Quilting While House Hunting

I did a lot more hand quilting this past weekend.  This project makes a nice alternative to the machine piecing of Crossroads. 

 

Unfortunately for this quilt, the Olympics did not last long enough.  I was really making progress, while watching gymnastics, swimming, track & field, cycling (who knew that watching a bunch of people race around on bikes could be fun to watch on TV?), and beach volley ball (is it really a sport if you play it wearing a bikini?). 

 

But the Olympics are over so I had to find an alternative.  This weekend, House Hunters on HGTV served the purpose.  (House Hunters follows one person or couple's search for a home they can afford in their desired location, with all the amenities they want.)  This show is perfect to watch while hand quilting because you don't have to pay close attention.  Sure, the show isn't quite the "reality tv" it is made out to be (surely most home buyers look at more than three properties!) but it can be amusing.

 

Just one more block and the sashing and border to go.  There could be a lot more house hunting in my future.

 

 

Crossroads Progress

I've been working on my Crossroads blocks now and then, making a little progress.  I decided to lay it out on the bed to see what the blocks look like with my choice of border fabric.  The photo shows the blocks on the fabric for the setting triangles, with the border fabric folded at the edge. 

 

I have some red fabric for the setting triangles and I also have some green I could use.  Decisions, decisions!  I think I prefer the red, plus I have another use for the green fabric. 

 

But I need some more pieced blocks that use green, to balance the colors in the quilt. 

 

 

 

Note, my quick mock up shown here does not include either the black and white sashing or the black inner border.

 

It is a good thing I have a little more fabric than the Crossroads pattern requires.  Our new puppy Dillie grabbed one of my strip sets and ran off with it.  I got it back, but slightly mangled. 

 

 

The strip set got off lightly.  You should see what she can do to the inner cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels!

 

 

 

 

More Crossroads

Between sessions of hand quilting, I made some more Crossroads blocks.

Thirteen blocks are finished.  I need 18 for the quilt.  But I'm not sure whether all of the finished blocks will be part of the final quilt.  The lower block on the far right doesn't look quilte right to me.  I used a red and green holly print, thinking it would read as red.  But it looks more brown from a distance.  We shall see, after I get more blocks done and can audition them with the setting triangles and border fabric. 

I do like the black with the red and green!

Make One, Add Two

I used to participate in an online discussion of a series of historical novels (the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian).  One of the other participants referrd to his "Mount To-Be-Read," the pile of books next to his nightstand waiting for his attention.  I also have a Mount To-Be-Read, though most of it is in an electronic queue on my Nook now.  But I also have a Mount To-Be-Made, those quilts I want to make in the near future.  The problem is that for every quilt I finish, two more find their way onto the list.

What's on Mount To-Be-Made now, you ask? 

1.  Some kind of hexagon quilt, probably similar to the project blogged at Fat Quarterly. 

2.  Geta's Modern Dresden design.

3.  Something using my Rouenneries fabric.  Rouenneries Deux has come and gone; I need to get this done before Rouenneries Trois comes out. 

4.  Something really scrappy, using my Fig Tree scraps.  The problem is, I don't have scraps yet, I have fat quarters.  So this one will have to wait until after I make a couple more in the Fig Tree Harvest project. 

5.  A kaleidescope quilt - maybe out of Fig Tree, then I'd have scraps and could move to #4.  Sounds like a plan!

What's on your Mount To-Be-Made?

Christmas Stars Comes Home

Last summer I made a quilt top I called Christmas Stars.  I sent it to Linda Hrcka of The Quilted Pineapple to quilt for me and got it back last Friday.  Usually, I bind my quilts before I show them here as finished, but I can't wait to show you this one.  Linda's quilting is absolutely exquisite!

Above is a large portion of the quilt, and below are two of the individual blocks.  Linda used the same design in all the blocks, a design that nicely emphasizes the stars. 

Linda recommended quilting this quilt with two layers of  batting to make the quilting stand out more.  As a result, it almost looks like trapunto.  You can see the effect best on the borders, where Linda quilted gorgeous feathers.   

And how about the poinsetta in each corner!

Here's another view.  I plan to bind the quilt with the same red tone-on-tone I used for the sashing. 

I think this is my new most favorite quilt!  Linda might have more pictures on her blog or Pinterest site.  And if you like the block, I posted a tutorial for it last summer; you can find it here.

Maine-ly Sewing

Mr. Main Street and I are just back home from a five-day trip to Maine.  We went to Augusta for a reunion of the school where the Mister started his teaching career, then on to Camden for a mini vacation.  Camden is a wonderful little town to visit, very pretty with lots of good restaurants. 

On Monday, we drove south to Wiscasset, the actual town the Moda fabric line was named after.  Another pretty spot, with lots of antique and gift shops.  We wanted to eat at Red's, a well-known lobster shack.  It is tiny, with outdoor seating, but so well known that a line forms and stretches around the corner. 

While we were wating, I glanced up above the umbrella tables and saw this sign:

Maine-ly Sewing, a quilt shop!  I went in for a quick visit while Mr. Main Street waited in line to order lunch.  The shop is pretty small but with a nice selection.  I bought a specialty ruler there, only to find when I got home that I already had one.  Not the first time that has happened to me!

And as it turned out, the lunch was well worth the wait.  The best lobstah roll evah!  I mean it, if you are in the Wiscasset area you must go to Red's Eats.  If you are fortunate, the line will move quickly and your companion will wait while you run into Maine-ly Sewing.

I'll leave you with this picture of Camden Harbor, taken from Mount Battie. 

We stood on the hill and watched the Windjammer cruise boats motor out of the harbor then hoist sails - beautiful!

More Blocks

I continue to hand quilt while watching the Olympics on TV (mostly gymnastics and swimming) and am making lots of progress on my Pretty Dresses wall hanging.  But I did manage to shoehorn in some time at the sewing machine and finished a few more Crossroads blocks. 

I like the look so far and think the quilt will end up matching what I saw in my mind.  These blocks do take some time to put together.  Each has 49 pieces and the seams need to match well, especially with the high contrast colors I am using.  They are going together without a lot of fuss, fortunately!

I'm throwing in this cute picture of Dillie, now 12 weeks old.  She likes to run around between the plants in this mostly hosta garden in our backyard.   She likes it even better when Reggie chases her.  She is surprisingly fast. 

 

Crossroads - First Block

It hasn't been all hand quilting around here. I've managed to sneak in some machine piecing here and there. I finished the first block for Crossroads and have it on my design wall. Each square in the nine-patch finishes at 1.5 inches and the block finishes at 10.5 inches.

So far, so good. Seventeen more blocks to go, then the sashing, and the setting triangles, and the borders...OK, lots more work on this one!

Crossroads is a pattern from Bonnie Blue Quilts/Red Crinoline Quilts.