Stitchin', stitchin', stitchin'

Keep those fingers stitchin'!

Just a quick post about my projects but first ...

I want to thank Linda from Flourishing Palms for awarding my blog the Liebster Award! Linda is a wonderful blog friend and someday before her move to Florida, we're going to meet in KC. Looking forward to that very much! My blog is officially a "No Award" blog but when Linda told me about the award, I really need some encouragement so again, my thanks.

Now back to quilting, you'll probably not be reading anything new on my blog for a few months. My life is just way too full right now taking care of my family and mom, quilt guild responsibilities and trying to get two quilts done in time for the June quilt show.

At our guild meeting on Tuesday, the president announced we are no longer able to withdraw quilts and I hope she was joking when she said they'd be displayed unfinished! I guess I could always call mine art quilts or folk art or maybe I'm just making a statement, ??? LOL

Here's the progress on my show quilts:

Clamshell quilt - I've begun big stitch quilting the clamshells. This is taking me a lot longer than I thought it would. Making those big stitches in a smooth curve isn't easy! The stitches on top look OK to me but underneath, not so good (if you can see them at all).

Rocky Road to Kansas - Is this a crazy quilt or an embroidered quilt? I'm sorry about the washed out photo. The gray is actually a little darker and the fabric used in the middle square is not quite so bright.

Thanks for stopping by!

A rocky road, indeed

In my last post, I told you about not being able to piece the Y-seams (actually V-seams) accurately by machine or hand and had resorted to hand appliqueing them. One night after only 4 1/2 hours of sleep, I decided to try sewing them by machine again and it worked! Hate to think I will have to give up sleep to get good quilting results but it worked this time.

This is the Rocky Road to Kansas wallhanging so far. As you can see, its not totally pieced together yet and I'm planning to take apart the horizontal rows again today. Why?

Because I don't like what's happening in the picture above. Points not matching or cut off and wrinkles. There are lots of seams coming together there creating bulk which isn't helping.

When something doesn't turn out as I want it to, I usually ask myself if it will bother me of if I'll even remember it in a year? This will definitely bother me and I'll remember it in a year, possibly the rest of my life, so today I'm picking out and figuring out a way to get the points sharp and matching.

When this is finally pieced, I plan to embroider the seams with crazy quilt stitches and embroider in the middle squares. My question to you is, is this a crazy quilt or an embroidered quilt?

On another note - Its raining! Our winter has been quite dry, brown and warm here so the rain is very welcome. I usually get a lot of sewing/quilting done on rainy days so it would be OK with me if it rained for the next few days!

What just happened here ...

Did I start some new projects or what?

I guess I can blame it on the cold weather we're having! Do not want to leave the house much except for food or fabric.

This is only part of a Rocky Road to Kansas crazy quilt. Just the strip piecing is done, still have to cut and sew the red insets and borders before I start stitching. Without being aware of doing so, I think my color choices were influenced by Amish / Mennonite quilts.

These wonky applique circles are part of a donation crazy quilt and one for me too! I think trim or lace or embroidery or something will be needed to make those circles look better.

More of the fabrics I'm using in that crazy quilt wallhanging. This one's a tough one for me because I'm used to working with strong bright colors and I'm trying to make something more in the pastel range and sweet, very sweet. I'm afraid I'm losing the battle and some brights are sneaking in.

These blocks are not new. I found them when I was looking around my sewing room for more fabrics to use in the Rocky Road to Kansas crazy quilt. All the fabric is brushed cotton / flannels and is striped. I remember now why I only made four blocks before I folded it all up and carefully put it away with the pattern (Antique Rug by Aardvark Quilts). See all those stripes? They have to match to create the design. At the time I started these, I didn't like matching but now it seems very appealing to me. Not sure when I'll get the chance to work on these again but I hope soon!

Remember my clamshell quilt? If not, you can see it here. I think I've decided to big stitch/utility stitch it in, gulp, orange perle cotton 8. Someone suggested orange to me this afternoon and my immediate reaction was less than positive but I've done some test stitching and it looks surprisingly good.

If I wake up tomorrow morning and hate it, I guess I can always blame it on the weather too!