It's a Finish!

 It's a finish! 

A donation quilt. 

64 x 88

 The traditional block name is Arrowhead Puzzle.  Bonnie Hunter made an eight inch version of the block popular and called it Garlic Knot. 

 Last year I used 2.5 inch scraps and made eight inch blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. 

 When I sat down to quilt I had no idea how I was going to quilt it.  I first quilted in some lines on the diagonal between blocks and then just quilted some wonky lemon peels on the diagonal through the centers of the blocks but then decided that was not enough quilting so quilted in some of those wonky lemon peels on each side of the center lemon peels. 

You know it's not easy to wrangle a quilt this size through the 7.5 inch throat on my sewing machine but it is not impossible. 

 One of Murphy's Laws of quilting states that if you are going to accidentally zig or zag while wrangling large quilts it will be a zig with light thread in a dark space or a zag with dark thread in a light space. 

But if anyone is eyeballing a quilt for things like that and they aren't the quilt police then I say they have too much time on their hands.  After a good wash those things almost disappear and a recipient will never notice. 

 As I quilt I always have to put a pin where I need to bury knots. If I don't then I miss some places later on when I have a knot burying ritual. 

  

I take a long break after every bobbin is emptied in order to move around these old bones.

Oh...one last tip...if you have long hair be sure to wear it in a bun when quilt wrangling otherwise it might accidentally fall in front of the needle and get sewn into the quilt. 

 The backing came from a friend. 

Three cheers for finishes!

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More 

The Cats, The Orphans and The Strings

Three smaller quilt tops are finished and in the quilting queue. All are at least 40 x 56.  

Clowder Puff

I started these blocks in December 2018 and used a free pattern I see is no longer available. 

I made a few cats each month from scrap chunks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project this year. I used gray scraps for the backgrounds.

This will either be a donation quilt or a quilt for one of my grand nieces or grand nephews who will arrive next year. 

Second Fiddle

I don't usually name donation quilts but that name popped into my head for this quilt just now because it is in secondary colors and used string scraps.   Or you could say I was fiddling around in the strings in secondary colors. 

A quilty friend sent me that light green floral print I used for the 2 inch center strings and 5 inch squares. I didn't have quite enough of it so made do with some other light green squares I cut from the scrap chunks. 

The purple and orange used in the HSTs were all scrap chunks and the strings came right out of the big box of strings.  I probably have enough strings in the secondary colors for another just plain string quilt.  This will be a donation quilt. 

Blue and White Orphans II

This came from the box of orphan blocks and is the second one I made from blue and white scraps. There were still a few blocks leftover so they will be used in an orphan block quilt in a different color way. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Four New Tops

 I procrastinate when it comes to sewing together rows or columns of quilt blocks so I usually have piles of quilts that just need to have that final step completed before I have a top. I just find that part of the process boring.  I decided I needed to make up for some lost sewing time and the best way to do that was to get those piles of rows and columns sewn into some tops so I could actually see some progress and feel productive. 

 Sixteen Patch Star

60 x 84

This will be a donation or gift quilt when finished. 

 This was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use 3.5 inch scraps. 

 This put a big dent in my 3.5 inch scraps so I don't think I'll have a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project next year that will use that size of scrap.   And that's a good thing! 

 The next one was inspired by Fragments of Cloth at Sentimental Stitches. 

 I used scraps and some pre-cuts I had won quite some time ago to make this top. 

 Kansas Troubles

60 x 84

I was inspired by this c. 1890 quilt. 

 

 I used red, white and blue scraps and a few shirts to make the blocks. 

My December OMG (One Monthly Goal) was to get this to flimsy stage. 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts

 Beauteous

It's a free pattern by Pat Bravo

Although the pattern says it finishes at 72 x 72 that is quite impossible when the blocks finish at 10 inches. 

 Making this quilt was quite the exercise for me.  To being with I rarely pull all fabrics for a quilt before I begin. To make this quilt it was necessary to find enough of each fabric A-S from my stash that was similar to the A-S fabric collection in the pattern because I did not have confidence I could just wing it as I went.   Keeping track of fabrics was a big task for me and I'm not all that sure I like the fabrics I ended up using. 

 Then there are three different blocks A, B, C and then within those three categories there are five different combinations of fabrics to use in the blocks and then some duplicates of blocks are to be made.   Although the blocks were not difficult to make I did not really enjoy keeping track of everything. 

I'm not sure it was worth keeping track of blocks and fabrics. I'm thinking it would be more fun to just make scrappy blocks and forget all the record keeping of fabric combos in the different blocks. Might have to give that a try. 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts. 

A Rail Fence Flimsy

 It's a flimsy (or top if you prefer)!

Rail Fence

90 x 90

 These little three inch (finished) blocks are close cousins of the Bitcoins I finished a few days ago.  

 I started making little blocks and those Bitcoins back in 2017 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use 1.5 inch scraps. 

900 blocks.

2700 pieces.

Lots of 1.5 inch scraps. No strip sets. 

Oh what fun!

Its a Finish! Bitcoins

 Bitcoins

84 x 84

It's a finish! 

I tried to take some pictures yesterday but it was partly cloudy, it was cold and it was windy so this is as good as it gets. 

 Except for chunks, strings, selvages and crumbs my scraps are sorted by size. This quilt was made from 1.5 inch scraps. From my blog history it appears I started combining a 1.5 x 2.5 inch colored scrap with a low volume scrap of the same color and just made 2.5 inch unfinished squares for the Parts Department around May 2017 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I figured I could use them for a border, to make Four Patches or Whirlagigs someday when I had enough of them. 

 Around July 2017 I played around with the little squares and somehow ended up sewing them together by color into blocks of three columns and seven rows probably because I had at least 21 little squares of several different colors.   I called them 21 Patches even though there were 42 pieces. 

By November 2017 I was calling them Whatchamacallits because I was not sure what to call them but those blocks needed a name. 

 Sally of Objects of Design started making some blocks and by September 2018 she had a whole quilt top of them. She called hers Bitcoins and I thought that name was clever and more descriptive so my 21 Patch turned Whatchamacallits turned into Bitcoins. 

 In June of this year Bitcoins became a flimsy (or top if you prefer) that consists of 3528 little pieces of fabric if I calculated correctly. It was a charm quilt until it wasn't. I intended to use all different colored scraps and each time the Rainbow Scrap Challenge came around I only cut one piece off of each scrap that was in there; however, since it took me several years worth of scraps to get all the blocks I need a scrap may have been in the 1.5 inch scrap bin from year to year so there are repeats. 

 And then I finally put it in the hoop and started big stitching with ecru perle #12 that I had on hand. I didn't mark anything. I just big stitched about 1/4 inch either side of the lengthwise seams. 

The quilt fits perfectly on my bed and since it is square it can be oriented any way on the bed. 

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

When I hand quilt I usually use Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting. 

This was my goal #11

for

Q4 Finish-Along

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

More Rainbow Scrap Challenge Projects - Two Flimsies and a Finish

Strings  - A flimsy

40 x 60

These are 10 inch finished blocks. I started them a long time ago as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project - strings in the color of the month plus a 2 inch strip of a black polka dot.  I haven't worked on them for awhile because I ran out of strings that were long enough. Well, long strings have magically appeared again so I dug through them to make more blocks. I think I had to just make six of them and now I have a small donation quilt top. 

 And the good thing is that I have enough of that black polka dot print for backing and binding. 

 Arrowhead Puzzle (or as Bonnie Hunter calls them - Garlic Knots)

It's a flimsy!

64 x 88

 This will be another donation quilt. 

 I sure like how this top turned out. 

 Cats in the Cradle

Baby Quilt

It's a finish!

44 x 44

Its a finish! And a pretty busy one at that. I tried to tone down the busy-ness with some gray sashing but it is still pretty darned busy. 

Getting this to the finish line was my October One Monthly Goal (OMG)    at   Elm Street Quilts. 

It was also my goal #7   for   Q4 Finish-Along

 These blocks started with a bunch of 3 inch nine patches I wanted to use somehow. Sally (Objects of Design) had made some micro kittens I thought were cute so I asked her if she would share the instructions.  She did. By the way, she has a tutorial for a larger kitty on her tutorial page as well as many other cute critters. 

 Anyway, while the kitties alone were cute I think they didn't combine all that well with those nine patches and I probably should have alternated them with plain squares instead (which I may do in the future).   

 Maybe baby and parents can get a game of I Spy out of it.   I spy a kitty, basil and lettuce...

 ...a chicken...

 ...a flower, snowflakes, elephant...

 ...a fish.  

 If baby thinks the front too loud the back could always become the front. 

The back also has a rainbow clowder of cats. 

Batting was pieced (with wide zig zag stitch) and I quilted it with some spirals. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday