Summer Secret Sewing

Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, is about to embark on a secret sewing mission
Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, is about to embark on a secret sewing mission
Shh! It’s Secret Sewing time with The Quilt Rambler

Say that three times!

What a great start to summer! So what is “secret sewing,” you ask? Quite frankly a new experience for me – after all, I am The Quilt Rambler, not the keeper of quilt secrets! Do you realize just how hard this has been for me trying to keep things under wraps for the past 12 days!

After coming off a busy graduation t-shirt quilt season (with the last one picked up June 2nd before the June 3rd graduation) you may have seen this on social media posted June 2:

“Shh!! It’s a secret! Actually, I’m working on THREE secret quilting projects right now that all due within the next 10 days. Two I can’t share until Fall Market, the third is super top secret but if it works out I will be able to share in a few weeks. I’m going to be a secret agent and bury myself in fabric…duty calls!”

Secret Sewing Project Number 1

June 2 to June 5

Secret Sewing - all I can show is the trimmings
All that’s left to show is the trimmings – fabric line Coastal Mist by Island Batik

This one kinda snuck up on me with a fast approaching deadline. All I can say is it’s an fast-approachingomething BIG if it all comes to pass. If not, it was a learning experience and I’ll try again another time. But the pressure was on! Choose fabric – no brainer, I picked Island Batik’s collection Coastal Mist. Measure twice, cut one. Sew sew sew – actually 3 days of sew sew sew, had to do my best work!

Piecing secret sewing quilt blocks
Probably could have shown the fabrics because that wasn’t the secret, can you guess what units I’m piecing?

Then shipped off to meet the deadline.

I can hardly wait to hear the results. And yes, I will share the results one way or another…I’ve also got plans to repurpose the project “one way or another”… Hopefully, by the end of July, I will be able to reveal this adventure. I can hardly wait!! It’s so hard not to talk about this!

 

 

Secret sewing is mailed to a top secret location
After an intense weekend of secret sewing, the project is mailed off to a Top Secret location

Secret Sewing Project Number 2

June 5 to June 6

This project is an original design pattern that was submitted to Island Batik to showcase one of their upcoming fabric collections that will be introduced the end of October at the Houston Fall  Market – a tradeshow for the quilt industry where buyers come to see the latest trends, new notions and of course new fabric!! Orders are placed for fabrics to ship in the spring….

This one is especially hard to not ramble about, even harder not to share photos! But that’s the surprise! The fabric!! Okay, and the design…it’s a new one too.

Oliso Iron stops working, but a replacement is soon to come
Rest in Peace my dear Oliso – you were the best iron I ever had!

One little sad frustration while working on this project is that my Oliso iron died. I was pressing all the little parts and pieces as I was sewing and I smelt something burning – evidently, the heating element must have burnt out. Sigh. Backup travel irons don’t compare but I am thankful to report that Oliso has a repair/replace option and I am shipping off the deceased iron today and eagerly awaiting another one. Best iron I’ve ever owned!

Secret Sewing Project Number 3

June 7+

Thank goodness this project was just a wall hanging! Whew! Pieced in one (long) day!  Last stitch 1:30 AM June 8th. And yes, it’s another Fall Market fabric line for Island Batik.

Oh, how I wish I could show you this one! The fabrics are MY colors – that might be too much of a hint, but I can tell you I can’t wait to purchase fabric from this line when it comes out the first of next year!

Let The Quilting Begin

June 8 to June 12

Okay, I did take Sunday off! But I still pulled some after midnight quilting. I couldn’t help myself – I got really caught up in the quilting. Project Number 2 was custom quilted with a little bit of ruler work.  According to my stitch counter, this tasty morsel had 136,285 stitches with four thread color changes.

Here’s a legal sneak peak of the backing showing just a tad of the quilting. It’s “legal” because the backing is from a current line introduced at Spring Market called Seas The Day shipping soon to quilt shops.

Close up of backing fabric from secret sewing project
Backing showing custom quilting of Secret Sewing Project #2
Stitch counter on secret sewing project 3
I love it that my A1 Quilting Machine has a stitch counter. That’s a lot of thread!

I really got into the quilting on Project Number 3, even though it was much smaller it had oh so much higher stitch count, with only two thread color changes. I played a lot with ruler work! A lot!

I thought it was fun that the Island Batik backing, from the basics line, was called Rainbow and that I used Superior Threads Rainbows thread to quilt it in a colorway called Carnival (more hints of the fun fabric colors on top!). As you can see – I cut it sorta close on running out of thread!

Superior Threads used on secret sewing project
Sneak peak of the backing and custom quilting on Project #3 Don’t you just love Superior Threads!

Binding, Photos, and Off to the Post Office

June 13 to today, June 14

Binding threads on secret sewing project
Always the right color thread for binding with Superior Threads Masterpiece bobbin collection

I’ve been doing a lot of machine binding lately, attaching the binding on both sides with the sewing machine, but these beauties deserved a little hand sewn binding love. I just love how my “donut” of MasterPiece threads by Superior Threads offers any and all colors I need to match my binding!

And no, that beautiful stripe orange is not a give-a-way of the secret fall fabric collection – that’s my hanging sleeve made from Island Batik fabric in my stash. You thought I slipped up and let out a secret, didn’t you?

Naturally, I had to have photos taken to document the quilts before shipping them off to Island Batik….that way I can blog about them this fall! Don’t you want to see all the close-up details? Oh, I can hardly wait to show them to you.

I asked for special permission to share this next photo with you – that’s why it’s in black and white, to protect the big reveal of the fabulous colors in Project Number 3….but I couldn’t resist this photo taken in the backyard – lots of critters flying around in the summer time – some of which aren’t alive to fly…

secret sewing sneak peak
Critters in the backyard…a Cicada shell and my signature butterfly (grin)

The clock just struck 9:00 AM June 14th – that means the post office is open and I’ve got to head out the door!  Here’s a parting shot of the quilts prior to boxing up showing you the beautiful labels my friend Janie made for me (with the pattern name and fabric collection name covered up – it is still a secret after all).

secret sewing quilts rolled up and ready to mail
It’s been a whirlwind of secret sewing, time now to send the quilts on their way to Island Batik. Thank you, Janie, for the labels!

Thanks for joining me in this ramble….I can’t imagine keeping this secret for 136 days – Quilt Market is October 28th!!!

This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, talking about quilts while still keeping them secret! who knew!

Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

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