I've been busy (but not blogging)

I keep thinking I'm going to write a blog post, and never seem to get around to it. Instead, I read or knit or quilt. Which is good because those things all bring me joy, but it means that my record of my quilting progress is not up to date. Usually I go to my blog to figure out, "now when did I make THAT quilt?" but since I haven't posted in MONTHS, I'm at a bit of a loss. Let's see if I can piece together the last seven months or so - I've been productive! In June, I tried my hand at longarm quilting for the first time. The recipient was so surprised - I love it when the quilt is unexpected like that!

I finished a baby quilt for a baby born in late December, and went back to the longarm to quilt it while also quilting another scrap quilt that I made over a decade ago:

I chose to quilt this baby quilt for a baby due in February on my own domestic machine (I guess I never took a full completed quilt photo):

I finally finished hand quilting my niece's baby quilt - regular quilting in the white, big stitch quilting with embroidery floss in the colors (she's going to be 4 in April):

Throughout it all, I made a couple of bee blocks each month:

I've been working on my Scrappy Trips Around the World quilt, thinking it will go to a friend who will be having surgery in March,

but I've also been thinking I might want to make them a plaid and denim quilt instead like this one: This weekend, I'm headed back to the longarmer to quilt this one for my twin sister who has made noises about the fact that she'd like a snuggle quilt for the couch. I love this one so I'm happy to keep it in the family.

And that's about it for my quilting the last couple of months. Lots of knitting and reading, too, plus I moved to Indiana in June. Never a dull moment, I tell ya!

Rekindling the fire

 After wrestling my last quilt through my domestic machine, binding it, and giving it away, I kinda lost my mojo. 

Bonnie Hunter's 2018 Leader & Ender "Jewel Box Stars" with sashing and cornerstones

The quilting is pretty minimal - just in the ditch around all the sashing and

 diagonally through the stars - but I couldn't handle anything more on my machine.

I haven't turned on my sewing machine in three weeks!  But then Facebook notified me about an event that might interest me (I find the algorithms and the tracking of my information unsettling, but this time it was helpful) - a Free Materials Swap sponsored by a fiber-lovers group in a nearby town.  

Free fiber???  And a chance to clean out some of the things I have that I probably will never use??  Yesterday I packed two large tote bags with novelty fabric and some flannels and some yarn that was languishing in my stash, took the top off my Jeep, and set off for parts unknown under a bright blue late spring sky.

What a lovely way to spend the afternoon!  I brought back one tote bag full of goodies with NO GUILT since I had given away twice that much AND I didn't spend a dime!

First, I got some fabric.  My goal was to seek out neutrals in particular, scraps that caught my eye in general (yes, my scrap bin is still full, but I feel like I've seen and used all of those fabrics recently).  Check out my haul!

Then, I snatched up some yarn: a sweater quantity of this rich purple bulky yarn (mystery fiber content, but definitely wool, possibly with some mohair mixed in):

700 grams!!

And a couple singletons that I just couldn't pass up:

Madeleine Tosh Lace!!

Not sure what this is, but it is so soft and orange is my favorite color.  If I had to guess, I'd say it is llama.

Can you tell that I'm an autumn?  These are my colors all wrapped up together!!

I'm proud of myself for my restraint because there was SO MUCH great stuff there.  One of the organizers kept saying, "Err on the side of GREED, we don't want leftovers!"😂

On top of that, going through my stash for things to get rid of also prompted me to add more destash fabric and yarn to my ETSY shop.

Something about reorganizing puts me in the mood to CREATE, so I plan to sew tonight once my meetings are over.

Oh, and the cherry on top - one of the organizers owns a studio nearby where they rent longarm time.  I've been looking for an opportunity to try quilting my own quilts on a longarm since I have SO MANY TOPS that need quilting and I much prefer hand quilting over my feeble efforts to machine quilt on my domestic machine.  I'm going to start with this 70" square Star Sampler quilt top that I made as a class sample years ago.  A friend is getting married this summer, and I am hoping to give this to her as a snuggle quilt.

Kinda looks dingy in this lighting, but the background is a soft gray Kona solid

I am linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

I thought I was done...

On Sunday, I finished reconciling my books for my business so I could turn everything over to the accountant.  What a weight off my shoulders but, UGH!  Hours of looking at numbers on a computer screen!  The perfect remedy for the malaise that brought on was, of course, quilting!  I finished piecing my Star Sampler top!

At least, I THOUGHT I was finished, but the darned thing is screaming for some kind of border to me.  I'm thinking continuing the Irish Chain out half a block more around the whole thing.  What do you think?

Then, despite the fact that I am a hand quilter, I am sending this out to a long armer.  There is NO WAY I'm going to try to hand quilt through all of those batiks!

This quilt makes me happy.  Know what else makes me happy?  This month, my husband and I finally paid off our student loans, 24 years after graduating from college!!!  We're headed to Cancun this weekend for a 5-day "Spring Break" to celebrate, just the two of us.  I'm dancing the happy dance!  I plan to eat, sleep, read, sit on the beach and knit and that's IT!

One for the books

I get some unusual requests at my shop...but I think this one takes the cake.  I was asked to make a Virginia Military Institute scarf for Mr. Potato Head.  I like a challenge, so I gave it a go.

I thought she wanted a knit scarf since we're a yarn shop.

But then she mentioned wanting the VMI "spider" logo, so I tried again with knit fabric.

I hope one of these fits the bill.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up my Star Sampler quilt.  The fourth and final star we'll be making, Rising Star, is my favorite, I think.

I hope to finish piecing the top tomorrow.

I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

The Start of my Star Sampler

A month since my last post!?!  How embarrassing!  Of course, I have been crazy busy...

And I have been creating.  Lately, it's been A LOT of knitting, but also working on a Star Sampler quilt for a class I'll be teaching.  I'm using a batik charm pack and a coordinating 2.5" strip roll and a gray Kona solid for the background, setting the four different star blocks that we are making with simple Irish Chain alternate blocks.  We are doing the ribbon star

the woven star

the simplified lemoyne star

and the rising star (which I haven't finished yet).

Is it possible I only have 8 blocks done so far??  I need to get cracking!

With three of each star block and 13 alternate blocks, they can make a nice 60" square quilt in no time.  I need to sit down and crank out the rest of these blocks this weekend so I can hang the top in the shop as advertisement for the class.

I've also been working on my row for the 2017 Row by Row Experience, but I can't show you that!

Here's hoping everyone out there is finding some "me" time in all the craziness of 21st century life.