April Furtle and Such

April here on Vine (and elsewhere, as it happens) was filled with lots of different comings and goings. It was very wet, weather-wise - April showers bring May flowers, etc., etc. Because of the chill and rain, I spent the first part of the month down in my work space putting together the other ten basketballs for the Slam Dunk quilt for my great grandson. By the time I got to those, I'd come across a neat trick for making half square triangles without having to mark each square with a line (No Mark Stitch and Flip). Marvelous, especially since each "ball" had four HSTs!

Just a simple strip of cardstock makes an accurate stitch line.

By Monday, the 8th, I had all twenty basketballs completed, ready to sew into rows with sashing in between.

Twenty bouncing balls.

I managed to get the top row and top sashing done before leaving on a trip to visit with my dad in California. Because I was planning on staying a week with him, I packed my sewing machine and the basketball project in the car with a couple other maybe-to-do projects.

Sunday, the 7th, my daughter-in-law made an Easter wreath for our front door out of a pretty grapevine cross and fake lilies. She is quite clever in arranging holiday decor and I love how this looks.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

I left Friday morning headed over the Nevada desert to Northern California. Of course, I made a stop at the Quilt Parlor in Battle Mountain, Nevada (of all places). I hung around there for about an hour and managed to acquire fabric for a queen-sized quilt I'm planning on making for our grandson who is getting married in August of this year. (This will most likely take up a whole month of furtling news!) Anyhow, once I left there with my fabric goodies, I drove on to Reno to spend the night with my cousin; it's a good stopping off point before heading over Donner Pass to my dad's in Grass Valley. She gifted me with this beautiful piece:

A crafty gift from my cousin.

My cousin is good friends with Phyllis Cullen who is a renowned artist currently living in Hawaii. When my cousin visits there, Phyllis encourages her to get crafty (my cousin actually is quite crafty on her own, making beautiful jewelry); this dyed, quilted, and embroidered piece was one that she created on one of those occasions. I love it!

I set up my sewing machine on Dad's kitchen table and in between walks on the four acres he calls home, I managed to finish up the basketball quilt top. I discovered that insuring cornerstones and sashing all matched up was a real challenge; there again, the 1/4" seam comes into play.

Slam Dunk top done. Dad helped me hang it out on his pulley clothesline for an optimum photo.

I've gotten it quilted and ready for binding, labeling, and sending. That will happen in the next few days since I was interrupted (in a nice way) by a visit from my youngest sister - she flew from her home in Silverado, California to Dad's and then came with me back here to Utah - and helping my daughter-in-law put together a T-shirt quilt top for her daughter, my granddaughter.

What we came up with sans borders.

My daughter-in-law had gone ahead and cut out all the designs from the shirts, in some cases, way too small, so it was a real puzzle getting everything to fit. With the addition of cotton fabric, I think it turned out pretty darn good. However, after helping with this, I am not too sure if I will pursue making other T-shirt/clothing quilts, even though I have boxes of baby clothes my granddaughter gave to me to do just that. I suppose that if I'd been involved at the outset of this project, I may have enjoyed the process more. ;)

Just a note about the granddaughter that this quilt was made for; she was active in student government (served as a senator for the College of Humanities and Social Science in her last year) all four years of her time at Utah State University and graduated this last Friday, May 3rd, with Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Journalism & Communications. Grandma and Grandpa are very proud of her indeed!

Besides being smart, she's a beauty too!

While my sister was here visiting we furtled a bit in my yarn stash. She has been knitting some wonderful items for the last year or so and was working on a lovely shawl (using a pattern and yarn from here) which she is going to gift to ME. Anyway, I have a collection of yarns I purchased a few years ago from a local yarn store that went out of business and thought my sister would find something useful. She didn't but we did come up with many needles and crochet hooks which got us inspired to try our hand at this amigurumi crochet bookmouse. Having never heard of amigurumi and needing (ha!) another project, I took the dive and got halfway done by the end of April.

Poor thing doesn't look like much! My bloem basket makes a very good crochet project holder.

By the way, here is a photo of my sister knitting with Chester, the cat keeping her neck cozy with his tail! 

In the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to put the finish on at least three projects - the basketball quilt, the crocheted bookmouse, and a foundation paper-pieced pillow top (photo below). That means that there should be a mid-month post! Stay tuned . . . 

"Sisterhood" - a pattern from Happy Sew Lucky

I'm making the Sisterhood pillow for a young friend who recently graduated from Utah State University and who, for her four years there, was very involved with the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. In fact, she is going to be a counselor for the national organization this coming year.

On to further furtling . . . 

(For more information about this Furtle Around the Blogosphere, see Mini Archie's instructions here.)

Looking Back at March 2019

Here it is coming up on the end of April and I'm just getting around to recording my Furtling for March . . . thanks to Archie the Wonder Dog, I will get this linked up just under the wire!

March pussy-footed in with a little more snow and most of the remainder of the month continued cold and wet or snowy. By the first day of Spring (per the calendar), there'd been a bit of a meltdown and a few brave bulbs were pushing up.

March 29th view. The month roaring out.

Because the weather was mostly cloudy, there was plenty of opportunity to get some furtling in (big smile). As mentioned last month (!), I started working on the remake/new quilt for my grandson. Well, good news is I finished it and it was ready for quilting by the 13th. I pieced the back using the section of the old quilt that I was able to salvage and am quite pleased with how it turned out.

The pieced back.

Pre-quilting.

After quilting and binding - front. Draped over the fence when there was a break in the showers!

Once I'd photographed it for posterity, I folded it up and posted it to Arizona. My grandson called to tell me he'd received it and that it was a comfort to him that next week when he was down with the flu. He says that it is his "go-to" blanket for napping and TV watching. 8) Makes me happy!

Once I finished that quilt I felt it was time to do something just for me. Luckily, I had stumbled across Johanna Weidner's adorable Bloem Basket pattern AND the #bloembasketalong she was sponsoring on Instagram. Of course I had to join in! I picked what fabrics I thought I'd use on the 8th and one snowy Saturday I cut and stitched and finished my cute Crocus basket. Just couldn't help myself.

What a handy accessory this is!

The Fat Quarter Shop quiltalong, Threadology, published Blocks 3 and 4 on March 1 and 15, respectively, and I got those stitched up. I put them up on the design wall in the approximate location they'll appear on the finished quilt.

Ohio Star, 9-Patch, Shooting Star, and Churn Dash blocks. The large 9-Patch and Shooting Star blocks at the bottom will be featured on the back of the finished quilt.

There was a little break in the weather by the 23rd and on a trip to Home Depot, I picked up some pansy plants and planted them in containers on the patio. They looked so very cheerful against the otherwise gloomy skies.

Still blooming despite the late snow. March 29.

The Tooele County Quilters had a three-day sew-in March 26, 27, and 28; how could I not take advantage of that time to sew and gab all day! I pre-cut all the pieces for the basketball quilt I'd determined to make for my soon-to-be 8-year-old great grandson and packed it up and stitched away those three glorious days. Such fun! 

Ten of the 20 basketballs.

Chester, the cat, helping with the other ten blocks.

I mentioned last month that I began organizing my sewing/craft space. I made good progress on that AND, with the help of my handy (and handsome!) husband, made a lovely ironing table. I was inspired by this post from Sew Katie Did, and used this post from Elizabeth Hartmann for the removable cover. 

My new pressing table, front.

Pressing table - view over the top.

So, my furtling for March ended on a high note. Thanks, again, Helen and Mini Archie for this fun way to connect. See you sooner rather than later!

A February Furtle

Joining up again with Archie, the Wonder Dog, for a February Furtle (I like the sound of that).

Thankfully the month of February is short because, weather-wise, it tends to bring on the doldrums. However much we need the snow pack for summer watering, this year has been a record breaker and we've had enough already! 

The Oquirrh Mountains from our backporch - day after snowstorm.

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake - day after snowstorm.

The weather it seems, is an easy subject to go on about . . . but this post is focused on what came about in the furtling department for me. Truth be told, not much really!

I finished up the Quilty Hearts quilt (Emily Dennis from Quilty Love); just in time for Valentine's Day. I like how the front and binding turned out but am not a fan of the fabric on the back as it is just a tich off in color which really bugs me. I'm not sure yet if this quilt will be gifted anytime soon, so it's hanging on the quilt rack in the hallway where we can enjoy it every day.

Quilting is Curls and Hearts done by Michelle Jensen.

I showed it off at our Tooele County Quilters meeting on the 19th along with one of the blocks from the 2019 Block-of-the-Month pick, A Vintage Christmas Quilt book by Lori Holt. 

This was a fun little (6 inch) block to make and really tested my 1/4" seaming - and that is another story.

Back in July 2018, my granddaughter (in-law; my grandson's wife) asked if I might be able to salvage/restore a loved quilt that my grandson would not part with despite that fact that it was falling to pieces. Well, I tentatively agreed to take a look and in October she sent me photos of the poor, sad thing . . . 

Faded, holey, backing torn away - sad indeed.

In December she stuffed it in a box and sent it on to me for possible repair. I thought perhaps I could restore it and give it to my grandson for Christmas but that was not to be. My husband (bless his heart) helped me cut away the raggedy backing and binding and pick out the ties at each block's intersection and then I ironed it out as best I could.

The printed fabric is very faded and there are numerous holes.

Turns out, the quilt was made about 15 years ago by my grandson's aunt and given to her brother (my grandson's father) on the occasion of his second marriage. I'm not sure how my grandson came to have it but there is no doubt that it has been lovingly, or not, used. I worried over what to do with it and finally, in February, decided to try and take it apart and try and use the best pieces as a pieced backing on a new quilt. I managed to unpick one long side of blocks off and gave up after my hands started cramping! I had settled on a pattern that I'd purchased from GE Designs via Craftsy/Bluprint for the new top, picked a precut roll of 2-1/2" strips and required background, sashing, and cornerstone fabric. Once I had cut everything out and carefully labeled it I began to stitch the blocks together and this is where the struggle in getting an accurate 1/4" seam began. I made two sample blocks just to see if it would work out and discovered that even using the 1/4" setting on my sewing machine and going slowly, the what-was-supposed-to-be 12-1/2" block came out 11-1/2" instead! Ack! This did not make me happy, especially since I'd cut everything out to make the 20 blocks needed for the throw size top. 

The very cool pattern.

Fourteen usable blocks on the design wall - doesn't look too bad from this vantage point.

Long story short, I put the project aside and started organizing my craft/sewing area. All the while I was stressing over finding a solution to the 1/4" seam dilemma, reading tips from a variety of quilting geniuses, measuring and re-measuring, putting a tape guideline on my machine (which didn't work because it interfered with the bobbin case), ordering a 1/4" foot with guide, and even ordering a special straight sewing guide created by Christen at I See Stars Quilting. That, and a line drawn with a purple fine-line Sharpie on the bobbin case cover (in front of the foot and needle on my machine) seems to make a difference. The foot I got is plastic and the guide is a bit floppy which doesn't help at all. I've since ordered a metal foot with guide in the hopes it will be more sturdy. 

My grandson's birthday is this coming Sunday, and I wanted to have the new quilt with old quilt pieced backing done and posted to him in Arizona . . . umm . . . probably not going to happen. 

In late January I signed up for Amy Ellis's Seven Day Improv Quilting Challenge but didn't do anything with it until February. I spent two or three of my sewing sessions just playing around with the prompts that she'd sent in connection with the challenge. It was fun to play a bit and though I don't have any plans to pursue more improvisational work anytime soon, I do see some more play in the future. I have been doubly inspired by Jo with her lovely improv goodies from the January

 furtle.

My wonky improv attempts.

While making my almost daily cruise of Pinterest, I came across a quilt along that started February 15th over at the Fat Quarter Shop. Of course, I had to join in and by February 28th I'd made Block #1, the Ohio Star. This quilt along, Threadology, finishes up in June. I'm making use of the fat quarter bundle from Moda, Sunday Supper, that I've had in my stash for some time. I found some Kona cotton for the block backgrounds in a color that is so very close to the porcelain color in the collection. 

As of today, I've finished Blocks 2 (Nine-Patch) and 3 (Shooting Squares). So much fun and the 1/4" thing is getting better! Haha!

Referring back to a couple of my furtles from January, here are photos sent by grateful granddaughters:

Sweet great grandson reading in his super hero bean bag chair. 

Tiny dancer in her cushioned rocking chair.

Speaking of grandchildren, I have to brag a little on our grandson, Ty, who qualified for the RFD-TV The American rodeo semi-finals. His run was televised from Dallas, Texas, and I snapped these photos of the television. His parents flew to Dallas and had the thrill of watching him live.

I've been very busy reorganizing my craft/sewing space and will be posting about that this month as well as many other things, like a quilt for another great grandson who's having his 8th birthday in April. 

Looking forward to visiting with other February "furtlers."  Thanks again Helen and Mini Archie for this push back into the blogosphere!

 

Furtling First

Archie the Wonder Dog has made my day . . . and possibly my year! I came across this fabulous idea just yesterday (the 3rd of Feb here in the USA) and am going to join in. I'm one of those mentioned that has neglected my blog and, like Archie, I love the idea of more in-depth looks at crafty projects than can be seen over at Instagram.

So, without further ado, a words and photos compendium of my January 2019 crafty projects:

First off, we received some lovely Christmas gifts that called for a show of gratitude and so I pulled out my stamps and inks and made thank you cards. Since around October, I haven't done too much paper crafting (card making), and so it was kind of a fun switch to play with the inks. The card design is CASE'd from Susanne Netz at Sunn Stampin. I pulled out my StampinUp! inks, an old doily stamp from Close to My Heart, and a sentiment stamp from Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Susanne, for the color combination!

(My kitchen counter, background, sure looks PINK! It's really not.)

These notes got posted by the 7th of January and I was on to sewing projects. 

I do love Pinterest and probably (definitely actually!) spend entirely too much time there. At any rate, I've "pinned" many inspiring things and, wonder of wonders, have managed to DO some of them. Warming bowls of soup in the microwave often results in burnt fingers and when I saw a tutorial for the very clever microwave bowl cozies, I had to try one out. It took a bit longer than I expected but now that I've made one, I think it'll go faster and my plan is to make more for gifts (next Christmas?).

Used some lovely batik from my stash.

By the way, it works beautifully and my husband even uses it to heat up his bowl of instant oatmeal.

Two of our six great grandchildren had birthdays in January and having spotted this tutorial for a child-sized beanbag chair, I lost my marbles and decided to make one for the six-year-old. Yes, what was I thinking?? However, once I got it finished, I was pleased with the results and put in the back of my mind that I'd make a couple more (for March and June birthdays). I had to ship it and finding a box that would accommodate its bulk was a trick - and then there was the postage . . . 

Once it arrived at the destination and our granddaughter sent a photo of the happy boy, I was satisfied with my efforts!

Top left: Interior bag; Top right: Outside removable cover; Bottom: Detail of top

The happy birthday boy.

Our other January birthday child was going to be one-year-old on the 19th; a birthday party was planned for the 27th and so that gave me a bit more time to craft her gift. We went into the city one afternoon and stopped at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store for a meal. While there we purchased a child-sized rocking chair for the birthday girl. I had the perfect fabric in mind to make cushions for it and by the 25th the chair was dressed and ready. This tutorial from DIY Candy (that yes, was a Pinterest find) I adapted for the seat and back cushions . . . easy peasy. 

The fabric is Sage Glen Paper Dolls The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection from 2003 and was purchased for a quilt class I took back in 2004. I never made the quilt (had fun with my friends though) and, in fact, sent the class instructions and fabric to my sister in New Zealand. She never made the quilt either and this last October she sent it back to me! 

Turns out I was very, very ill on the day of the party; my husband took the little chair though and reported back that perhaps the birthday girl was too young to know what it was. However, our granddaughter (baby girl's mommy) was pleased.

Speaking of being ill - January started out pleasantly enough health wise but Monday, the 14th, I woke up and couldn't make a squeak! Laryngitis! That whole week and even into the next, I was barely able to whisper (which my husband thought was very pleasant indeed. Haha!) and then it morphed into a head cold and by the 27th stomach flu (I guess). I took many naps over the duration; thank goodness I'm retired and didn't have to get up and go. I did miss out on quilt meeting and a couple Sunday worship services but managed to cook meals and do laundry (oh joy!). 

On January 14th Emily Dennis at Quilty Love kicked off a quilt along using her new pattern Quilty Hearts. I grabbed the pattern and by the 24th had my fabric picked, pieces cut, and a few blocks sewn. This, I thought, would make a fun project to use up some of my fabric stash and get back into my [unwritten] to do list of making a quilt a month . . . ACK! I'm already behind!  Anyhow, this completed quilt will show up for February's Furtle (fingers crossed). As of today, the first four rows and corner units are sewn together. Here's how it looked on the 24th:

I'm making a throw size which requires 50 heart blocks.

I chose these navy and teal fabrics from two fat quarter bundles I'd gotten back in 2014 - RJR Rotary Club and Moda Sunday Supper.

Our next door neighbor's daughter is going to be mommy to a baby girl any minute and I wanted to make up something for her. I had some minky fabric leftover from the wedding quilt (blog post here) and while at Joann's getting fabric for the beanbag chair, found an pre-patched fabric that would match perfectly and give me the opportunity to try Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company's "even easier" self-binding baby blanket. Just a note - Minky is very hard to cut into a square! Anyway, it was for me. I made it work, though, and here are the results:

The soon-to-be grandma loves it.

So, that's it for my January Furtle. Hope I get this up in time!