Carey Family

Quilting

RSC2022-some July purple

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July has not been a great month for sewing, which is why I haven’t posted in a while. The first week was a bust because of family commitments, then the second week was trying to get some things done before my carpal tunnel surgery. That surgery has blown the rest of the month. During that second week I was able to make a little progress. I finished the pink pixellated heart & got it to the quilter as it’s a Christmas gift & the year is half over. I also got the Festival of Trees auction quilt theme & pattern finalized with my partners, so purchased all the fabric to be ready for when I can use a rotary cutter again.

My virtual quilt partner & I finished the Cookie Cutter tops & I need to piece the back & get it to the quilter. Our other partner is back from the humanitarian service mission she & her husband have been on for the last year, so we cut out a diamond quilt called Cascade before my surgery. I managed to do some chain piecing on the triangles & sides with them this week so we are going on that project. I’m using a fat quarter pack of fabric a friend brought back from Hawaii for my birthday several years ago. I’ve hoarded it for the perfect project & this is it!

I finished the binding for this RSC2021 project of my own design. Plus is made from all 2.5″ squares & is a Christmas gift for a nephew & his new wife. I love how it turned out & have ideas for another one with variations. Maybe a project for RSC2023??

I also made 4 Disappearing 4-Patch Covered in Love blocks for the July/August drive in case I don’t get any more made with my hands out of commission. They are for Project Linus in Uvalde, Texas this time.

Here’s my purple for this month: the Sweet Kisses & the Shine blocks. They were all cut out at the beginning of the year, so I was able to just sew them up. I’m hoping to get caught up next month before I have the procedure on the other hand, but I have to do the Festival quilt plus finish one more Christmas gift, so I may be finishing up my scrap colors in December! That’s life. 🙂

My current status for the six five RSC2022 projects:

  • 4 red, aqua, & yellow, 5 pink, 6 green, 10 blue blocks from the Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (need purple)
  • 1 red, aqua, yellow, pink, green, & blue twinkling friendship block inspired by Deb A. (need purple)
  • 3 red, 2 blue, 2 pink, 2 green, & 2 purple Shine blocks from the free pattern by Melissa Corry (on track)
  • 14 red, 16 aqua, 4 yellow, 14 pink, 6 dark green, 14 blue, 12 purple blocks for Sweet Kisses by Gigi’s Thimble (on track)
  • 7 red, aqua, yellow, pink, green & blue blocks, plus matching border string blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter (need purple)

RSC2022-blue June

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I finished this L&E project that was cut out in early 2021. It sat by my machine & slowly the squares & rectangles became flying geese, then they got sewed together, then they got borders. By the beginning of 2022, I had them laid out on the design wall & sewed them together. The flimsy hung around awhile, then went to the quilter, came home, got binding, & finally some hand-sewing to finish it off. And now “Flying Home” is ready to be gifted at a future date. The pattern is the free Jelly Belly Bars from FQS, but with the flying geese variation from Elm Street Quilts.

My blue Sweet Kisses blocks, plus a blue block for the May/June block drive at Covered in Love. Also a red/yellow still on the wall, made last month.

Catching Rainbows with string border blocks; another twinkling friendship star in the lower right; 10 blue blocks for the Tula Pink sampler. I like the contrast I got in these, which is better in person.

I recently picked up three kits of these zipper blocks to sew for Quilts for Kids. Here is the first flimsy done.

Because I work so many projects at once, there is a lot of sewing going on with projects in various stages. In the works: a monochrome gray called Ellipsis, Guiding Stars kit with Songbird fabric, chandelier blocks as LE project, September Sky by Bonnie Hunter, Rocky Road to Grayson by Bonnie Hunter, and a pink pixellated heart. I float back & forth on what I want to work on, then get to the point where I just want to finish something, then off I go to get ‘er done. Crazy, I know!

Currently waiting for binding: On the Move, the dark gray plus quilt, woodland critters row quilt

Currently at the quilter: the Lone Star from plains&pines, and the Rockabilly Swing (snail trail) from Bonnie Hunter

My current status for the six five RSC2022 projects:

  • 4 red, aqua, & yellow, 5 pink, 6 green, 10 blue blocks from the Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (on track)
  • 1 red, aqua, yellow, pink, green, & blue twinkling friendship block inspired by Deb A. (on track)
  • 3 red, 2 blue, 2 pink, 2 green Shine blocks from the free pattern by Melissa Corry (on track)
  • 14 red, 16 aqua, 4 yellow, 14 pink, 6 dark green, 14 blue blocks for Sweet Kisses by Gigi’s Thimble (on track)
  • 7 red, aqua, yellow, pink, green & blue blocks, plus matching border string blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter (on track)

RSC2022-May green progress

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In late 2016, this quilt began the long journey that finally ended this week. What???? My two quilting partners & I attended a class at our local quilt shop (long out of business now) to learn the hand-applique techniques involved in making this Sue Daley quilt called “Fun at the Fair”. We went for several classes to learn all the techniques, then were on our own to finish. I
fell in love with the handwork & was the first to finish all the blocks, by a long shot. But I hate doing sashing & I had trouble with the keystones. They are supposed to be appliqued circles over each intersection, but I didn’t have large enough pieces left from my charm packs to make the circles. So in frustration, I set it aside to try & figure out what to do instead. In the meantime, one friend finally finished her blocks & got it together, quilted & done. Then eventually the other did the same. I was left with finished blocks, all the fabric needed for backing & binding, but no finished quilt. I still hadn’t solved the keystone problem & didn’t want to deal with it. During COVID lockdown in 2020, I got out several old projects to finish up & this was one. I realized I had enough charm pack pieces left to cut small keystones, re-size the sashing pieces, & get it done. Honestly, it was not
hard! Then it waited for awhile because I had to get so many gift quilts to the quilters. End of 2021 it got quilted, beginning of 2022 it got binding, & this week it got finished!

I got some work done on my scrap projects this week: 6 Sweet Kisses in dark green with some light green saved for another month; 1 green twinkling friendship star; 2 green Shine. These are the only greens in the jelly roll I’m using for this project, so I sewed them up.

On the design wall: This is what I’ve been working on mostly the last couple weeks. I have 2 large sections done with 1 more to go at the bottom. It’s Star Trails by A Bright Corner, her new pattern. It’s going to be another masculine donation quilt. At the top are the two Covered in Love Block Drive blocks completed so far. These are excellent as L&E’s. (and scrap busters!)

My current status for the six five RSC2022 projects:

  • 4 red, aqua, & yellow, plus 5 pink blocks from the Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (need green)
  • 1 red, aqua, yellow, pink & green twinkling friendship block inspired by Deb A. (on track)
  • 3 red, 2 blue, 2 pink, 2 green Shine blocks from the free pattern by Melissa Corry (on track)
  • 14 red, 16 aqua, 4 yellow, 14 pink, 6 dark green blocks for Sweet Kisses by Gigi’s Thimble (on track)
  • 7 red, aqua, yellow, & pink blocks, plus matching border string blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter (need green; cut & started)

RSC2022-April wk. 3-more pink

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“Bricks” has its scrappy aqua binding on it & is a finish. This was an RSC2021 project that was a flimsy before the end of the year. It got quilted & bound this year. I got the idea for this quilt from Sylvia, who was inspired by Jo’s Country Junction, who found the idea originated with Julie of Me and My Quilts. I used scrappy light gray squares for the low-volume sections.

This is the first of my masculine donation tops to be completed. It’s from a free pattern called Plus Quilt by Jen Eskridge. Hers is a baby quilt, with some cutting & pasting of her worksheet, I expanded it to 60×70 to fit their requirements. This was quick & fun and used some blue & tan.

I made the pink blocks for Catching Rainbows & more stars for September Sky, both patterns by Bonnie Hunter. I need 53 stars for the quilt & 11 are completed, with all the parts done. With the pink sewed, I’ve accomplished my pink projects for this month! I’m removing the Amy Ellis Dancing Stars from my RSC lineup for this year so I’m down to five monthly projects. More time for squirrels!

My current status for the six five RSC2022 projects:

  • 4 red, aqua, & yellow, plus 5 pink blocks from the Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (on track)
  • 1 red, aqua, yellow, & pink twinkling friendship block inspired by Deb A. (on track)
  • 3 red, 2 blue, 2 pink Shine blocks from the free pattern by Melissa Corry (on track)
  • 14 red, 16 aqua, 4 yellow, & 14 pink blocks for Sweet Kisses by Gigi’s Thimble (on track)
  • 7 red, aqua, yellow, & pink blocks, plus matching border string blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter (on track)

RSC2022-April pinks week 2

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Here’s my design wall showing what I got done on pink blocks this week. I did a twinkling Friendship Star block. I made two a month last year & wanted more so am making one a month this year. Below that are the five pink blocks for the Tula Pink sampler. I was a little annoyed that my fabrics weren’t as contrasted as I thought when I chose & cut them. Especially the upper left one. It’s hard to tell the pattern unless you are close up. Grr. The string blocks on the right are the border blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter. Next week I’ll tackle the actual blocks.

After doing some pink, I wanted to move along some other projects a little bit since it’s only halfway through the month & I have time. So I put together some Rocky Road to Grayson blocks by Bonnie Hunter. They are the blue stars. I have several BH projects going right now & love them, but if you’ve ever made one of her patterns you know that each block requires a lot of piecing. After making lots of the parts, I wanted to make some blocks to feel like I’m getting something done. So I also started sewing together the scrappy yellow stars I’m making for September Sky. The lovely rainbow circles are some progress on Cookie Cutter by Jaybird Quilts with my virtual quilt partner. We sewed all the bottom halves of the circles together & had time to sew 5 whole blocks! That was awesome because, again, it felt like real progress after months of sewing parts. A few more weeks & this WIP will be a flimsy! Hers uses solids like the pattern & mine uses some Tula Pink fabric.

My current status for the six RSC2022 projects:

  • 4 red, aqua, & yellow, plus 5 pink blocks from the Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (on track)
  • 1 red, aqua, yellow, & pink twinkling friendship block inspired by Deb A. (on track)
  • 3 red, 2 blue, 2 pink Shine blocks from the free pattern by Melissa Corry (on track)
  • 14 red, 16 aqua, 4 yellow, & 14 pink blocks for Sweet Kisses by Gigi’s Thimble (on track)
  • 7 red, aqua, & yellow blocks, plus matching border string blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter (pink border blocks done, pink cut out)
  • 8 red & 6 aqua Dancing Stars by Amy Ellis (no new progress)