Texas Chain is Finished!!

This gives me such a happy feeling! I started this quilt in January as a New Year's present to myself. And it spent months, literally, hanging around on my design wall. It's one of those quilts that has to be arranged on the wall, and then taken and sewn in a definite order, or it will end up all messed up. Back about a month ago, when we got back from our last vacation trip, I finally got the determination to finish it. And anyone who knows me realizes that when I get determined, that's it. It could also be called stubborn..... ask my husband..... but determined sounds a lot better. (grin)
This quilt was designed by Judy Martin, one of my all time favourites, and is found in her  The Creative Pattern Book. The quilting design is taken directly from a diagram in her book. I saw it, loved it, and wanted to replicate it. The only thing was that it was diagonal cross hatching, ordinarily requiring a lot of time consuming ruler work, and I didn't want it to take that long. So instead of using a ruler, I did a wavy kind of cross hatching, sometimes called "organic".
For the finish, the binding, I used my favourite faux piped binding combined with a diagonally printed stripe. I love how it gives the look of a time consuming bias binding, without doing a time consuming bias binding. If I see a diagonal stripe somewhere in a design or colours I don't have, it comes home with me or gets delivered to me. It's kinda become one of my signatures for a quilt. Speaking of which, I completely forgot to put a label on this one, oops.......
I used a new to me type batting for this one, called Tuscany Wool, from Hobbs. I can't say that I really like the way it behaved while doing the quilting. It has resin added to the surface of the batt, supposed to stop bearding, but it made it act like a stiff polyester batt. The wrinkles from the packaging never fully relaxed, and the quilting came out like a thicker polyester batt. I can see that this batt would have definite advantages for doing quilting that needed a lot of loft, like some of the more modern quilts need.
However, after saying all that, the quilt, now that it is finished, is wonderfully light and airy. I put it on the bed last night, and it was really comfortable to sleep under. I haven't washed it yet, and the instructions say to use tepid water in the machine on a gentle cycle, and lay flat to dry. The gentle cycle I can do, lay flat to dry, on the other hand, is not going to happen, so I have no idea how it will behave in the dryer. I'll have to check my dryer for a gentle cycle, or maybe Matt and Becca's new dryer will have one. So the jury is still out as far as using wool batts. I'll have to work up the courage to put it in the washer and dryer before I know for sure.
I'm going to link up this finish to Crazy Mom Quilts. Then, since I am doing the blog for the London Friendship Quilters Guild this year, I need to go through the photos of last night's meeting, and see which ones are good for use. I was using the guild's camera, so it's not familiar to me for its functions. In case you are interested by the way, there is a free sampler quilt being run on that blog this year, just starting now.

A New Year Coming

For some strange reason, when it comes to my quilting, I always think of September as the start of a new season, rather than January. Or maybe in addition to January.... sort of a just past mid year correction. It probably has a lot to do with the new guild year starting in September. Anyway.... now that all the vacation time is done, it's time to do some re-evaluating. Way back in January, I made up some lists of things I wanted to accomplish this year. It's a good bet that next to none of them are done. I know that because the lists are on the right hand side bar of this blog, staring at me. So, I am going to make an attempt to restructure the way I do things. Starting this month, as in August, I am going to schedule in one of my own quilts to be loaded and quilted each month. I have 13 of them sitting and waiting. One of them has been waiting for over 10 years. I'll start with the ones that will take a basic pantograph, for starters, while I consider what I want to do with the ones that will require something more intense. But right now, I can't even see them all, let alone lay them out to get an idea of what I want to do on them.
Also, in keeping with trying to restructure, I also want to get some of the UFOs and WIPs that are hanging around here also finished. With that in mind, I stayed upstairs sewing Tuesday night until almost 9 pm. Now that may not sound like anything special, but it's upstairs, as in the studio built in the garage. For some strange reason, I get creeped out when I'm up there by myself after dark. In the summer it's not so bad, because it's obviously light fairly late into the evening. But the days are getting shorter, so I'm going to try and get over that creeped out feeling. And the only way I know to do that is to be up there after dark. I think it's because it's so isolated up there. There's a connecting door that goes into the unfinished side of the garage, that then leads to a door on the main floor of the house. But if something were to happen where I needed to yell for help, no one would hear me. And that is really silly, since there is this wonderful invention that I always have with me, called a cell phone, that is a marvellous way of yelling for help. And really, I don't even know what I'd need to yell for help for! While I was up there Tuesday night, I got a few more rows of Texas Chain made up.
 I'd like to get the last of them done at which point the centre section of the quilt will be done. It's only been up there on the wall since January. I have this pile ready to sew together. And then after that, it's the last 2 rows and the centre of this thing is done. Maybe by the end of the weekend I'll have the centre put together and a start on finishing the borders.

Design Wall Monday, June 29, 2015

It's been a while since I've done a design wall post. Nothing much on my wall had changed enough to warrant doing a post. However, that changed a bit today. Jennette and I have been swapping Disappearing four patch blocks for the past six months. I took down part of Texas Chain that's been hogging the wall for months now,   so I could lay them out and see how they look. I really, really like it! However, I discovered an oops that happened somewhere along the line. We started out with doing 1 1/4 inch cuts for the centre crossed ares so that we ended up with 3/4 inch finished crosses. Somewhere along the line, we switched over to 1 1/2 inch cuts, ending up with 1 inch finished crosses in the centres. It's not an absolute disaster, though. It can be put together with some creative sashing.... maybe a narrow border and put the different ones on the outside. We're taking a break for the summer months, and will start up swapping again at the end of September.
After I finished playing with these, I took them off and put Texas Chain back up on the wall. I did a couple of hours worth of sewing and arranging on it, and it is getting much closer to being done. The end is in sight. Just one more row of chains left to do, and the  I can move on to the borders. It's getting late, so I think I'll link up to Judy's Design Wall Monday, and then maybe find something light and fluffy to watch on Netflix. There might be some stitching on La Passacaglia going on, as well. Which means it will be listening to something light and fluffy, rather than watching.

What does the frog say?!?!

Rippit........rippit........ rippit!!!!
I finally managed to tear myself away from working on La Passacaglia and spend some time working on Texas Chain, a design by Judy Martin. It's been hanging around on my wall since I started it back in January. I was going happily along, and got a singles row, and a nine patch row done. I put them up on the wall so I could begin to place the colours for the next two rows. But something was off... something was very off, and it took me a while to figure it out. In this picture below, that light background square on the right is supposed to be the top of the next set of coloured squares. I made the same mistake all the way down the row. So, I had to do some selective fussy unsewing.....
sigh...........  They are now all ripped out, and I have the next row all laid out. I might have to cut a few more squares to give the last row some variety and contrast. But I decided that it was best not to do any more sewing, lest I make another mistake requiring the frogs to start singing again. I'm linking up to The Needle and Thread Network for its Work in Progress Wednesday, except that I haven't made a lot of progress........ sigh.........
 

Design Wall Monday, March 23, 2015

I still have the same old project on my wall, Texas Chain, a design by Judy Martin. It's had a little bit more added to it, but not a lot. Now that the weather's improving, I may get up into the studio more often to work on it. I really like it. The other project up on my wall are the Disappearing Four Patch blocks that Jannette and I are swapping each month. We're using Kona Snow, combined with large scale floral prints. I totally and completely love the way they look.
We are doing four prints per month, making two of each print. We keep one of each print for ourselves, and mail the other ones, so we end up with eight different blocks each month. They are easy and fun to do, and don't require a huge time commitment to make. And maybe, just maybe, the weather will co-operate at the beginning of April, so that we can meet for a coffee and swap them in person, rather than through the post. If not, I'm sure Canada Post will oblige us and deliver them for us.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday, and then I think I'll browse to see what everyone else is up to. And there just might be a few Disappearing four patch blocks made tonight, too.

WIP Wednesday

I haven't done a Work in Progress Wednesday post for a while now, mostly because my projects were stalled. But I've finally managed some sewing time upstairs, because the temperature warmed up enough for my feet to stay warm. I'm back to working on Texas Chain. I'm almost to the point where I can start laying out the rest of the rows. Another day of sewing up there should get me to the new rows...... maybe tomorrow...

And I'm continuing to make up blocks for my Sister's Choice Variation project. I need 32 of these blocks. I have 11 done, so I'm 30% of the way there. The colours in real life are a bit brighter.
                                                              
                                                                                       
                                                                               I''m going to link this up to the Canadian Needle and Thread Network and also to WIP Wednesday. And then, I think I'll make up a few more Sister's Choice blocks and also do a little more on La Passacaglia.

Design Wall Monday, Feb. 16, 2015

There's still nothing new up on my wall. Texas Chain is still there, and slowly growing. I'm not spending a lot of time up in the studio, these days. With the weather being as cold as it is, the heat is having a hard time keeping up with keeping my studio warm. I have a really good and efficient heater up there, and most of the time it's OK. But when it's really cold and windy, like the last few days, the wind blows in under the front of the garage door, and gets under the floor of the studio, which is a room that was built into half of the garage. The air of the room is warm, but the floor is freezing. I have those foam play mats that kids use down on the floor where I stand, but even those aren't helping. My feet end up like two blocks of ice after about an hour. I really need to pull out something that I can work on down here, that doesn't need to be up on a wall. In the meantime, I do hand stitching and I knit.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday

Design Wall Monday, Feb.2, 2015

I'm still working on my Texas Chain quilt, which is another Judy Martin quilt. I'm not sure, off the top of my head, what book it's from, and I'm too lazy to go upstairs to the studio to find out. It's slowly coming together, little bits at a time. It has to go directly from the design wall, to the sewing machine, so I only work on it when I'm upstairs. It's rather amazing how much it shrinks up, once the seams are sewn.
 I would have stayed up stairs and done some more on this, but it's really cold out side, and the heater in the studio is having a hard time keeping up, and my poor toesies are getting cold, even with two pairs of socks, one of them wool hand knit, and a pair of warm slippers. I guess there's a limit to what can be expected from a room built into a garage, which is what my studio is. I finished a quilt today, binding included, but I haven't gotten a picture of it yet. that's on my to-do list for tomorrow. In the meantime tonight, I'm going to do some more hand stitching on my current obsession, after I link up to Judy's Design Wall Monday and also to Love Laugh Quilt's Monday Makings.

Design Wall Monday

There's lots going on here, today. I'm sleeping much better, thanks to an increase in my prescription, so I have my energy and mojo back. I'm ready to quilt up one of my own projects. I had originally listed them on the right hand side bar of my block, from oldest to youngest, planning on quilting them in that order. But, when push came to shove, I just couldn't bring myself to load that oldest one. But then I couldn't decided which one to do. So, I took the easy way out. I texted Gail and asked her to pick a number between 1 and 13, without giving her the reason until after she picked a number. She picked number 8. So, I counted down to the quilt that was eighth on the list. It's this one. So, I'm now in the process of making a backing for it. I wanted something light in colour for it, and I also wanted it to come from stash. I have a lot of cream and tan background what-was-I-thinking fabrics that I was originally going to use. But with the white in the front of the quilt, creams and tans just didn't quite fit. I revisited my stash and found some light greens with white backgrounds that work much better. Some of it is yardage, and some of it is fat quarters. I'm squaring them all up, and cutting them to equal widths to make them easier to sew together and to make sure that backing ends up square for loading onto the frame. Some of this stuff has been in the stash for a very long time, so it's great to get it used up.
And then, if that isn't enough, I cut and started laying out a new project over the weekend. It's a pattern by one of my favourite designers....... you know who it is....... Judy Martin. It's called Texas Chain. I can't remember which book it's from, off the top of my head. This is what I've got so far. I'm using mostly a Stonehenge jelly roll, and a few other pieces from my stash to increase the contrasts in the chain. A lot of the fabrics in the jelly roll are quite alike in shade and value. So far, I'm happy with the way it looks. There are a few more rows to lay out, but I've run out of wall. I'll have to start sewing, and then add the rest. I still have a fairly wide range of colours and lights and darks left to finish it. I'm linking all this up to Judy's Design Wall Monday and also to Wips be Gone.
I'm hoping to get this backing finished today, and the quilt loaded,  and also some sewing done on Texas Chain. It's going to take a bit of thought to figure out the most efficient way to sew it together without getting up and down to take things off the wall one at a time. Sometime this week, I also want to get the last three stars sewn onto this rosette. I'd hoped to get it done yesterday, and worked at it until about 5 pm. But my eyes started to give out, and I switched to machine sewing instead. And now...... time to sew a backing together.