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

It's a finish! 

Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden

90 x 90

Hand quilted

The block is Blind Man's Fancy. I used a free pattern by Beth Donaldson.

I used lots of rose and tea themed fabrics so that is why I called my quilt Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden. 

Lots of hand quilting and a scrappy binding. What are the odds that part of the scrappy binding would end up next to a Flying Geese sashing in the same fabric? That happened in two places. 

I wish I could show you some photos of roses in my rose garden but the deer must have had them on the menu this week because after rains for a couple of days  I went out and found all my rose buds gone and most of the rose bushes eaten down to the ground. I saw three little Bambis out there in the middle of the day making a bleating sound. They may be the culprits.  Usually I don't see deer in the middle of an afternoon. I didn't know deer made any bleating sounds so looked up and found that may mean they have lost their mother. If only they would lose their appetite!!

This is a Wild Rose which is the state flower of Iowa. Actually it is an invasive weed but I just let this one grow where a fairy planted it over in a shady area near the barn under some trees where not much else grows. Deer evidently don't find them as delicious as my cultivated roses. 

Well, back to the quilt. This is the pieced backing. 

Look closely and you will see women at a tea party!  I bought this fabric a long time ago when Hancock Fabrics was going out of business and finally found the perfect use for it. 

Getting this to the finish line was my June OMG (One Monthly Goal)  so at the end of the month I will link up to the finishing party at Elm Street Quilts. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

June OMG (One Monthly Goal)

 Just popping in to declare my June OMG (One Monthly Goal). The goal?  - To finish hand quilting and binding Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden.  It's a big quilt (90 x 90) but I've finished the hand quilting on more than 3/4 of the quilt so I think I will be able to accomplish my goal. 

 The hand quilting shows up a little better when the photo is darker. 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

What's in the Hoop? What's in the Flower Garden?

 I've been hand quilting Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden all during the merry merry month of May. 

 I'll probably still be hand quilting it all during the merry merry month of June too. 

 It's been raining a lot lately but when it is not I enjoy looking for what is in bloom in the flower gardens. 

 I have both Tree Peonies and Herbaceous Peonies. The Tree Peonies bloom first. 

I have several different varieties of columbine (aquilegia) in bloom. I'm always glad to see some blooms. The day after I took these photos I went out and the deer had eaten every single flower. 

 I also have several different types of clematis but this one is the only one blooming right now. 

 I also have several different types of lilacs.  This white one I brought back from the farm in northern Iowa where my great grandfather homesteaded after he emigrated from Ireland.  The farm was in the family for over 100 years (a century farm) but was sold a few years ago by my dad and his siblings. I used to spend the summers there and was sad to see it go to another family but that's the way it goes.  This lilac reminds me of all the good times. 

I was glad to see this one in bloom. The parent bush was hit by lightning several years ago. I took cuttings from it right away and am glad I did because the lightning strike completely killed the lilac bush. . I wasn't sure my cutting was ever going to bloom. This must be my lucky year.  I liked this lilac because it is unusual with the petals rimmed in white. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

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

Pondering a UFO: Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden

 I started Blind Man's Fancy Tea in the Rose Garden in May 2017.  I used an online pattern to make these 15 inch blocks.   It wasn't until August 2019 that I completed all 25 blocks.   I think the reason I took so long to complete the set of blocks is because there are lots of pieces- some very small and some that required odd sizes of cuts like 1-13/16.  It's not like I didn't know what I was in for when I started making this quilt because I have already completed one with hand quilting made in civil war reproduction fabrics.  I think the work is worth it; however, sometimes I just am not in the mood to do the work.  So that's part of the reason this continues to be a UFO. 

After I completed the set of 25 blocks back in August 2019 I was not in a mood to make the Flying Geese sashing so I stuck it in a project box and tucked it away on a shelf.  Each month I try to move at least one old UFOs forward so look at my list and choose one.  So that's where  I am now. 

The Flying Geese are small and finish at 1.25 x 2.5. Each sashing strip is made up of 12 of those little Flying Geese.  If my math is correct I then need a total of 792 Flying Geese. That seems like an overwhelming task so I started thinking of what I need in terms of sashing strips. So, I need 66 sashing strips. That's better. That doesn't seem like it's as much work. I can handle that. 

 I prefer to cut Flying Geese with the Companion and Easy Angle rulers but for some reason when I tried this method they didn't turn out the right size. So I decided to follow the instructions and use quarter and half square triangles to make them...

3.75 inch squares cut twice on the diagonal for the FG body and 2-1/8 squares cut once on the diagonal for the FG wings.  That's tedious and boring work and seems slower than cutting with the Easy and Companion Angle rulers but, like I said, I do want to move this UFO forward and not put it back on the shelf so I'm willing to do what needs to be done.   So I work on it every day for at least 15-20 minutes.  That includes cutting pieces, sewing, ironing and trimming. I start my sewing day with this task. Just 15-20 minutes and I can move on to something else. Sometimes I move on to another 15-20 minute task which may be but isn't necessarily even sewing related. 

When I have a little basket full of Flying Geese I trim them in the evening while watching whatever my husband decides to watch on TV. A few minutes here and there all adds up. I hope to have my sashings all made in no time. I have just had an attitude adjustment. I can do this. I think I'm already an eleventh of the way there! 

And Then There Were Twenty-five

My August OMG (One Monthly Goal)  was to make 12 more Blind Man's Fancy (Tea in the Rose Garden) blocks.   I now have met that goal and have 25 blocks total. Next step is to make the Flying Geese sashing. 

I decided to get my August goal out of the way early in the month since I may be gone toward the end of the month for awhile. 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts

An August Goal

 I just finished another big Blind Man's Fancy  (Tea in the Rose Garden) block.  

That makes block number 13 out of the 25 I need for my quilt. 

So in August I'm going to concentrate on getting 12 more blocks made out of rose and tea themed fabrics. 

Twelve blocks. 

One Monthly Goal (OMG)

Elm Street Quilts August OMG link up. 

It's a Finish! Blind Man's Fancy

 Blind Man's Fancy

90 x 90

Hand quilted

Free pattern by Beth Donaldson

This was goal #1 

of my Q4 Finish-Along goals. 

Baby, it's cold outside! 

I had my heart set on hand quilting Baptist Fans which was kind of a dumb idea considering all those seams in all those small pieces but I persisted. My first problem was marking. I tried a variety of ways to mark the Baptist Fan. Finally I settled on an Around the Block stencil I used a couple of times to quilt circles. And I have had a pounce pad for a long time but never used it but I tried it after trying a variety of other marking tools and it seemed the perfect solution.  

 At least I could see the marks. But I could only mark one fan at a time because if I tried more the chalk would wear off before I could get to it.  I didn't use a hoop because for some reason it wasn't working for me. It kept popping out of the square PVC hoop and the bigger wooden hoop just was not working for me.  I was totally frustrated between all the seams, marking, hoops but kept going.  And now I love the texture that it added that doesn't show up in the pictures but it kind of matches my vision for this quilt. 

I used muslin on the back. Sometimes I missed going through the backing all together an it appears there are skipped stitches. Sometimes I had to stab stitch through the seams. Sometimes my lines of stitching (or rather curves) are crooked or not evenly spaced. I try for small and consistently spaced stitches but sometimes I fall short of that goal.   But I still enjoy hand quilting (most of the time).

This was goal #1
for
Q4 Finish-Along

It's a Flimsy! Blind Man's Fancy

 Blind Man's Fancy

90 x 90

It's a flimsy!

 Blocks finish at 15 inches and the sashing geese finish at 1-1/4 x 2-1/2 . 

I used the free online pattern by Beth Donaldson .  I later acquired the book History Repeated and the pattern instructions are in that book finish at 18 inches if I remember correctly. 

 My February OMG (One Monthly Goal) was to complete all the Flying Geese necessary for the borders and for in between the rows then to assemble the top. I already had the five rows with Flying Geese assembled.  

There are a variety of reasons I make a quilt. This one? I made it because I wasn't sure I could. Of course the fact that a beautiful vintage quilt was the inspiration figured in there somewhere. 

And I have another one in rose and tea themed fabrics in the works.  

Linking to:

Elm Street Quilts OMG

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