My woobie is finally finished

It's been in the hoop for months while I made several baby quilts, but today, I finally finished my woobie quilt.  It's another in a series of "Single Girl" quilts.  I find Denyse Schmidt's pattern is absolutely addictive.  This is a companion to the woobie I made Jim earlier.  The color palette is similar and it has a fleece backing for staying warm on the couch in the evenings.

This is a detail of the quilting.  The first few I made using a large stippling stencil, but I've switched over to Denyse Schmidt's recommended quilting pattern.

The binding is a reproduction fabric that has a touch of light blue in it.

I made a tag label for it and used one of my owl stamps to decorate it.

This is the bias binding being hand sewn down to the back side.  I love the Big Ben fabric meant to commemorate my time in London.

Here's the whole thing in the middle of the backyard.

Dana's new woobie: yet another Single Girl quilt

I know what you're thinking: When is she going to move on, already?  There is something very seductive about this Single Girl pattern that I'm finding hard to let go of, but I promise I am going to make other quilts.  The fabrics I chose for this quilt will go with the one I made for Jim.  There are even some repeats.  Fabrics from Anna's wedding quilt are also included.  Above is the first quarter of the ring. It's got a Liberty print and a great conversational fabric with pens and calligraphy on it.

This is the second quarter. Note the owl fabric.

Here's the third quarter.  It's got the Big Ben fabric and several fabrics from Anna's wedding quilt.

Now the final quarter which features a Paula Nadelstern fabric, fish fabric, and the background fabric from Jim's woobie quilt.

The first ring is completed.  I love using batiks for the background fabric because of the variance in color.  It makes such great visual texture.  No more now until it's all done, I promise.

Back in the saddle...er, studio...again

Jim and I had a wonderful visit with Dan and Anna, highlighted by a trip to the International Civil Rights Museum and watching the last (sigh) Harry Potter film together.  We cooked together, watched movies, sat and read on the porch (thanks to a break in the weather), played Sporcle on the computer, put puzzles together, and talked and talked.  It was beyond wonderful.

I cannot say enough good things about the International Civil Rights Museum--the exhibits are state-of-the-art, but at the the same time, actually walking into the Woolworth's lunch counter where the sit-in took place transports one back to the 1960's in a segregated country.  If you are anywhere nearby, you need to come and visit.

Millions of words have already been written about the Harry Potter films, but just let me say that I think this series of movies is a very special achievement.  They certainly don't replace the books, but they definitely captured the world that Jo Rowling  so lovingly created.  I'm happy that I will always have the books and the films to draw me back into that world.

Now that things are quiet again, I'm back to the studio to work on my woobie quilt and, hopefully, finish the Brownies quilt. Happy July to ya'll from the hot and steamy Piedmont.

New Woobie revealed: Happy birthday, Jim

Happy sixtieth birthday to my dear husband.  Here he is modeling his new woobie of which he highly approves. The weather is just chilly enough here to make him happy to have it around him in the evenings. You can check out the posts about the construction by clicking on woobie quilt over on the right under Labels.  This is the second quilt I've made using the "Single Girl" pattern.  You can also click on that to see posts about the first quilt.

Jim's New Woobie: Finishing touches

This is the large half hoop when I was just about finished quilting Jim's new woobie yesterday afternoon.  It was a little cool on the porch, so I was happy to have the quilt resting on my legs.

I made the continuous bias binding earlier in the week.  I use my Viking with the walking foot to sew on binding. Here's a link to a tutorial on continuous bias binding.

Here's the front side of the tag...

...and the back. I sew the tags to the back above the binding line of quilting and then turn the binding down and hand sew it to secure the tag. I've made several tags lately.  See this post and this one.

Here's a little detail of the binding and the hand quilting.

Fall color and a look at the remodeling

I'm having a Jane Brocket kind of color and domestic artist day.  Jim bought me these wonderful zinnias at the Farmer's Market and the colors are just intoxicating. We went for vegetables, but he knows how I love flowers.

The vegetables are cut up and ready to go into the pot as I poach a whole chicken.  We will have the breast meat tonight and I will make chicken and noodles for my lunches next week with the broth and the dark meat.

This is a little look at the bathroom remodeling.  They started with the guest bathroom.  This is the new porcelain tile floor.  Was I glad to see the last of that ugly linoleum! I had them use tile rather than wood mop boards.

This is the same view with the new vanity in place as well as the high profile/ecologically friendly toilet. You can see what the wall color will be, too.   The new lights should go in on Monday and then they will tear out our bathroom.  Quilted Librarian out to finish quilting Jim's new woobie.

Jim's woobie quilt: quilting update

Jim's new woobie quilt is about halfway quilted.  I'm using the large half hoop on the edges.  We've had gorgeous weather this weekend and I've spent every moment I could hand quilting on the screened porch. I spent some time this afternoon helping to drop the Piedmont Quilters Guild show and both of my quits are safely back home.  I got some nice comments from the judge, but no ribbons.  I'm planning a new quilt for the spring PAQA-South show.  That should be a better venue for my type of work.  I hope you are all enjoying some lovely October weather.

Screened Porch Quilting on Jim's Woobie

Another gorgeous day in the Piedmont Triad, so I was out on my screened porch quilting on Jim's woobie quilt.

The stippling design shows better on the back side.  I'm loving the 80/20 batt and the soft backing fabric.  They quilt like a dream.

Basting Jim's New Woobie Quilt

Since it was lovely and cool today and the table on the porch is the perfect  size and height, I basted Jim's new woobie quilt. You can search the labels on the right to see other posts about this Denyse Schmidt pattern called "Single Girl."

I use a curved upholstery needle for basting which should be not further apart than the hand.  Miraculously, I didn't stab myself with it this time.  There's an old tradition among quilters that it's good luck to bleed on the quilt you are making.  That should make me a very lucky person.  If you do bleed on the quilt you are working on, your own saliva is the very best stain remover.

This long, thin table is ideal for basting. I tape the back down to the table to keep it still and mark the side centers with pins.  The batting comes next and then the top with the side centers also marked with pins.  I line up the centers, secure with long pins and begin basting.   Starting in the center with the excess resting on the chairs, I use long threads and baste the entire center area, then move the quilt to the two extremes to finish.

I've decided to use the large stippling stencil to quilt this one.  More on that process later.

One third of the woobie quilt

I'm making some progress of Jim's woobie quilt this weekend.  Ring five is under construction, but here are the first three sewn together.  There will be nine rings in total.  This is Denyse Schmidt's "Single Girl" pattern.  Click on the tag over on the right side of the blog to see posts about Anna and Matty's wedding quilt that I made using this pattern.

Jim's woobie quilt: the first ring

Each ring of "The Single Girl" pattern is composed of 31 different fabrics and they are each a slightly different shape.  Templates are a must.  I made polycarbonate templates when I cut out Anna and Matty's quilt because I knew I would want to make the pattern again.  The large scale fabrics required a little fussy cutting.

When one is using this many different fabrics, a plot is a good idea.

Each row represents a quarter of the ring. Different scales, directional fabrics, and different color combinations make the rings so much richer visually.

The first ring is completed.

I've had to make a slight change in the composition after a brief discussion with Jim.  Apparently, the aspect of his old quilt that most exemplifies its woobie-ness, is the flannel back.  So the brown and cream fabric is out and a soft, golden colored flannel is in as backing fabric.

A new woobie for Jim

When our children were small, one of our favorite family movies was Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton.  We not only took the film to our hearts, but we all adopted the use of the word "woobie."  (If you haven't seen the film, here's a link to the woobie scene.)  Just as Michael Keaton's character had to have an intervention with Kenny in the movie about his woobie, I've had to have one with Jim about his woobie quilt.  To quote Michael Keaton, "It's looking bad."

This quilt goes back to the early 1980's and has been Jim's favorite cover-up when we watch TV.  Age and repeated washing have taken their toll, however, and it needs to be retired.

I got some beautiful fabrics for my birthday from Carolyn, my sister-in-law and I've added some from my stash to those to make Jim a new woobie.

"The Single Girl" pattern really impressed me when I was making Anna and Matty's quilt, so I'm going to do a 9 ring version for the woobie.  Jim loves brown and blue, so those are the main colors with a little yellow, gold, and beige.  The batik fabric will be the background fabric for the rings.  The brown with cream floral design is the back and the dark brown will be the binding.