Possibly My Oldest UFO Finally Finished!

So this is possibly my oldest UFO; I bought the fabric at Hawaiian Fabric in Oahu on my honeymoon in 2004 (or shortly thereafter online- I honestly forget, but it was from them at hawaiianfabric.com if not in their store). Anyway I didn't use a pattern but I didn't want to cut that gorgeous flamingo print in the center so I just made a big square out of it and bordered it a few times until it seemed big enough.

It finished at around 60x60 inches. I thought it was too big to ram through my old sewing machine, which had about a 6-inch harp. About three months ago I bought a new machine, a Janome 9450, at a steep discount; this machine has a much larger harp, maybe 11 inches.

I used Dream Green Bottle Batting, my favorite batting, and quilting it was a breeze. Honestly, a breeze. I did simple wavy lines, some echoing and some beaded-curtain style, across the quilt. It took about a week.

I can honestly say I love it. I can't believe it's done. So far my cats have been hogging it but I hope to enjoy some good snuggle time under it soon.

It's just so great to have it finished. I feel like getting a 15 year old quilt top off the UFO pile and onto my lap is such a victory.

Kitties to Stitch and Quilt Double Irish Chain

So I finally got this top pieced. I embroidered the 12 blocks from Nancy Martin's book Kitties to Stitch and Quilt over the course of 2018 and then a couple of weeks ago I decided I should set the blocks in a Double Irish Chain pattern.

The redwork blocks themselves finish at 6 inches; the pieced blocks finish at 10 inches. I did not use a pattern but it's pretty easy to figure out and you just use 2 1/2 inch squares and 6 1/2 x 2 1/2 white strips.

I used a combination of jelly roll strips and fat quarters to strip-piece as much as I could. It was fun and pretty easy to do. And it finishes into something like a throw size, around 50x50 when all is said and done.

Most likely I will machine quilt it sometime in the next few months. I plan on spending the rest of the month quilting and finishing various projects. I'll keep you posted!

Monday Making

I've got a bunch of things on the hopper as usual; I've decided to move forward with some Double Irish Chain blocks to complete a 12-piece redwork series I finished last year, Kitties to Stitch and Quilt, from the book by Nancy J. Martin.

They will turn into 10-inch blocks and a good sized throw quilt at around 50 x 50 inches. Today I'm going to cut some white strips and some red squares and hopefully get started framing the redwork. Then later on I'll work on the alternating blocks. That's gonna require a lot of scraps- great!

Over the weekend I finished (minus outer borders) piecing my Tomte top, which will be a gift for a friend this Christmas.

That's just the gnome- the quilt includes three tree blocks of equal size to the gnome. The pattern is by Sherri Noel for Rebecca Mae Designs and the official title is Scandinavian Tomte Quilt. You can buy it at the link. I picked it up at The Quilted Crow quilt shop (link on the sidebar).

He was fun to make but he is fussy and all those little corners really have to line up. I am not the greatest at technical perfection and he is not perfect but he is fine.

Today I am not going to have much/any time for quilting and in fact this will be a light week for sewing overall. But I'll do what I can.

What are you making this week?

September Projects-in-Progress

I finished my JayBird Quilts August Stars quilt top yesterday before leaving for work, so that means I can clear the decks a little and think about what's next.

I have one project in active mode- a comic book quilt I'm making for a relative, kind of an easier version of the Book Nerd/Angela Pingel pattern I finished earlier this year. I am waiting on some fabric to come from Etsy so I can finish cutting. Then piecing should be a snap.

In UFO mode there is the following (all of these are unpieced top projects; I don't count unquilted tops the same way):

• The Summer Reading quilt,
• The French General Celebration Sampler,
• 12 Days of Christmas Redwork.

This month I'd like to finish the library top. I'm really only actively working on the redwork now. Some projects I'd like to do and have all the fabric for are:

• Unicorn layer cake quilt,
• Jelly Roll Waves,
• Christmas Tomte,
• Halloween Haunted House,
• Cat Christmas Wreath.

Since I did finish a difficult quilt top yesterday I may just take the day off from sewing and do some other things that need doing. But I'll be back tomorrow, probably cutting out Tomtes!

Monday Making

Still working on August Stars; I started out making the Baby size but decided I needed it to be bigger, so now I'm working my way up to Youth size. You can see the size chart and everything else about it here on the Jay Birds Quilts page.

Anyway it turns out that it's a lot of work to do that, and I went from almost-done -with-the-top to feeling a-little-behind.

I just love those big colorful stars and I didn't feel like I had enough with the Baby size. I want to keep making them and making them.

Today I finished what I hope are the last of the diamond four-patches; the genius of the pattern is there are no Y seams thanks to those triangles. Even when I enlarge it, there will be no Y seams, just some weird piecing that is still all straight.

 I really can't wait to get the top finished and start thinking about how to quilt it. What would you do?

Japanese Sewing Books?

Do you ever buy Japanese sewing books?

I love to go to Kinokuniya in Manhattan, the American flagship of the Japanese book chain; I don't read or speak the language but they have a great selection of general fiction, manga/anime stuff and a basement filled with bags, toys, magazines- and books of course in Japanese.

And I love salivating over the beautiful craft books. Like I said I can't read it and I have literally no idea what the title of this book is but it's filled with patterns and inspiration for Hawaiian-style quilts, bags and accessories. And I love Hawaiian quilting.

The pictures are gorgeous- bright colors, bold designs, lots of options for all kinds of fun things to make.

I realized I couldn't live without this book, so I got it.

The book includes all the patterns needed, and since I do have some basic bag-making skills I'm sure I could figure out how to make almost anything in the book. And there are YouTube videos for the skills I haven't acquired yet.

How fun!

Quilting Updates

So I was away on vacation for most of August hence the lack of posts, but I'm back now and revving up my sewing room again.

What's on the agenda:

• I decided to add another row to my August Stars quilt, so what was a Baby size will now be a Youth size. This is tricky for two reasons. Y seams will be involved in expanding the width of the quilt, and I am using some different fabrics. I picked the project as a  "use up" project and I did indeed use up the fabrics I picked out for it. So the additions may look like additions. We'll see.
• After that, I want to finish piecing my Summer Reading quilt. Which will be done after summer and after the person whose birthday I was making it for. But that's the way it goes.
• In between I need to work on some test blocks I told a friend I would do. She designed some horse paper pieced blocks and I need to get to work on testing them.

Of course that's not even a little bit of what I have sitting around to complete. 

But I did finally mail off a package of fabric to the Navajo Quilt Project, which French General started to help support indigenous communities. I've been wanting to do this for a while and I'm sure it will be the first of a series of ongoing donations as I continue to clear things out over time. I already have a second bag that I'm planning to pack of my wool felt stash.

That's it for me. What are you up to as the month comes to a close?

Recommended Reading: The Veins of the Ocean, by Patricia Engel

Patricia Engel's 2017 novel about a young woman coming into her own after a series of tragedies is moving, emotional and a quick read for all that it is emotionally challenging. Reina Castillo came to the US from Colombia as a baby with her mother, father and brother, Carlito. They settle in the Miami area and their father tries to kill Carlito by throwing him off a bridge, and later Carlito kills his girlfriend's daughter the same way.

He is serving a death sentence when the book opens; Reina visits him every weekend in prison. Memories of their childhood wash over Reina as she navigates Carlito's last days. Soon she decides to move to the Florida Keys and meets Nesto, a Cuban immigrant trying to bring his family to him.

The Veins of the Ocean echoes with memory, magic and passion. It deals with difficult issues but there is hope as well among the waves and breezes of the Florida Keys. Reina and Nesto wrestle with freedom and exile, love and loyalty and what it all means. It's a wonderful book and perfect for summer. 

I Did It! August Goal Accomplished.

I got the top pieced.

I don't have a ton of sewing time this month; after tomorrow there are a couple of days when I'll be able to sew. And I have a brand new sewing machine so you know that's frustrating.

I didn't use a pattern; I found a pictures on Pinterest of string quilts that I liked and picked one to use as inspiration.

My blocks measure 6" finished and everything is sewn onto muslin foundations. I used about 2/3 of my blue scraps for this 42" square quilt top.

Monday Making

Today I'm working on my August Stars quilt; August Stars is a no-y-seam diamond pattern by Jaybird Quilts.

I'm making the Baby Quilt size; I have to make 20 of these equilateral triangles and I've made about 12 so far. I just got a new sewing machine, a Janome 9450, and it's really been a breeze with this wonderful machine. Hopefully I'll have the top pieced by sometime next week!

The batiks came from a stash of 2 1/2 inch strips that have been sitting around. I was trying to go for tropical, Lilly-Pulitzer-like colors. White would have been a better background choice for a truly Lilly look but I thought the navy set them off nicely too.