WIP Wednesday - Happy to be Back

Even though the weather (before today) has been spectacularly beautiful, I have managed to find a little time for sewing.

 The leaves has just begun to turn autumn colors.   Every month of the year presents opportunities for beauty and special events (OK, so you may have to look a little harder in March's mud season around here) but October is by a wide margin my favorite month of the year.  New England foliage and fall events,  lovely crisp days and cool nights and our wedding anniversary and my birthday!  I promise to share some of the local color with you.

Speaking of color, I am playing with these in the new sewing cave.



I am indeed so excited to be back sewing!  So many projects on my mind that need to be translated to cotton and thread.  I'm also working on updating my social media.  This little blog needs some housekeeping and, hopefully, that will happen soon.  Meanwhile I have been waging a little war with Flickr.  The combination of a Yahoo product and my gmail account just did not want to work.  After much effort trying to solve this with the on-line community, I finally was able to work with someone (a real person!) at Yahoo customer support who unlocked the mystery.  Hooray!  I have now updated Flickr for most of my finished projects to date.

Today we are getting much needed rain and it is dark and wet outside.  My BFF from high school (and sisters) and her husband are visiting today and comfort food is on the menu for dinner.

Turkey shepherds pie in process.  The house smells very much like fall.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Freshly Pieced!  Hope you are enjoying your day, whatever the weather!
Kathy

WIP Wednesday - A Perfect First Day of Fall

Apple picking...

 Blueberry picking...

Boat ride on the smoothest water...

Sunset row...

 And playing with a little chartreuse fabric...

What a lovely way to welcome my favorite time of the year!

Kathy

Sunday Stash #2

It's been a fun week of fabric acquisitions.  First, from my local quilt shop Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, New Hampshire:

 To kill some time between appointments this week, I found myself at Quilter's Way in Acton, Massachusetts:

...because I really, really needed more Tula fabric.

And finally, once again I dragged my mother-in-law and husband through the Marden's in South Portland, Maine for these random gems:

Three states, three nice little bundles of fabric!  A good week!

Linking up with Molli's Sunday Stash party hosted this week by Blossom Heart Quilts.

Finished - My First Quilt

I started this project in January, 2012 and finished it in June, 2015.  Not one of my faster finishes.  I blogged about the quilt top here.

Before I had to pack up all my quilting toys for the move, I quilted and bound this special old project.

 This quilt was all about learning for me.

How to use a rotary blade cutter, read a pattern, press a seam, match points and so on, all part of the novice quilt experience.

 So, I decided to continue the learning opportunities with this quilt and did my own version of graffiti quilting.

 I randomly blocked off sections of the quilt and played with various quilting patterns.  These are only a few of the 20 or so different quilting styles I used on the quilt.

The quilting is difficult to see on the front side, so I am sharing the views from the backside.

The back of the quilt tells the story.

I am glad to have this one done and, even with all the imperfections in the piecing and the quilting, it will always be a special quilt to me.  Bonus: the quilt looks great up here at the lake.  

Now, onto some new projects!  Hooray!  Linking up with Amanda Jean's finish it up friday party!

Tula Blocks #82 - 100 on the New Design Wall

Crazy I know! How much excitement in one post!

My husband and I had a very productive Labor Day Weekend, at least by my standards.  A quick trip to the local lumber supply store minutes before they were closing for the long weekend, followed by an exciting drive home holding down the two insulating boards through the sun roof of the car was the beginning.

Using a rotary blade we cut the two insulating boards (1/2" thick) to the right height and width.  I cut a couple of pieces of batting and used 505 spray to glue them to the board, smoothing from the center out and then stapled down.    Isn't this beautiful?

And look what blocks are on the new design wall!  Yes, I finished the 100 Tula Pink City Sampler blocks.

Next step for this project is to use the design wall to lay out all 100 blocks and decide about sashing and so on.  Bringing these blocks out reminds me how much I love Tula's fabrics.

# 82

# 83

#84

#85 (one of my favorites)

#86

#87

#88

#89

#90

#91

#92

#93

#94

#95

#96

#97

#98

#99

#100

 So much fun!  Maybe I need more Tula fabric...

Happy Wednesday!
Kathy

WIP Wednesday - The Return to Sewing Inventory

I have had a fabulous summer.  We put a hold on unpacking, decorating and organizing the "new" house to enjoy the summer at the lake.  Beautiful weather and lots of guests (of all kinds!) kept me out of the sewing room.

However, Labor Day in the U.S. is around the corner and I am SO ready to get back into my sewing groove in my beautiful new room.  A good time to recap the various projects-in-process!  This could be discouraging, but here we go...

Quilting Needed:
Amazingly I only have TWO quilts in the queue awaiting quilting.  The first is a delectable mountain quilt made with a fabric line that I thought would be perfect for a lake house in the woods of New Hampshire.  However, I think this is now too dark for the house and I am gifting it to a very special person who played a key role in the renovation.

Then, there is an old quilt top dating back to my first year learning to quilt, the 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month taught by Amy Gibson.  I will be using the Leah Day Craftsy class where this quilt top is quilted as a guide to finishing.

Quilt Top to be Assembled:
Oh, I forgot to tell you that I completed ALL the Tula Pink City Sampler 100 blocks!  So sorry!  I just need a design wall now to play with the layout.

Quilts I'd Like to Make:
I started a few blocks for a Christmas quilt with a focus on using my Dear Mr. Claus stash.

At the rate I am going, I doubt this will see a finish in 2015 but I will continue to make blocks.

Before we got into serious packing mode, I cut a bunch of squares for a bed quilt for the new house.  Perhaps some HST using my new Bloc-Lok rulers might be fun.

Miscellaneous:
Making these selvage blocks is so relaxing (weird I know).  I will keep making these for a while until I can decide what to do with them.

And then I pulled together the supplies and a bag of scraps to make this summer purse.  Oh well, a good project to be ready for next summer!

Other Sewing Projects That Just Might Take Priority:
Our bedrooms really need window treatments and quilts.  I know I could purchase solutions but that just doesn't seem right!

And I'm actually not working on any of the above right now, as this pile of fabric is on the sewing table that will evolve into a fun little surprise project I will share soon!

I guess that's not too bad a list!  I just need some rainy days to keep me inside the sewing room!  In the mean time,  there is a fun quilt along that I could not resist joining!

Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts is hosting this quilt along that starts this week!  She has a long list of talented folks ready to share their pups with you.

Tuesday, October 6

Karen of Run Sew Fun

Kris of Kris Loves Fabric

Anja of Anja Quilts

Kelly of Quilting it Out

Tish of Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland

Thursday, October 8

Carol of Just Let Me Quilt

Nina of Inchworming

Doris of The Quilting Queen Online

Brandy of Pampered Pettit

Leena of Creative Instincts

Tuesday, October 13

Ruth of Charly and Ben’s Crafty Corner

Tanya of Tanya Quilts in Colorado

Laurel of Quilts by Laurel

Kathy of Kathy’s Quilting Blog

Deb of New Creative State

Thursday, October 15

Anita of Daydreams of Quilts

Gina of Quilts and Cakes

Beth of Words & Stitches

Rachel of Quiltineering

Julie of Mack and Mable

Tuesday, October 20

Cathy of A Quilting Chick

Selina of Selina Quilts

Shauna of Shauna’s World

Gayle of Pedal Sew Lightly

Kathy of Kayak Quilting   <=  Here I am!

Thursday, October 22

Sandy of Upstairs Hobby Room

Heide of Heide’s Quilty Hugs

Britt-Inger of Hill Valley Quilter

Judy of How ART You?

Louisa of Sewmotion

Tuesday, October 27
Teje of Nero’s Patch and Post

Stephanie of Jak and Will

Valerie of Val’s Quilting Studio

Ellen of Georgia Florida Studio

Cristina of Pretty Little Quilts

Thursday, October 29

Abigail of Cut & Alter

Magdalena of iloveneutrals

Jenn of A Quarter Inch from the Edge

Anne of Batiks by the Bay

Susie of Susie's Sunroom

Tracy of Tracy’s Bits N Pieces

Finally, I am linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday!  Have a good one!

Kathy