Kizer's fabric

When I give my presentations I talk about how scrappy quilts are like memory quilts. By looking at a certain piece of fabric I can remember what quilt I was making & who I was making it for. If I'm making a quilt for someone special I think of them & pray for them as I'm putting pieces under the needle. I always talk about my nephew Kizer in every presentation that I give. I don't think he knows that I do that ;) Here is his story:

6 years ago Kizer was going to be turning 10 & he was in need of a new quilt. I got him & his mom ( my sister Becky) on the phone while we were both on the computer. They started looking up different quilt patterns & asking if they were possible. We settled on "Links" by Derek Lockwood. My plan was to double the pattern so that I could make it bigger so that it would last longer for him. I bought double them amount of fabric that the pattern called for. This was the first Bargello quilt I had ever made. I didn't know that you couldn't do that. So off to the races I went. I was sewing up a storm. Making strip set after strip set. Then the construction started & I soon realized that my original plan wasn't going to work & now I had a ton of leftover fabric. I realized that the body of the quilt wasn't going to be big enough & I was going to have to find some way to make it bigger. This is the final quilt

I loved this quilt & still do. Though I guess not enough to make another one :). 

I should have realized then that I am a scrap quilter & that I don't know how to calculate yardage. Needless to say I had lots of leftover fabrics. This practicular piece of fabric I associate with Kizer.

It's the blue with the circles. It is in just about all of my batik quilts. Every time I see it I think of Kizer. I used to have a large quantity of it but it has greatly dwendled  over the years. There are only small pieces of it left.

I cherish these bits & pieces of fabric that have memories of loved ones. They bring me memories of the ones that I love close to me.

Here is a pic of me, Kizer & Elle. Love these kiddos!

I hope that y'all are having a great day! More later on, 

Vicky

UFO's I didn't realize that I had them

UFO (UnFinished Object) or my my favorite PHD (Projects Half Done) are what other quilters had but not me. Boy was I wrong. My husband had told me when I started quilting to not start one project until I had completed my current project. I thought that I had done a pretty good job at that until here recently. I have been doing some cleaning & rearranging in my sewing room & have discovered some PHD's & some projects that all of the fabric had been pulled & set aside but never done. So here's my goal " I want to get as many UFO's &. PHD's done as I possbily can this year". Here's my list with pictures!

#1. Friend Liz's quilt. The pattern is changing so this is still in the holding pattern.

#2. Kiddo's Military quilt. Last June I had gone to Missouri Star & found some military fabric in precuts & I knew my kiddo would love it. I bought it & was going to make his quilt in my Prairie Stones pattern. I finished all of the blocks yesterday & was able to lay it out last night.

Now I just need to piece the blocks together & put the borders on & I'll be able to cross this one off of my list. I'm hoping that maybe I can give it to him for Valentines Day.

#3. The Double Wedding Ring. My mom got me the die & I had started on it but stopped because I was getting frustrated with it. I think that I'll have a better time with it now that I've had a bit more experience with set in seams, Y seams & sewing curves. There are lots of pieces started in the bag.

#4. Cream & Yellow quilt. Between the trip to Missouri Star in June & then again in September I picked up the fabric for this quilt.

When I saw this fabric it's like there was tunnel vision & everything else was blurry. I made a bee line straight for it & it was coming home with me. This is a very strange phenomenon becasue I don't buy yardage I'm a scrappy girl. Anyways I think that the plan for this to make large hexagons so that you can see the beautiful fabrics.

#5 Wool appliqué quilt. This project started in August of last year when I took a wool appliqué class through my guild. I really enjoyed it but there was a problem, the project was designed to be a wall hanging. Nothing against wall hangings but they're just not for me. I wanted something big enough to use so I asked the designer if she had a way to make it bigger & she did & I'm thrilled. I've got 4 out of 12 blocks done. I cut out all of the remaining blocks last week. So now all I have to do is the handwork. 

#6 Wild and Goosey

The is an insanely large quilt that is paper pieced. Each tiny block is 3.5" unfinished & I need to make a bazillion of them becasue you know me it's gotta be huge!

#7. Winding Ways. This is my current treadle project & it's kinda of sat on my treadle for a while. I know  that I need to cut more scraps for it but mainly I just need to sit down & work on it.

This is just a temporary list becasue I know I'll find more UFO's & PHD's & many more projects will be started.  I'd better cut this off & get supper going & do some sewing. I hope that y'all are having a great Saturday. More later on,

Vicky

Sometimes you just know

Sometimes you just know when a pattern has either kicked your behind, is beyond your capabilities or you've tried & failed multiple times & have failed. I think that I have found that pattern for me. My dear friend Liz asked me to make her a quilt over 3 years ago & it is still not made. This is the pattern she choose

"Maritime" by Judy Martin. My first thought was this should be a piece of cake, boy was I wrong. 

First I tried to make it according to the directions in the book & this is the block that I came up with.

A very cool, very wavy block. This wasn't going to work. My next solution was to take it to a quilt shop that is know for their paper piecing & have them draft up a pattern for me. So I Ieft it there for about a year or so. They made no progress on it so I asked my friend Randi if she could draft it & make the star blocks for me. She drafted them for me & this past March or April I dug them out & thought that they would make a great project to work on while taking care of my father in law next door. Randi did a great job in the drafting I didn't do well on the paper piecing. Frustration is putting it mildly. I just wanted to scream. I didn't I put my frustration into cutting thousands of 1.5" squares instead.

The next idea was to get the "Blazing Star" die for my Accuquilt. So I did. (Actually I think it was a gift from my mom). Here is the block that the die will make. It's not as intense of a star as the Judy Martin pattern is but I'm going to give it a try & see how things go. 

I really want to complete this quilt because Liz has been extremely patient & I want her to have her quilt!

I hope that y'all are doing well. It is very cold here in KS & we even have snow! That makes me happy!

More later on,

Vicky

The first day of a new year!

2015 was definetley a roller coaster year. There were many highs & just as many lows. I'm looking forward to 2016 & all of the adventures it will bring.

I've been doing my best to sew as much as possible during the holidays but it's been pretty much hit or miss. Some days I don't get any sewing in & there are others that I can get quite a few hours in. Since I've last posted I've finished: My Kansas Row by Row

It turned out somewhat like the picture that I had in my head. I haven't quite gotten the hang of figuring out how to measure the hexagons. The hexagon panel turned out being a bit wider than anticipated but I just went with it. It's at my LAQ!

Next up was my version of Bonnie Hunters "Mad City Momma". This is the quilt that I just could not make up my mind. Well I finally did & I like the out come:

It turned out smaller than I usually make but that's ok, they all can't be Vicky size:) This is at my LAQ as well.

Now my attention is onto my Blue/White rbr. I was stumped. I had 12 rows to use & inspirations wasn't hitting. First thought was to stagger each row, use a midnight blue for the fill in section & then appliqué 

Silver snowflakes in those sections. I decided not to use that idea because #1 I am not a huge fan of machine appliqué & 2 I didn't want to spend the money on a Accuquilt die that I wasn't going to use a lot. So back to the drawing board. I took out all of my rows & matched them up by how tall they were.

I had 4 rows that were 12". Great! I sewed them together for the center of my quilt.

I put the blue border on then the 2 side panels/rows & then the top & bottom rows with the checker boards. I really like how this is coming along. 

I was working on the bottom 2 rows when I ran out of my blue fabric that I had been using. Off to dig in the stash & see what I had. Low & behold I found something that matched! 

The center blue square is what I ran out of. I think it's a pretty good match. This fabric has been sitting in my stash for a long time just waiting to be used

The night that I was working on this I was trying to cut just a few more strips before starting dinner. I wasn't using any of my safety rulers or attachments & I sliced a hunk off of my left index finger

Oy Vey. I bled like a stuck hog. I was concerned that I was going to need stitches because I've done this once before & needed stitches. Not this time, this time I just sliced it clean off. I was very lucky & greatful that my husband was home to help me with it. He was a great nurse. Mental note: SLOW DOWN VICKY! 

I do hope y'all are having a great New Years Day. I'm heading to meet some dear friends for lunch, might do some shopping & then I'm not sure what. More later on, 

Vicky

 

 

Mrs. Indecisive has turned into Mrs. I've made up my mind

Last week for the life of me I could not make up my mind. I was a rudderless boat being taken wherever the wind would take me. I've been working on 2 quilts at the same time. Quilt #1 is the Kansas rbr quilt which is due at next month's guild meeting. I'd wanted to use hexagons & the first method flopped & so I went to the next method & I think we have a winner! I've put a row of hexies between each row & I've got all of the rows sewn together. The quilt is pretty long & narrow so I'm going to put a panel of hexies on the right side of the rows to make it a bit wider. It's looking like another big quilt. I just have problems going small I guess.

I'm using the "Mad City Moma" quilt as my L/E quilt. This is the quilt that I was so incredibly indecisive about. Here's the block 

I was loving how this was looking & was making it just like the pattern. Here's all 16 blocks laid out on the floor.

The original design has yellow sashings & purple corner stones so I went into my stash & found those colors in batiks

I liked it but the more I looked at it the more those star points on the sides of the blocks bothered me. So I cut out some more black squares & now we have this option.

The issue that I had with this option was that you only saw the stars, because they really pop out at you & you miss the background beauty. The hum hauling & going back & forth was making me crazy & I just needed to make a choice & go with it. So I'm making the second option with all of the black stars. There will be a inner black border followed by a wide pieced (using all of the leftover 1.5" squares) outer border. 

Farm news: I think that I'm starting to understand the word bog. Since Thanksgiving we've had close to 7" of rain. The ponds are the fullest that I've ever seen them. We've also decided that this would be the best time to dig a trench to put a waterer back in the pasture. Complete insanity but we've gotta have that waterer. Yesterday while feeding hay I had to drive over the filled in part of the trench & the back tire of the tractor sank & I was stuck. I'm very greatful for 4 wheel drive! I really shouldn't be complaining though, we could be trying to do this in the freezing cold. Last week before the latest storm we had 3 days that was over 60. Incredible. If you don't like the weather just wait a bit & you'll get another season. 

I hope that y'all are having a great day. More later on,

Vicky

 

Side tracked & changing taste buds

Well I got side tracked big time last week. I was supposed to be working on my VIP projects & I did try. I am pursuing using hexagons on my Kansas rbr quilt. When I laid it out I was frustrated because it was not working like I had it pictured in my head. I just wanted something to put under the needle. So I gathered up all of the Kansas rbr pieces & went in search of something that I could sew. I found a 2 gallon zip lock bag full of 1.5" strips. A while back I had gone through a bunch of my batik scraps & I cut the scraps up to their fullest potential & got a 2 gallon bag of 1.5" strips, 1 gallon 2" strips  & 1 gallon of 2.5" strips.

My original plan was to make Bonnie Hunters "Crabapple" quilt using the 1.5" strips. I had already started making little 9 patches using the 1.5" strips. I just wasn't feeling it anymore & decided (because we can) to change course & make "Mad City Mama" instead. 

The strips were dumped on the kitchen table & now I needed to make 25 patches. While sewing the 25 patches I thought well what if I made the center square another 25 patch that way I would be able to use up more of the scraps. So that's what I did & got all of them finsished up last night. I made the mistake of looking on Pinterest last night & found some wonderful eye candy when I looked up Mad City Mama. Someone used the same colored center square as the star points & it just made the quilt glo. So now I've changed tactics again, maybe. I'll lay it out both ways & decided which I like better.

All of this got started last Friday into Saturday. While I was sewing on MCM, a new way for me to use the hexagons popped into my head but I was already working on MCM. So now I'm sewing like a mad woman trying to get one done so that I can work on another & enjoy myself along the way. I'll keep y'all updated on my progress.

I am a firm believer that your taste buds change over time. Just because you like something now doesn't always mean you'll like it in 5-10 years. Well my taste buds have been changing  & it's throwing my husband for a loop. First I used to be a HUGE Dr.Pepper fan & now I can't stand it & I only want Pepsi. Second, I have been a fan of coffe forever & I really like it when it's cold outside. My taste buds have changed & I'm experimenting with tea. I should state that I'm a southern girl when it used to come to tea, I liked it cold & with sugar! Well in town there is a wonderful British tea (Queens Pantry qptea.com) shop that has everything you could want in regards to tea. I stopped by the other day & came home with 2 different teas & directions on how to make it using my french press. So far I'm a big fan of the Creme Brûlée tea.

I'd better get my rear in gear. I need to make some bread before going to my church tonight. The church puts on a large production depicting life in Bethlehem at the time when Jesus was born. Everyone chips in & helps & I love that. I get to work in the costume department! It'll be a fun & fast evening. I also need to get the Christmas tree up. Tried to yesterday but the lights on the tree would not come on. Husband had to "MacGyver" it last year for the lights to work & this year they just weren't going to come on so he got us a new one. I would have gone & picked it out but I have a depth perception problem & the one time I did pick out a tree it filled up our tiny house. I guess I just like to go big!  

I hope that y'all are doing well. I'll write more later on, 

Vicky

When life gives you ice you stay inside & quilt!

I woke up to this this morning,

When I can't see out of my front room window because of a glaze of ice, it's just better if I stay inside & sew! That is my goal, that & turn off the furnace but the men of my family are inside currently & they like it hot to almost stifeling & I'm about to die. Husband is currently under 2 quilts, crazy head.

I'm working on finishing up the stocking project. This has definetley been a pain, oops I mean a challenge for me. A friend asked if I would make a stocking to match one that she already has & well it's been a little bit more of a challenge than anticipated. 

The original is on the right & my version is on the left. Not too bad for no pattern. The challenge lies in the cuff (Here's the orginal)

& here's what I've got so far

Now since this picture was taken the machine embroidery has been added & I'm trying to figure out how to get it attached. It's not as simple as you would think becuase of the binding on the out side of the stocking makes the outside a lot bigger than the inside. I've got a plan & I'm hoping that it works. When it does there will be a serious happy dance going on here!

I'm also working on the Kansas row by row quilt for my quilt guild. It is due at the January meeting & I'm really getting down to the wire. I've decided on using hexagons & have figured out how to make that work, I think. When I have it laid out on the floor I'll post a pic.

 When I was making my rows (Kansas Dugout was the block I used) I had just enough of the main fabric to finish everyone elses rows but not my own. So when Mom & I were out in Effingham Ks, home to Kansas Troubles I found the same fabric!!!

So I need to finish up making my row & then I can get started on the quilt. More pics to come!

Not to much new farm news. The cows are doing their best to hunker down & wait out the nasty weather. If you can give them a dry place, & all of the hay they can eat, water with no ice & grain they are pretty hardy creatures.

I hope that y'all had a great Thanksgiving. More later on,

Vicky