I seem to really lose track of time when the weather warms up. It's not that I'm not quilting, but life seems busier all the way around and I don't take time to post here on the blog.
The middle of May was 2 full months ago! How did that happen?
I've of course, been working in the yard, however our weather has been very cool so far this summer. I have a few tomatoes on the vines, but they are still small and very green. No signs of cucumbers yet either. We found a great power sprayer on Facebook Market Place a few weeks ago and it made very quick work of spraying the driveway to the highway. Blackberries apparently do not require hot weather to grow.
4 yards of bark mulch is about half of what I really need. The other 4 will most likely get done in the fall.
On the quilting front.... I finished a baby quilt for Samson, who is still very comfortable in Mommy's womb, 1 full week after his due date with no real signs of eagerness to greet this world. My niece is not overly concerned, her earlier 3 babies were also very snuggled in place and not in a hurry to make that journey. I'm holding this quilt hostage until I get some baby snuggle time with the recipient.
I also got the quilting done on the quilt for Quilts for a Cure. I chose to use my serpentine stitch for this one. That stitch really holds up to washing, but keeps a quilt soft and snuggly. This one should be arriving in Georgia at Quilts for A Cure headquarters today.
It was a pleasure to work on this project, and I stitched lots of loving wishes in for the child with cancer that will be snuggled under this quilt.
The Hawaiian / Celtic Challenge Quilt is also finished! (that makes 10 finishes so far in 2019). The binding is finished by hand which is a rarity for me.
I am very happy with the way this one turned out. I'm considering putting it in our State Fair in August.
I've started a few new projects. Who am I kidding? I need new projects mixed in with the older UFO's to keep the interest flowing.
I've cut out the strips for an orange and blue quilt for our oldest grandson. He is a Denver Broncos Fan. it will finish at 84 x 84 approx. Here is the EQ mock up.
I am also participating in a Quilt Along over at the String and Story... we are stitching "Star Island" by HollyAnne Knight. Here is my color mock up for that one, which is also cut out ready to stitch. When done this will become a Quilt of Valor.
Well, our show was 3 weeks ago.... Really? Three Weeks? Seems like yesterday, in so many ways... I'm still haggling over prices with the pipe and drape folks, who seem to have raised some of their prices by nearly triple since last year! YIKES!
I'm also exploring different venues for next March, and at the rate we are making progress on invoicing, most likely a new Trade show Decorator!
We have so many spring quilt shows in our area.... we were traditionally the first for many years.... and everyone seems to have followed us... Puyallup Quilt, Sewing Expo (about a 2 hour drive), then our show, with another small show in the same town the same weekend this year.... a neighboring guild had one the week after us.... then this weekend was the PDX Quilt, Sew Craft Expo.... and then a mid-valley show next weekend about an hour south.... We had approx 1000 paying visitors, about the same as last year, but the vendors aren't happy about the influx of so many shows so close together.... Everyone is either saving for the next show, or just spent their money at the last one....
UFO progress...
I had entered my "On Ringo Lake" Bonnie Hunter Mystery in our show... so it was definitely on my " to do" list for March. I actually did this one on a long arm, with help and assistance from a member of our guild who does Long Arm finishing on many of our Quilts of Valor. We chose an overall design and in about 4 hours, I was on my way home.
I had to finish my "Whole Cloth" project for my Quilting Rockstar Status, which had our graduation on the 29th of March..... I finished just before the posting deadline by one day....
I chose to use a variety of geometric shapes, surrounded by a variety of background fills. I'm calling it "Shapes I", as I see a series of these in my future. I used a soft gray shot cotton on top, 80/20 Hobbs batting plus a layer of wool batting, and quilted it with a soft gray Glide Thread. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
My March UFO for the APQ Challenge was this lovely vintage, well aged piece that was started in the mid-1990's. Wow! that was last Century! I believe it is my oldest UFO. I didn't get anything done on it early in the month, but I took it to our retreat the last week of March, and got the top assembled with a couple of hours to go before April 1. It helped to have friends cheering me on!
This is now 82 x 82 approx. This was originally an internet exchange of blocks. Thank goodness I had just enough fabric to add the outer border and cut binding. Next up is to piece a back out of some of my homespun plaids and get this quilted. I love Churn Dash Blocks!
I also finished this table runner earlier in March... this was from our 2010 quilt show, where I took a class from Judy Niemeyer. I finished piecing the top earlier this past year, but we wanted a small display of items completed as a result of guild workshops... so I decided to go ahead and quilt it. Done!
I also finished my Drizzle Pizzaz project. This was taught by Kathie Kerler at our Guild this last September. One of the first projects I started on my Janome 9400. I decided to set my little samples into a tote bag. Done!
I did some prep work on my seasonal Wool Project, and finished the last applique piece. Now they all just need to be finished around the edges and have the final embellishments added.
And... "Good Fortune", the 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery went to Retreat with me as well! I got it pieced together and ready for it's Minky Backing and Quilting. I did forget to take the four final corner pieces with me, so they are missing in the picture.
This is a graduation gift for our granddaughter who will receive her BS in Nursing this spring.
And.... I had committed to helping with the Quilts for Cure project which helps to bring snuggly comfort to Kids with Cancer. Michael Miller Fabrics sent me the box of blocks, and fabric while I was at retreat. It is now a top, and I'm waiting for the box with the batting and thread.
I'm now working on another 2012 UFO that is on my April list.. but I'll keep that one a bit of a secret for another week or two and we'll see how far I can get on it.
November has been another productive month.... Yeah!
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.
