Happy New Year!

Happy new year!  Here's hoping for peace in our world!  A quote that I carry around with me is from my hometown pastor, from years ago - maybe over 40 years ago.  He said, you don't have to like everyone, but we do have to love everyone.  I believe that and strive for it in my life.

Here is my last finish for 2023:  Kay's Housetop, made totally from my stash (mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics), including the backing and batting!  This is a Christmas gift for my BFF Kay (her name is Karen but I have called her Kay since the 7th grade), who is a master knitter, and lover of COLOR!  Her house is gorgeous, with walls painted in saturated colors, or covered with beautiful wallpapers, and lovely, colorful art everywhere.  

I did something very different for me - I hand-quilted it! I had sent it to my longarm quilter for quilting, but her machine was out of service for a while, so I decided to hand quilt it!  I was inspired to do so because of seeing Sujata Shah's gorgeous quilts, which she hand quilts.  I thoroughly enjoyed the process, was surprised how quickly I finished it (I did not heavily quilt it), and I plan to hand quilt more pieces in the future! I used a wool batting, which quilted like a dream. 

I shipped the quilt to my bestie, and she loves it!  I'm so glad that my quilter's machine was out of order, so I could discover the joy and relaxation of hand quilting!  I used a hoop, regular thread and a size 9 needle, and the entire 60" square quilt was finished in less than 3 weeks of my spare time.  

 

Quilt top finished, Hannah's birthday

Quilt top finished!  Simple design, 6" squares, in a streak of lightning setting.  All those Kaffe fabrics in the quilt are so gorgeous.

I got inspired when it came time to make Hannah's birthday cake this year!  I had seen Molly Yeh on Girl Meets Farm make a Barbie cake, and this is my version.  The cake and frosting were both delicious - lots of butter and cream cheese, what's not to like?  But it was difficult to frost the cut edges of the cake.  Oh well, the sprinkles helped, and Hannah loved it!

Happy birthday, Hannah!

Hannah and her little man, Henry, so handsome!

 

Work in Progress

Do your quilt projects end up the way you planned them? Mine seldom do!  I enjoy the design process about as much as any other part of quilt-making.  

I started my latest quilt project with a pack of a bunch of Kaffe Fassett 6" in squares, all colors and patterns.  Yummy, gorgeous fabrics!  I planned to use them in a quick throw-size quilt to comfort a friend who has suffered the loss of her husband.

As much as I love these fabrics, I couldn't figure out what to do with them.  So - off to one of my favorite local quilt shops (The Quilt Merchant in Winfield). 

I was trying to create some kind of color scheme out of these varied fabric squares.  I bought a bunch of the glorious Kaffe print, and several other fabrics to add in for...I didn't know yet.  Would I make star blocks?  Square in a square?  Hard to say.

But when I got the fabrics home, and started throwing the fabrics on the wall, the fabrics told me to tone it down.  Too much color variety for a calming, comforting quilt.  So - I pulled out only the blue and purple print squares, and went to my stash to find more.  Plus, I added in the three newly-purchased fabrics on the right side above, and the Kaffe print, too.  I cut them all into more 6" squares, and settled on a streak of lightning set.  Sometimes simple is best.

I'm sewing the squares together into a web, adding one vertical row at a time.  First, I designed the quilt on the design wall (forgot to take a photo), and then took down all the rows, carefully labelling each row.  It's risky to leave a whole wall full of squares on the design wall - sometimes you come back the next day and half of them are on the floor!

I got half of the squares sewn together in one direction.  I will add the other half of the squares tomorrow, then press, and sew the crosswise seams.