molehills finish!

As I was sitting down to my computer to start this post, I realized I had not yet (after finishing them a week ago) gotten photos taken of BOTH quilts I finished (just the binding, mind you) when sewing with my friends last Monday.

Quick, out to remedy that!

(Otherwise my blog post won't be that interesting...)

The weather, after being stupid windy for DAYS, is DEAD calm and not all that cold.  Hooray!  Good quilt photography weather!

But let's start at the beginning so I can tell the proper story of this quilt.

Some of you may remember that back in 2021 I started what I called "sticks" where I drew random projects from a batch of ideas I wanted to complete.  At one point they were in a jar, but I can't find that photo, so this will have to do.

I didn't get very far into the year before I was feeling overwhelmed and abandoned the idea, but I did get some projects done.  This was the pull for April.

(Purple was a new quilt.  Green was a quilt that needed longarming.  Red was a stretch at a work in progress - as you can see here, I had a bunch of half square triangles I wanted to deal with.  And blue was a non-quilty craft.)

I have a lot of quilts on Pinterest.  Many that I know I will never make, but it serves as inspiration.  This quilt was one I had loved from the start, so I decided it was time to make Molehills.

(The link to the original quilt no longer works, so I'm glad I figured out what the quilt was before Pinterest ate the link.  Or the internet.  Someone ate and it wasn't me.)

Anyways, new quilt means a shopping trip.  At least for this project.

The original, as you'll see in the link, was done in orange and yellow and blue.  So that was what I went looking for.

This is what I came home with.

I could not, after so many trips around the store, find enough oranges and yellows that played nicely with each other and I was so doggone frustrated and then I found IT.  The balloon animals.  Off to a rainbow of happiness.  (This also did not come as easily as I had hoped and some of the fabrics I like a lot less (*ahem purple pin dots*) than others.)

Time to tackle the pattern.

Templates?

TEMPLATES?

Okay, okay.  Calm down.  I can do this.

(I mean, I knew I'd already committed to curves, but TEMPLATES?)

My Twirly quilt experience helped here with the template cutting process.  And it took less time than I originally expected.  Of course, that was only the start, but you know how this goes, right?  (If you're a quilter, you definitely do!)

Next up I needed to match up the arc pieces to make sure no full hill had more than one of each color, if I could help it.

This was back before Toby terrorized Gabby into my bedroom, so she was helping.  She looks angry, but I'm pretty sure she was just stretching after her earlier efforts at being in the way and holding everything down.

Sewing went fairly quickly, if I remember correctly...

(See, helpful.)

And then came the struggle.  A layout.  As with all scrappy quilts, making sure no two fabrics are too close to each other and not too much touchy-touchy when they do get close is a struggle.  Move one and find it clashes with two others...

Finally, I had a layout.  (And perhaps a pulled muscle or two after crawling around on my design floor.  Believe me, if I had wall space, I'm getting old enough that I would get myself a design wall.  And I know there are ones you can set up free-standing, but I also have a small sewing room, so that idea is still in the works.)

Rows labelled (which was an interesting adventure since the construction is not as straightforward as a traditional square-block quilt), but it's ready to sew.

As you can see, you sew the arcs in an alternating kind of fashion.  The next seams filled in the two empty bumps at the right of the photo (yeah, sideways a bit, but when you're in the small sewing room, you do what you can).  The instructions in the pattern are much more helpful than my little photos, so if you do decide to make this, I assure you, you'll be fine.

Before I knew it, I had a top done!

The top was finished in April of 2021 and then it waited.

I had the backing, pieced and ready to go...

...but I stalled out.  I was trying to decide what to quilt in each arc.  I wanted each color to get its own treatment, but couldn't come up with enough that were all of the same level of quilted-ness.  I didn't want some to be fluffy and others quilted to death.  That would look dumb.  At least to me.

But then my guild decided to have Monday sew-ins and I figured, since the location is nothing like what it was for the Saturday sew-ins (plugging things in is not as easy and the setup of the room means you'll ALWAYS be tripping over somebody's cord), binding (or some form of hand-sewing) was a good choice, so I got over my nonsense and decided to do something simpler and all the same.

First, though, binding.  I hadn't made it ahead because I couldn't decide what to use.  The black print in the first photo was intended for it, but just didn't work.  To the stash!

This is perfect!

To the longarm!  Enough procrastinating!

The machine and I had some disagreements about thread usage (it wanted to break it, I wanted it all in one long, continuous motif) and I was frustrated by the end, but I got it done!

Next was trimming the quilt.  The nature of this pattern leaves the edges less than square, so once it was quilted, it needed to be truly trimmed.  That was not fun, but I got it done with a minimum of swear words.  (But no photos.)

Then off to the machine to sew on the binding.  I did a little of the hand-sewing side at home...

...Toby helped.  He looks so cute here, but let me tell you about this jerk.  He went after Gabby the other day and when I finally calmed him down enough to take him out of her bedroom, after I had carried him 15 feet and set him down gently (he has enough trust issues with me already...unless he wants something, then he is the sweetest boy ever), he attacked my arm.  I have some bruised punctures from where he slapped me so hard with his claws.  (They're healing and not an issue once they stopped hurting from the initial abuse, but he seriously attacked me AFTER he was free?  I try to respect his need for personal space and all, but we were DONE with that part!)

Anyways, I finished it at the sew-in and now I have a finished quilt.

The quilting:

Every arc got little humps of varying width.  The fabric pieces were a nice guide, though, for height. They're not perfect and that's okay.  If the thread and I were on better terms, they might be more exact, but I kinda doubt it.

And you see that pin?  That's another quilting issue I found as I was binding (there are a few) that I need to fix.  Those aren't done yet...but...

Wanna see it finished-finished?

The little kitty clips came from my friend Carol for Christmas.  They're super cute, but since they're intended (I think) for beach towels, they don't grip clotheslines as well as might be desired, so I had to supplement with real clothespins.

Quilt name: Molehills

Designed by: Latifah Saafir Studios

Size: 63x70" (I think...probably close...)

Pieced and quilted by me!

This was a lot easier than it looks, templates, curves and all.  And the pattern is really well written.

So what else have I been doing this week?

Lots of cat hammocks.  The fabric shelf is empty, but I got crazy yesterday and cut everything that was left, but haven't sewn any of them yet.  There will be some mass-production-like sewing happening soon, but first I gotta finish this blog post!  (And some other stuff.)

Some of the hammock fabrics are dated, some not.  But I've had quite a few with these nice skinny selvedges.

Remember back then?  A few are dated 1992 or around then.  But I liked that I didn't lose 2 inches of fabric to nonsense.  I mean, don't get me wrong, little bunnies or trucks or whatever are cute, but I'd rather be able to cut another piece for my quilt instead of having to buy another 4" of fabric.

Okay, get off the soapbox.

Sorry.

(Maybe not that sorry.)

I also completed another batch of Polaroid blocks for the color explorer challenge:

Day 13: butter

Day 14: sea mist

Day 15: hot pink

Day 16: fawn

(Cheated a little here - it's more orange and you can see I used the selvedge because I had to, but crows!)

Day 17: pear

Day 18: amethyst

Day 20: lemon

I have no idea why these are uploading as different sizes...but I am also not happy with the quality of images from the way I'd been uploading, so I figured out a new method, but not until I got to the last photo I wanted (the Molehills finish - which looked like garbage the old way and sent me really digging), so hopefully next week things will be better.  In all, you get the idea.

I also made a big purchase yesterday!

I started actually quilting in 1997.  Before that I worked with my mom, using her supplies and doing tag-team work.  In 1997, she bought me my own sewing machine, rotary cutter, rotary mat and some good scissors.  I have been using that rotary cutter since 1997.  (New blades, of course, but same everything else.)  It is starting to develop a sort of limp.  (All that cat hammock nonsense thick ridiculous fabric crazy could not be helping.)

Yesterday I bought myself a new one.

The new blade...ahhh!  I knew the old one was getting bad and was about to change it.  Now I don't have to!

But otherwise, it's much the same.  I went with the "classic" because I liked the first one (just like this one), so why mess with perfection?  (Also, I've used other brands here and there, ergonomic grip, etc, and just didn't feel as comfortable with them.  I've gotten used to the quirks of this one, so why change if I don't have to?  I mean, every other damn thing out there makes you relearn it every 6 months or so, but for once I win!)

And before you all start telling me they have a lifetime warranty, I know.  But I figure I can support them a bit with a purchase of a new cutter every 25 years or so.  They're good quality.  I want them to keep making their stuff this good.  (But if this one goes kaput before 25 years, maybe I'll call it in.)

One last photo...

This is what happens when you give your cat a little tidbit of your food too regularly.  I do not do this.  I know better.  My husband, apparently, does not.  Freddie is so patiently, adorably, waiting.  He wants some of the human food.  (And you know he gave him some, right?)

Off to tackle the mountain of other tasks that seem to have found me in the last few days.  I have no idea how some weeks are so simple and others are insane.  Oh well.  At least I don't have to work today, so I can fit things in more easily...

Happy quilting!

Katie