Stories from the Sewing Room

We're almost done with this one! The final block pattern releases today. I can't wait to get this project wrapped up. I ordered some fabric online for the backing. I really hope it matches or at least kind of matches. Especially since I ordered like eight yards. 😆 I'm planning to add a few small borders and I should have plenty of fabric left for binding too. This picture shows blocks 13, 14, and 15. You can look back a few posts to see the top three rows.

I've been making progress on other projects too. I ordered two different fabrics as possible borders for my art quilt. One is way, way, way off. Here is the other, along with the dark green I want to use as a skinny border. I think the fabric is beautiful, but maybe not the best choice for the border. There's not enough contrast between the skinny inner border and the outer border and the outer border isn't really the right color.

I'll save discussing this one until next week, but here is what my design wall looks like right now. ‼️

I've been making some pretty good progress with the quilts too. I've finally neared the end of all the binding, which is a huge relief! That was a pretty intense stretch of binding I had.

Here's my round up of last week's quilts.

First, Elle's t-shirt quilt. One of the most fun things I've done in quite a while. (Read last week's post for more info.) Quilted with one of my all-time favorites, Diagonal Plaid.

Next is a comfort quilt Toni made. She requested ribbons and I found a design in my iQ that fit the bill. 

Next up was another of Ann's quilts, quilted with Circle Drama.

Then Ann's Macaron Mystery, which is amazing. She chose Hooked Up and it was totally worth the seven-hour stitching time.

Lyn's Succulent Garden quilt, quilted with Sugar & Spice.

And another of Lyn's, quilted with Graceful Vine. I'm so lucky to have such lovely quilts to work with all the time. 

I'm feeling pretty good about getting seven quilts done. I think I need to insert a quilt or two of my own into my schedule soon. We're most of the way through my small guild UFO challenge and I've only finished five things. Last time we did a challenge I think I finished 20 or more. Of course, I was not working full time then either.

Our carpet re-do is scheduled for the beginning of next week, so I'll be enjoying some guilt-free time off. 

Maybe I can get some yard work done. We need to weed again. The 🤬 spearmint is sprouting again. I took some photos around my yard yesterday afternoon. First, we have a lot of walnut trees and the squirrels are so great about leaving walnuts everywhere we don't want them, particularly right up against the foundation, where they always grow. Here's one I can see out my sewing room window.

We've found them wedged between tree trunks and the deer guards around the trunks. We found several in old bird nests, including this nest that fell sideways in a storm a year or so ago. It's sort of like going on an Easter egg hunt. You just never know where you'll find one.

We've had so much rain lately, but the temps have been all over the place. The last two nights we've had freeze warnings. Needless to say, while things are greening up, nothing has come up in the veggie garden yet. I planted peas and lettuce in this tank.

My lettuce indoors is just about ready to harvest again. Amazing!

Until next week--

Photo courtesy of my son.

Linking with For the Love of Geese and My Quilt Infatuation.

Art quilter Cathy Geier spoke Tuesday night at the large guild I belong to and showed us some of her quilts. 

On Wednesday, I took the workshop she offered. She had everything we needed already cut, which made the process much easier. I am not an artist by any means, but I think my piece mostly turned out. There are definitely a few areas where I could have done better, but I think it will be okay once it's fully finished. I am considering fixing one of my mountain edges, but I'm not sure I can change it at this point. I had to order some border fabric, so this project will be on hold until the fabric arrives and I have time to do anything with it.

Also, I am very thankful all the trees were pre-cut and had fusible already applied. This would be a forever-UFO without that!

I can also share one of my recent finishes with you. Lindsey at Yellow Umbrella Quilts published her new pattern, Churn Dazzle. Here is my version, made almost completely from stash (had to buy background fabric but used up every bit of it). 

I even pieced together some more fabrics for the back!

I quilted it with Twist Tie, which is such a cute pattern that gives good texture.

I am behind in my work life. I've still been doing a ton of binding, but did get a few quilts done.

Oh, and I am glad I went to USPS and not UPS Friday morning to ship quilts, because someone drove through the UPS storefront! I drove by it yesterday on my way to an appointment and the front is all covered with OSB now. 

On to the quilts!

This one is Karla's, quilted with Squatty Squared in a teeny tiny scale. It came out so cute!

Here's another of Toni's memory quilts, quilted with Music Notes, which came preloaded in my iQ, but I believe you can buy at Urban Elements too. I like how she does the window effect with the panels. And now that I'm looking at this picture, you can't see any of the actual memory part of the quilt. 

One of Ann's, quilted with Pansies. Love the colors!

I also dusted off my embroidery machine to stitch out something fun for Elle. I have touched my embroidery machine twice in the past two to three years. It had been so long I couldn't remember how to make it start stitching. Ironically, the program in my small guild last week was all about machine embroidery, though the presenter has a much fancier machine than mine. 

Out in the garden, many of the daffodils are still in bloom and a few more have blossomed. Our weeping cherry tree blossomed just in time for heavy rain, just like every year. The dropped blossoms look like snow.

I was able to get the peas and lettuce planted outdoors over the weekend and my indoor lettuce has shown surprising growth.

That's all I have. Stop by next week to see my progress on the Flower Patch SAL and some more lovely quilts.