Rosi Quilts Hopefully - For A Week
Would you like to see what I got up to over the course of a week in my sewing room?
My quilt group have started a new challenge – a shoebox challenge for 2019.
Everyone puts fabrics and instructions into a box. The boxes get passed around the group over the course of a year, so that everyone gets a chance to make one or two blocks for everyone else’s boxes. At the end of a year, we each get our boxes back, filled with blocks made by everyone else.
Here is the block I made for one of the boxes. This friend wanted a sewing themed block for a quilt that will hang in their sewing room in the house they are just about to move into.
I am trying to broaden my sewing horizons with a little machine embroidery, and I downloaded these sweet wild flower designs from Etsy:
I have a lot to learn about stabilizer, but I think these blocks look OK. I made 2 of these wall hangings as gifts for friends.
Over in Brünhilda’s room I was desperately trying to finish a quilt for a client. Isn’t it nice? The kit for the quilt top had nativity themed fabric for the block centers, and the E2E quilting design chosen by the client was perfect – it’s called “Sea of Stars.”
The problem was spring thunderstorms. I cannot leave my machine plugged in to an outlet during a thunderstorm and risk loosing it altogether to weather. So every time I hear thunder I have to stop the machine in its tracks, shut it down and unplug it. Spring in North Carolina involves a lot of thunderstorms. It took a loooong time to finish this quilt!
Next project – some homework blocks for “Kaleidoscope Twist” a mystery quilt program I am running at the quilt shop where I work. If you have never signed up for a mystery quilt, maybe think about it. You are bound to have fun and learn some new techniques along the way. Participants in this program have already learnt to paper piece and make wonky stars.
Here are all the blocks they will have made by the end of April. My fabrics are pictured, but everyone who signs up chooses their own fabrics. They will not know until November what the quilt layout will be.
On to another project – another mystery program. This one is call “Into The Woods,” and all of the blocks in this quilt will be paper pieced. This is what participants have had to make so far.
Again, they won’t find out until the end of the year, what the final quilt layout is.
And the final project I worked on this week – “I’m Seeing Stars” – my own quilt design. This time I made the lap quilt size for a customer requested Quilt-Along at the shop.
And there you have it – quite a busy sewing week for me!
Rosi Quilts - Hopefully - March 25th 2019
I love to quilt! I really love to design quilts, I love to piece quilts, I am not great at quilting the quilts (more about that later), and I actually like binding the quilts. Sometimes, other people like my quilt designs - that makes me so happy.
I have 2 dedicated sewing spaces - Destiny’s room and Brünhilda’s room.
Here is Destiny’s room:
Destiny’s Room
It’s alway slightly dis-organized chaos! Destiny is sitting on the desk right in the middle of the photo. She is my Baby Lock. I got her last November and I love her. She comes loaded with functions that I have not yet learned to use. I have basically used her for straight stitching, satin stitch (I love appliqué) and to do a little embroidery. I hope to keep learning and to put her to good use.
Here is Brünhilda’s room:
Brünhilda’s room
It used to be our living room. I have a very supportive husband!
Brünhilda is a big girl and she needed a big name! So now you know, I was so bad at the actual quilting bit, that I decided to buy a longarm machine. Within a month of adopting Brünhilda, all of my unfinished quilt tops, some years old, had been quilted and bound. A finished quilt is a happy quilt and a quilter with a finished quilt is a very happy person!
In the picture, Brünhilda is busy quilting a Christmas Quilt for a client.
Isn’t it sweet?!
I have 2 friends who help to make my days fun. Lola and Rosco are my constant companions. They let me know when it is time to go out, time to come back in, time for a meal, time for a snack, or time to check the front door because a dangerous squirrel is in the front yard.
That’s Lola on the right. She is our pit bull / hound mix. We got her in 2008 as a one year old rescue dog. She wasn’t so white then, and she was a little thinner! She is the sweetest, most gentle dog, but she is always all action. She likes to be in the middle of whatever is happening. She is our singer - especially when my husband comes home from work - then she sings at the top of her voice.
Rosco is on the left. He is a raggle - a beagle / rat terrier mix. We got him in 2017. He cannot get those teeth inside his mouth, so he always looks a bit goofy. He is an enthusiastic sweetheart though, who loves to snuggle. I think he would like Lola to be a snuggler too, but she is having none of it. He is our dancer - especially when my husband gets home - then he dances around the kitchen table.
And finally, here I am. I hope you enjoyed meeting me. Next time, I’ll tell you a little about what I am working on at the moment.
Rosi Hanley - March 25th 2019