It's a Finish! Chocolate Swirls

 Chocolate Swirls

It's a finish!

74 x 84

I think this block is known by many names  - Rising Sun, Cog Wheel, Wagon Wheel. Each of my blocks contains a little chocolate so I'm calling my quilt Chocolate Swirls. ( And when I use it I will be covered in chocolate. Oh, yeah!)  I started making this quilt back in October 2018. 

I enjoyed making these blocks. They were machine pieced and then appliqued to the background.  I finished the top back in July 2019. 

I started hand quilting on February 2, 2020.  I did big stitch hand quilting with brown, white and red perle #12.  I love hand quilting. I like to feel the fabrics soften as I stitch along. I like to feel the texture as I stitch along. 

 I found I had enough of the background fabric for binding. 

 I used a lighter brown for the backing. All the stitching makes the back look like a whole cloth quilt. 

 And now that I've enjoyed the process over a period of years I get to enjoy the quilt for a period of years. Ah, there's nothing like reaping the fruits (and chocolates) of my labor!

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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It's a Flimsy! Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden

Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden

Its a flimsy!

90 x 90

Made of rose and tea themed fabrics.

Started May 2017

Orange 1.5 Inch Scraps and A Few Orange Crumbs

 Four Postage Plus blocks made from 1.5 inch scraps.  These finish at 10 inches.  Yes they could be made a lot faster with strip sets; however, I'm trying to use up my 1.5 inch scraps and I actually enjoy sewing together the individual squares.  I enjoy seeing all the little scraps in the color of the month that I get to work with to make my blocks. And, I'm in no hurry to get 'er done. 

With crumbs I made a couple of Crumby Hourglasses (Crumbs of Time??) that finish at roughly 11 inches.   In January I blogged about how I made these.  I'm making these out of crumbs in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month and a solid in a complementary color. 

Now I'm waiting for a new color to be announced. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Four by Four

 It's a flimsy!

62 x 83

Sets of four sashed until they could be sashed no more. 

It all started with some 4.5 inch squares I received last year in some boxes of scrappy goodness from Nice Nancy.  I decided I would work toward a twin sized donation quilt.  I started out by sashing sets of four squares with a solid brown or blue.  I ended up with 24 nine inch (finished) blocks.  Hmmm....what next? I have a box of shirt parts so cut enough 4.5 inch squares to make 24 more blocks.   So, forty-eight blocks would not quite be enough for a nice twin sized quilt so hmmmm...what next? 

 I added some sugar and spice and sashed sets of four blocks with a 2 inch floral.  A lot of my grandma's quilts were made of old shirts and dresses so I guess the idea was grandma inspired. I made little four patches for the corner stones out of the leftovers from the first sashing. Blocks then measured 20 inches (finished) and I had twelve of them. With a layout of 3 x 4 that would be a quilt 60 x 80- a nice size but still a bit smaller than I wanted. 

 Then, those sets of four blocks were sashed with a 1.5 inch brown or blue solid.  Blocks were getting bigger and I had two full blocks that were 41 inches square and two half blocks 41 x 20. 

 And finally I sashed those sets of four blocks with a 1 inch floral sashing and magically the top was all together. 

  And finally I sashed those sets of four blocks with a 1 inch floral sashing and magically I had a top. Good thing because I really don't like sashing a quilt but this was kind of fun. Each of the original squares has some type of sashing around it and I enjoyed the process.  

 Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Wednesday Wondering

Feathered Star 

 It's no secret that I have a lot of UFOs. For the last several years I have made a list on December 31 so I know what I have going into a new year. There is a tab at the top of my blog with the list.  As I finish things I cross them off. If I have a new start I add it to the bottom of the list. 

Yesterday I decided to work on these Feathered Star blocks again mainly because I have a little pile of neutral fabrics I thought might be good for these block backgrounds set aside and I want to use some of the fabrics if I can in other quilts. 

I am not sure why this is a UFO. It was a new start back in March 2018. According to my blog post then I made four blocks and said they were easier to make than I thought so I stated there would be more of them. I just didn't say when there would be more of them. 

This is the quilt I intend to make. It is from 19th Century Patchwork Divas' Treasury of Quilts by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle. 

 So yesterday I made three blocks and had nothing but problems. 

 I did a lot of seam ripping and then some more. I was ready to throw the blocks I made previously into the orphanage.  I had no idea why back in March 2018 I thought they were easier to make than they look. I had problems with pieces stretching out of shape and I had nothing but problems with those little HSTs.  The method in the book for making HSTs is the cut squares, draw diagonal line and sew on both sides and cut apart method. I'm not a fan of that method of making HSTs. 

Today was a new day. After yesterday's fiasco I decided to try again to make one block and use my Easy Angle ruler to cut the HSTs and I didn't have to use the seam ripper at all.  So I have made a note in the book about several of my changes to the block making process should I want to make another one some day. (Yes, I am already thinking about it. It is a fun way to use some large print novelties.) 

Anyway...I have 8 out of 20 blocks and I'm going to work on this UFO a little each day until it is a top. 

A Flimsy Has Sprouted

 Sprouts

It's a flimsy! (finally)

62 x 74

 I started this back in March 2016 according to an old blog post. 

 It was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. 

 Lots of scrap seedlings grew into a scrappy top. 

Now I hope it doesn't take me several years to get it quilted. 

And speaking of sprouts...my orchid is in bloom. The orchid and other houseplants share a corner of my sewing room in the winter. Now I feel like sewing something with yellows and purples. 

Orange 2.5 Inch Scrap Edition

 This week I worked with my orange 2.5 inch scraps.    

This block is called Dakota Farmer and I found the instructions for the Dakota Farmer blocks in Bonnie Hunter’s Addicted to Scraps column in the Nov/Dec ’13 issue of Quiltmaker. But I didn't follow the instructions. I used 2.5 inch scraps instead of 2 inch per the instructions so my blocks finish at 8 instead of 6 inches. 

 This is an Hourglass block. I started making these as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project because I was a winner of Block Lotto in December and received 28 of these blocks.  I thought these might make a nice twin sized donation quilt.  Right now I think I will set these on point but I have a whole year of making these out of scraps before I need to decide. 

 This year I'm trying to get rid of the banker's box of 2.5 inch width scraps so after I make my blocks I cut any remaining scraps into 2.5 inch squares. I'll deal with all those squares next year. 

After that any pieces that are less than a 2.5 square get sewn into strips. Long ago I used to throw those ends into the crumb box but the last few years I've been sewing them into strips instead. I think at year end I will have a lot of strips to play with and will probably make a Chinese Coin quilt. 

I have quite a few colorful strips now. 

Now I just need to work on my orange 1.5 inch scraps and crumbs. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Four Finishes

 Three string quilts.

All are 40 x 60

These will be donated to Wrap-A-Smile, a partner of Rotaplast, and Quilts Beyond Borders.  Rotaplast International, Inc. is committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities.  Quilts Beyond Borders is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which reaches out to under-served children, mainly orphans, across the world to provide a handmade quilt and spread love and hope. 

The Sunshine Online Quilt Guild supports both of these projects if you care to join us and learn more about the various ways you can support these projects as well as others. 

 The first one is made of pink and brown strings. I used a paper foundation and made 10 inch finished blocks. 

 I used a pink center string, then added brown strings to each side, then added pink strings to each side and then finished off the block with brown strings.  I made this set of blocks back in December. They are nice mindless sewing for hectic times - no decisions about fabric, no pieces to cut. 

 Most of these strings came from quilt back trimmings.  I trimmed the blocks and removed the papers and assembled the top in January. 

 I quilted it on my DSM with three petaled flowers. I used a big polka dot for the backing. The pink binding strips came in a box of quilty goodness from a friend. 

 Quilt #2 is also a string quilt.  I think I started making these 10 inch finished blocks way back in 2017 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. 

 I worked on these off and on since 2017. I didn't always have enough string scraps for an entire block in the color of the month so would just sew together what I did have and then wait until the following year to complete the rest of the block if I could. 

 I used a consistent 2 inch black polka dot print in each block. 

I quilted it on my DSM with swirls. I used the same fabric for backing and binding. 

 The third quilt is another string quilt made the same way and at the same time as the pink and brown one. 

 In this one I used black strings in the center and brights on each side. 

 This one was also quilted on my DSM with swirls. 

 It got a bright backing and a bright scrappy binding. 

Quilt #4 is an I Spy quilt that measures 40 x 60. This one is for my nephew and wife who are expecting a baby this month.  

 The quilt consists of little Happy Blocks with 2.5 inch centers and 1.5 inch sides. The blocks finish at four inches. 

 The quilt consists of 150 little blocks for lots of I Spy fun.  I have made these blocks off and on over the years when I felt like it and I've been throwing them into the 4.5 inch Parts Department bin. 

Back in December I blogged about that bin and how I hoped to empty it in 2020 by making quilts. When I sorted the parts in the bin I was really surprised there were more than enough little Happy Blocks to make a quilt.  This is quilt #2 from the bin and the first to be finished.  

 Again, it was quilted on my DSM. This time I just quilted it with vertical and horizontal lines evenly spaced on both sides of the seam lines. 

I spy some ABCs in the backing and binding.  This binding was sewn down by hand since it is a gift. I prefer to sew down binding by hand; however, the places I donate the quilts requests that the binding by sewn down by machine.  Getting this to the finish line was my OMG (One Monthly Goal).

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

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Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts