have quilted 4 quilts since my last post and that was with a week full of appointments and interruptions! I am pleased with my new routine of less computer time and more productive time with quilting.
Autumn Jubilee – Completed in June
Autumn Jubilee
Patriotic Log Cabins – Completed in June
Patriotic Log Cabin
Autumn Leaves was one of my first quilts that I made when I started quilting in 2000. It was fused leaves with buttonhole hand stitching. I quilted it this month (July 2021).
Autumn Leaves Made in 2001 and Quilted in 2021
The fabrics I used in this quilt, Indian Summer were the first I had purchased from a quilt store in San Antonio around 2000-2001 which were specifically for this quilt. I am not sure of the year I finished it, but it was applique and I worked on it while we were traveling to Sierra Vista Arizona each winter. The center was hand quilted and the borders were done on my domestic Sapphire. Of course I new the risk (borders not quilted as tight as the middle which causes flaring) by not hand quilting the borders, but I felt that it was a quilt that needed to just be finished!
Indian Summer – Made in 2002 and Quilted in 2021
Aspen Gold was a quilt that I made after helping some quilting buddies figure out the pattern. This quilt was made in the 2007 timeframe and patiently waited for me to quilt. I was so sure I was going to hand quilt it, but after so many years, it also just needed to be done!
Aspen Gold turned Green Made in 2007 and Quilted in 2021
The 4th quilt I did this month is a pattern by Piece O’Cake Designers called Thru Grandmother’s Window. I am very pleased with the way the Sawtooth Border turned out since nothing else went very well with the quilting. All points look good.
Through Grandmother’s Window Made in 2005 quilted in 2021
There is, of course, a good background story on why it took so long to finish this quilt. First off, it was the first hand applique quilt I made that would be placed in a Quilt Show in 2006. In mid-2005 I purchased my HQ Sixteen thinking that I would quilt my own quilts. I quilted it about 2 months before the show. The quilting did not cross over the applique in each block. I did free motion quilting consisting of small circles on the entire quilt!!! I was so excited to have it completed BUT alas, when I started to take it off the frame there was nothing but globs of thread on the back! This is what happens to a novice long arm quilter who thinks they are proficient in 2 months of quilting! It was obvious I was not familiar enough with the machine and did not check the tension! What a squirrel’s nest of thread. I had to take the quilt out of the Quilt Show at the last minute and that really upset me.
Clay helped me and we ripped all of the quilting out. It took 3 1/2 days to accomplish that feat and this is how I learned to rip seams using a rotary cutter! So sad. So the quilt was put back to someday be hand quilted. When I purchased my Grace Z44 hand quilting frame in 2017 (now discontinued) this quilt was removed from the waiting list and would be the first one to be quilted on the frame. That never happened – life just did not go as planned!
Now that life is back to normal, I have moved the frame back where I will have great lighting and have a new Horn quilting chair arriving today. You can see the Chair Mat I ordered from Amazon, which is just waiting to have the new chair sitting there!
Grace Z44 Quilting Frame
On the quilting backlog, I now have scheduled 8 quilts to be quilted by a professional long arm quilter. I do believe I have found a jewel and a blessing in finding Sarabeth. It will be a few months before she will start on my quilts, which is fine with me. I have moved the 8 quilts to the back of the rack! I started with 34 quilts to quilt and now the remaining 28 will be done as follows:
8 quilts to the Professional Quilter
10 quilts that are either hand appliqued, hand embroidered, or just require hand quilting
2 quilts that will be done by hand with the Long Stitch
8 quilts for me to quilt on my HQ Sixteen
Bottom line I have 20 quilts to complete! Finding Sarabeth has really relieved the pressure off me to have to quilt all of the quilts. The 8 that she will quilt are my ‘special’ quilts. Those that were complex quilts and meandering would absolutely ruin them. So another Happy 🕺 Dance going on here.
I will be loading A Quilters Dream quilt by Linda Ballard in the next few days. I am not sure what year I made it but it had to be after 2005 or 2006. I was still a beginner quilter as I had pieced my first quilt in 2004. I could not remember the name of the quilt, but did remember that Linda Ballard had designed the quilt. I have gone through all of my patterns and it is not where it should be with Linda’s other patterns. I just found a copy on Etsy and purchased it. It is a beautiful quilt and I wanted to make another one. Now that I have ordered a copy watch and see if mine doesn’t turn up! That is always the case! LOL
A Quilter’s Dream
Things have really calmed down for Clay and I and my Gastritis is controlled now that I know what triggers it. Today has been a day to just do whatever. I am still participating in PHD2021 and HQAL, but no other projects will be started until more quilting is done.
Dresden Plates are coming along – 54 completed out of the 105! As soon as I have A Quilter’s Dream in the frame I will start hand quilting, along with the Dresden Plates quilt. I will continue to quilt the 8 quilts and by then I will be ready to start some new projects. There are 9 more Dresden Plates but do not have a picture of them. Next time!
We had a week’s vacation scheduled for Rockport Texas but that was cancelled due to the 18 inches of rain they received after the 4th of July and the Alligators that decided to come and visit! We rescheduled for a later time in the year.
I hope that everyone is well and enjoying stitching. I really need to get some more hand work done so I can post for HQAL this Sunday!
Greetings. I have nothing to show from last week. Just too many interruptions, too much time spent on the Computer in the morning, and worst of all just giving in to being overwhelmed with things I would rather do than UFOs by doing nothing.
I feel like every day is Ground Hog Day – same thing but a different day! It is time for me to reorganize my time and get out of the rut I have put myself in. I remember Clay telling me how he would just lay in his room at the Firehouse just waiting for the next Alarm to go off while the other Firemen slept like babies and just jumped when necessary. I could not relate to that story until the last 2 years. Now I think I am just waiting for the next shoe to drop rather than focusing on what I really want to do and do it!
I must re-evaluate what I will do with my life at the age of 76 now that health issues are under control OR- wait for the NEXT Alarm TO GO OFF to find my passion again.
This means that I am going to take a much needed Blogger Vacation, along with limited Computer time. A time to clear my muddled mind which has been stressed to the max.
I had been working on challenging quilts up until Clay was hurt and now I find myself only working on 3 things, 2 of which are what is know as Grunt Work of Quilting and one block that I hate! Thank you Kathy for giving me a name for it. One day I am wanting to finish A Bountiful Life and Dresden Plates and thinking about Stonefields then the next day “I could care less”. I have just resolved the One Block Problem and here is how I did it!
From this:
To This:
Bye Bye
I already feel better. I hated this block. Especially the fabric I had picked out for those leaves. If I was excited about it I would have finished it 3 months ago
I know I just cannot be the only one with this issue, but for me I refuse to continue on with this mindset. I do not want to continue on accomplishing nothing, so the only way to dig out of this situation is to just STOP and go back to my previous life of making quilts that bring out my creativity and passion!.
During the time I am on my blogging vacation I will only post when I have produced something of value. I will still look at posts of others as I have time, but may not be commenting. I just have to get out of this mindset I am in. My routine has to change or I will become a Recliner Potato! Handwork for me is a nighttime activity. Piecing or quilting on the backlog of quilt tops is for the daytime!
I like this saying:
I have to include the fact that political garbage is also upsetting but as of now I can do nothing but continue to NOT watch the idiots on the News. We keep up with Epoch and I love Mark Levin and John Solomon podcasts. They keep me informed with only the important things.
Have a great week and keep on creating those beautiful quilts
The last 10 days were filled with other things rather than quilting and I am now behind schedule again! We have been on the “lets go to the Doctor” visits – Clay with his knee and my Endoscopy. All in all we are both in great shape! No problems just a flare up with my Gastritis so he doubled my PPI and it is kicking in! Clay had his first Rooster Comb shot in the knee and then upon leaving the office assuming that we were finished with this issue, we found out we would have to come back for 4 more shots beginning on each Monday from 19 Jun through 9 August. Of course we were just so happy to know that we will be able to run to San Antonio on those Monday Mornings. (UGH). But at least it is just for a shot! Again we are blessed.
I had hoped to finish Autumn Leaves this week (on the long arm already to go for July now) but that did not happen due to life’s little interruptions and the corrections made to my first quilt made in 2000.
Autumn Leaves
I did finish my Red, White, and Blue Log Cabin quilt and the binding on Autumn Jubilee!
Sometime this month a trip to the Gulf Coast is in order – will be nice to visit and sit by the water! Here’s hoping that a hurricane doesn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere!
I hope that this finds all healthy and ready to enjoy celebrating our country on 4 July 2021! Have a wonderful time with family and friends and stay cool! We have rain predicted for the next 8 days! Interesting July weather.
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 