At Last! My Quilt

This quilt has been in the works for over a year, and in my head for much longer. When I started it, I named it Summer Romance I, knowing I also want to design and make a blue and white quilt that I will call Summer Romance II.

I'm now at the quilting stage--and I'd be quilting right this minute if I didn't need electricity and if we weren't having much needed thunderstorms.  (We're getting typical New Mexico three-inch rains--which means the drops of rain are falling about three inches apart.  We hope to do a bit better than that.)

You can find more posts about the making of this quilt top here and hereor just have a look at posts from July 2015.(although I'm pretty sure I started this Memorial Day weekend of 2015).

All but the white fabric in this quilt is from Eleonor Burns' Zoey line for Benartex.

 I'm quilting with several Glide threads from Fil-Tec, also known as Bobbin Central.

 I marked only the spine of all the feathers on this quilt so far.

 I made only general decisions about how I would quilt, so when I actually started, I needed a couple of homemade tools.  I used a piece of card stock to make the flowing spine above for a two inch wide border.

I cut the paper above to make a more unusual spine for the five inch borders.
I used a plastic lid to plot the spines in the outer border at the top of this post.


The main blocks of this quilt were inspired by a Blackford's Beauty quilt I saw in a magazine around 1983.  I've also seen this block called Snowflake, and someone said Bonnie Hunter has designed a quilt using this block. I didn't know that, and I don't think I'll go look at Bonnie's quilt until I'm finished.  In any case, this is now my block in a unique setting with lots of room for the quilting to shine.

I wanted to get this quilt done ages ago, and I was thinking I could finish it this weekend, but since I'm using electricity instead of a treadle to quilt this,  I have to unplug whenever there is danger of lightning in order not to risk a power surge frying my machine.

I did get to spend a lovely morning (or most of it, anyway) at Dough-Re-Mi Bakery & Cafe catching up with a friend and getting an original quilt she'd like me to quilt very soon--as soon as Summer Romance I comes off the machine.

The last time I checked, the Dog Head Fire was at 96% containment, so we no longer have to worry about that, although we continue to pray for the people who did lose homes.  Despite the devastation, there was one family church still standing although everything around it had burned. Another fire started on the other side of the mountain yesterday, about 11 miles from Tajique.

If the stormy stuff continues, I need to go work in my sewing room and, with luck, put those treadles to use!

Happy quiltmaking and knitting,

Summer Romance I - the Quilt

More photos of what is happening with the Wisteria strips from Eleanor Burns' Zoey line for Benartex Fabrics.

 I needed eight of these "split four patches."

Of course, they need this seam allowance, so I couldn't just cut four-patches in two.

I also got to trim a few "baby triangles."

I also needed to piece four-patches to the ends of some strips.

Since this roll of fabrics was purchased last January, I searched the internet for an additional Zoey print.  I've purchased two prints from the line to use in borders, and they've been here for a while.  Yardage of these prints are fast disappearing from on-line shops that I've had experience with.  So, I decided to go with pure white, telling myself that the quilting will show up nicely.

Next I needed half square triangles that would finish with two inch and four inch sides.  I keep moving my sewing stuff around and have no idea where my 2-decades-old triangle rulers are!

Then I remember that even longer ago I had purchased a couple of boxes with a wide variety of templates.  These may have been from Quilting from the Heartland, but I no longer have the original box.

However, the set contained both needed sizes of triangle templates, so I did some more cutting and piecing.

Okay, we are back to work, determined that the next time I arrange things, they will not be in four different rooms!

This is going to be a really beautiful quilt, but I'm starting to feel more than a little anxiety that our school will begin so soon, and I want this top ready for quilting at least! (August 4th is such an early start date--and is happening because of the pressures of No Child Left Behind, Common Core Curriculum Standards, and Standardized Testing.)

Happy quiltmaking,.....

Breaking Open a Roll of Zoey Strips

It was that time, at last, to open something I've been savoring....

The Zoey fabric is by Eleanor Burns for Benartex.  I just love it when Eleanor designs florals using these soft, soft shades!

A bit of subcutting: 40 two-and-a-half inch squares from the light lavender dots and 40 lavender white prints squares of the same size....

Mated with 40 rectangles 2-1/2 inches by 6-1/2 inches, then paired together.  (Made two stacks of twenty violet rectangles so I would remember to piece the triangles so they would reflect each other.)

First step of the blocks is complete. I designed this quilt in EQ7 using a block that I've wanted to do since I first saw it in the early 1980s.  These fabrics are perfect for this block, which is sixteen inches, so only five of them are needed for a good sized quilt.  I'm calling the quilt Summer Romance I (because I have in mind a second one of different design but similar colors).  My next step will be to piece some four-patches.

 Now savoring some of the yardage purchased to go with these:  a stripe for the binding, a light lavender scattered floral, and a large floral on a scattered polka dot background for some of the other larger pieces we'll need down the line.

I'm pretty fortunate.  These summer monsoon thunderstorms will continue (we've received a bit over an inch and a half so far), but I'm able to treadle away with no fear of lightening disabling my machine. I'm using my teal Japanese 15 clone with its newly installed handcrank and my Necchi Super Nova in a treadle. These machines are so quiet--because they are well oiled and have no motors.

I purchased this Zoey fabric roll several months ago, and am so happy to put them to use bringing one of my summer dreams to fruition.  I'm calling the quilt Summer Romance I because I hope to piece another quilt seasoned with some violets before the summer waves goodbye.  I'm a wee bit excited about having a new quilt on my bed, but I have a lot of quilting of other quilts to finish first.

These fabrics are also available in Zoey-Christine lines with lovely aquas, yellows, and pale fuchsias in addition to the violets.
I'm sharing at Connie's Freemotion by the River, Esther's WIPs on Wednesdays, and Lee's Wip Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  The links are to the right.

Happy quiltmaking,....

Swish, Sew, Snip....the College Quilt

A few Lots of fat-quarters

Some yardage...

Swish goes the rotary cutter...

See that green on white dots with crosses above?  That is yardage left over from a dress I made back in the early 80's.  Although I no longer have the dress, I enjoyed wearing it for several years because I'd hand appliqued wonderful morning glories across the bodice.  (A few weeks later I took of the dress at the end of the day and thought one of the morning glories had faded onto my skin!  Then I realized my baby niece had kicked my chest when I was playing with her--so it was a bruise rather than purple dye!)

Sew, sew...

Snip, snip...

Sew, sew

 Stuff the trimmings and tiniest leftovers into a Kleenex box,

because even if it gets bumped off the table,

the snips will stay inside...

 Stop by Busy Bee and pick up more white polka-dots...

I especially like the second from the top, because although it doesn't show in the photograph, the dots are different sizes.

(Busy Bee Quilts is located 1.5 miles north of I-40 at exit 187 in Edgewood, New Mexico
just 20 miles east of Albuquerque.)

Health note: Since adding the daily dose of meclizine for my head-injury-induced vertigo, the vertigo is minimal *and* so are the headaches that plagued me, that failed to respond to any other medication, and that the doctors attributed to stress and anxiety (although they didn't treat me for stress and anxiety).  Life became immeasurably better.  However, I also began having symptoms of low-blood pressure; rehab specialist ignored that concern.  Today I saw my own medical practitioner and we lowered the dosage of the blood pressure medication I've been taking for a couple of decades--since she measured my blood pressure at 102/?? ["couldn't hear it"].  So, now I'm expecting life to get even better--and trying to decide if I should or should not count the days until I return to school.  (August 7 is rushing toward me.)

In the meantime, I'm treasuring every moment of piecing Sweet Teen's College quilt and quilting another project--and throwing in some tatting too, just because it's beautiful and I haven't had much chance to tat since last summer.

Oooh!  Still at only .25 inches of rain for July, although every afternoon thunderstorms spring up all around us.  I *am* grateful for the .25 inches of rain! (I do think some great minds should find a way to create and build a system to economically transport water from flooding areas to where it is needed!)

Happy quiltmaking.....

Linking to: Freshly Pieced 
Free Motion by the River

and Esther's WOW WIPs on Wednesday

Collection Complete?....Perhaps not...

 Several years ago, we began collecting polka dots and stripes for a quilt for Sweet Teen.
I'm not sure we're done collecting yet; it's certainly possible a few more could be added.

Along the way we did expand the collection to include a plaid and some checks.  And we had to include the fat quarters that didn't make it into her music quilt. In fact, I think she started collecting these before the music quilt was finished.

Update:  Within hours of this post, we'd added three more fabrics.  At this rate, piecing a backing from leftovers should be very do-able.

With her going off to the university in a few weeks, I need to get going on this.  Since she's running off to one of New Mexico's lakes with her boyfriend's family later today, I hope to get some cutting and piecing accomplished.

Weather report:  Over the course of three days we received 2/10 of an inch of rain.  Very, very welcome--and most of us are hoping for more.  One of my [now somewhat envied] friends said it rained for over an hour at her house (about ten miles from mine).
Normally we have hours of fireworks in our town; we have a couple of fireworks factories.  This year the city has said they will strictly enforce fireworks bans.  We'll see.  I may still need to fall asleep with ear plugs this evening.


Happy quiltmaking,...

Almost a Quilt Finish

First, thank you to all my new followers.  I hope what I share will be meaningful or inspiring.  I'm looking forward to getting to know you.

Little Miss Gardener is almost finished.  I still need to sew the binding to the back--will do it by hand this time.

The back:

 The front and some details:

 Six inch blocks.

 Plumes in snowballs.

 Continuous feather and ribbons all the way around the plain border.

 l-e quilting in the one-inch inner border and...

 in the final pieced border.  I wanted something simple and quick there to set off the elaborate feather as well as to be just functional in the busy fabric.

 Corner of plain border.

 Corner of l-e outer border.

 Corner of narrow inner border.

 Shadowy branches on quilt because leaves are starting to fall.

Jane Sassaman 2.5 inch strips, a variety of solids.

Pieced and quilted on one of my treadle machines,

a Necchi BU from the 1940's in 1919 Singer treadle irons.

And....when I finally got around to turning the page of our Mary Engelbreit calendar this morning...

I was greeted by this reminder that "Life is all about Plan B."  I don't know whose quote that is, but it is certainly true, isn't it?

By the way, I absolutely love the comments I receive from readers.  However, the amount of spam I've begun receiving has led me to require that people who comment need to have either an open I.D. or Google account of some kind.  Also, because of the difficulty I have seeing those little wavy letters and numbers, readers will not have to jump through that hoop to post on my blog since I know that by the third time I try to get it right on other people's blogs, I just give up.  I do value comments and rarely fail to respond to one via e-mail, which is why you will usually not see my responses in the comments section.

Someone told me that due to a comment or two on Facebook, I'm likely to see some visitors arriving from there.  That's pretty exciting too.  

Happy quiltmaking.....