Busy Saturday

BTCT #16

I had both 8 foot tables in the middle of the quilt room since the retreat last month and this week I spread out all the Beyond the Chery Trees stuff to prepare a few blocks for the next trip I am taking. Now that I am comfortable making bias strips with a clover bias tape maker, I made up lots in 2 different sizes. It is really quite easy to prep applique blocks if you you have room to spread out. I had to figure out the order to layer the different stems and leaves. The grapes above were all cut out using several sizes of GO dies. There will be about 30 grapes per cluster. I glue basted several in each bunch to get started. The leaves go under the vines which I prepared first, before I realized about the layering. 

 The stems below are stitched on first this time and the leaves will float above. The cherries and leaves are glue basted in place. I see that I missed 2 red cherries right in the middle on the ends of the stems.

There will be a yellow bowl eventually. Fingers crossed that all the stems and leaf ends will fit under it.

BTCT #7

 The leaves on this block sit under the stems. So, the leaves are now all in place. I did glue baste them also.

I love how the patterns are not centered perfectly. This makes it less stressful in the long run.

BTCT #24

A quilting friend came over today and helped me see these Shot Cottons from a different perspective. 

So, we separated out all the brights and put them with the bright prints.

Bright Kaffe Fassett

 And, we put all the dull ones together and I have made my decision what colours the 1718 Coverlet will be.

Dull Kaffe Fassett

These fat quarter bundles came with 34 different colours in each pack for a total of 68 different colours. That is a lot of different colours. That's 17 yards of fabric. Enough to make several quilts.
Now to get busy. The March blocks for the QAL have been posted and I have yet to make the Feb blocks.

Hurried Blessings,
Chris

Choosing Fabrics

Have I ever mentioned that choosing fabrics is not my forte? That's one of the reasons I have so much fabric in my cupboard. Indecision.

I bought the book and the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons collections. That was the easy part. But what colours do I use to fill the gaps?

And those 2 upper corner blocks are brown and there is not enough fabric in one fat quarter to go the distance. 

This is a coverlet not a quilt. It is a mosaic not a sampler. Not sure what the difference is? Better read the book to find out.






I initially thought to pull some dull fabrics from my stash to look a bit like old silk, since I am using cottons. I even found a Yumi print. Never heard of that before this project. And that bottom one is a simple basket weave that can be a background filler. But those shot cottons all look a bit bright next to the dull ones.

Then I see some early blocks posted on facebook and some are using the bright Kaffe fabrics. Well, I happen to have a whole bunch of those already prewashed that I bought thinking I might make a third Dear Jane quilt and I do like the Kaffe  Fassett colours on a crisp white background. To date, I have 22 DJ2 blocks done in brights on white. But these colours sing together beautifully.

Or do I use both bunches? I certainly have enough. And I am not even going to think about trying to make 2 different ones. I will wait and ask some of my friends to tell me what I like before starting.

Indecisive blessings,
Chris

What Arrived in the Mail Today?

This

Inside was this

 And inside that was this

 And the other day I photocopied all these

 

So I can make this

Excited blessings

Chris

Not Afraid of Circles

I had stitched up the stems and leaves of several blocks a few months ago. I realized that this is another block where I could use the GO cutter to cut the 17 circles that finish at 1.5 inches. The pattern says the centers were reverse appliqued but I think I will just applique the 1/2 inch circles on top.

BTCT # 1

I did not use glue this time because I still have to applique 1/2 inch yellow circles on top and do not want to have glue in the way.A few of the circles look a bit less round. I guess I should not run 8 layers of scraps through the cutter. These stitch up really nicely and I am getting them quite round now that I have a bit of practice.

BTCT #1

I am babysitting for the 3rd straight night so should get more done tonight.
Blessings,
Chris

New Quilt Start

Sometimes Often I find a quilt that I want to make and want to start right now but sometimes have to wait until I get home, get the pattern, choose the fabrics and check my daytimer to see if I indeed have time to start it. When I was in England back in October, I read about this project and could hardly wait until I got home to order the book. What can I say? Its the history part that draws me in.

And, Craftsy had an amazing sale in November so I bought the Kaffe Fasset shot cotton fat quarter bundles at a mere 40% off. Can you blame me?

 Today, in blog land, I discovered an 11 month quilt along 1718 Coverlet QAL for this amazing project. And since I already have the project box loaded and ready to go, why not? The original coverlet was made of silk and hand stitched, of course. Will I try to be as authentic as possible and hand piece and hand applique? Probably not. There are only 9 blocks for this month and they are all small and simple. Do I have to preshrink all that fabric first?? I much prefer to do hand applique with pre-washed fabrics.

Impulsive Blessings,
Chris

A Little Prep Work

I completed all 43 cherries on Block #20 and they turned out pretty good. Not all were perfectly round but real cherries aren't either. I was encouraged so cut out 42 more 1 1/8th inch circles with my GO cutter for Block # 7 which is almost the same as block #20. I am using the Appli-Glue this time since the last time the glue I used soaked into the fabric and spread a bit too close to some of the edges of the cherries.

BTCT # 7

 Not to be daunted, I cut out 3 different sizes of purple circles for block #16. I used the Roxanne applique glue for these. I wanted to see if there was any difference. I used the tiniest little drop. Well - this glue soaked through the fabric just a bit and stuck to the paper pattern underneath. Good thing I was paying attention and moved it right away. Now stitching these 1/2 inch finished circles is a piece of cake. There will be about 30 grapes in each cluster. I glued in 10-12 to start and will add more after they are stitched in place. Some of the grapes touch, others overlap.

BTCT #16

 Completed the chilies block for CCCQ. Now only 7 1/2 more to go.

CCCQ #28

Temperatures dropped down to minus 29 Celsius today. Once it gets this cold for a few days, spring cannot be too far away.

Chili blessings,
Chris

40-Bags-in-40-Days

Today is the first day of Lent. My granddaughter phoned me to ask if I knew what yesterday was. She informed me that it was "Fat Tuesday" and they had pancakes served for breakfast at her school. She is in grade 2. She said that we are supposed to give up bread and sugar for Lent. Okay. I do not as a rule "give up" anything for lent. However, I did give up bread and sugar and a few other things for 30 days last month, lost 12 pounds and the swelling in my knees went away. So maybe I should take up her challenge to give up bread and sugar for Lent. Hmm.

Another challenge two of my facebook friends took up last year at this time was the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge to de-clutter and de-crapify their homes. This year I am in. Will I post about it every day? Now that is a challenge in itself. I could. I might.

Day 1:
I emptied the trash boxes under the tables in the quilt room. I did not want to overdo it the first day. I have printed off a plan and progress chart. I will make a plan. Will I stick to it? Check back here and see if I do.

In the meantime, after completing BTCT block #20 , I was encouraged greatly by some of my blogging friends and so have begun prepping 2 more blocks. Using the GO cutter, I found several sizes of circles and cut out 42 red and green for the cherries for Block #7. It is very similar to Block #20.

1 1/8th inch circles

And because I do like a challenge, or a dare, I cut out the nearly 200 grapes to appear in 2 other blocks.

1 inch, 1 1/8th inch and 7/8th inch circles

I will be flying out to New Brunswick in another 3 weeks so I am ahead of the game in prepping a couple of blocks to take along. I usually prep them as I am packing my bags the day I leave.

It's-snowing-again blessings,
Chris 

Another Beyond The Cherry Trees Block Completed

BTCT # 20

I tried for days to make a post and on 3 different computers. Finally.
This is how I decided to do the cherries. I have not been babysitting quite as often lately so this block has taken longer. Now only 457 more cherries and grapes to go.

Its-freezing-out-there Blessings
Chris

Trrouble with Blogger

Is anyone else having trouble uploading photos, saving and publishing?

I'm Going to Australia

Yes it's true. I am going to Australia in April. I was doing research for a business trip to New Zealand for April next year and thought how much fun it would be to just plan an extra week and slip over to Australia for a few days and  . . . oh  . . . by the way . . . the AQC is mid April . . . and isn't Esther Aliu teaching her Love Entwined class at the AQC this year  . . . anyway, my Sweet husband said I could go to Australia anytime I wanted. So, I am going this April. I will be attending the AQC on Fri April 17 then heading to Adelaide to visit a friend who interned at our church a few years back. She even came to the Farm for a weekend retreat and made her very first quilt. I think it was a purple and white single Irish chain.

But that isn't all . . . It occurred to me that there might be some Guernsey farms in the area so I posted on our Farm facebook wall about my trip and . . . by golly . . . I have a few new facebook friends and half a dozen farms that I can visit . . .  Sweet . . . Now which applique blocks will I prep to take along? Not this one since I finished it already.

CCCQ # 29

Not this one since it might take me until April to get it prepped for machine applique. These pieces are not yet glued under. This is the only block that has blue in it. Oops!! I just realized that the center star is supposed to be red. What to do? What to do? I might just leave it. sigh.

Ben Biggs # 13

I tried something different for the wreath. Cut out the skinny circle using floriani fuseable. Ironed it onto the underside of the green fabric. Cut only the outside part then glued the seam allowance over. I thought this would keep it from distorting too much. 

Then cut out the inside of the circle and snip the skinny seam allowance before gluing it on. Seems to look okay. Now to get at the 21 tiny leaves.

 Blessings,
Chris

Q@F Winter Retreat

Leslie squaring up her blocks

  Everyone helping Leslie arrange her Sunbonnet Sue blocks

 Robin hand quilting a Double Irish Chain wedding quilt for her daughter. She is using a 360 degree rotating wooden hoop on a pedestal and sitting on a stool. Sometimes she quilts standing up because she is short and likes to keep moving.

 Janice appliqueing

 Daiva working on GORF

 Esther adding sashing to her sampler blocks

 And me machine quilting GORF now that my machine is finally home after 3 months in the repair shop

I only got a few stitches in CCCQ # 28, probably because I was talking enjoying myself so much

We have to do this more than once a year

Winter-is-half-over blessings,

Chris