Old Town Clues 6 through 8--post 4

Some half square triangles

Goal number five on my January list was to catch up with the Old Town Bonnie Hunter mystery. The last day that I sewed on this project was December 22. When I wrote my goals, I had finished clue five. Bonnie had released clues six, seven and eight. Since the publication of the post, she also has released clue nine which is the reveal.

For my purposes, I wanted to complete clues six, seven and eight this month. Clue nine is going to take some time! Bonnie always packs a lot into the reveal! I'll work on that after I get caught up on some other projects on January list!

Little flying geese

Clue six was to make a bunch of red and neutral half square triangles. The cool part of this step was that I had already cut all but four of the neutral fabrics! This happened because as I cut fabric for the other clues, this piece was leftover!

Cutting the red fabric wasn't time consuming. I even had a few strips precut which is always a bonus! It wasn't long before clue six was stitched, trimmed and bagged!

Adding units to the hour glass from a previous clue

Clue seven took some time! We made a whole bunch of tiny geese and then stitched them to the hour class units that we made in clue three. Again, I had a lot of the wings precut because these were the leftovers from working on previous clues. I liked how the fabrics in this step were all scrappy.

Once I stitched the geese units, I added them to the hour glass units. Of the last ten units I stitched, I turned nine hour glass units the wrong way and I needed to employ "Jack" (the seam ripper) to remove a whole lot of stitches. Gosh, these were fiddly trying to not loose points!

Larger geese

Clue eight was again making more geese! This time, the units were larger. I spent Friday during a Zoom Sit and Sew session cutting the fabrics. I even stitched a few units before the day ended. Today, I will finish sewing, pressing and trimming the units.

I am pleased with my progress! Linking to Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

Love Makes A Family -- post 1

Multicolored scrap bits

Our book club is reading, "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. I knew I wanted to include the word, Love, in my project. I also knew that I wanted to incorporate the leftover multicolored scrap bits from the opportunity quilt that I will share in April or May.

In the book, Rill, a young girl, tries to hold her family together; but, they are all taken to the Tennessee Children's Home Society to be adopted. Georgia Tann operated the home. She single handed corrupted the adoption system. My heart wrenched at the crap the kids endured.

A couple other books that are related to the subject matter follow "The Baby Thief" by Barbara Bisantz Raymond is the untold story of Georgia Tann. "Before and After" by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate provides real life stories of children who lived in the Children's Home.

The scrap bits represent the chaos Rill encountered. I knew I wanted at least the word "Love" in the project. Saturday, I listened to Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle share their knowledge in My Word a mini quilt along. 

One of the words

Bill is a college professor who is a graphic design specialist. He teaches a class in typography. He also calls himself a nerd when it comes to typography. 

He developed a unicase alphabet meaning some letters are upper case while others resemble lower case; but, the letters fit well together. The lecture that you can listen to in the link was so interesting. There is a part two as well; but, I've only linked to the first part of the quilt along. In part two, Bill and Weeks answer questions.

The quilt along was free. All Bill and Weeks asked was for those who participated to purchase the pattern and to use the alphabet according to the pattern. I had a blast making the letters. Then, my little squirrel, Gertie, decided I needed to make a phrase. 

Auditioning background fabrics

Once I had constructed the phrase, I decided I needed to pick a background color. I tried a variety of fabrics before settling on a red fabric leftover from Indigo Way. A yellow was a close second. I may incorporate a few yellow strips to signify the courage and bravery that Rill exhibited.

The background or field fabric of the words is a light purple and the works are eggplant purple. I don't want to use those colors anywhere else in the project. I also don't want to use white or black because Tann was a master at treading in the gray areas of the law.

In the end, I pieced the phrase, "Love Makes A Family." Rill experienced love from her mom and dad as weak as from her adoptive family. Of course, she loved her sisters and brother.

Progress after piecing the phrase

I played around with different configurations of the words before settling on three lines. My next step will be to decide the size of the project. At that point, I will remove all the extra bits leaving the words. 

I will employ Irene Rodrick's technique of dancing with the wall which means placing a piece on the wall before stepping back to see if it "fits." Once it "fits," I leave it and work on another area. I'll be working in an "improv" format.

While I had planned to work on this project again this week, I might not get back to it until next month. Goal number three on my January list was to participate in the quilt along. Goal number six was to work on the project for the book, "Before We Were Yours," by Lisa Wingate. I have a good start!

Linking to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday.

December ReCap and January Goals

Contemporary Lone Star in its new home

My December goals were:

✔1. Finish quilting the RSC project. (Even better, I actually finished the project!!!)

➖2. Complete making the blocks for the 2024 Temperature quilt. I need to make the blocks from the 22 through the 31st. 

✔3. Continue with the clues for Old Town Mystery which is Bonnie Hunter's 2024 mystery.

✔4. Watch for Modern Quilts Studio information release to sign up for the alphabet sew along and the Sweet Tooth mystery. Sign up when it is available!

✔5. Order the fabric for the Sweet Tooth mystery.

✔6. Finish the legend on Rita's Temperature quilt.

Scraps for the alphabet project

✖7. Complete the August bonus lesson and the September embroidery software lessons. I had several starts; but, it is still uncomfortable for me to sit and work on the laptop.

✔8. Order the fabric for the 2025 Temperature quilt.

I didn't meet all of my December goals. Overall, I made progress on projects. I'm really happy to have completed
the RSC project. It was a good month!

Fabric pull for Shell project

I haven't made an annual goal for myself for a number of years. After seeing how little fabric I actually removed from my stash last year, I decided I need to be more proactive with the removal process. At the end of May, I initiated a shopping ban. I wrote about the ban in a post here. I've done okay with following the ban. While I have purchased a few fabrics that I didn't use within 30 days,
they are destined to be used soon in projects. It wasn't as difficult for me to follow as I thought it would be. Of course, there were many times I was tempted to purchase; but, I didn't!!! I will continue following the shopping ban. 

Fabric pull for letters

My two annual goals are:

1. Have a net loss of 100 yards of fabric from my stash.

2. Finish six UFOs

    a. Temperature 2021

    b. Temperature 2022-2023

    c. Martha's House blocks

    d. Positively Grows

    e. Maze top

    f. Butterfly number three

My January goals are:

1. Pick the fabric to set the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks from last year.

2. Prepare the fabric for a Santa tree skirt.

3. Participate in the Alphabet Sew Along through Modern Quilt Studio.

4. Layer and baste the Temperature quilt for 2021.

5. Catch up with the Old Town mystery.

6. Work on the project for the book "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate

7. Make a patriotic star block for the CCQ guild block contest.

8. Attend the Zoom Triangles class with Maria Shell.

9. Finish the blocks for the 2024 Temperature quilt.

10. Get Rita's Temperature quilt into a top.

11. Choose the backing fabric for Rita's Temperature quilt.

12. Continue with the PT for my knee. I have a goal of 120 degrees flexion and 0 degrees extension..

13. Pre wash the Sweet Tooth mystery fabrics.

14. Pre wash the 2025 Temperature quilt fabrics.

15. Make a sample house and tree block.

16. Complete the August bonus lesson and the September embroidery lesson.

No way will I accomplish the entire list; but, I will make progress!! Linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap and Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts.

2024 Reflection

Happy New Year!

Miss J with her Farm quilt

Today, I'm taking a look back at 2024. I finished eight projects. You can see them on this page. Finishes dearest to my heart were the two quilts that my granddaughters had a hand in making. 

Miss K and her string quilt

I stretched myself taking a couple improv workshops and working with solid fabrics. I embraced Irene Roderick's technique of dancing with the wall and look forward to playing more with this type of piecing. I did finish two improv quilts.

"Play" an improv quilt

I used parts from a past Saturday workshop to make a small project for the book, "The Year of Less," by Cait Flanders. Reading that book empowered me to make a better effort of reducing my stash and reducing my treasures in general! While I didn't make great gains in stash reduction this year, I will make significant gains next year. Since February, I've followed my shopping ban. It hasn't been as painful as I thought it would be!

Lime Sprinkle

I did participate in three mystery quilt alongs--Indigo Way with Bonnie Hunter; Stars Like Spaghetti with Alycia at Quiltygirl.com and Secret Agent with Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. Indigo Way and Stars Like Spaghetti will be awarded as Quilts of Valor. I was able to use my stash to totally piece the Stars Like Spaghetti top.

Stars Like Spaghetti

I did use a lot of my red and blue scraps for Bonnie's mystery. One blue fabric I had picked up at an estate sale at least 20 years ago. I petted it often; but found I either had too much or too little when I went to use it. While I could have used a little more of it in Bonnie's project, I made it work! 

Indigo Way

Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle delivered such a fun mystery which they titled Secret Agent. I am intrigued with achieving transparency effects which is what drew me into the project. I quilted it with an all over design on my domestic machine. The all over design was a first for me to do on my domestic machine. I also used the leftovers to piece most of the back. It is a two sided quilt!

Transparency

I also participated in making a group quilt from musical themed blocks Clark County Quilters guild members had made. I look forward to sharing that project in this blog sometime after March. I loved working with the other members in the group--there were six that began and five that finished.

Transparency back

2024 was also a repair year for my body. In April, I had my right knee joint replaced. In July, I had cataract surgeries on both eyes. (I love the brightness of the colors now. White still seems iridescent to me!) In October, I had my left knee joint replaced. I'm not as "recovered" as I had envisioned from the knee surgeries so at times, quilting just wasn't comfortable to do! 

The last day of December (yesterday), I had a manipulation procedure to break up the scar tissue in that knee. Breaking up the scar tissue would allow me to improve my range of motion and to lessen the pain I am experiencing. Coming out of the procedure, I had intense pain. Childbirth was four times easier! I also had non stop vomiting which mostly translated to dry heaves for about six hours. This morning, I feel more stable. Let's see how many PT exercises I can accomplish throughout the day. Time will tell if the procedure worked!

Miss A making blueberry muffins

Our London daughter made several trips stateside so we were able to play, squeeze and hold our precious youngest granddaughter in person! All in all it was a good year.

Linking up to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday.

Zen Tangle with the Grands

Giving a thumbs up that we can see the screen

Yesterday, Sarah Vedler of Meaning of Life Designs, hosted a free introduction to Zen Tangle via Zoom. It was about an hour and 15 minutes of description, practice and lecture. We did not purchase the recommended items to make the drawings because we we were unsure if we would want to make more drawings at a later time.

Work in process

It is fun to make art together because we all interpret the directions differently. So to see view each other's art is great! As you can see from the photo, our ages varied. The youngest was 2 1/2! 

Top: Miss A; Middle: me; Bottom Miss J

We decided we liked being able to switch up the ink colors. Miss A didn't want her work photographed. She drew a lot of the shapes and spent at least 35 minutes working on her art. I was impressed with her focus!

We had fun drawing and we found the practice meditative. We all said we would do it again! For me, it was a lot like free motion quilting except, we lifted our pens off of the paper! Sometimes, when I free motion quilt, I warm up with doodles. Sometimes, when I want to make a new to me design, I'll draw it on paper until I have the rhythm of the design.

To that end, Linda at Flourish Palms posted a link to a free motion quilter that I has developed some all over designs that she can quilt on her domestic. 

Merry Christmas

 There has been some swimming...

We made a batch of cookies. . .

Cookie baking

Elf duties were taken seriously. . .

Checking if Santa's helpers' shoes fit

Santa has been making his rounds. . .

Santa caught making deliveries

We witnessed Santa and Miss A. She was excited that he brought her a gift which turned out to be an orange swimsuit which she immediately put on over her pajamas.

Miss J with her finished quilt

Gifting the quilts that I finished for the girls wet well. They were both surprised and loved being able to ue their quilts.

Miss A and her finished quilt

Miss K was also excited about her quilt. She loved the circle quilting. We talked about what information can be included on the label. She thought a bit and then she made her label. She learned the importance of leaving a quarter inch space around the edge. I showed her how to attach the label to the quilt back. She stitched in one direction; I stitched in the opposite direction. It wasn't long before the label was in place. 

I loved what she named the quilt, which was "Iris" Iris was the Greek god of rainbows. The rest of the label reads, designed by Keira Callahan. Books by Keira Callahan. Mostly quilted by my Gran. Started in 2021. Fineshed (sic) in 2024. Born in Oregon.

Label for the string quilt

There has been no sewing in several days and likely that trend will continue until after the first of the year. It is more fun to be playing with the grands!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Old Town Clues 4 and 5--post 3

Half square triangles

This week in between wrapping gifts and readying for guests, I sewed clues four and five of Bonnie Hunter's Old Town Mystery.

Our youngest daughter and her daughter will arrive later today for the holidays. I've tried to stay up on the clues because while they are here, I know I'll be playing with that granddaughter as much as I can!!

If you check out Bonnie's blog, you'll see that she used melon colored fabrics to pair with the neutrals for this step. I didn't have that color in my stash so I used yellow.

Oversized squares

Clue number four was to make a lot of half square triangles and to group a certain number of them together. 

Clue number five was to make some square in a square units using aqua/blue as the center and yellow for the triangles. I used a variety of yellows for the triangles. I was limited on the number of scraps that were large enough to cut the squares. 

This time, I paper pieced these units. It took me a bit to figure out the center size of fabric because it was bigger than I thought. I did find drawing a line that was the size of my unfinished square helped with fabric placement. I over cut the triangles so that I could trim the block to the size she requested. 

Finished square in a square units

In the oversized square photo, you can see the outline of the foundation paper which was the true block size. It didn't take much effort to trim the blocks.

When I paper piece, I use the painless method which is pinning or tapeing the first piece to the foundation. Next, I fold the paper section out of the way and stitch next to the fold. When I'm finished, I unpin the pin. There is no paper to tear and I can reuse the paper foundation.

I found a You Tube tutorial if you are interested in the process. The presenter uses a spray adhesive to anchor the pieces to the foundation instead of a pin or tape.

The finished squares look great. Today, I'll do the rest of the step which is cutting a whole bunch of red and white squares. I'll likely fall behind with the clues next week; but, I will catch up when I can!

Linking to Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

 

Rita's Legend Complete--Post 4

Snow, rain, light rain, sun fabrics

Goal number six on my December list was to finish the legend on Rita's Temperature quilt. She had a fabric for snow, rain, light rain and sun. In her project box, there were chunks of the fabric for light rain and rain. There were fabrics that she had cut for rain, light rain and sun. Two times I went through the box and found no fabric for snow. 

There was also a box labeled temperature fabrics. No snow fabric was in there either. What to do? I went back to the project box and pulled the fabrics she had cut for piecing into the blocks. These were two inch squares. As I pondered options, I spied a small corner of what looked like the snow fabric. . .it was! One piece that was about two inches by three inches. 

I cut a two inch square of the snow fabric and pieced it to a background fabric. I added the rain square and a background fabric. It took a little figuring to ensure that this pieced section would end up six inches long so it fit the legend that she had put together. I pieced the light rain and the sun days in to a strip. I attached both to the legend. Next, I embroidered the words that she used.

I'm glad that I found the snow fabric. I'm glad that the math worked. It wasn't as difficult as I had thought it would be. Now the next steps are to add the legend to the top and finish the top. Will there be borders? I don't know!

Linking to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday.