It's a Finish!

Rainbow ABC I Spy

40 x 48

For grand nephew Silas

 I've made quite a few of these quilts for grand kids and grand nieces and nephews.  A variety of different I Spy games can be played.  I am sure to include all colors of the rainbow in the borders and a few blocks with numbers. 

 I usually give the quilts as baby shower gifts along with ABC, Number, Shape and/or Color books. 

You probably noticed that these are Happy Blocks like yesterday but in a different size.  That's what I like about Happy Blocks  - they are so versatile. 

I include iron on letters that are sort of velvety feeling - fun to trace with the fingers.  

I quilted it like yesterday's quilt - with Julie's "Blowing Bubbles". 

I had some monkeys for the backing - the scraps may end up as M for Monkey in one of the next quilts although I do have two of these ABC I Spy tops already made and in the UFO pile waiting for some letters, pieced batting and backings. 

This was my goal #14

for 

18 in 2018

It's a Finish! Pumpkin Peels

Pumpkin Peels

78 x 78

hand quilted

templates and quilt instructions from:

Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts  - Patterns Inspired by Antique Quilts 

by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms

 

 The title of the book is true - lots of small pieces were used in this quilt.  

I used what I thought were autumn colored scraps and neutrals. 

The arcs were foundation pieced on phone book pages and appliqued to the background fabric. 

For quilting on the background fabric  I used a variety of cardboard templates that looked kind of pumpkin-peelish.  These were in a box of miscellaneous items my daughter found at a garage sale. I used indigo thread I had on hand.  On the arcs I did big stitching with ecru perle #8. 

I wasn't sure I really liked the indigo thread at first but it grew on me so I carried on. 

When it came time for the binding I found some indigo fabric with aqua "flowers" that appeared to me Jacobean like the background flowers.  I guess it was meant to be. 

 I'm really short on backings so pieced one together from some butterfly fabrics. 

And so it goes. 

I can mark another UFO off the list!

This was my goal #18 

for  

Q1 Finish Along

and

18 in 2018

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

It's a Finish! Burgoyne Surrounded

 Burgoyne Surrounded

93 x 93

Quilted on my DSM

 The free pattern for this can be found at Quilted Twins

I started this as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project in 2017. I wanted to use up some miscellaneous scrap chunks of fabric so made blocks each month that primarily used the color of the month.  For instance this block used up some blue chunks. 

This block used up some pink scraps.  

You can kind of see how I very simply quilted it on my DSM - first I quilted diagonally along the chains Then I quilted horizontally and vertically along the sides of the sashing and through the middle of each block. 

 Then since batting (pellon nature's touch 80/20) instructions require quilting no farther than four inches apart I added more vertical and horizontal lines through each block. 

I did minimal quilting - it's difficult to wrestle a quilt this big through a DSM with a small harp. 

I used wide bleached muslin for the backing and neutral scraps for the binding. 

And I can mark another UFO off the list!

This was my goal #10 

for 

Q1 Finish-Along

and 

18 in 2018

A Finish! 42 Cents Forever Stamp

42 Cents Forever Stamp

74 x 92.5

hand quilted with perle #8

From the book 19th Century Patchwork Diva's Treasury of Quilts

I actually bought the book for the Sunflower pattern but got sidetracked before I got to that. 

It's not often that I make a quilt in the same colors and almost exactly like the one in the instructions but that's the way this one turned out.  I don't buy a lot of large cuts of fabric but it just so happened I had a double pink fabric that was about right as far as yardage. And I happened to have a lot of the postage stamp blocks already made and I had a lot more postage stamps already cut and stored in pencil boxes.  It was meant to be. 

That's a lot of little 1.5 inch pieces of fabric! 

I just casually (no lines drawn) quilted through the stamps on the diagonal with pink perle #8. So there are quilted vertical lines about an inch apart across the quilt. Pulling the thread through all those seams was hard on the fingers!  I had to lay it aside several times. 

I ran out of thread with five rows left to go.  I hate going out when the weather is cold and snowy if I don't have to so I made do and used some pink crochet cotton that matched pretty well for those last five rows. The crochet cotton was a thinner thread but I don't think anyone would even notice the difference. 

 And speaking of making do...I used a soft flannel sheet from the thrift store for the backing. I had to let out the seams all around in order for it to be big enough. 

This was my goal #1  on the list for 

2018 Quarter 1 Finish-Along

and

18 in 2018

This took a lot of Slow Sunday Stitching and then some. 

And Oh Scrap! 

It's a Finish! Birthday Wishes

 Birthday Wishes

60 x 72

My husband shoveled a path to the clothesline so I could go out and take a few photos now that the weather has warmed up just a little. 

I participated in a Birthday Club several years ago.  Members request a block for their birthday month and I requested any star in 30s reproductions on a blue background.  I was thinking these stars were from two different Birthday Clubs but now that I look at the stars it looks like I made all but about 8 of them. Most of the blocks I received were on solid blue backgrounds. I guess I'm a little wilder. 

My birthday wish was a Star sampler.  I don't know what took me so long to get this together since I only needed one more star to make a total of 30. 

I did variable width straight line quilting on my DSM in a variegated blue thread. 

 I was afraid to begin with that when the lines were closer together the quilt would be stiff. It's not.  I used a light weight 100% polyester batting and maybe that's why?  Most of the time I use Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 and I'm thinking that's a little heavier and might have made it stiffer.  Anyway, it all worked out and I like it a lot. 

For the backing I used a gingham that's a little wrinkly like seersucker but it's not seersucker. 

This was my goal #4

for 

Q1 Finish-Along

and 

18 in 2018

It's a Finish! Glitter!

Glitter

66.5 x 73

A Jen Kingwell pattern from the book Quilt Lovely

 All last year I made a few blocks each month as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. I have a problem choosing fabrics that go together for projects so decided to use my 3.5 inch scraps and make a few blocks each month, since they are kind of fiddly to make, with the points and midsection in the RSC color of the month.   All I had to do then was pick a contrasting 3.5 inch scrap for the background and rest of the pieces of the nine patch.  That scrappy method of making blocks usually works pretty well for me plus it uses up scraps.  The one thing that kind of surprised me is that I had so many pink 3.5 scraps. 

 Jen Kingwell quilted Glitter with a vertical line through the points of the nine patch and a horizontal line across the midsection of the nine patches. I didn't want to break up all those nine patches. I wanted them to stand out.

 First I hand quilted around the blocks with ecru perle #8.  Then I experimented with stitching in a variety of ways but nothing seemed to work for me.  I was then going to try tying with the ties ending up on the back when Carla (A Few of My Favorite Things) commented that I might want to try the Hidden Tie or International Stitch.   Well, after viewing the video I thought that might be just what I needed to do. And then there was a delay because I needed to go buy a long needle but I finally got the job done.  I used ecru crochet cotton #10 for the tying. I tied in the middle of each nine patch, in the seam between nine patches where the nine patches meet and in the middle of  the background sections where the four four patches meet.  That Hidden Tie or International Stitch was the perfect solution and gave me the look I wanted - the nine patches stand out.  Now that I have the needles and thread I'm going to keep this method of tying a quilt in mind.  It was quick and easy once I got the hang of it and figured out how to keep the thread from tangling up. 

And since it was a scrappy quilt I used a bunch of pieces of leftover scrappy binding from the leftover scrappy binding box. 

I pieced together a couple of small pieces of fabric in the same pattern I had on hand in the neutral box for the backing. I think they were pieces leftover from the background of another quilt.  

I think this will be my new go-to quilt to wrap up in for book reading or just because I can. 

This was my goal #3

for

Q1 Finish-Along

and

18 in 2018

It's a Finish: Bootiful Dreamer !

 Bootiful Dreamer

a Halloween 16 Patch

60 x 72

Machine quilted

 I decided to try to use up all my holiday fabrics in 2018. I declared it my Holiday Cheer Challenge. It will be fun to see how many things will get made that include holiday fabrics. The holidays include Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Fourth of July (patriotic) and St. Patrick's Day.  Not only will I be making some new things but I hope to also finish up some old things. 

 This Halloween 16 patch used up quite a few bits and pieces of fabric I had left over from making quilts and pillowcases for the grandkids, trick or treat bags and other miscellaneous items.  My oldest granddaughter was born on Halloween. She's a real treat! 

I quilted it on the machine with alternating up and down loops in each square.  I meant for them to be oriented up and down like you see here but I evidently put the quilt in the wrong way when I started to quilt so they loop sideways but it's the same effect.  I need to work on making my loops the same size but sometimes it's rather difficult to push a large quilt through a small harp. 

I used up some Halloween fabric on the back too.  It's actually a quilt of it's own - a giant four patch. 

It's a little blurry but you can see the four patch consists of monsters and creepy things in jars. 

And that's my first Holiday Cheer Challenge completion!  I think I'll make a tab to keep track of all the holiday cheer. 

This was listed as my goal #5 

for 

2018 Q1 Finish-Along

and

18 in 2018

A Finish: Homespun Fun!

 Homespun Fun

54 x 78

Machine quilted and tied

 Most of the Friendship Stars made of homespun fabrics and muslin were swapped long ago.  When Bonnie Hunter was running her mystery this year I decided to make the units she gave in the clues to advance some of my UFOs forward and skip the mystery.    Around the same time the Stashbuster Yahoo group was talking about an Irish Chain Challenge to bust stash.   And so that's how I decided to make the nine patch units and add them to the Friendship Stars in an Irish Chain layout. 

I quilted it on the diagonal in the muslin areas which left the star and nine patch homespuns  without quilting. That was okay for the nine patch blocks but left a little less quilting in the star blocks so I tied them in the center with perle #8. 

This will be a donation quilt for a guy when the time is right. Seems like a lot of male family and friends were hit by prostate cancers and such last year so I'll be glad to have one handy for giving although I hope I don't have a need to give it away under such circumstances. 

And now that I see this picture up close it looks like I might wash it again. The Color Catcher came out just a little gray and dingy looking with no color. I thought the muslin looked a little dingy but I chalked that up to using a gray backing and it possibly showing through to the front.  But now that I see the photo it looks like there might be a little bit of bleeding like around the green/blue star.  I hope it's just an optical illusion. It's difficult to wash quilts by hand around here now that I have the wringer washer.  (Actually, if you asked any of the men in my life if they saw anything wrong with the quilt they wouldn't even notice a little bleeding or dingy muslin. They would think something was wrong if it wasn't long enough to cover them properly while in a reclining position.) 

This was my goal # 7

for 

2018 Finish-Along

and

18 in 2018

Today I'm linking up to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

Thinking Big!

 These are my goals for First Quarter 2018 Finish-Along.   In case it takes me longer to finish than a quarter then I'll also declare them as the 18 for 2018 goals.  

1. 42 Cent Forever Stamps - 74 x 92.5.   It needs to be quilted. I'm not sure I have a backing for it yet.  I'm considering hand quilting with pink perle #8 but really still undecided. 

 2. Wandering Geese - 80 x 80.  The backing is prepared. I will quilt it on my DSM one of these days. 

 3. Glitter - It's in the hoop! 

4. Birthday Wishes.  Needs to be sandwiched and then it's ready for quilting. By hand or machine? 

 5 - Trick or Treat - 60 x 72.  It needs to be sandwiched and then quilted on the DSM.

 6. Four Halloween Placemats. Need to make backs and get them quilted. 

 7. Homespun Fun - 54 x 78 - Needs to be sandwiched and quilted. 

 8. Cattywampus - I need to find a backing, piece some batting and get 'er done. 

 9. Star Chain - a Block Lotto win. 56 x 70. Backing made. Need to sandwich and quilt.  How? 

 10. Burgoyne Surrounded.  I need to find a backing!!! Then get it quilted. How? 

 11. Rainbow Coins - I was going to hand quilt this but now I'm wondering??? - I have a possible backing but don't really like it all that much.  I might have to piece a rainbow backing????

 12. Rosebuds - I don't have a backing big enough. This is BIG! After I get one I'm going to attempt to quilt the BIG thing on my DSM.  (I'm not looking forward to it.)

 13. PREPARE - Need to piece the backing. Then will very simply hand quilt. 

 14 - 15. ABC I Spy. 2 were completed in the past but I have two left to go.  I need to find backings, piece batting, iron on ABCs (I only have one set) and get them done and to the new grandnephews born in 2017, Evan and Silas. They are overdue!!  The other grandnephews of 2017, Tyberius and Marshall, have theirs! 

 16. - Really, really, really, really....to infinity old mystery quilt. I have it sandwiched and just need to get it quilted. It sure would make a nice donation quilt for a guy!

 17. A Snowball's Chance.  - It will get a mix of hand quilting and machine quilting when the time is right. It's been sandwiched for a long time. 

 18. Pumpkin Peel - It's only a flimsy. I don't have a backing yet. And I think I need to take the four sections apart and square them up since I didn't do that previously and I think it's a kind of out of whack. I am not sure how I will quilt it. I'm thinking echo quilting on my DSM but hand quilting sounds tempting too. 

19.  Little Lotto - Quilt from Sunshine Online Quilt Guild Block Lotto won last year.  It's ready for some machine quilting!