My first finish for the month was this "Boxy Stars" by Bonnie Hunter. It's a free pattern on her blog. I started this a few years ago as a stash buster for donation of the many 80's calicos I have in my stash that are blues and pinks. I didn't purchase all of these, but folks seem to think I like these colors, because the collection just keeps growing.
This is a going to the Corbett Windy Quilters Donations. I decided to quilt this one simply, using echo stitching in the center stars, and switchbacks to help hold down the outer designs. I used a wishbones motif in the sashings.
I used a new to me batting, which is Fairfield Cotton. It is thinner than warm and natural, quilts up similar to an 80/20 blend. The price was right! I bought the 20 yard roll for less than $ 70 on sale with a bonus coupon. It washed up great! And it is soft and supple after washing. One of my new battings for donation quilts.
It measures approx 58 x 70. No borders were used on this quilt, because it reached the size I wanted without one.
I wish I could say that I'm done with this color combo and these vintage prints, but it's safe to say that there will be more quilts using these colors in my future.
"Autumn Leaves" was my second finish for the month. This is another quilt that has been lurking in my "Needs Quilting Pile" for too long. These fun little "Happy Blocks" were some I won from an online quilting forum that I used to visit often, called Block Central. I made a whole bunch of quilty friends there before it went dark. We still keep in touch on a facebook group, but I think we all have so many blocks and projects from those previous exchanges and swaps that we don't really do that much any more.
Each month, the previous month's winner chose a theme. It might have been color combos such as "turquoise and browns" or a season, "fall leaves". We made as many of these little 8" blocks as we wanted to, and for each set of 2, our name went into the hat once. I won several of these wonderful, luscious leaf blocks back in 2008, 2009.... I pieced to top after we moved to this house in 2009. I had to make about a dozen more blocks to get it to the size I wanted. It is a great lap size at 58 x 68.
I found a bunch of different leaves using a google search for FREE clipart. Then I enlarged or cropped each of them to get to the size I wanted. I then traced these onto Golden Threads Paper. I stitched over the paper in the center of each leaf. Then, I filled in all around those leaves with a small swirl pattern. No straight stitching or ditch work. It feels like butter! So soft and snuggly! This one stays with me!
I used Hobbs 80/20 for the batting in this one. The beautiful backing was in a box of fabrics I purchased at an estate sale, so it was a bargain. It was a great piece from Hancocks' that has a very soft, satiny feel.
"Friends and Fellows" is my third finish or November. You may have noticed a theme here, but this top was pieced in 2009. I've tested patterns in the past, and this is one of the patterns I tested. Jessica J. E. Smith from the "Quilt and Needle" designed this quilt as a mystery weekend. I believe it is one of the few patterns that she has designed that is not available for sale on her website.
The original mystery quilt had plain, simple borders on it, but I decided that I wanted to extend the corner blocks out into the borders, and then I added the applique. The appliques are fused and machine satin stitched.
84 x 84 before quilting and washing, it was one of the larger quilts I've finished. My Janome 9400 QCP handled it well. I love the 11" harp space. I used Hobbs 80/20 for the batting. I spent a couple hours each day over about 2 weeks to get the quilting done. I chose 1" Cross hatching in the black printed areas. Stitch in the ditch around the block components. Medium sized swirls in green areas, and a mix of motifs in the block portions in the center. I decided to keep the borders simple, using a 1/2" bead design along with 1" piano key quilting.
The quilt below is one made by my quilting friend, Jami Carr Schroeder in Iowa. This is the way the original pattern was designed with simple borders.
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