LAST DAY OF SUMMER

An etegami I sent to my friend on this beautiful last day of summer.

CULLING MY PINS

I have quite the collection of safety pins for pinning quilts together.  I use brass because I've heard that the silver ones can leave black marks on your fabric, especially if left in too long.

I noticed while pinning yesterday, that there seemed to be quite a few silver pins in my collection.  So, I took them out.  I also noticed that a few of the brass ones had turned a bit dark, so I culled them out, too.

LEXINGTON PINNED

Finally got around to pinning together the three layers of the Lexington quilt today.

The back taped to the floor with the batting on top.

The batting is smoothed over the back and the top is piled on top

The quilt top smoothed over the top of everything.

My jar of pins

Trimming the excess off after it's all quilted.  This is one of the few things I use my original pair of Ginghers for.

SETBACK ON THE BACKING

I thought I might take on the big project of pinning my Lexington quilt together today since the rains are coming (so they say).

I cleaned the floor in the studio and taped the back down.  I spread the huge kingsize batting down over it and smoothed it out.  Next, I started to put the top on and realized that the back was too small.

Aaargh!  I hate when that happens.

I stewed for a little while, then got out my box of leftovers from the quilt top and started cutting and piecing together little pieces.  This is so annoying because the rest of the back is made from large-sized pieces.  Adding these smaller pieces is going to look like exactly what it is:  trying to make it bigger because I didn't plan it very well.

Adding a pieced border to one side.

So, I added six inches to one side, laid it back down on the floor then put the top over it, just to be sure and it still wasn't big enough.  Actually I noticed that it was really close going the other direction, too.

I'm all out of usable fabrics leftover from the top...

So, the best thing to do is put a border all the way across both sides.  I didn't think I had any pieces big enough left of the solid greens I had hand dyed. So...

I looked through my stash and found a big piece of green print.  It's actually one of my favorite fabrics.  I've had it for a long time...now that I stop and think about it, I probably bought it in 1999 or 2000 and used a little bit for a project I remember making about that time.  This fabric is perfect.  The greens match great and the print is of small circular markings and that will mimic the pattern on the front of the quilt.

Cutting six inch strips to add to two of the sides.

I had to move Bentley off the ironing board onto my chair and then back again.

Ironing the newly added border.

Here it is with the two added borders - looks great.

BINDING FOR 'MARCH INTO MAY' QUILT

After I finished up the quilting on the border and trimming it I started in on the binding.  Making binding is one of the funnest things to do, even though it's sort of a pain.  For a better how-to go to this post.

First, I iron then cut about 3/4 of a yard of my hand dyed purple leftovers.  Then I cut a 45 degree angle across it and sew the square sides together, then iron the seam open and mark 2-1/4" lines all across it.

Then I pin every line together, offset by one.  You end up with a big skewed tube when you sew it together.

Then I press open that seam, which is difficult, because it's a tube.

Then I cut along the line...

And you end up with a very long strip of bias tape.

Iron in half right sides together...

Then I throw the binding into the center of the quilt, line up the raw edges with the edge of the quilt I sew it down using a walking foot.  

 Now the binding's all sewn on, it's ready to be hand sewn down on the back and it will be considered completely finished!

AIRSTREAM

I took my sketchbook on my walk today.

This is an ink drawing with watercolor.

FINISHED THE QUILTING

Yesterday I quilted the last two borders on this quilt and today I free-motion quilted in the corners and trimmed it.

About half way through the border quilting yesterday I ran out of the purple thread I was using on the top  (there's gold in the bobbin).  But, I had one more spool of that same thread...same maker, Gutterman, same kind, cotton, same number 02776....but this one is much lighter in color than the other one!

         Now that's annoying!

Can you see the lower quilting is lighter than the top?

Then...I had about 8" left of quilting to finish it, when I ran out of that spool!  Oh well, I just used some (not even Gutterman) that was close in color!

It's ready for binding.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

One of my cousins is having an important birthday.

I sent him this etegami:

It says (I hope) Happy Birthday.

WORKING ON A BORDER

It hasn't rained in Seattle all summer (pretty much), but it's raining today!

I put up some pickled peppers and then headed out to my studio.

I found an old project that doesn't need much to get finished.

My "March to May" quilt, started in March 2013.

It was partially quilted, just needing the borders done.  So, I started back on that today.

I got two sides done.  I'm doing a simple free-motion tulip design.

Still haven't figured out what to do in the corners, though.

Don't know when I'll be able to get back to finish the other two sides...

FINISHED THE BACK

I finally finished the back for the Lexington quilt.  It's been months since I worked on it.

As you can see, it's too big for my design wall and curves down onto the floor.

Here's a close up of the theme fabric:

I only used the theme fabric on the back.

LEXINGTON LABEL

I actually worked a little bit more on the back for the Lexington quilt.

I made the label.

GOAT PLAY

Worked on the acrylic plate for my Year of the Goat New Year's card.

It's a little late.

SUMMERTIME

LEMONS

BIRDS IN THE POND!

The impetus for all this hard work in the backyard was to invite more birds in to use the pond for water and bathing.

A few days ago, the first bird I saw using the pond for a drink was a crow...not what I really had in mind.

But yesterday, as I sat on the back porch I saw a swarm of European Sparrows gather, looking longingly at the pond.  Eventually, one brave soul landed and hopped over to the edge and proceeded to bathe.  

FRIENDSHIP

CARVING FOR PEACE

I finally got around to carving an image into my piece of the Peace Puzzle Project.

I sat on the patio, under the umbrella, with the sound of the waterfall nearby.  It was very pleasant.

Now I just need to get it into the mail to Maria in Las Vegas.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Here are the before and after pictures of my backyard project:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After!

After

MOMENT OF ZEN

FINISHING THE PAVERS

The final step - putting 'Paver Lock' in the space between the pavers.  This will 'lock' them all together and prevent anything from growing up between them.

First you sweep the sand into all of the cracks and try to get it even and looking good.  It's a lot like doing tile grout - you sweep one direction and get it looking great, and then when you sweep the other direction it messes it all up.

It took me most of the day.  It was a slow process.

Once you get it looking the way you want then you 'mist' it all with a fine spray of water, getting enough on there to soak all the way down to the bottom.

Sweeping

Misting

Cooling

It was a very warm hot day.  My feet were tired and hot, so I soaked them in the pond afterward.  Excellent.