Catching up and last week's finish

Little time to sew is making me a bit cranky - or could it be this endless wet, cold spring?  Either way here's a few things I have been up to!

I brought my M3 (Meadow Mist Mystery) Quilt to Burlington Electric Quilt Studio. I haven't had time to photograph the quilting so here is a reminder of what the quilt looks like.

And here is a video of it being quilted on a Gamill wth a Statler Sticher.

I finished this Sashiko pillow right before I went to Pennsylvania for my niece's graduation.  It was one of my UFO's for the APQ Resolution.   Its not fancy but, I love it. I learned how quick it was to do Shashiko and it will become a default take along project, when I want something compact. 

April and May UFOs (a little late on April)

Finished Shasiko Pillow!
Quilted and added binding to M3 quilt (binding will make it done for my list)

Ongoing

-bind and label M3 Quilt

-pick some colors for La Passacagalia (carry over from last week)

-begin animal alphabet quilt (ready to cut)

-label a few quilts (carry over from last week)

Linking up:  Cooking up Quilts, Main Crush Monday 

A finished table runner from scraps!

I finished this table runner (at least I think so) and I am so happy. It was from some leftover flying geese which I  made for another quilt.

Like most of the time, I quilted this on my Bernina 440QE.  I mostly used my walking foot but also my ruler foot for a very small piece.   As I worked, I found it was easier to do each side of a "goose" rather than twist around each one.  Here's a picture of the back.  

I am finding more and more I love my "in the ditch"  quilting foot.  Its a new plate for my Bernina 440Q walking foot.   Also, it made it easy to go around the edge of the quilt with stitches by moving the needle a few "dots" either left or right of center. 

But I still wanted to do some  ruler work on  the inside of the stars.  It was so much easier than marking it!  I'm glad I did it.  Speaking of marking, I wasn't sure about doing the shadow geese in the solid fabric, but I finally did it and am glad that I did.    I think it help completes the table runner.

This pattern was adapted from "Elegant Runner" by Terry Albers in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts, Fall 2012.   I saved it knowing I had these flying geese to use up.

Another UFO finished for 2017!

A snow day and some progress a week ago....

Last week we had another snow storm.  It was much less fierce than expected, but I enjoyed a day inside.

I worked on my French Swoon quilt and here's what I did.

1. Tested the backing one more time for colo-fastnestand decided that it was fine (washed in warm with a piece of the white in the same wash which came out clean).
2. Ironed the backing fabric, however, it will need piecing - actually - I will make a strip with a leftover block or two and some scraps to make the back long enough.
3. I made the binding for the quilt.

Some other things I accomplished included

-searching for fabric scraps from this quilt (and realized I gave some away,

-organized my ufo projects for the year so they were all in a basket

-put away some fabric I had washed/some more sewing desk cleanup

-picked out a small quilt to work on and found a back for it (I'll post it at the end of the week)

-organized some things for my EPP class on Friday

Not bad for a week's work!

UFO #1 for 2016 is finished!

I am loving this UFO challenge.  I finished a nice little leaf applique quilt and can call it done!  I am thrilled to bits to be motivated this way.  One of my favorite things about this little quilt is the pieced fabric for the fall leaf.  I enjoyed quilting it and pushed myself to do something a little fancy in the border.  I almost always rush to finish the quilting and don't do anything elaborate, especially in my class samples.   It was a good exercise in patience and pushing myself when so often I go for the quick ending.

   

Whitby Abbey revisited

It's been awhile but I think I really now want to commit to McMusing. I am excited because I have finally gone back to my photographic quilt of Whitby Abbey, begun in April 2008 in a Ruth McDowell class. With any luck I could be quilting it early next year. My husband often reminds me that "Luck is the residue of design". In this case it means committing to my project on my unscheduled days (no work, not too many appointments). Today is one of those days and I will work on the project again. Yeah.

I am posting two pictures of the abbey in progress. The first is one (above) is of the abbey at the end of the workshop. The next one is of the abbey at the end of a weekend in April 2009 that I worked on it and tried to get back to the project and really come to some conclusion about how the sky would work. I think that the idea of different skies works for this. The center "pinker" is fabric from Mickey Lawler. I searched for other batiks that would blend and think that I have found a few. On the far right and left are scraps that I bought from Mickey Lawler many years ago (probably 9 or 10 years ago) when I first started quilting. They will make for a pretty interestiong border. There will also be a purplish sky across the top, to help break up the vertical thrust of the quilt. I'll post a picture later today of where I am now. (The plan is to work and photograph today - we'll see how it goes).

I also have some knitting projects I am working on - my sisyphus socks - I keep working on them and having to rework. I feel as though I am forever doomed to knit this one pair. I'll take a picture of them too. I have a scarf in process for the church fair. I really should make half a dozen but I don't think that will happen. It is only two weeks away...

Okay, exercise then on to quilting. Wish me luck.