Slow but Steady

I am slowly finishing Bonnie Hunter's Unity Quilt. In the last few weeks I have finished part 5 - 

and part 6 and am now working on part 7. I am a little over half way through this part and only have one more to go!

Snow Day Sewing

We have had a fair amount of snow since the beginning of the year and it has been relatively cold as well. This means outside projects are not much fun at the moment and other than taking care of all the critters (alpacas, donkeys, chickens and goats) I am working inside as much as possible.  I manage to squeak about an hour or two a day to work on my quilt projects. 

I have been working on Bonnie Hunter's Unity quilt that she did as a mystery at the beginning of the lockdowns. Way back in March! I have finally finished part 4.

Because I have to stop and start working on projects to do other work and I like to multi-task projects - it can take me a time to finish piecing a quilt. I am also working on a quilt that I think I started in either 2013 or 2014 as a block of the month from Cobblestone Quilters Guild in Charleston, SC. I have 12 blocks but have divided it into two lap size quilts and I have started sashing the blocks of the first quilt. Of course I have a studio full of fabric - but do I have white on white (not a fabric I use a great deal)  to finish the half and quarter blocks on the edges. That would be a no. A good excuse to buy more fabric?

I cleaned up the studio and listed out all the UFOs, both large and small. This is the list of larger quilt projects that I have started and not completed. If they are not moving forward at the end of this year - I think they will need to be given to someone else who might get them done.

I am linking into Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday and guess what this is post number two of the year - as many as I managed last year - so one more and 2021 is ahead of the game.

Starting Again - One More Time

At the beginning of every year, I dust off my blog and resolve that this is the year I am going to update it on a regular basis. Every year since we moved to the mountains, this has lasted about as long as most resolutions last.  So one more time I am going to try to record my art journey. Living in a very small space on top of other people and having the slowest internet know to modern man, I have struggled to find quiet time to write and up load photos. 

The internet issue is about to get fixed - fiber optic cable is nearly installed!  I have straightened my studio area (fingers crossed - I will be able to keep it that way) and have a peaceful place to work. I hope these changes will allow me to be more successful. I love reading other peoples blogs - their art journeys, their trials and successes, and their everyday life. I want to join back in!

So - here we go:

The first photo is the pinwheel quilt I finished piecing way back in January of 2020 - I need to come up with a quilting design.

 

Next I am working on Bonnie Hunter's Unity Mystery Quilt - most everyone finished this in the spring - but I am only on part four. My daughter has claimed it and I have been working on the piecing.

Next is the start of Bonnie Hunter's Winter Blues quilt - just what I needed another project with lots of tiny pieces. But I have lots of scraps in the sizes and colors that this quilt uses - so it will be a leader and ender quilt for awhile. 

I am not working on any of my own designs at the moment - the farm and fiber business (Pendle Alpacas) are taking most of my creative mojo. But I hope if I start piecing and quilting again it will return.

A Bit of Progress and A Bit of Yarn

I have slowly been working on the disappearing pinwheel quilt over the last two weeks. I have all the sashing done and have the first borders and binding cut. A few piano keys have been sewn together for the second border and I hope to have a finished top by the end of the week.

I have also spun most of the merino roving into singles and could not resist plying the first skein. It is approximately 3 ounces and 125 yards. Unfortunately, I only have 5 ounces left so will have a little over 300 yards when I am done. Not enough for the pattern I was thinking of using. I will need to do a little pattern searching on Ravelry to find an alternative.

At the end of next week, I need to start working on products for our farm business but I intend to keep plugging away at a few of my own projects to get a little more balance in my life in 2020.

A New Decade, Old UFO's and a Bad Case of Startitist

A new year, a new decade and a very neglected blog. Once again I will try to record my fiber journey on a regular basis. We will see how long this lasts.

As the winter months are a little slower on the farm and business (Pendle Alpacas), I  hope to spend more time in the studio sewing and quilting for a change. I am trying to work on UFO's instead of starting any new projects as the number of works in progress would take several pages to record.

I want to finish a charity quilt that started out as a series of blocks made when I helped do a presentation for my local guild back in October on disappearing blocks. I worked with the pinwheel block and as I wanted to show lots of variations - I ended up making twelve blocks.

I plan on sashing the blocks and then adding a piano key border to make it a nice size lap quilt. I have started cutting out the fabric for the boarder - using the fabrics from the blocks. I managed to pull all but one the different purple print fabrics out of my stash.

Of course I have a terrible case of Startitist - new projects are beckoning to me. I am limiting that to a spinning/knitting project as it is too cold and dark to work in the studio after sunset. I have had this roving for several years and I think I now know what I want to knit out of it. So I will beginning splitting it up tonight and hope to begin spinning it tomorrow.

A River Runs Through On Display

I finished my quilt, A River Runs Through a few weeks ago - in time for it to be in the "Anything Goes" show at the Ashe County Arts Council gallery. It will be up until March 22, 2019.

Viewing Summer

A hint of Fall 

Both Seasons 

Viewing Fall

I am pretty please with how it worked. One quilt - several different views. I will make on another dimensional quilt in the future as - there are still some construction issues I am not completely satisfied with.

The last few weeks since the quilt was finished have been taken up with being sick (terrible cold), traveling to visit family, and working on farm related projects. The weather is starting to warm up here in the mountains so working in the studio is getting easier. I don't have any major projects planned at the moment - so I think the next few weeks will be used to finish up a lot of long standing UFO's and getting my garden ready for Spring.

I am linking up to Nina-Marie's blog. I would love to take her Open Access challenge - but for now I think I need to focus on finishing things before starting something new.

A River Runs Through - Quilted

I finished quilting the two quilts* that became one. The first is a version of the New River in the summer time with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.

The second is the same scene but in the fall.

After quite a few hours of quilting - I then had to slice each quilt into 2 1/2" strips - not an easy task as I was terrified my rotary cutter would slip and I would have spent all that time for a true mess.

Luckily it worked! I have sewn the two quilts together and created the mounting device. The quilt is now hanging in the Ashe County Arts Council gallery in the show "Anything Goes!" that runs until March 22, 2019. I tried to take a few photos before I delivered it - but they were rubbish. I will get to the gallery this week and see if I can get better a better shot.

I have been wanting to do a 3 dimensional piece for a while and I am glad I took the risk. It isn't exactly what I had envisioned in my minds eye - but it is pretty close. I am linking to Off the Wall Friday - I think I might have reached a little of what mentally strong women don't do.  

*This project is funded as a cooperative venture of Alleghany Arts Council, Ashe County Arts Council, Watauga Arts Council, and Wilkes Art Gallery with support from a Regional Artist Project Grant of the North Carolina Arts Council, a Division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resource.