Quilting Travelogue - Part 1: Piecing, Shop Hop and Cross Stitch

We came back from visiting my MIL in North Carolina last week right into another busy week at home!  My community garden was scheduled to host the annual Fall visit of the Fifth Grade from one of the local elementary schools.  So that meant going in the day before to set up for the visit and back in the next day for their visit.  Then on the following day, staff and volunteers from Bronx Green-up, the community garden outreach program of the New York Botanical Garden came to help us get more of our new garden bed builds built and in place.  We've gotten a lot done since the start of the season back in March!

Then and Now!

After that I needed to recoup from the hard work of the garden days, do some food shopping for the house and follow up with relatives regarding our return which all managed to kill the rest of the week.  

Over the weekend I did pull out a few of the things from the trip and ordered a few things in follow-up to projects or purchases from the trip.  After a few appointments to start off this week,  I am finally, slowly getting back to what I had been working on before I left! 

The trip itself was also busy but very productive.   Here's what I did while we were away:

Piecing

I finished up my "Rainbow Log Cabin Heart" blocks.  These had been started to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge all the way back in 2021.  I had brought with me the blocks sets for the Turquoise, Orange, Red-Purple, Black and Grey blocks that had been on my design wall since the Summer:

Those done, I realized I needed one more block for the layout.  I had considered a number of options but decided to raid my MIL's scrap stash and made a Brown block:

I also came up with an idea for what to do for the alternate squares so will try to work on that now that I am back home.

My "leader/ender" project for this trip was to start my blocks for Bonnie Hunter's "Shoo Fly Shoo".  This was her annual Leader/Ender project from back in 2019 and I got a few done while making the "Heart" blocks.  

I had liked Bonnie's quilt that was made up of "oodles of blocks" but this past weekend I spied a pattern at Quilting Daily  (they are having a $5 sale until 10/31) that I might prefer to do:

I like this one because it would mean making a whole lot less of the "Shoo Fly" blocks!  After finishing up the "Scrap Vortex" top back in March (and the backing for it is one of the post-trip purchases), I really wanted to continue working down my "string scraps stash" and this would give me another opportunity to use some of them.  Additionally, I've always wanted to make one of these string pieced Lone Stars which would then use up even more strings.  So I think I see a project-pivot developing!    

I did do another bit of piecing but will talk about that when I report on the "Long-Arm Quilting" portion of the trip.

Shop Hopping

We almost completed the whole East Central Region of the All Carolina's Shop Hop.  I've still got to mail in my Hop "Passport" so I can be entered in to win some prizes.  My MIL won a fabric bundle last year after submitting hers!  

We didn't find out until right before we went down that Rocky Mount in North Carolina where my MIL lives also got hit by a tornado during the Hurricane Helene storm period.  The damage while intense wherever it did touch down was no where near what was suffered in Ashville in the Western part of the state.  I was sorry to learn that many of the quilt shops in that area, a few of which I had visited in 2022 while camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway, were greatly impacted by the storm.  

Needless to say I picked up a lot of goodies and we went to three stores I hadn't been to before.  One of them was a store recently opened by a woman I discovered when I attended the virtual Summer Quilt Camp back in July.  

My MIL and I both purchased fabrics to make up the bag patterned in this year's issue of the Hop magazine.  

My MIL plans to make hers out of the fabric designed for last year's Hop.  She already had a few pieces in her stash and found additional prints while we shopped this year.  Mine will be made out of the ones for this year which I purchased while Hopping.  However, neither of us will be making them using the fabrics the same way as patterned in the magazine!  We never got around to working on that project so I'll be keeping this packed up for our next trip back down which is tentatively scheduled for February.    

I had also made this pop-up bin to pack in the bag with my Juki sewing machine prior to us leaving on this trip.

When I visit my MIL,  I set up a little sewing station and wanted to have a handy trash can to use when I come.  I also had brought down my Featherweight machine with me because there was talk of us doing a "Sit-'N-Stitch" session with some other quilters.  I had purchased two of the pop up frames so I could also make one while there to put in my Featherweight travel bag.  

When my MIL saw the first one she immediately wanted to also make one and ordered a frame.  I had one red and black Fat Quarter for the second bin and the plan was to find three more plus fabric for the lining while on the Shop Hop.  However, I only found the lining and two more fabrics I liked for the exterior.  Ultimately, I decided that one of them wouldn't be used to make the can.  Instead I purchased enough yardage of that print as well as another one to go with a panel I already have in my stash.  

And hopefully one day this will become another holiday quilt!

It all worked out since we weren't able to do the quilting get together after all.  I brought the extra frame back home and have since ordered yet another a print that I will use for the whole exterior along with the lining purchased on the Hop.  Since this was another of the projects we wound up not having time to work on, it too will travel back down for the next trip. 

Cross Stitch   

While away, I also got some cross stitching done.  I had taken a few projects with me both to work on while there and during the drive down and back:

Before and a finished After!

These two also traveled down with me....

One was finished and one moved forward!

In my last post, I mentioned that I had finished my latest "snarky" cross stitch piece and hoped to "fully finish" it when I returned.  The good news is I found a great backing print for it on the Shop Hop!

So I am hoping in the days to come to "fully finish" it and get it hung up!

In the next post I'll discuss the quilting part of the trip and a big project that I moved off of my quilty "To Do" list! 

March Recap: Another Month Has Just Blown By!

As my posts recapping the month of February showed, that was a busy month and March has been no different!  

Garden Activities

This year I am taking on the Event Coordinator duties for my community garden's Season Opening/Earth Day event near the end of April.  I've had to reach out to other community organizations to see if they want to participate.  In addition, our garden is replacing all of our wooden raised beds with new (and longer lasting) metal Vego beds so everyone is expected to chip in and help with demoing the old beds and setting up the new ones.  

So the garden has been front of mind this month and will continue to be so during the next one.  

Quilting

For me, with the season opening event now fast approaching that also means I am now back to crunch time on this raffle quilt project:

However, I am once again not sure I will be able to get this (and its companion!) ready in time for this year's opening day event now that I have the event organizing duties also on my plate.    

What I have finally managed to finish is the top for the scrappy strings project I started while away last month:

"Scrap Vortex" is now in the "flimsie" category.  I already have ideas for how I think I want to quilt it but don't have a backing plan as of yet.  Right now figuring that out will not be a priority so this project will probably sit around for a (long) while before it moves further forward.

However, that doesn't mean there isn't new stuff starting!  Having put out a few Blue and White quilts for the change of season to Spring, I realized I could use a few more.  My stash yielded some starter for not one but two projects.  Some filler for one just arrived at the end of last week but the other is already almost a finished flimsie:

This is another American Patchwork and Quilting magazine freebie:  It is the "Roaring Waves" color variation of the "Quake" quilt that was originally published in the Spring 2016 issue of “Quilts and More” magazine.   It's always interesting to see how different fabrics and colors can work in the same design.  

It is a little wider than it is long so I'll be adding small borders to the top and bottom to bring it square using the fabric sitting at the top of it.  Ironically, I had purchased that for use in the other B&W project I was trying to start up.  I may still include some of it in that one too if I have enough leftover.  Since it turned out to go so well with this, I will also use it for the binding.  I also already have ideas for how I want to quilt this but still have to figure out what I am going to back it with.  

Cross Stitch

At the start of March I had three projects going:

I had finished stitching the "Year of the Dragon" in early February so now needed to work on "fully finishing it".  My plan had been to finish it in a lantern design and I had gone through my Asian fabric stash to pick choices for that.

I've gotten as far as deciding on the final fabric and format of it.

The Dragon print in the picture above will be on the back.

And there are plans a foot to finally try making  my own cording and tassels to add to the finishing.

Because things have gotten busy on the garden and quilt front,  I haven't moved forward on that yet.  

For Black History month in February, I had started on two projects.  One was the cross stitch version of the Fat Quarter Shop's "Stronger Together" campaign from last year:

I finished stitching that in the middle of March and now need to think about how I can frame it for display along with the history information provided.

The other Black history month project I worked on was "Harriet Tubman":

Work on this one is still on going and the great news was that it also counted as a March "Women's History Month" stitch.  I've loved stitching on the 18 count Fiddler's Cloth I chose for this.  As a primarily Aida stitcher, I like the way the stitches sit on the weave of this fabric and feel like it gives it a "closer to linen" look.  I definitely look forward to using this kind of fabric for CS projects again.  

At this point it looks like this will also be my focus CS project for the start of April.  That said, I also have things coming for a new stitch along that starts later that month!  So I have no expectations that April will be any less busy!!

February Recap: Part 5 - A Little Finished Or Not Friday Reporting

Happy March to all who are participating in this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" session hosted by the lovely and gracious Alycia of Quilty Girl (and Quilts of Valor)! 

I have two contributions for this last report on the things I worked on in February:  one is "Not Finished" and the other is a very important "Finish" for me!  

Almost A Flimsie

In my last post I talked about attending the big Quilt Con show during a visit to my MIL in North Carolina.  Once that weekend of modern quilts and excitement was over, it was time for my MIL and I to get back to our mini quilt retreat and working on some of our own projects.  

In that post about the show, I talked about using scrap strings to make a cover for the little notebook I used to take lecture notes.  The reason I had those strings along with me on the trip was because I brought this project with me to work on.

It is Abigail Dolinger's "Scrap Vortex" design that originally appeared in McCall's Quick Quilts June/July 2019 but can also be purchased as an individual pattern.   I've long liked this design and was encouraged to finally start it in order to try to participate in Emily Bailey's (of Aunt Em's Quilts) strip quilt challenge that had an early March deadline.  

I had gathered fabrics for the dark corner squares and the first two solid fabric borders but had problems finding a fabric for the third border.  Actually, I found one I really liked in my stash but of course it wasn't enough for what I needed and I couldn't find more of it.  So I was hoping to find an alternative at the show.  Luckily I did!  

The medium gray calico was the fabric I had originally hoped to use for the third fabric border but found the replacement fabric below it in the GE Designs vendor booth at the show.  I then hoped to finish the top before we left NC but only got this far with it by that time.  

Still hoping to make the challenge deadline, I continued work on it once we got back home.  Unfortunately I didn't get it done in time and I still have three sides of the last string border to add at this point.  

And of course, as often happens with scrap projects, it feels like I've still barely made a dent in the string stash!!

A Long Awaited Mystery Finish!

As I had talked about in this recap post, the big task for our little quilting retreat was to try to learn to use the computerized Pro Stitcher Lite software on the Handi Quilter Moxie long arm my MIL had purchased during the shop hop we did on our last visit back in the Fall.  You know how they say two heads are better than one?  Well it must be true because we got some done!  We stitched two of hers...

....and I got one of mine done!  

Long arming done and edges trimmed

This is a big thrill since this top, aptly named for the mystery as "An Oldie But A Goodie" is just that!  I made the top all the way back in 2014 for the last mystery hosted by the Planet Patchwork website before they shut down.  It has been sitting all this time and now it is a lovely and bound finish!!

All that's left of the pretty binding fabric.

I did learn some lessons about long arming through this process.  Loading a quilt on a frame is less time consuming than pin basting but you really do need all that excess batting and backing around the edges of the top both to help with tensioning and to provide space to test your stitch tensions and patterns.  

Setting up your desired pattern to stitch out on your top how and where you want it and learning the mechanics of advancing the quilt, basting it for each advancement and resuming a design if the stitching is interrupted or you need to change bobbins, all take practice to master.  

Bonus lesson from the Quilt Con Show:  We had checked out the Wonderfil Threads booth, particularly their DecoBob 80 and Invisifil 100 Weight threads.  Oh boy, those threads are a wonderful alternative to using monofilament thread on multi-colored tops!  

After seeing the quilted samples in the booth, I purchased two spools of 100 wt. in Beige and light Gray and a spool of the 80 wt in a medium Gray planning to try them out on the "Over/Under" quilt I had struggled with quilting using monofilament last year.   

However, I wound up using the Beige 100 wt. for this quilt and thought it stitched out beautifully over all the many colors of fabrics I used in this top.  My MIL had purchased pre-wound bobbins in the 80 wt. which they carry for all different classes of long arm machines and that was used for this quilt too.  

I used about 1-1/4 bobbins to stitch out the Baptist Fan pattern on this 47" x 60" quilt.  I definitely look forward to stocking up on more of it!  Fortunately, they gave us a list of dealers that sell it in NC and at least one of the shops usually participates in the "All Carolinas Shop Hop" in the Fall which is when we'll be returning for our next visit.  I will definitely have a wish list with me then!  

So that wraps up my doings for February and I am thrilled that it coincided with the first FONF report for March.  Now I can head back over to Alycia's to see what everyone else has going on as the Spring rains come in and prepare the way for the flowers we will see before long!

Finished Or Not Friday: The Cotton Harvest Is Finally Done!!

I have fantastic news to share for this week's Finished Or Not Friday over at Alycia's Quilty Girl blog:

I have finally finished my "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" Quiltville mystery quilt!

This was Bonnie Hunter's 2010 Quiltville Mystery Season quilt.  After the mystery was over it was published in her book "String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It" (and a preview of the quilts in that  book can be seen here).  Although I followed and downloaded Bonnie's mysteries from when she began offering them in 2008, I didn't get up the nerve and organization to actually try to make one until 2016.  This particular quilt was started in 2018.  Yes, it was a looonnng harvest!!

Bonnie is known for designing scrappy quilts.  She gets her fabric for them from her prodigiously collected scrap bins that are organized using her "Scrap Users System".  Bonnie's quilt designs may have a definite color scheme but the fabrics in them will run the gamut of print style and time.  She is famous for finding and using millennium fabrics from the year 2000!  

While I have gone fabric shopping for some of the Bonnie projects I have made, with the exception of the inner border, backing and binding, this is one that is made all from scraps.  This project got started when I realized that I had fabric leftovers from three projects that used the colors that could get this one started.  

Double Delight, On Ringo Lake and Emeralds contributed.

Ironically the two projects on the left are also Bonnie designs!  The holiday quilts that I started for Christmas 2022 contributed more....

Leftovers were taken from Temecula's 12 Days of Xmas, Jelly-ish Snowflake, The Last Dash and Cherry Crunch (another Bonnie design).

The strings all came from cut offs of neutral/background fabrics and were collected over the years.

These....

...were turned into these!

Each time I mined scraps, I would complete one step of the mystery.   In 2019 when MODA Fabrics and Lori DeJarnett of Humble Quilts ran string piecing challenges, I began to focus on trying to get the string blocks for this project done but I found those blocks to be hard to leader/ender (a piecing concept popularized by Bonnie) with regular blocks.  So it wasn't until the holiday season in 2022 when I embarked on making "Cherry Crunch" which also called for string blocks, that I made significant progress on those. 

"Cherry Crunch" strings on the left, "Cotton Boll" strings on the right.

Working those together in tandem helped me focus on getting this last part of the puzzle done so I could proceed to finish all the blocks and then the top.

This was also a great project for pulling inspiration from multiple sources.  Right after I decided to get this project in gear, I saw some cotton themed prints on sale that I knew had to be the backing.

Then I saw an old episode of Georgia Bonesteel's "Lap Quilting" show from the 80's and knew that had to be on my label when I made my backing!

BTW:  If you are a fan of Georgia Bonesteel and a member of the Quilt Alliance, her "Birthday BOM" block and interview are up on their site now (and Bonnie made a block and interview for this BOM too)!

That's not to say a big project like this didn't have its challenges....  

Like that block on the end...

I didn't discover this one until after it had been quilted in!

When I had finished the basting, I realized I had a few pleats pinned in on one side of the backing.  I thought I had worked them out before the quilting.  Nope!

There are a couple more like this.  

As a result, I think they caused the back to be a little short of the width on that side.  On the plus side, to make it stretch I had to include a little of the selvedge in the back which I think adds to the charm and history of it! 

At this point, I think a little of "Bonnie's Collected Wisdoms" are in order:  

Back in September when I displayed my quilts in a show that my community garden held, someone said to me that my quilts showed I have "patience".  I countered that I saw it as a sign of persistence.  Let's face it, there were plenty of people who finished their "Boll" quilt right away during the mystery season so these can be run up quickly with the right amount of focus on them.  

However, I could have also given up on it at any point in the five years (!) it has taken me to get it to this point.  It was really (no, REALLY) wanting to have this one as a finished quilt that has kept me going and kept it always near the top of the "To Do" list.  Even better, it is the one thing I was able to completely cross off this year's UFO Challenge list even though it took all year to do it!

If you've hung on with me this long, you'll agree that this project has been a "long and winding road" for sure!

Now join me in heading back over to Alycia's to check out what other people have finished (or not!) this week.  This will be the last look at all the creative work for 2023 before we all start anew for 2024!!