La Passacaglia

Like one of my blogger friends, I've been in a blogging slump.  I've had some major changes and upsets in the  year 2015 and it was hard for me to get back to being me.  The upheavals changed me for a time.  Now I'm back (I hope) to just being me and doing what I love.  I love blogging, really do, but for months sitting at my computer was difficult for me.  Lately I find I'm really enjoying it again. And I'm really enjoying hand piecing again.  All sorts of quilts are spinning in my head.  What to do next?!!

My Carpenter's Wheel is coming along.

 I've put borders on it and it's ready to be basted for quilting but then I got distracted by Passacaglia.   This is my life story, endless distractions.

My interpretation of Willyne Hammerstein's Passacaglia from her book Millefiori Quilts  is a difficult piece for me.  Not the piecing process.  It would never be that.  But the colorways and the size.  I'm not good at big things.  Hard for me to picture.  Small has always been better for me. And of course I'm making the Rosettes even bigger than Willyne Hammerstein intended.

Millefiori Quilts

Willyne Hammerstein in Millefiori does all her quilts by handpiecing with the running stitch.  I chose to do mine the same way.  I could have gotten templates or I could go to Linda Franz Inklingo and used her shape collection.  Being a big fan of Inklingo, I went there.  Using English Paper Piecing is out of the question for me.  Some may want to pursue this burdensome method and actually enjoy it.  I've tried it and can do it with some skill, but don't enjoy the process.  Hand piecing with a running stitch is so much more relaxing for me and a ton of time faster and I don't have to deal with those papers - stitching or gluing them to fabric, piecing together, taking out the papers...not for me.

So back to bigger than. Willyne Hammerstein calls for the use of 3 cm shapes.  Inklingo comes in 3 cm or alternatively in 1.5 inch shapes.  Three cm is equal to 1.181 inches....so quite a bit smaller and probably easier for me to manage...but no, I decided to try the bigger.  Even when I finish it, I'm not sure what I will do with such a large piece.  My BFF says well put it on a bed.  Hmm.  yes that might work.  I do have huge wall space in my new home in Florida but probably not that large and they all seem to be taken.

And what about matching all the rosettes to each other in some color way?   I think I'll just do what I always do and use what's in my stash.

My Stash.  Excuse the messiness.

Here is what I've done so far.

Rosette One ( I made this one first)

Then I began on Rosette 2.  The plan calls for three of them.

2nd inner rosette made

Third Inner Rosette Made

This is the fourth inner rosette with almost all the rows added and of course it's quite large by my standards..

First Rosette 2 almost done.  Last partial row of stars needed.

I embroidered wee snowmen on the inner pentagons, probably because I'm now in the South and actually miss snow.

Inner Pentagons of first rosette 2.

So I will continue to work on my rosettes for La Passacaglia.  I think it will be very interesting when done and will include many of  the fabrics purchased in my years as a quilter...20 years as of 2016.

BABY QUILT

I've been absent from my blog for a time.  I'm coming close to being organized.  It's been rough. Moving when you are my age is a long process.  And so much needs doing in this Florida home.  The sewing room/computer room is at least usable now.

Our new grandchild is expected in December and a quilt for the baby was requested some months back.   We know it's a girl.   I've been so busy with the new house and the parents estate that I could not take time to hand piece and hand quilt even a small baby quilt.  So I brushed up on my machine skills and came up with a nice little quilt for sweet baby girl soon to be born granddaughter.  Parents haven't given the darling a name yet.

A request was made a request for beige and pink.  I decided on 5 inch squares which I  was able to cut by pulling enough from my stash to make it interesting.  I used EQ7 to set out the design.  It's machine pieced...and it's a miracle...I got all those corner points to match.  Machine quilted with a walking foot in the ditch and then cross hatched.  All done.  Label done.  I like to come up with rhymes, so the little label poem is my own. Ready to send out.  I'm in Florida.  Baby is in Pennsylvania.  I enjoyed making the quilt.  This was super fast speed for me.

Baby's Quilt

Label Poem Sandra Lee White © 2015

The colors are much brighter than what shows in the iPhone photo....taken in the evening in a not-so-well lighted room.  It's on my design board.  Yes, I used flash.  Reminder to self....get better lighting in your sewing room.

And now on to a quilt made by hand.  My next sewing project.  I plan to hand quilt a quilt top made from Inkingo's Free Collection.  It's a hand pieced carpenters wheel.  My first Inklingo project.  I've been using it as the background for my blog.  The top was finished some time ago.  I think I'll put borders on it first.  Maybe a thin strip of color, then cream.  We'll see.  I miss hand quilting and haven't done much of it in the last 4 months. And the hand quilting will take a while.