This and That

These two wall hangings are both sold but I thought a picture on the wall would give an idea of the size.  I may have to make another one for myself.

I finally got this one quilted and luckily didn't have to turn it on the frame. The binding is leftovers from many quilts so it is as colorful as the rest of the quilt. Now to get at hand sewing the binding down. That's going to take me awhile.

Second Perfect

I am half done quilting this one. The next decision will  be what colour the binding should be. Most commenters on Facebook like blue the best, although red has been suggested so I might audition that if I have the right shade in my stash.

Perfect x 2

I liked the first piece  so well that I thought I'd make a second one. I had no more of the fabric with the dancing girls so I chose a different group of colours altogether.  I am putting an orange binding on the first one.  I will make the border a bit bigger on the second one and probably put a narrow blue border between the yellow background and the outer border.

Perfect

I started this one today.  Right now I am  wondering if it should say "You are perfect just as you are".
Then the problem becomes how  to balance out the lines.  Should just go after perfect or on the last line. Or should there be just two rows of words, making the whole thing longer and narrower?  I'll play around with it a bit tomorrow and see what looks good.
This one was quite easy since there are so many a's and e's, which are exactly the same and quite easy to do. There are also several o's and u's also easy. The only difficult letters are the y's.  No M,N or W makes piecing easier.

Birthday Treats

This is my birthday treat to myself. My friend, Tanis, and I made a bit of a road trip to Kickass Country Store  in Plumas, MB. They have fantastic fabrics there and it took a real act of will to come home with only this much. The bright red/purple/gray one in the top row is Kaffe Fasset and the far left top one is backing for my big scrap quilt. Hopefully, I bought enough this time.

Calm

All pinned and ready to quilt. This one I'll do on my regular machine because it's quite small and I want to go around the letters.  I won't be very calm by the time I've done that...

Calm

I started these words yesterday. I have some fabric with sunflowers on it that might do for the border. One thing I have discovered in making all these letters is that e and a are identical, as are n and u, and m and w. It goes a lot faster if I make all 6 es and as at once. And the same for all the other duplicate letters.

As Ye Sew

This is how I spent my morning.  When I start a traditional quilt I just have to take some time off to do letters or something pattern-free. I will probably insert a narrow border between the green and the spool fabric.  I also want to include an actual seam ripper, either horizontally below "shall" or vertically at the end of "sew".

My next one is going to say "Keep calm and make stuff". I'm not sure which combination of fabrics I'll use. I love both of them.  Maybe I'll end up making two of them.

I bought a huge piece of backing fabric for the big scrap quilt because I didn't want any seams on the back. I got it all squared off and then hung it over the quilting frame to check that it was large enough. Wouldn't you know it. It's about three inches too short!

I haven't decided whether I'll buy a different, bigger backing or add a colored strip somewhere in the middle of this one. I would  have to go back to Mayville, ND to get more of the same fabric. Hmmm...maybe that's not such a bad idea. 

Another oops  is the big dusty footprint on the black fabric. I just swept out the studio this morning too. Go figure.

New Starts

I am working on two quilts  right now not counting the one that is on the quilting frame and the one that is lined up waiting for the frame.  This one is a rail fence that I'm  working on with my friend Brenda. She's getting some sewing and pressing lessons at the same time. It's going to be a beauty.

This is a Hunter's Star using the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler.  It fits together so perfectly using that ruler and much of it is chain pieced so it goes really fast.

I just heard from the gallery that more people are asking about word quilts so I may have to start a new one of those. I could probably sell more of the BREATHE banners too but I'm not sure how many of those I want to make.

Dull Blades

 

Has anyone used either of these rotary blade sharpeners? I have two other kinds, neither of which work very well.  These are relatively expensive and have received mixed reviews on any site I've checked. I'd love the bottom one if it works because you don't have to remove the blade from the handle. I find the blades I've bought recently have dull spots when they come out of the box or else get dull very quickly. I have a drawer full of dull blades so it would be nice if one of these sharpeners actually worked.   I also heard once that there was a sharpening service somewhere but have lost the address.

After I took this picture I added 6 inch black borders to make it king size. Now I just have to quilt it. It is the biggest quilt I have ever made. The only part that is not scraps is the black part. I did have to buy backing too.

Sewing Cabinet

This is my new sewing cabinet in it's smallest form. I am waiting for the drawers to go on the left and the insert

Here it is expanded for when I want to sew big quilts.   It takes up a lot of space this way but is great for sewing large items.

The Big Clean

Scrap quilting is very messy, although I do take some of the blame.

I love the look of a garbage can after a day of trimming.

After a long morning of cleaning the studio looks much better.

One of the reasons for rearranging the whole space is this new sewing cabinet from Horn of America, purchased from Annie's Sewing Center in Winkler.  I have ordered a bank of drawers to go under the top drawer on the left and an insert so that my sewing machine can sit down level with the table top. It also has a leaf that opens out at the back for sewing large quilts. There is a piece that fits over the drawer on the left to give even more space. Such luxury!

Random

I went to the quilt shop to buy thread and ended up with these two delicious batiks. 

And this one just keeps growing and growing. Why are the big blue boxes still full???