Category: Quilting in South Carolina

I am slow to post today as I spent the morning at the dentist.

When I got home my mouth was still to numb to eat, so I finished sewing in the 3rd block of 6 to the last row of the “quilt from hell,” which is easily 5 or 6 years in the making now. It feels like that amount of time anyway.

But, I’m seeing the end in sight now, though I’m NOT looking forward to joining these three rows to the other three. I don’t know… It’s feeling like this quilt needs to be hand quilted too. If so, it’s a good thing I can put it on Innova the longarm to baste it.

Dinner on the porch with a mouth that could safely chew again was mostly leftovers: grilled chicken thighs, roasted broccoli and zucchini squash, and some buttered black rice noodles I did cook as I am out of sprouted brown rice. (*Note to self. Again.)

One of these thighs went back in the refrigerator for supper as two was one too many.

I love, love my new dentist. SHE (the first time with a woman dentist for me) is awesome, gentle, kind, careful, not hurried, has small hands which fit much better inside my mouth, has empathy, is a perfectionist with tons of patience, and I could go on. My mouth was a mess after the CDC shut down the dentist offices during the worst of the covid hysteria and then dentists had a huge backlog. I now have old teeth, old crowns, old fillings, and new cavities.

But I also have a NEW dentist that I like and trust.

I kind of feel like I’m living through the Rascal Flatt’s song, “Northern Star.” All the roads led straight to…her…when I needed…her…and her assistant Caroline.

And, napkins.

I am loving using the stack of blueberry fabrics I bought when we first moved to Maine in 2004. I thought at one time about a quilt with a house block made with the blueberry fabrics. But I never slowed down to try a sample block. I think now that making placemats and napkins which go with them is the perfect way to use this fabric.

I seem to have two kinds of blueberry fabrics–and probably collected the different ones along the way after moving to Maine–but I’ve had them all for a long, long time. And now that fabric stack is on my cutting table, all cut up and organized for the placemats.

Here are the six I have completed–made from one type of fabric in my stash.

I may replace the one napkin that matches its placemat. But, I might not either. Time will tell. The bigger napkins made with the solid fabrics require a 20-inch square start, which is a big hunk of fabric out of a one-yard piece. But, they are lovely and feel good in the hand. Plus, Kona solids are reasonable priced.

I like the striped binding on one of these placemats–and I have more of that binding cut and ready. That placemat is made in the traditional way–three layers that are quilted, then bound. The others are made with the turning opening on the back, after quilting the top and batting layers–just improv wavy lines. I then make at least two wavy lines that go through all the layers so the back will remain in place when washed.

I have my older Janome set up with a walking foot, which I’m really enjoying for the quilting on these placemats and for installing binding. I’m using that machine a lot. It’s easy enough to move the thread I need for various tasks from my primary Janome machine to the older Janome–much easier than constantly installing a walking foot on the newer Janome.

Now I’m starting on the other blueberry fabrics–which are softer and less bold in color–and after making some will decide if they will go with these first six in any kind of scrappy way. That could be interesting. Some of these next placemats will have printed fabric napkins.

I finished the next block on the quilt from hell last night and will sew it into the big piece and set up another block–the 4th of 6, so I’m over the hump on this last row.

Progress in various ways…is happening…which makes me happy.

We have a very pretty morning here today. The strong wind is gone now, and low tide is the middle of the day, so there may be a walk on the beach. I’m definitely mailing the two quilts to Wyoming first thing.

“Eye Candy No. 5” came off the long arm yesterday afternoon and got trimmed. This quilt will end the Churn Dash series.

I love the backing–Ruby Star Society’s Sarah Watts: Firefly Nature Forest Owls on Ash.

I’m really happy with the quilting texture.

I used a curvy pantograph.

Later today I’ll bind this quilt, but I won’t start stitching down the binding until I finish a block on the quilt from hell and set up another one. I want to just move that project along, no matter how slowly.

I’m watching SWEET TOOTH on tv, Netflix. It’s interesting. It might be too scary for my 8-year old granddaughter though. And there is violence as there are very bad people who must be…stopped…from what they are doing.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

I finished the binding last night. I took photos and rechecked for any missed loose threads this morning. Now both the “Wyoming” quilts are in the wash as these two tops were completed and organized for the longarm in Maine and were stored in bins during the move, which necessitated storing in a warehouse in Maine for some weeks over Christmas and New Year’s while the house in Maine and the house in Charleston closed.

The fabrics are mostly from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society designers, and the patterns is a star block that is traditional. I like the way it also makes big x’s along the way as well–and all sorts of other interesting secondary patterns.

The backing is scrappy–and all Cotton + Steel. I used a soft seafoam blue/green thread, and the pantograph is Deb’s Swirls, available on Urban Elementz. I really like the texture this panto creates. This is my 209th quilt, and the “Wyoming Mountain Crossings” is the 210th.

Here’s a close-up of the traditional star. One can vary how to manipulate the color in the middle of the star of course.

After these two quilts are dried, I’ll let them sit until Monday to mail them. I don’t want any moisture to remain in the quilts before packing them up to mail. It’s a long way to Wyoming and will take UPS some days to deliver them there.

The Churn Dash quilt is on the longarm, waiting patiently for me to finish planting new plants bought this week–and to play with the placemats under construction which is more possible when I’m tired and have only a small sewing window.

How did that happen?

The last Churn Dash quilt is off the design wall–and I spent some of the weekend prepping it for the longarm: backing and batting are sewn and ironed, and binding strips and label are cut.

It’s scrappy cute–made 99% from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society project of the last three years–information which I seem to be repeating endlessly here. It’s a good thing this quilt is the last big project made with these fabrics.

I threw the finished rows of the Traverse BOM project up on the design wall–Tara Faughnan designer–without much of an attempt to line up the rows. I have the fabric to finish this quilt now, so will start sewing the remaining rows this week.

And, I will play more with placemats, using the blueberry fabrics I unearthed from the stash. Gosh it feels good to be tackling the stored sewing projects/fabrics now. I feel like I’m making real progress on whittling down the stash. Having some small projects to work on here and there is gratifying, as one sees immediate results.

My kitchen lights came–and with family help they got put together and installed Saturday. That was a true labor of love, let me tell you, as there was a switch issue and a ceiling hole issue. Plus, the lights are up over the kitchen bar, so one can’t reach them easily from a ladder. One has to get on the kitchen bar.

The lights are beautiful.

And another view:

As you can see in the picture, two of the holes in the ceiling were cut too big for the standard 4 1/2 inch ceiling plate. So there will have to a solution for that problem. And the switch that activated the hanging lights WAS activating the under-the-counter kitchen light dimmers. And the far right junction box up in the ceiling is not stable–so the far right light is not hanging straight.

These lights will also dim, but that’s above the family pay grade. So this morning I asked a local electrician–recommended by the light store and who did connect with me last week–to come and sort out the junction box, the switches, and to make sure the lights are ok. Maybe he’ll be able to connect one of the available switches to dim the hanging lights too. AND, maybe he’ll have some sort of cosmetic plate to conceal the ceiling damage–otherwise the builder will have to repair it. In any case, the family helped so much by putting the lights together and figuring out how low to hang them.

Life is part glorious and part messy, isn’t it?

Today is cooler, but meant to be pleasant with sun and clouds. So I’ll probably take my hanging-light worries to the beach. Mid-low-tide will happen around 3 pm.

It started with the notion that one of the granddaughters who likes to sew might want to make more placemats. She had made some and had a good time, and the family loves using what she made. So they made the suggestion that my granddaughter and I make more placemats.

So I started researching simple ways to carry out such a project with a new sewer so she wouldn’t get frustrated. That meant NOT using binding methods, for starters.

The first idea was to perhaps use the 3 1/2-inch Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society squares I had already cut up. AND, to use the method she already knew. Along the way of this placemat journey of recent weeks, I also researched and found an easy way to make single-layer napkins with beautiful mitered corners. Thus the napkins you see in the following pictures. Paige Handmade had a method I really like:

Tara Reid, “The Fastest Way To Sew A Placemat without binding,” is where I started, which was a good refresher for me.

That produced this placemat. It’s ok, but I wanted…something more…something that didn’t need to be sewn AFTER the placemat was turned and ironed.

Next I found Kim Jameson Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts, whose video teaches how to make a placemat where the backing comes forward to the front AFTER using her method to make nifty mitered corners before turning. These placemats were the result–and this method works best with a front that is not pieced with squares as they would be partially covered on the front.

Before turning the backing to the front, you can go back and add a line or two of quilting to hold the back down firmly. Note that these added lines would just show double on the front, as you can see with the cats.

This link should work if you click on it: quilted placemats without binding

Geta Grama, a Romanian quilter, gave me the best method to use with my squares I think, because I could maintain the integrity of the squares–as in not cutting off any of the outside squares AND creating an opening in the center back of the placemat so I didn’t need to worry about turning the placemat and closing up the hole on the side in a way that didn’t make a straight line.

Sew No Binding Quilted Placemats/Coasters

These placemats were made with that method. For the top one I sewed over two lines so the back would be anchored to the front. And on the bottom I just sewed two extra lines alongside existing lines, about 1/4 inch apart. I was careful to start and stop my seams along the outside sewing line and to tack them down well so I could trim off the threads easily.

Finally, along the journey I did make a placemat with a binding–which allowed me to quilt all three layers at one time, of course. And of all of the placemats, I do prefer this one for myself. I tried something one of you suggested when I was playing around with potholders–I used 1/4 inch fusible tape to glue down the binding on the back–then I sewed (with my walking foot) the binding down from the front. I should have put on the binding with the fold coming to the front–that would have worked really well too, as long as the binding is held very stable with the fusible tape.

And, here is the back of one of the napkins–it’s a print, so the back is not as attractive as the front, as it would be with a solid fabric or a batik. But, you can see how nice Paige Handmaid’s method is–and it’s easy.

The placemats all look really cool on my dining room table. Surprisingly so.

They look so much better than they did on my design wall, LOL. I ordered some wooden napkin rings to go with them–having failed to find any napkin rings locally.

You’d think I’d be done, right? Oh no. In the middle of quilting on the longarm, sewing together the Churn Dash quilt on the design wall, and now hand sewing the binding on “Wyoming Stars,” I pulled out the stack of Maine blueberry fabrics that has been sitting in my stash for 18 years. And I cut another placemat and napkin out.

I’m clearly crazy.

So there was a quick trip to the grocery store first thing this morning.

I wanted to grill a whole cut-up chicken for dinner (noon for me), and I needed veggies to go with the chicken.

I came home with full sacks, and set about grilling the chicken and prepping the veggies (more of the little gold potatoes boiled and set into raw butter and fresh dill and sautéed rainbow chard).

While cooking the chicken (low and slow), I made fresh blender drinks (celery, red bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, apple, peaches, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, and a tiny bit of maple syrup). Now I’ll have a healthy dessert after supper tonight. I forgot the ginger, but the drinks are still delicious. Note: Most of the mixture is veggie, not fruit. I just use bits of fruit–maybe 1/4 of the mixture. Too much fruit sugar causes inflammation and sends the body into an energy pattern that goes up and down rather than holding long and steady.

I took my full plate to the outdoor room with my book. I didn’t eat all these potatoes I cut up–too much–so they went into the roasted veggie container alongside the rest of the rainbow chard–and I’ll have that container with some chicken for supper.

I made a nice dinner yesterday too: Baked haddock, okra (yes!), a medley of roasted veggies, sliced cucumber, and a glass of local raw milk.

“Wyoming Stars” is off the long arm, trimmed, bound, and is downstairs in the tv room where I am sewing on its binding at night. Here it is fresh off of Innova.

I am still marveling at the beautiful, beautiful stitch Innova makes–front and back.

It’s a very pretty Sunday morning here.

And we had more rain in the night. My grass is finally coloring up to a deep and healthy looking apple green. Maybe it will start to spread into the few problem patches now. The scant fertilizer application is working. I’m just taking out the few glaring weeds by hand for the most part as I don’t like and won’t do grass herbicides and insecticides. Those products are NOT safe for humans, and especially not for children.

I am moving from one fun sewing project to another. Happily moving, too. And will likely post more pics later in the week.

I’ve been experimenting with making placemats and single-layer napkins with mitered borders. It’s astonishing what you can learn online. This project got started with my curiosity about the best way to work with a granddaughter who wants to sew placemats for the family. She’s so busy, but I got hooked on trying out different methods. There will be a post when I finish all 6 placemats–with links to the videos that helped me so much.

I finished one of the two Wyoming quilts I started back in Maine. The last stitch into the binding happened late last night. The other Wyoming quilt is all ironed and the back is on Innova–that will get sewn this coming week. For sure, as I love to work with my sweet longarm.

I’ve been hunting for pens with colored ink that stays put in the wash. I use them for quilt labels. The ink from these pens did well in the wash. I would iron whatever I wrote to make extra sure before washing. And look at all the colors. Note: some pens seemed a bit dry–so I’m storing them with the caps down to see if that helps. I just tested the bright colors I might use. These pens would work on garment labels really well–so ownership of clothes get marked, for instance. I’m alway leaving my raincoat behind, so I have my name on its label.

Slowly, the last Churn Dash–which is totally scrappy–from the last of the Cotton+Steel scraps–is coming together on the design wall. I like how the narrow sashings and small cornerstones are working. And I was surprised by how effective these blocks are when one just combines interesting colors and prints. It is so full of lovely energy. Note: the next row to be sewn is on the table next to my sewing machine. It will be 8 blocks wide and 9 rows long, and the blocks finish at 7 1/2 inches. AND, I’ve moved any leftover strips and squares into the appropriate bins that hold cut fabrics ready to be used.

So, I’m declaring the COTTON+STEEL and RUBY STAR SOCIETY project made with stash fabrics FINISHED. (I continue to love these designers, however, who are now Ruby Star Society.) I’m forgetting the two FULL bins of 3 1/2 inch squares separated into colors and neutrals however. And the blocks I’ve made from some of the small squares. Still…

Here’s the 6th and last placemat I’ll make–from the 3 1/2 inch squares.

The last of the fabrics for the Traverse block-of-the-month project came this past week. I have three more rows to make. Tara Faughnan designed Traverse, and Sewtopia hosted the project–though I can see from online comments that other quilt shops hosted this project as well. Traverse will go on the design wall when the Churn Dash (“Eye Candy 5”) comes down. To remind, here is a pic of where I am now:

I spent Friday day and night over at my older son’s house as they were away. I took the quilt from hell with me and got two of the 6 blocks needed for the 6th and final row done and sewn to rows 4 and 5. Later when I got home, I organized the 3rd block for that row. So…progress.

Whew! I’ve run on here way too long. I appreciate your patience.

Have a great day and a great week next week.