Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Sewing Room Hop

I'm pretty sure a few of you quilters out there are like me - we do the sewing room hop. We enjoy hopping from one project to another, having multiple projects going simultaneously. Either we get bored from continuously working on the same thing, or we need different projects at different stages for portability I've had my hands on five different projects in the past five days.

Project 1: I made and pressed these 2-1/2" X 2-1/2" (unfinished) half-square triangles. They need to be trimmed!

I'm making a whole bunch of them - 80 or more here - to have at the ready to continue piecing "Sunny Lanes," a quilt top that's an ongoing project made with 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" leaders and enders. My tutorial for it is here. 

Project 2: I'm making a second "Carousel" quilt to use as a teaching aid on Saturday, April 27, when I present a modern wedge workshop to members of Jacksonville MQG. 

This slightly different version is pin-basted and ready for domestic machine quilting. The focus fabric is from the 60s Scrapbag collection by Emma Jean Jansen @emmajeanjansen of Australia, and solids are Painter's Palette white and pencil yellow.

Project 3: Using an improv block technique learned from Melanie Tuazon @melintheattic during a QuiltCon workshop, another improv technique from Carole Lyles Shaw @carole_lylesshaw, and a strip insertion concept from Debbie Jeske's @quilterstable Cross-Cut Quilt Along, I continued working on my Central Florida MQG challenge - "It's All About Color." 

For the challenge, we're to choose a different (to us) color combo to make a quilt larger than 20" X 20". My quilt top is 32" X 32", and this is the first time I've ever made a completely improv quilt that I enjoyed making! Though I'm not fond of the color combination - it's called "Spring Color Collect" on DesignSeeds.com. I really don't care for navy blue, especially with coral/salmon, but was happy to play with adding recently-purchased gradated/ombré fabrics. 

Now I'm trying to decide which thread to use for quilting, and am considering this Aurifil variegated. The finished piece is due by our May 13 Central Florida MQG meeting.

These solid and print scraps remain. I emptied another cone of Aurifil! This is at least the fourth cone of Aurifil I've emptied in the past ten years, and I've used-up more than a dozen medium-sized spools of Aurifil. Empty spools are in the toy bin, for grandies to play with when they visit.

Project 4: I thought I was nearing a finish on my English paper-pieced "TulaNova" quilt top - I call it LindaNova - but then discovered some tiny triangles were missing. See the V-shaped gaps between the star medallions? 

I need 20 filler triangles, so I fussy-cut this Riley Blake print to make them.

Project 5: My Cascade quilt continues to progress. Needing 57 curve braid shapes in each of the nine columns, I laid a sheet on the floor, at the bottom of my design wall, and have kept arranging curve braid pieces. I can kneel on the floor for only so long, and then have to get up, stretch, and stand back for a look.

Better and better. Even Dan likes is!

Now, if only I can stop tweaking the arrangement every time I'm in the sewing room! Below is the latest iteration. 

By the end of the week I plan to carefully remove it from the design wall in layout order, and stack each column in preparation for piecing.

I finished listening to "The Borrower," by Rebecca Makkai. The story centers on Lucy Hull, a children's librarian, who befriends ten year-old Ian Drake. Her special relationship with him leads her two places - on a cross-country adventure, and on a road to self-discovery. I didn't enjoy the author's strong moral opinion on social issues, nor the inconclusive ending.

Linda's score 2.5/5

I'm curious... do you like to sewing room hop? Linda

12 comments:

  1. Sewing room hop- oh, yes, that's the deal here, too! You're doing a great job keeping everything in progress. Having a couple of deadlines keeps you on task as well. May 13th isn't that far off. The Tula quilt- I've seen some images of that style and they are magnificent. I'm sure your version will be stunning and I like your fabrics.

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  2. So much goodness in your studio. I can so relate to having multiple things going on. Right now I must admit to being bored with all the binding I'm doing. The good thing is quilts are getting done but it's not very creative at the binding stage. I'm itching to pull some fabrics and start cutting.

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  3. I LOVE the Carousel quilt. Did you create that pattern yourself? If you did, would you mind doing a blog post, please?

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  4. I always have about 12 projects going at once hahahaha I love it, and then I will zip out and dig around upstairs in my stuff and find a vintage frame and reframe an old map my dad gave me. Oh, and then I did finally install some curtains made of vintage Bark cloth my mom made a zillion years ago.
    All of your projects look good. It is very good to have many many projects. We are good at that and it avoids RSI hahahaha

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  5. There is so much loveliness happening in your sewing room. I must say, I absolutely love your improv quilt (even though I'm not normally an improv fan) and your cascade quilt is positively stunning! Is it your own pattern?

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  6. Absolutely like to sewing room hop! Although right now in the middle of quilting something I can't do that so much. Unless I set up another machine. But while I'm sharing my quilt room with hubby for his office, that would be a little squeezy. Your Cascade is going to spectacular!!

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  7. Sewing Room Hop - yes, except I've been calling it Squirrel Invasion, both in the sewing room and my head that just spins with new projects to be made! Sunny Days looks like a warm weather version of Palmateer Point (Humble Quilts quiltalong from a couple years ago). I love your bright sunny colors! Cascade is going to steal my heart though! So many pieces, do you think as you begin stitching all those seams it will eventually fit onto your design wall?

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  8. Does it count when you have machines in 3 different places so your projects don't get too in each others way. You sound like you work on one project a day. My boredom level is high, I touch a minimum of 3 different craft projects a day, not necessarily all sewing related.
    That Cascade quilt is really looking terrific. Great job.

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  9. You can guess - I especially like that you have an improv project you are enjoying! ;-) And that Cascade quilt is really something! Good luck as you get going on piecing!

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  10. I like your improv quilt, but I see what you mean about the colour scheme. Can't you sneak in a little flash of another colour?

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  11. Love, love, love this sewing room hop post! This reminds me to get out those little squares and put them next to my machine for a leaders and enders project ….

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  12. I love your Sunny Day quilt (the original) so lookforward to seeing the progress on this one. And I loved this post about the Sewing Room Hop, or in my case, Sewing Room Shuffle, as I have to shuffle stuff from the cutting mat to make room for the next project. I am enjoying your Cascade quilt progress, as well as seeing the teaching samples take shape. Your class is this weekend--good luck with it!!

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