WIP Wednesday – Primitive Reproductions

I absolutely love this fabric.  I’m not too crazy about the partridge with the pear, but it is seasonal, so I can make allowances.  I bought 4 charm packs and some yardage of  Seasonal LIttle Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings from my favourite quilt store in Fort St. John.  I am doing my  utmost to be very deliberate in the construction of this quilt.  Already I have made a couple goofs and am upset with myself.  I wanted all the pieces with parallel lines to go in the same direction.  Third block, fail!  Sigh.

To this point the planned layout is as shown.  Once I took the picture and it presented as quartered snowballs rather than bow ties has me second guessing the plan.  Either way, I am going to be snuggly and warm on the couch with this new lap quilt.

Mark 8:18  Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?

WIP Wednesday – Binding

This Saturday our Presbytery will be ordaining a recent graduate from seminary.  I have been asked to preach the sermon in the worship service.  I consider it a great privilege.  The soon to be minister has become a good friend to me since I was called to this congregation four years ago.  As before, I designed and quilted an ordination stole.  Today it is at the binding stage along with another WIP that has just been quilted at the Quilty Guilt.  Imagine, two projects completed by the end of the month!

The stole is on the right and middle, with a dove FM quilted on the reverse.  (note the use of my favourite fabric designer, Barbara Brackman’s Morris Apprentice)

 

The bible quote from Exodus seemed appropriate since it concerns the directions for constructing priestly garments.  One day I will have to design a stole that has “pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson” all along the hem.

Exodus 28:32  It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it may not be torn.

WIP Wednesday

Brownies a la Mode from Strip-Smart Quilts using two 3 Sisters Park Avenue Jelly Rolls.  Enjoy!

Scrappy WIP

Almost at the finished stages for one quilt top, now fallen to neglect when I realize that the left over scraps are the same size as a stash of other scraps from a previous project.  I was working on a quick strip pattern using two Moda 3 Sisters Park Avenue jelly rolls I purchased in Kamloops.  We were there just prior to the May long weekend visiting classmates on a Four Day Getaway.  My creative impulse has transferred my focus to sewing long strips of four patch blocks, adding a strip of blue to the right and then separating the four pieces with six inches of a neutral.  Today I expect to finish piecing this latest project as the weather forecast calls for rain showers and thunderstorms all day today.

WIP – Dilema Redux

As suspected, the red had to come out of Aunt Nancy’s Favourite.  So one has now become two.  I am replacing the removed blocks with blue, green and purple.

 Of course I am maintaining integrity by using more of Barbara Brackman’s fabrics from her Morris Apprentice, A Morris Tapestry and Morris and Company.  As I write, four more blocks to go and I will be re-assembling the top.

WIP Wednesday – Aunt Nancy’s Favourite

I mentioned some time ago that I bought some Morris Apprentice fabrics intended for a quilt for my sister.  I was browsing through my pattern books and came across ‘Aunt Nancy’s Favourite’ in The Big Book of Patchwork – 50 Fabulous Quilts by Judy Hopkins.  Last night I finished the blocks.  It was truly satisfying working on these, each one unique.  I love the fabrics, 90% of them William Morris Inspired from three or four different series, and I think they lend themselves really well  to this design.  If my sibling is not as pleased, I’ll keep this one.

WIP Wednesday – Revisited

Last week I decided that the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ quilt was finished.  I considered stenciling a pattern on the border, then changed my mind.  Still not satisfied, I quilted a single line of stitching 1/2″ in from the binding.  Better.  Now I was done.  Yesterday I revisited my decision and am now quilting the perimeter in ever-increasing increments.  I see it satisfying my desire to quilt the rather large border and not distract from the columns of colour.  It should also provide continuity for the repetition of rectangles. 

Don’t be alarmed that I am not using a walking foot.  There is no batting in this quilt (blanket?).  It has a flannel sheet as the middle layer and a flannel back, so only three layers of fabric are being sewn together in this case.  I used a long ruler and a water soluble pencil to scribe the next line for quilting.  The third line will be another 1/2″ or more away, and probably a fourth further again.   I’d like to be finished tomorrow so I can add it to the collection of quilts going to the women’s shelter.

Is a quilt ever really finished?  Or is it just that we are unprepared to say we are done?

Home Hearths – WIP

I am making good progress on the Rainbow Log Cabin Quilt.  More than half of the blocks are completed.  Optimistically, the top should be complete by the weekend.

My housework is sadly lacking attention.  I am seriously considering a mental health day today and giving one of the bathrooms a good cleaning.  I already have one load of laundry washing and am charging three devices (the Nikon, Blackberry and the Kindle).  There is way too much stuff in this house, beyond the extensive stash.  I confess to being a bit of a hoarder, thankfully not an obsessive one, although there is some obsessive organization of hoarded things.  For instance, the stash is organized by colour AND by size.

Isaiah 23:18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

Wednesday’s WIP update

I have started nothing new (amazing), rather working diligently on WIPs.  I am stippling the Fruits of the Spirit (Chinese Coins) quilt, the 16.5″ Lenten banner top is ready for sandwiching.  I was naughty yesterday, purchasing fabric in a neighbouring town after an early morning meeting.  (Another promise broken – sigh)

        My sister has asked for a lap quilt to compliment her Stickley sofa, specifically of fabric reproducing William Morris designs.  I was looking for a 24″ ruler, having not found one at my local store or at the quilt stores in the neighbouring province.  I walked into Piece by Peace and there, in all its lushious glory was The Morris Apprentice charm packs.  Well …  how could I resist?!  Most of it goes beautifully with the sample my sister gave me of her sofa’s fabric (not as shown).

This morning’s wander through some of my favourite blogs I encountered this.  Magnum Block.  Love it!  So many talented people out there.  Thank you!

Log Cabin Rainbow

Some time in the future the quilters are planning to sew Log Cabin block quilts for the women’s and children’s shelter.  Here is my plan.  In the drawn diagram I thought light green would work next to the yellow, but when I did up the test block I was not all that pleased with the effect.  I am much happier with white instead.  I think it will look much brighter when assembled.  This block is not quite complete, it needs one more strip of green along the top.

I learned that the traditional Log Cabin block always has a red block at the centre.  It is meant to represent the hearth, the centre of the home.  There are a number of other WIPs on the list before I delve seriously into this one.

Ezekiel 46:23  On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around.