Ducks in a Row

FINISHED! The Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show is coming up in a few weeks, so I have been madly sewing bindings, and labels. "Getting My Ducks in a Row" is done, all the sections quilted a row at a time, are done, and the border added. The flannel border fabric is leftover from a commissioned ducky quilt I made a few years ago, there was just enough to get 4 1/2" borders from it. I free motioned stipples in the background and outlined the ducks. It is lots of fun with all the yellow duckies, they are from the H2O themed Row by Row from 2015.

"My Summer Travels" was done a while ago, but I had not gotten a picture of it. So I had my friends came over, so they could hold it up, to take the picture. It is from the row x rows from 2016, themed "Home Sweet Home. I also have another one almost finished in this format from the 2015 rows. I just need to add the left hand rows and add a border to it. Then I still have extra rows made, I probably made 40 rows from the first year I participated. This year I only made the ones I needed for the quilt, choosing my favorites, the ones that would go together well. I'm going to be traveling next month, to Bryce & Zion Nat'l. parks, and the Grand Canyon, Phoenix and Tucson. Too bad they don't start this year's that early. I know I asked one of the shops what this year's theme is, but I can't remember what it was. On Friday I will link this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday. click here Check it to see what other talented textile artists are doing this week.

"My Summer Travels"

Wow, I've gotten all 12 of the "Home Sweet Home" Row by Rows assembled. I free motion quilted them a row at a time, then assembled them with 1/2" sashing.

Here are close ups of some of the horizontal "Home Sweet Home" Row by Row strips. Then each row is attached to the next with 1/2" sashing.

There are 4 vertical strips, 2 on each side, that finish off the quilt, for a total of 12 Row by Row strips. I am going to add a striped fabric border.

Purple Frogs Under the Bridge

Several more Row by Row strips are finished. The Freemont St. Bridge in Portland, Oregon, has paper pieced trees on either side, and lots of fusible bias. The wider pieces were just ironed with a hem. Everything was held in place by lots of pins until I could get it fused down and then stitched. The difficult part was to keep the uprights, vertical and not wavy. This pattern came from A Common Thread. The Purple Frog Quilt Shop in Jefferson, Oregon, could only make a quilt with guess what? Purple frogs! Everyone wanted this pattern, the shop is near Salem, and just off of I-5.

The water lily and dragonfly is from Ruby Street Quilts in Tumwater, Washington. It is a paper pieced hexagon pattern. I love this pattern, I used a white with metallic gold spots for the flowers and a silver metallic with black net print for the dragonfly wings. The photo does not due the beautiful fabrics justice. I ran out of the backing fabric and had to steal some from the back of the applique on another row. I pieced little tiny pieces together to get enough fabric to finish the dragonfly block. The yellow duckies are from Greenbaum's Quilted Forest in Salem, the big bellied ducks are from a primitive painting that Sylvia has, and the duck crossing sign is near by. The Alaska style fish are made with a fusible laser cut pattern. Unfortunately I could not buy the kit, so I had to make my own. The Salmon and Orca were not too difficult to cut out with sharp pointed scissors, but the tiny fin pieces on the halibut took a while, and I simplified it by drawing fewer cuts. It also came out 6" longer, so I must have mixed up the measurements on the attic windows setting. I'll just remove the last border, and I think it will be ok. These are still fun to do, but I want something more creative to occupy my time.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other very talented textile artists are doing.

Row by Row Continues

My row by row adventure continues, They are something I can do in little bits of time, and don't take much space. They finish quickly, just tracing the fusible, choosing fabric and then ironing it all together. I really like the Think Big one, the little fish with the shark fin on his back. They look like they need fins, I keep wanting to add them, but then I think they are goldfish crackers and the shape is just fine as it is. The sunset is really a beautiful orange at the top, with a deep purple with metallic gold in the center, I tried adjusting the color in Photoshop, but could not get it right. Those three are patterns I got on my trip to Seattle to see my sister. I went specifically at the time I would get past Portland about 10am when the shops were open. I hit Woodland, Kelso, Longview, Castle Rock, Centralia, & Tumwater. The shops were each individual, I liked Castle Rock the best, a cute little town with an old down town area. I had lunch at a little cafe, better than the McDonalds by the freeway exit. By that time I was hitting rush hour traffic in Tacoma/Seattle and did not dare get off the Interstate. I would never have made it back on. Of course I spent money in each shop, planning on sticking with the plan of only getting a few fat quarters, NOT!!! I had to have this and that, more water fabric for the Row by Row, more red fabric, just because, some "Glow-in-the-Dark" white Halloween fabric. If the owner had not mentioned the white fabric was glow in the dark, I would not have looked at it twice, much less bought any. While visiting my sister, we went to Monroe, Snohomish and Everett. I had a wonderful time, just hanging out with her. We went to the local farmers market, and lunch with my niece. I chose to drive home Saturday, less traffic, and instead got a torrential downpour, nasty nerve wracking driving. But the dedicated Quilter that I am, I stopped at two shops in Tacoma, getting lost trying to find the 3rd one, and found the one I missed in Olympia. Also Woodland, 'cause they weren't open when I went up. I braved Vancouver by getting off at the exit with the street name of one of the shops. But... the road went for miles and of course the shop was at the far end. The rain tapered off a bit by the time I hit Portland, so the rest of the drive was ok, but I did not get home til about 8pm. I collected a total of 13 Row by Row patterns. As one of the shop owners told me I was doing "FART" a Fabric Acquisition Road Trip. So now I have seen the East coast, Midwest and the Northwest, all in one summer. With only one day of vacation left to do laundry and get ready for the start of the school year. Back to school bus driving, my 24th year.
I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other talented textile artists are doing.

5 Row by Row

A few more H2O Row by Row are finished. I made several vertical ones, the water pump, water balloons and Mermaid. They will help me expand the size of the quilt setting, and give me more options for making a large quilt. These things are addicting! I can't stop making them. I am on my way up to Washington to visit my sister, and plan on making a few stops along the way, to pick up more patterns. Now it is choosing which patterns I like the best. I'm not going to be able to do all the patterns I've picked up. I do like the applique ones, I am using fusible, which I am NOT fond of, I prefer raw edge applique, but for making them up ahead of time, fusible holds up well, to more handling. I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column, to see what other textile artists are doing.

6 More H2O Rows Done

I have completed 6 more Water Row by Row strips. The raindrops pattern is from Piece by Piece Quilt Shop in Eugene, Oregon. The pieced sailboats are from Aunt Sassy's Quilts in Geneva, Illinois. The "Rub-a-Dub Dub" is from Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia, Illinois. I made changes to the tub pattern, I used a curved tub lip, instead of the straight row stitching, that made the water look like it was sitting on top of the tub. I wanted the water to sit inside the tub. I also did not use the sailboat fabric for a shower curtain on the left side, I just continued the black and white check for the tiled wall. Most of the shops are out of the sailboat fabric which was made for the challenge.

These blocks I made yesterday and today, the top row is from Something to Crow About in Springfield, Oregon. The crow is their mascot and looks great with the umbrella and Wellies. The waterwheel blocks are made with different fabric in each block. I have not sewn them together, because I might need some rows to be used vertically. The cute turtle row is from Sew Cute Quilt Shop in Dillard, Oregon. I made the larger turtles a bit larger and made 3 instead of two. I think the hills are not in the right places either and I added extra coral. The Alaska style salmon row is from The Fabric Farm in Drain, Oregon, I made 3 instead of two fish. I like the odd number better. But I really like the bold graphic quality, and contrast was important here. I am having lots of fun making these, I have saved a few more difficult ones for later. Tomorrow the big "Quilt, Knit, Stitch" show in Portland, several of our artists from Fyber Cafe are going up together.

H20 Row by Row

I am participating in the national "Water Row by Row" challenge, participating quilt shops have a free pattern, that you ask for when you GO into the shops. Since I was traveling to NY and IL this summer, that gave me the opportunity to get extra patterns I would not normally get.

Here are my first four Water Row by Row strips. The top one, koi & lily pads, is from Utica, NY. The next, beach & courthouse steps, from Chicks & a Rooster in Sutherlin, Oregon. Sunset Beach with the bright colors is from Rome, NY. And the landscape with cabin is from Everything Sew Nice in Myrtle Creek, OR. A little bit of piecing, but mostly fused and raw edge applique, it has been fun picking the fabrics, I bought several water and sky fabrics on my journeys. I have 15 patterns, so far, I made a trip South of Roseburg yesterday, to Dillard and two shops in Myrtle Creek. Now to plan a trip to the coast, for another 3 or 4. That should about do it. No I take that back, we are going to the Portland "Quilt, Knit & Stitch" show on the 14th, we always stop at Greenbaum's Quilted Forest in Salem, and Fabric Depot in Portland. This could be a big quilt, I am mulling over possible ways to set so many strips together.

H2O Row by Row

At our last Fyber Cafe meeting, Pat G. & Lorraine were doing a National Row by Row Challenge. It is themed "water" and each participating shop has designed a free pattern. I checked their website click here and also some of the state Facebook pages. Created to get business into the shops, you must go to each and request a pattern. We are fortunate to have 8 shops with in an easy driving distance, and even more on the Oregon coast. The theme is very open and diverse, patterns range from scenic rivers, lighthouse, sailboats, to frogs,turtles, dolphins, whales, fish and rubber ducks. The Universety of Oregon football team's mascot is the duck, so a lot of local patterns have this cute rubber creature. I was quiet jazzed about this, since I was going to be traveling out of state. On my way to the Eugene airport, I hit 4 shops, and I printed out shops in NY, WIS, and Illinois. My sister-in-law was more than happy to search out shops around Utica NY. We found three, at Rome, New Hartford, and Utica. The Utica pattern is koi and water lilies! Score! We had planned on going to the 3 stores in Syracuse also, but my niece chose that day to have her baby! Onward, to Northern Illinois, stops at Batavia, and Geneva. We helped my nephew move into Chicago one day, and found the aptly named Second City Quilt Co. very close to his new place, and open on Sunday. Their pattern was a curve topped fire hydrant, that is distinctly Chicago. The search continues, as I head home, with a heavy fabric addition to my luggage. It has been lots of fun seeing the different shops, each has their own style and fabric choices. I can't wait to get home and start sewing these patterns up.