What I'm Working On....

[Sandy F.]

I have been working from home since March 17, 2020 because of COVID-19. I naively thought I would get a lot of projects finished while working from home but in reality I only gained 30 minutes of drive time daily. Now I am fully vaccinated and scheduled to go back on-site to work 2 days a week in July.

I have completed two Tee-Shirt Quilts this year and I am currently working on my 2008 BOM (Bouquets for a New Day) quilt. I completed the blocks in early 2009 but never quilted it. I love to hand quilt but my hands no longer want to quilt a whole quilt so I now quilt block by block and join the blocks with sashing. I have 8 of the 12 blocks quilted. It takes me about a week to quilt one block if I don’t get side-tracked, which I often do. I watch a lot of Britbox and Acorn tv while quilting. I love Agatha Christie, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, Father Brown and just finished Sherlock Holmes.

I have two other quilts I want to complete this year: 2020 BOM – Afternoon Delight and 2014 BOM – A-Z for Ewe and Me. I’m making a smaller version of the Afternoon Delight quilt and I plan to machine quilt it.

I love alphabet quilts and A-Z for Ewe and Me is my second. I made a Superhero Alphabet Quilt for my first grandson with each letter representing a superhero. Ewe and Me quilt is really special because two of my co-workers became interested and joined The Quilt Show and started the quilt. None of us have finished and are about the same place but we are determined to get back on it and finish. Neither of the co-workers had ever made a quilt and one was a man. We would have a weekly show and tell and they did great work.

Note: Like others I have had trouble uploading photos. I take my photos with my iPhone and transfer them to my computer. I have found that if I try to upload an iPhone photo without first resizing I will get an error. If I resize to Small, best for profile pictures or thumbnails they will upload with no problem.

[Sandy F.]

Twenty quilts is very impressive and I would love to see your work. I can’t believe it now, but I hand quilted every block of the Basketball Tee-Shirt Quilt. I did my brother’s car quilt next and I wised up machine quilted it. These two were my first attempt at quilt as you go method. I watched videos on youTube and they turned out okay. I joined the blocks by using sashing on front and back. The back sashing matched the backing fabric so it did not stand out very much but did have a patchwork look. When I get ready to join the blocks I am working on I will made notes and take pictures.

[Helen W.]

Sandy F, Thanks for posting pictures of what you are doing. I will be trying to upload pictures
again. I reduced mine to half size using tools on my computer but I still always got error messages. I am currently doing Hook, Line and Sinker, a Crabapple Hill pattern, doing lots of
modified blocks and using Quilt As You Go. I divided the quilt top into 3 panels. Quilted each
one and joined with sashing. I am currently quilting each of the pieced borders and will attach them with sashing. It has been trial and error. I watched Marti Michelle's Craftsy video on quilting in sections and bought her book. I will try to upload a few pictures. I too am doing Afternoon Delight, about 70% done, and this years BOM. HelenW

[Sandy F.]

Hi Helen W, I haven't tried uploading photos from my laptop, ipad or iphone but so far computer is working for me. Oh my, Crabapple Hill has some beautiful projects which I don't need to think about. You must have a fisherman in the family. I like the old pickup trucks and summer kitchen and the crayon coloring adds so much to the finished blocks.

I’m still experimenting with the quilt as you go method but I am happy with what I have done so far. I'll attempt to machine quilt the Afternoon Delight but will be lap size but I really want to the the A-Z for You and Me quilt finished. I'm anxious to see Alex's next project. I think she said it would be an alphabet quilt??