Finished Or Not Friday: The Mini Quilt Retreat Finish Recap

We're finally back from two back-to-back trips!  The first was my DH and I making our annual Fall trip to visit his mother in North Carolina.  For my husband these trips are a vacation/family visit but for my MIL and I it's also a mini quilt retreat!  

When we left NY in mid-September it was still warm but pleasant with temps mostly in the 70' and low 80's.  Arriving in NC (actually as early as when we made a rest stop in Virginia) it was muggy with temps in the 80's to mid 90's and stayed that way through the first half of our two week stay.  However once the calendar changed over to Fall on the 21st, it seemed like Mother Nature flipped a swtich and suddenly the temps dropped and it stayed cooler and in the 60s until we left!  

Part of the quilt retreat for me was to get another chance to learn to use my MIL's longarm.  I'm pleased to report that her machine and I had a good 'ole time and a lot was accomplished!   So I'm joining in with everyone over at Quilty Girl Alycia's for this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" to report on what got done.  

I will just show the finishes here and then will do a detail post on each in the coming weeks.  Be forewarned,  it's still a long travel post ahead!!

We arrived on the second Friday of September so that I would be there for the monthly Saturday meeting of the Tar River Piecemakers Quilting Guild of which I am now a long distance member.  

As we prepped for the trip down, I had been working on finishing up my "Sparkle and Shine" log cabin quilt made up of giant (22") courthouse steps blocks.  I got 2/3rds of it quilted on my domestic machine by the time we left.  

Fortunately (and despite it having been pin basted for the DSM), I was still able to load the quilt on my MIL's longarm and finish the last column of stitching to present it for Show & Tell the next day at the guild meeting!  This also meant I got some more free-motion practice on my MIL's machine.

The railing on my MIL's back porch was a convenient photo spot this trip.

Here's a sneak peek of the equally bold back!  The sides were also courtesy of stash but this time came from what I had put aside for another project. 

This is my version of the quilt designed by Natalie Barnes to showcase her "Norma Rose" line which was a tribute to her mother designed for Windham Fabrics.  The pattern was published in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine in December 2020.

Mine used fabrics from my stash of what I call "Mod" fabrics that I had originally collected for the next project I got to finish on the longarm:  my "Modern Bohemia" BOM project!

The fun backing for this one is "Unstoppable" by Windham Fabrics!

Ever since my MIL purchased her longarm, each visit has been an opportunity for new "longarm lessons".  On the last trip, we had planned to try ruler quilting and had purchased the table and foot for her Handiquilter Moxie machine for that.  However, we never had time to actually try them so that was the plan for this trip.  Fortunately, this was the perfect project for that!  

I had planned out the quilting for this all the way back in June of last year but as usual "more projects than time" meant I hadn't gotten around to it yet.  I'd like to believe that the Quilt Muses had noted that I could do ruler quilting on my MIL's longarm before I did and made sure I kept busy enough to hold this project until now, LOL!

I stitched four different patterns on the quilt with three different rulers:  a straight ruler, a curved ruler and one that does a "squared spiral" design.

When I embarked on this project as a self-styled Block-of-the-Month (BOM) back in 2020,  I changed the sizes of the originally patterned blocks so I could die cut them all with Accuquilt dies.   However, when I later saw the same patterned blocks used in a runner pattern,  I decided to make the blocks for that in their original size since they came together to create a finished runner perfectly sized for our dining room sideboard. 

This shot of it on the longarm shows the programmed quilting design used.

This one was also made from that "Mod" stash and whereas in the lap quilt I put the prints in the Churn Dash blocks and the tone-on-tones in the backgrounds, for the runner I flipped that and put the TOTs in the blocks and the prints in the backgrounds.  

There was also one other project made from this stash that was finished back in 2022.  I do have one QAYG UFO that also utilized this stash and I have still more of this stash in general so I'll have to see what other "Mod" projects may develop in the future! 

The next trip finish was this one, a gift for my HSBFF :

Pattern:  Patchwork PDQ by Swirly Girl Designs

The back with a special label.

She had asked me about a quilt at the end of last year and with this being a milestone birthday year for both of us,  I put a plan in place to do that.  She likes purple and fortunately I was able to add to what little stash I had in that color by picking up some things from two fortuitous year-end and New Year's Keepsake Quilting sales.  

I had tested and planned out the quilting before we left which again called for ruler quilting and also added stitch-in-the-ditch:  

The backing fabric choice used in the sample was changed after this test.

I did the stitching test on my domestic machine.  However, it took me a lot longer than expected to complete the simple stitch scheme I had planned when I did it on the longarm.  The good news was that I was able to not only finish it but mail it off to her before we left NC!

The last two projects that I finished quilting on the longarm were UFOs that I had a simple straight-line stitching quilting plan for both.  I thought doing that would be easier to execute on a longarm with a "channel lock" feature.

Needless to say this is NOT straight-line stitched!

This is my interpretation of Pat Sloan's "Sting Beans!" pattern that she did as a "Block-A-Day" project back in 2022.  Pat's original design used jellyroll strips and at the time I didn't have a stash of those.  However I did have a huge stash of pre-cut 1-1/2" log cabin block strips and worked up a variation block that utilized them which resulted in this quilt.  It also has a fun "two-sided quilt" back that I made up in 2023 using Mary Johnson's (of MaryQuilts.com) "Quick Strippie" charity quilt design.

As noted, the original stitching plan was to quilt this just doing straight line stitching across the width of the quilt.  However that was also dependant on determining that the lines would be equally as straight along the pieced "strippie" sections on the back.  The reason this has sat so long waiting to be quilted is that I wasn't confident about doing that on my domestic machine.  

I thought using a "channel lock" feature on the longarm would allay those concerns.  However with the quilt loaded on the longarm frame, I still couldn't really confirm that the position of the piecing lines would line up with the channel stitching.  So I abandoned doing the straight lines in favor of just stitching it up with an all-over pattern instead.  

The Pro-Stitcher pattern I used.

I am pleased both with the chosen pattern and finally getting this one to a finish!

The last big finish was finally quilting my "Letters To Santa" quilt!

I am particularly happy to get this done as a start to the holiday sewing for this year.  Or more accurately, it's a finish of "Christmas in July" piecing work done in 2024 and 2025, LOL!!  I loved being able to just quilt it with straight lines since I thought the words should take precedence over the quilting.  

Both of these almost didn't get finished when I decided late that I really wanted to use a fine weight thread to stitch these up.  I put in an order for Wonderfil Invisifil 100 wt  (Red #605 for String Beans and White #104 for LTS) and they almost didn't get to me in time, arriving on our last Friday there!

Our return to NY was delayed by half a day since we were tracking the big nor'easter storm that hit the Northeast on the day before we were scheduled to leave early on the last Sunday of the month.  However, for me the delay was fortunate because as of that morning I was still trying to finish quilting "LTS".  The leave time delay was just enough to allow me to finish it up!  Whew!!  

The same week we returned from NC we were headed out again at the end of that week for a Fall camping trip in Acadia National Park --- this time staying on the Schoodic Pennisula.  So I didn't have a chance to trim and bind those last two yet.  Needless to say it was a very productive two week visit and although my MIL is always sad to see us go,  I think her longarm machine was very glad for me to leave, LOL!!

So that's it for me (for now) so let's all go back over to Alycia's and check out all the other finishes and works in progress for this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" link up!

Design Wall Monday: Happy Labor Day!

Here's hoping everyone has an enjoyable -- or just restful -- day planned!

A quick check-in today with updates to the last few DWMs.  There's been no addtional work done on the "Alaska BOM" or my HSBFF's gift quilt.  I also still need to satin stitch down the appliques for the "Whoo Is It?" Halloween banner (and for anyone new here, pictures of all of those can be seen in the last post).

What I did get done is work on these two:  first up the "Sparkle & Shine" top is finished!

 You can see the original pattern here - scroll down to #18

While doing so I also got some more of the border strings leader/endered for my "Magic Cube" project:  

DH and I don't have any formal holiday plans so I'm hoping today to maybe get the backing made up for "Sparkle" as I already have the fabric pulled and a plan for that.  

The other thing finished is the quilting on the Halloween 9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch quilt!

Okay, hard to see it here as I can't seem to catch it in good enough light to really get a good look at the stitching.  But know that it is fun and in two shades of orange!  

Another attempt but still can't see it all that much better.

Connecting Threads Essentials threads on the front and Aurifil on the back. 

The binding fabric is already picked out but still needs to be cut and sewn into strips.  Ooh and if there's any leftover after I'm done, I've got a new place to park it!

Recently I ordered some of these Binding Spools.  I've always wanted to try some and knowing that someone (or ones, plural) are binding the two QOV tops I sent down a couple of months ago to the guild I belong to with my MIL, I wanted to bring gifts for those intrepid volunteers.  I found these on Etsy and thought they were reasonably enough priced to get a tester set and a couple of extras for the gifts.  Then after setting them up, I loved them so much I bought another set to organize the rest of leftovers I had.  

Before getting these I stored my binding leftovers like this:

The new Spools are so much neater and easier to thumb through to see what I have.  As I wrapped them onto the Spools, I also pulled a couple of the binding scraps out to add to the string work I'm doing and now have some ideas for using some of the rest to bind some future mini quilts.  Now I can pass all the empty toilet paper rolls I was using over to my DH to make campfire kindling starters! 

It's our last week before we'll be heading down to see my MIL in North Carolina so I don't know if I'll get to post while we're away.  I do hope to be able to make up one last post with these last two completely finished before we go!  Enjoy your holiday off!!  

Design Wall Monday: Another Project Re-Joins the Design Wall!

Last week's "Design Wall Monday" post was chock-a-block with projects and the wall hasn't had a chance to cool off since!  

More On Continuing Long-Term Projects

In follow-up to the reporting in the last post,  I have completed sewing the rows together for the center of  the "Alaska BOM" top!

Once again, this work got done courtesy of some more leader/ender work!  This time it was when I began sewing the blocks for the "back-to-the-wall project" to be discussed later.  

I should note that this process didn't go perfectly smoothly.  You see the last three blocks on the end of the second row?  When I laid this out to view the finished piecing, those three blocks -- which had been sewn together as a section when assembling the row -- had wound up being sewn in flipped around when I added them to the rest of the row.   

So I had to go back and "un-sew" that section, turn it around and sew it back in.  Despite that one snafu, I was really pleased with how easily and quickly this center got sewn together, all while also working on another project.  This is why I love, love, love "leader/ender" sewing!

As noted in a prior post, I still need to piece even more blocks to make a pieced border that will enlarge the design.  Because we will be going away twice in the coming weeks, progress on this project will be interrupted while we are away.  So I will continue working on this but not until October!

New Backing Fabric for the Gift Quilt

I had also discussed in the last post that I was making a quilt to gift to my HSBFF:

My original plan was to back it with this wide back fabric I had purchased during a Keepsake Quilting clearance sale and had already cut the piece from it that I planned to use.

I had even used that fabric when doing a stitching and thread sample for the project.

However, I admit I liked the fabric more because it was purple, pretty and already in house than I did as something that went with the look of the top of the quilt.  I figured "it's just the back" so could settle for using it.  

However, when I went to look up links for the last post, I saw another fabric in (famous longarmer) Angela Walter's "Quilting Is My Therapy" online store that I really thought would look sooo much better with the quilt top!  It has since arrived and yes, I do like it better.   

At 118" x 49",  the remnant piece as sent isn't totally wide enough to span the top (and allow extra on the sides for quilting take up) so would need to be pieced a bit to make a suitable backing.  

However that presents a new opportunity:  I had planned to make up a special label for this and print it on fabric.  With the original wide-back print I had planned to use already cut to size, I expected to hand stitch the label on after quilting this.  Since the new backing fabric will need to be pieced together,  now once I've made the label I can piece it into the backing which will save me from having to do the hand work and will be securely stitched in when the quilting is done.  Score!    

Halloween in August Continues

I'm pleased to say that the layout of the top for the fun Halloween banner is now completed:

Finished banner layout and pieced backing on the left.

The last of the appliques I needed to add to the layout were the Stars.  They have been applied and everything is fused down.  What was good about having waited all this time to get back to this project is that working on this now, I could use my Accuquilt die cutter to cut out those appliques.  I have their Star die and the sizes on it were exactly the size of the patterned stars.  

Ironically, I had already traced out the stars onto the fusible when I worked on this originally but when I pulled them out, I realized that I had done the tracing on the fusible web side not on the paper side.  Okay, why?!?  I don't remember but now that I could die cut them, it didn't matter, LOL!!  At this point I still have to satin stitch down all the appliques to fully complete the top. 

Oh and I learned my lesson: I'm storing this until I get to the satin stitching rolled up around a cardboard tube not folded!

In the picture of the top you can also see the backing that I've made for this.  I love that Moon fabric and had purchased it thinking I would make the whole back out of it.  However it is a directional print and I only purchased a half yard which would have been fine if the print ran vertically and not horizontally.  As such I could only cover about half the banner with it so added the Stars (for the label area) and the Candy fabrics from my stash to fill out the rest.  In fact, you'll see that Candy fabric again in the next project!     

In more Halloween project news:  the Halloween "9 FQ Disappearing Nine Patch" top is also done courtesy of the new fabrics coming in that I ordered to add to the five piece FQ bundle that started this off and the two fabrics from my stash that I added to them.     

From a simple Nine Patch.....

...to a more fun top!

I already have backing fabrics from my Halloween stash picked out and will make it up this week.  As noted on my last post about this project, I already have a fun stitching method that I want to try on this quilt courtesy of something learned at the recent Free-Motion Quilting Summit so am looking forward to getting to sit down and work on quilting this.

"Back To the Wall" For Upcoming Trip Preparation

So the project that has come back to the wall for me to revisit/continue is this one:  

These are two new blocks I've pieced up for my "Sparkle & Shine" Log Cabin project and was the primary project for the "Alaska BOM" leader/ender work.  

I went back to this in the hopes of completing this one (both top and quilting) before we head to my MIL's in two weeks.  The last time I worked on this I had made these blocks:

So as of today, I have six of the nine blocks I need for this project.  The plan for the rest of the week is to sew up the last three.  The next step after that will be to lay out the blocks to decide their final placement in the top, add sashing between the blocks and then vertical sashing between the columns to finish the top.  

I am hoping to then get it layered and quickly quilted so I can take it with me on the September trip to North Carolina.  My MIL's guild which I belong to as a long distance member had run a "Log Cabin Quilt Challenge" with finished projects presented at their June meeting.  I had finished mine in what I thought was enough time to make it there for that but mail delays meant it didn't get presented until the July meeting and my MIL had to do that for me.  

Since I will "be in town" for the next meeting, I'd love to have this ready to personally present it for "Show & Tell" this time around.  I am also considering taking and presenting my "Lidia" mini quilt that I made during the pandemic as yet another example of the versatility of the Log Cabin block.  

I had wanted to start many other desired LC projects for the challenge but this was the only one that I was actually able to get underway.  Who knows, maybe I can get another one started and completed by the end of the year?  We'll be back to visit my MIL early next year so I'd love to be able to present another one on that future trip too.

The design wall should cool off a bit in the coming days as I focus on making up backings and setting up things for quilting.  At this point, I think it'll need the break!

Design Wall Monday: The State of My Quilt Nation

It already feels like August is starting to wind down.  At this point my husband and I are starting to look towards our plans for September and October.  We are scheduled to visit my MIL in North Carolina from mid to the end of September and the first week of October we're headed up to Maine for our third trip to Acadia National Park.  We're hoping to catch the Fall vistas this time and visit the Schoodic Penninsula for the first time.  

As such I am also reviewing the plans I had for the summer and trying to map out my ongoing quilting plans for the Fall.  Which projects will be interrupted by those Fall trips and which can come along on them?  What deadlines do I have to meet after the trips and can I set them up to work on between now and then or do I need to completely reorganize them to be worked on later?  As of this week here is what I have going on or want to work on:

Leaders and Enders Get the Jobs Done!

As I worked on projects over the sumer I've been leader-endering two projects.  In the case of the first -- my "Alaska BOM" -- many times it has been the primary project.  In my recap of things I worked on in July, this is what had been up on my design wall at one point that month:

I had noted that I had finished making the last of the blocks for the center of that quilt.  So this month I have been sewing the rows of blocks together.  For that process "Alaska" became the leader/ender for another project which will be discussed later.  The good news is that I finished sewing together the seven rows of blocks.

Next up will be sewing the rows together to complete the center of the top.  As I had noted back in JuIy, I have plans to expand the size of the top by adding an additional pieced outer border of blocks.  So there will be more block making (that may be the primary or the leader/ender of other projects) as this month continues and we roll into September.

The other leader/ender work that I'm thrilled to say is done is for this project:

This is the "Magic Cube" pattern that was originally published in McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec 2020 and that I downloaded as an individual pattern during one of Quilting Daily's pattern sales.  The reason I started making this one was this:

Back in 2024 I fell in love with Bonnie Hunter's (of whom I am a big fan) "Shoo Fly Shoo" free pattern which had been her leader/ender project for 2019.  She made two quilts of mostly all Shoo Fly blocks out of the blocks she pieced over the course of that year.  I had planned to just leisurely collect appropriately sized scraps and sew up the blocks until I had enough -- or got tired of making them, LOL! 

Well, the minute I later saw the "Magic Cube" design,  I had to pivot!  First because the Shoo Fly blocks in the outer border of it were the same size as Bonnie's blocks but meant I had to make a whole lot less of them.  Second, the large center star and one of the borders are pieced with strings.  I've been really wanting to make more string designs at the least to start winnowing down my "string collection":

Just by chance, that strip hanging out of the bag was from the border fabric of my recently finished "Rainbow Log Cabin" quilt.

I'm hoping this can be the follow up to the "Scrap Vortex" string top I also made in 2024 (and is unfortunately still awaiting quilting) so was thrilled this gave me two opportunities to make something that will use up some more of them.  Finally, it's a "kitchen sink" scrappy quilt so any scrap is welcome.  What's not to love?!?

So I immediately took the six Bonnie blocks I had made up to that point and moved them to a project bin for this.  Although it has taken me much longer than planned, I'm pleased to say that I've now finished up -- as leader/enders -- the 40 blocks I need for that border!

My plans earlier this year had been for these to have been pieced months ago and for this to have already been a finished top by now in the hopes of taking it with me to longarm at my MILs in September.  However, I'm grateful for the progress that has been made and am still encouraged to continue on.  Next up a whole lotta string piecing!!

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Edited 8/25/26 To Add:  Just saw that Quilting Daily has a "Back to School" promotion going on right now and everything on their site is 40% off until August 30!   

A New Gift Project

My BFF from high school and I are still in touch and both hit milestone birthdays this year.  When we spoke back in December she mentioned she would love a quilt.  I have only made her two things prior: a jewelry roll pouch (the second one in this post) and a mug rug when she had to help homeschool her grandson during the pandemic.  Both were made up in purple fabrics, her favorite color.  I had been musing in recent years that I didn't often purchase purple fabric so began picking up a piece here and there with the intention of finding an inspiration for a project "some day".  Needless to say when she mentioned a quilt, that day arrived!

So with what little I already had in stash and two good Keepsake Quilting Year-end and New Year's clearance sales, I picked up a bunch of new purples.  I had bundled together three sets of fabrics with ideas for three possible projects.  The first (because it was expected to be the quickest to get done) was to make one of my now favorite "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" quilts (and if you'd like to see the ones I've made click here).  However when I tested a layout of the prints I had bundled together for that, it didn't spark me.  

Okay, second choice was this pattern I had picked up at some point because it also could be made with Fat Quarters:

When I sorted through the bundle of the variety of prints I had pulled for it, I was intrigued.  So this became the primary project for those other two leader-ender projects and the bundled set of fabrics became this:

I've since moved some of the squares in it around a bit more.

I had planned to use the border fabric in the center of the quilt but a re-read of the pattern showed that I'd need some yardage to make this design lap size and I really liked that fabric for it.  So I pulled it out of the layout, replaced it with other things and then had to search around for more of it to have enough for the borders.  Luckily, the only source I found it at also had it on sale.  It was meant to be!  

Of course, the next issue is, "okay how will I quilt this?"  One thing I did think was that I really wanted to quilt it in purple thread but I didn't have any cotton threads that color.  I consulted an Aurifil color card and considered what I felt would work.  However the nearest quilt store to me doesn't carry Aurifil so I would have to order it.  I was not thrilled about ordering thread on the speculation that a particular color "might" work so might also mean having to make additional orders to find just the right one.  

Looking through my thread stash again, I did find two threads that seemed like they would work:  a medium-dark gray Aurifil (#2605) and a polyester Glide thread in Lavender.  Okay, I need a test!

I pieced together this test sandwich from the fabric scraps and the good news was that both threads worked!  The gray not only works on the top but also works on the purple wide back fabric I had also purchased during the clearance sale and was glad to have on hand when it came time to set this up for finishing.  However,  I was also surprised how well the Glide thread worked too.  As long as I kept the quilting simple, it provided just enough color and a little sparkle to the whole thing.  

The original idea was to stitch straight lines but I admit that when I sketched that out, it added too many additional visually linear elements to a top that already presented with a lot of lines from the piecing.  So I will be opting for ruler quilted wavy lines using the same ruler I used to quilt my "Roaring Waves" quilt last year.  Now this will be easy to stitch and the waves will add a little more texture and visual variety to the whole thing.  Good!  Now to go through my batting stash for this!

Project Plans From Now to October

For years I've set up projects for Halloween sewing but then never get around to geting them made up in time for the holiday.  Taking a cue from the practice of doing "Christmas in July" (which I should note, I still have projects from last year that I need to finish up for this year, LOL),  I figured if I want to get some done, maybe I should start now and see what I can accomplish by the time the ghosts and ghouls are on the prowl for candy!  To that end I have two:

This is "Whoo Is It?",  a banner project started all the way back in 2014 from the Fons & Porter's "Quilting Celebrations" Fall issue that year.  It had been cut and laid out since then and now needs a good pressing in order to finish it.  What I've learned in the years since is to roll up applique projects like this on an empty paper towel roll or pool noodle to avoid the kinds of folds and wrinkles I'm going to have to deal with getting rid of now.  I'm hoping to work on it and maybe get it at least to a completed top by the end of this month.  

And speaking of Halloween and my previously discussed favorite Fat Quarter design there's this:

The Annie's Attic company ran another of their infamous pre-cut bundle sales and I should have known better than to go look!  But look I did and saw a cute bundle of five Halloween prints for under $10 and couldn't resist!  I've added some fabrics from my Halloween stash (and actually one from the "Whoo" stash bag) and so far have shifted the fabrics around and worked up two layouts.  However, I am still not sure I like the way they work so have already ordered a few more prints that I think might punch it up better.  

This is a really quick design to make up so would really bolster my enthusiasm for working early on Halloween projects if I can settle on a layout.  Fingers crossed that I can do that and also get this to at least a top or even better finished and quilted by month's end.  I already have an idea for the quilting that I learned in the recent Free-Motion Quilting Summit so I'll see what happens!

And so ends the details of all the traffic on my design wall in recent days.  With all of this putting things on and taking them off, I probably need to do a little clean up of the batting on it now!

My MIL gifted me a couple of these little Temu tools a while back and surprisingly they do work!