Quarantine Quilt - Day 10!

Welcome to day 10!! At least day 10 of this quilt...it's day eleventy-billion of quarantine, but that's a whole other issue.

I was THRILLED that there were no HST (half square triangles) in this one! Don't get me wrong...they're an effective technique, but I was glad to have a bit of a change today!

I've been loving my time at home, but it's time for me to go back to work. I work for Starbucks and we have LOTS of protocols in place that will keep everyone safe. While I originally decided to stay home to keep my two medically fragile children safe, it's time to look after my mental health and get back to interacting with my peers and customers. I have requested to not be the "door" partner, so I won't really be spending time with my favourite customers (though I'll be thrilled to wave at them from afar!), but I'm looking forward to being in the store environment. My amazing manager and coworkers know my situation and will be taking every precaution to make sure I stay safe. I can't wait!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 9!

Welcome back! It's day 9 and today I'm combining Tree of Wisdom Fabrics with Stonehenge Fabrics! I got both of these from Lindley General Store in Collingwood, Ontario and I'm DELIGHTED that they and several other quilting shops that are still shipping. I'm completely smitten with their packaging - check it out:

Tree of Wisdom

Stonehenge

The little ribbon and fabric tag just make my heart so happy!

Here's how block 9 turned out:

I ran out of the dark turquoise Tree of Wisdom fabric, so I had to improvise - LOL! I'm still loving the way these are turning out and have ordered backing and sashing. My youngest son Jonathan has decided that he likes the colours and has claimed the quilt! Turns out that with sashing and borders, the quilt will be about 70" x 90" so it's the perfect size for a twin bed.

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 8!

It's Day 8 today! That means we're ⅓ of the way through! I lost some of the contrast in one of the blocks, but I'm still pleased with the way they turned out.

Tomorrow, I'll start using a combination of Tree of Wisdom Fabrics and Stonehenge Fabrics  - I'll use those for days 9 through 16.

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 7! And a peek at my Kindness Quilt!

It's day 7! That means tomorrow is day 8 and we're ⅓ of the way there! My Stonehenge fabric should be here later on today so I'm pretty excited about that!

Today's block was pretty simple to put together and I'm seriously getting the hang of those HST (half-square triangles) so they're fun to put together now!

Here's a peek at my Kindness quilt!

It's all washed, dried and wrinkly and I love it!! In the evenings, when it gets too dark to sew (let's face it, I'm getting old!) it keeps me warm while I do a bit of knitting. It's just perfect!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 6!

I'm running out of Tree of Wisdom fabric!! Thankfully my Stonehenge fabric should be here tomorrow and then after Block #8 I'll start mixing and matching for blocks #9-16.

I figured out that this quilt is going to be larger than I thought...which bodes well for one of the boys who will now have his very own quarantine quilt! How cool is that?? Not so good is that I didn't order enough backing fabric - OOPS!!! I guess I'll have to make ANOTHER quilt - LOL!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 5!

Another day, another block - heehee!!

My new favourite block! I love the kind of off centre points produced by the HST on these - kind of like pinwheel gone haywire - HAHA!! What do you think?

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 4!

Welcome to Day 4 - I'm still using Northcott Tree of Wisdom fabrics and loving it! There's not quite as much contrast as I'd like between these two fabrics, but I still love the way the blocks turned out.

I ended up redoing the QST (Quarter Square Triangles) because they came out just a titch small. I've learned that I prefer to cut the pieces larger than I need them to be and trim to size. It makes for a little more waste, but I'm much happier with the results!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 3!

OOPS!!! I made a little mistake in this one, but I still liked the way it turned out, so I'm keeping it!

The four corner squares should be swapped out for the other block. Does that make sense?? But I really like the look of the blocks, so I'm going to leave it. As I used to tell me card making class participants - no one is going to know exactly what the sample looked like, so if you like what you're doing, keep doing it!

Keep your machine oiled  and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of the collaboration quilt! Here is today's square:

What do you think? I just LOVE the stark contrast between the colours on this one! And I'm wishing I'd ordered more of this fabric!!!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

A Quarantine Quilt - yes, another one!

Today is the first day of a collaboration quilt between Figo Fabrics, Banyan Batiks and Northcott Fabrics. Since my first big fabric purchase was from Figo Fabrics, I now get all their emails (this is ok, though my wallet may disagree!) and decided that this would be a fun endeavour when I needed a break from making masks.

This is the first block! I'm using some Northcott Fabric from the Tree of Wisdom line - I love it!! I've also ordered some more Northcott from the Stonehenge line - I think they'll go well together! There will be twenty four block designs in all and each block will be made twice. My plan is to use the Tree of Wisdom Line for the first eight blocks, a mix of Tree of Wisdom and Stonehenge for the second eight blocks and Stonehenge for the last eight blocks. I haven't received the Stonehenge fabric yet (it will be here next Monday), so I'll let you know if it works out!

If you're interested in the masks I've been making, here's a picture:

I'm using the design by Riley Blake and you can find a YouTube video for that HERE. Please keep in mind that this is NOT a medical grade mask! I'm making them for friends and family who want a little extra protection. We are being told as a country to act as if we're infected and don't want to spread the virus, so that's what we're doing. If we have to wear masks at least we'll look cute doing it!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Look mom! No clips!!

While it didn’t happen during yet ANOTHER viewing of Frozen II (we were actually watching Onward - thank you Disney+), I finished up the binding on my little Mini Wonder Quilt!

Then I washed it up and am THRILLED to report that the red fabric didn’t bleed! Check it out:

I was so excited to pull it from the dryer and note that it had in fact done that really cool puckery thing that I see on all the beautiful quilts online. Then I was reading somewhere, that if you want less pucker, you should wash in cold water and for more pucker, wash it on warm - COOL!

Today, I’m finishing up the quilt top for the Kindness Quilt, so I’ll be posting pictures of that very soon! I think it’s safe to say that I’m HOOKED!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

The Kindness Project - Day 2!

I'm behind on this one...mostly because like I said...I had stash, just not QUILT stash! Since the start of my stash has arrived, I've been busy!

Day 1 of sewing the quilt was to make these railroad units. They've been set aside as instructed. But...since the quilt instructions have already all been posted, I know where they fit in. Some of my prints are directional, so I'll have to remember that and be extra careful when assembling the pieces.

Day 2 of sewing was these GORGEOUS star blocks! I just LOVE how they turned out! As this is only my second actual quilt, I was pretty impressed with how everything lined up. Full disclosure: I did become ridiculously well acquainted with my seam ripper!

The next step is to add some borders to the star sections I think, so check back in later on this week and see where I'm at!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

I'm a knitter, not a QUILTER!!

I'm a knitter. That's what I do. Before that, I was a paper crafter. Before THAT I was a cross-stitcher. My point is, I've had a LOT of hobbies!

MANY years ago, my mom tried to introduce me to quilting and I gave her a VERY FIRM "NO!". The last thing I needed was to add ANOTHER hobby to my list. Plus, we lived in a tiny condo at the time and there was simply NO ROOM! That worked for a very long time (like at least 20+ years) and now...here I am.

Last week was National Quilting Day and the lovely people at Fat Quarter Shop were kind enough to give the quilters of the world a free quilt pattern to play with. It's still free and you can find it HERE. The Mini Wonder Quilt is, in my opinion, perfect for a beginner! It consists of mostly squares and half square triangles (HST) that even I managed to figure out.

I used fabrics that I had been gifted - fun fact: back when I was a Stampin' UP! demonstrator, Stampin' UP! created a line of fabrics that coordinated with our Designer Series Paper! It wasn't the *best* fabric money could buy, but it was GREAT for someone still learning (and I have LOTS so I can practice new skills and ideas when they come up).

I'm just about done (you might notice the clips in the photo above). I've already discovered that I prefer hand binding over machine binding, so that's a process. Last night, I watched Frozen II (for the eleventy-bajillionth time) and learned that one viewing got me through about ⅓ of the binding process on my small quilt. So, two more nights of Frozen II and it'll be completely finished - YAY!!

Did I make mistakes? Oh yes! Probably more than I can count. Am I OK with that? Well, since I didn't tear the whole thing apart, I'm going with yes - LOL! Any new hobby is a learning experience!

While I was finishing up the quilt, I came across the Kindness Project on Instagram, hosted by Terri Staats of Sweet Treasures Quilts.

I was excited because it was a pull from stash project (use what you have) and I have some fabric stash. Of course, it turned out that I didn't have NEARLY enough fabric. I was explaining to my friend Joyce (the culprit that got me into this mess!) that fabric stash is kind of like yarn stash. Do I have a lot of yarn? Yes! If I wanted to make a sweater, do I have enough of ONE yarn to make it? No. I don't have any "sweater quantities" of yarn. Do I have fabric? Yes! But because I NEVER intended to start quilting, all my fabric is in small ½ yard to 1 yard quantities. I sew project bags to house my knitting projects. :) I didn't have "quilt quantities" of fabric, so off I went to the internet!

I was DELIGHTED to learn that there are (surprisingly to me!) a whole LOT of quilt shops in Canada! I found an extensive list on Facebook (there's lots of quilting groups too!) and started exploring. I knew how MUCH fabric I needed, I just wasn't sure what kind of fabric I wanted. Enter Erica at Studio 39 Fabrics! The bundles and additional fabric that I was able to order from the Eloise's Garden line were just PERFECT!

Since all quilting shops are closed right now, due to COVID-19, it's nice to know that small business owners like Erica are keeping us in fabric so sewers and quilters can stay occupied during this difficult time. Erica is still working hard to ship out fabrics to all of her Canadian Quilters and I SO appreciate that she is! And it arrived quickly too, so I'm off to cut fabric now...

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!