Progress on the herringbone baby quilt

That is what I am going to call it - a herringbone design. I got a few pieces cut out. I thought I had a lot of pink fabric, but after cutting some of it last night I don't know that I have enough not to repeat the fabrics in the same row. After looking at my pink fabrics I realized I had a lot of medium fabrics. What I am trying to use is lights and darks to get that nice contrast. I will have to dig around in my stash to see if I can find anymore pinks that will work. I cut the pieces 4 1/2" x 18 1/2". Here is what is looks like so far.

I have no idea how many fabrics I need. This first one is my trial piece to see first if I like making a quilt this way and second so that I know in the future what I need to cut for a baby quilt. If I like making these and it looks a cool as I hope it does in my head, I will make more of these.

Next project

I borrow Victoria Finley Wolf's new book Modern Quilt Magic from the library and decided I would try using the partial piecing technique to make a baby quilt. I had to draft the size of the piece I need to cut so I could get four rows of fabric that would be the right width for a baby quilt when they are sewn together. I want the pieces to be wide too. I dug out my pinks and can start cutting tonight.

I will making one first before I cut a bunch of fabric.

16th finish for 2017

Yes, I got the wool quilt done last evening! Here is the front which turned out 62" x 90". I didn't hang it up to take a picture of it, because it was getting late and the lighting is terrible so the picture would be dark.

Now you see on the back on the left where the tan army blanket is attached to the gray wool? The line is not straight because I was cutting around the holes at the edge of the blanket as I was trying to save as much of the blanket as I could. Those inprov skills I have honed over the years came in handy!

I fixed the holes in the blanket in different ways. Here I cut a freezer paper circle, pressed back the blanket raw edge, put the teal wool over the hole and stitched it on the machine.

For the long hole in this spot I just cut a piece of the teal wool, pressed under a seam allowance, and machine blanket stitched the patch on.

For all the small holes I just used embroidery floss and satin stitched over the holes. The blanket didn't fray so I just needed to make sure the hole didn't get any bigger.

There were two spots that had holes too big to satin stitch but were too small for a machine sewn patch. I just cut a small piece of the teal wool and hand stitched a patch on them.

Remember that small hole on the front I showed yesterday?

I decided to make lemonade out of this lemon and embroidered a little flower. I satin stitched over the hole in yellow and added some blue petals.

The label has been attached so this is done. It was not a fun quilt to make. The materials and the wool batting tried my patience. I just hope it is nice and warm for my brother.

Now that this is done, what next I said to myself? I need to make some baby quilts for my stash. I only have 3 or 4 on hand so that is what I will be doing next.

Quilted, but not done

Once I got home from work on Friday I did not leave the house all weekend. I didn't even go out and get the mail. I did manage to get the wool quilt quilted and bound.

But the quilt is not done. When I was quilting it I found a small hole I missed cutting off. This hole was made when the fabric was put in the sample book. I will have to put a little patch over it.

The back is a different story. The army blanket had a lot of wear and holes in it. I patched the two biggest ones before I quilted it, but there are numerous smaller holes that will have to be repaired. Here is the back. You might be able to see all the safety pins that mark holes that need repaired. Some of the holes just need a few stitches to close up the hole while others will need a patch.

The of course I will have to put a label on it too. I need to have it done by Thursday and I will make that deadline without any problems.

I slept a lot this weekend and I am feeling better. I still have a few lingering symptoms, but nothing that can't be managed by over the counter drugs. I have to get my new office area straightened out today. I need to get the boxes off the floor and stuff put away so I can access it. I will only be at this office for 4 - 6 weeks. I have no idea where I will be headed next.

Busy, busy, busy

I am late posting today because I have been so busy getting the job site trailer emptied, taking care of getting things disconnected, running after contractors, and moving into my new digs in an office in the school. Here is the trailer this morning with a few big items still left to move. Two guys from my home office came and got the copier, so I had them take a few more items I just needed to get rid of. They were very helpful! The trailer is now empty except for the two wheel dolly that I will get out of there in the morning and take back to the home office.

I have not had time to put things away in my new digs, but here is where I will call home for the next 4 to 6 weeks. The PTA uses the room for storing stuff and for my needs it will work just fine.

After work yesterday I decided I had better do something with at least the front yard. I can't remember the last time I mowed. So I trimmed, mowed, sprayed weeds - mostly thistle, and spread weed and feed. That took 2 hours and I was a bit tired after that. Here is the yard before and after

I did sit down and quilt a bit. I have almost all the main stitch in the ditch lines sewn so now I want to go back and stitch down the center stripe. Here is what the back looks like with the first row (the row on the right) completely done.

This is what the front looks like with the row on the left all stitched.

Utility wool quilt

I am in the process of making a wool quilt for my brother. He tours with rock bands and depending on who he with, he either flies to each show or they take buses. He now is with Ray LaMontagne and they are using buses. In the past, my brother said how cold the buses can get traveling between shows so he wanted a wool quilt.

I dug out the wool quilt I had started for him several years ago. He hadn't needed the quilt since he had been flying. Now that he is back on buses, I got to work and finished the top, pin basted it, and started quilting on it.

The top is an extra long twin made from wool suiting samples that I got from a tailor years and years ago. I decided on a simple block and sewed a lighter strip in the center of two darker strips. The blocks finished 7".

The backing is a mix of an old army blanket and wool that I had in my stash. The wool blanket is sentimental to my brother as it had come from our Mom's father. The blanket had some holes in it which I patched the bigger ones. The smaller ones I will patch once the quilt is quilted. The wool blanket is under the package of batting.

The binding will be the wool from a pair of our Dad's trousers. Dad passed away in March of 2015. and I saved a pair of wool pants just for this quilt.

I am free motion stitch in the ditch quilting this quilt. It is a heavy quilt with the wool backing, fluffy wool batting and the wool top. I have about half the quilting done.

I need to have this quilt done by November 2. My plan is to get this done this coming weekend. My brother will be in Toledo on the 3rd and I may get to go and see him. If not I will pass it off to another brother who will be going. Since the weather is now turning cold I am sure my brother will be glad to get this nice heavy, warm quilt for his bunk on the bus.

Taking a night off

I have been working hard moving out of the job trailer and I was tired when I got home. I still have more to move, but I am getting down to the last of the files and furniture. Today the IT guy is coming to move my computer over to the school where my office will be for a month or two, Thursday the electrician will be here to disconnect the electricity, guys from the home office to move out the copier, and the alarm company will be here to remove their equipment, and Friday the trailer company will pull the trailer out. Somewhere in between the port-a-john company will be here to pickup their unit and that should take care of everything.

So to fill in my evening I spent some time talking to my sister and looking at this new book I borrowed from the library

I like old quilts and the quilts shown were beautiful. There were appliqued quilts

Pieced and appliqued

And lots of pieced quilts from more complex to simple.

The book was written as if a woman from the time period that the quilts were made had written this book in first person. I am not into fiction so the writing wasn't my cup of tea. The photography was beautiful.