Cookin' Don't Last...

Chicken Soup #1, 60" X 80"

...but quilts do! I've been talking about the "Chicken Soup" quilts for a while now; I'm making two. The first one, unimaginatively nicknamed Chicken Soup #1, is now a full-fledged flimsy. I plan to load it onto Sundance this evening. The idea behind these quilts is that they're to be gifts for my daughter's family as well as my son's, one per family, for those inevitable "sick days" that just happen. They are to be quilts that stay shelved until one of the grandchildren (or children, for that matter) need an extra get-well hug from something that promises to be a cure-all for whatever ails them... Chicken Soup in the form of a quilt! It took a while to collect all the low volume fabrics, it took no time to piece this first one.  All the ingredients have been chopped for the second batch of Chicken Soup too... it's been thrown into the pot and is being stirred and is simmering as we speak! Chicken Soup #2 will measure the same as it's predecessor, a generous 60" X 80". A quilt engages the senses just as much as a pot of soup does... and it lasts a lot longer too! The "recipe" for Chicken Soup #1 is from Sunday Morning Quilts; #2 is a one-patch Tumbler.

Life is Good!

C'mon In...

 ... let me show you a few things that I've been working on, and thinking about, lately. There's never any shortage of projects in various stages of construction in and around the sewing space!  "Scaredy Cat" has come off the rails after machine quilting, Sundance did a great job with the woodgrain on the fence and the swirling, starry night sky. The pumpkins are wool; I will hand finish them with big-stitch quilting. I will hand-couch the thread to add toothy-grins for the cat, moon and pumpkins; plus I plan to add flat, black button overlays to those white, zombie-eye circles, giving them a less possesed appearance and one small round button eye to Mr. Moon! I'm pleased to get this one done up and ready for fall, it's only been two years in the works! This pattern is from Kim Diehl's book: Simple Seasons. This project, however, is a newbie compared to what's on Sundance today. I pieced the quilt below from a McCall's Quilting magazine (mid 1990's) pattern named "American Melting Pot". I added the folk-art border after taking a Sue Nickels' machine applique workshop back in 2005!  I layered it and pin-basted the sandwich, eight years ago, and quilted most of it on my domestic machine. For some reason I stopped working on it, I don't have any idea why; just lost interest I guess.

All Are Precious In His Sight   56" X 68" circa 2005

On Tuesday this week I stopped by to see a friend who just bought a new longarm machine, an APQS George, the sit down variety. I stitched on it for a few minutes and realized, immediately, how very long it's been since I sat and machine quilted! I tried to recall the last quilt I had quilted that way, before Sundance came into my life; this one (I have renamed it, see above) jumped to mind. I came home, dug it out, and loaded it onto Sundance by wrapping it onto the rails, I couldn't load it by the conventional method; 80% of the quilting was already done, all that remains to be quilted is border work! In 2005 I had been quilting a small stipple in the border; yesterday I found just enough of the matching thread to give it a go and see if I could make this work, and look seamless. Lo, and behold, I can! I need more thread and will be moving this one, soon, from the recesses of the stash closet (where all self-respecting UFO's hang out together) to the bedroom hallway; in a special spot I had chosen for it to hang many years ago!

Star Flower block pieces arranged per  QAL at  A Crafty Fox.

You may recall, earlier in the summer that I began collecting low-volume fabrics to make "Chicken Soup" quilts to give to my children for their respective families, a quilt to put away and use on those inevitable stay-home-from-school sick days. As a sick day quilt, I felt, the fabrics chosen would need to be soft and quiet; and so, the fabric hunt began and the collection grew... and grew, and grew! It's time; time to stop collecting and start cutting! Now that I have the fabrics, and they're all so gorgeous, what pattern could I use to incorporate them all, scrappy style? I cut out a few diamonds and placed them on a background.

Sunday Morning strip block from the book: Sunday Morning Quilts.

Tumbler block pieces, randomly arranged as a small test piece.

And, so... my decision? All three! I told you I had collected a LOT of low volume fabrics this summer! I plan to make a Tumbler and a Sunday Morning and let my children draw straws for those. I'll do a Star Flower to keep for myself. These soft, quiet fabrics hold great appeal for yours truly; I believe each one of these is a classic quilt just waiting to be born! Looks like I have my work CUT OUT (or about to be!) for me. Thanks for stopping by today to see what's being finished... and what's being started... life in the sewing space at Chez Goodneedle is all about balance!

Life is Good!