Quilty Pleasures: Sometimes Boring Sewing is Good

I've been working on this new Lady of Guadalupe quilt and have moved to the center side panels where there will be trees. I've been "In the Woods" for a couple of weeks now and I am lost. I tried a tidily pieced forest, but don't like it and the going has been slow and my brain hurts. I've a couple ideas swirling around, but decided it was time to cleanse the palate, so to speak.

Almost seven years ago I saw a flannel split rail fence quilt in a book and bought all the yardage for it with the help of my master color helper, Pattie. We bought the fabric, both flannels and homespuns, at Rosie's Calico Cupboard in San Diego. It's a behemoth of a store, taking over the business spaces in a strip mall, one by one, year after year. Once you get in there, it just seems to laterally go and go and I'm glad all the rooms are in a row so I can't get too lost. If you are in the San Diego area, eat at D.Z. Akins deli, which is like the Jewish delis I remember as a kid, with humongous sandwiches and old people who never seem to change sitting in the booths.

The kid I wanted to make the flannel/homespun quilt for wasn't too interested, so I stashed the fabric away and moved on to other quilty projects. A couple of years ago I discovered the fabric in a gigantic tangle in a paper grocery bag, all the strips sewn, and moved them to a nifty work-in-progress plastic box. And it sat some more.

The plastic box has been stacked under the cutting table for a year, and it was time. The Lady quilt was making my head hurt and I wanted to do something that was simple and boring. I wanted to finish something.

I ironed and cut the strip sets into their segments and have been sewing them into rows. Here are some squares ready to chain piece.

This type of sewing calls for some easy television to watch. I recommend The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt now streaming on Netflix because it's more verbal than visual, so I can sew and listen and laugh. Tina Fey is one of the writer/creators, so now you know what kind of verbal it is: Witty, 30 Rock-style repartee with a sunny outlook. Don't try watching The Americans or something where you might miss seeing something that moves the plot while you're beavering away chain piecing. Go for light and verbal.

So the blocks are sewn into twos, which are stacked here, then into fours, then into eights and then add  six to make fourteen blocks per row.

The rows are draped everywhere, with little thought about color placement, which is the total opposite of The Lady quilt. If the same fabric pops up close to each other, who cares? This is just a quilt, a cuddly one that someone will love.

I will make fifteen rows, sew them together, and add a simple border.

In between, maybe I'll piece some trees for The Lady's forest. All this boring sewing is making me excited about The Lady quilt again.

So let's hear it for boring sewing!

Quilty Pleasures: Ragged But Right

That's our new rag quilt. Isn't it cozy looking? It's been washed once to get that raggy look, but I want to wash it again once I have some fabric softener in the house. The more you wash it, the softer and cuddlier it gets.

These are easy quilts to make, and the larger the squares, or even making strips, the faster it goes. I made this rag quilt in two hour bursts of sewing and it took about 6 hours total. Cutting all the 6 inch squares and the batting for the insides of each flannel sandwich seemed to take as long as the sewing. Next time I will opt for larger squares.

This is a couch quilt and about 60 inches square. Since it was 15 degrees outside this morning, I made it right on time, don't you think?

I am teaching a Rag Quilt Class at Threadbear in Las Vegas, NM, tomorrow from Noon to 5 pm, so if you are in the neighborhood, it's still not too late to sign up. Give Ann at Thread Bear a call at 575-425-6263 to sign up and to get the fabric yardage info.