Irish Mist – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

April 16, 2023

Slow Sunday Stitching – 15 April 2023 – WOW

It has been exactly one month since Clay and I came down with the Chinese Balloon Virus! For two people who do not socialize, go among the crowds, and have not been on a trip for 16 months how in the heck can we get sick? Clay recovered quicker than I did. Today I can say I am 100%. It took me 8 days to work up to my 1.5 miles each morning without being worn out by noon. I have missed reading, commenting on other’s post, and posting, but whatever the Virus was it was brutal for me and I am glad it is over with. I finally took a Z-pack about 2 weeks ago and will never take one again. To me it did nothing but tear my stomach up. Enough said of the lost month for me, it is history now.

Now on to quilting things. I actually have finished Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch Along!

On the Binding of Quilts Project – Irish Mist, Globetrotting, and Stonefields are completed. Irish Mist and Stonefields are ready for Labels and Sleeves for the Hill Country Quilt Show in May. Summer Blues is next for hand binding starting today.

This is Pat Sloan’s Globetrotting BOM. I love the Blue and White quilts! Hope to make more.

Bindings have been sewn on for Cozy Christmas, OMIGOSH, Alexander’s Bean Pot, Star of Chamblie, Sentimental Scraps and My Summer Blues quilts.

Cozy Christmas is a special quilt for me because it was the very first pieced quilt I made in 2004. When I first started quilting my quilts were mostly hand appliqued, or fusible applique with buttonhole stitching. This is a Fons and Porter quilt pattern from one of their magazines. Rebecca did a beautiful job on it.

Summer Blues is a quilt that I designed. I started this project in August 2022 and finished it in October 2022. You can read about my journey here, here, and here including posts from from August through October 2022.

Today I will be trimming Stars Around the Garden and York Lodge and prepare the binding for them. I first thought that I would not tackle the most difficult until this summer but I knew I would feel a big weight off my shoulders if I did them now and be finished!

I am hoping to complete one of them today (could be wishful thinking). Both quilts are very large and will require at least 400 inches of binding for each quilt. I am going to set a goal of having them finished by Thursday due to Doctor appointments on Monday and Wednesday. Both of the quilts are entered into the San Antonio Quilt Show in September.

As soon as I get the binding on them I will have completed the trimming and sewing on the binding for all of the 11 quilts from Rebecca (2 more due by the end of April). Next step is to finish the binding by hand. This will be a big relief for me as I was overwhelmed with all the quilts I quilted (16) and finished the bindings, then began the work of trimming and sewing the bindings for hand work on the 13 from Rebecca.

Altogether in October 2022 there were a total of 29 quilts that needed to be completed (quilted and binding completed) plus 4 were quilts that were quilted in 2014 but I had not finished the bindings. I have completed binding 19 of the quilts, so that leaves me 14 remaining as of today to hand bind. Of course this does not include the 10 that require hand quilting as they are my embroidered and needle turn applique quilts. But there is no hurry on these quilts this year!

My overall goal was to be finished with all quilts by June. I am anxious to work on new projects and may start something when the quilts are finished for the May Show. There are a total of 7 show quilts that will require sleeves and labels before the May Show. When I can reach that goal, the rest of the year will be mine with absolutely NO deadlines for anything but to have fun.

I would be remiss if I did not send out a special shout out to Rebecca of Rebecca Grace Quilting at this time. Rebecca is a one of a kind Professional Longarm Quilter. I have learned so much from her to include different types of battings available on the market versus what was available when I started quilting in 2001, threads, and how to prepare different backings. This Lady is an excellent example of whom to hire for your special quilting needs. I would not be on top of my “to be quilted” backlog if not for her nor would I have the most beautifully quilted quilts to show in May and September. She will have more quilts to quilt for me in the future. AND I anticipate a few ribbons in our future! I highly recommend Rebecca for those “special” quilts! Thank you Rebecca for all you have done for me.

Well, I am hoping this week to get back on my schedule (especially after Monday and Wednesday). I miss reading your posts and providing a comment on your work. May you have a wonderful week and stay away from Chinese Balloons – LOL.

I am blessed to be up and working on my quilts and doing my daily 1.5 miles each day at the age of 78! It would have been so easy to just give up and sit in a chair the rest of my days but I refused to give in.

Hugs

Nanette

© Nanette Chopin Cook at Doitrightquilter.com 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nanette Chopin Cook and Doitrightquilter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays

February 27, 2023

Back to Quilting and Plans for March 2023!

I am ending out the month of February 2023 by catching up on my posts (check it out) and what has been going on in our lives.

Now back to quilting, I have only had sporadic times to finish up cutting up the scarps of fabric left over from quilts made in the last few years! I was able to finish them up during last week (Do not ask what day as that is gone from my memory bank!).

Ahhh Finished!

And back to storage under my cutting table – great place to store things that won’t be used immediately!

Now for my plans for the month of March and beyond. Rebecca sent me 4 more of my quilts that she has finished – only 3 more to go! I received( 1) Brinton Hall, (2)Cozy Christmas (I made this quilt in 2004 with Robyn Pandolph’s Christmas Folk Art III and IV and a few pieces of Folk Art II. This is the first pieced quilt I had made), (3) Alexander Bean Pot, and finally(4) Stars Around the Garden! More beautiful finishes from a quilter who really cares about your quilts when quilt them!

Brinton Hall, Nanette’s Version!

Cozy Christmas – a Fons and Porter pattern in a November/December 2002 Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine.

Alexander Bean Pot – by Carol Hopkins

Stars Around the Garden by Bits and Pieces

I now have a total of 10 quilts that I need to square and trim and put the binding on, and then they will be ready for the hand work. I have worked out a plan that I believe I can achieve hopefully in the next 3 weeks. (giving myself some time). I have already trimmed and squared Irish Mist. She just needs the binding sewn together and then sewn onto the quilt. I hope to have this one done by Tuesday. If I can I will select a quilt a day to trim. square, select the binding and sew it onto the quilt. If my life were perfect I could be finished by the 14 of March (is that the Ides of March? EKK) which would be great. But not expected here. I am hoping to do a post each day that I complete a quilt and getting it back in the binding pile!

After I get the 10 ready for hand work, there will ONLY be 14 LARGE quilts to bind. Maybe I can finish them by the end of April. That would be wonderful as I am ready to make more quilts for Rebecca!

I am also entering 3 of my 13 quilts that Rebecca quilted in the San Antonio Quilt Show in September – more on that later!

Hey the good news for the day – I had been paying $6.23 a dozen for my Organic eggs – today they are now $4.83 a dozen – When the prices goes to $3.98 a dozen, that will save me about $40.00 a month on the food bill. For some frustrating news – our HEB has really upset La Vernia residents and myself. They decided to enlarge the SMALL store rather than building a new one across the street from the existing store. But NO they added a new parking lot away from the store, went out 50′ from the current store front and put customers in a mess for 14 MONTHS, and it is a MESS!

I have decided to drive to Floresville (about a 45 mile round trip) to get my groceries, and I already have made contact with them to order my monthly case of eggs and chips! They seem to be more organized than the LV store and a much larger store. The drive is through country roads which are very relaxing now that all the idiot drivers are in La Vernia and San Antonio. I may never use the LV store again! Their loss and I am sure I am not the only one going to do this to get away from their disaster!

Additionally, I have found a fresh meat market that is closer to us and we are trying a few cuts of meat, and if the meat is better, or just as good as Whole Foods, that means I will not have to do a 100 round trip drive monthly for our meat! See, I can find positive things in our lives! And remember EVERYTHING good or bad happens for a reason!

Hugs and have a wonderful week stitching. I am hoping to be able to enjoy reading everyone’s post, and doing more posting about my work on the binding binge! LOL

Hugs, Nanette

January 14, 2023

Progress is Rewarding! – 14 January 2023

It is a nice morning with temps in the 40’s and a great morning walk! I took 2 days off and really enjoyed the walk today. I love the days when I can start with the walk and be able to stick to my daily “to do” list. Productivity is important in retirement along with a “mild” schedule. It keeps me young and healthy (well, except when the extreme weather changes happen) !! LOL. Yesterday I spent the early morning visiting HEB – and left them a hefty amount of funds but saved about $35.00 with store coupons. I shop for the month and hopefully won’t see much of them again this month! (HA! won’t happen)

If you keep up with me I am on a mission to finish my “to be quilted” stack. Rebecca has finished 3 of the 12 quilts I sent her and I have now finished 9 projects, with 2 in the process of getting the binding them. I received the following 3 on Thursday!

I first want to show you the beautiful work that Rebecca did on York Lodge, Irish Mist, and Radiant Feathered Star. She is an amazing woman who has perfected the art of Edge to Edge quilting. I know of no other long arm quilter who takes the time to do each quilt and have them turn out absolutely perfect! The quilts will be entered in a local quilt show this year!

York Lodge (Quilt, Quilting, and Back)

Radiant Feathered Star (Quilt, Block and Back)

Irish Mist (Quilt and Back).

Next on the list of completions that I am quilting. Of course, I am only doing a Free Motion meandering on the quilts that I did not send to Rebecca. These are the fun quilts I made that will not be entered in any quilt show.

My Celtic Table Runner – Completed and in place!

The Geo Quilt – I am half way through the binding.

Backing

Blue Breeze Easy Block Quilt – Binding on and being worked.

Mrs Potts is completed!

I have completed 9 projects with one more being loaded today and the remaining 6 hopefully can be completed sooner than later! Check out the previously completed quilts.

I also was having issues with the Blue Easy Peasy binding – I prefer to use a 2″ strip for my bindings. This provides the same size of the binding on the top and back. It is tricky but it really makes the difference, especially when those darn Judges are checking for full bindings. Quilting my backlog of quilts is allowing me to get back into the swing of things. There are so many things to remember.

I started the binding on Blue EP only to begin to have problems with the Walking Foot and keeping my seam line straight. I had to put blue tape on the machine for a guide, and then realized I had been using the walking foot for my Husqvarna Sapphire sewing machine – not the one for my D1 Husqvarna. Error corrected!

Some ripping had to happen to get it right.

I was very careful in ripping the sew binding because I had used the last of this Moda Blue fabric in the quilt. I set the machine for a 1/4″ (at least I thought it was accurate) but when I started sewing the binding down last night I found that it was off about 1/8″ all the way around. It was going to be very hard on my hands to get the binding correctly sewn down.

At first I thought that I would just continue on with the hand binding, but today I decided that the best fix was to trim the edge of the quilt by 1/8″ – and it works!!! I have now adjusted the machine to sew an accurate 1/4″ so I will not have that issue again. It will become critical when I start squaring and adding binding to the quilts Rebecca has quilted because they are my quilts for quilt shows. If you look closely, you can see how I like the back of the quilt to look when I finish binding. The binding is the same size on the top and bottom!

Easy Peasy in Blue.

My next quilt was scheduled for quilting Friday, the Red and Green Easy Peasy quilt top. But as I took a rest break before I started loading the quilt, I happened to see an problem with 2 blocks when I had put the top together! Whew! A Good Friday the 13th! I would have been screaming and pulling hair if I had not caught this before I started quilting it. So after correcting Blue EP, I took the 1 and 1/2 hour to rip the 3 blocks out of the quilt and correct the mistake. If you look closely you will see where I had 2 blocks turned the wrong way where the diamond pattern is not correct.

The 3 blocks removed.

All is corrected now and I am going to prepare the backing and load this quilt. When it is quilted I will only have 6 quilt tops to machine quilt! The remaining 10 quilt tops are candidates for hand quilting, but sometime in the future!!!

It is time for me to get with the program and fix a back for this puppy, get it loaded, and end the day with a quilt ready to go in the morning! After Red Easy Peasy quilt I have 2 smaller ones to quilt and would like to have them done by next Tuesday!

Have a great week-end and happy stitching!

Hugs, Nanette