Quilting

I am a little over half way done quilting Friendship Stars. Sophie had a little hiccup after I loaded a new bobbin….its like the tension discs weren’t engaged and what took 2 minutes to put in stitches took 20 minutes to take out. I got the tension straightened out but still don’t understand what caused the problem. In any case Sophie has been fine ever since. 

I spent about 4 1/2 hours with Sophie and expect I’ll need another 3-4 hours, barring any hiccups. I’m quilting my standard free motion swirl from the Quilters Apothecary (here’s the YouTube link). I can tell when I need a break as I start to “lose” my way but it’s going pretty well.

I’m pretty happy with the grey thread although using white in the bobbin might have made it blend in more on the back. 

Soon I’ll find out if I run out of backing fabric 😬😬😬😬!

Cherie 

Ritter Retreat

What a wonderful group of women we have had at retreat. I was able to sit and hand sew while joining in on fun conversations and see wonderful projects growing on the design walls. After getting the hand sewing finished, I was able to come up with a design from the HST’s from cut off triangles from Jan & Lisa. The group thinks the project should be called “With a Little Help From My Friends”. More HST’s are needed so I didn’t sew any of them together.

Just after Christmas I posted here about a partially started project I was giving away. Linda, who organizes the Ritter Retreat, accepted the challenge and blew me away by finishing all but the border!! I expect she’ll have this Jaqueline De Jonge quilt finished before next July’s retreat.

I brought the stack of neutral 6 1/2” crumb blocks I had….turns out there were 101 blocks. I used 99 blocks and got them sewed together.

This will be the background for a great big red appliquéd flower on a big bendy green stem. I bought this red for the flower.

I also bought some other fabrics because there’s the cutest fabric shop at the retreat 😁.

Lastly, I sewed and trimmed 177 HST’s from even more cut off triangles from Jan. We asked ChatGPT (thanks Nancy!) how much fabric it takes of light and dark to make 177 HST’s and the answer was 7/8 of a yard of each, so 2 yards of fabric total!!!

We leave the retreat tomorrow and I fly home on Tuesday. It has been an amazing retreat.

Cheers, Cherie 

Off and On Sophie

I quilted Quadrangle and got the binding and label made so when I get home from retreat, I can sew on the binding. 

I ironed the wide backing for the Friendship Stars quilt.

And got it loaded on Sophie at which point I realized there is only a little over an inch margin of backing at the bottom 😬. See how closely I’ve placed the top of the quilt to the leader? I know I should have taken the backing off and added a strip of fabric…….but I didn’t!

So as soon as I get home from retreat, I’ll get it quilted….if you hear any loud wailing you’ll know the backing came up short 😩.

Cherie 

In the Mail

I received a squishy in the mail yesterday from Wanda at Exuberant Color and it was my favorite kind - SCRAPS!!

I believe I’ve mentioned a few times (ha!) how much I love scraps and other quilter’s scraps are the best! Naturally I got to sorting and petting them right away 😉. Wanda sent a lovely note card with her Sparkling Stars quilt which is now owned by Lynne of the Patchery Menagerie and you can get a peak at it in this post here.

Included in the bunch are some batiks and I’m going to incorporate them into the ovals project. I LOVE all the quilt-y connections. Thank you, Wanda, for making my day 😃

Happy Quilting,

Cherie

It’s a Top!

I finished sewing the rows together and Friendship Stars is a top!

Fresh from ironing the last seam.

Still huge, 😂. Linking up with the Quilty Girl for Finished (or not) Friday.

Now to quilt the Quadrangle quilt so I can get the Friendship Stars quilt on Sophie and get ‘r done ✅.

Then I’ll load up one of the quilts below to get it quilted and the binding sewn so I can hand sew it in the car.

You never know, it could happen, but maybe not since I’ll be gone a week to join The Colorful Fabriholic at retreat 😄. 

Cherie