Lost

(I am actually writing this in May of 2020, but inserting it here at the end of 2018 so that you will understand why no blog posts have been forthcoming for so long...Nothing posted between June 2018, and August, 2019.)

The summer and fall and early winter of 2018 were very bad for me.  My beloved husband, Bob, lost his battle with COPD.  After spending 3 months in hospice, he passed away on July 12, 2018.  I had been his only caretaker for over a year, and miss him deeply.  We were married 19 years, 5 days.  He did not know our last anniversary.

At this very same time I had been suffering from an arthritic hip and had gone from walking, to using a cane, to using a walker.  Hip replacement surgery was finally scheduled for me on the Thursday after Labor Day in September.  However, on that Tuesday, just 2 days before my surgery, I ended up in the ER/hospital with a massive pulmonary embolism in both lungs.  I survived.  My hip surgery was postponed until mid December.  It was a very long painful wait.  My life was on hold.  Life held no hope or interest for me.  Bob lost his life, but I felt lost too.

However, December rolled around regardless, and my surgery was very successful.  Recovery, physical therapy, and time have rendered me pain free and back to mostly normal activities.  A year later I have been declared "better than new" by the orthopedic surgeon, and will just need a check up once every 4 years.

2019 was a time of healing for me,  physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Adjusting to widowhood was difficult.  Being alone and not physically up to snuff took a toll.  A lot of lingering health issues have been dealt with and were recovered from. And now, as I write this, in May of 2020, I am finally starting to feel like my old (I use that word carefully these days!) self again.  

But I also write as an encouragement to all who read this.  Life can get very hard sometimes, and can seem hopeless and dark.  But people are very resilient, we bounce back.  I learned it's ok to grieve, it's ok to be depressed, it's ok to sleep til noon if you have no reason to get up.  You don't have to move on at anyone's pace except your own.  But the important thing is to ... move on. Get help, whichever kind of help you need.  Meditate. Pray. Get counseling if you need it.  Reach out, be with family and friends.  Just because you're alone doesn't mean you have to be lonely.  Get a dog!  I did.  Nova is a rescue dog, brought up from a domestic violence situation in Alabama and surrendered to the Humane Society in Milwaukee. Diamond Dog Rescue got her from there and put her in a foster home for rehab before putting her up for adoption. I was the lucky person to adopt her,  because, just maybe she is rescuing me as much as I rescued her. She fills my heart again, and life is so much better with her in it.

Nova and me

I hope to be quilting and finishing projects, tackling UFO's and making more, and finding time to LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH.  Life is good, I'm glad I'm living it again.

Scrap Happy, Final Version

Every border that I sampled on Scrap Happy looked too busy.  Every one.  Because the interior of the quilt is so bright and dynamic, I finally settled on a simple plain red inner border, and a black-on-red print outer border.  The quilt needed a quiet spot!  I'm really happy with this final version, and over 200 quilters agree with me!

Border Decisions

I have all 30 blocks finished now for my Scrap Happy quilt.  Now I need to trim them, and sew them into the quilt top.

Now I have to decide what kind of border to put on.  This is what I had envisioned:

It looks nice in the diagram, but when I started to make it, laying out strips and sample blocks, I'm not so crazy about how it looks.

It might turn out ok, it's hard to tell from such a small sample, and I don't even have the strip wide enough so that the black is above the 4-patches.  I just don't like it!

A second possibility is this:

This one looks a little more balanced to me.  It would be bound in black, so you'd have that last little quarter inch or so to frame in the outer white strip and the colored 4-patches. It would be an easy border to make, easier than sample 1.  I'll just have to try a sample and see how it looks.  Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

A "Scrap Happy" Quilt

My scrap bins are overflowing, so I a going to make some scrappy quilts.  Using the Fusible Grid (see my March 16th post), I am making these blocks:

Some of the blocks will have black corners, and some will have white corners.  They will alternate in a checkerboard like pattern. Not sure how it will turn out, but it's fun making these blocks and goes fast.  Hope to use up a smidgen of scraps this way.

Here is a variety of possible layouts:

     

I'm leaning toward the first layout, although what I originally had in mind was more like the second layout.  I like #3 as well.  I made these in EQ7, a really useful program!  We'll see how this quilt evolves!

Easier Construction

I have one last thought about the Quilt of Valor that I just finished.  When I received my quilt kit, I had directions for the quilt block and instructions to make 20 of them.  I started working making those blocks.  It was only after I started sewing the blocks and rows together that it occurred to me that there was a far simpler way to construct this quilt.  It would have been far quicker, and easier, if only I had seen a picture of the finished quilt, I might have done this entirely differently!

Here is the block, constructed according to the pattern I received:

When you sew block to block, you have to match those blue strips, the white squares and the red squares.  But what if the Block looked like this instead:

AND you added sashing strips and cornerstones: 

+

You'd get the exact same look of the quilt, but with far less matching and cutting.  You could have one large center red (instead of 4 smaller squares that come together).  You could have 4 rectangles instead of 8 squares.  Add a long blue strip between the blocks (instead of 2 rectangles end to end), and a sashing strip with cornerstones between the rows.   I think that would have been much better.  It would pay to study the whole quilt pattern, not just a quilt block pattern!

Quilt of Valor Under the Needle

My Quilt of Valor is coming along nicely.  I WAS able to get more of my dark blue fabric for framing in the quilt center.  SO happy about that!  It looks great.  The quilt top is finished now:

There was a problem when it came to PINNING the quilt, however.  I have arthritis now in my hip, and it has become problematic and painful.  I have a cane to help me get around, but I am unable to get down on the floor to tape and pin a quilt as I have always done in the past for each and every one of my quilts.  SO!  How do I make the quilt sandwich???  I have heard that you can tape smaller projects to a table, but this quilt is rather large  (62" x 80").  Pin half at a time?  I gave that a try.

I laid it out on the design board, all 3 layers, pinned in a few spots and then took it over to my work table.  I used fusible batting, so it stuck together fairly well in that transition, and then I proceeded to pin the top, smoothing things out as I went.  When the top was finished, I flipped it over and smoothed out the back.  I had to move every single pin, because even though I THOUGHT it was tight and smooth, it wasn't.  When the back was re-pinned, I flipped it over to the front again, and did it once more.  This took a long time, a couple days, and was hard on the back.  But I finally was satisfied that I could quilt it with no puckers, and so under the needle it went.  It quilted beautifully, and I am pleased with the finished result.

Finished! (Sorry for this blurry picture.)

This shows the binding, quilting, and backing.

Quilt of Valor Blocks

Interspersed with the  making of  Bailey's graduation banner, I have also been working on my Quilt of Valor blocks.  I have them all done now, and have been auditioning different fabrics for the outer border and inner border.

I don't have enough of that dark blue to frame in the body of the quilt.  I added a lighter blue strip, (on the left), but I don't care for that either.  I think a trip to the fabric store is in order to see if I can get more of that dark blue that you see in the blocks!  

Phyllis, the gal in charge of our QOV project, gave me some yardage of the "hearts and home" fabric for the outer border, and I think that looks ok.  I'm going to add it but cut the fabric WOF instead of the long grain line.  This way, I can sew it with all the hearts facing into the quilt center, and there won't be an "up, down, left or right" to the quilt.  That's one of the things I don't like about directional fabrics in quilts.

Graduation Banner

Bailey's Graduation banner is finished!  This was a fun project to make.  Easy to quilt because it was a smaller project.

Here's the quilting.

The Quilting

This shows the backing.

Close up of the center applique.

Quilt of Valor

My Quilt Guild is working on making Quilts of Valor for the local vets.  We had a couple of weekend "sewing events" to kick off the project.

  

 

I attended one of these weekend get-togethers and received my quilt kit.  I have set all my other projects aside for awhile while I worked on the QOV.  It doesn't have to be finished until Veteran's Day next fall, or maybe if enough are finished, Memorial Day.   I hope the Vet who receives it will like it!

Fusible Grid

I recently discovered a sewing product out there in Quiltworld that I found to be very interesting, useful, extremely helpful.  It's called Quilter's Grid, or Fusibile Grid.  Many different companies make it, and it comes with different sized grids.  I bought a bolt of 1 inch fusible grid by Pellon.

  

The fusible grid allows you to place small squares of fabric on the fusible side (glue side up) in nice neat rows by aligning the edges of the fabric squares with the lines on the grid.  You then press the squares. (Don't "iron", you will disturb the squares and move them out of alignment!  PRESS with the iron--place the hot iron on the squares, press down, count to 10 or so, and then pick the iron up and move it to a new section, and press the new section.  Continue pressing until all small squares are fused to the grid.)  The picture below shows a 9" piece of grid with 1.5" squares laid out on it.  The blocks will eventually finish off at 6".  This means that you need to take into account your seam allowances when cutting the correct size of fusible, and your squares.  You will lose 1/2" for every seam you sew because of seam allowances. I would also give the squares on the outside edges a little extra length sticking off the grid to make the final squaring-up process as accurate as possible.  (I do this with all my paper-piecing blocks too!)

After your squares are pressed and fused onto the grid, flip it to the back and fold the first row onto the second row, right sides together, and crease the fold with a fingernail.  The fold may or may not be on a grid line.  Sew along the fold with your usual quarter-inch seam.  Slit the fold, or trim off a sliver off the length of the fold, iron it open.  

This shows the slivers of 2 folds that have been trimmed off so the seam
can be opened and pressed flat.  Each is only about 1/16th of an inch wide.

Some people prefer to slit the seam open with a sharp seam ripper or scissors.  I found it was quicker and easier to slice off a sliver.  Because you are actually cutting off some of the seam allowance by cutting slivers, you might want to give your seam allowances a little more width (as in a "fat quarter-inch," which is the opposite of a "scant quarter-inch!")  

Repeat with row 2, and all the remaining vertical rows.

 

 Now do the same thing with the horizontal rows.  Your block will become square again as you sew all the horizontal rows.

Recap:  Step 1:  Cut the fusible grid to the correct size.

Step 2:  Align the fabric squares on the fusible grid.  Press in place.
Step 3:  Sew the vertical seams.  Slit or sliver the folds and press open.
Step 4:  Sew the horizontal seams.  Slit or sliver the folds and press open.

You can use any size fabric squares on the grid.  Regardless of what size squares you use, you will get perfect corners every time!  Just sew a seam!  No points to match, no sewing square to square or row to row!  If you are going to do a lot of small squares (think Irish Chain quilts or postage stamp quilts), then Fusible Grid would save you so much time and effort, and your results would look phenomenal!

The picture below shows a  blue square made up of 2.5" squares, (to finish off at 2" after you sew the seam allowances, and a character made of 1/2" squares.  (That's not a typo!  One-half inch squares!)  Who would ever sew 1/2" squares?  No one!! But you COULD if you wanted--the fusible grid makes it possible with little effort.

 

                      Front                                                  Back

Notice that the 1/2" squares are the same size as the seam allowance.  I did not iron these open, I just ironed them all in the same direction.  

After you have your beautiful blocks finished up with all their tiny squares aligned perfectly, now what?  If you sew these blocks to each other, you would still have to align and match all those little squares, right?....   Maybe not!  Use sashing strips!  Or put the blocks on point with corners!  You can easily match your blocks now!

One more VERY helpful hint before I wrap this up.  If you have an area of your quilt block that uses a lot of the same fabric, you don't need to cut individual squares to place on the grid!  Just cut one strip or rectangle or square of fabric big enough to cover that area!  When you sew the seams, vertical and horizontal, it will give the ILLUSION of having placed individual squares!

This is ONE large piece of fabric pressed to the fusible grid!  I

sewed the center seams only, but you can see that it looks like 16
little squares are sewed in the center.

I hope you will give Fusible Grid a try!  I'm so glad I discovered it! 

Valedictorian!

It's Official!  My grandson will be the Valedictorian for the Darlington HS class of 2018! I have been working on the banner all along, but now I can add that one special detail to the Academic Excellence patch!  Here it is.

It's a little hard to see all the letters, there's not enough contrast where the red letters "i" and "c" cross the handle of the torch.   Also I had to hand sew these letters, my sewing machine has an embroidery component to it, but doesn't sew in an arch.  I'm not very adept at using that part of my sewing machine either.  I didn't want to risk screwing it up!  So I will leave it a it is.  It still looks great, I think.

Update on Gundrun's Mystery Quilt (Feb.3 post)

Gundrun's Mystery quilt pile of blocks turned into this quilt.

      

To remind you, my pile of blocks looks like this:

Not even an official pile!  I counted. Gundrun has 23 rows with 15 in a column, so 445 blocks!  I have enough for 1 column!  This may take awhile, especially since I have other more immediate projects.  Another UFO on my shelf!

Kira Quilt

You may remember I mentioned a quilt designer from GE Designs, Gundrun Erla.  She designed a quilt called Kira, and I loved how it looked. It also has large sections, so it would be a very good design to showcase beautiful fabrics.  I have a lot of beautiful batiks in my stash, and I hate to cut batiks into small pieces!  You just lose so much of the design in the fabrics.  I thought this would be a great design to use with my batiks!

I don't have the  pattern, but Grundun posted a 30 second video on YouTube showing how to make the block, so I was able to figure it out.  Here is the link to that video:  Kira video .

Here s Gundrun's version of Kira:                                          Here is my version.

  

These blocks are made in pairs, and it goes very fast.  I made all 48 blocks in less than a week.  They finish off at 9", so this inner part of my quilt will measure 72" x 56".  I will add a couple of borders to make it slightly larger, maybe 3 or 4 inches on each side.  I might make a couple more blocks and switch out a couple that don't seem to have enough contrast.  This picture isn't all that great and the colors are way more vibrant than this picture shows. I'll have to study it in better light!

I am pleased with this quilt.  :)

Graduation Banner

I have a grandson (Bailey) who will be graduating from High School in May. There is a very good chance that he will be Valedictorian of his class.  Yes, he's a special person in my life! My stepson, Luke, has asked me to make Bailey a Graduation quilt or banner that they can give him and hang up at his graduation party in June.  We have decided a banner (wall hanging) would be more appropriate. 

I have been searching out options and ideas, and have come up with this banner.  It'll be around 30 x 40". This is all in the very early stages, so I'm sure this will morph into something else by the time it's all said and done.  My ideas almost always do!

Since we don't know if he will be valedictorian or not for awhile, my plan is to wait, and add his name and "Validictorian" to the banner at the end.  In white letters, his name at the top, curving between the football and the baseball and Valedictorian on the bottom, curving between the Academic Excellence torch and the basketball.  If he is not the valedictorian, I can use "Salutatorian"  if they have that in their school, or put the Class of 2018 on the bottom instead.  We'll play that by ear.

The football, baseball, basketball and Academics Torch will be appliqued on.  Not hard.  The Redbird symbol in the center will also be an exercise in applique.  I have a great gif of that, and I copied it into MS Word, and then enlarged it by 150%.  I traced it on white freezer paper, using my computer screen as a light box.  I may have to redo this, because what I really need is a reverse image so I can iron each section to fusible web which is always a mirrored image in the final result.  Either that, or flip and retrace each section as I go along.  The big white square in the center will be about 17" tall and wide, a 12" square set on point.  I want it to fill up as much of that space as possible.

Soo!  Another year, another project!  Whoooo hooooo!

Sewslip

I saw a new (new for me) product advertised on Facebook, and I went to  Sewslip's website to take a look at it. It looked and sounded like a handy thing to have, if it worked the way they said.  I decided to invest $30+ and give it a try.  It came last Thursday, and today I opened it up and put it on my sewing machine.  I didn't know what to expect exactly, but it fit perfectly, and snuggly too.  There a tacky backing on the sheet, and you can peel it off and re-position it as many times as you want.  In fact, you'll HAVE to re-position it many times in the course of quilting a quilt because the mat covers up the drop-in bobbin case.  To rewind a bobbin, or change bobbin threads, you have to take off the quilt, take off the Sew slip mat, then change the bobbin.  Then put everything back and start sewing again.  It's much more of a hassle  then just lifting up the quilt and pulling out the bobbin.  But hopefully, it'll be worth it.  I did notice today that my stitches were a lot smoother, so that's something positive.

There are so many cool quilting gizmos out there, but this is one that I already like and I'm glad I invested in it.