Thursday, October 27, 2022

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

Monday, October 24, 2022

Tuesday ToDo #53

This was one of my most productive weeks in a long time. Most days this past week I started quilting after breakfast and then worked on quilt projects until it was time for bed. I think I only spent one evening watching some TV with my husband.

Paducah Log Cabin in Morris Fabrics. Designed by Judy Martin
from her Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts book.

I spent a whole day cutting out the pieces to finish the Paducah Log Cabin.

And then I spent several days slowly building the strips for the Paducah Log Cabin block.

By Sunday evening I had all of the strips ready to finish the quilt. The pieces along the left side are all the strips for building the central quilt blocks. The pieces along the right side are all the strips for the border blocks.

Now I can just sit down for a couple of days and finish assembling these units. I am hopeful I'll be able to finish this quilt in the coming week. My one monthly goal is to finish it entirely by the end of the month, so I don't have much time left.

Also, since I finally had a plan for how to quilt it, I put my Snake River Log Cabin on the long arm and got started.


It turned out that working on this was really compatible with sewing all these strips. I would set the area for the block, align the pantograph, start the long arm stitching, and then I could return to my sewing machine or ironing board for the several minutes of time I needed to fill. I spent all weekend doing this.

I have nearly finished quilting it. I have done all of the central blocks and the top and bottom borders, but I need to rotate it on my long arm to do the side borders. Unfortunately, I made the backing for this quilt before I had the long arm so it isn't quite oversized enough to make it easy to put it on the long arm; I think I'll have to sew on a strip of muslin to add a few inches, but it can wait until after I finish these Paducah blocks.

In the next week, I hope to finish the Paducah Log Cabin quilt. It is my one monthly goal to finish it, so I am going to focus exclusively on it until it is done. Luckily, I have already figured out the quilting plan so that part should be able to get started as soon as I finish the quilt. I don't really know how quickly the pantographs will stitch up, but it may potentially take more than a day to do all the quilting.

I may spend my Halloween sewing on binding. LOL

Thanks to Linda for hosting the ToDo Tuesday linkup.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Oct Friday Night Sew-In

I got started early again for Friday Night Sew In. I went back to work on my Paducah Log Cabin quilt because it has become clear that I won't be receiving the new fabric from Hancock's in time to finish before the end of the month so I figured I may as well finish something.

I started sewing after breakfast and sewed all the way until after 10PM, with a couple breaks for meals/washing dishes.

This morning, I started out with a bin of strips and the smaller pieces already sewn together.

Then I spent all day assembling strips. These are most of the pieces for all 48 border blocks and the first two strips of the remaining 44 quilt blocks
This pile will probably take me a couple hours to iron, so tomorrow I think I'll put my Snake River Log Cabin quilt on my long arm frame and alternate between ironing and quilting all weekend. I would really love to finally be able to have one of my Judy Martin quilts finished. They've been in my queue for way too long.


Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Tuesday ToDo #52

I wasn't nearly as productive as I was hoping during the past week. But I did manage to quilt up three flimsies; two of them were paid gigs for other people.

While my husband was out of town, I spent way too much time streaming TV, but I was usually working on planning out future quilting projects. I ordered a blue and yellow print for the border and backing of Marianne's bed quilt so I put off cutting out the fabrics because I'd prefer to make sure to use fabrics that coordinate well with it.

Island Batik Petals Provence Flowers


Hopefully, the fabric will come in the next week or so and then I'll be able to get started on that project. Assuming it arrives soon, I still think I can finish by the end of the month.

Also, I think I finally have a plan for quilting my Snake River quilt flimsy. 

When I ran across this border block in Donna Kleinke's Aspen line of pantographs, it seemed like it was practically tailor-made for the Snake River blocks.

I added the triangle pattern to the corner and made a
few minor changes to the completed block.

I played around with a lot of the pieces to make the units for the border and I think this is going to be a fun, but challenging, project. I'm hoping to get started on it after I finish Marianne's quilt.

I'm linking up with Tuesday ToDo.


Sunday, October 16, 2022

Look Who Came For A Visit

I actually made this Queen's Jewel quilt flimsy back in October 2019. At the time, I planned to also add a border, but in the end, I decided I didn't like the colors and how scrappy it was, so I bartered it to a friend in exchange for our mason bees.

She brought it back to me today for quilting. It was nice to see it again, and I must admit, absence has made the heart grow a little fonder. LOL

She had me quilt it with a circular dragon pantograph that I stretched to fit one per block.

We used a bright red thread so it would stand out on the plain black backing she provided.


Saturday, October 15, 2022

Another Quick Finish

I spent another day quilting up a flimsy from my stockpile. It's a Broken Bricks/Spruce Root Basket pattern I finished earlier this year.

I almost used another dragon pantograph, but I was apparently in the mood for something more flowery. This is the Dolce pattern by Christy Dillon. I quilted it with a turquoise thread.

I've become quite a fan of using solid fabrics for backings because the quilting shows up so well.

A friend is dropping off a quilt tomorrow for quilting so I'll soon have another priority project.


Friday, October 14, 2022

Paid Quilting Gig

I met a nice lady on the Northwest Quilter's Guild facebook page and yesterday she dropped by a flimsy for me to quilt. She told me she needed it finished in time for Christmas. This was officially my first paid quilting gig. (I'm not including a couple of quilts that Jeff quilted for a friend/coworker that we were also paid for because Jeff did the work.)

I know I had plenty of time, but I felt like working on it today. It was a quick edge-to-edge design so it only took me a few hours.
I quilted it with a nice blue-purple variegated thread. I think it turned out pretty well.