Gentle Art

My version of Gentle Art for this month’s Schnibbles parade was made using two charm packs of Sakura Park, by Sentimental Studios for Moda.  This month, I followed the pattern directions and didn’t make any modifications.  

It’s a little bit busy for me.  In my opinion, it would look better if I used solid white for the block backgrounds.  This pattern was pretty easy to make and I will probably make it again in different fabrics.

When I set my goal to complete a charm pack quilt each month this year, I envisioned actually completing the entire quilt – including quilting and binding.  That hasn’t happened any month so far, so I’m guessing that wasn’t a realistic goal.  I am getting the tops completed, but at some point I’m going to have to spend some time quilting.  I figure I’ll have time to do that once the Blogger Girl Block of the Month quilt is finished.  I should be finished with the monthly blocks this weekend and the alternate blocks should be done next weekend.  Then it will just be a matter of sewing the rows together and adding the borders.  I will be sending the BGBOM quilt out to be quilted since it’s too big for me to do on my home machine.

Miscellaneous sewing projects

I did a fair amount of sewing this past week but don’t have a lot to show you (yet).

I made a duvet cover for my son’s room to cover a spare (beige) comforter.  I made Jason a quilt but he took it with him to use in his new apartment so I had to have something to go on the bed he left here.  I have a perfectly good beige comforter that is the right size…but his room is grey and blue.  So I made a duvet cover out of two grey flat, queen-size sheets.  Why not a quilt?  Well, because we already have that beige comforter and I just wanted something quick to cover it up. 

I also made 4 denim pillow covers for some cushions.  

My dad asked me if I would make him some and he requested denim.  These were super easy, just an overlapping flap closure so he doesn't have to fiddle with zippers or buttons.

I’ve only ever made homemade bias binding once before, but really wanted to make some out of this red gingham print I found at Joann’s last week.  After a few mistakes, I finally figured it out.  I’m going to use this on one of my monthly mini quilts. 

Speaking of the monthly minis, I have two underway right now; one for June and another one for July.  The red gingham binding is for the July mini, but you’ll have to wait until July 1 to see that.

The One Piece Bag and some answers

Did you see any pictures of the Fig Tree booth from Quilt Market?  Did you notice the bags on the ladder?  That is a new pattern from Fig Tree called The One Piece Bag.  I’ve been thinking I need a new handbag - not that there is anything wrong with my Phoebe bag, I still love it; I just want a new bag.  As soon as I saw that picture, I went to the Fig Tree website to see if there was a pattern for the bag.

  I bought the PDF pattern because I didn't want to wait!

Since this bag pattern has an open interior, I will probably make a few modifications to add pockets.  At the very least, I want a cell phone pocket (probably attached to the interior of one side panel).  An interior zipper pocket (maybe attached to the inside back) would also be good to hold my little 5-foot tape measure.  I can’t tell you how many times that little tape measure has come in handy.   I don’t leave home without it, but I don’t like fishing around in my purse to find it.

I’m looking forward to making this new bag and I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

In other news, we finally found out what’s been ailing our pup, Maggie.  She has an antibiotic resistant staph infection!  A little research told us that a canine staph infection can pass to humans, but thankfully, none of us have been infected.  Poor Miss Maggie is in for at least 6 weeks of antibiotics that may have nasty side effects.   We’ll be busy disinfecting all her bedding and cleaning the carpets so she doesn’t re-infect herself (or us).  At least we know what is wrong with her after all these months. 

A UFO Sighting!

When I was in Arizona my Dad asked me to make him some denim pillow covers.  I knew I had some denim left over from a skirt I made a couple years ago so I pulled open a bucket in my sewing room and found this:

 

I started this watermelon wall hanging in either 1991 or 1992.  I chose the watermelon border fabric first and then used those colors to pick the solids.  The watermelon and rind are hand appliquéd; the seeds are fusible appliquéd then hand embroidered with a blanket stitch.  I even started the hand quilting way back when, but then gave up on it.

In the 20+ years since I put this project away, I’ve discovered I don’t like using a frame to hand quilt.  It’s easier for me to quilt it without the frame.  For sure I won’t be winning any awards for hand quilting anytime soon, but quilting without a frame works for me.

I’m going to keep at this in the evenings until it’s done.  I plan to hang this over my desk at work all summer.

Day at the Park

Sakura Park, that is.  I’ve been working on the May Schnibbles project, Gentle Art, and I’m using Sakura Park by Sentimental Studios for MODA fabrics.  The fabric features backgrounds in bright pink, green, and blue with white cherry blossoms and pink cherries. 

I ordered mine from The Thrifty Needle during their Mother’s Day 20% off special.  If you sign up for their newsletter you can find out about all their terrific sales.  I think there is almost always something on sale for 40% off. 

Chugging Along

Three more alternate blocks are finished, that makes a total of five so far!! 

With the new setting design, I don’t need any extra pieced blocks other than the third April block that I already made.  If I hadn’t already cut out the dark fabrics for the sashing squares I would have been able to strip piece these new blocks which would have made my life a lot easier.  With these new setting squares, I will have to cut down most of the dark squares, and then piece them each individually, but so far, it is faster than the square-in-a-square sashing. 

I am usually drawn to intricate or complex designs, but I’m almost always short on time and those two don’t mix.  I think I am finally beginning to learn that less work is usually better for me!  Either that or I need to double or triple the amount of time I give myself to complete a project!!

I'm a Winner!

Woo Hoo!!  Look what came in the mail last Friday:

 

 Sherri at A Quilting Life drew my name as a winner for the Hat Trick Schnibbles Parade.  I’m so excited – I’ve never won anything in the three years I’ve been reading/commenting on blogs. 

I will probably use that layer cake to make an upcoming Schnibbles project.  The colors are bright and happy – definitely the kind of fabrics I’m in the mood to play with right now.

BGBOM Alternate Squares

A few weeks ago I cut all the fabrics for the sashing strips and squares per the directions on Monique's blog.  Then I got thinking about making all those square-in-a-square units.  I decided to make my life easier and create an alternate block using the fabric I already cut.  I'm cutting down the green squares and I need to cut all new background fabric, but I have plenty and I'm sure I can use those white triangles and rectangles in something...

Here's what I came up with:

and here's an idea of what they will look like alternating with the BGBOM blocks:

These blocks went together fairly quickly.  I sewed two in just over 30 minutes - much faster than I could have made those square-in-a-square units!!!

BGBOM May Blocks

The May Blogger Girl Block of the Month blocks were fun to make.  I had no issues with colors for these, I knew right away what I wanted to use.

First I made 8 square-in-a-square units:

Then I made 16 flying geese units:

Here's the A block (I switched out the center block to change it up a bit):

And the B block (pardon the picture quality):

Both blocks:

Getting Settled

I'm back from Arizona where I attended my youngest brother's wedding.

My brother Noah married his best friend, Jennifer, and added an instant family with her sons, Justin and Zachary.

They are all huge Star Wars fans and there were many references to Star Wars during the wedding and reception.  First, the date was a play on "May the Force Be With You" (May the Fourth...). 

The wedding march was the theme to Star Wars, there were chocolate candies in the shape of several Star Wars characters (sorry no pictures, I ate all of mine...), and the cake topper was Hans Solo and Princess Leia:

I got to spend a few days with many of my family members.  Because my sister, Kelly, couldn't be there, I gave her little grandson, Adam, some hugs and kisses for her:

Shortly after arriving home, I spent a few days with my son at his new apartment helping him get settled in.

I picked up Maggie from the kennel where she had a biopsy for a skin problem she's had for months.  You can't see the mess on her back in this picture from today, but believe me, it isn't pretty.  She seems none the worse for wear.  I sure hope the vet can figure out what's wrong with my girl.

May Mini Quilts

Welcome May!!

We are really busy packing here at Chez Urban.  Our youngest son, Jason, landed a full-time position in a city about 3 hours away from here and will be moving out this week.  We've been busy purchasing items for his new apartment and getting it all packed and ready for the move.  At the same time, I'm packing for my trip to Arizona to attend my youngest brother's wedding this Saturday. 

In between packing and shopping, I fit in time to make a new mini quilt for May.

I started with this basket block that was in a free pattern from Quiltmaker magazine.

Then I added triangles all around so the basket block was on point, appliqued leaves and added some yo yo flowers.

I added buttons to the centers of the flowers.

Then I hand quilted flowers in the corners, added binding, and May Baskets was done. It's hanging in my cubicle at work right now.

I have another May mini quilt that I usually put up in my living room.  This year, my sister, Anne, asked if I had a mini quilt she could hang on her bedroom door at Hope Lodge in Burlington, VT.  Anne is staying there for 5 weeks while she undergoes radiation treatments at Fletcher Allen Hospital.  Burlington is 2 ½  hours away from Anne's home and family (and me).  She is also going to miss our brother's wedding.  Since I would do anything in the world to make this time pass a little easier for her, I gladly sent her the other mini quilt.

Enjoy it, Anne, rest, be well, and know that I love you and miss you.

See you back here some time next week.