Immersed in Quilt Projects

Several positive factors have come together in February to put me in a quilting state of mind. 

I am taking B-12 injections three times a week. 

The number of minutes of sunlight is increasing at least five minutes a day. 

Several snow days have kept me playing inside.

But mostly I have been working on quilting in the evenings instead of handwork in front of the television. I rarely spend time in  my studio in the evenings during the dark winter months. But I still have energy after dinner to head to my sewing studio and work on my projects. And I've been really enthused with my recent projects.

I finished piecing my challenge quilt for my Material Girls quilting group.

I am so thrilled with this top. This "inside" photo just doesn't show all the wonderful color in the background fabric but it really was my inspiration for this quilt. The fabric had been aging in my studio for at least 15 years. Hard to believe.

I used all my scraps to make this adorable little quit that is 31-inches square. 

I want to share our leap into new technology. 

We have officially cut our telephone land-line and cable television. We are now completely dependent on the internet. Scary but so easy and we are saving money.

We are using Roku stream sticks to live stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime. This little box replaced three different cables that went between our television set and the cable box. And the biggest item in the Roku box is the little remote control.

One cord to the power outlet and the rest is all generated through our home wireless network. It is magic. I am the technical goddess in our house and now that we don't have teenage boys living at home I was a bit worried about what snags I might run into but was able to install and get it all working in less than 15 minutes.

My husband is a constant channel surfer and he won't be able to do that with this set up as far as I can tell. I'm happy about that! I hardly ever watch TV with him because he is always changing the channel in the middle of what we're watching. He's either avoiding commercials or trying to actively watch two or three shows at once. We still probably won't agree on what to watch so we'll retreat to separate TVs most of the time.  

Quilt Retreat Sewing

My quilt retreat last weekend was SEW MUCH FUN!

Three nights and four days of nonstop sewing.

Typical me...I went with the king-sized version of this pattern so it was tough to find a space at the retreat large enough to layout all the blocks. I got the blocks sewn into rows but still have to add sashing between the rows and a piano key border. Not hard but time consuming at this size. 

I absolutely love how the Bali tiles look with a little triangular border around each. I ordered a fat quarter of Hoffman 1895s that matched the center applique designs. 

The quilt pattern is a freebie from the Hoffman website called, "Twinkle" 

I actually downsized the pattern...that rarely happens! But I plan to do some intensive quilting to enhance the Hawaiian applique look even though it is actually a print and not an actual applique. I'm hoping it makes a great wall hanging to compliment my tropical king-sized quilt!

The construction method led to a collection of mini-half square triangles.

I do love to play with those little triangles.

One idea for blocks.

Another block idea...I liked the spikes...reminded me of flower petals.

Then I tried setting them up as a border...nope...didn't thrill me. But I did think some kind of border that repeated the colors of the blocks would be a good thing.

A row of triangles works! Simple but a bit of a challenge to piece all those triangles. I am using Bonnie Hunter's ruler that allows me to cut the triangles from 2-inch strips with the long edge on the horizontal grain of the fabric and not the bias. 

All those little leftover HSTs are getting made into star blocks. I have a general idea for a layout but waiting until I get the main quilt done to see how much fabric I have left. I bought the background fabric over 10 years ago at a Kauai quilt shop. I have never seen it anywhere else so I know I can't get anymore. Another reason I decided to downsize the quilt design. I would have been cutting it close to make the quilt as originally designed.

I took this quilt to retreat hoping I would hand stitch the binding in the evenings but I just kept machine sewing until I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was definitely a weekend of working with bright colors. I find in the winter months I crave color.

The next quilt retreat is in early May and I need to have my Hawaiian applique quilt done. 

It is good to have a deadline. I have a quilt kit cut and ready to go for that retreat. It was a kit I didn't get to this time. So I am technically ahead in my preparation for the next retreat. Nice!