Moving Right Along!

Finished up a mug rug for the Two for Teal 2014 swap for ovarian cancer. Was great to participate at least in a small way for such a worthy cause. Hope my partner likes her mug rug.

Also working on my quilt for Rachel of Stitched in Color's Angled Camp. Still have to cut some more rows. I am slow because I keep changing fabrics. I have NEVER been able to choose fabrics and stick with those fabric choices. Ah well...that is part of the fun of quilting. I love, love, love the Charley Harper fabrics from Fabric Worm. Great store if you live in California. For those of us who don't, fabulous online store also!

And finally Textile Fabrics in Nashville is having their big Fall sale - 40% off all fabrics and 70% off sale fabrics. You cannot get better than that. Sad that I cannot go on Monday, which is the first day of the sale, but Tuesday will definitely include a visit!

Memorial Quilt Delivered

Memorial quilt - quilted, washed, delivered. I promised my father I would not post his photo online. He did not quite believe me, so would only show lower the quilt to his eyebrows. I think he would approve of this photo.

The quilt is in honor of my mother who died in a house fire on February 1 this year. If you follow my blog, you have seen the quilt in progress. My mother and I picked out the fabrics and pattern during Christmas 2013, so after the fire I continued with the quilt to give it to my father. I love my quilts soft, so didn't quilt this one heavily at all.

I love the quilt and every time I see it I am reminded of our last Christmas together--happy thoughts, not sad.

Kaffe Fassett Nine Patch Beginnings + Charley Harper Fabric

Heart quilt pieced; not ready to quilt. So, I started a nine patch with some Kaffe Fassett fabrics that have been waiting for me to use them. My first block may be slightly insane, but I think I am going to like it once I can mix and match blocks. I've added in some other fabrics for variety - don't think Kaffe would like that, but I just couldn't resist. The white is just my design wall (the back of a cheap plastic tablecloth tacked to the wall.

I love, love, love my Charley Harper fabrics (Birch Fabrics Organic) from Fabricworm. I had a fabric meltdown and bought way too much of it. However, I've been looking at the fabrics for a year and finally decided to buy some before I can't find this line anymore. I may use this to make the Indian Blanket quilt from the ::Angled:: camp. There is also a wall hanging in the latest Modern Patchwork magazine (Summer 2014) that would look good with these fabrics. Hmmmm.

Heart Quilt Photo

So here is the front of the heart quilt finally pieced. I have to say that it was sort of a pain to make the seams match, but at least after all of this I am getting better at it. The last three long rows I had to glue AND pin. The blue squares are from a chain-pieced jelly roll. I was going to just make a random square quilt of the blues in 10-inch squares, but my husband said it was "not the best quilt you have ever made," so I changed to the heart, which I like much better. This is a gift for friends who recently got married. I'm late with my gift - per norm if it is a quilt.

I pieced it in squares and then sewed the squares together. The final seams were the long vertical ones - with pinning and glue basting. Took me awhile to match seams.

Here is Jaspyrr who watched the entire photo shoot with absolute distain! Love my Jaspyrr. Yes, we know the deck needs to be stained again. It is just too hot to do it right now.

The Heart wants what the Heart wants!

Well, piecing off and on all day. Ripping out seams, re-gluing seams, having a good sewing day. The front of my Heart quilt is finally done. I will post a photo tomorrow when day comes again.

Now, the question becomes do I have enough time to quilt it before the ::Angled:: Camp begins. Answer: No! All of my sewing has to be finished by Wednesday evening. I am hoping (fingers crossed) to get the back done before then.

My husband and I are headed to Arkansas to consult with my dad on final choices on the house that is being rebuilt. If you go back far enough on the blog, you will see that we had a major tragedy in February and rebuilding the house in Arkansas for my dad has consumed a lot of my time and energy. I have even started meditating, which I really enjoy, to help with the stress of it all. The stress is now more bearable.

It also really helps that the house is coming along, so now decisions about color, bathroom fixtures, curtains, granite all come pouring in. I am overwhelmed by choice. Just looking at bathroom mirrors today threw me into a tizzy. It doesn't help that we are 7 hours away. My dad, who is 82, cannot make all the decisions alone.

Quilting Road Trip!

I'm off, I'm off, I'm off on a quilting road trip that include Spool - the home of the Bad Ass Quilters Society! I've been wanting to go there for ages! My fabric budget is limited right now, but no doubt I will end up with some fabric from Spool.

If we feel up to it, my friend and I will continue on to Ikea in Atlanta (another 2 1/2 hours away). If we do that, we will be on the road for about 11 hours and I am not quite sure we are up for that. I don't mind driving, but at some point, you have to say enough is enough. Spool and a look around Chattanooga may suffice for this trip. It is only 2 hours away.

Finishes

Well, these mug rugs count as finishes even though they are really small. This is the final installment of prizes for my summer class, so now back to my heart quilt. At least I have cut out the remaining 20 gray squares, so I plan to finish piecing it this week.

I used the mug rugs to practice blocks I had never made before and they aren't bad. I must be getting better. I still follow the ten paces rule though - if you don't see the mistake at ten paces, carry on without a seam ripper. I also got slightly more creative with my quilting, at least on the two teal rugs. Before all I would do is quilt straight lines that were quite far apart. Quilting has been difficult on larger quilts with my small harp space, but I have a Juki now, so I am hoping that quilting will soon be the icing on the cupcake instead of the burned bits on the bottom of the pan.

I am still having trouble cutting text fabrics so they don't look wonky. I swear the one I tried to be straight on, even cutting part off, looks worse than the one I just cut. Hmmm...maybe there is a trick I don't know yet.

Ah well, now to see if I can manage to stitch a few gray squares together before bedtime.