East to West compasses quilt

I met the goal I set last week of finishing up the curved geese units and I also got them sewn onto the centre of the quilt.



Saturday I cut all the papers I need to English Paper Piece the next sections. I’m working on the large points of the half compasses that will go around what is already finished. I’m using the same fabrics for these compass points as what is in the centre compass. Past that point, I don’t know if the final round of curved geese will also be the gold colour or if I will make them brighter. Right now I’m leaning towards not introducing any new fabrics or colours, but I’ll make a final decision once I get there. If they aren’t gold, they would likely be a teal like the medium points. I’ll be linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

I went to a quilt till you wilt day with the guild on Saturday. But I cheated. The day started at 9 am and was to go until 9 pm.  But I didn’t get there until 1:30. We all know my difficulty with mornings. Even so, I got a lot accomplished. I actually finished a quilt top. I started it at the quilt till you wilt day 2 years ago and then it sat untouched for the most part, until today. It’s an I Spy quilt for our grand daughter Abbie. It just might be done in time for her birthday in January. It needs a backing put together for it and quilting and binding.

I also made up 6 Friendship Star blocks for the comfort quilts our guild makes. I don’t have pictures of those. After all that was done, there was still time to do some hand stitching. Two arcs are finished and the third well under way. This is what they look like up against the compass.

 I like it! They are stitching up pretty quickly. The last 2 might be done by next week and then I can start on the outer half compasses which will also have curved geese around the outside which will unify the whole thing. I’m linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’ve finished Friendship Chain, the top that is. It’s not quilted yet. I still have customer quilts to get done on the long arm before Christmas before I can load one of my own. In the meantime, I’m working on another hand piecing project. Last August I sewed up this Mariner’s Compass. I wanted to do more with this, as the finished compass here is only 16 inches. Not really big enough to do anything with it, besides a pillow, and I don’t need any more of those. So I played around in Electric Quilt 7 and come up with a design that I like. I’ve shared it before.  The colours aren’t the same as what I’m using, and the background fabrics are a bit out of scale, but the layout idea is there. I’ve gotten one of the curved geese arcs almost finished. The pieces are quite small, so they stitch together very quickly. I’m using English Paper Piecing to do these. The arcs will be reverse appliquéd into background triangles. I’ll be linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I am finishing Friendship Chain. It is so very very close now. The last of the chains are done and all sewn together into the last of the rows. The last row is now in the process of being stitched in place.
My friend Charlene and I are doing a trunk show about English Paper Piecing on Thursday evening for our guild. I so very much want to have this done by then so I’m putting on a push to get the last 2 very long seams done by then. I have plans to spend the rest of the afternoon working on that while watching Inspector Morse mysteries.

Once I’ve finished with stitching all this together I need to finish writing up the pattern for this design. Before I can do that I need to stitch up a few extra units so that I can take photos of the process for stitching together the units for the last row. Once that’s done I can finish writing it up and get it to Charlene, who in addition to doing trunk shows with me also graciously does editing on my patterns. I am so blessed to have so many good friends. This quilt is named in honour of them. One of my friends, Susan, who I’ve known for over 30 years now, left a comment on the blog a few weeks ago. I loved the comment so much that it has been incorporated into the introduction for the pattern. She said, and I quote: "This friendship chain quilt is varied and unique not unlike each of our friends who bring a mixture of personalities and colour to our lives.”

So with that goal in mind, I’m going to finish this post and get it linked up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching 

Slow Sunday Stitching

It’s a wet and gloomy day out there today which makes it a prefect day for being indoors and slowly stitching. I was hoping for sunny though, or at least cloudy and dry because I wanted to do my photos outside where the light is good. But I had to make do with the living room area where there was enough room to spread out after re-arranging a couple of things. I’m making good progress on Friendship’s Chain. Only 2 1/2 chains left to finish. After that I just need to sew this last row in place and it is done. It is so exciting and so much fun to get a quilt from design concept to actually finished. It is all English Paper Pieced. The pattern is almost finished as well and is being edited by a good friend of mine. The finish of this quilt and the finish of the pattern might just happen close to the same time.

And of course, like most quilters. I have my next project already in my head and into a drawing in Electric Quilt. I want to take this compass that I did a while ago and make it into something more.



Here is the concept drawing from Electric Quilt. The colours aren’t accurate to what I want to use and the background fabric of the compass is out of scale, but it is close enough to get the general idea of where I want it to go. The red will probably get switched out for something else since there isn’t any red in any of the fabrics I’ll be using. But there’s lots of time to decide before I get there. I have all the fabrics that I need for the backgrounds and borders now in my possession. So as soon as Friendship Chain is done I can start this. It is acting as a great motivator. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then I’ll be getting back to my stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

My slow stitching project continues to be Friendship Chain. One of my very good friends left a comment on my last post about this that I just had to share here because it describes exactly what I was thinking when I named this quilt. In fact I like her statement so much that I am going to include it in the write up that is going into the pattern. "This friendship chain quilt is varied and unique not unlike each of our friends who bring a mixture of personalities and color to our lives."(Thanks Susan!) 

It is so close to being finished and yet so far away..... sigh....... I’ve had a major flare up of the fibromyalgia that most of the time is just an accustomed background noise that I can deal with and ignore. But not lately.... the pain has intruded into every part of my life and trying to sleep has been a major trial since it is not happening. I finally went to the doctor and he’s given me a new to me medication to try called Lyrica. It has helped with the pain. But sleeping is still not happening and the medication is causing some unpleasant side effects..... dizziness and mental fogginess. I’m giving it a good trial and I’ll stick with it until I see the doctor again on the 30th to see if my body will adjust. But all this is having a serious impact on doing what I love......  sigh........ But anyway.... enough of that.....

Here’s a picture of the quilt so far. It measures 63x70. It will contain 110 different fabrics once the last of he chains are finished, all from stash. No new fabrics were purchased for making this quilt.

The pieces for the remainder of the row are all cut and organized so it’s just a matter of finishing basting them and the getting them sewn together. I’ve gotten a start on writing up the pattern and my editor friend Charlene has read them over and says they are clear and understandable so far, which means I can continue on past writing the first step and get the instructions finished. I can’t put a time or date for it at the moment.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

First of all, I want to wish a happy Thanksgiving to everyone here from Canada who celebrates today. We have our full family coming for dinner today. I am so thankful for a family that loves one another and gets along so well! And I am so very thankful for all my friends both locally that I actually get to see in person and those I’ve never met in person but know through this wonderful medium of the internet.
Our part of the work for our family dinner was mostly done yesterday, cooking the turkey and stuffing ahead of time and putting it into foil containers that can go into the oven to heat about an hour before dinner. I like having all that work and all the mess taken care of the day before. It gives so much more time to be able to be with the family rather than be in the kitchen.We’ll be going to church this afternoon and getting back in time to put finishing touches to gravy. We also decided we wanted a choice of dishes this year, so we’re doing a roast beef as well. And of course, no roast beef is complete without yorkshire pudding, so there will be that to do as well when we get home.
In the meantime, I can show you what I’ve gotten accomplished on Friendship’s Chain. I’m down to only having one more row to do which is why there is a gap in between the two sections in the picture. It’s in two sections because once I figured out a logical way to put it together, I had to start at the other end in order to be able to take pictures of the process for pattern writing purposes. As quilts grow in our little apartment we start to have problems with picture locations with adequate floor space and adequate light. This one just fits at the bottom of the stairs. I try to do most of my pictures outside but it’s wet and windy out there today. Plus I must confess to still being in my pj’s and not wanting to be outside that way.
It’s been quite busy around here lately getting ready for our guild’s quilt show. I have finished the quilts for other people for it and now would like to get one more of my own done, but that’s not likely to happen. So instead, maybe I’ll slow down and work on getting this finished and quilted instead and then begin the pattern writing process for it. I also have a new quilt in mind that I’m itching to get started. It’s an expansion of the Mariner’s Compass I did back in August. I want to get it set into a Medallion style quilt using other Compasses. But I will exercise what little self discipline I have and finish this first.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then I think I’ll get myself some lunch which is also breakfast.