SOLSTICE SO FAR

 I finished sewing together the parts and pieces that I have of the Solstice Quilt.  I'm waiting on some more Kona Shitake to finish the background.

OLD PROJECT

 I pulled out an old project that I haven't worked on in quite a while.

I put the parts I had already done up on the wall and sorted through the instructions in order to bring myself up to speed.

I have all of the blocks done.  It just needs a background.

I choose a medium grey, Kona Shitake.  I don't have enough to do all of the background, but I cut up what I have.  I'll have to order more and hope it matches.

Here's where I ended the day.

BLOCKS 5 AND 6

Here are Blocks 5 and 6 from the Bryan House Solstice quilt that I'm going to call Eclipse.  They are mirror images of each other.  I used the freezer paper piecing method.

SOLSTICE BLOCK FOUR

 We got a take out lunch from Cafe Con Leche and took it down to Diagonal Park and sat at a very cold picnic table to eat.  It was beautifully sunny, but a little too breezy and cold, day.  

Then I spent the afternoon in the studio making the fourth blocks of the Solstice Quilt. 

SOLSTICE BLOCK ONE

 I started on the Solstice quilt from Bryan House.  Here's block one.  

Here's what it will look like when it's done, but in my colors.

BINDING ON SOLSTICE

I've been waiting for some Kona cotton solid, Bluebell, to be delivered that I wanted to use as binding for the Solstice Quilt.  It took about a week and a half to come from Hancock's of Paducah.

It arrived yesterday, I put it (and the rest of the fabric I ordered) through the wash and dry.  This morning I went out early to the studio and made the binding.

I now have a satisfying project to work on while watching TV.  [I've been re-watching "The Game of Thrones"]

Once I finish the binding, I need to put it in the wash and hope the yellow chalk that I used to mark it comes out!

SOLSTICE QUILT QUILTED

It took all week, but I got the last of it quilted this morning.

I took it off the machine and trimmed the batting off and squared it up.  It turned out great.

I started thinking about binding - what was I going to use?

My fallback was using the ugly plaid I put on the back - it sort of matches, but not really.

As I was making the binding (what a pain flannel is) it occurred to me that maybe a print would look good - especially a toile, a white with blue toile de Jouy.  I have some, somewhere.  When I looked through my stash I came up with 3 or 4 that might work, but I did not have enough to do the whole binding.  What about a solid?  I looked through my solids stash - nothing.

But I have a sample card for Kona Cotton Solids.  There are 303 color swatches on it - there's got to be one that matches, right?  Well, as it turns out, there is one that's sort of close.  That means I have to go order it and wait for it to get here.

QUILTING SOLSTICE QUILT

I've been working on quilting the Solstice Challenge Quilt all week, putting in an hour or two everyday.

Some days were a real challenge with a lot of picking out and re-doing and even some machine failures.

Jelly was curious and wanted to see what I was doing.

I'm not sure why, but my bobbin got all tangled up and froze.

After I cut away the bobbin thread, this was under the quilt.

The first block in the Challenge.

 At one point, the machine starting making funny clunking noises.  When I pulled it to the side, these parts flew off....

It took me a few minutes to figure out where they came from.

Oh, it's the thread guide that goes around the needle.

Luckily, I found the tiny little screw that holds it all together and after several attempts and adjustments, I managed to get it back where it belongs.  And tightened down very tight.

Quilt on.

SOLSTICE TOP FINISHED

I got the top all sewn together on the Solstice Quilt Challenge and made the back.  I even gave it a label.  

I loaded the back onto the machine, but I'm waiting on some batting.

LATTICE FOR SOLSTICE

This morning Darrell helped me fix the tear in my longarm's table.  We glued it back down and put a clamp on it.  Hopefully that will work.

Afterward, I went to the doctor's this morning and had the stitches removed from my wrist.  It feels much better.  Then I went up to sew.

I settled for some 'snow' colored flannel for the lattice on the Solstice Quilt.  I really didn't think it worked at first, but it's growing on me.  

I worked on putting it all together this afternoon.

LAST THREE SOLSTICE BLOCKS

 I got behind, but I caught up today making the last three blocks for the Solstice Challenge.

#23 Eureka!

#24 Lucky Girl

#25 Summer Rose

I need some fabric to use as sashing.  The only thing I have at the moment is pure white flannel, which is not the same as the white in these fabrics.   It's much to white.  I need more of an ivory.  I was thinking I should dye it.  But, how do you dye white to ivory.  I googled it, they all said use tea dye.  That seems wrong for several reasons.  I've heard tea dye is so acidic it will eventually eat up the fabric.  Plus, it seems the wrong color to me.  Too brown.  Ivory is not brown.  But, I'm not sure what it is either.

Maybe I should go to the fabric store.  

SOLSTICE BLOCK 22

Here is the shrunk down version of this week's Solstice Challenge block.

The block was supposed to be 24" square, but I'm making all my blocks just 12" because I have a limited amount of fabric -- and it's dwindling fast.

Even on this block, I used a different background in the corners because I didn't have enough of the other.  That pretty much finished off that little striped fabric.

This is Weathervane:

They came and installed the new countertops today!

The backsplash tile will be installed tomorrow.

SOLSTICE WEEK 21

This one has a lot of little 2 inch squares.

I'm not so sure it works with all these plaids and their lines going every way and not matching up!

I would have used a less busy background if I had had more choices.

GETTING CAUGHT UP

I finally got around to making this week's Solstice Challenge block, "Hugs and Kisses".

The directions called for doing it in such a way that there would be a lot of fabric waste.  I'm getting down to small bits of fabric left and I'm getting concerned about having enough.  I decided to make the block, but in a way that wouldn't use as much fabric.

I first had to draw out the block on paper so I could figure out what size pieces I needed.

This is how the directions wanted it made.

Here is the little drawing I made, with actual sizes so I'd know what size to cut the pieces.

I sewed the triangles to the sides of the rectangle.

Then I squared them down to the right size.

The finished block - Hugs and Kisses.

 Then I moved on to the Children's Library Block of the Month.

This is May's - "Green Eggs and Ham".

WORK FREE THURSDAY

I had to take today off from work to make a decision about tile for our kitchen remodel and get it ordered.

I had a very busy day.

I got a little sewing in first thing in the morning. 

I made the latest Solstice Challenge block.

It's called "Board Games" and was designed as a 24" block.  I have a finite amount of fabric and haven't been able to find any to add to my group.  So, I had made the decision early on to just make 12" blocks instead, and then sash them in a simple setting.

I pared this block down to the basics and made it 12" instead.

After that I took the dogs for a walk in Lincoln Park.  They were so excited!  We haven't been to the park for a while because of my schedule lately.

I took the dogs home and then headed down to the area around the Seattle Design Center and went to several tile dealers.

I thought I had narrowed it down to the one I wanted, but I found another I like even better.  I got a sample and filled out an application to be able to buy from them.

I came home for lunch with the DH, he likes this new tile better also.  After lunch I realized that the quarterly taxes are due on Monday.  So, I sat down and got that taken care of.

I had about an hour and a half until I had to get dinner started so I went back upstairs to start on a new project.

Yes, I said 'new' project.  [What is wrong with me?!]

Hard as it is to believe, I actually bought a kit.  Yes, a prepackaged kit with fabric and pattern.  This is first for me.  It looked so fun I couldn't help myself.

I prewashed the fabrics yesterday.  I ironed some of them and got them organized and then cut out and sewed together the first block today.

It's called Wallflower.

There are two blocks, this is the simple one.  They are 18" blocks.

EARTH DAY 2017

Today is Earth Day.  There are marches planned all over the country.  We will be participating in the one here in Seattle this afternoon.

In the meantime, I got some sewing time in.

I made the recent Solstice Challenge block, number 18, called "On The Go".

And then I made another Splendid Sampler block.  

This is Flights of Friendship by Barb Groves and Mary Jacobson

The blue block in here gave me fits.  I had to pick out the top and bottom rows because I got the triangles in backwards (you wouldn't think that was even possible).  Then after I got those straightened out, as I was sewing the rows together, I see that I had one of the background squares in wrong side out.  Out came the seam ripper again.   But, it's together and it's done and it's right.  I can check that one off my list.  Yeah!  

Now off we go to the Science March.

SPRING FEVER

Yes, I do have a small case of Spring Fever.  I'm starting the remodel project of our kitchen, but that's another story.
This story is about the next block in the Solstice Challenge.

It is called Spring Fever.

SOLSTICE BLOCKS OF THE WEEK

Here are the last two Solstice Challenge blocks.  I'm catching up.

Number 15 is called  Precious Fabric

Number 16 is called Friendship block.

HONEY BEE BLOCK

This is block 14 of the Solstice Challenge.


I finished the applique while at work on this rainy, drizzly day.