I received my win from 1 Choice 4 Quilting yesterday. A fat quarter bundle of the Strawberry Fields line and 2 yards of Bella solid – cream by fig tree. I normally use Kona Cotton for my solids but I have heard such good things of the Bella Solids by Moda that I really want to see what this is like.
Such pretty fabric. I am not sure at this point what I will make with it of course. It will sit on the shelf for awhile with me gazing at it now and then until something pops in my head.
I mentioned that I might get more quilting done on “Going in Circles” if I move it off the frame and put it in the living room to work on – so I did just that yesterday!!
The empty frame and looks like I have a little house cleaning to do while it is empty. This is my catch all space for this small room – toss it under the frame and it is out of my way.
The quilt on the couch, I got in about 2 hours of quilting on it yesterday – I really need to make a cover for that cushion I lean against 
it is a memory foam pillow – I will start quilting in this corner of the quilt today. I finished the quilting that needed to be done in the blue/yellow/white border area so that part is done now.
I have been having a little bit of arm pain to go with other discomforts when hand quilting at the 3 roller frame – the reaching across and quilting from side to side makes my left arm press again the roller in such a way that I think it has been causing some arm pain in the elbow area – maybe something like carpal tunnel syndrome? Being on the computer also makes the elbow area sore – so I’m sure it is a repetitive motion problem. I will be asking my doctor about it when I see him next month for my check up. I have fibromyalgia besides muscle/joint problems so I’m sure all of that plays into it.
So anyhow I will try it like this for a bit and see what happens and then take a total break from any hand quilting for about 6 weeks this fall and see what happens. I do want to get this quilt done though!!
What is on your design wall today – go on over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what ever one else is working on.
First I want to show what I finished! A finish how sweet. This little quilt was started about six weeks ago. I hand pieced it and hand quilted it. I got the binding finished last night before I went to bed. It finished at 43 x 43 inches. Right now it is on my table but it could be used for a baby quilt as well. Hand pieced, hand quilted, I used Quilters Dream batting – several pieces put together – a great way to use up scrap batting.
Pave the Way:
The back and the binding. My binding on the back is a little wider than I usually use – I measured wrong and didn’t realize it until after all was cut – I decided to just go with it rather than start over.
Some of the quilting up closer,
Now what I’m I working on today – “Going in Circles” is on my design wall today 
gotta get busy on it!
I truly think I am going to pin baste what is left to quilt – one border and take it off the frame. I can roll it up and bring it in the living room to work on. I think it will go faster. I want to get it done!
I haven’t posted any photos of the small quilt that I am hand quilting for awhile. I have been getting a lot of work done on this one and not on the big quilt! Something about sitting at the large frame for me is just not working out this summer – too hot, hips hurt, something anyhow. I am near to finishing but can’t seem to make myself sit there for long. I think as soon as I finish this small quilt I will pin baste what is left on the big quilt, roll it up and work on it in the living room. Maybe then I can get it done – it is down to the final border so I can roll it up and not have it draped all over me.
The small quilt -
I am actually about 3/4’s of the way done with it now – these two photos were taken two days ago. I will be working on this one at the quilt group I am going to today. I wonder if I will get it finished? My aim is to finish the quilting on it this weekend.
The big quilt – you can see from this one that if I pin baste it and take it off of the frame to work on in the living room that I can roll it up and just be working on this end of it. I really think that is what I will do to make myself get it done!
Now I better get off of the computer and get busy.
The weeks fly by it seems to me. As we age does time seem to go faster? It does to me. This week I will be concentrating on getting more of my pieces cut for the Joseph’s Coat Quilt. This is the stack of fabric I am working with while I wait for my background fabric to appear. Most of these are fat quarter in size, some a little larger and some are a little smaller. I hope I will have enough but who can tell – I really won’t know for sure until I get it all cut 
no worry though as with this quilt in this design I can just find a little more and add it in. Make sure to go over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is working.
This is the pattern I choose for my color – it won’t follow it exactly but it will be close to this arrangement of color – I think on my worksheet I am actually short one row going in width, I will decide that as I get going and if need be just add more to it.
Besides working on Joseph’s Coat I will also be working on my quilting of the “Going in Circles” the going is slow, I used to work for more hours at the quilting frame now I find it too hot sometimes and have a fan pointing at me besides the ceiling fan going and the a/c. The ceiling fan is on the opposite side of the room from where I am working right now – it is a long skinny room with a slanted ceiling so the only place for one is not where I am working right now on this long frame. Also although I love my large 3 roller quilting frame because I do not have to baste quilts I find I do not enjoy sitting at it as much as I used to. I think I am more uncomfortable in the hips and back then I used to be. I might eventually have to use it to baste my quilts on and then take them off of the frame and bring them into the living room to work in more comfort among the cushions of the couch. We will see – just a thought for now for sometime down the road.
It will be a hot week here and for a good portion of the US, I hope you all stay cool. Mike got the grass cut last night so that is done, we expect no rain in the upcoming forecast of 10 days and around 100 degrees each day as a lot of others are having as well. This will go down in the record books as one of our record hot summers I think.
We ended up with 4.25 inches of rain from yesterday late afternoon and then again in the middle of the night. Wow we sure did need that rain. Everything looks so much greener outside already. Of course it will be in the 90’s today so I doubt I will be outside all that much – the humidity is going to be horrible.. But I won’t have to water any plants for the next 4 days or so I bet. Grass will need to be cut by Sunday most likely – we will need to get to that early in the day as the heat is back to the high 90’s through the weekend.
Yesterday I did get a lot of work done though. I got more color schemes colored for the Joseph’s Coat and I printed out a color wheel to help me with color placement. I arranged all of my fabric in a “wheel” of sorts and then went from there – some might end up moved around a little bit but I think this is the arrangement I will be using. I’m not actually sure if the quilt will be a little bigger than the worksheet shows as I didn’t really measure well – it was more for color than actual size. But anyhow I will start in the lower left corner using the yellows to browns working my way through and end in the right hand upper corner with blues and greens. So now that I have this decided I need to actually figure size and then get started getting the fabric cut – this quilt will be a large queen size – I say large queen size because we have a deep mattress and I like it to just about touch the floor. I don’t think I will need anymore of the colors but if I do I can pick up the odd fat quarter here and there to mix in. This is needless to say a long term project – it will be hand pieced and eventually hand quilted. I’m looking forward to doing it this way once again – this is how I always used to make my quilts and it has only been in recent years that I started to machine piece more of my quilts.
Because of the rain I actually got a lot of quilting done yesterday as well. I quilted several hours on the small quilt in the living room – It is always hard to take a photo of the quilting with all the colors – where the pins are removed it is quilted 
Then in the evening I moved to the quilting room and sat in front of the big frame and got several hours of quilting in on the big quilt. I cranked it down before I went to bed and now I am really down to the last border – this will take another week or two to finish this – lots of quilting in the border.
I have been so busy with the Joseph’s Coat preparation work of color that it has been taking up the whole table top and I haven’t gotten any of the Farmer’s Wives blocks prepped this week. I might need to bring that into the dinning area today with a mat and work on it in there – I don’t want to move my “color wheel” right now
“Pave the Way” is finished. Well I was hand piecing this baby quilt / table topper so that I would be slowed down somewhat and not have another quilt to quilt for awhile – that didn’t work – I finished it this morning!!
I started it on June 23 and did not work on it every day but it is done – finished at just under 46 inches square. I guess I should have planned on using scraps with it and mixed it in with these fabrics and made a queen size instead!! I really do not wish to purchase 3 more boxes of candy bars and continue on making it into a queen! I did change this a little bit from the original version with the link in the next paragraph but it is close to it but now different and mine 
I am very much in the believe that borders are not necessary on patchwork quilts. Put a narrow binding of white on this quilt and it will look complete. A lot of patchwork in years gone by have no borders on them. The reason I mention this is because I have had several people tell me I needed to add one or two borders. The place I originally saw this pattern was here I couldn’t remember where I had seen it and someone sent me that link. The pieces are larger I think than what I used and yes she has a border of white around it like the white in the squares and has rows of white in between the patches. I could do that but I do not think I have enough of the white to do it. I might check and see if I do but if I do it would be a narrow border I would want it the same size as the white blocks if I do add one.
It could be a baby quilt or a table topper –
I think I will wait to get it ready for hand quilting a couple days and work some more on the nieces signature quilt – just about done with it. I need to get busy this next week and finish up the quilt on the frame so I will have room for the Signature Quilt and get started quilting it.
Thanks so much once again on the Going In Circles quilt. Yes I do not care if you make one like it – I really doubt you would make one exactly the same anyway. I have my patchwork going every which way in direction. You can make your corners different instead of patchwork you could just continue around the edges with vine and circles or flowers, my edges are going to be wavy – yours could be straight. If you wish to enter your quilt into a show or whatever I wouldn’t mind if you credit me as having been “inspired by” but that isn’t necessary.
I get a lot of my ideas from the Moda Bake Shop, if you haven’t checked them out run on over and visit them. I also get tons of ideas from many, many blogs. I always try to change them up just a little bit to make them mine, but some I follow exactly as seen.
I have been busy in this heat doing very little outside and staying in the house mainly hand stitching.
Last night I watered plants and thought I needed to run into town this morning to get a couple of soaker hoses to put around the plants in several of the flower beds to try to be economic in my watering. I am done trying to water grass – now it is plants only and some trees. If we are not officially in a drought I think they will soon be saying we are.
I have not been getting much work done on my Farmer’s Wife quilt but I did manage to finish Block #11 the intersections are not perfect but good enough for me.
I have also been working on the “Pave Your Way”quilt, I have 3 more rows to sew on. I did decide to go with a more square quilt and I think the measurements will be close to 50 x 50 but I’m not really sure what it is. I will measure when I am done and getting it ready for basting. This one will be going in the round hoop. I do not have it hanging quite straight as you can see but the 3 rows on the right need to be sewn on still and they do all measure the same.
I am experimenting with the pineapple pie today and will post photos tomorrow. I decided to change it up a little and turn it into an icebox pie instead of baking in the oven – too hot for the oven 
it isn’t finished or I would post now. If I would have done the pie as the recipe is it would be a very thin pie indeed!! To get a full mixture in your crust one would need to double the recipe at least (in my opinion).
I have been working on the Going In Circles quilt slowly lately – quilting here and there. Over the last year I have gotten so many compliments on this quilt and quilters wanting to know where they can purchase the pattern – I made the pattern up as I went along. If I had known what interest there was going to be in it I might have drawn up a pattern as I went. If you are really interested in how it was made send me a message and I will walk you through it or go back in the blog and look at the side bar and see Going in Circles – hit that and it will take you back to all the post that I did on it which really should walk you through it and help you figure it out – it was an easy quilt – really.
Wow what a busy day yesterday was. I helped Mike do some things on the house in the morning and then he left for work shortly after noon and I was alone the rest of the day and immersed myself with fabric and needle. It was too hot until late afternoon when a front came though to do anything outside but by then I was totally involved in making fabric picture frames. I think I spent just about the whole day working on projects from the time he left for work until I took a short break to water plants about 7 in the evening and then more fabric until 11 at night.
First I haven’t mentioned my Going in Circles quilt for awhile – I have been quilting in the evening and have been making progress – 1 1/2 hours of hand quilting last night - almost ready to give it another crank and it is getting so close – I will be working on this I bet just about every day now until I am done with it.
I made my 3rd Farmer’s Wife block – this is #14 from the book. I worked on this one for 2 days while watching the news in the morning and then again in the evening. I love having a hand piecing project near by once again.
This is one of the fabric frames that I am making for the photos on the signature wedding quilt. I will be appliqueing these to the quilt after I applique the frame to the photo. I have the outside edges glue basted under. On the inside of this oval I will needle turn the edges under starting with this photo today. Then the frame will be appliqued to the quilt and seeing as I have the edges already turned under with glue it will go fast.
This is the general way this part of the quilt will look when the applique is done. I will be putting a border around the quilt which will be about 5 or 6 inches wide and will put a scattering of fall leaves around it – maybe just in two corners but maybe all the way around, it depends on what I feel like when I get to that point. I decided I will put this quilt on the large quilting frame to quilt it as I am afraid if I use the hoop it might wear a little on the photos – I don’t want any of the photo to have any rub on it taking some ink out. Some of them didn’t turn out as dark as I would have hoped for. I might put a winding vine with a few tiny leaves in the with the photos – but haven’t decided – it might be too cluttered if I do that. I will be putting vines on the border as well so I might try it out by pinning and then stepping back and see what it looks like before doing any sewing.
I enjoyed my yard for a little bit last night when I took the time to sit and enjoy the cooler air we had that came through – it surprised me I didn’t know a front was going to come through and it cooled it from the 90’s to 84 degrees! The bugs were not too bad last night although I didn’t stay out very long.
Our yard is almost too much to keep up with – it is big, our land is way past those trees, that very far side past the trees only gets cut about once a month. It is very dry for this time of year here and I am having to water things already.
I don’t know about you but I tend to be in the house when it is very hot outside. I love being outside in the summertime, but when the weather hits in the mid-90’s I tend to wilt so I spent a good part of the day sewing and reading. It has been very hot lately for this early in June – unusual to say the least.
I got a large section of the piecing done on the wedding quilt yesterday – I will be glad to start working on the border – I always look forward to the border as it really finishes the quilt. I like the pieced fall leaves border but I just got to thinking this morning that I remember seeing in one of my books a fall type of quilt with a wandering vine along the edges. I am going to look for that book – Big Book of Scrap Quilts? — and see what it looked like before I start any pieced blocks – you all know how much I love applique 
and that might be just what this quilt is calling for. I’ll let you know tomorrow what I decide.
In the middle length the two blocks at the top and the two short rows on the bottom will be attached to the middle length before I attach to the other rows. I haven’t gotten around to looking at the wedding photos so I’m not sure what I am doing there. I do need to cut some fabric there today and treat it with the Bubble Jet 2000 to get it ready to print out.
Today I will work on this next section of blocks on the right side of the design wall. I need to get the sashing in between the blocks and get the rows attached so that part well be ready.
Besides working on this quilt yesterday I managed to finish getting the last of the red sashing around the Red & Green Quilt. Today – I want to get the final border cut from the background fabric for that quilt – I need four pieces about 15 wide – I need to take a final measurement and figure that out for sure before I cut. I put the red sashing on by hand and the background color will go on by hand also – that will give me something to work on when sitting in front of the tv and for Friday morning group. I am still trying to decide on a border for that quilt. I had thought I had it selected but now I am waffling – I like the border I had selected but I am think of a more free wandering vine with flowers and leaves here and there – the one I selected needs to be more precise and I’m not precise!
The final red sashing – I didn’t have space for a complete photo with the signature blocks on the design wall – so here is a quarter of it.
And – wow I was busy yesterday – here is a photo of the Going In Circles quilt – I’m close to finishing up one end of the quilt before I give it another crank down – a little progress is better than none – I just can’t seem to get myself to sit still and quilt for long periods of time so this last section has taken over a week to get to this point – almost to the border on this section. Next time I give it a crank down the whole end of the border will be in sight.
Love this time of year! I was outside cleaning out flower beds once again – no I don’t think I will ever get done — we have too big of a yard!!
Crocuses:
Hydrangea leaves budding out – only on the very bottom of the plant – maybe it is warmest there? on the branches are buds but none open.
This one still needs to be cleaned out, but there are iris’s and lilies. Clematis to climb up the trellis’s – I put the trellis’s up last year but the plant’s weren’t doing well, lets see how they do this year.
The Cherry Wreath – all of the berries are glued in place and I will work on the applique tomorrow evening at the quilt group. The stems of the berries will be embroidered from the wreath circle to the berries in chain stitch – two chains per berry.
I have 9 rows of the 25 rows on the Going In Circles quilt so I am getting close to half way – maybe in another week or so depending on how much time I put into it. I am trying to steadily work on it so that I can get it finished and another quilt on the frame by middle of summer – I am thinking the 2nd Dear Jane quilt “Insanity Revisited” will be next on – hopefully end of summer.
Someone asked did I have a photo (and more information about the quilt) Going In Circles quilt before I put it on the frame – yes- if you go to this post I have more photos. This photo below is when all of the applique was glue basted and I still needed to do the stitching but it looks the same as it does now. I just had to fold it slightly in the middle to get the photo as I didn’t have enough room! Yes the quilt is my own design and no I do not have a pattern for it. I kind of made it up as I went. All of the circles are made using my tutorial method here and all circles and vines and corner patchwork are stitched down by hand. It is 100 inches by 100 inches.
Tomorrow night is our quilt group meeting that meets once a month I’ll bring my camera and see if there are any quilts displayed for photos.
