Three for September Wrap Up

The September challenge I set for myself, working on a different WIP for three days at a time all month, has been a great motivator and I have gotten some finishes that were long desired. I chose 10 projects and either moved along or finished 8 of the projects.  

#1 was the placemats for my nephew and his bride.  Goal was met of finishing the four placemats and mailing them to the happy couple.  

This photo shows the colors truer than the final shot with the aqua floral binding.  Nice to check off that fast finish for the first project, as I was already working on it, lol!

#2 was Garden Pinwheel, a quilt made from bonus triangles from the Rick Rack Road quilt here.  

I was stuck on the applique border.  Using the GO cutter after applying Steam a Seam2 fusible to the leaf fabrics was a big help in moving this quilt top along. 

Since I already had completed the back and binding, it will be next in the quilting queue. 

#3 was Jewels in the Curio.  I started this last year on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, from a  Civil War Homefront Jelly Roll my mom and dad bought me years ago.  It is a Moda Bakeshop pattern. Goal was to assemble the finished Jewel Box Blocks into a top and work on the three borders. 

I finished the top and reassessed the border pieces that I needed were cut.  I also chose a neutral from stash to use for two of the borders instead of trying to cobble together scrappy ones, a decision that had stalled the quilt. 

#4 was Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient.  Sue had stalled a number of times, having been started about 4 years ago with bonus triangles from this quilt I made in 2006.

After a cutting error when trimming Sue's linen background meant I had to add coping strips that looked like a doorway to me, I added the oriental lantern embroidery.  She is all finished now, with a facing on the back made from Japanese fabric my sister in law brought me from a trip to Japan. 

Simple quilting was all that was needed.

This sideways pic shows how the top facing covers the shorter side facing, eliminating bulk in the corners.  I made skinny channel to hold a bamboo skewer or knitting needle for a hanging sleeve.  So happy to have Sue finished at last, so many years after the original idea struck.

#5 was Zig Zag 9 patch, a quilt started from a block swap with an online Yahoo Group.  I assembled the top a couple of years ago...2012! (cough) a la Bonnie Hunter's quilt Rick Rack Nines, and it went to the quilter in 2017; the binding was machine sewn on in June this year and it has been waiting since then to have some missed stitching repairs and get a bath. I took it to the laundromat today and it is a finished quilt at last. 

Our CalKing bed is too wide for the zig zags to run vertically, but I still think it looks good.  The Baptist Fan quilting was my choice, and I love the texture.  So pleased to have made a bed sized quilt for US at last. 

#6 was Go Four It, a Leader-Ender I've been working on for a few years, based on Edyta Sitar's quilt in APQ magazine, with a twist.  Quilt MATH finally being worked out meant I needed to find a setting fabric for my layout.  Luckily I have found one.

The Jan Patek fabric I found at the Santa Barbara Quilt Guild show a few weeks ago is now washed and ready to cut.  I can finally turn this Leader Ender into a real quilt.  

#7 was two unplanned "squirrel" project tablerunners from a Kim Brackett book.  Inspiration struck to use charm squares instead of yardage and I assembled two tops before running out of steam.  Both are now finished. 

I chopped off the corner in this pic, but you get the idea.  This is from her Cross My Heart quilt in Scrap-Basket Surprises.  I had fun with the specialty stitches on my machine to add detail to walking foot quilting.

Above is the larger tablerunner, and below is the mini, from the same Prayer Flag charm pack that had languished in a drawer for years. 

#8  was the Medallion Star rescue quilt.  I inherited this early 90's top from my former boss, whose now ex-wife was clearing out her old craft projects.   I had chopped off some of the dated background fabric and made a new pieced border of my own 3 years ago.  

It became a sandwich and stalled during the quilting stage in 2017.  It has been stuffed under my cutting table waiting for more quilting for over a year.  I had spray basted the quilt and needed to iron it flat again before adding more quilting today.  While still not finished, it is very close to becoming a real quilt at last. 

 Walking foot quilting in the border chains...

...and surrounding the star points.  I have the four corner squares left to do in the burgundy, and a plan for the remainder of the borders.  Now September is over and I feel great about all the time I've spent in my sewing room this month. 

The two projects that didn't get touched were Barefoot in the Park, a Christmas quilt which is a layout, switcheroo and assemble the top job, and the other is framing the Mason Jar embroidery I recently finished.  I'll get to them :)  

I plan to revisit this "Three For a Month" idea in the future whenever I get overwhelmed again.  It was fun to touch each of these quilts and finish a few.