On Dasher!

What a fun mini!  I used up scraps of low volume fabric and tried to incorporate as much sparkle as possible.  I was busy sewing away, not focused on the specific of the body part I was working on, so imagine my delight when the gold circle landed in the exact spot where the eye would be.  

Before quilting a small stipple in the blue fabric, I outlined the reindeer.  

The reindeer pattern is from @quietplay.  My mini is 12'' x 12''.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

November One Monthly Goal Finish

Ready to link up your November finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until November 30 at 11:55 pm ET.

For those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm opening the link-up a day earlier than usual but you've still got to the end of the month to link up your finishes!

Want to see everyone's goals for the month - check out the November goal post.

My goal for November was to make some progress on orange peel blocks after first deciding whether to piece or applique.  Pieced it is!  You can read more about my project here.

Now it's your turn to link up!  Please add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - November Finish Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My Next Knitting Project

I so very much enjoyed knitting my Fibonacci blanket that I was ready to cast on another project.

I'm following a Purl Soho pattern for a small blanket and am using two strands of yarn on a size 13 needle so that it is extra warm and soft.

The blanket currently measures about 16" from cast-on corner.  It will be a gift for someone who uses a wheelchair so I'm aiming for roughly 38" x 40".

The yarn chosen is Plymouth Encore - a blend of acrylic and wool.  I choose this primarily because the end result will be washable.  I purchased 2 balls of Light Gray Heather (color 6007) and 6 balls of Dark Wedgewood (color 598).  (affiliate links)    I enjoy using these needles from Clover - bamboo tips feel nice to hold in your hands.

For my next knitting project - and I'm certain there will be a next one! - I will go back to natural fibers because they are so much nicer to touch and knit with.  That said, the texture on this one is really yummy and soft given the double strands of yarn!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Celebrating My QuiltCon Entries

I submitted 4 quilts for QuiltCon this year.   As many of you know, it is really hard to get a good quilt photo - especially one that shows up the quilting and gets the color correct.  I photograph every quilt outside and often am trying to capture photos in between wind gusts!

One thing I always do is jump in a photo with the quilt - here is me with my quilt Sanity.

Sanity was one of my favorite quilts made this year.  It even showed up in an issue in Curated Quilts.  I don't actually remember if I entered it into the Small Quilts category or the Log Cabin challenge.

Decade is my entry to the X (or plus) challenge celebrating ten years of QuiltCon.

 Sea of Tranquility is my entry to the fabric challenge.  It was also my entry for our guild's challenge and I'm excited that it won Viewer's Choice!

Finally, my quilt Patent Pending, a Rube Goldberg device in fabric, created with support of some wonderful quilting friends - Linda @flourishingpalms, Sarah @saroy, Val @valbetweenquilts, Charles  @feltlikesweets, Kitty @nightquilter, Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl and Pat @peacockcreekdesigns.  I submitted this quilt into the Group category.

Yvonne from QuiltJetGirl has started an initiative to #CelebrateMyQuiltSubmission.  I love this idea because it recognizes that it takes a bit of courage to actually submit a quilt to a show.  Acceptance and rejections letters will be sent by mid December.  Fingers crossed.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My Color Journey

Aren't these pretty?

These arrived in my mailbox as a FQ bundle - all Painter's Palette solids in the colors Amber, Bisque, Colonial Blue, Daydream, Gold, Golden Brown, Goldenrod, Haze, Jack O'Lantern, Paprika, Portabella, and Redwood.  

When it comes time to choose fabrics for a project, I consistently lean towards using the same colors.  It has been a goal of mine to break away from this by choosing colors that I am not normally drawn too - like several quilts made recently with wasabi and/or purple.  

So I decided to create my personal solid stash program by purchasing a bundle on a regular basis and then challenge myself to make a quilt that used all the colors in that bundle.

When this bundle arrived, I broke out my curve templates, cut some orange peels and then paired them with some low volume fabric.   At first, I did a few as applique but quickly decided using my sewing machine was a much preferred option.

I took some step by step photos to help me remember my cutting and trimming process - sharing them here in case it is helpful for someone else.  Once I sewed one side piece, I pressed and used the template to get things all trimmed up.  With the second side sewn on, my 4 1/2" ruler did the trick to square up the block.

I'm not yet sure of the final quilt layout - right now I'm just enjoying sewing the peels.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Decade

The MQG has a category for the upcoming QuiltCon for quilts with an X (or a plus) to represent the ten years since the first QuiltCon.   And I love quilt challenges so I couldn't resist giving this one a try.

My very first QuiltCon was in Savanah in 2017.  I felt like I found 'my people' and I've never looked back.  (I had just joined my local guild right before the show too.)

This quilt was a great opportunity to play with a large scale paper pieced block.  The initial version of the block brought all the points together to one spot.  While it looked good on paper, the giant traffic jam of fabric didn’t work well in practice.  After a bit of rework, the final design, color placement and quilting help the center X to jump to the front.

I quilted with matching thread all different designs with my walking foot inside the X. Doesn't the back look cool? And for the record, I was not trying to get the backing seam line down the center of the 'x' because I didn't want the extra stress. But look how close it came!

Decade measures 29.5" x 34.5". Happy Anniversary QuiltCon!

P.S. I had a really tough time photographing the quilt so the quilting lines shows up.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Fibonacci Finish

I am excited that my Fibonaci blanket is done!   (I've no idea how to properly photograph knitted projects so I asked my quilt-holding husband to help me out.)

Handwork of any kind is a great stress reliever for me.  The beauty of knitting a simple piece is my hands can be busy and my eyes can rest.  I can knit while visiting with a friend or just sitting enjoying a nice day.  It kept me busy (and calmer) during my daughter's surgery and hospital stay and calm during a 5 hour delay for a flight to my son's graduation.

The blanket was knit in 3 panels which made the knitting process very portable.  Each panel measures 55" long.  The side panels are 20" wide (92 stitches) and the center panel measures is about 15" wide (70 stitches).  The top and the bottom of each panel have a couple of rows of K2 P1 ribbing while each side panel has 5 stitches of ribbing on one side.

Before joining, I blocked just the un-ribbed edges by using a spray bottle and pinning them carefully to make sure everything lined up.   The mattress stitch was relatively easy to do in order to seam together edges.  Burying yarn tails was as tedious as burying thread tails on a quilt.  Next time, I will work those yarn tails into the process.

I blogged more about creating the blanket on April 11, April 27, and July 5

The colors are following a pattern - dark gray to blue to light gray to white to light gray to blue to dark gray - and the width of the strip follows the Fibonacci series, namely 1", 2", 3", 5",  and 8".  I am using Berroco cotton yarn in color ways Waterman (1685), Tiverton (1623), Gadwall (1608) and Bluffs (1600).  The yarn is wonderful to use and the knitted piece is very soft! (affiliate link)   

I'm ready to cast on for a new project but haven't yet figured out what it will be yet - perhaps another blanket but this time made out of a different fiber.  Something simple.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

November One Monthly Goal

Welcome to November!

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post, an Instagram post (tutorial) or a post on Flickr and add that photo to the link-up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link-up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

My goal for November is to kit up orange peel blocks.  I'm still deciding whether I'll do these as applique or pieced.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for this month?   The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on November 24.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal November Link-up

Take a few minutes to visit others and make new friends!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty