Max is in the Dog House

You will not believe what my granddog Max did.

He ate the corner of one of my favorite quilts!
Yes... ate it!
As in... the whole corner is gone, without any bits or scraps left to use to repair it!
OMG! 



The bite was taken from this quilt - Double Delight which was the 2009 mystery from Bonnie Hunter.

I want my quilts to be used and loved, but honestly...
why couldn't he have chomped on a quilt I don't like?!?!






I have no idea if I have any of these fabrics left to remake this corner.
All I can say is that he is lucky that he is so darn cute!

Design Wall Monday

I have Quilt Show Hangover. Do you ever get that? The excitement is over and I am recovering from sensory overload. I spent yesterday getting my house back in order. I had been so busy getting ready for the show (finishing quilts)  and then spent the better part of the 2 days at the show, so I came home to discover piles of dirty dishes and a disordered mess. My husband has been travelling and he comes home today, so needless to say, yesterday I was Molly Maid. No rest for the weary quilt show attendee!
Here are 2 of the finished Quiltville mysteries that I had hanging at the Quilt Show. The pink one is "Double Delight" and I just put the binding on last Tuesday. I was happy with how it turned out but that mistake is still bugging me (you can read about it here).
The orange quilt is, of course, Orange Crush. It is still really Orange! I thought the Orange might grow on me, but so far it hasn't! But this is a quilt that my son likes, so at least someone appreciates it!
We won't mention that Carolina Crossroads (Quiltville's first mystery and not on the website anymore) is still a UFO! This is weird because I really like that quilt...I guess  it will be on the 'to-do' list for the next quilt show!
If you haven't yet entered my Quilt Show Celebration giveaway,  click here and leave a comment.

I love Judy's Design Wall Mondays. You can see what other quilters are working on and it's especially fun when a bundle/clump/cluster (what do you call a group of quilters??) of quilt bloggers are working on the same project. Right now many of us are sewing Judy's "Quilt for an Hour" project.  I started this quilt knowing that there are 8 borders, and attaching borders is the only part of quilting I dislike. I am hoping to make some progress in this area and be able to enjoy the border stages more. This is my quilt after Hour 5.

Plugging along...

...with the garden

It has been such a wet, cool summer that my garden isn't coming along very well. The peas have turned mouldy and all I was able to harvest this year was this little bag of peas which my dog Molly is guarding for me! Believe me, I will make a very big deal about these veggies when I decide to cook them!

...with the machine quilting

That Blendables thread and I are not getting along!  I finally settled on a size 100 needle to reduce the thread breakage, but it makes big holes in the fabric. However, I have successfully quilted the 20 Rolling Star blocks and can move on to quilting the borders.

And guess what happened when I was quilting the Rolling Star blocks? I found my humility block! Once of my blocks has a whole row put on upside down and I didn't notice it until I was quilting it and could see the blue thread on the white fabric for the first time...say what?!?!? I checked back on the quilt top photo I posted on this blog entry and there it is...plain as day...ugh!

Quilting Double Delight

I am still working on quilting my Double Delight blocks. I finished quilting the 20 star blocks (see them here) and then moved on to the outside of the stars. I wanted to use a Sulky Blendable thread but it kept breaking. I am pretty stubborn when it comes to making a thread/needle combination work and tried all of these various needles. I was about to give up and thought to check the website for the Blendable threads and read that a topstitch 90/14 needle is recommended...it's the only needle I didn't have of course. The 80/12 (the embroidery, the quilting and the topstitch) needle was still breaking the thread. I sent my husband to the sewing store on the way home from work today to pick up the topstitch needles and I am eager to see if that will fix the problem.

Until I could get the proper needles to use the Blendable threads,  I worked on the double 9 patch blocks. I am using Aurifil thread in these blocks and it never breaks on me no matter how fast I quilt! I don't know if it will show up in this photo well enough to see, but I have quilted feathers with 7 little branches (or barbs or lobes...or whatever you call them!) in the plain blocks of the double 9 patches. In my quilt I have 30 double nine patch blocks and they are finally all quilted. My machine really does deserve a rest, but it's not going to get one because now that I have the new needles, I will see if I can finish the star blocks with that Blendables thread. And then I'll only have the borders to quilt!!

Machine quilting streak

I have been machine quilting like a maniac this week. I'm surprised my Brother machine hasn't given me any grief and tried to warn me to slow down.  This is the quilting design that has evolved so far in the 20 star blocks. I quilted 4 little hearts in the centre of the pink 9 patches. Then I outlined stitched (in the ditch) around the star using my free motion foot. This was trickey but manageable. Then I did the curved lines on the blue fabric around the star. That was my favorite part of the quilting so far!

While I was waiting to figure out what to do next, another quilt decided it would be the perfect gift for a wedding I am attending this week. Way to totally stress myself out!

Favorite Tool

I have finished pin basting my DD quilt and remembered how much I love my Kwik Klip tool. I have used this tool to baste every quilt I've ever pin basted over the last 17 years. Well, not this exact one, since I lost my first Kwik Klip and had to replace it. It sure saves wear and tear on the finger nails when you're closing about 300 pins!

What is your favorite quilting tool??

Great news!

My Double Delight quilt top is finished at last! I started cutting and sewing on New Year's Day, so that's only 3 months...not bad! (You can read all about my progress on this quilt top if you missed the saga - click here.)
I had a miserable time sewing on these borders. I sewed two of them on with the fabrics in the wrong order, which was such a stupid mistake caused by rushing to be finished and not checking my work before sewing. And then it took me almost 2 hours to unsew that mistake. But I persevered and was amazed at my determination to finish the borders, versus my old tendency to work on something else and kick the border problem to the UFO pile! And you know what else? I have already purchased a large backing and the batting, so this one will maybe be finished in record time!

Bad News/Good News

First, the good news...I have finished sewing my Double Delight blocks together and here is the quilt top so far!! I was really impressed with how the rows fit together, all the seams locking perfectly, and the whole quilt top was truly a delight to sew.

Now the bad news....since my creative self changed my version of the Double Delight design (without my permission!) to make the 9 patch blocks on the edges, I had at least 10 of the Rolling Star blocks left over. And since they took forever to make, I figured I had to find a way to include them in the quilt. I thought I might sew them into the backing, or make another smaller quilt.

But no...I just couldn't let go of the idea of sewing them into the border somehow. So I spent all of my sewing time on the weekend (I am not kidding...it took me hours!!) changing 4 of the Rolling Star blocks into star blocks -without the rolling part!! But because of the way the blocks were constructed I had to pry open the ends of 16 seams on each block and then re-sew the two sides of each star point! Stupid idea! But once I started and realized how long it would take, I couldn't convince myself to stop! So I finished reconstructing 4 of these blocks for cornerstones on the borders.

Then I had to figure out the fabrics for the borders and tried a thousand (perhaps a slight exaggeration) combinations. Finally I decided on my favorite borders and started cutting only to discover...you guessed it, that I didn't have enough of the teal fabric left for an inside border! More bad news! I flopped around and moaned and complained for a while, and thought about starting over on the whole border idea or skipping the borders altogether, but I was already too far into the cutting of the teal and the floral fabrics to start over without wasting fabric. And it is no longer an option to skip over to the quilt store and pick out some new fabric...I am a committed Stashbuster with a serious fabric storage problem and I am not buying anymore (until I go to Paducah and then I am totally having a fabric buying binge!).

So instead of 2 borders (teal and then brown floral) I cut the teal in half to have enough to go all the way around the quilt, and then had to add a 3rd border of raspberry to make up the measurement...UGH! Here is a photo of my original border idea.

Now I am not a border person...it's usually the time when a UFO suddenly appears because I get frustrated or don't have enough fabric left, or I get bored. But not this time because I am forcing myself to finish these borders if it kills me! Tune in tomorrow to see if I have good news or bad news to report!!

Mystery Quilt Layout Decision

I have finally finished sewing the blocks for the DD mystery quilt from Quiltville. I am starting step #6 and have to decide how to put the blocks together. I really can't decide, so thought I would throw it out to blogland for input. What do you like best? The first two photos are the way the pattern is written, having the blocks on pointe...with either the pink or the brown floral setting triangles.

When the blocks are put on pointe, I notice the teal squares more prominately. What do you think?

I tried a straight set and I think you see the brown stars a little more, which I like. Then I tried spacing the blocks a bit and would put in a light sashing with pink cornerstones. It would take me longer to sew the top together but I think I might like it a little more...not that I don't like the other settings too!

The photo on the left shows the blocks in a straight set and the photo on the right shows the additional sashing.

What is your vote?

A) On pointe with pink setting triangles

B) On pointe with brown floral setting triangles

C) Straight set

D) Straight set with sashing

Mystery update

If you have sewn a Quiltville mystery before, you know how much sewing goes into each block! Here is one of my blocks from step #4. There are 49 pieces in this 9" block and you need 30 of these blocks, that's almost 1500 pieces I have already cut up and sewn together and that is only half of the blocks needed! (Thanks to Andrea for helping me with the math!!)

But it's a deep freeze here in the middle of our Great Canadian Winter, so what else are you going to do but make quilts?!?! Well, my husband and son are going skiing and snowboarding tomorrow, but not me...

I'll be staying warm, sewing more mystery blocks and working on my baby quilt. Anybody else want to come over and join in on the Baby Quilt Bee?? You can read about it in this post.

Here are all my step #4 blocks for the Double Delight mystery set together on my design board. Now I am finally working on step #5!

Out with the OLD... and in with the NEW

OLD mystery...

I have been forcing myself to do a little work on my Orange Crush mystery quilt each day. First I had to baste the quilt and while I was basting I was thinking about possible quilting ideas. I started by quilting in the seam lines around each block and can I tell you how boring that was?!?! It was extremely boring!

However, I must say that I have enjoyed looking out my window at the snow falling and trying to soak up any possible sunrays that might shine in the window. See how close the window is to my quilting table!

Then I started some free motion quilting in the orange blocks but the thread kept breaking. I have tried a number of combinations of needles and threads and have decided that the problem is the orange fabric. Perhaps because is a high weave fabric and/or maybe it has some kind of finish on it that is shredding the thread? So my final decision is...no free motion quilting in the orange blocks! Now I am stalled and thinking about what I will do next. I do not want to do more stitch in the ditch, but after a day or two away from it, I might change my mind.

ON with the NEW mystery...

I have been working away on sewing the Double Delight mystery blocks a few at a time. It is mindless and meditative sewing and has been relaxing...in between fighting with quilting the Orange Crush. On the right are my 130 nine patch blocks from step #3 and on the left are all my blocks from steps 1 to 3 in a spinach salad box, which is great for block storage...thanks Louise!

Now onto step 4 and sewing all these pieces into blocks.

Celebrating 300 posts!

Celebration Giveaway

My last blog posting was #300! I decided to celebrate this milestone with a fabric giveaway...this baby quilt kit. First of all what I am going to do is put in one entry for each person who left me a comment on my blog

postings in December, so that is 59 entries already!

The kit has the fabric for the top only and the quilt measures 39" x 50". I didn't make this sample, it was hanging at the store....but I'm have mine ready to sew. This quilt starts by cutting up a panel with pictures of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and has a piano key border...quick and easy to make up for a baby gift whenever you need one.

Baby Quilt Bee

Which leads me to my next idea...anybody want to come over to the quilt studio and make up one of these baby quilts on Friday January 23rd? I want to make one, so I thought I'd host a baby quilt sewing bee from 6 to 10 pm. For $25 you will get the baby quilt fabric kit, a fun evening of sewing (I'll even turn the heat on for you!), and of course tea and cookies. Email me if you want to come to the bee.

Mystery Quilt Update

I have been sewing late at night this week and have finally finished Step #2! Here are 12 of the blocks. I really like these fabrics together. I have also cut out the pieces for step #3 but I think that when I am done this next step I will put the blocks away for a while and work on some other projects. The strip sewing was very soothing and relaxing after all the activity of Christmas, but now I'm ready to work on something a little more challenging.

Mystery Quilt Step Two

Yahoo...we are connected to the internet again! My husband, bless his heart, has spent many frustrating hours working on this problem and although the wireless system isn't working and he can't work at home, at least I can now check in with my favorite quilt blogs and update mine. After all, quilting activities are the most important computer functions, aren't they??!!
I am working slowly on my Double Delight mystery. It occurred to me that I cook stews and soups in much the same way as I make a quilt. I just keep adding a little more of this and a touch of that as I feel like it. I was getting bored with my selection of pinks and lights, so I dug around in the stash and found a few more pieces to include. Some are small scraps but will add a bit of interest to the quilt overall.
I was also bored with sewing these square in a square blocks. So I have blocks on the go at each stage - some have one triangle on, some have two, some have three and some are ready for trimming. This is a typical scene at my sewing machine. I have had trouble with my wrists with all the trimming (240 blocks to trim!) so as soon as I get 10 blocks with all four triangles on, I stop sewing and trim those blocks. Trimming a few blocks at a time has helped with the wrist pain. Thanks to Sara for this suggestion!
I hope to be able to move on to the next step on the weekend.
Watch for a 300 blog posts celebration giveaway!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year fellow quilters!

How are you ringing in first days of 2009???

Guess what I am doing?

If you guessed quilting, then you are right!!

Bonnie at Quiltville is hosting another mystery quilt - still one of my favorite quilting activities!

In 2008 I pieced 2 quilt tops (Carolina Crossroads and Orange Crush) from Bonnie's mysteries but couldn't find the time in the fall to get in on the 3rd one. But what better way to start 2009 than diving into a new mystery quilt project!?! (shhh...don't mention the UFO's waiting to be finished...it's a new year and I need a new project!).

So here are the fabrics I picked out. It's a very different colourway than Bonnie suggested, but my yardage amounts were right and I get to use up a lot of FQ's (that I don't even know where they came from)! I do feel a little bit nervous putting teal in a quilt with this olive green, but if you look at my favorite fabric in this quilt, which is the brown on the right, those 2 colours live happily in that fabric, and some of the olive FQ's have the teal in them, so I'm just going to try it out and see what happens. I may change the green for a dark pink if it doesn't look okay in the blocks, but there is already a lot of bubblegum pink in this quilt (3 yds). On the right is a photo of my strip piecing for step #1.

Oh no...I just see now that step #2 has been posted. I better get off the computer and get sewing!