It's a Finish! HISSS

 It's a finish! 

66.5 x 88.5

I've only had small snippets of time to sew the last several weeks so I just kept a quilt under the needle and did some free motion quilting when I could sneak away to the sewing room for a few minutes.  A few minutes here and there add up because I have several quilt finishes to share next week after all are bound and washed. 

My husband accidentally changed the settings on my Pentax camera. I've had them set perfectly for my picture taking for so long that I could not remember what the settings were so I've been playing around trying to make things right again, darn it.  So excuse the pics that might seem a little blurry, dark or too light.  

 I used the templates from Denyse Schmidt's book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration.  She calls her quilt Snake Trail. 

I call my quilt HISSS. That's the name of color matching game that used to be one of my grandson's favorite games to play when he was younger. (He's now a grown up ten year old). 

 I started making the blocks way back in 2014 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use 2.5 inch scraps for the snakes and a variety of brown pieces for the background that looked like dirt. 

 I quilted it on my DSM with a variegated thread on top and a dark brown thread in the bobbin.  I didn't quilt in the snakes so they would stand out. I did a squiggly line either side of the snake since I'm not good at stitching in the ditch. 

 I quilted leaves...

 ...and a variety of flowers... 

 ...in the "dirt". 

 The binding is the same as...

...the backing. 

 The game and the quilt and some pictures of my grandson Jacob playing the game (when I find them) will go into the hope chest. I'll give it to Jacob at some later date when he sets up his own household. 

This was my goal #4

for

Q3 Finish-Along

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

A Finish! Churns and Spools

Chunky Churns and Spools

30s reproductions meet calicoes

68 x 86

Machine quilted on my DSM

I can mark two UFOs off the list with this one.  I combined blocks from a calico on muslin Spool swap in 2010 and a Chunky Churn swap in 30s reproductions and a solid from 2015. 

There's no design wall here. It's usually my practice to randomly sew blocks together. That's what I did this time but of course alternated a spool and a churn.  I think if I did have a design wall I would spend too much time arranging and rearranging and rearranging and rearranging and never be satisfied.  How do I know?  That has happened when I have tried to lay out blocks on the floor.  Anyway...I'm usually satisfied with my random method and I've managed to skip the step that gives me grief. 

I usually don't add borders because I never know what kind of border to add. Plus I like piecing blocks so piece and piece until I have enough for a nice sized top which means I'm ready to sew a quilt top together. At that point I don't want to make a different block for a border. And I rarely buy large pieces of yardage to have enough on hand for a non-pieced border of fabric(s) and so I usually make quilts without borders.   

HOWEVER this time I did not want to make more Churns or Spools to make the quilt a little larger  so I decided to challenge myself to add a border.  I decided to try an easy zig zag or rick racky looking border.    And all went okay on the first corner BUT...

 ... only too late did I find out at the second corner that those rick racky ends did not meet up so nicely no matter how hard I tried. Maybe if I had laid out the border on the floor ahead of time I would have seen the problem but I didn't so I had to improvise what to do on opposite corners. It doesn't affect the warmth the quilt will bring someone so I'm all right with that. 

 I didn't take a picture of the backing because it was cold outside yesterday when I took these pics but it is a plain white 100% old muslin sheet that I found new in the package at the thrift store with a J.C. Penney logo on the front.   With the quilting I did the back looks like a mattress pad.   

You can kind of see the quilting on that black calico spool - a pattern of up and down loops using each 2 inch square as a guide (most of the time).  This was the first time I tried this. I found it pretty easy to do on these blocks laid out on a grid and may try it again.  This time I got a little confused every once in awhile when I hit the blank space on the spools. 

I participated in four different Chunky Churn Dash swaps with different themes - patriotic, 30s, fall, spring.  I decided to challenge myself with different alternate block layouts for each theme.  So far I finished the patriotic themed one - a Quilt of Valor for my brother-in-law and this one. 

This was my goal #6 

for Q4 Finish-Along

This will go into the twin sized donation quilt pile. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

A Finish: MoROSE Garden

MoROSE Garden

84 x 96

Four inch hourglass blocks using grays and rose-themed fabrics

Free motion quilted with roses

This has been a UFO since 2012.   When I dug it back out last month to work on I had five rows completed and all the hourglass blocks.   I took the five rows apart and started all over again from scratch as explained in my June blog post. 

I had

I was a little scared to start out free motion quilting this big quilt on my DSM especially since I decided to try to imitate Lori Kennedy's (Inbox Jaunt) Christmas Rose.   

When I first started out I thought I was going to quilt this into a piece of cardboard because there was so much stitching.  I went down each column of blocks quilting the roses. I could have added a few more leaves along the way but I'm happy with it especially since a month ago it was all in bits and pieces and had been that way for years. 

And, surprise, surprise...this quilt with all it's quilting doesn't feel like a piece of cardboard. It's got a nice soft texture. 

You know I started out thinking I would use the light gray quilting thread I had on hand for the bobbin and a nice pink,gray, green variegated thread on top.  Well...I ran out of the top thread.  I was on a roll and hate the 20 minute drive into town just to buy thread (or anything else for that matter) and so I used other colors on top that might be a color of a rose - red, yellow, cream.  

I made do. 

I used a 100% cotton sheet I picked up from the thrift store long ago softened with age. 

You can probably see now why I chose to try to quilt columns of roses - similar to roses on a trellis. 

I'm happy this bed of roses can be put to bed. 

The guest bedroom has a rose theme so guess where it's going. 

This is goal #21 of my Third Quarter Finish-Along Goals. 

I didn't use scraps but it's scrappy so going over to party at ...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

Two More for the Road

Two more donation quilts finished. 

I didn't make the tops but I finished both of them. 

Carol and Beth of the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild organized a recent retreat in Omaha. I was unable to attend but the ladies were expecting to complete 100 quilt tops at retreat made from blocks made all year long called "Omaha blocks" which are ten inch blocks that consist of a 7.5 inch center bordered on two sides with 3.5 inch strips and 3.5 inch square.  They exceeded expectations and ended up with 184 quilt tops! You can read more about it at Carol's blog, Giraffe Dreams.   Actually a couple of us sewed along at home so there are a few more than 184 quilt tops. 

All of the finished quilts will go to the two groups Sunshine Online Quilt Guild sponsor - Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap-A-Smile. 

Okay...so I volunteered to quilt five of them. That's when the retreat ladies only thought they would hit 100 quilts.   So...surprise...I received 8 quilts to finish. Plus I made an Omaha Block quilt sewing along at home so that makes 9 quilts to finish. Plus I had a donation quilt waiting in the wings that needs quilting.   And that's okay...I need practice free motion quilting on my DSM.  

Sorry for the blurry photos. It was starting to rain and I was in a rush to get a photo finish!

Anyway...this is the orange one. I mentioned I use these to practice FMQ on my DSM (because I'm not very good at it) and have been trying new things on each of these quilts. On this one I did these loopy things going across the rows.  I found I did okay when the block row was all 3 inches...

...but when it came to quilting the 6 inch rows I had a difficult time going across that distance consistently. The harp on my machine is small plus my hands don't seem to flow freely across that distance. So if I use this in the future I will try smaller loop de loops. 

I found a stripe fabric with some orange in it for the backing and added orange binding. 

On the red, black, white one with the elephant I tried quilting some balloon bunches...

...because I used balloon fabric on the back. 

My July OMG (One Monthly Goal)  was to finish at least one more of these Omaha Block quilts so I can mark that goal off the list. ( OMG at Elm Street Quilts)

This also completes goals #7 and #10 on my Third Quarter Finish-A-Long list. 

Linking up to Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat quilts

Four Down and Six to Go!

Four "Omaha Block" quilts (40 x 60) are now finished. 

Carol and Beth of the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild organized a recent retreat in Omaha. I was unable to attend but the ladies were expecting to complete 100 quilt tops at retreat made from blocks made all year long called "Omaha blocks" which are ten inch blocks that consist of a 7.5 inch center bordered on two sides with 3.5 inch strips and 3.5 inch square.  They exceeded expectations and ended up with 184 quilt tops! You can read more about it at Carol's blog, Giraffe Dreams.   Actually a couple of us sewed along at home so there are a few more than 184 quilt tops. 

All of the finished quilts will go to the two groups Sunshine Online Quilt Guild sponsor - Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap-A-Smile. 

Okay...so I volunteered to quilt five of them. That's when the retreat ladies only thought they would hit 100 quilts.   So...surprise...I received 8 quilts to finish. Plus I made an Omaha Block quilt sewing along at home so that makes 9 quilts to finish. Plus I had a donation quilt waiting in the wings that needs quilting.   And that's okay...I need practice free motion quilting on my DSM.  

Omaha #1 had a lot of animals on it. 

I quilted with spirals...like in the borders on a couple of the blocks. 

I received some backing fabric from a Fabric Fairy for a couple of the quilts. This was one of those backings. 

Omaha #2 had a couple of cute elephants mixed in with the blocks. 

I quilted it with a little different flower than I usually quilt.  I usually make longer flower petals more like a daisy.   The elephants got their own little spiral quilting. 

I had this yellow floral baking in my stash. 

Omaha #3 - more cute elephants and a red theme, I guess. 

More spiral quilting (until I forgot what I was doing and spirals didn't spiral so much - they spiraled out of control) all over in red. 

I had purchased this fabric for backing when I volunteered to quilt five quilts. 

Omaha #4 - This one had a floral theme going. 

I tried quilting Nora's Rose - a fmq tutorial from The Inbox Jaunt in each square.   I'm working on a few rose themed quilts so thought I'd try my hand at some roses.   It still needs work. 

In the sashing I did some loopy things.  And the backing was another one from the Fabric Fairy. 

Now you notice I said I had six more donation quilts to get quilted. 

Well, I'm making it my July OMG (One Monthly Goal) to finish at least one more Omaha Block quilt. 

Oh Scrap!

Fireworks on the Rails

Rail Fence with Fireworks

63 x 84

Long ago I made some rail fence blocks to use up some blue, gray and white 2.5 inch scraps but then thought it too blah to even work on any further so the blocks stayed a UFO for quite awhile. When I finally did work on it again I started sewing the blocks together incorrectly so it then sat awhile waiting for the seam ripper.  Then I decided to make 5 Quilts of Valor this year for family members (nephew, husband's brother, sister's husband, husbands of two nieces)  and thought if I livened this up a bit with some Dresdens in fireworks fabrics it might make a nice QOV.  The center of the biggest Dresden says "celebrate". 

I quilted it with some free motion stars and spirals in light gray on my plain Jane Janome. Quilting was interrupted when Jane had to be taken into the shop because she quit working (evidently because, according to fix-it guy, I do too much sewing on this machine).  She's back now and so I was able to finish quilting Friday night.   I don't have the best eye/hand coordination so the spirals are wobbly and the stars are rather wonky but you can't really tell from near or far.  It gives  such a nice soft texture that you just want to wrap up in it and read a book and not look for quilting imperfections. 

I used some gray I had in my backings stash that looked kind of like it matched the fireworks theme.  And I used scrappy blue and gray pieces of binding from my leftover bindings so I didn't have to cut any fabric at all for binding. 

This was my goal #2      for      2016 Finish Along 

Today I'm linking up to Oh Scrap!

Bear Foot - a Finish

Bear Foot

82 x 98

Blocks finished at 14 inches and I used sashing that finished at 2 inches. 

Sometimes I've seen this block called Bear Paw but I think the Bear Paw block is different. 

I used some four patches I swapped with the Block Swappers Yahoo Group as well as some of my own I made from scraps. 

I matched up four patches in the same color way and then added HSTs in the same color and fabric. 

I quilted the whole thing on my Plain Jane Janome DSM. 

I freemotion quilted some leaves because I've heard bears poop in the woods where there are lots of leaves.  Someone suggested previously that I should quilt a bear paw.  I'm just not that free motion talented so leaves was as naturey as I get. 

The backing was a nice 100% cotton sheet in great condition from the thrift store. 

This was my June Goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I was #24 at goal setting party.  (See sidebar for link to ALYoF 2015)

This was also one of my Q2 Goals (#3) for 2015 Finish Along.  ( See sidebar for link to the 2015 Finish Along)

At the end of the month I will also link up to Julie's Binding Blitz. Also see sidebar for link. 

And today I will link up to Oh Scrap - also on the sidebar. 

Oh, and excuse me if I don't reply to a comment. It seems my email server (csteldridge.com)  is having a problem and I have been missing some emails since yesterday.