Finished or Not Friday: Mini Quilt Retreat Edition

I've got two finishes for March to join in with everyone gathered at Quilty Girl Alycia's for "Finished Or Not Friday" this week! 

Once I was fully back from our recent trip to visit my MIL in North Carolina, it was time to sort through all the things I brought back.  Either I put them away or wanted to try to get some of the projects finished that were started during the "mini quilt retreat" that happened as part of our trip.

Bowl Cozies

In my quilt retreat recap,  I mentioned that I had the opportunity to cut out some bowl cozies using the Accuquilt Small Bowl Cozy die borrowed from a guild member.  

While away I was only able to get them started and get one to the point of being ready to be stitched around the edge for turning right side out.  The good news is I was able to work on them last week and get all of them completely finished!

The "feature" fabrics: three for "Yellowstone" and one for "Bridgerton"

The "feature" fabrics: three for "Yellowstone" and one for "Bridgerton" 

The insides (or alternate side since these are reversable).

I was happy to get a chance to try the die before committing to buying it.  I've made a few cozies already as I have been making them for us and for friends and family reflecting our favorite TV shows.  

I had been using regular rulers and a few specialty templates to cut them out.  The "tumbler cut" of fabic I purchased for the "Bridgerton" one was small enough (9" x 14") that I had planned to try using the tutorial by Vanessa the Crafty Gemini since her method worked with that size cut --- the other methods I use start with a 10-1/2" square.    

The good news is that this die accomodated the smaller cut and boy was it way easier to cut both the fabric and batting at the same time when I used the die!  I should note here that Accuquilt also has another die that makes a larger bowl cozy but you have to have the Go! Big machine to use that one.  What I was interested in seeing was how the size of cozy the small die makes compares to the ones made with my original methods.  Turns out it's actually pretty similar!

Clearly the cozies hold a standard soup bowl about the same with the only diference being pointed versus rounded corners.  I will say that the cozies using my original method were slightly taller.  

However that might have been due to the fact that this particular one (and another one made at the same time) had been made from miscut starting squares and I had adjusted the depth of the darts to compensate.    

Since it seems to be pretty much the same result, I will probably keep the die on my Wish List and wait to see if a good enough sale on it comes up to make me abandon the tools I already have or if I get a rush of requests that make the quick cutting of the die the preferred way to go.    

I do have to laugh though:  a week or two before we left, my DH discovered the allure of bowl cozies!  He had seen me make them and had seen the ones I had made and gifted to others and the two I gave his mother when we visited her previously.  However he hadn't understood their purpose until recently when he was going to heat up a bowl of food and I suggested he use one of the cozies before putting it in the microwave.  

He was skeptical that it could be heated along with the food and I explained that it was because all the materials (fabric, batting and thread) were all cotton -- nothing metallic to mess up the appliance.  When he went to pull the bowl from the microwave he was immediately impressed and a convert!  He loved the concept (and not having to touch a hot bowl) and of course immediately said I should make more, LOL!  

I told him no worries there:  I already have fabrics (as well as a quilt top) for another of our favorite shows that has a new season coming out in June.  So his wish will be my command in about another month or two! 

Pulpit Tile  

Looking back through my project documentation files, this appears to be my third oldest WIP so it's a HUGE deal to now finally be finished!  

Front

Back.  If I were to make this today, I wouldn't stagger those side blocks!

So the story of this one is that in 2005 I wanted to finally try making my first bed-sized quilt (and since this obviously isn't it, you can see the first one that I actually finished here).  I figured the easier a quilt I attempted, the faster and more likely it would get made.  Looking for easy quilt designs,  I found a simple medallion design in a book I looked at while in a book store.  We were there with our oldest son waiting on the release of the latest "Harry Potter" book at the time.  

The quilt I saw had a large central field surrounded by multiple plain (as opposed to pieced) fabric borders and was made using Provencal-style fabrics.

And only as I wrote this post did I realize that I did eventually buy that very book!

The big book was pretty expensive and still being a relatively new quilter I didn't buy it.  Despite that I figured the design would be easy enough to figure out how to make especially since I had quilt design software at the time.  Yet before even drafting the design (rookie mistake),  I went shopping at a craft store I frequented that was my primary source for quilting fabric since they often had remnant yardage cuts of one to three yards at discount prices.  It was the kind of place that you never knew what you might find in stock when you visited.  

Luckily, I found all the fabrics you see in the quilt with the exception of the purple.  I bought what I thought was enough for each round of a medallion design but when I formatted it and calculated the yardage requirements for a quilt the size I wanted in the Quilt-Pro software I used at the time,  I was discouraged to find that I didn't have quite enough of some of the fabrics and that I needed at least one more contrast fabric (preferably a purple) for it.

Later that same year,  I was on the McCall's Quilting magazine's website (Note: their content can now be accessed through the Quilting Daily website who are having a site-wide sale this month for NQM).  I saw instructions for the "Jack in the Pulpit" block and recognized it as one I had downloaded and printed out when I first became interested in quilting.  When I pulled out that print-out,  I "re-discovered" that I had made notes about about how I could use that block in a quilt.  The notes also referred to using Quilt-Pro and when I checked,  sure enough I had the center of a nice quilt all laid out which I hadn't even remembered doing!  

Having combined the "Pulpit" block with a "Snowball" block, the layout created a "chained tile" look that I thought might be interesting with the "Provencal" fabrics I'd purchased.  Even then you were able to scan fabric images into designs and doing so it only took three fabric placement variations to come up with a scheme I really liked.  A quick yardage calc this time showed that I also already had enough fabric for it although I still needed that purple one for contrast.  

Back then when I needed a specific fabric or color like this,  my source was the City Quilter store (still around but online only now) and going there as usual they did not disappoint.  I found the purple calico there and now that the fabrics were all collected,  I assumed I'd start this one right away.  Of course as usually happens, other project priorities meant I didn't actually start the cutting for this one until early in the next year.   

I did get the top done although smaller than originally designed so alot of the extra fabric (and a few extra blocks) went into making up the backing.  And then it sat.  And sat and sat --- for years!  Mostly because I had big ideas about how I thought this "should" be quilted and most of the ideas involved stitching complicated Feather Wreaths and the like (typical rookie ambitions).  None of those were things I had the skill to execute until many years later.  Even once I had them,  I now had other priorities so while I still liked the design, finishing it never seemed to get to the top of the "To Do" list.  

So when planning the recent mini quilt retreat and anticipating another visit with my MIL's longarm, this seemed like a really good candidate for that.  I figured those complicated stitch motifs would be way easier to stitch out using programmed stitch patterns and even better having access to a longarm frame meant not having to baste the darn thing by hand!

Of course, things didn't go quite as planned!  First of all we were pretty busy most of the trip so I didn't get to work on it until the last few days of our stay.  Before heading down to see her,  I had picked out a bunch of potential stitch patterns I thought would work for stitching in the two central blocks:

I did wind up using one of these in the border cornerstones.

However, that plan was quickly dashed because the throat space on my MIL's HQ Moxie wouldn't accomodate being able to stitch the 12" blocks in a single pass.  So plans changed to just doing a simple,  oversize all-over Stipple across the central field of the design.  So the first of this trip's "Longarm Lessons Learned":  consider throat space limits (on her machine, about ten inches) when planning to use block based quilting patterns.

The next issue I realized after I loaded the quilt onto the frame was that before we left home, I hadn't considered what thread I planned to stitch this with.  That really annoyed me because I knew I had both Wonderfil and Aurifil threads at home that would have worked better with it than the only one I brought that came closest:  Aurifil #5011.  My MIL didn't have either color of the other threads I would have liked to use or a suitable alternative in her thread stash.  Ironically she did have two quarter-full spools of the #5011 which did come in handy later on when I needed just a little more thread to finish up the quilting.  

Although the Wonderfil thread I would have used was available at the Quilt Con show we attended as part of the trip,  I knew I had two spools of it at home so really didn't want to purchase another.  Aurifil was also vending at the show but they didn't have the particular color I wanted in their booth.  Nor did I find it at the two quilt shops that carry that brand that we visited before I got to work on this.  We didn't have time for a run to another that might have had it.

So I started the quilting with what I had since it only really contrasted on the purple.  I picked two traditional-style stitch patterns for the two sets of borders.  The thread and pattern combination was fine on the outer border but the choice for the inner border was an issue:

While that "Rope" stitch pattern fit the "vibe" of the quilt, the fact that it's executed by backtracking (stitching twice) over the curves heightened the contrasting nature of the thread being used.  No bueno!  So I stopped the machine ripped all of that out and choose a new pattern -- one that did NOT re-stitch parts of it so kept the contrasting nature of the thread down to a minimum:

 "Longarm Lessons Learned #2":  When planning to quilt a quilt away from home,  make sure to pick out appropriately blending threads either before I leave home or early in our arrival so I have time to shop for replacements or alternatives.  Also be concious of how a stitch pattern stitches:  does it backtrack thus building up the density of the thread used and will that be an issue for the finished look?

More "Longarm Lessons Learned":  #3 happened when executing the border patterns.  I both revisited and got extensive amounts of new practice on lining up patterns to continue a stitch pattern.  What I learned (with help from this video and this one) is that you want to preferably break the patterns at or create a clear stopping/re-starting point.  

I also had some issues with the borders as I got down towards the bottom of the quilt.  It became evident that the inner border wasn't advancing completely square and straight.  For the pattern used in it that presented a problem in that I really needed it to be placed evenly between the seam lines.  So "Longarm Lessons Learned" #4 that I picked up from this video and this one was how to map out a skewed or uneven stitch area using the "multipoint" function in Pro-Stitcher and then use the "Skew" function on the Modify menu to fill the pattern in the misshapen space evenly.

Lastly, "Longarm Lessons Learned #5" was about clearing stuck threads in the bobbin race.  I learned that even partial hand wheel turns actually fully advance the bobbin race one rotation!  It's not something you can see unless you are sitting in front of the race as the handwheel is being advanced so you may need two people to do this one.  

I learned that when I saw a stuck thread but couldn't pull it out and the handwheel seemed stuck when I tried to turn it.  Then DH came in the room and when he "rocked" the handwheel,  I could see that the race did advance a full turn each time.  Continuing to do that, evenutally the race moved to the point where the stuck thread could be easily pulled out after which the handwheel went back to moving freely!   Whew, as I've said in the past, every trip is another learning session with my MIL's machine!!

Label fabric prepped with Bubble Jet Set and edges hand-stitched with thread and center secured with embroidery floss and stitches.

So I'm pretty happy with this finish!  First off because I'm glad to get another "oldie but goodie" done.  I also appreciate just how much of my own quilt history and experiences are wrapped up in the story of its making.  It is a perfect example of this philosophy:

Now I can go and check out how everyone else has advanced their personal quilt history by seeing all the makes that finished up or are in progress this week over at Quilty Girl Alycia's for "Finished Or Not Friday"! 

February Trip Review #2: The Mini Quilt Retreat

 My MIL is also a quilter so when my DH and I visit, she and I also have a mini quilt retreat!  Athough with all the projects I brought with me (and one picked up during the trip) this was more of a "maximalist-mini retreat",  LOL!!  This covers the two weeks we were there so this is your advance "long post warning"!! 

As usual, I brought a lot of projects down with me as I can never be too sure what I will get to or feel like working on day to day.  So here's all the stitching and quilty doings during our stay: 

#1.  I had brought down the "Year of the Red Horse" cross stitch project I had been working on.  When I left home it was here:  

I was able to get everything including the numbers for the year (but not the orange highlights) and brown outer border line done before we left on Sunday.  I finished the highlights on the numbers and the border and center floral accents in the car during the the first half of the drive home.

Now it's ready for "fully finishing"!

#2.  I was also able to finish stitching down onto its background the last half of the "Hexie Snowflake" block I had set up before we left.

Pinned....

Stitched!

I actually brought all four of the blocks for this wallhanging project as I was hoping I could get them all done and bring them home ready to constuct the top.  Nope!  

After stitching that block, I only managed to get the papers pulled from half of the next block.  Part of the reason was that I forgot to also bring my "Sixth Finger" stilleto tool.  Ironically I saw one at the Quilt Con show we attended but at almost $20 I decided to try to just find a tapered cuticle stick to use temporarily.  That turned out to be hard to find too but eventually I got one from a manicure kit sold in Dollar Tree.

"Sixth Finger" Stilletto vs Cuticle Stick

Since it is thicker than the stilletto, it was a little harder to work the glued fabric loose from the papers  so it took longer to release them than it had for the first block.  As a result, I only got half of the papers in the second block out during our trip and then finished removing the other half in the car on the last leg of the drive home.  When we got back home was I able to pin it to its background so it's now ready to be stitched down.

#3.  I've visited my MIL enough that I had often attended her guild meetings with her if they were scheduled during our trip.  As a result, last year I joined the guild as a "long distance" member!  We arrived on a Friday and the next day was the Guild's monthly meeting.  There was a great show and tell and some of the Guild members did a presentation on one of my favorite topics:  adding labels to quilts! 

After the meeting,  my MIL and I went to purchase a ruler table and foot for her Handiquilter Moxie longarm.

We agreed to go "halfsies" on the purchase.  I had brought down with me all the rulers I have that can be used on a longarm.  

The plan for this trip had been to try learning to do ruler quilting on her machine.  To facilitate that I brought my "Modern Bohemia" project with me as I originally had plans to ruler quilt it at home anyway.  

When we got back to her house, my DH helped us install the table onto the machine.  Later we took it back off the supports that hold it on the machine as my MIL had a project we needed to quilt but would be using programmed stitches for that.  

In the end, we never did get around to doing the ruler quilting lessons so it looks like those will have to be a project for our next trip down!

#4.  Long aside for a back story:  Each year "our" Guild (still feels a little funny saying that) does a member challenge.  Sometimes it's a specific project, other times it is making a quilt in a specific color or using a specific type of fabric.  Prior to us coming down, my MIL let me know that the Guild had announced that this year's challenge is to make a Log Cabin quilt.  It can be in any design of your choosing for presentation to the membership at the June meeting. 

This is right up my alley!  Every since buying the Accuquilt Log Cabin die as my first BOB purchase, I've been obsessed with the idea of making a lot of Log cabin quilts.  I think this block is one of the most versatile in quilting next to HSTs or Flying Geese.  I believe that you could spend your whole quilting life just making LC quilts and never make the same design twice.  Heck, you could make the exact same block layout but color it different ways and still have them all look different!   

So this was my opportunity to bring down two projects that I've long wanted to make.  

Years ago I regularly followed the blog of Elaine Adair and back in 2006 she designed a quilt called a "Rebuilt Log Cabin" (the one on the left).  I always thought it was such an innovative and unique looking Log Cabin design so of course wanted to make it.  However, this was also well before I had the Accuquilt die so while I collected red fabrics for the block centers,  I never really focused on all the other cutting that needed to be done for the rest of the blocks.  However, once I had the die, I planned to make it using scrap strip cuts like the ones stored in the box shown.  

Eventually, I discovered another design that also became a "want to make priority" that could use the same scrap cuts:  Carrie Nelson's (of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.) "Raise the Roof" (on the right).  I generally kept these two patterns sitting by each other as I believed if I had reason to make one,  I'd also start making blocks for the other.  So with the Guild Challenge in mind, I brought both patterns and the LC Strips box down with me figuring I'd see which I wound up working towards.  

At the Guild meeting they announced there'd be an open "Sit and Sew" session the last Saturday of our stay.  So I figured if I didn't get to these before then, I'd get a chance to sew some blocks up on that day.

However, I also had another "must make" priority LC design I've long wanted to do.  

From the American Patchwork & Quilting December 2020 issue.

In the spirit of Quilt Con, this one is a bright colored log cabin quilt made in what I like to refer to as "mod" fabrics.  The fabrics I put towards this came from the stash I built when I had decided to make the "Modern Boehmia" quilt referred to earlier.  I pulled some background prints from my stash to put with them for the lights.  I also added a bunch of fabrics purchased in 2024 when Keepsake Quilting had the Andover Fabrics "Century Black on White" line on sale which I thought would also work well for this.   

This project has been sitting in a project bag ever since.  When I did the Just Get It Done Declutter Challenge earlier this year,  I thought this would be an easy one to tackle in order to free up the bag.  So I also brought it along on this trip to add to the Log Cabin fun!  I should note that it is a little diffferent approach to LC as the blocks are pieced "Courthouse Steps" style and the "logs" are made using 2-1/2" cut (aka "jelly roll" but not pre-cut) strips. 

I figured the priority was to cut the fabrics for this project first but that wound up taking two days to get done.  Then busy with other things and interrupted by the four days spent at the Quilt Con Show,  in the end I only managed to leader/ender the center of one block before we went home.   I should note here that we got word the day before the "Sit and Sew" session that it was being canceled because the heating sytem malfunctioned at the meeting center they were going to hold it at.  

#5.  Also in the spirit of Quilt Con, I brought the pattern, a sweatshirt and charm squares from my scrap stash to work on a "Charming Hoodie" that I hoped to wear to the show.  I picked up some addtional supplies I needed from Hobby Lobby once we got down to my MIL's.  

However, even though I started working on it about five days before the show, I had to alternate focus on it with some of the other projects that follow.  So I only got the sweatshirt deconstructed and prepped for adding the charm squares to it.  

I did get another coordinating charm pack of tone-on-tone prints at the show so am actually happy about what they will add to this once I can get back to it.  

#6.  Another benefit of being in the Guild is that members lend out Accuquilt dies they have.  I've enjoyed making Bowl Cozies for a while now using square ruler cuts and templates to round the corners and cut the darts.  However, I've long wanted to try the Small Bowl Cozy Die to compare the finished size of it to the method I've been using before committing to buying it.  My MIL let the member who had it know and I was able to pick it up at the meeting we attended.  

I had brought fabric for four Cozies (three "Yellowstone" and one for "Bridgerton") and immediately cut them so I could return the die ASAP. 

I did get them all stitched to their batting.  I started the darts on one of them and got another one pinned and ready for stitching around the perimeter but that's as far as I got.  However, I plan to work on finishing them up them so I can add them to my next "Finished Or Not Friday" post.

#7.  For Black history month my MIL volunteered to make an "Underground Railroad Quilt" for a presentation at her church of the "Quilt Codes".  A few years ago she had borrowed the one I made and used it for a similar presentation and ever since has wanted to make one for herself.  Using the Eleanor Burns book as I had, she had been piecing it over the last couple of months but was having problems with a few blocks.  So when I arrived, we worked out the kinks on those and I helped her decide on the final sashing and border fabric.  

This was the first project to get longarmed on this trip.  We discussed potential stitch patterns to use and finally settled on doing "Baptist Fans" which I was familiar with from having quilted one of my quilts on her machine using that pattern two years ago.  This is when we took the ruler table we had purchased off the machine.  

The good news is that we spent the two days before Quilt Con getting it done which gave her time after our show days to trim the quilt and prep and apply the binding for the presentation that Sunday.  

Since Sunday we'd be at the last day of the quilt show,  my DH was given the task of delivering the finished quilt to the church and helping set it up for display.  The presentation was made by one of her church members and assisted by my MIL's friend (also a quilter) who had retired to her town last year.

On display at the church.

#8.  The day before the first day of Quilt Con, we went to the home of one of the chairs of the Guild's "Patriotic Bee" to pick out fabrics for "Quilt Of Valor" kits.  This is also the member who owns the Bowl Cozy die so I returned that on that trip too.  

The guild had been able to purchase fabric for members to make these quilts because of a grant they had been awarded.  It was my intention to get fabrics for two kits:  one was to fill out the additional fabrics needed for a pattern called "Picture That" that I plan to use with a panel I am donating.  

I was able to get the fabrics I needed and since I only brought the panel down with me, I'd wait until I got home to add in the other fabrics I have and work on that one.  

I also picked up enough fabrics to make another top called "Freedom Stars".  My hope was to try to get this one to a top before I left.  I got it all cut and partially laid out and where I could, I pieced the star points.

I did them as Flying Geese as it was also an opportunity to give my MIL a hands-on demo of the Eleanor Burns method I use to make them.  I had also brought down the rulers I use to trim them even more quickly than with a regular ruler so I could demo those too.  

She had also looked at the "4 at a time method" and wasn't sure she was doing that right either.  I had originally learned to do that method and only abandonded it because there is less cutting with the EB method and to get the exact size geese needed, the math for that method wasn't as simple as for Eleanor's method.  

However my MIL showed me a tutorial that gives a simple math formula for doing the "4 at a time method" with oversized squares so now I can go back to using this method in those cases when I need to use different colors for the two "sky triangles" and need to control where the colors are placed.

But back to the QOV:  I did lay out the squares I cut but as I got down to the last of them,  I was finding it hard to keep the variety of prints evenly distributed which left me with a few holes in the layout and kept me from starting to stitch the rows.  

It wasn't until our last Friday there that we went to run what was supposed to be a few errands and make two fabric stops.  Well that turned into a mini shop hop as we wound up making stops at four fabric shops but the good news there was that I found another print at one of them that depicted all the armed forces:  

It was perfect for filling the holes in my layout!  So as I completed the layout...

...and while continuing to work on longarming my quilt (the other  UFO --- details to follow),  the next day I did get to leader/ender this project a bit and get four of the rows stitched up before we had to leave.

And now they are home on my design wall!

  #9.  So the only big thing I actually finished on the trip was that I got to longarm the other of the two UFOs I brought:  a quilt I call "Pulpit Tile".  

A closeup of the different stitch patterns used around the quilt.

I pieced this all the way back in 2006 in my early quilting days.  Made with "Jack in the Pulpit" and "Snowball" blocks, it has sat for so long because after I made it I could never decide how to quilt it.  In my mind, I thought it needed very traditional patterns like Feather Wreaths and other advanced patterns that were definitely not in my wheelhouse at the time.  Then once I gained some of those skills, I had moved on to other styles of quilts so finishing this wasn't a big priority.  

It came around now because I thought I might be able to actually get this done simply using stitch patterns programmed into my MIL's longarm tablet.  I was also looking forward to learning to connect continuous patterns to fill borders which is something I really haven't done up to now.  On my last visit, I had taken a picture of all the stitch pattern screens so I could sit down and figure out possible designs to use for the blocks before I arrived.  

I had my choices mapped out but things went sideways (figuratively) once the quilt was loaded!  This was a doozy that didn't progress at all the way I planned.  Due to throat space limitations and not remembering to bring the right thread for this,  I had to change my pattern choices on the fly.  However,  as usual I learned a lot of longarm lessons.  I won't go into further detail here,  I'll also save that for the next FONF post.   

CODA:  I should note, I also brought two more things that I didn't get to work on:  I had my scrappy "Magic Cube" Shoo-Fly blocks to also use for leader/enders.  

Had I got to do more sewing they might have gotten worked on but the good news is that needing to work on the two QOVs at home now (and on deadline) means they will get done now!

The second thing was that during the December Accuquilt sales,  I had lucked up on getting two of the June Tailor "quilt-as-you-go" kits to make covers for the Accuquilt Go! machine.  

I got one for my MIL and one for myself and had gotten the fabric bundle of the Accuquilt fabrics.  We split the eight fabrics in it between us (she took the light/white/blue fabrics and I took the lime green and orange fabrics).  We both had to add two additional fabrics to our sets because the kit requires having six fat quarters to make the cover.  I added the white and grey and the turquoise prints at the top to fill out mine.  Both of us also made some cuts at the Accuquilt booth "make & take" station at Quilt Con that we hope to add to our covers.  So that too is another project for future sewing or the Fall trip back!

So a lot attempted but definitely not as many things finished up as hoped.  Our next visit in September will be quieter as the annual NC Shop Hop dates have been changed to May/June so we won't have that to participate in.  We will be coming in time for the guild meeting that month.  If DH and I come down on the Friday before as we did this time,  that will also lessen the impact on the rest of the time spent there.  And thus ends the maximalist-mini retreat report!       

Finished or Not Friday: A Recap of September and October Finishes

Whew!  September and October were quite busy life-wise and as a result my blog became a victim of neglect.  Fortunately that was not the case with my quilting and in fact a lot of the busyness was related to it!  The good news is that having those projects helped during yet another time when having things either in the works or with deadlines helped to keep my mind focused during times of stress.

Equally helpful is to have hosts like the lovely Quilty Girl Alycia to provide a place for us to "jot this all down for posterity" through her weekly "Finished Or Not Friday" linkups!

So here are the things I worked on these past two months and that I am pleased to say also made it to the finish line (and this is your official "Long Post Ahead" warning!!!):

Finish #1:  A Fall Flannel Raffle Quilt (try saying that three times fast!)

One of the potential stressors was that I thought I would need a raffle quilt on short notice for an Art Show my community garden had announced in mid-August was being planned.  When word of it was shared at our monthly meeting, my expectation was for a late September or October show as we have held in the past.  I quickly came up with an idea for a display of my quilts with the theme being -- appropriately enough -- "Fall Quilts" and made a pile of the ones I planned to display.

Having successfully made a quilt to raffle off at our last show two years ago ,  I knew I would be expected to do the same again.  As such I went with the same simple design for it:  I decided to make another 9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch quilt.  The good news there was that I already had a great bundle of Fall colored flannels purchased during a shop hop last year.  Eight of the fabrics in the bundle were from Holly Taylor's "Endangered Sanctuary" line for MODA and the cardinal print was from her “Cardinal Reflections” line.   

This was it laid out on my design wall.

When I opened the bundle, I had been surprised to find that one of the fat quarters in it was a border print that featured images of woodland animals (you can see what it looks like as yardage in the fabric line link above).  Not what I had expected but great for the purposes of this FQ design!  It did require a bit of fussy cutting and then cutting and sewing up the FQs a little differently than in the normal "disappearing block" process in order to get them placed properly in the final layout.  I liked the way it all worked out in the end!  

For the backing, I was fortunate to find and purchase another print from the "Endangered Sanctuary" line which I used to fill out the center of the back and for the binding.  I filled out the rest of the back with a brown tone-on-tone flannel print I had leftover from making this quilt from a good while back.  Just proof that leftovers and scraps can be helpful stash too!  

I got it done right before we went on our last camping trip for the season during the last weekend of September.  The campground provided a great place to get a nice picture of the finished quilt in an apropos location!

Unfortunately, a date for the Art Show still hadn't been announced by the time of our trip and the following weekend we were scheduled to travel down down to North Carolina for our annual Fall trip to visit my MIL.  So the good news is that if they do the event next year, I already have everything I need to participate!

Finish #2:  My First Quilt of Valor Donation! 

Speaking of North Carolina, we last visited there back in February.  Since my MIL is also a quilter, our visit is usually also a mini quilt retreat for the two of us.  On that trip,  I joined her quilt guild since I have attended both general and "bee group" guild meetings and workshops as a guest with her over the last couple of years.  Her guild is the Tar River Quilters Guild and they have many subgroup "bees" and many Community Outreach projects that members can participate in and contribute to.  When I joined, I picked up two outreach quilt kits one of which was for a Quilt of Valor which included fabric for the top and binding and a label.  

The guild holds a QOV presentation ceremony every November and the QOV tops have to be submitted by the end of September to the quild member that longarms them.  At the time I joined the guild, the rule was that you submitted a backing with your finished top so I had purchased fabric for my kit before we left NC (it's the blue fabric with stars at the top in the picture above).  I had the usual "quilter's expectations" to get both of the kits done before we returned for our Fall visit.  Of course, it took my MIL reminding me about the QOV submission deadline to finally get it started in August, LOL!!  

By that time, the donation rules had changed:  the guild had received a funding source for their QOV efforts so now, you just submitted the top, prepared binding and $20 and the member doing the longarming (who is also co-chair of the "Patriotic Bee") would provide the backing, batting and the quilting.  The pattern for the kit was a simple one but it turned out that the fabric balance in the kit left a little to be desired and the fabric provided for the borders was a little short too!  

The good news was that now that I no longer needed to submit it, I was able to use some of the backing fabric I had purchased to help me come up with a color distribution that was pleasing to me for the layout in the center.  That then left some extra bits of the remaining fabrics provided in the kit to craft pieced borders that helped stretch the white solid that had been provided for that purpose.

I did have to do some more work on that lower right border before sending it though!

I managed to get the top done and the binding prepped by the end of August.  The top,  binding and a label that was included in the kit and now with my name written in as the maker was put in the mail back to NC so it could be submitted for quilting in early September.  

As noted earlier, we were scheduled to return to NC the first weekend of October and would be there for two weeks.  I expected that the quilt would have been quilted by the time we arrived and that my task in the first few days of our arrival would be to attach the binding and sew on the label by hand.  Well imagine my surprise when we attended the bee meeting and I learned that my quilt was not only quilted but had already been bound and the label attached!

The quilt displayed at the monthly guild meeting.

One of the guild angels had already handled the binding and label application for me!!  So I am happy to say that my very first QOV donation will be presented to a veteran at the guild's November meeting tomorrow!  Unfortunately, I won't be there for the ceremony but hopefully will be able to get pictures of the presentation from the guild newsletter or my MIL.  

The Patriotic Bee has decided to push for members to submit QOV tops all year round to take the stress off of getting them prepped for the ceremony as it would seem that I was not the only one that waited until close to the deadline to submit their top.  I am already looking forward to making another top for the guild that I can have ready for our return in February (and check out my sidebar to see what else I will be attending in NC that month!).  I am also once again encouraged to push forward in getting the four (!) QOV tops I've already made quilted and find out how to donate them in my own community at their annual Veteran's Day ceremony.  

Finished Quilts #3, #4 and #5:  Results of a 3 Yard Quilt Retreat

As I said, when we visit my MIL, she and I usually have a mini quilt retreat.  When we go down in the Fall, it is also during the time that there is a Shop Hop in her state.  So we also spend a few days visiting the quilt shops that are within a couple of hours drive from where she lives.  As a result, I try to take projects that are either simple to piece or don't require alot of mental focus since whatever work I do on them in the limited time we have together will be interrupted by shopping, guild meetings or other community events or activities that she wants us to attend with her.

For this trip, I decided to make my focus the many kits I have compiled to make "3 Yard Quilts" by the Fabric Cafe.  We both love the designs they come out with which are often great inspiration for our shop hopping or for stash busting.  I will admit that I now have too many kit bundles already put together so it actually kept me from shopping for more on this trip!  My hope was to piece up some of the ones that I already had and even better, quilt them using my MIL's longarm.  

On that end I was somewhat successful as I did get these three at least cut out, pieced and quilted before we left after that two week stay:

While all of these got pieced and quilted,  only one also got bound.  Once we returned home, one of the remaining two still needed to be trimmed.  So the story of those quilts are:   

#3: The Barbie Quilt!

Top made with the "Allure" pattern from "The Magic of 3 Yard Quilts" book.

Back with a label area pieced in and using a cheater print which was also used as one of the fabrics for the top.

Fabrics and quilting detail.

The inspiration for making this quilt was our trip to NC last year for the funeral of my MIL's sister.  My DH and I had traveled down for it with one of her two remaining sisters and that sister's daughter and granddaughter.  At the time, the "Barbie" movie had recently come out and despite the sad occasion, we managed to have a lot of fun talking and joking about "the world of Barbie" with the granddaughter during that trip.  

When my DH and I returned to NC earlier this year, I had come across some "Barbie" related fabric on a trip to Hobby Lobby and just knew I had to make a quilt for that little girl with it.  The pinks in the two prints I found coordinated perfectly with a patchwork cheater print that was also on sale so I immediately made plans to work on a 3YQ to give to her.  With it all done, it looks like it can now definitely be a Christmas gift for her this year!  

#4:  Another Sn'Gnomies Quilt!

Front made with the "Sew Fast" pattern.

The back is fleece.

This too is another quilt with a prior trip provenance:  right before our trip in February, I had pieced another 9FQDNP quilt as a birthday gift for a long-time friend of mine.  She's a big fan of Gnomes and I had found a FQ bundle using Shelly Comisky's "I Love Sn'Gnomies" flannel fabric line for Henry Glass Fabrics.  In the process of stashing for that project, I wound up buying a lot of extra fabric due to the timing of the arrival of a print I had originally planned to use in the backing of that quilt and needing to buy more of a directional print in order for it to work in that design the way I wanted.   

So when that project was finished, I still had quite a bit of stash left over that I thought would be enough to make another quilt.  Then when Joann's went out of business earlier this year,  I saw some fleece fabric that was the perfect color to go with the leftovers.  I had used fleece as backing for a quilt some years back and loved how the quilting looked on it.  When I finished quilting this one, I had trimmed it in prep for binding which is what you saw in the picture at the start of this reporting section.  Unfortunately, I was just short of having enough of the Aqua Snowflake print I preferred for the binding so had to get a little more of it.  When it came in last week, I was then able to complete that last task.

And it looks like I'm not done with this fabric line!  I often receive sales promotion notices from the Annie's Attic catalog site and even though I was not planning on buying anything,  I figured I'd just take a look to see what they were offering --- I know, never a good idea!  Well what did I see but a kit on sale to make one (or possibly two) rag pillows made in this same fabric line!  I had purchased the starting FQ bundle and a panel for the quilt I had made back in February from Annie's so was not surprised they might have more of the fabric still in stock.  

I actually like making pillow covers and have never tried making a "rag quilt" style project before so I admit I was intrigued.  What was not totally clear from the kit description was if the kit did supply fabric for just one pillow or for two.  Even so, I was not sure I had a need for two pillows since I really don't even have a personal need or person in mind for this quilt right now.  However, it was a tempting (and cheap) enough idea that I decided to look around both to see what the process of this technique involves and to see if there were any other rag pillow designs out there of interest that I might even be able to make from the fabric I already had left.  Sure enough look and ye shall find!

I found this even less expensive kit on another website and liked that it was definitely for one pillow and was bigger than the one (or ones) made in the Annie's kit.  That kit has since arrived and now is on the list of projects to tackle in November!     

#5:  The "Cheers" Quilt

The "Fandango" pattern from the "Make It Modern with 3 Yard Quilts" book.

More flannel fabric for the backing!

Fabric and Quilting Detail

This one was also the result of a prior trip but it was the camping one in September!  Well actually, this also started with the Joann's GOOB sales as I found the licensed "Cheers" prints there.  At our prior garden Art Shows, everyone always asked if I sell my quilts.  I am leary of doing so only because while we quilters know how much fabric and more importantly time costs in making a quilt (and if you've never thought about that check out this post or this one),  I believe most people seem to put the value of a handmade quilt at what they can pay for a mass-produced one in a store.  

However, I do believe you can convince people to accept a rate closer to what it actually costs if you can make a quilt personal enough to them.  I think wedding, baby and t-shirt quilts fall into this category but I also think "themed" quilts around movies and TV shows could do the same.  So when I saw the discounted licensed prints,  I thought they would be good prospects along with the fairly quick to make 3YQ designs for some potential "for sale" quilts.  

And that was my plan for the two sets of fabrics I coordinated together (I have another fabric that features framed B&W pictures of the show's characters) and the plaid flannel that I bought for backing and binding both.  That is until we went on that last camping trip for the season at the end of September.  We have been camping with a co-worker of my DH who has organized trips for a group of family, friends and co-workers for the last five years and we have gone with them the last two years.  

This last trip we took was to scout out a potential campground for next year's Memorial Day weekend trip.  We camped at Lake Taghkanic state park which is actually the very first one my DH and I camped at over 30 years ago!  

So we were excited at the chance to check it out with her as well as a chance to take a trip down memory lane.  While there were a few things that were the same as we remembered like the lake with the beachfront swimming area:  

However, by and large we believe the actual campsites and campground set-up is way different now than it was all those years (no, decades!) ago.  

Our campsite and setup this trip.

While there are still some ground tent sites, we don't remember there being any platform sites back in the day!  

During one of our stints around the campfire, his co-worker mentioned a fondness for the "Cheers" TV show!  Well, you know what immediately went off in my head:  Gift Quilt!!  She knows that I quilt and has seen the quilt we use that has now become a permanent part of our camping kit (which can be seen here).  We had also talked a few years ago about her commissioning a quilt from me.  While this isn't the design we talked about,  I was really excited to make and give her another one in the meantime in appreciation for all the work she does in planning and organizing the camping gatherings we have attended.  

 A Short Aside about Longarming 

I want to again note that these last three were all quilted on the longarm my MIL purchased back in 2023.  Ever since, every trip down has been a chance for us both to learn more about using it.  She has a Handiquilter Moxie that came with a tablet to run the Prostitcher stitch patterns software.  However back in June,  the battery on the tablet malfunctioned (the term she was told is "exploded") and caused the back to pull away from the front of the tablet.  She has been waiting on a replacement so this was the perfect time to learn some lessons and get some practice on how to quilt free-hand or free-motion on her machine.  We had actually tried to do a bit of that on our last trip earlier this year but now were forced by circumstance to really dive deep into the process.  As is with doing free-motion on a domestic machine, it takes time and more importantly practice to get comfortable doing the stitching without the machine guiding it.   

We also once again started off dealing with tension problems and so once again learned more lessons about how longrams work.  This time it was realizing that when you thread the machine -- and unlike when you thread a domestic machine -- it is not enough to just guide the thread around the upper tension disk area.  

In the case of the longarm, you actually have to be sure that the thread is "popped" between the disks.  We started off experiencing lots of looping on the back of the test pieces we stitched only to find out that the simple problem was that the thread wasn't actually seated between the disks!  Once we resolved that, the tension balanced itself and we could move on to improving our free-motion skills.  

I've done more free-motion on my domestic than my MIL has on hers so I was a little more comfortable with it than she was.  However, we both got some stitching on actual quilts done and both can see where more practice in the future will definitely help us improve!  That doesn't mean we don't also look forward to getting the tablet and pre-programmed stitches back though, LOL!  We have also discussed that on the next trip down we are going to go halvesies and invest in a ruler base and she is going to purchase a ruler foot.  She already has a couple of rulers and I will bring down the ones I have that are made for longarms and that will be our next scheduled longarm lesson!  

Whew!  If you've stuck around this long, thank you!  I know it's a lot but this is what happens when you don't blog for a couple of months!  I should note that there was also quite a bit of cross stitching going on during this period but I'll save that for another post!  So head back over with me to check out what everyone else has to share this crafty week at Quilty Girl Alycia's for Finished Or Not Friday!