Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[koshergrl]

Just a few more minutes and it will be sock monkey shopping time! Woo hoo!!!!

 

[Sunshine]

My green blocks aren't going as fast as they were in TN - 1 a week. I just realized that I was teaching and off during the summer then. Now I'm working full time and driving an hour one way every work day. DUH. Going to have to slow down a bit, but I still don't have many to do. Should still be done before summer gets here. Maybe even before I retire.

 

[freedombecki]

My green blocks aren't going as fast as they were in TN - 1 a week. I just realized that I was teaching and off during the summer then. Now I'm working full time and driving an hour one way every work day. DUH. Going to have to slow down a bit, but I still don't have many to do. Should still be done before summer gets here. Maybe even before I retire.

I think a slower pace is a good idea, especially if you have experienced pain in hands, arms, or shoulders after embroidering by hand nonstop for 3 days. Carpal tunnel is often caused by overuse when doing hobbies doing the same motion repeatedly. Overuse can cause problems in any joint or muscle, depending on your body's propensities. I just hope you can stitch in comfort and keep muscles and joints covered by layering so you can remain comfortable when stitching. I got carpal tunnel once, years ago when cross stitching a sampler. Boy, was I mad I couldn't finish it. Now, if aches start, I just lay off a little while, grab a mug of hot steamy red raspberry bigelow tea (tm), relax, warm up, do something else for a while, then go back when I'm rested. Crochet could have the same effect, but I've learned just when to stop and change focus for a little while, or even until the next day sometimes. When you're working, I know you don't have that luxury. It won't be long to May!

 

[freedombecki]

Well, I got all the log cabin squares doen for another red log cabin quilt. Now, it's just a matter of finishing the star-shaped center and adding corners. I took down my old printer, got the new one set up, but it malfunctioned. When I called up hp, they located the problem being inside the computer, and are sending a new one out which will take about 10 days. Oh, well. I hate to put a printer on my new computer, so I have to wait a few days before posting pictures again. I completed 24 blocks just before lunch today.

 

[koshergrl]

Ok, I bought stuff for the sock monkeys but went to the beach instead with my oldest son, lol.

I'm working on the french knots on the little pillow....

 

[freedombecki]

Ok, I bought stuff for the sock monkeys but went to the beach instead with my oldest son, lol.

I'm working on the french knots on the little pillow....

It's going to be a masterpiece. koshergrl.

My new large printer didn't work, so they're going to replace it. I disconnected my other small printer, now I can't show progress.

I finished 24 squares on the red log cabin and joined them to be a large log cabin star with sawtooth borders at top and bottom to make it 36x56 so far. When all the borders are added, I hope it measures around 42x60". That's the plan, anyway.

So it's off to the sewing room to put on the last borders, then I'm turning in my aches for a good night's rest.

God bless our troops

 

[freedombecki]

Last night, I just crawled under the covers & slept, got up bright and early and completed the red log cabin quilt later in the morning. Anyway, it measures 42.5" x 62.5".

Sorry, no picture.

...waiting for printer...

 

[freedombecki]

Today was spent making another red log cabin series of squares, which are as yet incomplete. The 10 January quilts were taken down to the quilter's closet, six miles from our farm. I pray that they will cheer up the children who find themselves in the shelter for abused families.

The only other thing I did was to do a sample of a square for another small quilt, after the second red one, which was a double-strip log cabin that was so cute I did it from memory, having seen a quilt like it online before my old computer crashed last week. I can hardly wait to get started!

Hope everyone here is doing well and enjoying pages past on this thread. It's off to the sewing machine, so see you later.

 

[freedombecki]

The February red log cabin quilt has 4 red blocks in the center. All 24 blocks are ready to set in place around the center. 3 hours of work later, it might be another quilt in the area of 42x60" (give or take a few inches, depending on what the border begs).

The next quilt is a double-strip log cabin, which, the way I've joined the first 6 or 7 prototype blocks resemble water wheels. Someone in Australia had given it a name, though her blocks look totally different from mine, which are distinct-centered squares with light color legs next to the center and darker ones to the outside. The lady from Australia (au address) made some practice squares that employ a random character print appearance. Aussies must have other sources for quilt fabrics than the USA, because I wasn't recognizing so much as a modicum of her prints. I'm rather impressed, and saved it on my new computer. See if it can be pulled up.

Well for what it's worth, her centers are 4-patches. Mine are solid centers 3" before sewing and 2.5" squares when finished. The double strips (aka twosies) finish at 1.25" per strip and the pair finishes at 2.5" like the center. The light strips, place at center, form legs like waterwheels, sorta. Her double strips are far more dispersive in their appearance's approach. Oh, I also just noticed: hers are set like log cabins. Mine are not. The strips are all cut 5.5" and sewn in a special way that causes them to look like I did a lot more work than was actually done.

 

[freedombecki]

Well, not too much progress, but the star is assembled.

 

[koshergrl]

Beautiful, Becki.

I still haven't done my monkeys but I think I'm very close, lol. I went into Fred Meyer's today and they had sock monkey basket thingies! I about died! I should have looked at the price, darnit...

The ones I do this time will have red lips. I have some red felt (I haven't been able to find any red-toed/red-heeled socks!).

So I'm really bummed because I finished the embroidery on the little pillow...and went to start on the ruffle and half of it is missing! At some point, it got separated from the rest of the stuff and it's gone. So I have to think of what to do for a ruffle. I can either try to find some material that perfectly matches...or just use a different fabric. I'm bummed, but will forge ahead. It's not like I don't have scads of material...but it will not be the same color as the body of the pillow. Still I think if I used green for the ruffle, my daughter would love it, as she loves green...I think that is what I will probably do.

As I stew on that, I've started a couple of sets of pillow cases. A couple of years ago my daughter and I embroidered a couple of pillow cases, and we gave those as gifts (with new pillows stuffed in them, of course!) to the kids' nana. I think that's a pretty good, inexpensive gift to have hanging around. The ones I'm working on now are a pair of swans, probably take up 1/4-1/3 of the length of the pillow case...pretty big but very cool. Unfortunately, I can't find any place here that sells floss, and my supply is getting low!!!!!

 

[koshergrl]

I have scoped out a print shop though...I'm about ready to start creating some of my own transfers for embroidery, and my understanding is the way to do it is draw it out and take it to a print shop and they put it on the right kind of paper...

 

[freedombecki]

Are you designing your own? If so, write a book, koshergrl!

 

[freedombecki]

The red points-of-light log cabin quilt for Tall Pines Charity Bees is done. It measures 43 1/2 x 66", give or take an inch either way. Morning is a good time to work on a quilt. It was completed before making raisin spice oatmeal for the freedom family.

Here it is the 8th of February, and only one quilt is done. Too much red! Time to move on, except I cut enough more red strips to make 3 more quilts the same size. I keep the pieces in stacks, and one of the stacks was 3" high. Some were non-existent or had less than 5 pieces left. Now, they're all 4" high. lol! I haven't made a firm decision on the next one, except that little double-strip log cabin has 8 blocks already.

 

[koshergrl]

Are you designing your own? If so, write a book, koshergrl!

Not yet, but I'm going to.

I want to make the girls samplers, and I want to make boy-themed pillow cases for my son. For him I want to do something with a Minecraft (online game) theme. I'm a fair hand at sketching and I can figure it out...and my granddaughter wants to do something horsey for her little sampler....so I'm going to make a horse sampler with the alphabet, numbers and her name on it.

 

[koshergrl]

Here are some minecraft images; I'm sure I could turn them into an easy enough pattern:

 

[freedombecki]

That's something, koshergrl. I'd not seen those before. Apparently other quilters have, because when I loaded "minecraft quilt" there were dozens of items, this pillow being just one of them:

 

[freedombecki]

...and another that someone made ...

 

[freedombecki]

Oh, my goodness--cross stitches are everywhere with this idea! ​

My goodness, they're everywhere.

 

[koshergrl]

Ohmigosh! Those are great!!! I think we could throw one of those pillows together quickly!