Temperature Quilt

Finally had a bit of sunshine so I could get some decent pictures. With 5+ rain days in a row, we are slowly making up for rainless-February.

 January 1 through February 29

I’m just starting the March blocks - which makes me further behind than I want to be - but I’ve stockpiled a bunch of completed diamonds and I’m hoping to catch up before the month ends. 

Cat included for size, 

and because she would not get out of the way. 

New Year, New Obsession

Now that Christmas sewing is done, I thought I was going to work on my ever-growing pile of UFO’s and the Challenge Quilt I signed up to complete by March 15. 

The challenge is still on - I resized this square 50” quilt (picture only, no pattern) down to about 27” square (quilt math for the win! yay!); in my mind, the center star is blue, with a blue border around the outside edge. Only 144 of 144 half-square triangles left to do! No pressure at all . . .

 Fat quarter bundle I bought last year

The UFO’s, however, have been pushed aside for a “have you lost your mind??" project - a year-long daily temperature quilt, made with English paper-pieced, hand-stitched diamonds. 

 2018-2019 high/low temps for my town

I stumbled over the idea on Instagram, where a group of quilters have made these for several years. One picture led to another and at 3:00 in the morning I was ordering papers, picking colors, 

downloading 2 years of weather data into Excel (once a geek, always a geek!), and telling myself it wasn’t crazy at all to hand-stitch this whole thing. 

This (not paper pieced) pic is the look I’m going for. The bottom sections of each block will show the day’s high and low temp; the top color is for sunny, cloudy or rainy weather.

I’m waiting for my papers to be shipped but everything else is in place, ready to catch up with the rest of the group. I’m excited!

Tula Pink Workshops

Saturday’s workshop was machine piecing Tula’s Shoreline quilt.

It was a fun project 

and the venue, Bell Arts Factory in Ventura, was wonderful 

with lots of natural light 

and plenty of room for 25 quilters and all their supplies. 

I was not happy with my project - Too much color! Too many patterns! Throw it in the trash! Arrghhhhhh!! - 

until Tula put it in a kinda rainbow order that made sense.

Two panels are done, with four to go, and I’m lovin’ this more all the time. 

Saturday was fun but Sunday’s workshop was amazing!! 

 One of Tula’s quilts

English paper-piecing is Tula’s self-admitted passion; she works on EPP projects every day for relaxation.  

I’m still amazed at how much I learned and how many techniques I put into practice during the 6-hour day. 

 Hidden creatures in Tula’s Zuma fabric

Going into the workshop, I wasn’t planning to finish this except as a tiny sample. But now I can’t stop.

Sooo, maybe a wallhanging? We’ll see what happens when I run out of fabric . . .

Traveling

We left Sunday for our annual visit to Colorado for Addy’s birthday and that other November holiday. Something involving a turkey??

We haven’t traveled much this year, so the Travel Fund was flush - and I found a deal - so  we got to enjoy the comforts of first class on a very crowded flight. It almost made up for the parking disaster LAX has created; you need a reservation for parking due to ongoing construction in the public lots and overcrowding in the private lots. We, of course, did not know this. We were lucky to find a spot - after 45 minutes of driving in circles and lots of swearing - on the top floor of an 8-story parking garage. Good thing we always give ourselves lots of extra time when we fly.

English paper piecing is my travel project of choice these days. I have a small 3-tier plastic container that holds my EPP supplies and current project, but even that’s too bulky for airline travel. 

So I made this cute little travel kit. (Pattern is here*.) 

The front pocket holds 2 tins for hexies, needles and scissors; the second has flowers in-progress; and the third holds my thread and glasses. 

It also gave me an excuse to use some of my favorite Laurel Birch fabric. Love her designs! (And yes, I’m annoyed that part of the fabric is upside-down, even after some careful planning. However. “Finished is better than perfect” definitely applies here.) 

I didn’t use my new travel kit on the plane - playing with sharp needles didn’t sound like a good idea after my de-stress Mimosa  - but it’s proven itself very handy since we arrived at Addy’s. 

* A friend and I both made this travel kit and we both struggled with the pattern directions. Even with photos, we found it very confusing. Am I glad I made this? Yes, definitely. Would I make another one? Nope!

Old Faithful

Now that Firefly, space bunnies and Kingfisher quilts are finished, I’m back working on my long-term EPP project, inspired by this photo.

I calculated I’ll need 133 diamonds for a queen-ish-sized top and so far I’ve finished . . .

One. 

I also have 20 center flowers completed, so there is progress. Only 113 flowers and 132 diamonds left to do. Piece. Of. Cake. 

Kingfisher Update

My Kingfisher quilt has borders!

And a backing - 

10-year-old for size comparison - 

and is currently at Debbie’s house for long-arm quilting. And speaking of 10-year-olds . . . 

I turned my back for a second and Leia burrito-wrapped herself in the quilt back I was measuring. The *ironed* quilt back. Silly girl - good thing she’s cute!

Although I love the finished look and the colors, Kingfisher will not be on my list of favorite projects. I thoroughly enjoyed hand-making and stitching the hexie flowers 

but machine sewing the diamonds into columns (my first try at this) was neither fun nor overly-successful. I ripped and restitched lot of seams and I’m still not positive I found all the trouble spots. ☹️

Phase One Done

Phase 1 of my Kingfisher Stitchalong is done. Whoohoo!!

The flowers are all hand-stitched English paper-piecing (EPP for short) and I’m addicted to making them. Who knew hand-sewing could be this much fun?

 The flowers all have sparkly metallic thread. So pretty.

Phase 2 is sewing flowers to the background diamonds and I can’t decide if I want to hand-sew or machine-stitch them. 

Each has its pluses. Hand-stitching - even though it takes longer - may win out since I can do it while watching tv with hubby. Maybe I’ll start off hand sewing and switch to the machine if I get bored?? The diamonds and borders will be machine sewn, once I get to that point.

 Leftovers - top 3 are duplicates, bottom 2 are my least favorite.

The Stitchalong runs until the end of July, with everyone working at their own pace. I’m hoping to have this completely finished by then, the fates and sick grandkids willing. If you’re on Instagram, check out all the lovely progress pics at #KingfisherStitchalong. 

P.S. Leanne helped me count the finished flowers last week and pick out background fabric. Her dress was as sparkly as my flowers.