Wildflower Fields Completed!

Two years ago, Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville had a mystery quilt that I participated in.  The pattern is called Orca Bay and Bonnie's colors were blue, red, black and neutrals.

I chose to use fabrics completely from my stash and opted for greens, purples, yellows/pinks and neutrals.


There were an amazing number of pieces to this quilt, as is typical with Bonnie Hunter quilts.  I don't think I would recommend one of her patterns to a beginner or to someone who solely does hand-piecing.


It was actually hard at times to make sure that I had all the right pieces because there were so many.  I think it was something like 300-400 little purple triangles.


The center blocks finally started coming together as Ohio Star blocks.  Both light and dark versions of them.




And finally some blocks up on the design wall to see the overall pattern.


Piecing done!!


Quilting done!!


And finally....

Completely bound and ready for use!




The photo above has the overhead light on while the photo below is just the natural light coming through the windows.  The day was overcast so I decided to do both pictures.



It was a fun quilt to make and despite it being a bit "crazy colored" in the beginning, the quilt turned out really well at the end.  My husband even likes it and initially he called it the "ugly quilt".

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stash Busting 2013 - Week 35

Last week was a good quilting week.  I mostly stayed inside, despite the nice weather, due to the poison ivy rash I had.  Sunblock made the skin feel like it was burning, so I had to stay in or risk getting sunburn on top of the poison ivy rash. Yuck!

But because I stayed in, I was able to finish quilting Wildflower Fields (the pattern is Orca Bay by Bonnie Hunter).  I even made the binding and have it all machine-sewn on.  I sew the back of the binding by hand, so it will stay in the partially attached category until the weather gets cooler and I want a quilt to cover up with.  :-)  There's no way I'm sitting with a heavy quilt on me when its 85-degrees out!



The next two photos show the quilting detail a little bit more.  I used wool batting on this one, so its a bit puffier than standard cotton batting.




We also finally hung the Lone Star quilt in the foyer.  I did not block this quilt at all, just machine washed and dried it and it hangs perfectly straight!  Yay!  It really fills the space on the wall really well and we love how it looks up there.  You can easily see all the texture that the quilting created on it... even when you're 15 feet away from it.


It is a bit difficult to get a picture of it on the wall as I'm either off to the side and at the some level (i.e. standing upstairs) or I'm under it taking a picture from below.  Either way... it looks really great hanging on the wall.  Since it wasn't terribly difficult to hang (had to use two ladders and one of the ladders was on the stairs), I may enter this one in a quilt show during the up-coming year.  We'll see if I find anything that I want to enter it into....

So in terms of stash busting, I was able to count a lot of fabric this week because of the backing on Wildflower Fields.  I also counted the binding since there's only the hand-sewing left to do.

So here are my stash numbers:

Added This Week:       0.00 yards
Added Year to Date:    5.86 yards
Used This Week:          6.48 yards
Used Year to Date:       14.85 yards
Net Year to Date:         8.99 yards

I'm in the black by almost 9 yards of fabric.  I love using backings!  :-)

Check out how others are doing with their stash over on Judy's blog.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Wildflower Fields

The one good thing about the poison ivy rash that I picked up was that it gave me more time to sew.  Once I got past the first week of intense itching and sitting with an ice pack on my arm constantly, things weren't too bad.  The only issue was that when I tried to put sunblock on, it felt like my arm was on fire.  So sunblock was out...  Since I burn easily anyway, there was no way I was going to get sunburn on top of the poison ivy!

Since I was "stuck" inside, I decided to buckle down and finish the quilting on Wildflower Fields and just get it done.  This quilt is a pattern called Orca Bay from Bonnie Hunter.  I made this while Bonnie had this is a mystery quilt, but now you can purchase that pattern through one of her books.

Here's the quilt about 3/4 done through quilting:



And a close-up of some of the stitching.  I used Superior Threads bottom line in the bobbin and king tut in the top.  The King Tut was a variegated purple-ish colored thread.


Somehow the purple/pink colors of the thread mixed well with all the colors on the quilt.




I also decided to use wool batting on this quilt.  Its my first time using wool and I think I may use it more often for some of the quilts when I want the quilting to stand out a bit more.


You can see the texture from the quilting and wool batting in the next few photos.




It took a longer than I expected to quilt this quilt, but its done now....which means I'll be able to count the backing as stash used this coming weekend.  :-)


I still have to trim the quilt and add the binding to it (a solid green), but I really like how this quilt turned out.  I'm in the process of getting caught up with my quilting and turning out some finishes.  This will only be my 2nd finish this year as the Lone Star quilt took up most of my quilting time earlier this year. 

It feels good to get some more finishes done.  :-)


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Make-A-List Monday

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  The weather was finally pretty nice here in upstate NY.  We had some sun and the temperatures were above freezing during the day.  It was still cold enough at night that we received a dusting of snow each night, but it was gone within a few hours during the day.

I did get some items done this week, but not as much as I would have liked.  I had some medical tests that I had to have run over the past few days, which ended up making it such that I didn't want to do anything.

Here was the list from last week:
1. Finish quilting the border for Lone Star. I didn't get to finish the quilting, but I have about half of the border done.

2. Post pictures of ceiling progress (we should get all the crown up this week). Done.  Posted about it here.
3. Press and photograph Bento Box pieces. Done.  I'll post some pictures here.

4. Setup Wildflower Fields for quilting. No progress.

I really hope to make some progress on the Lone Star quilting this week.  I'm at a stage where I can sit down and do 15-20 minutes of quilting easily and then be able to stop.  I find that when I am at stages where I can do just a little bit at a time, I am able to make more progress.  During the week its sometimes hard to find an hour or two to do something more complicated.

I have a guild meeting tonight, so that means no quilting will happen tonight.  I also have to make sure I start getting to the gym this week, so that will also take up some time.  We only have one full weekend left to finish the ceiling, so we're down to the wire and need a big push to finish that up.  So this week, my list is going to be shorter than normal.  Only two things on it this week...


1. Finish quilting borders on Lone Star.
2. Post pictures for ceiling progress.

Hope everyone has a great week! 

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stashbusting 2012 - Weeks 35 & 36

I missed posting last week, so its a double-post this week.  The biggest accomplishment is that I finished up Wildflower Fields!  This fabric was already counted, but I want to share the photos again.  The pictures don't really do the top justice.  Its so much prettier in person.  I'm going to have to try get really good pictures of it once I have it quilted.

Closer picture of one of the corners.

The other big news is that I officially have another commission quilt to make.  A woman my mother knows has a daughter who is expecting in January and she asked around for where she could get something special.  My mother happened to mention that I made quilts and this woman jumped on it.  We've already picked out the design and now its time to go fabric shopping!  Since this fabric will be used right up when I purchase it and its not for my own use, I won't be counting it in the stash reports.

I'm really excited about making this quilt and I hope the client loves it when I give it to her later this fall.

So I used a little bit of stash this week playing around with some blocks for the outer border of a scrappy quilt I'm working on.  I will have to wait to make more of the blocks though as I need more fabrics to throw into the mix.

Here are the numbers:
Added This Week:       0.0 yards
Added Year to Date:    18.54 yards
Used This Week:          0.12 yards
Used Year to Date:       21.12 yards
Net Year to Date:         -2.58 yards  

Go on over to Judy's post to see how everyone has done this week.


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Make-A-List Monday... on Tuesday

Whenever there's a three-day weekend with the holiday on Monday, I get all screwed up in terms of what day of the week it is.  This time is no exception. :-)  Actually, I think it may even be worse because I took Friday off from work to make it a four-day weekend.

I was able to get some sewing done, but not a huge amount as both Saturday and Sunday were spent a my parents' and my inlaw's for two separate labor day gatherings.

Here was the plan for last week.

1. Post on Wednesday with project progress.  Work was crazy busy, so I didn't do this last week.
2. Finish adding the final borders to Wildflower Fields.  Finished!
3. Post about Quilt #6.  Finished!
4. Post a picture of the current needlepoint project. Oops - forgot to even take a picture.  I did finish the "page" I was working on and am onto the last page for the first row.  There's 42 pages total!  The first row when I'm done with it will have 30,000 stitches.  That's a scary number!.
5. Post for Stashbusting Sunday.  Wasn't home on Sunday, so I didn't get a chance to post.


So here's Wildflower Fields all completed (except final quilting and binding).

Closer picture of one of the corners.

I think it came out way better than I thought it would.  The pictures really don't do it justice as the colors are very vibrant in person and they just don't show up as well in the picture.  I can't wait to get this on the frame and quilted!

So this week, I'm not even going to attempt to be adventurous as its probably going to be another busy week.  In no particular order...

1. Post for Stashbusting on Sunday.
2. Quilt more of the Beginning Sampler and post photos of quilted blocks.
3. Design quilting motif for Lone Star wall hanging.
4. Trim "leftover" bits from other quilts into usable pieces.
5. Photograph needlepoint and post picture.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Wildflower Fields

Late last year, I started a mystery quilt pattern from Bonnie Hunter called Orca Bay.  I'm finally getting around to finish it.  This has been a labor of love and sometimes of annoyance.  It took a very long time to make all the string blocks and triangles.  There's too many individual pieces to count in this quilt.

Here's how it was at the start of this week with the center pieced and the inside border on.

I was finally able to get some time after work on Thursday and put the last borders on to finish this up.  While I still have to quilt it, I'm really happy that the "hard part" is done now.  It came out a lot better than I had thought it would.  I liked all the fabrics I originally picked (all from stash with a few supplements when I ran out), but didn't dream that it would look this good.  The pictures don't do it justice.  My husband thought it was ugly for the longest time, but now that its together, he thinks its pretty cool.

Closer picture of one of the corners.

I have a simple pantograph pattern of daisies that I think I'm going to use for the quilting.  Since its so busy, I just want something that will provide texture to the quilt.  Now...on to the next project. :-)

 Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stashbusting 2012 - Week 34

I was able to get a little bit of sewing in this week and used up some additional stash.  I was able to get the entire center portion of Wildflower Fields sewn together.  This is based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern Orca Bay.  At the far right of the picture, you can see the scrappy blocks I use as leaders and enders.  I have a total of 76 of these 16-patch blocks now  I need a total of 99 for the quilt top I'm making.

This next picture shows one of the borders for the quilt.

So the 1/2 yard I used this week is a combination of another scrappy 16-patch block and 2" fabric strips for an inner border on Wildflower Fields between the quilt top and the pieced border.

Here are the numbers:
Added This Week:       0.0 yards
Added Year to Date:    18.54 yards
Used This Week:          0.5 yards
Used Year to Date:       21 yards
Net Year to Date:         -2.45 yards  

Go on over to Judy's post to see how everyone has done this week.

Happy Crafting! ~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Make-A-List Monday

Last week was a fairly productive week for me on the quilting front.  I think a large portion of that was due to the fact that I actually left work reasonably on-time.  I just was not going to put in 50 hours last week after coming back from vacation.

Here's the list from last Monday:
1. Post for Wanna-Know Wednesday. DONE!
2. Finish quilting Shine on Bayou Cane. DONE! Finished on Thursday evening.

3. Post for Stash Busting Sunday. Stash posts were not held this week as Judy had her blog re-done and it was not available for most of Sunday.
4. Post entry for other quilts I've made besides the first quilt. ;-)  DONE!


I actually got all of the items accomplished last week, which is a minor miracle. ;-)

So here's the plan for this week...

1. Post photos of Shine on Bayou Cane's label and binding.  I machine stitched the binding and label on yesterday, but the actual hand-stitching is going to wait until it gets a bit cooler.

2. Sew rows together for Wildflower Fields.

3. Post for Wanna Know Wednesday.

4. Trim up extra pieces of fabric from backing of Shine on Bayou Cane to use in scrap quilts.

5. Post about Quilt #4 on the blog.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stashbusting 2012 - Week 29

I was on vacation this past week and got a TON of stuff done.  Not much of it related to actually using fabric though.  We've spent the majority of the week doing projects around the house that have been lingering.  Somehow we can never get enough done even on weekends due to being at the office for 50+ hours a week (each of us are working 50+ hours a week).

We finished hanging my design wall in my quilting "studio".  We made it out of 1/4" thick plywood, 3/8" thick cork board, and a fabric design wall from Keepsake Quilting.

This is the first quilt up on the design wall.  Its Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay pattern.  With the colors I've chosen, I'm calling it "Wildflower Fields".

We also painted and assembled a very large trellis for the front of the house.  Its about 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide.  It will give plenty of space for our clematis to start climbing.  The brown thing on the garage is the trellis.  I don't have any pictures that are closer up.

Our plants are all doing well with the little bit of water we've been able to give them.  We're actually getting a little bit of rain right now so we have every container available outside to try to catch as much of the water as possible.  We definitely need the rain as the grass is definitely well past the crunchy stage!

On the quilting front, I've been cutting up some scraps to use in future quilts, but it doesn't get counted as stash used until its actually being sewn into something.  I've also been working on quilting a quilt on my frame.  I have it about halfway done now.  I can get 5 passes done in a single bobbin filled to the brim with Bottom-Line thread from Superior Threads.  The quilt is from Judy's book "Weekend Quilts".

Here are the numbers:
Added This Week:       0.0 yards
Added Year to Date:    18.54 yards
Used This Week:          0.0 yards
Used Year to Date:       19.72 yards
Net Year to Date:         -1.18 yards

Still in the black and hope to stay there!

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at UpstateNYCreations

Make-A-List Monday

So last week I was a little slow on posting items.  It seems that whenever the weather gets warm and nice, I want to be outside doing things!  I did get some sewing done last week though and was able to count some stash. Yay!  Here's what I had planned to do....

1.  Post for Wanna-Know Wednesday. Didn't get a chance to do this. ;-(
2.  Sew borders to Lone Star quilt. Finished!
3. Post for Stash Busting Sunday. DONE!

I have a vacation break coming up later this week.  I will be off from work starting July 4th and not returning until July 16th!  Yay!  I hope to get some sewing done during this period, but I have a feeling that most of my time will be doing work around the house/yard.  We want to build our trellis and get that installed this week so we can plant the last plant in the garden and consider all of that done.

I do hope to get a quilt on the quilting frame and get that done.  I have 3 quilts now that are ready for quilting, so I need to get cracking!  The frame has been setup since Christmas, but I haven't taken the time to load a test piece and make sure everything is working properly before I put a "real" quilt on there.  I have a new pantograph I want to try, too, so I will test that out on the test piece.
 
Here's the plan for this coming week:

1. Post for Wanna-Know Wednesday.
2. Post picture of the Lone Star quilt.
3. Sew the first row together for Wildflower Fields.

4. Post for Stash Busting Sunday.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at UpstateNYCreations

Stashbusting 2012 - Week 20-23

Its been a few weeks since I last posted for Stashbusting, but I have been able to get some sewing done.  I completed all the piece parts for Bonnie Hunter's pattern "Orca Bay".  I put it aside for a little while though to start working on a wall hanging for the house.

The wall hanging is going to be a Lone Star pattern.  After a slight fumble the first time I tried to make the full diamond, I was able to get the hang of it.  I have four diamond pieces made so far, but here's what they look like as a sewn pair.

We've also been busy the past few weeks with our garden and house things.  We took almost a full week off from work during the Memorial Day Holiday and were able to get our front planting bed mostly planted.  We are still waiting for some of the flowers to arrive, but we had to dig out 8 yards of sand, replace it with 8 yards of good topsoil and then start planting.  So far there are 55 plants in the bed with another 12 on the way.  Here's what it looks like:

If you couldn't tell, we really like poppies. :-)

We've also been building a dam in a small stream on our property. We have a pump near it and are able to use the water in the reservoir to water our lawn. Considering we're on a well, we're very happy to be able to use the water in the stream to water the lawn versus our only potable water.

Here are the numbers:
Added This Week:       0.0 yards
Added Year to Date:    15.54 yards
Used This Week:          2.44 yards
Used Year to Date:       12.62 yards
Net Year to Date:         2.93 yards

Almost in the black again!  It shouldn't take long to get back to neutral or even use more fabric than I've purchased! ;-)

Make-a-List Monday

Last week was a pretty bad week for me.  I didn't post at all last week (BAD SARAH!).  On Wednesday, I woke up with one eye almost completely swollen shut.  The night before, both eyes felt a little itchy, but I didn't think anything of it since I have allergies.  It clearly wasn't just allergies though.

I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with conjunctivitis (pink eye).  Lucky me! :-(

I've been on eye drops for 5 days now and while the swelling was gone as of yesterday, I woke up this morning with the eye swollen again.  Not as bad as last week, but still not great.  Just when I thought things were getting better....

So here's what I had attempted to do last week:

1. Post directions for table runner. Not done.

2. Finish sewing and pressing the next step for the Orca Bay pattern. I did get this completed.  All the sub-parts for Orca Bay are done and I've set this aside for the time being to work on a Lone Star quilt.

3. Post for Wanna-Know-Wednesday. Not done.

4. Prepare directions for Lone Star Wall Hanging. Not done.

5. Setup area in sewing room for scraps. Not done.

I did actually start sewing the Lone Star Wall Hanging and was able to get 3 diamond sections made.  It looks really nice and I promise I'll share some pictures. ;-)

This week is a short work week for me as I'm taking Wednesday through Friday off as vacation.  This is what I hope to accomplish though.

1.  Post directions for table runner.

2. Post for Wanna-Know-Wednesday.

3. Share pictures of the Lone Star Wall Hanging.

4. Setup area in sewing room for scraps.

5.  Plant flowers and share pictures of the front planting bed.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Make-a-List Monday

Last week went by way too quickly!  Sadly, I didn't get even close to completing the tasks I had wanted to, mainly because we had our yard hydro-seeded on Tuesday.  On Monday evening, the hubby decided that he wanted to go out and buy all the stuff such that we could water the lawn from a stream.  We had created a dam in the stream such that it held a small pool of water and the overflow went downstream like it normally would.

The pump then pulled water from the reservoir and pumped it to a sprinkler head to water the grass seed.  We were able to get it all working and after several nights of buying more things, re-inforcing the dam, spreading out the sprinklers and hoses...we got it all working and watered this past weekend.  However, since most evenings were spent trying to get the sprinklers setup, I didn't have a lot of time for sewing.

Here's the list from last week:

1. Post directions table runner online. Not completed. :-(

2. Sew the next step for the Orca Bay pattern (sewing wing triangles to string blocks) and press pieces. Pressed all those pieces shown below and started sewing the 2nd triangle onto the string blocks.

3. Prepare directions for Lone Star Wall Hanging. Not completed. :-(

4. Post tutorial for "perfect binding corners". DONE!!!

5. Setup area in sewing room for scraps. Not completed. :-(

Hopefully this coming week I'll do a better job at getting into the sewing room!  Here's what I would like to accomplish this coming week:

1. Post directions for table runner.

2. Finish sewing and pressing the next step for the Orca Bay pattern.

3. Post for Wanna-Know-Wednesday.

4. Prepare directions for Lone Star Wall Hanging.

5. Setup area in sewing room for scraps.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations