Apologies

I was distracted by a couple of different social things this weekend and just realized I'd forgotten to blog on Sunday. Whoops! However FH and I had a lovely weekend with friends, so there's that.

If things go well, we will have our new dog this Thursday. She's being treated for some inflammation that occurred after her spay surgery. Fingers are crossed that she can come home this week.

I've been busy on the Aquarium Quilt. Lots of time divided between hand sewing and machine details.

This is the layout for the center of the quilt. 

This is what it looks like currently.

The sucker fish and the plant stems are stitched in place. Everything else is glue-basted. Although I have started stitching the sign down. Once the leaves are stitched in place, I'll go ahead and start the other plant and the rock formation/hide-y hole going.

The Woodbridge, VA row is finished.

As is Pantego, TX.

Also Joplin, MO.

This row from Granbury, TX is glue-basted and waiting on me to stitch the appliques in place.

The Lawrence, KS row is fused down and waiting on stitching around the applique edges.

As is the Amarillo, TX row. I may have had a bit of whimsical fun wither their mermaid design...

Here's a close-up of my mermaid. Look familiar? ;-)

I started stitching the edges on all of the recent fused-applique rows last night. I'm grouping them by thread color. So any rows that need red thread get that stitched all at once, then I change to brown, yellow, etc. It's giving me a break from hand stitching the needle-turned appliques plus it needs doing.

There are three more rows that need piecing. One I just haven't wanted to deal with. It's paper-pieced but that's not the issue. I bought it as a kit and now am regretting it because I prefer to pre-wash my fabrics... and this kits has lots of small fabric pieces.

Another one I just got in the mail yesterday and I need to choose fabrics for it. It's fused applique, so I want to get it figured out fast. Once I'm done with all the edge stitching, I'm setting the machine up to start quilting rows again.

The last row is still in my aunt's possession. She's waiting on a back-ordered license plate to get to her before she mails the row.

But I have plenty of work to do here right now. And I should get back to it. See you on Sunday!

A Few More Rows

Nothing to report on the search for a new dog. We thought we'd found one, but she decided Victor was a plaything and not part of the pack. Happily he only got covered in spit... I don't think he even knew he was in danger.

As far as the quilt goes, I have some progress there.

Quilts from the Heart in Albuquerque, NM just needs stitched around the applique edges.

 As does this row from The Quilter's Dream in Colleyville, TX,

The row from Pantego, TX almost has all its appliques in place. Just need to get the rest of the way around the whale.

The decision on the Jefferson City row was figured out.

I've started piecing the row from Woodbridge, VA. I'll add the setting triangles when I'm more awake. Then there will be seaweed appliqued in between the fish blocks.

I'm also working on making the appliques for a needle-turned row and have traced out the appliques for two more fused rows. Then there's a paper-pieced row and the center panel. I'm still waiting on four more rows to come in the mail. They were last minute pick-ups by friends and family. But until those patterns arrive, I've got plenty to work on.

Time to find some tea and get back to work. See you next week!

Fishies Everywhere!

So far no other disasters have befallen our household this past week. FH and I are going to visit with another perspective dog to become my new ESA. We've interviewed three so far and none of them have been a good fit. 

Victor is healing nicely from his enucleation surgery. His litter box habits have become non-existent though and he's not wanting to eat much. I've begun syringe feeding to keep his guts moving. Silly bunny.

But now for the fun part! Here are the completely finished rows:

Mt. Sterling, Kentucky (Sterling Thimble). My neighbor picked up this one for me on her way home from a long road trip. I needed it to be a square, so I had to fiddle with the background sections a bit.

Des Moines, Iowa (Woodside Quilting). A friend picked this one up for me while she was in Iowa on business. The design of this row lent itself nicely to becoming one of my square sections. The designer had a vision of minnows hiding amongst rocks in mind when she designed this one.

St. Louis, Missouri (Jackman's). My favorite fabric shop when I was learning how to sew all those years ago. Again I needed a square, but this time I only had to add a second flower applique to balance out the features a bit.

Lucas, Iowa  (Quilt with Us). That was a fun little road trip. I caught rain coming down in sheets and had to pull off he highway twice. I ran late enough that I missed a couple of shops, but all in all it was fun.

Now for a mostly finished row: Jefferson City, MO (Specialty Quilts). A friend from college works in Jeff City and helps get this row to me. I don't know if this row will be vertical or a square. It will depend on what rows arrive in the mail from friends and family over the next few days. But the blocks are pieced and ready to go!

And finally, these are the rows that need me to either hand sew appliques or machine-stitch around the edges of fused applique:

Crofton, Maryland (Tomorrow's Treasures). Another picked up by my neighbor.

And three of the rows my cousin in Texas picked up for me. Apparently she and her kids had quite the fun adventure visiting several quilt shops. I wish I'd been there with them.

Joshua, Texas (Sandy's Quilt Shop)

Lewisville, Texas (Quilt Country)

Pantego, Texas (Peggy's Quilt Studio)

I still have eight rows here that are waiting to be pieced and several more on the way. And I need to start putting the center block of the quilt together at some point. So much to do!

See you next weekend!

A Few Hours Early

In the hopes that I can hit the ground running in the morning, I'm posting now before I go to bed. I wasn't feeling very well this week, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped.

But the sea horse row and the goldfish row from last week are sandwiched and I have another row ready to sandwich. It's from Charlottesville, Virginia.

I also got the appliques for this row ready to sew on. They're pinned in place and ready for me in the morning... or the evening.

I've got fabrics picked out for a row that's all piecing, so I may start on it in the morning instead. There are also a couple of rows that I have kits for that might pique my interest. We'll see what mood strikes me once the sun is up.

A Day Late

Apologies for missing Sunday. Saturday was so busy that blogging completely slipped my mind. I spent the day displaying some miniature scenes at a "makerfest." That's a term for a group of people who come together to show off their various talents/projects and talk about how the made them. The makerfest itself was part of a larger arts festival which included a car show and live performances by local dancers, singers, etc.

Last week's progress on the quilt was slowed down a bit by getting ready to display at the show, but I still got some good work done.

The Freemont, CA row is ready to be sandwiched. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I'm planing on adding some more texture details to the sea horses with the quilting.

The Grantsville, MD row is also ready for sandwiching, although in this picture threads need cleaned up. I did that last night, so it's truly ready to go.

I decided to added appliqued eyes to the Morris, IL row instead of just embroidering them. The fish are large enough that I was able to trace around quarters to make the applique templates. This row is already sandwiched and waiting on me to finish blind-stitching the label on the back. I started that last night and am almost finished.

Two other rows are also sandwiched and in the stack to have their labels stitched on before quilting.

I did work on a couple of other projects last week as well. In the effort to reclaim some of my safety pins for sandwiching rows, I started the quilting on some things that have been waiting for attention.

These are the halves of what will be a large tote bag/diaper bag. It matches a quilt a friend and I started for another friend's baby. The link will take you to the post with the quilt top if you're interested.

This is the pile of safety pins I reclaimed, just from those two sections.

I also started on one of the twin chevron quilts. I still need to finish the quilting in the white sections, but I did enough work to get all my safety pins back from it and gave my shoulders a good workout.

I'm hoping to get caught up with all the rows that are ready for quilting this week and then get started on a few more. I have family who've been collecting patterns for me and they'll be mailed soon. If I can be finished with what I already have before the next round gets here, I'll be ecstatic.

That's all for now. I have a busy day of sewing and laundry waiting on my presence. See you next weekend!

Progressing

In order to get back to work, I need to keep this post short and sweet.

Three more rows are quilted now.

I pieced another row that needs appliques attached. This one is from Grantsville, MD, and is one that my neighbor picked up for me during her road trip. I had to add the strip of brown to make the row the same height as all the others. The fish appliques are needleturn but there will be fused applique grasses as well.

The row I showed last week was a surprise row sent by a friend who was visiting California. She didn't even put her name on the return address (her son's home), so I had quite the mystery on my hands for a few hours! It still needs some work on the needleturn applique. The seahorses will be fused applique and made from the brown fabric sitting next to the iron. It's from Color Me Quilts in Fremont, CA.

Two more rows are ready to quilt.

And I finished a row that ultimately needed to be taken apart because it was 4 inches too long. Needless to say I was irritated. The directions left quite a bit to be desired. I use scant quarter inch seams, but 4" is too long for even that. Plus it started out too narrow as they'd designed it at 6.5 inches wide, so I needed to add the sashing. I also made the row vertical whereas the original was horizontal. So it's waiting on me to find out if I"m getting a specific row from Albuquerque, NM that will be used in place of this row vertically before I make any changes.

I have to get back to work now. See you next weekend!

Lots of New Rows!

My neighbor who I made the Dresden tea cozy for came back from her annual road trip this past week. She had volunteered to pick up patterns for me along the way. There are so many that I'm just going to list them. If they're for the Aquarium Quilt, I've put an asterisk before the shop name.

Quilt Quarters in Caramel, IN.
The Quilting Bee in Georgetown, IN.
The Crazy Cousin and Quilt and Sewing Center in Fredericksburg, VA.
*Jinny Beyers Studio in Great Falls, VA.
*Cottonwood in Charlottesville, VA.
*Circle Sewing Studios in Woodbridge, VA.
*Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA.
*Rachel's Quilt Patch in Stauton, VA.
The Quilt Patch in Fairfax, VA.
*Four Season Stitchery in Grantsville, MD.
*Tomorrow's Treasures in Crofton, MD.
The Smocking Shoppe and The Cozy Quilter in Louisville, KY.
Q - First in Quilting in Lexington, KY.
*Sterling Thimble in Mount Sterling, KY.
Sneed's Vacuum and Sewing Center in Charleston, WV.
Itchin' 2 Be Stitchin' in Beckley, WV.
Sew Chic in Fairmont, WV.

I headed south again to help my mom and see my aunt who was visiting from Louisiana. While I was there I had time to pick up patterns from Heyde Sewing Machine Company in St. Louis, MO and the Fariview Heights, IL location for Jackman's Fabrics. The Jackman's row is going in the Aquarium Quilt.

My aunt picked up the kit from All Stitched Up by Angela in Slidell, LA for me before she headed north to visit.

Nonnie's Attic in Pekin, IL finally received their row patterns from the printer. There was an issue with the printing and everything was delayed for weeks. They had to get special permission to mail their pattern out to people who walked into the shop from the officials at Row by Row.

A friend who lives in Hawaii, and is a fabulous quilter, sent me the kit for the row from Fabric and Quilting Delights in Kailua-Kona, HI and the pattern from Kilauea Kreations in Hilo, HI. The Kilauea Kreations row is going into the Aquarium Quilt. I'm not sure about the other one. I love it and may do a wall quilt with it and the row from Lexington.

And yesterday FH and I took a mini road trip to Galena, IL and visited Phat Quarters for their row. We also took some time and wandered Main Street and checked out the various shops. It was a nice little getaway.

On the progress front, I've quilted two rows (Rochester, IL and Normal, IL), sandwiched three more, and finished the row from Mt. Vernon, IA.

I've also figured out fabrics for most of the new rows for the Aquarium Quilt and traced out templates on vellum for the paper-pieced rows and on Templar for any appliques.

Today I'm doing laundry and working on rows. Lots of work to be done! See you next week!

Aquariums and Acquisitions

It's been a busty week here on the Row-ing front. I'm going to list the shops where I've acquired new rows first, so if you just want to see gorgeous fabrics you should scroll on down to the pictures.

I ventured out last Sunday and drove all the way to Normal, IL to visit the Sewing Studio and pick up their row. [It's finished!]

A couple of stitching friends have moved to Florida in the last two years. The friend in Naples, FL decided to purchase the kits for me instead of just picking up the patterns. Thank you again, Carol! The Naples shops are: Flash Sew and Quilt and Sew Studio. The row from Flash Sew and Quilt is for the aquarium quilt. The other row kit is stashed for later. [Flash Sew's row is started and pictured below!]

The friend in Clearwater, FL went hopping with members of her quilt guild and she sent me patterns from:Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Happy Apple Quilts in Palm Harbor, Crafty Threads in Tampa, and Rainbows End Quilt Shop in Dunedin. All these rows patterns are stashed for later.

Dear family friends in Tennessee volunteered to pick up the two row patterns from Goodlettsville, TN. Originally I wanted these rows for a quilt featuring geometric rows, but since one of them decided to mail me the kits, I've decided to use a few geometric rows in the aquarium quilt. There's the added bonus of now needing as many rows that feature fish/frogs/turtles too. The Goodlettsville shops are Quilter's Attic and Sewing Machines Etc. [Spoiler alert: both of these rows are finished and pictured below!]

A friend of a friend happened to live close to Helios Stitches N Stuff in Mount Vernon, Iowa and mailed their row to my friend here.

A mini and fiber friend in Idaho really liked one of my fish patterns, so I went and picked up another copy for her. In exchange, she sent me the pattern from Stitches and Petals in Moscow, Idaho.

FH came home from his business trip bearing two rows from The Quilters Studio in Fairfax, VA. One is the pattern, the other is a kit. The kit features fish and will definitely be making an appearance in the aquarium quilt. The other is a gorgeous waterlily design. [Another spoiler: the fish row is finished!]

Now for the really fun part!

The Rochester, IL row is finished!

I figured out the layout for the quilt and as a result some of the rows needed to become squares. The South Elgin row was easily altered and the row from Jackman's in St. Louis is now square as well, and waiting on it's applique to get done.

Sewing Studio's row is completed. I kitted up this one myself instead of buying their kit. Their colors were gorgeous, but I wanted to make sure I had consistency of colors in the overall quilt. I know you haven't seen most of these fabrics yet, but the blue and brown are already slated to be prominent in more rows. The yellow fish is made from leftover batik from the South Elgin, IL kit. The orange fish is made from extra after making the Rochester, IL fish.

Flash Sew and Quilt's row has the applique in progress.

The background for Sanibel Island, FL's row is put together and is waiting on me to cut the applique pieces out..

The rows from Goodlettsville are finished and gorgeous! The row from Sewing Machines Etc looked like it would become a square nicely. Only eight more rows that can become squares needed!

Quilter's Attic

Sewing Machines Etc. I added tow more wave sections because the square really needed a bit more wave action.

My present from FH again took me out of my preferred comfort zone of needleturn applique, but the fabrics in the kit really needed to be fused and the raw edges covered with satin stitching. The pattern designers encouraged us (all the quilters playing with their pattern) to really play with it and make it our own. I decided to add some grasses at the bottom. When I quilt this, there will be bubbles int eh stitching.

And finally a sneak peak at the next row going together. All cut out and waiting for me to start piecing.

Oh and in case people were wondering, there has been quite a bit of snoop-ervision going on around here.

See you next week!