Feeling Overwhelmed, but still Quilting!

As with everyone else, my life has been turned upside down by the virus.  Have you ever tried teaching Kindergarten and First Grade over a computer screen?  I don't recommend it, but we all do what we have to do!  Today I had two girls hiding under blankets, one putting her eyeball up to the camera and not paying attention, a girl who won't talk, a boy who likes to play hide and seek and other students who don't log on for their Zoom meeting times.  We sent Chromebooks home with all students at our one room school and they all have internet access.  It's been quite a process, but I can't complain.  I have a job, my husband is farming, and my kids and grandkids are healthy and safe in their homes.  I have turned my dining room into an office and use my phone as projector on a white board while using my school computer.  I have learned new technology at least! 

I don't' even have pictures of everything I have made or quilted, but I have two actual finishes.  One is a gift for an online group.  The woman requested lavender and spring green and we could make anything we wanted.  I made this table runner.  Nothing worked for the vines but I found a rickrack in my stash.  

In my last post I showed a picture of Going Places, a fun quilt with cars and campers.  I had leftover pieces and made this modern style wallhanging.  The smallest half squares finish at 1".  It's my favorite thing I have made this year.

I made more shop samples for Your Best Friends Quilt Shop.  I am on my last one.  

Riley Blake table runners

flannel quilt

These are Ovens but they need button knobs that the owner will put on after quilting

Riley Blake Baked With Love closeup

Good Morning Mugs table runner

Harvest table runner

I can't remember the name!  Not my colors, but it was fun to make.

I have made quite a few masks and unless I get a request specifically I am done for now.  I went to town last week for the first time in a month because I had a dental emergency and wore a mask in Costco.  Not a fun thing to do.  I am a person who normally keeps a good amount of stuff on hand, I guess you could say my husband is a prepper.  My county so far has zero covid cases thankfully.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday.

Sew Many Strips Quilt

I finally finished piecing the top for my Sew Many Strips quilt.  It was a long project, since it is all made with 1 1/2" strips and the quilt finishes at 86 X 102.  The top is heavy with all those seams!  My normal colors of choice are purple and turquoise, but I had a lot of Bonnie and Camille fabric and decided to use them minus the navy.  I had fabric from a few collections and I wanted them to play nicely together.

Just FYI, it is not a good idea to try to take outdoor pictures in the wind!  It's also interesting how all the coloring is of the quilt in different lighting!

Sew Many Strips

I put the quilt back up on my design wall last night and snapped the above picture.  I got home from work today and my dog followed me downstairs.  I turned around and saw this!  I snapped the picture then got her off the quilt!

Here are a few outdoor pics of the quilt top!

The field behind has garbanzo beans growing.

My favorite picture taking spot in our woods.

I am in a small group and we are making wallhangings or pillows in a birthday exchange.  The person I was given requested a wallhanging but I had no idea of her color likes!  I was also in a half square triangle challenge and we had to use at least 40 fabrics.  I decided to combine the two projects into one.  I took the clematis flower applique from the book Flower Show Quilts, but designed the background.  The wallhanging measures 16 X 20 and yes there are actually 41 fabrics in the quilt counting the yellow flower centers!

 I LOVE purple iris!  I am not a flower gardener and have a lot of work to do on this section.  It's a slope between my garage and driveway.  Don't look at the weeds! 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday

Panel Wallhanging Gone Wrong, but Fixed!

Several years ago I bought a panel that had two different large flowers.  The designer was Stephanie Brandenburg.  I loved the sunflower and made up the wallhanging using thread painting.  I ended up buying more of the panels and making them up for gifts but somehow I don't have pictures.  I did not have any problems quilting any of them.  I had one panel left and decided to quilt it up.  OH MY.  Distortion, distortion.  I think it is because I did not stabilize the flower first and then fill in with stitching.   Here is the sunflower I did without any issues.

I don't have pictures of my problem wallhanging in progress.   I had done a LOT of threadwork in the center and it was so wavy I thought there was no way I could get it to lie flat filling in the background.  I finally decided if I trimmed out the flower portion I could applique it to a new background.  I had to fuss with it a bit to get it to lay flat, but I managed to satin stitch it.  The background is made up of some leftovers from another project with some blue added for accent.  I am thrilled with the way it turned out and it finishes at 24 X 24.  I used two kinds of yarn with an overlay of tulle in the center.  If only I could take straight pictures!

embellished poppy panel

stitching closeup

I hand couched red embroidery floss next to the binding for an accent.

 I started a new one block wonder quilt.  I started with 7 of these panels, six of them are cut up and sewn into half hexagon ready to place around this panel.  I am anxious to see how it turns out.  It is a great memory of our snorkeling trip in Hawaii.

Our county fair is this week and I am entering six quilts, two of them wallhangings. 

I am linking up with Design Wall Monday.

Small Projects

I have been in a quilting slump so to speak.  Lots of other activities have limited my quilting time.  Here are a few things I have worked on this past week.

I joined the Teal Mini Swap to support Ovarian Cancer research again this year  We are sent a small piece of teal we need to use and then the mini quilt is made based on a questionnaire and sent to your swap partner.  It is hosted by Eva Paige Quilt Designs.  This is the mini I made to send to my swap partner.  It is 18" square.  I thought I had a closeup of the quilting, but I don't.

This is the mini I received.  Purple is my favorite color and Becky used a lovely embroidery in the middle.

For some reason, the colors are a little off on these photos below.  I am in a small internet group and was sent three paint chips and needed to make something using those colors.  We could make anything.  They were difficult for me, but I found a panel that had been in my stash for YEARS and it worked for the colors.  I quilted it and now have a wallhanging for my wall at work.  If you look close you can see that the fabric looks knitted.

I have all the blocks made for my granddaughter's quilt.  Two yellows and oranges are in the boy quilt as well, shown in the previous post.  I need to sew it together and get it quilted.  The shower is Oct. 14th.  My daughter is now about 29 weeks along and the babies are progressing well!

Linking up wtih Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

BIG project complete!!!

I did it!  I finished the 11 foot tree skirt!!!  It was pretty intense and I had to let a few things go by the wayside and had LOTS and LOTS of interruptions, but it's done!  This will go to the USDA building in Washington D.C. as part of the Capitol Christmas Tree project.  This years trees are coming from Idaho and my cousin is in charge of the over 8,000 ornaments and tree skirts needed for 70 trees.  She asked me to make a tree skirt and this is what I came up with.  It's my original design.  What a process!

 Due to lack of time I am only adding two pictures at this time. We took it to my school gym to take pictures.  Doug was up on a ladder trying to get a good shot.  I put a piece of white paper in the middle as we took the pic on a 4 square painted on the floor and the black lines were distracting in the center. To hook the 8 section together I hand stitched cording down the binding and then wove ribbons back and forth.

From the outside in there are trees, river, 8 gold fabrics including potatoes that Idaho is famous for, wheat, which is what we grow and grass to represent pastures and grass seed fields.  Canada geese fly over and then of course mountains.  There are crystals of various colors since Idaho is the gem state. The finale are the syringas, our state flower.

During the summer I had signed up for an exchange to support Ovarian cancer research.  we were given an 8" piece of teal fabric to be used in the quilt in some way and assigned a partner.  I made this wallhanging using the teal in the leaves.  I based it on a pattern by Laura Heine.

This is the wallhanging I received from my partner.  I love the ombre fabrrics and polka dots!  We think alike in our color likes, the brighter the better!

Check out other projects at Patchwork Times.

New Sew Along and an Old Project

School starts next week so that will be the end of my summer vacation. Officially it ended today as I had an all district meeting to attend and tomorrow I have a day long math training.  Even though I am considered a paraprofessional, aka aide, I teach Kindergarten and First Grade.  Per district requirements we are adding all day Kindergarten and now my hours will be extended.  Not sure how that is going to work out as I am used to most afternoons off, so we shall see.

I spent two days last week cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room. I didn't have time for a full gut job of getting rid of stuff, although I did get rid of a few things and some "yucky" feeling fabric.  I need to sort through my vast collection of books as I know there are some I will never ever use.  I am working on the tree skirt I need to get done, overwhelmed by it's sheer size, but I am doing it in panels.  Hopefully I will have some of it to show by next week.

One project I found was in a pizza box and had belonged to one of my best friends who passed away in 2010.  I acquired a lot of her stuff including a sewing machine, quilts and fabric.  She had shown me this project on a visit and I knew her intention.  The blue and white print in the cornerstones belonged to her grandmother.  There was a chunk in the box for backing and it said General Fabrics.  The weave is nice but the feel of the fabric is coarse.  I looked at it during my clean out and thought wow, only three dimensional flowers need appliqued down and the strips were all cut for a piano key border.  So I did that.  There wasn't anything for flower centers, so I added some buttons I had on hand.  Now it's a 22" wallhanging ready for quilting!  

Deb's Flower Basket with Memories of Grandma

I joined another sew along.  In a post in March I mentioned purchasing Fabric for Tula Pink's Modern City Sampler.  A sew along started on the 17th and I thought wow, I can do this!  The blocks are being sewn in order and you can follow along on Instagram at #100blocks100days or check out the directions.  I am julie.huffman on Instagram.  Catchy I know!

First Six blocks from Modern City Sampler 100 blocks in 100 days SAL

I am in a small group swap of 6" 9 patch blocks with 6" friendship star blocks.  I made a few extra, but will be sending one of each block to the other swappers.  I have LOTS of Christmas scraps!

Check out other fun projects at Patchwork Times.