GO FORTH: they are warm. and they shall know they are loved!

i did TWO posts this week! if you're interested in seeing and reading about one of our family's oldest and favorite traditions, click HERE.

 just like the song that never ends, here are some 9 patches that seem to go on and on... 

99 leftover 9 patches, to be exact! leftover from RSC18 (eclectic  AND bohemian) and RSC19 (L/D 9 patches, pieced into an Irish Chain Family table cloth.) ( i see a couple donuts and shoo fly blocks snuck into this top, too...) 

in RSCland December is supposed to be Put All The Blocks Together Month. i try to be a Good Quilter, so after pulling this stack of blocks out of the Parts Department Drawer, i put them up on the design wall, doing my best to arrange them in a pleasing manner. i'm happy with how this top turned out (it's so colorful and cheery!) and i'll take it in to Scraps2Wraps this week, and we'll finish it up. (tying it)

then, it's ready to travel somewhere as a donation quilt- either locally, or even overseas... 

lots of blocks are being assembled this month- go see!

out of the sewing room, and into the world!

i actually have a few finishes to share this week! woo-hoo! my eclectic AND bohemian tablecloth (9 patches) is a holdover from RSC18. but this week, it's finally finished. (i'll do my best to get better pictures up soon!) pieced all from stash, and alternating the L/D placements, i focused on using mainly the colors red, yellow, aqua, purple, grey and pink. 

it certainly is cheery on the schoolroom table, and we had a family dinner on Thursday night, where the E&B family tablecloth made its debut. ( this is a lightweight "quilt"- no batting, just diagonal lines quilted through every other square of the 9 patches) i made it to fit the table when it's not extended. (there is another, longer tablecloth for when the leaves are in, and the whole family is home...) 

what can i say? i have alot of 3" squares... (all pictures will enlarge if you double click on them) 

recently, i had the happy discovery of some rainbow jelly rolls- both batik and tonal strips mixed together. immediately, i wanted to try out one of the "new" patterns floating around (or at least getting lots of interwebby love!)  Interweave. (free pattern here) 

i know Wanda recently completed a quilt top with this pattern, using batiks (she modified the pattern slightly as well) and i saw another one somewhere on my RSC wonderings. i thought i'd try weaving the warm and cool colors of the rainbow together for a baby quilt. 

i forgot that for each 2½" (2" finished) width of the top, it takes 2 strips. so, my completed experiment is only half as wide as i was originally thinking. (what can i say, i'm kinda bad at math sometimes...) i'm happy with how this table runner turned out, and plan on making a couple more quilts using this pattern. 

last up this colorful morning is a Strip and Flip quilt, which we'll use for a dedication quilt for a church baby. i love how it turned out! 

thanks for stopping! i appreciate my RSC community, and i promise to do MUCH BETTER at replying to your comments! you guys are such an inspiration to me, even though i don't post here to often! have a great week- we're off to Jacksonville, Florida on Monday to visit the in-laws. wish me luck- FLORIDA in JUNE? what were we thinking?! 

 

look what happened at my house!

I've been thinking about getting The Holy Grail Of Quilters Sewing Machines for a couple years now. i've had a Bernina Virtuosa 150 for the past 20 years. she's worked great, and i've always been very happy with her, but i felt it was time to upgrade to something just a bit faster. 

i've always been a die-hard Singer fan, and I've been loyal to my Bernina for nearly as long. But that siren song of 1500 SPM finally won me over!

Enter: the Juki 2010Q!!! {squeeee!!!} 

my patience paid off: i got this for just a *bit* cheaper off of e-bay. (with a walking foot, too) it came on Thursday evening, and after letting the metal and gears warm up overnight (have 'ya seen how cold it is outside?!) i've got it *mostly* figured out. i was expecting a bit of a steeper learning curve (i've heard/read lots of those comments in my research) but the Juki worked great right out of the gate.

although, TBH, i'm still threading it the old-fashioned way. i also heard that the automatic threader is a bit complicated, and requires multiple YouTube videos to figure out. i'll save that for another day....

so last night, after all was working well i moved the Juki up to the sewing room, and finished up this quilt that i had just barely started with my Featherweight at our church sewing group, Scraps to Wraps. 

the lighting is terrible (sorry!) but the quilt is loosely based on Jo's free pattern found here. i cut out the pieces using my Studio2 cutter: 3½" squares and 3½" X 6½" rectangles. (the dark fabrics are multiple greens- a plethora of scrappiness. i think there are 20+ different forest greens. the picture should enlarge if you double click it...)

and can i just say: FIFTEEN HUNDRED STITCHES PER MINUTE? buckle your seatbelt and keep your hands inside the car at all times... FIVE STARS. would definitely recommend!!! i had already started this quilt, as i mentioned, but to finish it up last night was a breeze! it went so quickly. 

i can see that there are some applications where sewing that fast would be unnecessary (or dangerous!) but for general quilting, i think it's going to be fabulous! my friend joked that now i'm going to sew more things. haha! actually, i'm just aiming for sewing/finishing more of the things that i've already started, just faster! 

 

the horse got out. i will shut the barn door now.

we had a very nice family gathering for July 4. just about the whole fam was there. and: all FIVE grandchildren! that makes any gathering, on any day, extra special! 

i started this crumb flag way back in April of 2018. (didn't actually post about it on the blog; had to look back at my RSC albums on Facebook) 

now that July 4th is over and done for 2020, i thought it would be the *perfect* time to finish this quilt. (but, in my defense, there are lots of patriotic holidays that it could be used/displayed for, right? Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4, Labor Day, Patriot Day, Veteran's Day... you get the idea.) 

and since i just finished a July 4thy quilt, why not start another?!

i recently bought an accuquilt Studio2 cutter. (not regretting that purchase at all, i might add...)

and had a brain storm to use up some hoarded fabric to make a rectangle quilt, much like the two by four quilts that seem to be pretty popular right now. i'm using the above die, after doing some "research" on Katy's blog to see which one she used. 

before inspiration hit with the RWB quilts, i made this quilt for our church sewing group, Scraps to Wraps, from fabric that i found in our sewing closet. lots of our quilts go overseas with MCC, but this one we'll keep for local donation. 

anyway, here's the (8) reds i pulled from my stash that i thought went well together. on a side note, one of the things i've learned from doing RSC for all these years, is that i really like to work with fabrics that are monochromatic. good to know, i guess...

and ages (and ages!) ago, i had purchased this star fabric, and the presidential/patriotic fabric, along with a pattern to make a quilt. the pattern obviously went by the wayside, but now i'm excited to start making this quilt. 

and just becuase my family mostly all dressed up so patriotically and coordinatedly, i'll share some more RWB pictures from our get-together. 

(you can't see the GIANT pile of fireworks stacked up at their feet...)

youngest daughter, B, with middle granddaughter, L.

D (oldest son), M (oldest child, oldest daughter) A (middle daughter, fifth child) and A. (M's daughter, youngest granddaughter) 

i guess i should also say: thanks, Old Navy! haha!

my twins, D & N. they'll be 30 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in September. they both have 1 daughter. it's so cute to see them with the other's little girl; they refer to each other as the counterfeit daddy.

on a side note... it really warms my heart and is so special to me that the grown children spend time with each other, separate from me. i feel it's important that they build adult relationships with each other. and A & B are always so happy to get together with their big brothers and the nieces and nephews. 

and A again, with L.

click on over to Angie's and see all the other colorful projects!

oh, almost forgot! here's another flag quilt that i made ages ago, and almost forgot about!

Marching right along...

March definitely came in like a lamb here in our neck of the woods, and it's nice to feel the promise of spring when we go outside. just yesterday A, my 13yo daughter, excitedly came inside and announced that she saw a robin! it sure seems early, but spring is such and exciting and promising time!

i recently bought an Accuquilt Studio 2 Cutter. {not an affiliate link} and i'm LOVING it!!! i got a basic array of dies for it, while i become acquainted with what will work best for my and my style of sewing: churn dash, 6" tumblers, 3" squares and (too small in retrospect) equilateral triangles.

i have a list of things a mile long that i need to be working on: taxes, the family Christmas calendar, I Spy quilts for the (4) grandchildren for Easter, the baby quilt for grandchild #5 (!!!) and spring cleaning/Lent purging/get all the crap out of here/someday i'm going to die and i don't want to saddle my children with all the stuff cleaning.

anyway- lots to keep me busy around here! AND: i'm thrilled that Cynthia IS doing her Quilty Adoption again this year- starting March 19. i'm still working in the sewing room, cleaning/purging/rearranging, and i've found at least 4 things that i'd like to share/move on.

first up: (getting an early start!) a box of extra 3" squares. (picture coming later) ADOPTED there is quite a lot there: enough room for a boat-load of creativity! i sorted through the drawer, looking to consolidate, and picked out a bunch of the squares that i'm "done" with. there are many different colors, but most of them are "cream based" rather than "white based". if you'd like my box of squares to get creative with your own projects, leave a comment. i'll be happy to share- first priority will go to charity quilts, but other than that, the sky's the limit!

i'll be back later with more... Saturday morning is in full speed around here... 

a brief tutorial on isosceles triangles- how to sew them, not how to spell them!

a new RSC19 project for me this year is to make a monthly donation quilt, using the color of the month, and a complimentary fabric for the alternate triangle. 

after a couple bumpy months of trial and error, the math behind the isosceles triangles finally hit home, and my quilts are turning out the correct size now, rather than bafflingly too large. (you can read about my geometry revelation here.) 

i did have a few questions about the triangle quilts, so thought it would be "fun" to do a tutorial. i'm just going to try and hit the high points, and make things a bit less fuzzy, should you decide to do one of your own. (i say "less fuzzy" because i'm sure it won't be crystal clear at the end...) 

first, i cut my strips (light and dark) in preparation for cutting the triangles. i usually put a new blade in my rotary cutter at the beginning of the month. here, I've cut strips 6½" wide- conveniently the width of my main ruler. (if i had a wider ruler, i'd probably cut my strips wider, too..) 

then, i'll use my isosceles ruler, and line up the strips with the 6½" line, and cut the triangles across the WOF, flipping the ruler up and down as i go. if i remember correctly, i get 4 sets across, giving me 8 triangles from each strip.

here is a ruler similar to what i'm using, just a bit bigger. (not an affiliate link) nextly, i use the leftover bits on the end to cut my side triangles. the only difference here is to line up the straight edges of the triangle, allowing for the seam allowance. 

hopefully you've figured out your math correctly, and cut out the right amount of triangles and side pieces the first time. 

the ruler gives a nice cut off point, making it easy to line up and sew, without getting all those annoying and bulky dog ears on the back of the quilt. 

now it's time to sew! (and i do find it super helpful to have the schematic of the quilt to refer to...) i like to sew all the rows together so the straight of grain (SOG= WHITE ARROW) is running parallel with the rows. this will make it easier to tie/quilt it, without the quilt getting all stretched out and wonky. also, i always keep the color of the month pointing up. (in this case, the green, which is actually upside down in this picture. oops!) 

now it's time to flip the triangles right side together in preparation for sewing. the SOG = WHITE ARROWS, the BIAS/SEWING LINE = YELLOW ARROWS. use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout. although- if you use any consistent seam allowance, it will be fine... 

here the 2 triangles are sewn together, and the arrows show the orientation of the bias and straight grain. continue sewing your triangles together until you have enough for the width of your quilt, then add the half-triangles on the ends of each row.

my isosceles quilt has 13 rows as designed, but it would probably be better with 14 rows. (you can see A's embroidery project keeping my 1st row company on my design wall. she's making 12 of these animal blocks, and now has 8 of them done. each is "sashed" with Kona cotton solids, and i'm really excited to see it done! it's going to be a fantastic quilt!) 

and here we have the classic "receding rectangle" picture of the completed quilt top. it will be tied at one of our next Scraps2Wraps meetings, and then passed along for a local need, or donation overseas. 

so: i hope my little tutorial helps make the waters a bit less muddy! questions? ask away in the comments, and i'll answer as best i can!

running right along with the reds...

i'm late the the RSC19 linky party today- we were butchering our pig! we raise about 12 pigs a year, and 2-3 of them are for the family. over the years we've learned to butcher our own- bacon, hams, linked sausage and all! when we first moved to our little farm about 11 years ago, we sent our pigs to the butcher, and got them back frozen in little packages, labeled and in a box ready for the freezer. 

we've *always* butchered our own poultry- the meat birds, turkeys and even the old worn out laying hens. i wasn't too keen to learn how to butcher a pig, but.... Dave really wanted to do it, so about 9+ years ago, we dove right in! we bought a DVD from somewhere online (like askthemeatman.com or something like that...) our first time butchering (breaking down) the hog, we set up the little portable TV right at the end of our stainless steel counter... then we pressed play, watched the first couple steps... then pressed pause and did just like the professional butcher....

play... pause... cut, cut, cut. play... pause... cut, cut, cut.

now, after 9 years or so, and about 20 pigs, we can do a pig relatively easily and painlessly. i don't think we even turned on TV (or youtube) all day! we're not professionals by any means, but we're confident beginners, and know just what cuts and seasonings we like in our hams, bacon and sausages. (here's the book we use for all our sausage recipes- it's also full of other great info, too, if you're interested in that sort of thing...) 

anyway- little C (who's the oldest grandson at 2yo) walked in this morning, all ready to help Pap cut up the pig! within minutes, he was set up at the work table with a big piece of fat, and a {butter} knife and fork. he proceeded to saw and sort meat with Pap for over an hour! (we worked inside boning small pieces of meat at a time, and then putting it back outside in the 20° weather to cool off and stay safe.) Behind C you can see his little brother L (10 months old) and our youngest daughter, B who is 11. 

now: on to the RSC19 reds! i finished my isosceles triangle quilt this week. it measures 68" X 82". i know the picture isn't the greatest- sorry! my triangles are 6½" per side. i cut my strips WOF at 6½" and then used my triangle ruler to trim them to the right size/angles. (if there is interest, i can do a *tutorial* next month on how i do it...)

this quilt will go in to our church sewing group- Scraps to Wraps and will be tied and donated locally when there is a need. i'll piece the backing, and also cut the binding from my stash. then when we have a need brought to our attention, it will be ready to go with minimal fuss. 

i happened to also have this completed quilt here at my house, and since it's primarily red i thought i'd share it today too. the pattern is called Friendship, and it was pieced by me and quilted by my friend Karen. it's also a donation quilt, and will be mailed off to the MCC quilt sale in Nebraska next week. 

(these postcard patterns are available at my LQS for about $2. i'm a pattern junky when it comes to these things {have you seen how much quilt patterns can cost these days?!} and i have a whole stack of them in my sewing room, just waiting for a pile and inspiration to collide...) 

and: welcome to all the new RSC19ers! i've noticed a bunch of new quilters/bloggers have joined in the RSC fun this year! welcome, again! i don't post here on my blog as much as i might like, but you can follow me { jlcap69 } over at Instagram. i'm more active there... and be sure to click over to Angela's at soscrappy and see what everyone else is stitching up this weekend! 

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without....

that's an old saying I remember seeing on a dear friend's wall long ago... good advice that I'm sure harkens all the way back from the depression era...

this is my 4th year participating in RSC- and I've loved every month of it! I have a suitcase of 3" squares, and I've pieced many, many quilts from those colorful squares. it seems every quilt had a leftover block or two or three... (and no matter how many quilts I make, the squares never seem to get less...)

 

Angie gave us the kick in the pants challenge to finish some of our languishing RSC projects. I have quite a few in the works, *hangs head in shame* so that was just the motivation I needed. (who doesn't love a good linky party?!) I had a goodly pile of those orphan blocks, and you can see the first tentative layout here, where I asked for some help... I took (most) of the generously and kindly offered advice, and came up with the quilt below.

 

if you peruse the tabs at the top of my page - RSC14, RSC15 and RSC16, you just might be able to spot some of the original quilts that these orphan blocks came from. (and if you don't want to take the time to do that, and I don't hardly blame you, just take my word for it that these squares represent a minimum of 12 completed quilts...)

I will say that that is one advantage of consistently using the same size square in much of my piecing: the orphan blocks will all fit together with a minimum of jiggling around.

 

while I won't say that this is the most beautiful or creative quilt I've ever made, it's certainly colorful. it's also carefully and sturdily pieced, and for the new life that is planned for this quilt, it's perfect!

 

a young girl from our church is going on a mission trip to an orphanage in Honduras next month; she plans to take this quilt along. that's why it's being tied (shown here being worked on at our monthly church sewing group) instead of quilted.

I'm excited to send this quilt along with A, and if I get any pictures, i'll be sure to share!

One giant leap!

over at Patchwork Times, Judy pulled #9 for the February UFOChallenge 2017. I had planned on using up some of my charm packs. I've been holding on to quite a few for a bit too long, so it's time that they were used...

I ended up using/passing along/repurposing 9 charm packs! 2 charm packs went into the above and below quilts- (can't remember the name of them right now.) they'll be for a baby at church upon their dedication.

same for the quilt below-  I used 2 charm packs of Nature's Chorus. I've had these two charm packs for a few years now, and figured I'd better use them before they got any more outdated! I just randomly put the squares up on my design board, and then sewed them together. I'm happy with how it turned out, and always end up wondering why we (I) end up making stuff more complicated than they need to be....

2 funky charm packs from our local Ben Franklin were cut up into 4" squares and passed along to a church friend for our church sewing, Scraps To Wraps. a final (amy butler) charm pack is on my design wall; I'm thinking a rainbow-y stroller quilt for my granddaughter will be just the ticket for that one...

you can see my final 2 charm packs in action if you scroll down to the post below....

Still plugging along....

I fell a bit behind in my piecing projects for RSC16. (this year I'm making granny blocks, crumb blocks, low-volume plus blocks and the RSC16 Column-Along. I also started Simply Woven as a RSC project, using the color of the month, and the accent. when it was close to finished, I just went ahead and finished, rather than have it lingering around- as so many of my blocks are wont to do...)

 

I'm slowly but surely catching up (except for the Column-Along.... I'm way far behind on that, but look forward to getting caught up- I'm doing it all in Kona solids) and if I didn't keep getting distracted with MORE fabric, and MORE quilts, I'd be doing a lot better... but, it is what it is, right?

 

I did finish my Low Volume Plus (showed that here before) and since I didn't do as many projects/blocks as I did in RSC15, I should be able to finish some tops before too long...

this week I pieced several more red granny square blocks, as well as a few yellow ones. all my blocks have the fabrics picked out, and paired with 12 of the background squares, so I'll continue to work on them a few at a time. I think i'll have 60+ when I'm done!!! yikes! but I'm thinking that will make 2 quilts, 6 X 6 setting with sashing.

a few weekends ago, my quilt, Celtic Solstice, was sold at the Washington Mennonite Relief Sale for an astounding and flattering price. I was so excited to be able to help in such a way, and I couldn't hardly sleep that night with the thoughts of all the quilts, and all the fabrics floating through my head!

 

part of the reason I haven't been doing as much RSC piecing is because I have 2 more quilts started for the MCC auctions. (ok, it's really more like 6, but who's counting?!) my friend Karen is a long arm quilter, and she has a passion for quilting for MCC. her mother, Jean, is the third part of our "team"- she loves to do the binding.  while I've been sewing for our church group, Scraps2Wraps for 8+ years, it's only in the last 2 years or so that I've enthusiastically caught the vision of sewing for MCC. it's so satisfying to know that we can work together to complete a quilt to send to one of the auctions, and the monies raised will go directly to where it's needed most, and used by the missionaries who are already in the field, assimilated into the culture and community. I don't even have a passport, but I know that I can help folks around the world, all the while still farming with my husband and homeschooling our 2 youngest. (among other things!)

 

here's a picture of my Simply Woven quilt, as taken from the Texas Relief Sale facebook page. I don't often get to see my quilts completely finished (I pass them along as tops) and definitely not as a full and beautifully taken picture as this. I'm so excited to participate in this way, and to be part of a team where we all are so blessed to do the part of quilting that we love the best, using our talents that are God-given to serve Him.

 

click on over to SoScrappy, hosted by Angie to see what others are doing this week- it will be a colorful visit, I promise!

I'm still here!

the garden is growing well, and we're very busy planting, tending and harvesting... every once in awhile I'm able to sew for just a little bit. (but not this week!) it's taken me a couple weeks to get my photos uploaded, but here I am!

I'm loving my low-volume plus quilt. (are you an old-enough quilter that you can remember when we called "low volume" our "neutrals"?) ha! every month my LV+ quilt is the first one I go to... it's easy, and soothing to piece.

the granny squares are going fine, too. I have all the aquas done, and a few pinks. I still have a couple greens to finish up from May.

My Simply Woven quilt blocks are all done. here my daughter, A, and our friend B are laying it out at Scraps to Wraps for me. the rows are pieced together, now I just need to sew the rows together. next time I want to do a quilt like this, please talk me out of it! it didn't' go together as easily as I had hoped... (but I'm sure it will all quilt out!) I have a big bag of 2½" strips that someone gave me for S2W, and I plan to use them to make a Scrappy Trips quilt ala' Bonnie Hunter.

 

I haven't even worked on my RSC16 Column-Along! it's in the back of my mind, though, and I have all intentions of finishing it. I love column quilts, and have always wanted to make one. I just need to take the time to look over my stash of Konas, and see what I still need. our local Ben Franklin has the Konas for $5.49/yd every day! how fantastic is THAT?

 

be sure to pop in over at Angela's blog to see what everyone else is making!

My first green of May!

well, in the fabric department, anyway! we've been super, super busy on the farm. (you can find us on facebook at "by the bridge")  we have most of our crops planted, the first round anyway, and even the tomatoes in the high tunnel are blossoming! lots of green going on, and not much time or energy to sew! I did sneak in a bit of sewing this week for Scraps2Wraps, our church sewing circle. BUT- I've not even made it up to the sewing room to begin digging through all my green fabric and 3" squares!

maybe tomorrow... I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet afternoon at home!

I showed you the little stack of tumblers that I cut with a friend's accuquilt cutter. we cleaned out the cupboard of smallish bits of fabric, and I was able to cut a stack about 32" tall of tumblers from fabric that had been waiting and waiting to be used....

after cutting and cutting, came the counting and counting. I need 95 tumblers of 2 colors to make a quilt that's about 60" X 80", which is the size that MCC prefers for their quilts. I have all my tumblers paired up into complementary colors, and enough to make about 16+ quilts! I brought my little featherweight out, and set it on the schoolroom table. that way, in the evenings when I'm too tired to go upstairs and sew (and I can't very well go to bed at 6PM, now can I?!) I can sew downstairs. and there might just be a little bit of Netflix and Call the Midwife involved, too....

and here's another thing that happened this week: our Icelandic sheep, Helga, had her baby!

a sweet, tiny and healthy baby ewe was born on Tuesday morning. (that was a really crazy day!)

we're still deciding on a name for her (my first choice of Sally was outvoted..) and I think we're going to call her Katie.

 

I'm looking forward to clicking on over to Angela's blog, and seeing all the other green bits and bobs that have been sewn this week. on the weeks that I don't get much RSC sewing time in, it's especially nice to see what everyone else is working on.

 

O! I almost forgot! this is my 500th post! I started this blog 8 years ago to chronicle the remodeling of our recently purchased farmhouse in the country. our life has changed drastically in the last 8 years, and this blog has, too! for quite awhile I did keep the blog fairly current with our family adventures, and the progress on the house. there were even a few years where i blogged regularly about our gardening adventures, and the transition into farming and starting a CSA. however, the blogger format made it very difficult to upload pictures, so that's when we switched to facebook, and our own farm page.

 

now, my blog is mainly chronicling my sewing adventures. (even my mother-in-law doesn't read my blog anymore!) i really enjoy the time I'm able to spend sewing, and with so many other blogs out there, it's hard to "compete", especially if i don't have time to post everyday. i have many blogs that i enjoy following (and we all know it's the ones that post daily, or nearly so, that are the most interesting to follow...) so thanks for stopping by, and thanks for reading my sporadic and all quilty related posts!