Twirl Around Flimsy

It is finally a flimsy! (I got a little delayed when we took in a senior dog last weekend who was on death row at the shelter. I guess nobody wanted to adopt an overweight 9-year old herding dog, so we took her in.)

This is the Twirl Around pattern from Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps book. It was a fun and easy pattern. I definitely need to remember this one when I finally decide to make a dent in my tub of triangle scraps.

I now need to turn my attention to ripping out quilting from a quilt on my long arm frame. The row started out fine, but then the tension somehow got messed up. I'm not sure what happened, but the quilting is not acceptable. It's a friend's quilt so I want to do a good job.

This is Miss Brandi. She is around 9 years old and probably needs to lose 10 pounds but she is a relentless treat beggar so it may take a while.

Jade Garden Flimsy

The Jade Garden flimsy is finished. 

This is a large 96" square quilt. It's too big for one person to hold it up, but I'll try to take a better photo once my husband returns from his business trip.

I pulled an all-nighter to get this one done since it was too hard to stop sewing once I got started on the borders.

I had thought to quilt it with an edge-to-edge but my husband convinced me to come up with a custom quilting plan. It may take me a while to settle on a design because I often make several options before I decide I like one well enough to stitch it out.

Linking up with:
TGI Finished Friday

Fibonacci Fleurish Flimsy!

Jeff's fibonacci quilt has been pieced! It actually went together pretty quickly. I spent a bit of time fixing a mistake I made when I assembly-line pieced these block sets, but it didn't add more than a couple hours. 

I think these fabrics are really amazing. As I recall, they are Island Batik's Morris Mist fabrics I bought on clearance last year.

I'm going to let my husband quilt this one. He wants to do a nerdy math-inspired custom quilting job.

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished or Not Friday
Off the Wall Friday
TGI Finished Friday

Finally Made a Quilt

My husband and I have spent the past few months sifting our garage and storage areas and decluttering. In June, we had a garage sale and then donated virtually everything leftover. The house is looking much tidier at the moment.

Last week, I had a couple of paid long arm quilting gigs so it finally spurred me to spend time in my sewing room. There was a pile of bright hibiscus and coordinating fabrics stashed under my long arm so I gathered them up and decided to make something with them. Finally. They've probably been there for two years.

I decided to fussy-cut hibiscus flowers into 4.5" squares then I just made a quick Scot's Plaid block pattern. It was a quick one-day project. I had been planning to add a border with the hibiscus fabric, but it is a large scale print and I decided it wouldn't look good sliced into strips.

I long-arm quilted it with Christy Dillon's Hibiscus Hideaway pantograph with Dark Rose Maxi-Lock thread. As usual, I used Quilter's Dream Green batting.

Of course, once I had the scraps spread all over my table, I couldn't resist working on another Broken Bricks quilt for the Friday Night Sew-In. That is my favorite scrappy quilt pattern. I'll probably finish it this weekend.

Fall Foliage Spectacular Flimsy!

I finished my Fall Foliage Spectacular flimsy! Yay! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Had I remembered to pre-wash the backing fabric, I could already be putting it on the long arm frame, but I didn't. LOL

I have figured out how I'm going to quilt it, so once I get this fabric washed and pieced, I should be able to get this one finished fairly quickly.

I'd still like to make one more quilt in this same color scheme so now I need to choose what pattern to use. There are so many good options.

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished (or Not) Friday
Off the Wall Friday
TGIF Friday

Chilhowie Flimsy

My husband's mother is in her 90s, so he's made a point of visiting her every Fall to help her sift her belongings and spend some one-on-one time with her. This year, because he was busy working on election campaigning he didn't have time to go until December so I found myself alone on Christmas. 

Of course, that meant I didn't have to fuss with making food, or cleaning house for company. I just had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, a couple of cookies, and called it good. After about 12 hours sewing, I finished the Chilhowie Flimsy. Yay!

Last week, I ran across a batik fabric at Hancock's Paducah that appeared to have the same color palette as this quilt. I've been burned by batiks before, but it was on clearance, so I decided to go ahead and order some, even though there's a high risk the picture is a poor representation of the actual colors. I won't be receiving the fabric until after the first of the new year.

While waiting, I've been playing with my long-arm computer program to create a quilting plan. I spent an entire day trying to create a fall-themed design, but I couldn't come up with anything I liked. So, I'll probably compromise and use a nice set of pantographs from Christy Dillon with flowers. This is my tentative plan at the moment.

Nine Patch Twirl

My husband left his full-time job with Intel last month and has been going full blast ever since helping out with canvassing and phone calls to encourage folks to vote this cycle. I am definitely more shy talking politics with people I don't know, but I've been helping out with writing letters. Other than these efforts, watching what is going on in the world is stressing me out so I've decided to go hide in my sewing room until the election.

Late last month, I decided to find a new scrappy pattern. I just wanted to try something new. The threaders on both of my regular sewing machines weren't working so I took the opportunity to bring them in for service. While they were there, I thought I would try sewing with my Pfaff Grand Quilter. I struggled to get the tension set properly, and I just didn't have the patience to figure out the correct settings. 

I spent one day sewing together this Nine Patch Twirl pattern, designed by Carolyn S. Vagts (from the Nine Patch Panache book). It is an easy and quick pattern. You make a pile of nine patches, cut them into quarters and then shuffle them into the final setting. 

The process was straightforward, but my choice of fabrics—a clearance batch of Flowerhouse Wildflowers fabrics by Debbie Beaves—didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. After assembling the blocks and laying them out, I realized the dark blues in the mix just aren't working for me. I suspect I would be happier if I'd stuck to just the light and medium fabrics. To be clear, the fabrics are pretty, I just didn't like how I laid them out.

Rather than unpick or redo the project, I've decided to finish quilting it as is and donate it. It might not be to my taste, but I'm sure it will bring comfort and joy to someone else.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday
Monday Sew & Tell
Monday Musings

Tuesday ToDo #85

I finished the purple and yellow broken bricks flimsy. Since I assembled it for a friend to give as a gift, I'll let her make the backing the next time she visits.

I also finished quilting the blue and yellow broken bricks quilt. I used scrap 80-20 batting and quilted it with the Daisies 4 pantograph by Donna Kleinke. I used the So Fine Digeridoo thread I bought inexpensively last year. Once I had finished, I wished I'd used blue thread instead. I am still learning what thread colors will look good on quilts.

I have finally started working on my green stained glass blocks again. So far, I don't have any finished blocks, just lots of pieces. I tend to sew misc sized chunks and then at the end I join them up into blocks. I'll post a photo soon.

My plan for the coming week is to continue working on the green stained glass blocks. I need 12 blocks total and I'd like to finish them this week so I'll have time later in the month to work on bindings.

Linking up with:

Tuesday ToDo

Midweek Makers

Broken Bricks Flimsy

My lesson has been learned; that "light" blue doesn't quite work. I definitely should have used white for the little blocks, but I had a ton of that blue scrap leftover from the Queen's Jewel quilt I made a couple years ago. I thought/hoped it would work. It looked so light in the original quilt, but next to the yellow and light blues, it looks dark. Oh well. I'll probably go ahead and quilt this one and pass it on to Comfort Quilts via the Northwest Quilters Guild.

I used what scraps I had that went with the color scheme but I did cut a few strips off yardage. And the borders and backing are from stash. It's nice to use some of these fabrics that have been in my sewing room for decades. 

I also made progress on another quilt from my friend who visited a couple weeks ago. She left me fabrics to make another of these Broken Bricks quilts for her niece. It went together quickly, but I set it aside when I didn't really like the arrangement of fabrics. I would have to do a bunch of ripping to rearrange the blocks though, and since I'm only willing to spend so much time on a freebie, I'll go ahead and put the borders on it today for Friday Night with Friends.

Since this is the third broken bricks quilt in a row, I'm ready for something different for the next project. LOL

Linking up with
Finished (or Not) Friday

Friday Foto Fun

TGI Finished Friday

Another Paducah Flimsy

The flimsy is finally finished!! I am so glad. I'm really hoping I can finish it by Saturday because that is when my husband is taking off for California to visit his mother and he'll be able to drop it off for me. I've made this quilt as a wedding gift for my brother.

I used a lot of William Morris fabrics and quite a few other earthtone fabric scraps. These are my brother's favorite colors. I really didn't like them when I started the project, but they've sort of grown on me. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

My plan for the week is to make a backing, quilt it, and get it bound by Saturday.

(This is actually the second Paducah Log Cabin quilt that I've made. This is the first one I made last year.)

Linking up with TuesdayToDo, Midweek Makers, and Wednesday Wait Loss.

Squirrel!

This week began with the sole intention of diving into my insulated bag project. However, life's little detours led me to a pile of scraps from my recent Rose Lane quilt. Pawing through these beautiful remnants, I spotted a stack of triangles and four long strips of patchwork-look fabric. The creative muse whispered, "Why not craft something fresh with them?"

As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a pattern that seemed tailor-made for my scraps. Titled 'Chocolate Dip' by Lesley Chaisson, this design can be found in her book, "Charmed, I'm Sure: Quilts and More from 5" Squares." Most of my scraps were too small for her design, but with a little tinkering, I resized the blocks to fit. 

With my trusty Cricut by my side, I carved out the beige hexagons, while the remaining pieces were fussy cut from the pile of scraps. Admittedly, I indulged a bit too much time snipping those 2"-squares from the backing remnants. 

After assembling all the pieces, I found myself with a charming but modestly-sized quilt (30" wide). That's too small, so I decided to add another row of half-blocks around the quilt's perimeter. 

I played around with the arrangement of pieces and came up with this creative knotwork layout. I like how it makes my version unique.

I think I'll just do one more time around the perimeter with the small blocks before I add the borders. If I have enough of the grey floral outer border, this is my plan to finish this.

Finishing this flimsy seems like a good Friday Night Sew-In project.

Update: I stayed up insanely late and finished the flimsy.

Linking up with Finished (or Not) Friday

Friday Foto Fun
Peacock Party
Whoop Whoop
Patchwork & Quilts
Oh Scrap!

Cosmic Cabin Quilting

I must confess, I envisioned the Cosmic Cabin quilt wrapped up by now, but life, as it often does, had other plans! A different non-sewing project spirited me away, but hey, three days still remain in the month – plenty of time to conquer my goal of finishing both these quilts!

Complete the borders on the Cosmic Cabin quilt ✔️

Create a backing for the Cosmic Cabin quilt  ✔️

Bring the Cosmic Cabin quilt to life!  Nearly finished

I spent a couple days playing with my ProStitcher Studio and devised three different quilting designs, and my husband was smitten with one in particular. It's a blend of feathery swirls and striking geometric patterns. I'll post more details and close-up photos with the finish.

Now, this pattern is definitely denser than my usual style, but I'm all in for a little adventure. Surprisingly, now that I've quilted a few rows, it doesn't look as dense as I initially thought it might, so I'm thrilled I took the plunge.  Chances are, once this quilt is finished, it'll find a new home with my husband's sister as a special birthday present. She's in for quite a treat!

For the coming week, I'd like to:

1. Craft a backing for the Comet's Revival quilt
2. Quilt the Comet's Revival quilt
3. Make Quilt Labels for the finished quilts
4. Bind the Cosmic Cabin so it can be Mailed

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Sew & Tell

Tuesday ToDo

Comet's Revival Flimsy

This past weekend was a fun diversion! I got to team up with my husband on a writing project, which was quite the adventure. It did mean I wasn't able to tick off as many quilting tasks as I would've liked, but I did put the finishing touches on the Comet's Revival flimsy – a little triumph right there! (Please excuse the quality of the photo, I promise to snap a better one soon.)

And let's not forget the Cosmic Cabin quilt! I managed to add the first border, but alas, I ran out of the sashing fabric for the second border. It's time for a treasure hunt to find a suitable replacement.

So, what's on my quilting agenda for this week?

1. Craft a backing for the Comet's Revival quilt
2. Quilt the Comet's Revival quilt into existence
3. Complete the borders on the Cosmic Cabin quilt
4. Create a backing for the Cosmic Cabin quilt
5. Bring the Cosmic Cabin quilt to life!

I'm dreaming of seeing both these quilts completed by the month's end, but my writing adventures with my husband might stretch the timeline a bit. He's my biggest quilting cheerleader, so when he needs a hand with his projects, I'm more than happy to lend one! =)

Oh, and as a little visual treat, here are a couple bonus photos of our irises in full bloom – aren't they just delightful?

Iris 'Fiery Temper'

Iris 'Avalon Sunset'

Linking up with:
Tuesday ToDo

Jan Friday Night w/Friends

Last night I participated in Friday Night With Friends again. It was nice to spend a night playing with my quilt projects.

I actually spent most of yesterday finishing the backing for my purple Log Cabin quilt. I was surprised at how many of these fabrics I still had in my stash after 20 years. I did have to add in a couple fabrics that weren't on the front. And I used muslin on the top and bottom because I knew quite a bit of it would be trimmed off when I finish the quilt.

By the evening, I was ready to put it all on my long arm. That was a bit of a production. Ideally, I would have liked to get the backing perfectly centered both side-to-side and from top to bottom. I did pretty well from side-to-side, but not as well from top to bottom. It started about an inch off and by the time I had quilted about half of it, it was off even more. Maybe someday I'll figure out how to align them more accurately.

I got it about halfway quilted before I decided I'd better go to bed at 12:30AM.

Thanks again Cheryl for another lovely Friday sewing night.

One Last Broken Bricks

This was my leader-ender project during the past couple of months. I finished piecing it this morning. I made it crib-size so I can donate it to the local quilt guild for their comfort quilts program. These little quilts go really fast.

I used a neat pantograph designed by Donna Kleinke called Daisies Panto 4. It's nice that it doesn't have an obvious direction so you can load your quilt either way and it still looks good. And it stitches out well.

I tried the So Fine thread again that gave me fits on my Rhododendron Trail quilt and today it was fine. Clearly, I got closer to the correct tension this time.

I had this highlighter pink batik that I got with one of my fabric scores. I would likely never use it on the front side, but it was fine for a backing.

So now I have yet another quilt to finish binding in the next week. I have so many to do now, probably more than half a dozen.

Arlington Square Flimsies!

The Arlington Square flimsies are finished! 

This is a nickel quilt designed by Pat Speth from her Nickel Quilts book. This started out as a queen-size quilt but I decided I already have too many bed-size quilts so I made two smaller quilts with half the blocks. They are certainly not perfect, but somewhere mid-way through these quilts I decided done was better.

This is the third finish of my four Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for the year. The only one I have left is the stained glass quilt and I'll just go ahead and roll it over into next year.

I'm linking up with Scrap Happy Saturday.

Paducah Log Cabin Flimsy

It is finally finished! This is the Paducah Log Cabin pattern from Judy Martin's Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts book. I made it with a number of reproduction William Morris cotton prints. I started this project for my mother-in-law, but there was a miscommunication about the size she needed, so I ended up changing the size and made it queen size for our bed.

This was a lot of work; I definitely underestimated how long it would take to finish. Though, in fairness, having to make an additional 48 blocks added at least a week to my schedule. I'm just happy to have finished the flimsy before the end of the month!

When the finished size changed, I ordered a navy blue wide backing and it still hasn't arrived. So, my option right now is to either make a pieced backing or wait for the wide back to arrive. Since I've already paid for the wide back, I'm inclined to wait for it. This will have to do for my One Monthly Goal.

I am quite pleased with how it has turned out so far! I've already got the quilting plan, so I should be able to finish that part as soon as I get the backing. 

I'm linking up with

Finished (or Not) Friday
Needle and Thread Thursday
Off the Wall Friday
One Monthly Goal
Peacock Party
TGI Finished Friday