Sunday afternoon sewing time was quite productive this week. I trimmed the Stip Mirage quilt for my great niece and made the label for her quilt. I made the label for my Barn Star Sampler, and I got the binding sewn to the front and have been working on hand stitching it to the back. Business wise, I had three quilts come in from a client in Colorado this month, and I also trim and bind for her. I have two of those ready to ship back, and have one left to bind. I am currently working on a custom job for client that is her entry in an upcoming show. My “sew-jo” is in full force right now. Really enjoying working on my projects.
My great-niece’s stip mirage during quilting.
I guess this isn’t so much a label for the back, but more of a name tag. I will sew one of my little tags I had made that has my business name and made by information into the binding, as well.
Weather here is psycho again. We were plunged into arctic temps this week, and currently it is -4 with a windchill of -17. But Sunday, we are supposed to be almost 70! Weather whiplash! I hope you are warm and having a great week. Thanks for stopping by.
Today’s sewing was all WIP related. I have chosen the Strip Mirage I started for my great-niece as my February UFO to work on, and hopefully FINISH in February. I had the top all done except for borders. I got them added today, made the backing and I have the binding strips cut. It’s all ready for the longarm.
After, I got that done, I pulled out some indigo fabric from my stash to make 380” of binding for my Barn Star Sampler. I used quite a bit of fabric from my stash for my Barn Star Sampler, but I did have to buy a few background fabrics, and some teals as I didn’t have enough in my stash. I had plenty of indigos in my stash as called for in the pattern, and used this one in some of the blocks and also had plenty for the binding. As I was cutting the binding strips, I saw the date in the selvedge. Oh my, it’s 20 years old! How can it be that 20 years have passed since I acquired this fabric?! I still love it and glad to be using it, finally. I also still have about 1.5 yards left.
I would love to finish both of these this month, but I plan to hand stitch the binding on the Barn Star Sampler, so I seriously doubt I will get it finished this month. We shall see….
Before washing.As close to a label as it’s getting. It says “handmade by Randi Ortega” on the backside of the tag. After washing.
I was aiming for a very old fashioned, vintage quilt look and I think I achieved that goal. It’s a cheery little quilt that makes me think of sunshine and blue skies. Pattern by Kairle Oakes, Virgin River Quilt Co. I purchased new fabric for the top, but was able to clear almost 4 yards from my stash for the backing.
One of the things that took up a lot of my time last year, along with the fact that I’m in the process of building a second house at the ranch, was that I agreed to make three large t-shirt quilts for a grieving family. It felt like a monumental task, and I had to get them all done by Christmas. Which I did! I’ll add that I do not enjoy making t-shirt quilts. It’s simply not my jam, but I was thankful to have the opportunity to make these as I dearly love the sweet family, and the loved one they lost. She was a beautiful, vibrant mother, grandmother, super active member of our community and was killed by the tornado that tore through our small town in 2023. I felt God gave me the gift of being able to do something for them, when I was at a loss to figure out what I could possibly do to comfort them. Anyway…once that was behind me, I felt free to return to my own projects and my sewjo mojo is back with a vengeance!
I hope to really tackle some older UFO’s, WIPS and squeeze in some new projects as well this year. I have actually made a list to track my progress. I was hoping to finish one UFO a month. Well, I picked one for January and I almost made it to the finish line before the month was over. It is on my longarm and I’ve almost completed the custom quilting on it, so I will get the binding done as soon as I complete that. My January pick was the quilt I started in 2023 that was supposed to be my entry for our quilt guild challenge, due at the October 2024 meeting, but didn’t finish in time since I took on the t-shirt quilts. (I won’t be sharing the t-shirt quilts out of respect for the family’s privacy.) The pattern for this one is called Douple Dip quilt and it’s a free pattern from Kairle Oaks, Virgin River Quilt Company, on Instagram. The guild challenge was to make a two color quilt. I purchased new fabrics for the top and binding, but I did get 4 yards out of my stash for the backing.
Completed TopQuilting in Progress
I’ll share again once completed. I have so many new projects I’m dying to work on, so as long as I’m working on a UFO or older WIP, I’m allowing myself some new projects time each month, as well. I don’t usually do the “word thing” for a new year, but this year I have decided that I must be a finisher and not just a starter 😂 so I guess my word to focus on this year is FINISH. I have way to many works in progress or unfinished projects that haven’t been actively worked on in years, and that must change.
So, the new project recap is that I started on my challenge quilt for this year’s guild challenge, which is to make a quilt that uses half square triangles. I had a quilt kit that I bought several years ago that fit the bill perfectly, so I pulled it out and got started, and I almost completed the whole top in January. It just needs the flange and border added to be ready for quilting. The pattern and fabric is Rural Jardin from French General. I love it so much!
Center Portion of Rural Jardin Quilt Top
I’ve also wanted to make a pineapple quilt forever, and this quilt kit was quite generous with the fabric and there’s a decent amount of scraps, so I pulled out a pack of pineapple paper piecing blocks from It’s Sew Emma that I purchased from The Fat Quarter Shop. This will be a long term project, unless I get quite a bit speedier as I go. It takes me almost an hour to do one block. I’ve had two Instagram quilting friends recommend the Creative Grids pineapple rulers for future projects. These are turning out so pretty!
I also made a little heart from Lella Boutique’s free valentine heart pattern to give to my step-grandson and his wife, in celebration of what would have been their sweet angel baby’s 1st birthday. She passed away in the womb at full term and was delivered straight into the arms of Jesus on January 23, 2024. When I saw Vanessa’s pattern, I thought how perfect to remember our sweet Ella June.
I have also started trying to learn crochet and some embroidery. This post is already quite long, so I’ll save that for its own post. I hope 2025 is treating you well! Thanks for stopping by!
Whew! Just unloaded a huge client quilt from the longarm. 106” X 113” of snuggly flannel for a lucky little boy! Quilted with edge to edge digital design, Tire Tracks from Urban Elementz. This quilted up so nicely! I know my client will be pleased. She was so hard on herself about the quality of her work. This quilt is great! I’m telling her she needs to ease up on herself. Nothing is perfect, and it doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful, anyway! It was actually quite square and I had zero issues with it. Even being ginormous, lol. It was a joy to work on!
It pushed the limits of my leaders, for sure.
We missed the tornadoes Thursday, thankfully, but my heart breaks for those in Nebraska and Iowa that did not. Now, our neighbors in Oklahoma are under the threat today. Sure hope they are spared.
I finished two more of the 24” blocks for the Barn Star Sampler I’m making. This block was pretty fun to make. I didn’t have to use the seam ripper near as much as I did on the last block.
After I finished them, I took all the blocks I have so far and laid them out on the basement floor following the layout in the pattern. You can see I still have several little blocks left to make and two more 24” blocks to fill in the empty spaces. I mostly used fabrics from my stash, but I did have to purchase some extra background and some darker teal, as I just didn’t have much of that color in my stash. I think I’m going to be pleased enough with it once it’s all together.
One thing that frustrates me is that this one fabric isn’t photographing the way it looks to the naked eye. At least not the way it looks to mine. The fabric in the background of this smaller block looks like a nice dusty rose pink, very similar to the pink in the large block next to it, but in photos, it has an orangish or brownish tint, and just looks kind of yuck next to the other blocks. I’ve tried all different kind of lighting, and it doesn’t look good in any photos.
Finally, here it is again on top of the whole stack of blocks. It really makes me wish I had used a different fabric for the blocks I used it in, but I’m not going to remake them. Especially not since they look good enough in person. 🤷🏻♀️
I have been working on client quilts, as well, and will catch up sharing some of those here soon. I’m also working on a very special t-shirt quilt project for a sweet local family, but that is super secret for the time being. Eventually, I will get to share about that here. My “sewjo” seems to be in full swing lately, and I’m here for it!
We are under the gun today for potentially very severe storms. Some rain sure would be nice, but praying we dodge the bullet on all the bad stuff. They are saying on the radio, as I type, that we could have large hail and tornadoes. They are saying that we should actually hope for no rain today, because if we “break through the cap” enough for moisture, we will also see bad storms in this one. We have a 40% chance of wind, hail, and possibly tornadoes. 😬 😩
I have been very busy this past week. It was a good week, just busy. I started and finished a custom quilting job, but it’s going to a guild challenge, so can’t share just yet, tho I doubt any of the guild members are reading this. Probably better safe than sorry. I started yet another project. I can’t seem to stop starting fun new projects before I finish others. This was the absolute high light of my quilting week…one of my sweet grandsons wanted to do some of the sewing on this latest project I had going. I have been wanting to try the fold and sew method of making blocks with a layer cake and charm square pack. I chose the Strawberry Lemonade collection from Sherri McConnell and Chelsi Stratton. Here is my little helper at work.
And, some of the finished blocks.They are fun to sew, but I’m wondering if the seams are going to be a bit too bulky once I start sewing to to each other. Also, some of the prints on bottom do shadow through the top charm square, so I will probably trim out the center on the back of those. It makes a nice size lap quilt.
I didn’t get too very much accomplished, but I did get the blocks for my great niece’s quilt all laid out and ready to stitch together. It’s another Strip Mirage, (pattern from Sew Yeah Quilting) and I used a jelly roll I have had in my stash for quite a long time. A little bonus stash busting with this one.
I got the all the pieces for the next block in my Barn Star Sampler cut out. These will make two identical 24” blocks. And, I got to try out this nifty notion I ordered from Belle Bruner of Seams So Me. I follow her on Instagram and she posted these cool clips she designed to organize your quilt pieces. I love them!
They came in this cute little bag with a cute little sticker.
Here they are keeping my block pieces organized and identified.
They come in a set from A – N, and N was the only one not used for this block set.
I’m very happy with this purchase! They will join my list of favorite notions. Wishing you all a great week ahead! Thanks for stopping by!
I finished the custom quilting on my client’s Convex Illusions quilt and she is coming to pic it up today. It’s a gift for her one of her grandsons. This was a really cool one to work on. I had a lot of fun watching it change throughout the quilting process. 😃
Have a fabulous Friday! My plans today are some housework, some personal sewing time, and washing up a wide quilt back I purchased for a commission I’m working on. Thanks for stopping by!
I mentioned a few days ago that I would have some exciting news to share soon regarding a client quilt. Every year, the Ogallala Quilters Society hosts the Ogallala Quilt Festival in Dimmitt, TX. It’s a prestigious show and I have some clients that enter something every year. This year one of the quilts I collaborated on with a client won a first place ribbon in its category. I was so excited when she texted me saying “we won first place” on her Vintage Dreams quilt she entered. The category was Mixed Technique, wall hanging. Anyway, its just so fun and exciting to see a ribbon hanging on any quilt you had a hand in finishing! This totally made my day when I got the news. I didn’t want to share pictures until after the show. Congratulations, Cynthia Shattles on your blue ribbon! What a privilege to get to do the quilting on a stunner like this!
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 