New Hexagon- Top Completed

 Becky from Patchwork Posse, suggested to write a list of all our projects finished during 2020, so will could see our progress. My list of entire quilt, small and large maybe smaller than others, but it was encouraging for me to see it for myself.

Today, I just sew the solid black border on the New Hexagon Quilt by Katja Marek. Started the English Paper Piecing in 2017-2020. Four years and hundredth of hours of hand-stitching.

 

The photo isn't clear as the bedroom is small and the quilt is very large. It's touches the ceiling and I had to fold the top border and it still drags on the floor.

Also I completed those ones:

-Cross-Wall quilt 

-Green's Crossing- Large Quilt

-Big Dream- Wall quilt

-Mini-Block Monday-Small quilt 

-Be My Neighbor- Large quilt

-Snowman-Wall quilt

 

Now it's time to enjoy the winter season by going in the outside for fresh air...and sew more later with a warm cup of hot chocolate.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas: Share the Love

In the last few days, I reflected on what Christmas truly represented for me and as it flew by, I knew in my mind that whatever happened in this world, Christmas could NEVER be cancelled. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ being born as a babe; not just a cute baby, rather because the world needed a Savior. He was born in the flesh, so he could died for our sins on the cross and was resurrected on the third day. That is the entire good news to us that this cute baby Jesus became our Savior if we confess and believed in Him.

Another thing I reflected upon, was how  amazing quilters can be with each other by sharing their love and hobby with each other on social media. Yeah, it's not the same as being  in person at a guild meeting; nevertheless, it was nice to see their faces and passion for people they never will meet in person.  I'm sure there are other groups that have done similar outreach with others with encouragement, support, and their love for their communities during the holidays. 

So...did I stop sewing during my holiday. Nope.

SNOWMAN QUILT

On the contrary, I've tried to complete a few projects before the end of the year. Started a few new ones, and planed others ones.  So yes, I've been sewing like crazy these last few days. One of the goal was to make a winter quilt using one yard of a panel I purchased maybe 10 years ago. I don't recalled.

This is one of the six panels I used in the small quilt. I quilted slightly around the main features of the panel. 

 There are only three different blocks pattern in this quilt that were repeated.

After the quilt was completed I added an additional border (grey one) because it was quite small.  I pinned the quilt on my living wall.

The backing is a white/light grey color.  This is one UFO completed and marked off my list. Yahoo!

 Now it a good time as ever to sing this Christmas song:

                Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
                But the fire is so delightful,
                And since we've no place to go,
                Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

God blessed your Christmas Season!

Get it done in 2021!

 Usually my yearly goals starts in September and end in June, because I'm a gardener and outdoor person. The fact that I moved a bit to many times in the last three years and troubles surrounding our life, I needed to review what I had accomplished this far.  And with that in mine, I pulled out all my UFOs, tops, orphans blocks to see what I could do with them. To set myself new goals for the new coming year of 2021.

Goals for 2021

• Make a list of all UFOs and write the starting date, status, and plan to finish it
• Design patterns for those orphans blocks with the EQ8.
• Follow at least 1 quilt-a-long with an awesome quilting on Youtube
• Educate msyelf further with piecing my blocks.
• Watch tutorials that inspires my creativity, develop friendship, and motivates to completion of all my UFOs
• Improve my skill with Poppyprint
• Keep a journal on my progress
• Share my love for quilting on my Blog

Record of all my UFOs

This morning I wrote a list of all my UFOs, either they were orphan blocks or top quilt or abandon project. My list isn't long compared because I've been working on it these last few years. It work, but it does take commitment. This is going to be fun year to see those blocks turned into something, anything!

1. By My Neighbor

When our group of quilters offered a sewalong by Moda Be My Neighboor 2016 , which was a simple pattern and dung into my scraps to have fun with it.  Right then,  I decided to make not one, but TWO quilts at he same time, both with different fabric. This one is the black/white version.  I'm planning to quilt this one with an overall design.

Started: 2017

Status: Sandwiched

Plan: Ready to be quilted

2. Grandmother Garden Flower

One of my first hand stitching blocks I started in the early 1990s.  Many times throughout the years I seriously though of trowing those ugly blocks in the trash, but somehow I couldn't. They have no sentimental value. Then WHY have I kept them all those years!  Finally, after reconsideration, I challenged myself to make a small project with them. That is to see if it's going to happen in 2021.

Started: 1991

Status: 3 blocks

Plan: Rework

 

3. Connections

This is 1/18 tops I started in 2017 as a challenge to myself in order to use most of my stash only.  I never regretted my crazy idea of sewing all those tops in one entire year, but it did took me a bit longer. I used all my dotted fabric for this quilt called Connections and I cannot wait to quilt it.                                                                                                                                                                     

Started: 2017

Status: Top done

Plan: Ready to be quilted

 

4. Arcadia Avenue

 I felt in love with the solid bright hexagon quilt soon as I set eyes on Arcadia Avenue at the quilt show in Prince George, BC in 2018. The kit was costly but it was worth it. My first attempt at paper pieces project and so far my blocks are turning great. 

I would be shame and waste of money to leave this is a bin for year to come. It time to get it out of my closet.

Started: 2018

Status: 5/12 blocks completed

Plan: Work on few blocks

5. New Hexagon

This long-term millefiore is progressing at the slow and steady pace.  All the rosettes on the The New Hexagon-Millefiore Quilt are done and I'm presently working on its edges. Not sure exactly how many borders I will add to this quilt.

Started: 2018

Status: Sewing edges

Plan: Add a border 

 

 

6. Unloved Blue Blocks

 It's incredible how many blocks can be left out of a project and what can be done with them can be a challenge if they are not of the same color them.  The large block is from a previous quilt and the smaller ones from the quilt I just did with the mini-blocks Monday. 

started: 2018

Status: 2 finished block, some few smaller ones

Plan:  Use them in the back of a quilt

 

7. Time & Seasons

 A quilter-friend with her best intention, suggested we make this beautiful hand-applique quilt together by  Times and Seasons Calendar Quilt by Piecemaker

At first, I was thrilled and my quilter-friend taught me how to applique the piece. Each single blocks as a beautiful tree and a story to tell and I even saw this quilt done at a show. Gorgeous  breath taking. But soon realized after my third block, that she wasn't  on board at all and she hasn't even started one block or plan to do so it seemed. As beginner in that area, I quit. 

 

Started: 2002

Status: 3 blocks

Plan: Design a small project 

 

8. Log Cabin

 There are few blocks left from the curved log cabin I made and I may combine those blocks with the other blue ones. 

 

Started: 2012

Status: Few blocks & fabric left

Plan: Design a small quilt or pillow

 

9. Free-Motion

At times I'm pretty ambitious and I'll followed a renowned quilter in order to develop newer skills, like 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs . I soon realized this was great learning spot for me, but I get hook into another quilt-a-long with the same designer Building Blocks Quilt Pattern

 

Started: 2014

Status: Few blocks done

Plan: Baby quilt

10. Lost Flowers

These two large flowers were done with the Creative Grid 18 Edge Ruler.  I only used that ruler twice and it's a shame. I've done the same thing with other awesome tools.

Started: I've no idea

Status: 2 Dresden flowers

Plan: Small quilt or wall hanging

11. Winter Panels

When the first flakes of snow stayed on the frozen ground, I displayed all my favorite snowman attires throughout the house and they stayed out all winter. And so when I saw panel with snowman and winter themes, I buy at lest one row. Unfortunately that fabric got stored in a bin for many winters. But this month I set my mind to cut those panels, design a pattern with EQ8 and fi;nished it BEFORE winter is over.

 

Started: 2020

Status:Designed a patter, assembled

Plan: In progress
 

12. Spinners

This is not another UFOs, but a second baby quilt that my friend started with me. We both sewed this cute baby quilt together every week. But I moved away and she couldn't finish it. I'm hoping to get this lovely quilt done this year and send it to her. 

 Started: 2019

Status: Assembling the blocks

Plan: Complete and sent to friend

12. Design & Creativity

After listening to Leah Day podcast on How to Design Your Own Godess. the inspiration to create my own design came with a few skills in drawing, patterning, and brainstorming I didn't know I had.  I failed in love with  design enough to venture in creating the Praying Woman. 

 

 Started: 2020

Status: In progress. Pressing bias, background in progress

Plan: Continue

Ready to Go!

After I labelled each project in clear bins, I stored them under my cutting table where I can SEE them. A reminder of my goal for 2021.

 Christmas is around the corner with all its beautiful festivity.  This Christmas will be a very different one for my husband, our dog, and I, has we're going to spend at home alone, because of restrictions. Still I'll praise His name.  My love, joy, peace rest solemnly on Him my Savior Jesus Christ.  

 

LOVE- JOY- PEACE

Folding Fabric with Comic boards

 There is so many ways to fold your fabrics these days that could fit the space require on your shelves.   I've tried many different way through the years to fold all my stash in a certain way that will be useful. I folded my fabric with a ruler,  stored them by colors, stored them by variation of size. All failed what I to provide a clear visual account of the what I had on display. Yes, I could see I had tons of blues and green and not much of reds, and yellows, but I couldn't SEE the fabric, because they were all piles on tops of each other and sometimes, one fabric was hidden from my sight. Ahhh. that is so sad. Okay I'm being a bit dramatic here, but you get the point.

At the quilt store you can SEE all the bold of fabric all laid up in neatly vertical rows that are stacked side-by-side. It's inviting enough that you end-up buying more fabric then you need or caught in "petting-the-fabric". How can I create that same idea in my sewing room pieces that are precuts anywhere from 1/2 meter to 5 meters? Only one folding way I hadn't tried yet. The comic book folding method.  

Comic Book Board

Comic book boards are sheet of paper of 8" x 11" and are acid free and great for storing your fabric on it. The cost is minimal for the 100 sheets of paper you have with one set. What I like the most is my entire stash can be folded the same size and way.

 

You can purchase those from Amazon and I also purchase alligator clips to hold fast the fabric. 

I took one pile of my fabric and of course I started with my favorite colors: Blues and greens. I won't gave all the detail how I folded the fabric with the comic board as they are many excellent tutorials already available on YouTube and I will leave a few below. 

                       This is the same pile of fabrics that is now neatly folded with the comic boards.

The pieces that were smaller than 1/2 meter were folded by size. All the smaller pieces that I couldn't fold with those were put in my scrap-bin. Yep, now I have scraps again. 

 

 

 Now I can SEE my fabrics even the smallest pieces. These folding method is great and I cannot wait to fold the rest of my stash the same way. When I have my sewing room all set up in my new home, I post a picture of how it look on my IKEA shelf unit. 

Folding Fabric with Comic Bard

 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=how+to+fold+fabric+for+storage+with+comic+boards#kpvalbx=_aOOvX7fEGPuw5NoPuICq2AY8

Purchase Of  Fabric

My projects are mainly created from my stash, but when I start new project or follow someone else pattern, I tent to lack greatly of solid background fabric. Also my selection of light fabric value is none existent. 

                                                This is my last purchase of fabric.

When you shop for fabric, what color do you go for or do you prefer buying kits?

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 131

Happy Scraps!

 My goal to rid of all the scrap was successful. Yes, I've to admit I had doubts that all those scraps would be useful, but they did. While I cut, sew, and the crib/throw quilt,  I listened to a few of Paul Washer's sermons, Revive our Hearts podcasts, and Christian music. The time flew faster than I could manage in one day. It was fun to be creative with those fabric.

 Mini Blue Monday Quilt

 The crib/ throw quilt was made at least 80% of  those scraps, but I had to purchase white fabric for the background and inner border. I also used some fabric from my stash for the border. 

 Scraps

After using most of the pieces I needed for the quilt, I reorganized the rest of it by size and length. 

 

Cut as many as I could from them into squares and added them to my bin of square-scraps. That way they are ready and organized. Leaving a bunch of pieces in a bin or box gets them wrinkles and not really useful. 

 

 

 

Labelled and organized pieces are ready to be use in any of your projects. 

 

 

 

The same bin with what was left. Three pieces! All the trimmed edges and crumb scraps were put into  a clear plastic bag, so I could use them for a dog-bed filler. 

 

Corners that Add Flair

A total of  twenty-six Ohio Star blocks were sewed, but only used 25 of them for this crib/throw size quilt. It about 61" x 61 ". The blocks are 9".  When I laid the blocks on my design wall to see the overall picture of the quilt, I didn't  want the white square in it, so I sew a square on each corner of the block to created another block instead.  

        See the white square that was created by putting four blocks together.

What I did before I sew squares in each corner of the block, I pressed one of square in a triangle shape and set it on those same blocks to see if I would like it or not. And I did! Also I wanted to use as many scraps as possible.

Easy Corners

It was easy to add squares to all those corners. You can trace a line and slightly sew just next to it toward the point. That way your have the full triangle when you fold it back.

                   And then trimmed the corner off and leave a 1/4" seam allowance. Press. 

In the end, I loved how all the scrappy blues, greens, and a bits of reds have turned this into a charming little crib/throw quilt.  

Enlarging that last picture really showed the imperfection one of the blocks. It couldn't be helped, because trimming or squaring the mini-block would have leave me nothing to work with.  It also showed me that I have to practice my seam allowances on when I deal with smaller...I meant mini pieces. It's definitively not a 'failure', it's another challenge to performance. Let's go quilt!

 

 

                                         

                                                    The Prayer of Faith

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

 

Be Gone Scraps!

 Two main things I worked on this week, one was the sewed all the scrappy fabric into a  block or long strips. One small bin of scraps was full and I certainly didn't want to start another bin. Scraps pieces have a tendency to grow fast on you, so I has to deal with that bin right away. The second matter I want to address was to sew the 30 mini-blocks Mondays and turned them into a crib/throw quilt.  And I cut and sew all week and hope to finish this by next Friday.  It's encouraging to see the progress, creativity, and encouraging to see those scraps are not going to waste. Well, not all of it. They're still crumbs.

SCRAPS

Just so you know the bin was full before I started to sew anything together

That all the scrappy pieces I had in that one bin from only a few projects. It made it easier to sew the smaller strips that were of the same length and size together after that.

Mini-Block Monday

After brainstorming for ideas for my mini-block Monday with the EQ8, I opted to use the minis as the center of the Ohio Star block.

 The Ohio start blocks all turned out great and it was another opportunity for me to practice sewing HST (half-square-triangles) to make many triangles for this one simple block.

It is simple trick, match a square of dark fabric with a square of the same size of lighter fabric. Mark a line from point-to-point and sew 1/4" seam allowance on each side of the line. Cut on the line and you have created two HST. Now if you sew a dark fabric opposite of each other as shown above the same way you did before you will have created four triangles. 

 What Can I Do with Scrappy strips?

I've kept it simple by sewing a strip on each side the light-green because I've many of those and they are larger too.

 

At this point, I'm not sure if I'll turn them into squares or a long continuous strip for an after-quilt. It was encouraging to see how much I can do with one bin of scraps bin and yet I'm not. So it's time for me to get back to my sewing machine.

 

 

 

The Lord's Faithfulness Endures Forever

Praise the Lord, all nations!
    Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117

 

 

 

 

 

Be My Neighboor

Last week I sewed the binding on Be My Neighbor quilt and and this week I sewed the binding on the Big Dream. Two projects marked off my list of thing to be completed. And I'm making great progress on my Millefiore. This week I'm working on the last rosette, but I'm far from being done with that one.

My husband helped me installed three small hooks so I could pass a nylon cord through it and then could hang my quilt for photos.  It's the best spot in the house for natural light. Sometimes it's frustrating not being able to take good clear picture, but it will have to do as we are only rental here till we purchase our next home and we're not in a rush. 

 Be My Neighbor

 

 

Binding

One thing I love to do, is to hand-sew my binding. Even it it takes between 3-4 hours for a twin size quilt. I'll sewing the binding while I watched T.V.  or until my fingers are sores from pulling the needle. 

Quilting

I kept the quilting simple and fun. In the solid white fabric, I did stippling. All the fabric were from my scraps bin or small pieced of fabric. Only the white solid fabric I had to purchase.

               The quilt looks fresh, cheerful, and would be perfect on a child's bed. 

Now let's go finished another project!

God bless

A Little Bit of Everything

 The last three weeks I've kept a good pace with the quilting on the Be My Neighbor.  Also it was very encouraging to see the progress I've achieved on the millefiore quilt along so far by keeping a steady pace by hand-stitching a bit every day. 

Rosette 10b Finished!

 

 

 

Millefiore

Today I couldn't resit but to take an overall photo of the millefiore. This year, I've worked mostly on the smaller rosette that goes on the edge of the quilt. It's like a giant piece of puzzle. for must of the project I've used scrap pieces and I've tried to harmonized the fabric best I could with what I had. 

                                                        Rosette 10b goes in a corner

                        As you can see by the empty spot, what rosette I will be working on next. 

Be My Neighbor

 This is one of the houses on row 3/4.  Another quilt made entirely of scrap fabric.