Author: tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles
Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".
Here is a follow up to the post The Expansion of “Go Boldly” , and an update on my progress on this quilt which I expanded from it’s original size of 56 inches by 56 inches(142 x 142 cm) to 82.5 by 82.5 inches (2.1 x 2.1 meters) by adding additional blocks:
I figured since this was the quilt in the background of my photoshoot for the October 2023 Issue 28: Colorado of Quiltfolk Magazine I should go ahead and finish it.
image credit: Quiltfolk Magazine
(A little background on this quilt: my friend D started this quilt four years ago and didn’t want to finish it so she offered me the initial pieced blocks, the templates, and the fabric she bought for the project. I’ve pieced about 50% of the blocks for the quilt and the rest were pieced by D.)
So I got all the blocks sewn together and discovered it was nearly Queen bed size when I laid it out on the guest bed:
I had a bit of remaining fabric and some blocks leftover, but I didn’t want to expand the quilt further.
I decided I didn’t need it to be a real Queen sized quilt as I didn’t plan to use it as a bed quilt as the colors do not go with my decor.
I did however want it to be a colorful large lap quilt to have at say the foot of a bed. So I pieced the remaining blocks into circles as the center part of the back of the quilt:
From there I used remaining fabric to build out the quilt back to be a little bit larger than the quilt top:
Yes it is a messy wrinkly mess as I didn’t iron it before I took the photo. This is the back in progress, I added one more row of fabric to each side to make it bigger than the quilt top.
It will basically be a reversible quilt with the pieced back.
I’ve decided to tie the quilt instead of sending it out for professional long arm quilting. I have some cool heavy weight colorful threads I plan to use to tie it. They are close to thickness of embroidery floss.
It’s been a while since I’ve shared what my husband John has been working on in his woodshop in our basement.
Recently he finished an Outfeed Table to butt up against his Table Saw. According to Fine Woodworking: “A good outfeed table is essential for safe woodworking, because it allows you to control the workpiece as it moves past the blade and off the back of the table saw. Without it, you’ll have to push down hard on the back of long boards, which makes it difficult to guide them safely past the blade.”
That sounds like a good idea! I want John to keep all this fingers so anything that makes woodworking safer I support 🙂
So John watched a bunch of YouTube videos and then set about designing an Outfeed Table that worked for him and his small woodshop.
He laminated the top of the Outfeed Table to make it easier for the wood to glide on it. It was his first time laminating and it seemed a little scary but we watched YouTube videos together (I provided moral support) and it was easier than he thought it would be!
The final stage was to add “bench dog holes” that allow you to clamp pieces on the Outfeed Table while woodworking. He used a special template to do this and he was pleased with the results:
It looks a little messy because this is the woodshop in use – I forgot to take photos when he first made the holes.
Speaking of the “woodshop in use”, John has been teaching his eldest son to woodwork starting with making cutting boards. They get together once to twice a week afterwork and on Sunday afternoons. They’ve made a lot of cutting boards so far including a 3D cutting board.
It’s been a great father-son bonding time!
They’ve also been working on a serving tray to replace an old store bought serving tray that is on its last leg.
They have another side to add and then handles.
And they’ve started their first big project together: a new entertainment console for the basement movie area. So far they’ve made the top of the piece.
It’s going to have a Scandinavian furniture flare, like our bedroom dresser that John made a couple years ago:
(By the way, someday John will be selling his cutting boards online through his shop Mighty Moe Creations, we just have to figure out what platform that will be besides Etsy.)
I finished the hat made with two leftover balls of yarn (both I think someone gave me as I do not remember using the yarn before) – a ball of blue variegated yarn, and a ball of denim blue yarn.
Here is when I got it to the double pointed needle stage (my favorite as it means it is nearly done!) while riding in the car:
And here is the photo I take as a tradition when I have the hat nearly done with the double pointed needles sticking out of my head:
And here is the completed hat:
I actually finished the hat while we were at dinner the other night with John’s former work colleagues. So I will close this post with gratuitous photos of the Burrata Salad and Meatball Pizza we had while out to dinner 🙂
People at dinner laughed when I threw the completed hat on my head at the end of the get together that I’d been working on all evening.
On to a new hat (one can never have enough hand knitted hats) to work on while passenger-ing in the car!
This is an update on the recycled denim and home decor fabric quilt I am hand quilting – What Direction Do I Go, that I previously updated you on in the post What’s Going on in the Studio.
I had this home decor/upholstery weight fabric as a backing:
OUCH! That did not work well for hand quilting! It was difficult to get the needle through the denim quilt top, the batting and the backing!
So then I tried taking off the backing, to put on later when I was done quilting using some type of envelope backing method, and just hand quilting with the quilt top and the batting.
BAD IDEA! My lap ended up covered with lint from the backing – ick! My sweatpants were a FUZZY MESS!
So I found a new backing for the quilt, this time a thrifted recycled cotton table cloth – very easy to sew through.
So now back to working on hand quilting it (after I trim down the backing a little and re-press/iron the quilt top again).
Per the advice one of my blogging buddies gave me, I only work on quilting it until my fingers get tired. I wasn’t going to use a hoop, but I think I might try out a large-ish old hoop I have and see how it is to hand quilt it using that (if I can close the hoop with the thickness of the denim!)
One of my favorite bag designers is the Netherlands based designer Svetlana Sotak of Sotak Handmade. The drawstring bags I’ve made (feels like I’ve made hundreds of them) is based on her pattern. I like that she supports small businesses by licensing them to sell items make from her patterns by purchasing the pattern.
It was time for me to try out a new pattern so I made a friend who loves to knit a project bag from the Sotak Handmade pattern – Denver Tote with knitting/yarn themed fabric by Ruby Star Society fabrics.
I was proud of myself because I installed a magnetic snap for the first time on the liner and reinforced it with heavy weight interfacing so the snap did not pull on the liner (which has medium weight interfacing attached).
Next time I make it I might make coordinating handmade handles. I was trying to coordinate the handles with the drawstring that is part of the bag too.
Oh and speaking bags, I don’t think I’ve shared this lovely tote bag I found while thrifting that I love to take everywhere, especially to the public library to pick up my holds!
Here is my latest library stack I brought home with the tote and so far I’ve really enjoyed the bookCool is Everywhere.
So it was time to start an easy mindless project – a hat – in the same pattern I always use – ha!
Me in the car, knitting away from my passenger seat…
It’s actually going to be a two yarn hat as I am using up two different smaller leftover balls of yarn. I had enough of the variegated yarn you see in the photo above to get that far and now I am adding in a denim-ish colored yarn that is close to one of the colors in the variegated yarn.
We’ll see how it comes out…it’s for me anyway so as long as it is a functional hat I am good!
Oh a friend sent me this the other day and it gave me a giggle, so I thought I’d share with you all and I hope if you have a dog they do not need to contact this “Pawfirm”! (Mike could contact them as we are guilty of this…)
Two Sundays ago, right before the Super Bowl game, I decided that I needed a studio refresh after I had completed my year long purge of my fabric stash.
It began in Winter 2023 while I was recovering from a broken ankle where I realized that 1/2 my fabric stash was fabric that other quilters had generously given me over the years. This happened with my fabric scrap stash and my UFO pile and I purged and donated what I didn’t want any longer.
It was now time to get really honest with my fabric yardage stash (again, as I’ve had other purges); and a couple Sundays ago I finished what I began in early 2023.
In addition to the fabric purge, I did some reorganization in my studio.
Here is my studio the morning of Super Bowl Sunday:
I realized I needed more vertical storage so I repurposed some of the wine crates I was storing scraps or fat quarters in and had John mount them to the wall:
And here is the “refreshed” studio right before it was time to sit down and watch the game:
Someone (or someones) are going to have a very happy surprise at the charity thrift store as I donated bags and bags of fabric. I now mainly have fabrics that I have selected/purchased or those others have given me that I REALLY LOVE.
This is Mike, the Miniature Schnauzer that lives with Tierney and John. If you are new to this blog I guest blog post time to time. I want to update you on the gray granny square blanket (MY BLANKET) that Tierney has been working on as I am a little annoyed.
(Here I am working on the blog post)
(And here I am slightly irritated that Tierney is disturbing me while I write)
Tierney should have finished by now the gray granny square blanket by now – she has joined all the 80 granny squares together by whatever strange human magic she uses to join them.
But now she’s decided she wants to make the blanket large enough to be a summer bedspread in the upstairs guest room so she is doing something called “adding a large border” while requires her to use that weird needle (she calls it a “crochet needle”) and go around and around on my blanket so it will get bigger.
Here is the blanket after she put all those squares together and started doing some weird bordering of the blanket.
The good thing is while she’s been doing her bordering, I’ve been able to get some naps under the blanket even if she occasionally disturbs me when she spins the blanket while bordering.
Yes, I am a “Napping Professional”.
I want her to stop this silliness and just set the blanket down somewhere that I can just private enjoy it.
It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.
For this month’s post I am happy to report that my little wallhanging (measuring 28 x 28 inches/71 x 71 cm) Strings Attached, pieced from my stash of solid color scraps, is done and hung on the wall:
I quilted it with bright red thread and let’s see if it shows up better in this second photo I took:
Not really but use your imagination that you see bright red thread 😉
The pattern for Strings Attached is from August 2021 issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine, pattern by Lori DeJarnatt. I tried to mimic the color selections of the sample in the magazine as much as I could as I really liked it! (My quilting is denser than the sample in the magazine as I made a mistake on my first row of machine quilting when my hand slipped…so I made just repeated my mistake to make it consistent, ha!)
As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:
Back in early January in the post 2023 Recap: A Year in “Makes” and WIPs Going Forward, I mentioned I might do a 2023 Recap of my travel in 2023. Since we are now halfway through February I decided to skip that 2023 recap, but I will share a trip I went on in early December 2023 with my sister that I didn’t post about in 2023.
So my awesome sister, who knew that December is always a challenging time for me (12/13/23 was the 5th anniversary of my late husband’s passing), came up with the idea that we should go on a “Sisters’ Trip”/do something fun in December to distract me.
She randomly selected Englewood, Florida because it is near the coast, had nice Airbnbs (she loves to stay in Airbnbs) and seemed to have a low touristy/laid back vibe. My sister loves to visit places are on not highly touristy but have a cozy vibe.
We stayed at a cottage above a garage at a house near the beach and was called “The Tree House”. The charming elderly proprietor lived on site and had decorated it in a quaint vintage “shabby chic” style with Asian influence:
The house’s garden was amazing and had a little pool as well as lots of scenic seating and wandering about areas:
And there was a garden kitty to pet:
We were able to walk everywhere including the charming downtown and only used our rental car a couple of times. One of those times was when we went on a thrift shopping excursion one day (my sister LOVES thrifting and introduced me to it years ago).
Here I am with a fantastic Marimekko purse I found for $5 at one of the thrift shops:
We visited a giant resale and flea market type of shop where we browsed for hours it seemed and ended up getting ourselves each a teddy bear as a souvenir of our fabulous time together:
It appeared to be a family run shop and we made the teenage boy running the cash register laugh when we were checking out our bear purchase, by making the bears talk to each other and him. It was fun to be so lighthearted and silly with my sister!
This sign at the shop made us laugh:
Ha!
We ate lots of seafood, as I live in a “landlocked” state and whenever I am near fresh fish, then fresh fish and I are together!
We also went to the beach and had a lovely afternoon wandering about the coastal area:
Because it was not a high touristy area we got to hang out with “the locals” and spent each morning at an awesome coffee shop walking distance from our cottage. We hung out one morning with an elderly gentleman (Englewood appears to be a large retirement community) who was from Colorado and his very friendly dog who seemed to know every other local that came into the coffee shop. We had fun chatting with people while eating our breakfast in the living room like seating area at the front of the shop:
You can see in the first photo that the dog is getting his regular “pup cup” of whipped cream.
It seemed like a wonderful and friendly place (with a super laid back vibe) plus the temperature was wonderful in early December – 60s to 70s F (16 – 21 C) – but I was attacked by a zillion mosquitos (they seem to love me) and I do not think I could live in Florida unless I walked around with a mosquito net on – ha!
I’ll close my little travelogue with a magnet that was on the refrigerator of the cottage we stayed in that made me smile!
I mentioned in my previous post What’s Going on in the Studio, that I was planning on enlarging the small lap quilt/wall hanging size quilt I made Go Boldly (quilt pattern by Elisa’s Back Porch Designs) which was 56 inches by 56 inches (142 x 142 cm), since I had a lot of extra blocks:
Well, here is the expanded quilt after I laid out additional blocks on my design wall (I still need to sew them together to the existing quilt):
As part of what’s up on the design wall is a sewn together quilt and the other part are individual blocks, I can’t tell you exactly how big the expanded version will be (without doing a lot of pesky math subtracting seam allowances, etc.). However what is currently up on the design wall measures approximately 86 inches x 86 inches (218.5 cm x 218.5 cm).
Believe or not I still have 48 sections leftover and I plan to make them into 12 blocks (each block has 4 sections) that I will piece together as part of the back of the quilt.
I’ll sew it all together after I finish machine quilting Strings Attached:
I thought I’d do a quick share of what is currently going on in my studio…
1) Sewing Machine Cleaning – it was time for a deep clean after I finished quilting SuperSymmetry Table Runner (see post SuperSymmetry Table Runner is Finished!):
2) Expanding Go Boldly – I decided to make Go Boldly bigger as I had more pieced blocks. Originally I was going to make two quilts with the block but now I think I will make one big one and then use any left over blocks for a pieced quilt back. I now have it up on the design wall to work on enlarging it:
Right now the quilt is 56 inches by 56 inches (142 x 142 cm) which is wallhanging or small lap size, but I should be able to bring it to large lap size or perhaps a bed size (perhaps…) with the expansion.
3) Strings Attached– I decided to go ahead and get it ready for machine quilting. I made the quilt sandwich with batting and backing fabric and I plan to just go ahead and machine quilt it with coordinating red thread and just get it done!
4) What Direction Do I Go – just waiting to start hand quilting in the evening in front of the TV. First I have to finish the gray granny square blanket I am working on in the evenings in front of the TV (see posts Guest Blog Post: Progress on “My Blanket” and Update on Some W.I.P.s on the crochet project). I received some awesome hand quilting advice from one of my blogging buddies and I cannot wait to start on it, I even put together my little hand quilting bag of supplies which is lying on top of the quilt in the image below:
I feel like I am really moving forward on my projects (because there are new ones I want to start but not allowing myself to until I finish these!) 🙂
This post is for my knitting buddies who make extremely more complex and interesting knitted items then I do (but I craft vicariously through your posts, you should see the Icelandic sweater/jumper I am making in my head!).
But you expert knitters: Have you ever knitted a little hat? For a little schnauzer?
My late husband Terry and I were schnauzer aficionados since we were in our twenties; and for 30 of the 33 years we were together before he passed in 2018, we adopted rescued miniature schnauzers.
Mike who you know from many previous posts, was the last miniature schnauzer we rescued together.
In addition to real schnauzers, we were obsessed with schnauzer art, figurines and stuffed animals. We had an extensive collection.
Since his passing in 2018 I’ve let go through donation or gifting to family/friends quite a bit of the schnauzer-obsession collection; but I’ve kept a few special pieces.
One of the stuffed animals I kept is a very realistic 5 inch (12.7 cm) schnauzer that I keep on my desk in the upstairs guest bedroom:
Recently I rediscovered stashed amount pens in my studio, this little 3 inch (7.6 cm) knitted hat (include the pom-pom) I picked up from the gift shop at the Cliffs of Moher (see my post The Cliffs of Moher) while visiting Ireland in 2022. It was a key chain but removed the key chain hardware to make it into just a little hat!
Can you guess what happened next? Yes I decided this little schnauzer and this little hat should be together!
Little Schnauzer in a Little Hat!
So now they sit on the bookshelf above my desk area and the schnauzer’s ears won’t get cold if a sudden wintry wind pops into the guest room!
All quilted and on the dining room/library table now!
After I finished quilting it and putting on the binding, I decided to launder it (and then try and iron out wrinkles) so it was ready for any future laundering after spills. I want it to be a “working” table runner that will stay on the table during a meal.
(Before company comes for dinner I will give it a better pressing, I was just so excited to put it on the table!)
This was so wonderful about the healing properties of knitting (and crafting in general) I had to reblog. Thank you Wild Daffodil for posting this and warming my heart (and moistening my eyes) on a cold and snowy day in Denver.
I am plugging along with this great-to-work-on-while-watching-TV in the evening project. I’m working on attaching the 7th row of blocks. It will be an 8 by 10 blanket when done as I made 80 granny squares. I will add an extra border or two of the same yarn I am using as the lattice (to attach the granny squares).
As I mentioned in that previous post, I decided to use a collection of traditionally pieced “orphan blocks” that my friend Wendy gave me as the backing for this table runner.
I figured that if I got a stain on the front of the runner while entertaining, I could flip it over and use the other side!
I’ve completed the machine quilting of the table runner and just need to sew the binding strips together, sew on the binding, and sew down the binding.
For the quilting I just went with a simple double crosshatch pattern (no that is not a real pattern name, I just made it up on the spot), following the lines of the pieced blocks.
I plan to press it, ha! It just came off the machine and I just finished trimming off the excess batting and backing so it is pretty wrinkly!
I am so looking forward to hand quilting this quilt (yes I decided to hand quilt it)!
I got the batting and backing put together with the quilt top to make the “quilt sandwich”. I’ve also auditioned some threads (I plan to use multiple and to use pearl cotton weight) for the hand quilting.
Other WIPs Growing Inpatient As They Sit in Queue…
I have two more quilt tops awaiting quilting by me:
I haven’t decided on machine vs. hand quilting but if I do hand quilt it I have some cool threads I collected many years ago I want to use.
I will get to these two quilt tops eventually – ha!
I’ve been trying not to start any additional MAJOR projects before finishing my existing WIPs…but then some small projects might sneak in…you know how us crafters are!
Oh Mike wants me to tell you that he’s happy he doesn’t have to fill in for me with blogging since I seem to be back at it again (see his recent post Guest Blog Post: Humans Traveling and Dog Camp).
This leaves him more time for napping in the sun, on fleece blankets, in the upstairs bedroom (with the occasional waking up to intensely bark at people walking by and delivery trucks coming into the neighborhood).
I discovered late today that the Stark Museum of Art posted about my quilt Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet on their Facebook page:
image credit: Stark Museum of Art Facebook page
And then I went onto discover the museum’s Curator, Sarah E. Boehme, Ph.D., discusses the quilt in her Curator’s Cornerpage on the Stark Museum of Art‘s website:
image credit: Stark Museum of Art website
If you go to the Curator’s Cornerpage and scroll past her February 2, 2024 discussion of John James Audubon, “Maryland Marmot, Woodchuck, Groundhog” you will see the January 15, 2024 entry about my quilt:
January 15, 2024
“Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet”
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an author and activist, born in Joplin, Missouri. He is known for his powerful poetry and as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, the flourishing of Black culture that developed in New York City.
Artist Tierney Davis Hogan depicted Langston Hughes for the exhibition “Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West.” She wrote an artist statement about this quilt for the exhibition catalog accompanying “Black Pioneers.”
Tierney Davis Hogan chose to portray Hughes for this exhibition, seeing him as a pioneer poet. She used a photograph of Hughes by Carl Van Vechten from the Library of Congress and reimagined it. She layered the likeness over an American flag and an African fabric to visualize Hughes’s identity as an African American. She stressed his role as a poet by incorporating words of Langston Hughes’s poetry into her art. Hogan reshaped four lines from the 86 lines of the poem “Let America Be America.”
Hogan lined the poem’s words along the stripes of the American flag, seemingly to emphasize the call to respond to American ideals. She arranged the wording so that “pioneer” appears directly over the head of Hughes. The final two words of the poem, “is free,” appear upon the African fabric, stressing the importance of freedom, especially for African Americans. Hogan noted the continuing relevance of Hughes poem, which was written in 1935, and encouraged the reading of “Let America Be America” in its entirety.
The four lines of poetry that Hogan used include a dream reference. Scholars believe that Hughes’s poetry influenced the imagery in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches. The two men were friends and maintained a correspondence for many years. Hughes wrote a reference to Dr. King in his poem “Brotherly Love.”
Langston Hughes has a connection to Orange, Texas. In 1945, he spoke at the Salem Methodist Church. Local historian Margaret Toal has written about Hughes’ visit for KOGT radio and noted that the newspaper “The Orange Leader” carried a front-page story about the poet’s upcoming visit. During his time in Orange, Hughes autographed a printed copy of one of his poems for local civil rights leader Velma Jeter.
The quilt I created for the show Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West, moves onto it’s 4th show venue the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, TX on March 2, 2024.
Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet (2021), pieced and quilted by Tierney Davis Hogan
If you’d like to read the Artist Statement for this quilt that provides the background for my inspiration, it is in this post Update on the Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet Quilt as well as on my Portfolio page (which I need to revamp someday) but you have to scroll a lot of find it on the Portfolio page. (Someone asked me at the first show opening why was Langston Hughes included in this show when he was known for the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s…well he was born in Joplin, Missouri so I am guessing that is why he was included. I never asked the curator when we were giving a list of historical figures to select from for our quilt from the show, I was just so excited to do a Langston Hughes quilt!)
The postcard for the show came in the mail yesterday:
Here is a summary of the four venues this quilt has shown in, from my Events/Publications page:
Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet – Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, TX – March 2, 2024 – June 22, 2024.
Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet – Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West, California Museum, Sacramento, CA – June 10, 2023 – October 1, 2023.
Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet – Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West, The Booth Museum, Cartersville, GA – January 28, 2023 – May 21, 2023.
Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet – Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West, The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL – September 3, 2022 – January 8, 2023.
I will however plan to check the museum’s website and social mediawhen the show opens to see if there are any walk through videos or photos to share with you on how my quilt is hung in the show.
This is Mike, the Miniature Schnauzer that lives with Tierney and John. If you are new to this blog I guest blog post time to time. It’s January 31st and Tierney has not posted on her blog since January 15th (ScrapHappy January 2024 – Update on Table Runner and More ) and I needed to intervene and jump on her laptop and write a post (even though I don’t have opposable thumbs so typing is challenging).
I need to figure out the dictation feature…
Tierney has been busy doing some purging in her crafting area and quilting table runner she discussed in her January 15th (so long ago) blog post. Also she and John have been doing some traveling and recently returned from a trip to Las Vegaswhere John was in a poker tournament (he didn’t do too bad in the tournament!)
Since I am on her laptop I was able to find a couple photos from her trip to Las Vegas to share with you including a meal they had at Hell’s Kitchen (Chef Gordon Ramsey’s famous restaurant) of the renown Beef Wellington and Sticky Toffee pudding on the menu.
But what is more exciting than their trip is the time I had at “Dog Camp” where I stay when they go out of town. “Dog Camp” is only for dog’s my size and I have a group of dog friends (like my Miniature Schnauzer friend Bandit is a regular at “Dog Camp”).
Here’s Bandit trying to manage one of the humans that run “Dog Camp”:
And here are more awesome photos of me recently at “Dog Camp” (the humans that run it take photos and send to Tierney so she knows I am having more fun that her and John while they are on vacation):
Yes I need to nap, as do my friends,after all that fun!
Well that’s all I had to share, but I am going to talk to Tierney and ask her to get caught up on her blogging friends’ posts as well as start writing her own posts again!
It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.
I completed piecing the table runner per the piecing instructions from her pattern SuperSymmetry, and discovered I needed to make more blocks in order to make it long enough for the table as well as finish each end (more on that later). Unfortunately Y seams were involved in the piecing (shudder) but I made it through.
I ended up making 14 additional blocks.
I floated the pieced SuperSymmetry blocks in taupe-brown Peppered Cotton (a heavy duty linen like shot cotton). Here is a little photoshoot I did of the completed table runner top on the new dining room/library table:
In the last two photos you can see the new rug that arrived that I mentioned in a previous post. It is one of those Ruggable rugs that can be laundered in the washing machine (in case there is “The Great Spaghetti Sauce Spill” during a meal someday).
And in case you are curious here is how I finished the ends of the table runner with all those triangle blocks in the piece:
Thank goodness for a good steamy iron as there was a lot of pressing involved to get it looking like I hadn’t been on mind altering substances while piecing…
In addition to the SuperSymmetry orphan blocks and fabric scraps, Wendy also sent me 7 traditional quilt blocks orphan blocks for a taupe quilt she was working on. I’ve decided to use these blocks as part of the back for the table runner.
I am going to float each of them in the taupe Peppered Cotton and then add in enough length in side borders as well as a bottom and top to meet the length. I am getting ready to start working on floating each block by doing some “log cabin” style piece around each block:
AND MORE
We’ve had a run of sub-zero Fahrenheit (colder than -17 Celsius) temperatures in the Denver metropolitan area and we’ve been spending a lot of time inside. John got addicted to watching cooking/culinary themed videos on YouTube and this weekend decided to try and make a copy of the famous Chick-fil-A (very popular fast food eatery in the US) chicken sandwich and the accompanying sauce after watching a video on how to do it.
He made enough for his father, sister, son and son’s family (who all live nearby) and then delivered them to their homes! You might have heard of the popular food delivery service DoorDash – well we named John – “DadDash”!
The sandwiches were a hit and included the famous pickle like the original. Here is a little photo spread from yesterday to close out this post.
Oh and if you’d like to try and make them yourself, here is the video John used:
As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:
Well after Monday’s guest post by Mike the Miniature Schnauzer’s on the update of one of the WIPs (Guest Blog Post: Progress on “My Blanket”), the gray granny square blanket, that I shared in this post2023 Recap: A Year in “Makes” and WIPs Going Forward, I guess I should actually do a post providing an update on another WIP I mentioned in the “2023 Recap” post: the table runner for our new table made from orphan blocks from my friend Wendy’s quilt SuperSymmetry (the quilt and the pattern she wrote appeared in the October 2010 edition of The Quilt Life):
I have all the blocks that Wendy gave me sewn together; and now it seems I have quite a few to make to bring the piece the full length of the table.
I am floating the table runner in progress on the taupe-brownish fabric that I will use as the borders. It is the same fabric I used as the setting fabric in this quilt which is in the dining room/library:
Yes that is Mike napping at my feet while I read a book in the library (before it was the dining room/library).
Here’s a couple more photos of the table runner in progress laid out on the dining table, this time with the bowl and candles that will sit on top of it when it is done:
You can see my breakfast in the background, it is a nice place to sit, read and eat breakfast.
I really like how the table runner is looking in the room and it coordinates well with my color scheme. I have one of those Ruggable washable rugs on order for under the table the in a muted brown color. Hopefully the rug will tie the room even more together (as well as protect the carpet from food spills when the dining table it being used).
A Library Book Borrowing Bonanza
You might have noticed in the first image in this post a stack of library books on the chair in the corner. A while back I decided to end my series of posts on the stack of library books I borrow from the library (last post in the series was Revenge of The Library Stack). But I thought I would share a special library book borrowing bonanza event.
The Saturday before New Year Eve (12/30), John and I decided to have a unique adventure – we decided on one day to visit all the libraries in our local library system that were within a reasonable drive. We drove to four different library branches, three of which I’ve never visited. Since my library card worked at all the libraries, I had an “incident” and came home with a LOT of books.
It was fun raiding the NEW NONFICTION sections of each library as well as browsing their 700s sections where all the yumminess for me awaits! It was such a delight to visit all those libraries in one day and what a wonderful sense of anticipation I had as our car parked in front of a library I’d never been to before!
Remember the post I did on the literary and popular culture inspired Christmas Trees my local library had on display (see post O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Trees…) as part of the Forest of Trees? Well the other libraries we visited in the library system also had trees on display as part of this library system wide program.
I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of the different trees at each library branch we visited. Here are some of my favorites (sorry the lighting wasn’t the best for photography) listed in order of the photos:
Princess Bride
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Cat in the Hat
Star Wars
Star Trek
The Hobbit
Such amazing creativity on the part of the library staff who came up with the concepts and decorated the trees!
This is Mike, the Miniature Schnauzer that lives with Tierney and John. If you are new to this blog I guest blog post time to time.
Tierney has been doing something weird the past month or so and only posting to this blog once a week. I am trying to work with her to increase her frequency. She went from torturing you all to daily posts in the month of October, this blog’s 10th anniversary, to BOOM once a week posts.
So I had to step in and blog about the progress on “my blanket”.
Look at all the progress I’ve encouraged her to make!
In case you are wondering why I refer to it as “my blanket” – isn’t it obvious she is making it for me when it coordinates with my fur so wonderfully?
Try not to become overwhelmed with my cuteness
She has 5 more rows of 8 blocks to join to it to make it an 8 by 10, 80 block blanket. But at this point it is sufficient enough for me to snuggle under. For some reason she wants to keep working on it.
I’ve caught her cuddling under it while working on it and she even wrangled it into the car when John is driving to work on.
Here she is working on it while in the back seat when we had a holiday visitor; and I am trying to snuggle in it too:
It should be covering me but she said that won’t work while she is crocheting
Well hopefully it will be done soon.
That’s the end of my guest post and I am going to return to guarding the house from my sunny guard post on the upstairs guest bed surrounded by my natural habitats: blankets (fleece!) and quilts.
I was inspired by other bloggers’ year end recap posts and I thought jump in. I have a paltry amount of “makes” for 2023. Below are photos of projects that I either finished or at least finished the quilt top on:
Oh and I didn’t make all the handmade Christmas gifts I had planned, but I did make a Dallas Cowboys (American Football team) tote bag for one person who is a huge fan:
I did have to include a little bit of humor and added this tag on the side which states “Dream Impossible Things” – ha! She got a kick out of it.
My excuses for an underwhelming amount of makes in 2023: I broke my ankle in January 2023 and have my first under anesthesia surgery when I had a surgical repair of my complex ankle fracture; as well as immobility for several months…so yes I am using that as one of my excuses – ha!
Another excuse for a lack of “makes” in 2023 was that once I was able to be mobile again I did a bit of traveling. I’ll share a recap of my 2023 travel in a separate post.
WORKS IN PROGRESS (WIPS) HEADING INTO 2024
Here’s what I have on my plate to start out 2023:
1) 3 finished quilt tops to quilt (the first two below I will machine quilt and the 3rd one I plan to hand quilt
2) 2 granny square blankets to finish
3) A new table runner in progress
And then I have like a million (ok perhaps a little less than that) projects in queue.
There were 7 of us for Christmas Eve and we were going to make do with our 6 person seating kitchen table, with one person (#7) either crammed in or sitting at the kitchen counter.
We don’t have a formal dining room, just an open room when you first enter the front door which we turned into the library (previously it was a “sitting room”).
Well I came up with the semi “hare-brained” idea on December 23 that we should go buy an actual dining room table and put it into the library. It would serve as both a library table (it’s always been my dream to have one) and a dining table when needed.
So off we went to IKEA on 12/23, which was surprisingly empty so close to the Christmas holiday, and bought a table which seats 8 (but you could fit 10 at the table).
image credit – ikea.com
Yes John could have built a table in his woodshop but we figured it would cost the same or more to build from scratch a 92 1/2″ x 39 3/8 ” table (234 cm x 100 cm approximately) and he wouldn’t have it ready for December 24th!
We got the table home and before you know it we had it set up and made up for Christmas Eve (including Christmas Crackers):
And the table worked perfectly for our Christmas Eve dinner of 7 people (we used the loveseat in the library as seating for 2 of the 7 people; and the chairs are the existing kitchen table chairs):
In addition to candles on the table, I set up tea lights on the bookshelves in the library for a nice atmosphere during our festive dining.
And the two dogs that attended (Mike and Ajax) enjoyed foraging under the table and begging for food:
Christmas morning I was having some quiet time sitting at the new table in the library having tea and looking at library books with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer…
…and I thought: this table needs a table runner! (And a new larger rug under it…I am looking into one of those Ruggable rugs that remove from their pad and are machine washable).
Luckily I had in my stash a group of blocks my friend Wendy gave me (see post Quilter Distractions: Good Mail filled with “Taupe”) from a quilt she made for a magazine article/pattern she wrote for October 2010 edition of The Quilt Life called SuperSymmetry.
It is not enough blocks to make a quilt but it was enough to start a table runner!
I used up all the blocks Wendy sent and I am only at about a 6 foot table runner. The table is over 7 1/2 feet long so I am going to have to piece more blocks. Luckily Wendy sent me a bunch of coordinating fabric scraps!
I plan to add some type of thin border to the pieced blocks to float them. I don’t plan to make the table runner very wide as I just want to run the center of the table.
I’ll update you on the progress.
Oh and I’ll close this post with something sweet I saw this morning on my walk.
We have a lot of deer in the area so there are a lot of “deer crossing” warning signs as crossing deer (who like to randomly cross the street when you least expect it) are a dangerous traffic hazard.
Well someone decorated one of the “deer crossing” signs with a red nose (like Rudolph the Red Noses Reindeer!) to make it festive!
This bit of whimsy gave me a huge smile on my walk!
Hello! This is the tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posting (if you are new to this blog, my story is on this post – I’m A Monster!!! and you can see all my posts at this link: Beastie Adventures).
The main reason for this post is my husband John Beastie (Guest Blog Post: Mail Order Groom) and I would like to wish you and yours a very Happy Holidays!
If you are admiring our “Ugly Christmas Sweaters“, Tierney and John (aka “The Humans”) picked them up from Hobby Lobby and they are actually Christmas tree ornaments and hang from little hangers!
I think John Beastie and I looks so cute in our sweaters I will share a couple more photos for your enjoyment:
Yes it’s pretty much the same photo but Beasties love photos of themselves!
Well the other day Tierney and Mike the Miniature Schnauzer were on their daily walk and noticed the house had a friendly and sweeter look for the Christmas season:
What a big difference!
And a little more – Tierney thought you all might enjoy photos of Mike the Miniature Schnauzer (even though I am cuter) out holiday shopping with John and Tierney the other day:
Once again they snuck him into the Food Court (like in the post Mike in Macy’s). I think he is pretty spoiled. They are yet to take John Beastie and I to the mall.
Ok…they did take us to Ireland in October 2022 so that might be more significant…
tierneycreates 