Summer Replay – Part 2

In my last post I told you I had bought a new sewing machine, a Janome Horizon 7700. 

 

 And if ‘ya got a new machine,  ‘ya gotta test it out right?  Warranty and all that.  So what have I been testing my new baby on?

On the non-quilting front:

I made a summer top – the first clothing sewing I’ve done in about twenty years.  Even had to put in a zipper!

I recently ordered some more patterns – despite having three file cabinet drawers filled with patterns from the old days.  Unfortunately I’ve gotten a little more “mature” in size so many are no longer my size.  I hope to do more clothing sewing on a regular basis from now on.  

                                

On the quilting front:

1.   

   I completed a donation quilt!

D     Dino Sports 2 began with the leftovers of the quilt I made for my cousin’s son from a kit last year (and blogged about here).  I saw the pattern for it in the Spring 2009 issue of Easy Quilts magazine and knew it was perfect for using up the leftovers (with a few additional purchases needed to round out the project).  Earlier this summer I had participated in Victoria's Bumble Beans Inc. Block Gather, where she collected house blocks from quilters to be made, by her, into quilts for donation to the Basics Promesa organization that helps homeless people get resettled which I blogged about here. (If you would like to see the quilts she made from all the donated blocks, you can see them here).

      After the Block Gather was so successful, she made arrangements with the organization to accept finished quilts from other quilters.  When I heard about this, I knew this was the perfect destination for the Dino Sports 2 quilt since I’d only made it to use up the fabrics and I didn’t have any more young relatives to gift it to.  I already had the quilt half way quilted when I bought my new machine so I got to finish the quilting, binding (attached by machine which is the way I bind all my quilts), a pillowcase and the best part, made a monogrammed label for the quilt and donated it in early August for the Basics Quilt Gather.

Please note: they are still accepting donations of quilts for this cause.  If you are interested, click the links in the above paragraph or the one on the sidebar.

I made my first Schnibble!

       Like many, I’ve long wanted to work on a charm pack project.  Last year, I started following the “Year of Schnibbles” group on Sinta's and Sherri's blogs and became enamored of the cute patterns Carrie Nelson designs for her company Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.  Then earlier this year I heard that she was coming out with a new book, “Schnibbles Times Two”, and I decided to purchase it to see first hand what all the fuss was about.  Of course there were numerous designs in the book I wanted to try, figuring that they’d be small and therefore quick to piece and great for quilt stitch practice.  

      I came across some batik charm square packs that I really liked (Venetian and Atmosphere by Benartex which I got from Clotilde.com) and quickly realized they’d be great for a Schnibbles project and purchased them and some background fabric (Dots/ Batik Landscape from Keepsake Quilting).  I finished “Scratch” in late July and its now waiting layering and quilting.  The green brown batik on the side will be the backing and “turned to the front” binding (using the “Quick Easy Mitered-Binding Tool").

  

Update:  You can see the finished quilt here.

 

 

I also made my first jelly roll project! 

    

       A quilting friend had given me the book "Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Linott (of The Quilt Room in the U.K.) earlier this year.  I felt about jelly rolls the same way I did about charm packs so plotted the chance to make one of the projects in the book.  The push was – as it often is – a fabric sale, this one by Connecting Threads.  They had the 2-1/2” strips and yardage of their “Sweet & Sour” line (and other fabrics) on clearance so I was able to pick up the fabric and backing for this project for a really low price.  After I finished the top (“Jigsaw”),  I really felt that I wanted to add another border to it.

      

      I wanted to get more of the background fabric for the border but unfortunately, it was was no longer available.  But then I checked out some of the kits using this fabric line and found one for a lap quilt (also on clearance) that had enough of the same fabric I wanted for the border and the lap quilt's design was such that I figured I could find another fabric to substitute for what I'd take out and still be able to make the kit quilt.

Here's "Jigsaw" with the additional border added

        This one is also now ready for layering and quilting.

3.     As noted above, I purchased a lap quilt kit in order to use some of the fabric from it for the jelly roll project.  On Labor Day, I finished the top for that quilt, “Flowing Silk”, using a Hoffman fabric (the purple floral) I purchased from Hartsdale Fabrics to replace the Connecting Threads print I purloined from the kit and now lastly, this too is ready for layering and quilting.

 

 

       Update:  This quilt was finished in 2012 and donated to charity.  See this post.

I      I also did some work on some old projects (started last summer, blogged about here) .  I had my sons sew more strips for the string and denim tumbling block quilts I want to finish for them for the winter season.  I had planned for this to be one of the summer activities I did with them and while I did let them to sew on my new machine for a little while, there is still a lot of work to be done on this. 

 

I also finished all the pieced arcs I need for my Double Wedding Ring quilt project which was supposed to have been the project I focused on this summer.  Last summer, I had picked out all the fabrics I wanted to use for the ring centers and melons so now I have to do the appliqué for the centers and then cut the centers and melons and attach them to the arcs to create the rings.  I’d like to at least get this to the “completed top” stage by the end of this year but you know how that goes – only time will tell.

Well, that catches me up.  Hopefully with school started, I can try to post more regularly.  Hope your Summer was good and your Fall will be even better!