Design Wall Monday--Catching Up

Design Wall Monday--see more great design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Well, didn't mean to disappear for so many days!  I've been busy working on projects to enter into our County Fair. Only a couple more days before all entries need to be finalized online. 

I got all the quilting done on this large throw made from long-ago leftovers from another quilt. I abandoned something fancy for the purple/green blocks and kept it simple with a crosshatch. 

Our Nieces crocheted some adorable chickens--and stuffed them, embroidered the mouth and eyes, all while traveling from Riverside County in busy summer weekend traffic while their Dad drove.  I named mine Thimble and she is my new sewing room mascot.  I posed her on the doll quilt just quilted. 

I pulled several repro options before settling on the medium green print--the scale felt right.  I'll hand stitch the binding--it is too tiny to try to machine sew.  Another Fair entry project is nearly done. 

I did simple crosshatching every 2 inches for the quilting.  Sunday I made bias binding and had a heck of a time getting the last join done!  About five tries and ripping later, but finally ready to stitch down by machine, most likely. 

The simple lapped backing has recipes.  I'll end up with "okies and ingerbread" by the time the binding is on, haha. 

On my mind is the end of Picasa, which I have used all these years for the blog.  Google lets you make a copy of your album archive and save it to "Takeout", whatever that is!  Our computer is very old and I don't even know I can save the copy there or if I will have to store it somewhere else.  I only have three days left to solve this issue!  Google Photos is not like Picasa and there will be a learning curve.  If anyone has any helpful hints on this issue, I would be most happy to hear them!

Design Wall Monday--Garden Pinwheel

Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Moving along older projects is going to be my focus for the next little while.  Mostly my projects stall at the quilting stage.  Such is the case with the Garden Pinwheel quilt I started years  ago (self-designed).  The top was completed during one of my UFO self-challenges wherein I worked on one project for three days and then switched to another.  This quilt top (made from leftovers of the Rick Rack Road quilt I finished in 2011)--with its backing and already made binding-- have been hanging in the closet since September 2018!  Definitely an elderly UFO...

I ironed the top a little and cut batting.  It barely fits on the floor of my sewing room. 

I started with ditch stitching and then will add a motif to the purple/green HSTs.  The appliqued leaves will get stitched down with different colors of green thread from stash.  I'm looking forward to calling this pretty quilt a finish! It is a nice throw size. 

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. 

Three for September: Garden Pinwheel Top Finish

Three for September:  a WIP is chosen and worked on for three days, all month.  

Late last night I carefully toted the Garden Pinwheel quilt top to the ironing board to fuse down the leaves on the border.  I only lost one leaf, which was a thin fabric that didn't want to stick, but fused just fine once I found it under the ironing board!

If you can tell, I decided to graduate down to the smaller leaves from the corners.  The applique really adds a lot to the simple patchwork, I think. 

Lots of green scrappy leaves in all shades. Oh, I am so happy I didn't abandon this idea in favor of a finish years ago!  The top was placed back on the hanger with the backing and binding and hopefully it will come out to play again before the end of the year.   I have plenty of green threads to chose from when it comes time to stitch down the edges with a fancy stitch. 

The next Three for September WIP is going to be a two-fer.  I've been making square-in-square blocks for several years, and after an hour of playing layout on the floor, am nearing the total I need for my self-drafted quilt plan, originally inspired by Edyta Sitar's Go Four It project from APQ magazine in 2015. My blocks are 3.5" unfinished; hers were much tinier as she started with 1.25" squares for her four patches. 

I am going to keep sewing the triangles to my four patches as leader-enders while I finish assembling the rows and top for the Jewels in the Curio quilt (a Moda Bakeshop pattern).  I have another five rows to assemble for the 8x8 setting.  Cutting and assembling the borders may follow before the three days are up.

Now I've got to get out of the house for a few errands, there are more Thomas Fire Quilts to give away and they need binding. A VERY generous long arm quilter has just returned 12 quilts she did for our guild project.  They are tagged for recipients so need to be finished right away.  I'm off to Superbuzzy!

Three for September: Garden Pinwheel update

Three for September:  I'm choosing a different WIP to move along every third day this month. Today is the third day for the Garden Pinwheel quilt.  Last night I prepped more leaves for the borders and did a rough layout on the quilt.

 Purely serendipity that a 9" strip for two of the larger leaves exactly fit the width of Steam a Seam2 sheets.  Gotta love that. 

Here is a closeup of the fabrics that make up the pinwheels and "stripes".  I love the scrappy look.

I think I prefer the partial border but will make it extend to halfway down the side.  This was all the leaves I had  cut by last night. I will frame two opposing corners as in the inspiration design. 

Of course I was closely supervised by the QC Cat, Mini.  She helpfully secured the pattern to the floor.  This free pattern was an insert from a 2008 (!) McCall's Quilting Magazine offer.  It is called Summer at Mom's and a quick online search shows it is available as a digital download from The Quilting Company.com.  The bright green HST border is very pretty but I will not be adding that, particularly since I already made the backing and binding.  

Lots more leaves were prepped this morning with the Accuquilt GO cutter, and I will fuse them down before the end of the night in my final layout.  My finishing plan is to assemble the quilt sandwich and quilt with a fancy stitch around the leaves, but that will occur at a later date.  I'm hoping it will turn out as nicely as I see it in my head!  

Then it will be time to choose another WIP to work on for the next three days :)