Playing Catch up

February 23, 2018 See Kim Sew4 Comments

I didn’t think this would happen but I’ve finished one block of the month quilt and I’m all caught up on the other!

I finished my Long Time Gone quilt top! I can’t tell you how happy I am since I thought it would never end.

Sorry the photo is a little dark but it’s winter in Germany and I don’t have professional lighting.

I have to admit, when I was adding the borders to this, there was a little problem with the square-ness. I think anytime you have so many pieces, there can be problems. I did the best I could and did some easing and took in a little here and there. Once the batting and backing are added and it’s quilted, it -hopefully, won’t be so noticeable.

I also noticed this after I put it all together. I think the checkerboard piece on the right should have been turned the other way and then I wouldn’t have two colored squares next to each other. The checkerboard would have continued to the left piece. However, at this point, I just didn’t care enough to take the whole thing apart and fix that!

It was a fun project and I’m glad I did it but I’m also glad it’s finished!

I also finished this month’s 40 Shades of Grey blocks!

Lots of applique, as you can see. I looked at it when I got it in the mail and then I put it away thinking I would never be able to do these.

First of all, they didn’t include the purple fabric for the middle circle and after I went out and bought some – they sent an email saying that they forgot and it would be sent next month. Also, the pattern called for 1/2″ hexagons and they didn’t include any pattern or anything for that. So I was not too happy to begin with.

I found some purple fabric for the middle and made the circles using the perfect circles method. Then I printed out some hexagons on card stock and hoped they were the right size. This was a little excruciating to work with such small hexagons and to fussy-cut the fabric so you see little images in the hexagons.

After all that, I wasn’t about to hand applique – I have my limits. So I used thread about the same color as the hexagon flower and just top-stitched it onto the purple. Then used purple thread and top-stitched the purple circle onto the colored circle. Then I used the thicker grey thread and a big stitch to sew the big circles onto the grey squares.

They look OK. This is another busy, colorful quilt so maybe these little blocks won’t be too obvious.

I hung everything up on my design wall and they look good together!

One finish – two updates!

January 19, 2018January 19, 2018 See Kim Sew3 Comments

Now that the holidays are over I’ve been trying to catch up. I finished hand quilting this house quilt and even got the binding on! The big stitch quilting went really fast – well, faster than regular hand quilting.

I call this quilt “A House of my Own”. It’s a scrap quilt with lots of black and white touches. I quilted it with big stitches in a baptist fan design with thick Aurifil 12 weight thread in a grey color.

I just happened to see this thread on my visit to Hancock Fabrics last fall and I liked the color. I didn’t realize that I had picked up the perfect thread to do this “big stitch” technique. This will definitely be my go-to thread for this type of project. It was thick but not too thick and was a joy to sew with – it just glided through the layers nicely. I only bought one spool and was worried that I might run out but there’s a lot of thread on that spool!

Anyway, I’m so happy to have this fun project done and guess what – that was my last unfinished quilt top!

I think I’m caught up with my “Long Time Gone” block of the month.

However, I’m wondering if I missed a package or what because I still need to make one more block for section 5 before I can put it together (in addition to 6 more pineapple blocks). And there are maybe 2 more blocks in section 6 before I can put it together. I’m getting close to the end so I’ll just be patient.

And for my “40 Shades of Grey” block of the month; it was my worst nightmare – so much applique!

I’ve gotten this far and now I need to applique everything onto the block and add the border. Apparently, when I fell in love with the quilt, I didn’t notice how much applique there was involved! I’m just gritting my teeth and doing it although it might take me all month. We’re making a million (maybe not quite a million) half square triangles this month as well. They’re sewn together and will be fillers in various parts of the quilt.

I’m really trying to get caught up because I received a quilt kit for Christmas that I can’t wait to start!

Long Time Gone July BOM

July 10, 2017 See Kim Sew2 Comments

I get so excited when I get my block of the month fabrics for this quilt – and also a little amazed at how small the envelope is! The pieces are very tiny so there’s not much fabric here.

This month we’re working on Section 3 of the quilt and I was a little upset that we didn’t get the fabrics to do the whole section. BUT, I did what I could and here’s an update:

So this month we did the bow tie block and the courthouse steps blocks for Section 3. I went ahead and cut my sashing and made the filler checkerboard pieces. We’re missing a half square triangle block.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever made courthouse steps blocks but it looks like these came out a little “wonky”. I’m hoping that when the whole loud thing is put together, no one will notice a few crooked blocks.

These fabrics are so fun and bright! I have to admit, I’m having so much fun with this block of the month that I signed up for another one that starts next month called “Forty Shades of Gray”. It’s another bright and busy quilt that I just couldn’t pass up. (Maybe we don’t tell my husband?)

These are the quilt pieces so far. I feel like we’re about halfway through but the quilt is not halfway done. I wonder how this will work out?

Long Time Gone update

June 19, 2017 See Kim Sew3 Comments

I see that I’m a little behind on my blog posting. But life has been crazy around here! We’ve been traveling and had guests and our things came from the states so I’ve been unpacking. Summer is great for being outdoors and I have to admit, my quilting has suffered.

I promise you I’ve been keeping up with my Long Time Gone block of the month even if I haven’t been posting them.

So this month I received the light grey fabric that the sashing is made from and I was able to put together some of the finished blocks. This quilt is put together in sections since it’s basically a sampler quilt. Then the grey fabric pulls everything together.

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This is section 1 which will be in the upper left hand corner.

This is section 2 which will be right below Section 1, I believe.

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And here they are together. There are five sections in this quilt as well as some checkerboard fillers so there’s still a lot to do. I’m enjoying the block of the month as it’s not too much at one time. I love the anticipation of waiting for my package to come in the mail so I can build my quilt a little bit more. And believe me, there are tiny bits of fabric in these packages and I’m always sure they didn’t send me enough but it somehow it works out.

Long Time Gone BOM #2

April 14, 2017 See Kim SewLeave a comment

I’m sewing in my very own sewing room again and I was excited to get this month’s fabrics for the Long Time Gone block of the month. This month we made the Jacob’s Ladder block and the strip of Pineapple blocks. We’re basically finishing up the blocks for the upper left hand corner.

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at Pineapple blocks but I think I’m over that now. These little blocks are 5 inches finished and there are 37 little pieces of fabric! There are 16 of these blocks in total throughout the quilt, so this was only a taste. I get to make more!

This month while I was laying all the finished blocks out, I realized that I made last month’s half triangles block backwards or upside down or something. My triangles are not going the way they’re supposed to.

At this point, I’m not changing it and I don’t think it really matters. The block has the correct measurements so it will fit in where it’s supposed to. My quilt will just be a little different than all the others. Still nice.

I’m already loving this bright, fun scrappy quilt!

Long Time Gone

March 10, 2017 See Kim Sew1 Comment

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The new block-of-the-month quilt that I just started is called “Long Time Gone” by Jen Kingwell. It sounds like my life right now! I’ve been gone from this blog for a long time now because of all the events going on in my life.

We packed everything up in Italy (OK, it wasn’t that much) and we moved to Germany. My husband had the opportunity to take a job here in Stuttgart where we were before he retired. We’ve always loved Germany so we decided to go for it. Things moved quickly after he said yes and the movers (yes, this company has movers!) came and got our stuff.

I really, really tried to figure out how to squeeze my sewing machine in the car but we had clothes and bedding and computers and it just wouldn’t fit. I did bring my hand sewing and some other projects.

This block-of-the-month pattern and fabric came in the mail last week! I signed up for it through the Homestead Hearth website. It’s going to be a fun, colorful project. There were a lot of small pieces in the bag this month which looks like how it’s going to be every month but I love that scrappy, sampler look.

I’m lucky because I can rent a sewing machine and space to work at the Arts and Crafts center on the base here in Stuttgart. We’re still in temporary housing so it’s been nice to go there and do some sewing and meet other sewists, er sewers – some nice ladies.

The other project I brought with me are the Acorn’s Promise blocks that I was working on before we left Italy. This is going to be a quilt for a friend there.

This is the second Acorn’s Promise quilt that I’ve made and it’s a challenging block but fun. There are 5 trees in this quilt and so far, I have 3 1/2 finished! Next week, we move into our house here and I’ll have my machine back and I hope to make faster progress.

So that’s the update of my life and projects in case you’ve been wondering why I’ve been gone so long. I hope to be back soon!