February OMG

I am using the OMG challenge to complete those P.I.G.S. and I thank Patty @ Elm Street Quilts in hosting and incouraging.  Be sure to visit all the link-ups as there is some super inspiration.

 

My February OMG was to turn these pretty blocks from the Moda Sampler QAL (2017?) into a flimsy.

I'm happy to say that I finished my goal.  I used what is left of the FQ bundle (Patrick Lose - 'Katherine Ann' line @ RJR fabrics) to make a scrappy binding.  I opted not to add another border because the piece of Charley Harper "Bird Architects" is just big enough for a backing at this size.

linking up to Elm Street Quilts

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Scrappy Wednesday

Aren't these blocks just wonderful?  This is one of the commissions I have.  I am thrilled to work on this project for these folks.  Blocks and quilt tops that were made by the husband's great grandmother and everything is hand stitched to perfection.  Going thru these items we dated fabrics from 1890's to 1930's.  There were some old newspaper clippings in the boxes which had some dates, so that helped as well.  Patterns clipped from newspapers, old templates in their dated box, and a few notes.  Just a fabulous tribute to this woman's passion over many years.

As with the time and simple templates mixed with non-marked seam lines, each block is a tad different size.  BUT her points were so perfect!  I offered to try cleaning the blocks and quilt tops, but the owners opted to leave them as is - keeping great grand in their hearts.  I am sashing each block and then trimming to a set size - the best way to work these.  Since this will all be in muslin (tea dyed aged muslin for this one), those seams will disappear with a lattice quilting over them - the baskets will float and not show those size differences.

I taped off my square ruler to help with the sizing cutting.  I have 3/4's of this one assembled and will finish up today.  The couple chose to have muslin for the backs of all of these and my favorite Pellon extra select light for batting - it best replicates the thin flannel like batting used at the time period (I have quilter's flannel, but they didn't like it).  Probably great grandmother would hand quilt or tie these, but I shared my files on period quilts with quilting suggestions and they chose something for each which I will do on my home machine to ease the stress on these lovelies. 

I can't wait to share the others - each is a treasure and I actually cried when the last one was pulled from the box   - it will knock your socks off.

I'm hoping our winds are gone as three days and the loss of part of one roof - enough!  Father Winter had guite the temper tantrum and I hope Mother Nature puts him in time out with some nicer weather for us.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon  

Scramble

With two Hops at the same time, I found I needed to scramble to catch up on several of my other in-progress projects.  First, I wanted to sort thru the Yellow Monster to get a handle on it's contents.  Larger pieces were pulled and stored in respective totes.  Bits for different block construction were tucked in with those totes.  Smaller pieces were chopped down into the barrel system.  There was a lot of blue in every hue, again.

The Yellow Monster is considerably thinner!  He is now just stuffed with all those blues - unfortunately I have a lot of blue in a large tote as well.  A couple of blue quilts will be in the works when that color is called for in the RSC19.

I caught up on all my blocks, especially the stars for Barbara Brackman's  QAL.  I am finding the history of Queen Victoria and the stories of her children (she had 9) are quite interesting.  It was a very severe time and the family certainly went thru some hardships.  The 8th block just came out, but I will wait to complete that when the 9th is released and work them up together. 

I have a number of commissions come in, so I will get a bit behind on my work for a while - why I wanted to catch up.  I do have two pieces that need their binding sewn down, so I will use them as my 'respite' from the busy work.

Some severe weather is expected over the next few days - hoping power stays on - but I do have some handwork that will fill in.  Although we had a bit of a 'spring is around the corner' sign as our very white and very stinky Mr. Skunk came out for a walk about leaving his very pungent aroma every where - must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed!

Stay Safe and Stitch Away,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon  

Keep Hopping

Today is the last day of the 'Wings' Hop

February 21

Just Let Me Quilt

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Sew Fresh Quilts

Quilt Fabrication

Words & Stitches

All Thingz Sewn

Kathy’s Quilts

For The Love Of Geese

Two Maker Chicks

madeNcorrea

And there are two days left of the 'Book' Hop

hursday Feb 21^st

Anita at Domestic Felicity

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Jennifer at Dizzyquilter

Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks

Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties

Andree at quiltinglearningcombo

Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns

Friday Feb 22^nd

Bea at Beaquilter

Barbara at Bejweledquilts

Laura at slice of pi quilts

Sherry Powered By Quilting

Pat at Life in the Scrapatch

Carol at Just let me quilt

Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More

Marian at seams to be sew

So Keep on Hopping

Dust Off Your Books Hop

I would like to thank Bea @ BeaQuilter for hosting this hop.  This reminds me of the Let's Book It that I sponsored for a few years.  Dust off those books, magazines, and saved patterns and use them.

I had made a quilt in this book way back and I could make everyone of them.  Since I have been working so many modern pieces lately, I felt the urge to get back to my love of Civil War fabrics and heritage patterns.

I had the Red Cross quilt on my "to-do" list for some time, so I chose this pattern.  I know it as the Soldier Cot Quilt, but they call it the Blue and Grey in the book.

I changed the cuts from 1/4" size to 1/2" so I would get a larger finish.  Pulling scraps the Red Crosses went quickly as well as the blue larger 9-patches, both simply chained thru the machine.

  

I went with square edges rather than rounding the corners.  I used all scraps from the bins so a true utilitarian quilt.  I even pieced two batting left overs - the last of my Hobbs Heirloom used up.  Simple stitch in the ditch and crosshatch to give this a nice soft, comforting feel.

The back is an older Windham line and I had to piece the three chunks - cutoffs from using it on another quilt.  A left over binding that was just enough - I was sweating those last few inches. 

Finished size is 50" x 56"  A lot of fabrics used up from the stash.

Please be sure to visit today's other hosts:

Wednesday Feb 20^th

Suzy at Websterquilt

Nancy at patchworkbreeze

Brenda at songbirddesigns

Karrin at karrinscrazyworld

Denise at craftraditions

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Show Your Wings Blog Hop

Today is my day for the 'Wings' Hop and I was delighted to see this new challenge hosted by Carol.  So many ways to interpret this title and let your creativity just go!  I tend to think outside the box and I have to use up all those scraps teasing me every day.

I had a zip bag stuffed with full and partial isosceles triangles pulled when this Hop was announced - had to use them.

As you can see, there were all in very different sizes, but I was going to fly by the seat of my pants and make them work for this hop.

Because - there were little birds, butterflies, and dragonflies hiding in these goodies as well.  

Since we've had nothing but snow, wind, and ice, I had to rely on indoor photos.  My improv take on hidden wings - even some of the white I used had butterflies and dragonflies.

I've had a large piece of Charlie Harper's "Bird Architects" and it was perfect for the back of this quilt.

I had just enough of one of my favorite bias print stripe fabrics for this - golds, rust, yellow, brown - to tie this together both front and back.

Hopefully like the birds build their nests from the mix of twigs, grasses, and leaves - I hope I have woven this mix of leftover scraps into a loved quilt.

'Hidden Wings' was fun to make and a great challenge.  Thank you CAROL for making me think outside the box again.

Be sure to visit the other hosts today 

February 19

Patchouli Moon Studio

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Songbird Designs

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Kathleen McMusing

Life in the Scrapatch

DesertSky Quilting

Clever Chameleon Quilting

Two Hops in One Week = Fun

Monday Feb 18^th

Turid at densyendehimmel

Pamela at Pamelaquilts

Joan at Moosestashquilting

Anne at seems like a plan

Susan at Desertsky Quilting

Selina at Selinaquilts

Kathleen at Kathleenmcmusing

Tuesday Feb 19^th

Cindy Stitchin at home

Jennifer at curlicuecreations

Stephanie at stephjacobsondesigns

Kathy at Kathysquilts

Shasta at high road quilter
Theresa at bumbleberrystitches

Wednesday Feb 20^th

Sharon at Vrooman’s quilts

Suzy at Websterquilt

Nancy at patchworkbreeze

Brenda at songbirddesigns

Karrin at karrinscrazyworld

Denise at craftraditions

Thursday Feb 21^st

Anita at Domestic Felicity

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Jennifer at Dizzyquilter

Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks

Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties

Andree at quiltinglearningcombo

Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns

Friday Feb 22^nd

Bea at Beaquilter

Barbara at Bejweledquilts

Laura at slice of pi quilts

Sherry Powered By Quilting

Pat at Life in the Scrapatch

Carol at Just let me quilt

Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More

Marian at seams to be sew

Thanks to
Bea at Beaquilter

February 18

What About Rheema?

Hill Valley Quilter

Nutz For Redwork

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Melva Loves Scraps

Creative Blonde

Keepsake Moments

Whims And Fancies

Quilt n Party

Seams To Be Sew

February 19

Patchouli Moon Studio

Vroomans Quilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Songbird Designs

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kathleen McMusing

Life in the Scrapatch

DesertSky Quilting

Clever Chameleon Quilting

February 20

Creatin' in the Sticks

MooseStashQuilting

The Joyful Quilter

Home Sewn By Us

Selina Quilts

Websterquilt

Beaquilter

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Ms P Designs USA

Bumbleberry Stitches

Mageez Room

February 21

Just Let Me Quilt

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Sew Fresh Quilts

Quilt Fabrication

Words & Stitches

All Thingz Sewn

Kathy’s Quilts

For The Love Of Geese

Two Maker Chicks

madeNcorrea

Thanks to Carol @ Just Let Me Quilt

HPQAL

I am playing along with Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts with her cute Harry Potter Quilt Along.  I am familiar only with the three main characters only due to advertising so I have to confer with the expert - my youngest grandson who is a fan.  This quilt will be his, so it is fun to share each block to make color/fabric decisions and I learn along with each character.

I'm making the 10" size blocks, but she offers  a larger size and different size finished quilt.   

There is a link-up with the first four characters, so go take a look.  You may even decide to join along if you missed this one as the blocks are all still available.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

OMG Snowed In

We are on the edge of the storm moving out now.  We got what was predicted - 9" plus with winds and then turning to sleet/ice.  Schools were closed yesterday and opening late today.  

Since I am snowed in, I'm using the time to work my OMG project.  Lots of sashing and then two borders.  AND when I laid this all out, one block short!  How?  I usually make more than needed just to be sure or to swap out to get a good mix.  I have all my white cut and left over long gone - Kona Snow which is no longer on the shelf.  So I'm hoping there is enough left over to squeeze one more block.  OR one block can be a creative label to fill the space.

Stay warm and safe,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Monday Making

I spent most of the day making this one block.  Luna for the Harry Potter QAL was a real stickler and there were errors, ribbiting, and some colorful lanquage.  I had to look this character up as I am not very familiar with all of the HP stories; I wanted to be sure I had colors correct.

I have been playing in so many scraps that I decided to treat myself to something brand new.  This is 'Arcadian Dusk' from Connecting Threads and ain't she pretty?  This is for Barbara Brackman's Queen Victoria's Children QAL.  There are six blocks already released. but there is plenty of time to catch up, especially with expecting to be snowed in all week.

Stay safe and warm folks,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

RSC19 - Yellow

Working a few more string blocks while digging thru that Yellow Monster.  Seems even my gifted scraps are lacking some bright and happy yellows, but I found enough to complete the few blocks I need for the String Hop project.

There wasn't a lot of backstitch to do on this little piece, but this one is now ready to be fabric framed into a little Valentines.  It has felt good to get back to my cross stitch.  A small project each month is very doable as well as satisfying.

I am going into 'quilt mode' for the next few days.  With a week predicted of back-to-back snow storms, hunkering down with finishing up some long waiting 'to be quilted' projects will pass the time.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon 

3-D String Block Tutorial

I had several requests to make a tutorial for the 3-D string block which is a little bit of a change to a shadow block.

There are a lot of tutorials on-line for making strings free-hand, using muslin foundation, or using paper.  I like to use the very thin paper from the area phone book, but I will use regular printing paper for demo use.
This block can be any size you like - I used a 4.5" x 6.5" rectangle for mine simply because it would work well with the materials I had.

You can line up corner to corner to begin, but I wanted a little bit different slant to my strings.  I marked 1/4" down from the top left corner and a 1/4" up from the bottom right corner.  

I lined up my middle string using those marks as indicated.  You can use pins to hold in place or a glue stick lightly to hold in place.

Because of the size paper foundation, I used strings 1.5", 1 1/4", and 1" wide.  Lay the second string right sides facing on top of your center strip, adjust your stitch length to  a much smaller stitch.  You might have to play with this on a sample - it helps to remove the paper and not stress your stitches.  Simply stitch your 1/4" seam - work either side; I just start on the right as I am right handed.

Press your string open.  I chose to finger press, but a light iron setting works.  Remember, paper is a fiber and will shrink if your iron is too hot - do not use steam.  

Stitch your next strip to the other side of the center string, this will help to hold your block square as you work.  Now fill in with remainder strings, either working from side to side or one corner and then the other.  

Don't make your corners so the strip is really small as it will get lost in the joining block seams and create a lot of bulk.

Now flip your block over and trim the extra fabrics.  I use my ruler for a true measurement as the paper can shrink with stitches and iron.  Remove paper if you have used for foundation.

To create the 3-D look you need a dark background and a light for the corners.  Width of strip should be only a  1/4 or 1/3 of your block width.  I made mine 1.5" wide - for the right side cut length of block (mine were 6.5")   and bottom is cut the width + finished size of side strip ( mine was 4.5" + 1" - 5.5" strip).  You will need two squares size of width of your strip.  Mine were 1.5" sq.  Draw a line corner to corner on each.

The side strip square needs to be stitched so the corner flips out and the bottom square needs to be stitched so the corner flips down.  Sew on side strip and press out.  Attach bottom strip and press out.

The results are a raised brick look.  You could use brights, tonals, solids, or even cut a panel  for an interesting affect.  The new script fabrics or even comic prints would give a graffiti look - how fun!

Thank you for visiting and I hope you find the tutorial helpful.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon