Rocky Road to Kansas

This has been in process for a while - I can't remember how I made the string-piece units - probably on phone book pages, then trimmed to correct size using a template.  During my renovations, and moving a lot of books, giving away stuff, replacing stuff and books, I dusted off Eleanor Burns quilt books, and perhaps used part of her wonderful methods.  This RRtoK was machine quilted on a Janome MC6500 that almost always works wonderfully.  My favorite thread is silk-finish cotton Metler.  I wanted to practice my ruler work .  One more thing - no one ever talks about the Pressure foot and this time I adjusted it a lot until a good "sweet spot"  was found when quilting backward using the ruler, previously a bug-a-boo.  

Size is approx. 65" x 78".

NQR - Finally, it appears my roofing job may start soon.  This is some of the hardware,  and the shingles arrived a few minutes ago.  It's been 11 years since our last new roof - also replaced after a July hailstorm.  We don't get much rain here in western Nebraska, but frequently rain is accompanied by damaging hail.  I document life-happenings via this blog.  

Projects and more

Still here - just busy with projects, perseverance and a little procrastination.  I'm yakking a lot today!

This kaleidoscope was supposed to be a hand-quilted project, a calming, introspective, thoughtful time of my life.  Nope - wasn't happening.  Problems with manicured hands and long nails,  trying out a Grace stand-up quilting frame, no-fitting or lost thimbles, out-of-practice me, 10 thumbs getting in the way, running out of time, all happened, and this morning after another 2 hours of hand quilting and being unhappy with the result, I am changing my mind and will machine quilt it -- not sure of how,  but I find it quite soft and pretty, with an amazing border, and the circles show up well, due to choice of values. It's a good size (about 70" x 85") and I want it D-O-N-E.

Below is a recent QOV presentation to a well-deserved Navy veteran.  His wife was just beaming with pride.  I donated the top, it was machine quilted by another and friend Tina did the binding.  It turned out beautiful.  Note the similar pattern to above kaleidoscope above, using a 45 degree wedge ruler.  

Below is a recent All Day Sew event and I (on left) brought a much loved string quilt for Show and Tell, made mostly of REAL 30s prints.   I DID hand quilt this one years ago.  Janice had come to visit our group.  Take note of the design because ...

Below  (Rocky Road to Kansas or Virginia Bound) is recently made from mostly scrap blue, purple, greens, turquoise, reds  that came from my discards scrap basket.  I DID have to add more lights to the final collection of scraps.  There are several more rows to assemble, (4 x 5).  Inspiration was Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com - from one of her many delicious quilt books.  I absolutely LOVE the strings in the diamonds - this is where a person can add "glow" and I used a few turquoise and pinks that makes it SING!  It has more "bright and bold" in person.

It is laid out on my ta-da-da-da-da- daaaahhhh - NEW carpet/Design Floor!  This carpet /living room improvement project has been on hold for 2 months due to various delays, but the end result was worth the wait.  Wallpaper down, walls repaired and painted, drapes gone and wood blinds installed and a lot of corners cleared out!   Another project almost completed - I just have to move all the chatskees back into the curio/china cabinets.  

Laughing at myself - written several days ago.

I had spent hours basting a quilt, the Kaleidoscope, in prep. for hand quilting.  Just doing the basting is a humongous chore in itself, moving the heavy table inside, wiping it down, setting up, layering.  I gobbled down a handful of granola before attacking the job, not even bothering to put it in a dish.  Got that unpleasant basting job done, gathered all my hand quilting tools, set up a little work table, used a big hoop I still like, found several thimbles, even tried the expensive $22 thimble, tried them all, but they all were falling off, rolling away, or lost in the pile of quilt in my lap.   I am no longer thrilled with attractive long nails that Senior-hood has afforded me - they are causing finger fumbling!  This job has now become tedious, not relaxing which was the goal.   I spent another hour taping my finger, losing the thimbles as they rolled to the floor, or under the chair and finally found ONE thimble that worked the best, but then it also fell off and rolled ... somewhere.  Moved furniture, shook out the quilt top, checked pockets, shoes, under the chair cushion, but eventually gave up with impatience.   In frustration and impatience, I set that quilt top away for now ...  hours later I felt some of that granola that I had spilled down the front of my-shirt and was feeling itchy and  uncomfortable - dug around in my underwear ...  I found the granola crumbles ... also found the thimble.    

2015 - My birthday tree planted about 5 years ago.  Fortunately, it grows faster than I do!  LOL

In case you don't remember - I MQ on a DSM, currently a Janome MC 6500.

Below is one border edge on my huge "Cowboy Up", aka Tumalo Trails, from Quiltville.com.  I am practicing these swirls, and I think the end result is quite passable!  8-)) .  I had originally thought this design would be very time consuming, but NO, I did about 60 inches in one sitting.  I was careful to match the light blue thread to the border color, so hopefully, the texture will show, not the thread. 

 OK, I keep showing it - but hey, I LOVE it! 

I'm getting ready to take a driving trip and frequently dig in my quilting stash for gifts that might be suitable.  I love ALL of my quilts but they don't do anyone any good in the closet.  The Rocky Road to Kansas (blue string) that I call "Stringing my Blues" is one of my favorites. The quilting in the white area was done in a variegated white and pastels - turned out really nice, but kinda feminine.  Next time I will quilt something more masculine in style. 

The hourglass turned out nice as well.  This is an easy quilt with strip piecing.

Below (left) is my "Handsome Log Cabin" - I had a man in mind but then remembered he is from Canada!  Uh ohhhh, WRONG colors!!!  

Retreat, RRTK and Machine Quilting, Hourglass

I spent last long weekend at our Guild Retreat, located at a beautiful lodgey YMCA, with friends, a LOT of food, and beautiful views.  I think this was my 5th or 6th retreat at this location.   If you've been to a Quilting Retreat, these kinds of photos will look familiar. If you HAVEN'T been to a retreat, you are missing something. 

 I think that head on the pink shirt is Marlene!

 This pink shirt belongs to Donna, the recent Raffle winner of a quilt I helped make last year, called Prairie Schooler - lucky girl!

 Another view - we had a fireplace when needed.

These are part of Scotts Bluffs, the view out our window.  Just beyond the rail fence is the North Platte River, gurgling away, full of ruching water.

 The walk in front of the various rooms.  I believe there were 5 or 6 double rooms.

More North Platte River, with the noisy, gurgling tributary.  

 This is the entire lodge where we stayed - so comfy, economical and pleasant.  We gals did the meals, all taking turns in the wonderful kitchen.  No one went home hungry!!

My workspace - that "red" around my quilt is a flange, not binding.  I was with 2 other friends, and we were comparing work spaces -- neat or messy.  Note - no mess on the floor under MY project.  Also, I have learned to use a boat cushion on my chair to help me sit high enough.    A boat cushion doesn't compress, nor does it make rude noises when I plop down on it!

That portable machine worked just fine for much of the machine quilting.

 Carol, one of my roommates, also works neatly.  Note, no mess on the floor.  This was her first retreat, and we KNOW she had a great time.

 And then there's Tina - my other roommate, who said her floor was a mess because she was piecing a tiny chicken that took her all day, and there was much unsewing!   8-))

 This was just to show to DH, how much of a mess we all make and that he is not alone when he comments about MY mess at home.

I almost finished my project, a Rocky Road to Kansas design, that I call "Stringin' My Blues"  I DID have to unsew one entire border side of machine quilting as it just "didn't do"! The improved version was 2 simple evenly-spaced lines using my walking foot -- soooo much better.  Even someone who has machine quilted a LOT makes errors in judgment.

Also, some of the gals were interested in how I machine quilted on my DSM, questions about  what did I draw with, what stencil, etc.  Repeat - this is all free-form - no drawing, no stencil, no paper.  At first, thinking about quilting those swirls in the white border scared me and I had planned to draw them, or draw guidelines, but almost right away, I realized I could do them just fine free-form, and they are all surprisingly evenly spaced. Frankly, I'm amazed they ARE evenly spaced and wonder about brains and hands actually being able to coordinate so well. The design itself took about 10 minutes of practice to get the right size for that border width.

The flange sewn between the border and the binding definitely gave the quilt pizzazz - a trick I learned from my friend Jody (Goddess).  I DID purchase the RED for the last minute idea to add the flange.

 All of the other fabric for the top is from my stash.

Here it is today, hanging over my fence.  I hung heavy clamps to the top of the quilt that weight it over the top of the fence so wind does not blow it down.  The size is about 71" x 81".  As I frequently have said, "It turned out much better than I thought!"  

And here is my Hourglass, ready for sandwiching.  More stash use.  Hmmmm, how to quilt this????  This is probably the easiest pattern I ever made.  Onward and upward - Quilt ON!

A new block, prairie grass, and quilt basting

 This is the design for a new donated project our monthly Thursday night  quilters want to make.  This is the first batik fabric I've purchased - yes I love it, but there is so much standard cotton to use!  It's called Eli's Wheel and is a free pattern at Moda Bake Shop.  

 Note the prairie grass against the bricks, now taller than the house - it grows from nothing in the spring to over the roof in places.  I really wanted a tree in that place, but trees take so long.  Those plumes will last until spring when I cut them down, ready to start over.

Rocky  Road to Kansas.  My last Hurrah of fall - basting in the garage, where I set up the 2 tables, and put legs on legs, to keep from bending over for pinning. This job from beginning to end (assuming all is pressed) takes about 45-60 minutes, from set-up to take down.  Now to get to the quilting, my favorite part, although I haven't a clue as to quilting design.

Here's what I decided for the border.  More stash use-up.  

Today is lovely, but icy, snow, drizzle coming our way.  

Happy Quilting!

Table Runners, and "Stringin' My Blues,"

I'm either really early or really late with a Christmas runner!  Fingers were itching and I HAD to sew something!  This is a Missouri Star.  I quilted around the star with invisible thread and made small paisleys with a soft variegated green in the green areas.  Colors are richer in person. 

Success breeds success and I made another one with a regular star, for Fourth of July (below).  The original plan was to quilt the side setting triangles in glitzy fireworks, but my LQS did not have the "right" thread - (that's a first!) - and I'm thinking it's fine the way it is -- I can add "glitz" later.  

Here's the back - cute, and On Sale.

I'm trying to come up with a good border idea for my Rocky Road to Kansas, now called "Stringin' My Blues" - oh yes, using up strings.   This was supposed to mirror the centers of the star blocks. Uhh, I'm not feelin' it!  Try again, Elaine Adair! It's always good to try with a FEW blocks before cutting fabric when one is unsure. 

And now, to my Design Floor -- shade over your eyes - this appears more "in your face" than my planned finish, and when I trim to better proportions, this border idea will "do it".  I'm sewing strings to phone book paper.  This is a 4 1/2 border, but I'll trim to 3 1/2 inches.  I'll widen the white border #1, to the proportion of that side setting white triangle, and will narrow down the string border, and will likely add yet another white border, same proportion, ending up with a 9 inch border.  The quilt blocks are 12 inches.  I'm happy!  For me, it was important to carry on the suggestion of frugality, strings, using up, and making do.  My border strings were approximately the same width as what is used in the stars.  And yes, I AM using blue strings from various projects as well as adding a few new ones to the mix.  There actually are NO more blue strings in my String Bin!

Hooray, energy and enthusiasm is restored in MY Studio.

Rocky Road to Kansas, 5 Rows

Whew - so far, so good, but that's a LOTTA white!  I have one more row in process, making 30 blocks. Blocks are 12 inches finished.  Seems like a DARK, strong border is needed.  hmmmmm, perhaps more dark wedges paired with a medium blue???  Border ideas anyone?  Maybe there are enough wedges already?

My original plan was to keep the centers upper left dark.  But, somewhere along row 3, after closely concentrating on sewing those persnickety pointy corners, my disciplined layout was forgotten.  (Can't-See-the-Forest-for-the-Trees-Syndrome).  Some centers had dark in upper left, others had light in upper left - they did NOT look right.  My casualness said "OK, leave them that way."  Well -- every time I LOOKED at the quilt, it said "you messed up".  Eventually, I couldn't stand them laid wrong, and begrudgingly, unsewed the first 3 rows.  (Note to self, "follow your instinct." )

This is from Eleanor Burns/Quilt in a Day, and I love that she provided heavy card stock templates in her book.  That long white triangle along the side is one piece and sewn from pointy tip to the center, then pivoted, then down to the other point - no stopping.  My technique improved after 3-4 blocks, with the use of a tweezers at the pivot point, and I only had to fix a few.

Rocky Road to Kansas, and a Table Topper to be won

Here is my Blue Rocky Road to Kansas - 10 blocks of 30 needed.  Each block finishes at 12 inches.  I've put bits of dark red and limey green to keep it bright.  Will I EVER use up my BLUE scraps?  This is the second quilt I've made using this design - the other one (below) used mostly authentic thirties scraps and is hand quilted.  

(Below) - these are NOT my blue scraps - these scraps belong to my Quilt Guild.  I offered the skills of my local quilting friends to make the 2013 Serendipity (Raffle) quilt to be awarded in July.  This smaller table topper incentive is for ... not sure on this - it goes to the one who sold the most tickets, or to whose name is pulled from "the hat".  

This started as 9 blocks, then one brilliant person suggested we make it a table topper, and let's redesign the corners to turn it into an octagon - GREAT idea.  Then when I was trying to balance the blocks and colors, and exchanged places with some of the blocks, look what appeared --- a friendship star in the middle!  What a lovely surprise!   Then I added a narrow red strip and another blue strip, log cabin style.  I am leaning towards reducing the width of the last blue strip - not sure yet.  Sydney quilted the center block using her long-arm machine skills and I will machine quilt (DSM) the rest of it, following her style in the center.  For now, I'm not planning on using a traditional binding, maybe turning the front into the backing.  I'd love to win this myself.

This is our version of Lady of the Lake, one name of many similar.

Rocky Road to Kansas, and Orphan Blocks

I'm playing with strings, sewing them down to phone book pages.  This is going to be Rocky Road to Kansas, inspired by Eleanor Burns, Egg Money Quilts.  This particular pattern has 2 cardstock templates which are provided in her book. Thanks Eleanor!  I've made it before and it turned out great.

First, I rough cut the phone book pages to wedge size, then sewed on all the strings.  There is no measuring, so this part goes FAST.  I already had strings, and used most of my 1 1/2 in. pieces, but added wider and narrower for interest, mostly in the blue range.

I drew around the wedge template on the back of the string units, then trimmed with rotary cutter.  The center pieces start as squares, cut in half, sewed on the widest part of the wedge, and trimmed.  They are consistent for the entire project.

This will be 30, 12 inch blocks, 5 x 6, and I'll probably add a border.

I sewed the 4 wedges together, with that triangle attached and ended up with a star thingy, points flapping in the breeze.  (I forgot to photo the white template piece used for the 4 sides, provided as well.)  I marked with pencil the center of that white triangle/pivot point and pinned it to the inside pivot point of the star, started sewing at the outside star point to that pivot point, needle down, and wrangled it around (used a stiletto) and sewed down the other side to the next point.  One would not think it would work but it DID! I bit of pressing and voila!  After the first one, I discovered I should remove the paper from that pivot point for a sharper pivot.  First one is OK.  8-))  NO puckers!

 

Below are several 6 inch orphan blocks made into potholders.  I used one layer of cotton batting, then one layer of Insulbrite.  I found that turning them was not neat and tidy for my first ones (had forgotten how to do this simple task - note the flying geese points all caught in the thick seams!).  Then I remembered how to do it better!  Add a small sashing so the points wouldn't get lost, and for the backing. put a seam in the middle of the backing, but leave a few inches for turning.  For me, it's impossible to turn that item neatly leaving a side seam open, but if you sew a seam in the backing, and leave a few inches for turning, sew all 4 sides, it turns so much neater, then simply hand stitch the backing seam closed.  I machine quilted a few seams to finish it off.  I don't hang my potholders, so no tab.  AND no fussy binding.