Blue Stars

I finished sewing this top together last Saturday morning (hooray for a finish in a month!), just before my daughter arrived for a visit with her nearly-grown kittens.  They love to slide across the hardwood floor, scattering whatever's on it.  (I've learned the hard way to pick up quilt blocks from my design floor.)  We try to keep them corralled in other parts of the house but they sometimes escape.

I think this quilt looks calm, comforting, and warm.  I'm still struggling just a little with the symmetry.  I know if I put this quilt on a bed I will not be happy with the fact that the vertical center is a square with a star to its upper left and a star to its lower right.  On a bed, to my eye, a strip of stars should be in the center.

The fabric for the squares and sashing came from thrift shirts in neutrals and several pieces of fabric from my sewing days.  For the stars I used leftover blue fabrics from another quilt.  The binding will also be blue, from a thrift shirt, and I think it may be wider than the usual ¼".  

I'm happy with the stars but I realize now that they could have been bigger.  The squares finish at 7½" and the sashing finishes at 2".  With wider sashing, the stars would have been bigger and, therefore, stronger.  If I make another of these quilts sometime in the future I'll try cutting the sashing at 3".

The symmetry (or lack of it) must not bother me enough to add another strip of blocks on one side or the other because I pieced the back today. 

I had two pieces of wide fabric that I thought would work for the back, neither more than a yard and a quarter.  Then I pulled out a shirt in a similar blue I recently found at the thrift store.  I left the curves of the shirt bottom on the outside edge of the back.  No sense cutting it and then cutting it into even smaller pieces when trimming the quilt before binding it.

I hope to lay out the batting tonight so I can layer and baste tomorrow.  Finally I will have something to hand quilt!  And I'm super thrilled to have a finished top and a finished back all in one week!

I'm linking this post to  
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts 
> TGIFF at Musings of a Menopausal Melon
> finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts 
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy. 
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Hearts

After working on the tan quilt with blue stars -- wonderfully calm and serene, possibly even dull -- I'm ready for sewing with brights again. 

I cut out several small hearts and chose light backgrounds.  I'll stitch one or more of these today if I can manage time to stitch.

Light and bright inside is just what I need with today's greyest of days.  (Of course, these photos were taken with a flash.  What can you do when the midday light outside looks like dusk?)

Kathy asked us to post a photo of our hoop -- whatever kind we use.  This is my 14" wooden hoop, the only one I've ever used for quilting.  It's so comfortable and it's edges worn smooth.  When I broke it a few years ago I could bear the thought of breaking a new one so I fixed it.  Drill, string, a piece of another hoop, some adhesive tape, and it's as good as new (and probably stronger, too).

Happy Sabbath to you.

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Kathy.

--Nancy.
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Symmetry or Size?

The only sewing I've done on this quilt to date is sewing the star points onto the sashing.  I rarely cut all the blocks for a quilt at the same time but this quilt seemed to need it.

Whenever I make a quilt I often have this running discussion with myself about symmetry and size.  Do you want the pattern to be symmetrical or is the size of the quilt more important? 

The way this quilt is laid out, above, it is not symmetrical.  The first row of three stars shifts left, the second row shifts right, the third row, left, etc.  I have to decide whether I can live with the out-of-balance arrangement because the size, 69½" x 84½" (before quilting, washing, and drying), will be better:  a decent size for a twin bed or a nap.

Or is the symmetry more important?  Three stars in the first row, two in the second, three in the third, etc.  If so, I would remove the right and bottom rows and have a quilt top that measures 60" x 74" (before quilting, washing, and drying).  Not quite bed size and definitely not long enough for tall people who want to tuck the quilt under their feet for a good nap.  (Doesn't everyone tuck a quilt under and around their feet?)

To add to the decision about size, there's the consideration of how much shrinkage there will be after a quilt's been washed and dried.  In some quilts I've lost 6" in both directions!  That's a lot to lose.

Sizes of quilts has been of ongoing interest to me.  From several quilting books (both modern and vintage quilts) and my own quilts, I noted size ranges of finished quilts. 

I often look at these sizes when deciding how big to make a quilt.  I find it hard to tell when unstitched pieces are laying on the floor.

I tell myself that when a quilt is on a bed, or wrapped around a person, or folded on a shelf, no one notices whether it's symmetrical.  It's only when a quilt is hung for show or photographed on a floor that we notice whether the pattern of a quilt is symmetrical.  I think this quilt stays as it is.  (Unless I decide it should be larger.)

What do you do?  If you can't have both, do you choose symmetry or size?

I'm linking this post to
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Let's Bee Social #212 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> Midweek Makers 107 at Quilt Fabrication
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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Nothing to Do

January came and I had nothing to do.
-- no basted and layered quilt to put in a hoop
-- no applique blocks ready to stitch
-- no pieced blocks cut for me to sew
-- no particular idea of the next quilt to begin
And too tired to make any big decisions.

Well, I had a small stack of blue scraps leftover from my Gwenny medallion.  Blue is one of my less-favorite colors but I do like this range of blues.  I don't know if they're soldier blues, Prussian blues, peacock blues, or go by another name, but they have just the least touch of green in the dye and I like them.

And I had a stack of what I thought were medium browns, the ones in the photo below plus a few others, mostly cut from shirts.  Perhaps my creative energies were mirroring the grey Ohio winter days (which I truly love -- so restful). 

I decided to put them together and see what would happen.  I often second guess myself about cutting into fabric.  What if I later realize I would like it for some other quilt?  But I made a quick decision to cut 8" squares and 2½" sashing and went to work with my rotary cutter.

This is what I've come up with so far.  Only the star points are sewn to the sashing. 

I chose uneven stars and I chose to set them on opposite corners of the squares rather than using a "Morning Star" setting where every corner has a star.  A star in every corner, especially with these uneven stars, can become crowded.

Some may think this a boring quilt.  I think my daughter used the words "calm" and "serene" to describe it.  It looks restful to me.  It may not become the most beautiful or exciting quilt I've ever made but I think it will be satisfactory.

Sometimes I get tired of jumbles of bright colors.  Sometimes my eyes want a rest, want to see the rhythm of two colors and a pattern repeated across a surface.  And I wanted to see if I could make a simple yet appealing quilt from these tans/browns and blues.  I think these colors and this layout work, but I may have another opinion by the time I finish the top.  I have more cutting and sewing to do to make it bigger.

In the meantime I'm trying out ideas for another applique quilt, considering how to make my Baskets of Plenty blocks play nicely to become a finished top, and searching for backing fabric for my Gwenny quilt.  Finding/choosing backing fabric or sewing pieces together to make a backing is often a challenge, particularly so for this quilt because I'm looking for "that blue" -- the range in the above quilt -- which is not currently a popular color, or some fabric that will agree with the front of the quilt.  And I don't have enough of any fabrics to sew together to make a back.  Sigh.  Until I can get backing for any quilt I don't have hand quilting to do, and this is the perfect time to hand quilt -- you know, cold weather, staying inside more than usual, etc.

But still, now I do have something to do!

I'm linking this post to
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> ScrapHappy January at talltalesfromchiconia
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
> Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
> Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt 
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.

2017 In Review

My consolation in having so few completely finished quilts this year is that quilting was not the only interest and emphasis for me.  Maybe I'll make more quilts this year, or maybe not....  So, this is a review of my 2017 applique and quilting efforts.

Completely Finished Quilts  (only four)
 
A Blue Plaid Linen Shirt was the backing for this little patriotic quilt.

The green/blue Buckeye Beauty was The Ugliest Quilt of the year.  But it's done!

My favorite quilt of 2017 was this really scrappy one, made of leftovers from another quilt.

A dozen blocks (also leftovers over from another, larger quilt) became one small quilt - large enough to cover legs, small enough to wrap a baby or toddler.

Interim Finishes (as in, finished blocks, finished tops, etc.)

I devoted time to choosing fabrics, pattern pieces, and appliqueing these Cheri Payne Baskets of Plenty sew-along blocks which are currently awaiting a decision on layout, sashing, and borders.  (Poor, late-night phone photo.  Don't bother to enlarge.)

My Gwenny-inspired Medallion quilt top received its final border with appliqued vines and stars.  It has yet to be layered and quilted.

This very red/pink Buckeye Beauty is finished to the top stage.  This is a sister to the ugliest quilt, above.  I like this one much better.

Most Viewed Posts in reverse order, least viewed to most viewed
> A Finish, Compared to...
> Baskets of Plenty #7:  Cheeky Bird
> Baskets of Plenty Block 2, Choosing for Block 3
> The Ugliest Quilt
> First Basket of Plenty, Finished

Posts with Most Comments in reverse order, least comments to most comments
> Albino Crow, Strong West Wind tied with When Does a Project Become a UFO?
> Back to Scrap Squares
> Wrestling
> The Ugliest Quilt
> A Scrappy Finish

Truly, this was a little year on the quilting front.  Three of the complete finishes had been in progress for a while and only one was new, so I was pleased to have finished three UFOs.  In 2018 I hope to quilt several tops that have been waiting and start and finish several quilts at least to the flimsy stage.

I'm linking this post to Cheryl's Best of 2017 Linky Party at Meadow Mist Designs.  Click through to see other quilters' best of in 2017.  Thanks for hosting, Cheryl.

I wish you all the best to you in 2018!

--Nancy.

To Wish You a Happy New Year

          Throughout the year from day to day
         May joy be with you all the way.

         Happy New Year.

--Nancy.