Brave Patch and Sherri Lynn Wood have started another Improv That Block Squad session. Today was the first workshop. Our first block is the Fan block. Sherri showed us the basics about making the block and we broke out into little groups and talked about the block. We did some drawings and made some blocks.
I put mine up on the wall with Tumblers and the Nine-patches I made at the beginning of the year.
I got back to work on finishing the quilting on the Garden Club quilt today. Right away I see there's another problem on that left side, too much fabric in the border. (This happens when you don't measure the quilt top across the middle and cut the border strip to fit, and instead just sew it on and cut it off at the end once it's sewn on - don't do that).
So, I took another dart in it, and continued on. I will applique that down and remove the basting stitches once it's done.
I loaded the big quilt I'm calling Garden Club onto the longarm today. This is one of the quilts my friend, Mary sent for me to quilt and finish. This quilt top was donated to her small quilt group to help raise funds for their group. I volunteered to help by quilting some.
This quilt top is about 88" by 88". It's not square. I noticed when finding the middle of each side that one of the sides is 4" longer than it's opposite. And it has other problems. I think someone may have washed the top, which isn't a good idea with an unfinished quilt top.
I needed to watch a how-to video to learn the Organic Blanket Stitch that I wanted to put on my Stitch Goddess in progress. It took me a few practice tries before I understood the stitch and felt confident enough to try it on the Goddess. It was tricky because the area I was doing was a weird shape, but I got it done. She's complete and beautiful.
I got enough embroidery done on the Stitch Goddess to be able to sew the two sides together. Then I stuffed her and sewed on the bottom.
I used wool and and some walnut shells in the bottom to give her some weight.
I plan to stitch some more in the blank areas.
I did some more embroidery on my Stitch Goddess during the Brave Patch Finish it Friday group zoom.
I want to get most of it done before I stitch the two sides together.
I got the binding onto the Batik quilt and fixed some of the quilting that needed fixing. So it's done.
Finish #2 of the year.
I watched the Quilty Nook Workshop on making a Stitch Goddess. This is as far as I got in the workshop.
Here's one of the quilts that my friend Mary sent to me. I volunteered to do the quilting on a few for her. They are quilts donated to her quilting group to help raise funds.
I got the quilting on this one done this weekend.
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| I used a bottle to help keep the quilt top stretched a bit which really helped. |
I put the finishing touches on the binding of Out of Africa today. It is now done.
Finish #1 and counting!
I ordered some African Mud Cloth scraps from an Etsy account, Konkada. They arrived today. Look what I got! I think they would make a great Kawandi mat, don't you?
I've been working on some other projects that have taken a bit of time. I finished them today.
First was this fast drying clay project that took a while for it to dry, then several coats of sealer, then several coats of paint, waiting for each to dry. And, no it wasn't supposed to look quite like this. I had probblems with the clay drooping. I didn't have very good tools to smooth it with, and I really didn't know what I was doing. But, it has a style of its own. Its fun.
I finished quilting the Out of Africa quilt today. I used Erik's computer skills to have him quilt a pantograph. There were a few hiccups. The top thread broke (shredded) a few times in quick succession, so I gave Erik (the longarm) a good cleaning and changed the needle. Then everything was great again and it stitched out beautifully.
I spent most of the day making the label and backing for the Out of Africa quilt. I used fabrics from my stash and almost all of the scraps from the front.
I attended Sherri Lynn Wood's annual First Saturday of the Year Improv Scrap Play Workshop on Saturday. We were making 9-patch blocks. I made a few during the workshop, one with mostly dark valued patches and another with all light fabrics with one dark. Then I wanted to make another on a larger scale, but didn't finish it.
I finally finished the Willow Bird Feeder I've been working on. It is from a kit I bought from MyOwn2Hands.
Mine doesn't actually look as nice as the example they show that made me fall in love with it and buy the kit. But, I realized when I was almost done with it that I had inadvertantly skipped one of the videos! So, I since I didn't have enough willow rods left to redoit, I just did the best I could to finish it.
My hands hurt. On a good note, the husband likes it. He thinks the wonky is interesting.
After a lot of frustrating unsewing and resewing and cutting to match, I'm finally done with putting together the Africa fabrics for this top.
And it's pretty close to flat.
