Dignity III and more

I bought fabric for a Native American quilt in June, 2019, at a quilt shop in Chamberlain,SD, where we saw the Dignity stature. You can read about that day here. I made the first quilt, Dignity, in May of 2020, during some time-off from making pandemic masks. In November of last year, I made Dignity II, from some of the extra fabric. 

Now, Dignity III is finished. I really liked the white background fabric left from Dignity, and decided to find turquoise fabric in my stash to go with it. I used all of the white background fabric making this quilt finish at 54" by 59". 

I decided to quilt this in a ruler grid using Glide light turquoise thread, #32975, for the front and light gray, #17543, for the back.

The grid pattern is just three arcs, one on each side of each triangle. This result in a large flower where six triangles meet.

The back is the Dream Catcher fabric that I bought for Dignity and didn't use. I guess I knew it would be great on Dignity III.

You might be able to see the quilted flower on the back here.

I kept Dignity, donated Dignity II, and am keeping Dignity III.

In other news...

The graduation quilt is quilted and I am now hand sewing the binding. It should be finished with a couple weeks to spare.

We visited a new quilt shop (actually it's a little over a year old but I just found it) in Brodhead, WI. Keeping Up With The Jones's Quilting is a neat shop housed in an old church. 

Lori has a great selection for a small shop including lots of wide backs including flannels, a large selection of blenders, and a bargain basement.

I got to ring the church bell today and I will be going back!

Woven

Woven is a quilt that I've wanted to make for a long time. The woven idea has intrigued me ever since I first saw it, and I finally decided to make it. After starting, I had a chance to see a pattern showing the process -  which was very different from the way I was making it. 

Using scraps, I made Woven without cutting and sewing together matching fabrics. The white squares and the colored squares on the edges are 3" squares. All other pieces are 3" by 9". 

I built the quilt column by column using partial seams. It was rather labor intensive but fun to do. In the following photo, the vertical pieces on the right have each been sewn to the 3 fabrics on their left. The horizontal pieces are then each joined from the middle of the white to the middle of the vertical piece. The bottom pink vertical piece hasn't been joined horizontally yet. It's a bit complicated but I enjoyed figuring it out and making the quilt.

I quilted this 50" by 70" donation quilt with straight lines using Glide light gray #17543 thread. The straight line quilting was interesting on the long arm even though I have a lock. I think I'm better at straight lines on my domestic machine.

The backing and binding are a bluish turquoise that I had in my stash.

I have started basting my quilts on the long arm before quilting them. I think I get better results, and I can move to different parts of a quilt, if needed, easily. This is the first quilt that I basted with water soluble thread. Since I wash all quilts, I decided it might work well, and it did - the basting just disappeared!

The graduation quilt top is finished! It is on the long arm frame and basted. It looks like I'll have it finished in plenty of time.

Blue Daisies

There's a new quilt shop starting up near me (about 40 minutes away), The Sewing Room and Workshop. The owner has done custom upholstery for years. Recently she moved to a store front in Mount Carroll, IL, and now has her upholstery shop and a quilt shop. I found her a couple months ago with a small but growing selection of fabric. I bought a small bundle of fat quarters the shop had put together and a couple yards of blue fabric. With a little fabric from my stash, I made Blue Daisies.

This donation quilt is 48" by 58". I looked at patterns that would use fat quarters and finally came up with this design which used almost all of the fabric. 

I quilted this with a motif that I call Layered Daisies, using Glide #10877 Sterling Gray thread on the top and #30281 Blueberry on the back.

I used all of the extra pieces of fabric on the back. 

The graduation quilt is coming along. I think I figured out my latest problem tonight so hopefully I'll have that kink worked out tomorrow.

The next clue for the Colour Value Mystery QAL came out today and I have it done. 

Joanne gives clear, concise instructions and offers options on how to do different things. Today I chose to spin the seams on the QSTs. 

No fooling - I have a finished quilt!

I am slowly finishing quilts. Whirly Jig, which is aka Backyard 1, was made from a bundle of fat quarters, Ruby Star Society Backyard by Sarah Watts. Backyard 2 is finished and is here. Backyard 3 needs to be quilted.

I remember seeing a quilt with a design similar to this a few years ago so I drafted a pattern. Unlike the quilt I remember, I sorted my fabric into four colors and put the whirly jig center in the center of the quilt. The quilt I remember had the center near one corner.  

I quilted this 62" square, donation quilt with meandering, using Glide #17543 light gray thread on top and #10430 battleship on the back. 

The backing and binding is made with is a rose colored fabric.

Some of the things keeping me busy are:

• a graduation quilt that isn't done (no photos 'til it's gifted)

• a Colour Value Mystery QAL hosted by Joanne Keaton. I have my pieces cut and am caught up on the clues!

• healing my finger after an accident with a rotary cutter. I'm not sure exactly what happened but it wasn't pretty. Healing is going very well so all is good.

• a quilt retreat with friends. It was a great, relaxing time with a little quilting.

I'll have another finish before long...

Some quilting

I try to quilt most days, sometimes for a few minutes and sometimes a few hours. 

My first finish is the 30's Quilt. Last fall I won a bundle of 30's fabric fat quarters. I hunted and finally found a little fabric in my stash to go with it - 30's fabric isn't a normal choice for me. I also added a little yellow fabric to make the quilt 50" by 58".

I used Glide #80607 Lemon Ice thread on the top and #10430 Battleship gray on the back to quilt this with a double loop spiral. 

I bought purple for the back and binding of this donation quilt.

A couple of years ago, I bought a pack of fat quarters - Ruby Star Society Backyard by Sarah Watts. I made three quilts tops. Backyard 2 is the first one to be quilted and finished. This donation quilt is 58" by 60" and used the leftover HSTs from the 1st top. 

I used Glide #17443 Bone thread on the top and #10877 Sterling on the back when I quilted this with a loop-de-loop motif.

I think the quilting shows better here.

I purchased a dark pink fabric for the back.

I have a number of quilts in progress. Here are a few I don't think I've shared before. I'm continually trying to clear out fabric with more donation quilts.

A few days ago, I decided I had a lot of charm squares and some mini charms that I wanted to use. So... I decided nine-patchs of 2.5" squares (any color and any fabrics paired with white) would be good. I have it started.

Since there were LOTS of 2.5" squares, I also started a large postage stamp quilt. I have really enjoyed sewing on both of these quilts lately - very relaxing!

I have a graduation quilt to make and I just decided (finally) what I wanted to do so I need fabric and lots of time in the studio. When I finish that, I have a memorial t-shirt quilt and pillows to make for my brother's family. Somewhere in there I have a quilt retreat. So my future looks sunny with a great chance of quilting!

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I've posted so here goes...

Sadly my oldest brother passed away in January. Tom was an Agent Orange 'survivor' from the Vietnam War. He was totally disabled for a number of years. Before that, he was Santa to a lot of people. He was loved by many. 

His visitation and funeral were so hard but definitely helped his wife, children, grandchildren, great-granddaughter, brothers, and sister (me) know how very much he meant to so many people. I miss him.

Four days after Tom's death, Ray had an appointment to see his oncologist for a checkup. His testosterone (affected by his hormone blocking drugs) had to be normal before the PSA score was reliable. We hoped to hear the words "no signs of cancer" in May. Surprisingly, everything aligned on January 30, and we heard those wonderful words - "no signs of cancer". Ray is cancer free!!! His energy level is slowly improving as his body is still recovering from treatment. Hopefully by May, he'll have near-normal energy.

Life has been like a roller coaster and we are just hanging on! We both love ordinary days. We've been able to watch our Illinois grandsons play hockey and indoor soccer. Ray spends time taking and editing his photos while I spend time quilting. 

We recently took a day trip to Olbrich Gardens in Madison, WI, to see the Orchid Escape which was awesome! Here's just four of the many photos that I took.

We were in Chicago on Sunday watching one of our grandsons play his last youth hockey game. He played in the 18U NIHL Blackhawks Tournament championship. The game was at the United Center where the Chicago Blackhawks play. Quite the way to end his youth hockey career!

Grandson #15 in white sweater

We were able to visit our niece and her family in Wauconda on our way home yesterday. It was wonderful to see them and visit their businesses.

Bungalow Printing
Beats Plastic Refillery

We have spent today resting, catching up from the Chicago trip, and trying to adjust to the time change. I've been doing a little quilting and have a couple of finishes that I'll share soon.

Time moves in one direction,

memory in another. 

                           -William Gibson

Lot's of Quilting!

I've been quilting off and on for the last month and I actually have something to show for my time!

First, I have a finish. I found a number of small rectangles in my stash and decided another potato chip quilt was in order. I decided this one would have a ‘border' of light fabrics and I would just make one large block.When I needed to cut more blocks, I decided it was large enough.

The light fabrics include pinks, yellows, tans, and creams.

This donation quilt finished at 50" square. I quilted it with a large meander using Glide Sterling Gray #10877 thread on top and Ruby Red #70187 on the back. 

The back is a red from my stash.

In November, I shared a few finished tops. I really need to start quilting some of those. My longarm was difficult to get to during the holidays so I've been sewing instead. Anyway, I had quite a bit of fabric left from one the tops I finished so I put this top together with some of the leftover cut pieces.

There are still more pieces and tonight I started putting some together only to find that all of the squares aren't the same size. So I've been trimming as I go. It'll be interesting to see this one finished.

I saw a 'woven' quilt and decided it would be fun to make . I decided using 3.5" pieces would also help tame my stash. So a  scrappy weave was started.

I am putting this together with 3.5" squares and 3.5" by 9.5" pieces. I like the way it is looking.

I am finally sewing my Scrappy Triangles into a quilt top. Guess I'll have to find another long term project.

And...one day recently, Ray and I went looking for the snowy owl that's been hanging out about 45 minutes from where we live. It was a very cold, windy day but it was worth the trip. 

I wish you all a Happy 2025. 

We are looking forward to a much better year.