Flower Power

I have another tumbler quilt off the rails, this will be a donation quilt.  I used a new (to me) Pantograph (thanks, Santa!) for this scrappy quilt;  "Flower Child".
It worked out perfectly for this project and is super easy and FAST! Like my old FAST favorite: Loop de Loop, this one is forward motion all the way, no points or starts and stops until one gets to the edge (or runs out of bobbin thread!). Its speedy and fun to do.

Scrappy Charm Tumbler quilt ~ 56" X 64"

The flowers were just the antidote for the lousy, rainy weather we've been inundated with here in North Carolina. We've had ran, rain, and more rain (at least it's not SNOW!) with a rainy forecast for this week to come too. Sadly, this is really impacting the progress on our screened in porch project. 

Raindrops seemed like the natural choice for the backing fabric, "showers and flowers" go together. 

I stitch the tumblers together Leader-Ender style while stitching on other things; they sit in two small baskets beside my machine one for lights, one for darks. I precut the tumblers with the die cutter from a huge scrap basket- leftovers from projects past.  Nothing gets wasted. This system leads to more being sewn together at the same time. SEW-- while that Scrappy Sixteen* comes together (on the design wall) so do more tumbler tops (on chair, under Hannes); we (he shares the sewing chair with me) almost have another one done and ready to quilt! 

* Interesting side-story explaining the delay on SS: I used leftover Essex Linen (from the background of "Dogs in Sweaters", photo below) for the light background fabric in this scrap quilt. I didn't have quite enough. I mail-ordered an additional yard to complete this project after carefully consulting my color-swatch card. Apparently I didn't consult the card carefully enough! The fabric came and it was too creamy, a whiter substitute has been ordered to replace that and the creamy non-match has been shelved. So much for using what's on hand, I feel a little defeated by this blunder but am moving on!

My sweet sewing companion and every day-brightener. 

The power of flowers to cheer on cold, dark and rainy day. 

What's brightening up your space at home today?

Life is Good!

Up next: "In the Loop"

Leaving It All On The Table

I have started out the month by finishing up a couple of table toppers for fall. Both of these were done from charm squares. The first, shown left, is called "Split Square" and came straight from Country Threads' book: "Sew Charming". This was the small quilt that I hurriedly pieced together before the all-important block "trim down" stage. 🙄 As a result, it touched down in the bottom of the trash can for a period of time. A cooler head prevailed; rescued it, took it apart, trimmed it down and finished it. I am SEW happy that I did!

The second table topper to land on the table where we eat our meals and play our daily Cribbage matches is this one, below. Also made from charm squares but this time assembled as nine patches. I used the "Charming Nine Patches" approach to stitching up this one from the Country Threads blog  linked here. 

 This one has an antique-y feel withe the blocks joined one to another without sashing. The squares in each block finish to 1"; giving it also, a sort of woven appearance. I quilted it with the same pantograph (Paisley Max) and same tawny gold thread color as the Split Square above.

These two have given the kitchen table a bright and welcome face-lift for the new season. Grab yourself some charm squares and see how you might brighten up your space by leaving it all on the table. 

Now-- a PSA: I got my annual screening mammogram done this morning; yes, it just happens to be breast cancer awareness month. I celebrated with a Pink Ribbon bagel from Panera afterwards. These cherry vanilla bagels also just so happen to be my very favorites! Available only in October, I buy them up by the dozen and freeze them for the rest of the year. Our local Panera happens to be observing 100% of Pink Ribbon bagel sales for this week only donated to breast cancer research, check your local store for details (I believe the remainder of the month it's a portion of the sales); either way it's a true win-win!  If you like cherry-vanilla, this treat WON'T be left on the table! I promise. 

Life is Good!

DeRailed, With A Bonus

DeRailed  ~ 64" X 80"

All the blocks are ready and on the design wall, I've renamed this one DeRailed. Originally begun to jump-start my piecing, and called "Rustic Rails", this was a fun and productive diversion that has aided in breaking through my piecer's block and clearing the deck for other projects. Those of you who know me will understand that I love precision and rules; I like plannning and control of the project. This quilt isn't about any of those things, it's all about letting go! The pattern comes from Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts book, the contents of which include patterns and inspiration for 15 free-form block projects.  DeRailed has actually put me back on track. The freedom found in piecing large blocks combined with an unrestricted cutting approach has been liberating; just what I needed! I hope to get back to a few UFO's here shortly, in more of my typical style. In the meantime, DeRailed has yielded yet another  side benefit: a bonus quilt top! Sewn L-E style while assembling the rails this charm tumbler, TMX2~#2 , will most likely be loaded and quilted next. It joins its sister quilt, TMX2 (The More The Merrier), completed last summer. They are both destined to become car quilts.

 TMX2~#2  56" X 68" 

Take a lesson from me. Are you on track? Does your piecing seem stale and uninspired all of a sudden? If so, you might want to try something completely new and unpredictable. Shake it up!  I did; and, for me, it's made all the difference!

Life is Good!