Sewing Room Update

Quilt progress has definitely been a theme in this first month of 2025.

Great Plains Star is completed, although it's so large (106" x 108") that I have to figure out how to photograph it before delivering it to my friend to include in the quilt charity auction in April. It's a beauty. I'm glad I decided to make it scrappy rather than just strip piecing the units. 

And the Ruby Star backing (which I was able to purchase on sale so win-win) is absolutely perfect for this quilt. Perfect colors plus touches of rose gold metallic. 

After all that bias sewing, I decided I needed something more straightforward. Although I'm not really sure that this quilt pattern by Tilda was the answer. So.many.pieces (2,268, not including the two borders). I haven't photographed the top with the borders, but there is a skinny border made from scraps to add a pop of color and then a wider border using the aqua background fabric. I made the outer border extra wide because I plan on doing a wavy finish. If I can't quite get the math correct, then I figure there will be enough of the border to just chop it off and make it straight instead of wavy. Have you done a wavy border before? I also know that means I will have to be making bias binding; anyone have a good method?

This will also go to the quilt charity auction, so I really hope I can pull off the wavy border.

Do you play Scrabble? I played with a 13-year-old old a couple of times, who beat me both times. So when I saw this, it just made me laugh. 

Here's a hint for the next time you get a Q and don't know what to do with it. The 13-year-old tried to tell me that SUQ was a real word meaning "a stall in a marketplace". I challenged him. He checked the Scrabble dictionary. It is a real word. Here's the weird thing. The same day he used that obscure word to beat me for the second time, Mark and I were watching CBS Sunday Morning (we tape it each week and watch it in the evening--it's so good!). Anyway, they ran a segment on a newly renovated corridor  in the heart of Florence, Italy, that was used by the Medici family to travel between palaces, built in the 16th century. And they have several suqs. Um, what?? So on the day I have never known of the existence of that word, I hear it twice in one day. 

So then...we told one of our good friends, and he says, "I play scrabble all the time on my phone."  And that evening he sent me this. With a note that he had won the game.

I spent 10 years typing master's and doctoral dissertations, and another 25 years doing medical transcription. Words were my livelihood. It's so disheartening (not really--he impresses me a lot) to get beaten by a 13-year-old with an extensive vocabulary.

This happens to us all.the.time. Most people see our name, Wiens, and pronounce it "Wines." I think my friend, Anne Deister, probably encounters the same problem, although with the opposite pronunciation.

I got a fun puzzle for my birthday last November and have been wanting to start it. But it's 1,000 pieces and I don't really have a dedicated spot for it. So I ordered a puzzle board from Amazon. It has four extra drawers, and it is also on a swivel base. I'm really enjoying puzzling again, and it will be easy to move off the table when we need to use it.

Sometimes it's hard to believe we are coming up on the 5th anniversary of when everything in the world changed. One thing that has not changed is that I was an introvert before the pandemic. And that is not likely to change anytime soon.

Side note: For some reason, I think Blogger changed some settings so I do not get email notification of comments, making it easy to respond. I tried researching it and Blogger said it was done because of privacy issues. I will try to respond by email if I have your address. If you know of a way around, or a setting I can change in Blogger, please let me know.

It's Christmas

  At the end of 2023, I began a quilt I've wanted to make for a long time, a pattern by my friend Mary Dugan of Sunnyday Supply. For a few years, Mary was in the bee group I began called Mid Century Modern. 

The pattern is called Norah and it is basically a very large log cabin block. You can make the strips any size you want, and make the quilt any size you want. I used some of my very favorite Christmas prints.

I chose to make the four sides red, green, pink and aqua. 

It was such a fun quilt to make. It was backed with a super soft mint green Minkee, and of course a candy stripe binding. 

It's Christmas.

Quilted by: Darby Myers

Size: 64" x 64"

Breezy Daze

Breezy Daze is a combination of blocks from three different patterns offered for free on the fabric site, Tilda. The girls with their hair blowing in the wind is charming. 

I had a fat quarter bundle of beautiful woven fabrics from Fableism, and used that for the dresses and scarves. The background was my favorite color of Kona cotton--Lingerie.

I included other blocks that were part of the patterns because they were so cute.

I think this is my favorite hair. 

I wanted a loopy design to give the gales of wind.

Charlotte claimed this quilt as soon as she saw it, which makes me very happy.

When we went on our road trip, I wanted to photograph this quilt in western Kansas when we visited our friends. We lived in western Kansas for five years, and it is windy all the time. 

Except on this day in August...

 

Welcome to London

 I'm finally documenting the quilts I made in 2024. First up is number 257, Welcome to London.

I love all things British, so England has always been on the top of my travel destination wish list.  Although Mark would like to visit the UK, he did not want to travel to the UK, and told me to find a travel partner. When I mentioned it to our son, Aaron, he gladly accepted the job, and in February 2024 we spent ten glorious days in London. 

As he had been there twice, he asked me to list the Top 10 things I wanted to do in and around London. One of them was a stop at Liberty of London. So on our first full day, we walked to Liberty of London and spent a couple of really lovely hours. Well, he spent some time on his phone while I looked at all the lovely fabric.

I think most quilters would be surprised to find out that with all the gorgeous fabric available, I limited myself to a single 1/2 meter, a really lovely orange floral print. 

We ended our morning by having coffee in the Royal Albert Cafe, where I got inspiration for another project.

When I got home, I ordered a fat quarter bundle of Liberty of London prints that included famous landmarks. I also wanted to use some of my precious stash of Oakshott shot cottons. I paired the prints with solids and made a simple 2x3 grid block. I put the orange print block in the center and included the selvage.

I had also purchased some embroidered patches from the Liberty of London store and was never quite sure what to do with them. I decided the best thing was to add them to the quilt label.

The backing was one of my favorite Kaffe Fassett shot cottons called "galvanized," a combination of peach and aqua threads that makes the most beautiful warm gray. For the binding I purchased extra of the print that was inspired by the London Underground. Aaron and I used the Underground extensively and I'm so glad that he had an app on his phone because I would not have wanted to navigate it by myself. 

I chose a quilting design that, in my mind, mimicked all the different tube lines with circles interspersed that reminded me of all the different stations.

There is a realty agency in Fresno called London Properties and I have always loved that they have a red British phone booth, so that seemed the most obvious place to photograph the quilt.

The memories made on this trip are so precious to me--and traveling with Aaron madse it even more special.

Quilt: Welcome to London

Pattern: Original

Made by: Cindy Wiens

Quilted by: Darby Myers

Completed: May 2024

Size: 55" x 66"

Sewing Room Update, 1/17/25

 For some reason, I'm having a hard time sitting down at the computer to write about anything going on. 

I've been doing a lot of sewing (I finished 24 quilts in 2024!), and the holidays have come and gone. 

IMy friend, Shelly, finished up a quilt that she made with my pattern which was published very long ago. She wrote about it on her blog, and I even sold a pattern! Thanks, Shelly. :)Shelly

I finished my book bracket and chose Homecoming by Kate Morton as my favorite book of 2024, although to be honest, most of these were pretty much on the same level. I read a lot of mystery/suspense novels, and a friend suggested that I fill out two brackets for 2025--one for that genre and another for everything else. I think that's a very good idea.

Something to think about. What is your opinion on audible books? I have listened to audible books since a they arrived in the mail in the form of cassette tapes from Books on Tape. I am always reading one book and listening to another (mostly while sewing or cleaning or walking), and I always count listening as reading, although I know a lot of people do not. But I figure I can double the number of books I'm able to read (or listen to), as my list is long. And sometimes you get an amazing narrator who really enhances the whole experience--Julia Whelan immediately comes to mind.

Still working on my Glow quilt and still enjoying it immensely during these cold evenings.

We went to Disneyland the beginning of December and it was so much fun. Friends met us on two of the days. It's always extra special at Christmas time.

We always keep track of how many rides we go on. :) I think we maximized our time. I went on most of these. Except the Incredicoaster.

I sent one of my calendars to Alex Anderson, and she showcased it on one of her live shows. That was really special.

We were invited to a really fun birthday brunch at a local Mexican restaurant. We were treated to some fun and interesting entertainment, including a mariachi band.

And because it was on December 13, also Taylor Swift's birthday, the women each received a Swiftie bracelet.

Instagram chose my Top Nine posts of 2024, not that I always agree with them.

Mark and I always try to have lunch at Valentino's downtown during the Christmas holidays. There are several restaurants in the building and  the hallway is beautifully decorated.

Christmas was a fun and relaxing evening. We played Bunco for the second year in a row, so now I guess it is a Christmas family tradition.

We had our annual beach trip on the central coast. A storm had come through and the sand drifts were so high right beyond the deck that you couldn't see the ocean from the windows unless you were standing up.

Kids spent their time digging a really big hole...

We did a lot of reading.

We were treated to this gorgeous sunset on the third night.

I ended the year by attempting a very challenging quilt design, a radiant star. Rather than strip piecing the diamonds, I decided to go scrappy and cut each one separately. There were definitely some bumps along the way but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

After all that intricate piecing with a lot of bias edges, I started another Tilda "embroidery" quilt. It's a nice palate cleanser, although it's a little slow going with all those little pieces.

IA little chuckle...

'll end with some of my favorite Instagram templates. I'm not sure why these intrigue me so much--maybe it's seeing things I've created in a different way.

Till next time...