Being Green

Finished another kennel quilt for the pets at the animal surgery clinic.  

This one came about as I was cleaning up the cutting table of scraps.  I had taken the pants pockets off the scrubs to be repurposed for these kennel quilts.  Since they were roughly already rectangular or squarish, I assembled them nine-patch style.

As you can see, I didn't pay much attention to measuring or matching seams.  Just sewed them together and then squared up the center block.  Maybe rectangled it up would be more appropriate.

The wide green border is from the legs of a pair of scrub pants.  "It's not easy being green," Kermit would say (and your eyeballs may agree), but hopefully the pooches will find their recovery a little easier on this quilt.

I did an overall meander in a gray Aurifil that was already threaded on the Juki.  Plaid backing fabric via Goodwill.

This one measures about 33 x 33 inches.

Plaid Peaks Finished

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."  Sometimes that's not a bad thing.

The doodle I'd drawn to be free-motion quilted on this wall hanging just did not work.  

 Neither did Plans B and C.  They seemed doable on paper and on the practice pad (below), but on the piece itself, not so much. 

After picking out the stitching for about an hour last evening, I finally just slapped on some blue painters tape as a straight-line quilting guide and called it a day.  Thus was quilted Plaid Peaks.  Sometimes it's best to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple).

The free-motion quilting was good practice, anyway.  I'll keep the ideas in mind to try again sometime.

Overall, I'm happy with how the wall hanging turned out.  The plaids were thrifted shirt scraps left over from a recent project.  

I'd been thinking about using some of the shirt buttons in some way, and how I ended up sewing them on was an impulse decision.  I'm okay with them for now, but if I wake up tomorrow and come to my senses am of a different opinion, they can be snipped off.

I do love plaids.  Must be those Celtic roots.  I've got a weakness for men in kilts too, but that's another story.

I've got my amp for sale on Craigslist.  A guy came over to check it out the other night, so I had to get out my guitar and make sure everything was working and sounding okay.  He played harmonica (and didn't buy the amp, said he'd think about it).  Meanwhile, I kind of enjoyed playing my guitar a little bit again after having ignored it for a couple years.  The next day, everything was still sitting out, and as I was listening to some music on YouTube, I picked up the guitar and figured out how to play this song.  Fortunately, the chords were pretty easy for a rusty gal with no callouses on her fingertips.  But holy harmony, these folks can sing a pretty, melancholy song.

Puttering is Progress

I had a slow work day on Monday, so I spent some extra time in the sewing room on odds and ends.  I mentioned to Lara that I was puttering, but that "puttering is progress."  She came back with the suggestion that "Puttering is Progress" be done in needlepoint and hung on our sewing room walls.  Great idea!  You heard it here first.

I got Plaid Peaks bordered and basted.  I also doodled a simple idea for quilting it.  We'll see how that works out in the next few days.

I also finished up a little table mat for the 1950s table I painted this past summer, which sits next to the washing machine in the basement.  This was an orphan 16-patch block that I didn't use for a quilt, but it needed to be made a bit bigger to fit the table.  I added a few more squares and a one-inch border.  

Instead of using batting and binding, I just lined it with part of an old muslin sheet and finished it like you would a pillow cover—sew three sides, turn right side out and slip-stitch the opening closed.  Then I stitched around the squares to hold the layers together.  I got that idea from a lady who sells quilted table runners at flea markets here in the summer.  She doesn't use batting, just muslin for the inner layer and no binding.

So now it's ready for the thankless job of catching laundry detergent drips, and I can just toss it in the washer when it gets dirty.

More puttering led to finishing this scrappy corduroy and flannel HST quilt.  It's doll quilt size.  

I didn't have a doll handy to pose with it—one that wasn't naked with all her hair loved off, anyway—so little puppy here was pressed into service.  He looked pretty eager to assist.

My daughter and I made this little guy in a mother-daughter sewing class at Nancy's Notions back about 15 years ago.  She got to use one of their new sewing machines in class, after which she told me we needed to buy a Pfaff.  See how marketing works? 

It was a very nice machine, but unfortunately for her, I didn't take the bait, happy as I was with my already vintage Singer.  But we made a cute puppy!

Puppy would like you to notice the fun flannel backing, and that it is simply quilted in the ditch—on that same vintage Singer, I might add, which is now 15 years vintage-er.  That's me talking there, not puppy.  

Puppy doesn't know anything about sewing machines, but he wanted to get close up to the quilting to see if it had a good smell.

Hard to tell what he discovered.  He's got quite the poker face.

It feels good to get a couple small items finished.  I'd like to finish the other couple UFOs and then decide what's next.  I see a lot of interesting quilt-alongs, finish-alongs, and challenges happening already in this new year.  Decisions, decisions...

Plaid Peaks

Now that the holidays are over, my sewing mojo seems to be tiptoeing back.  Shhh...be vewy, vewy quiet.

I started playing with leftovers from the plaid circles quilt.  Good old scraps...it's like "gateway" piecing, which is exactly what I needed.

Inspired by a flying geese quilt I'd seen on Pinterest, which linked to a tutorial for "Geese on a String" on Quiltville, I cut triangles from my already string-pieced scraps.

A little while later, I had a few geese made and started playing with layouts on the cutting table.  They look brighter than this in real life, and the background is less ashtray-esque.

(North-South-North)

(Mountains)

(Center Squares)

(All Squares)

I've chosen one of the above layouts and sewn it together this evening.  I'll probably add a small border, and it will become a wall hanging.  I'm toying with the idea of jazzing it up with some shirt buttons from the thrifted plaid shirts...or not.  We'll see.

* * * * *
Thank you for your comments on What to do about Old Poly.  After thinking about it, I decided to leave the quilt top as is.  I began to see that this quilt was a testament to my grandmother's perseverance, that she found a way to continue doing what she loved to do despite failing eyesight and other challenges.  

I also love that her quilts were wonky before wonky was cool!  

The textured yellow double-knit is my favorite fabric of the entire quilt.

I washed it on the gentle cycle and tumble dried it.  One thing about polyester, it launders like a dream.  All the surface stains came out and the colors were once again bright as the day they came off the bolt forty-some years ago.  I repaired one seam that had separated, and just that little bit of hand sewing renewed my respect for anyone who hand pieces an entire quilt.  Now I'll tuck it back away until the next time I need a little inspiration from Grandma.

That reminds me, did you see Bill Volckening's post about his polyester quilts coming to QuiltCon?  He's got a good sampling of double-knit eye candy over at Wonkyworld.

* * * * *
In case you missed it, my Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern is currently available free.  Click back one (or click here) for details!

Thoroughly Modern Lily Quilt Pattern Availability Changes

Edited March 2023:  The Thoroughly Modern Lily pattern is available as a free PDF download by clicking HERE.  Click the download icon on the top right of the page that opens.  

Custom acrylic templates for the Four-Lily Block used in this quilt are available at DMP Engraving.

Original post follows:

Beginning January 1, 2015, any entrepreneur who sells online digital services (including downloadable PDFs) to someone in the EU must charge a VAT tax.  What it means for me is that I have, at this time, removed my Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern from Craftsy.  I apologize for any inconvenience which may result for those who have wish-listed the pattern on Craftsy, pinned it on Pinterest, or were otherwise thinking about buying it some day.  

There is good news, however, if you read on!

Some digital pattern sellers are migrating to other platforms which sites have assured them they will handle the VAT for EU sales on their behalf.  I don't know if I will do that or not at some point.

In the interim, while I decide whether, how, and/or where to make the digitally downloadable pattern available again, here is what it means for you, dear reader.

For a limited time, my Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern is available by email free!  All you need to do is email me and request it as follows: 

• Please put "TML" (Thoroughly Modern Lily) in the subject line of your email.  
• Include your full name and mailing address, so I know you're a legitimate consumer, not a spammer, and what country you live in.  This is only for my own records and is the same basic information you would be providing if you purchased the pattern on Craftsy using Paypal.  
• You can find a link to my email address in my Blogger profile, but here it is too:  thewayisewit {at} gmail {dot} com.  Substitute the normal symbols for the stuff in brackets and you're all set.

As always, if you have any questions about the pattern, feel free to ask.  If you make the quilt, or even just one block, I would love to see a photo!  HERE is a link to Elizabeth's version of Thoroughly Modern Lily!  It's beautiful!)

If you missed the post about the Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern, you can find it HERE.

I also did a tutorial on making the Four-Lily block, which is the basic block for this quilt, which you can find on the Tutorials tab of the blog.  You can also search the labels for Thoroughly Modern Lily and see all the posts relating to it, including the quilt of my grandmother which inspired it.

With all the best wishes!

~Paulette