BOMs Away 2020 Week 2 - #1: Christmas Figs

This year I PLAN to work on at least four BOMs.  Two are fairly new to me and two are projects I had been gathering fabric for for awhile.  One of them isn't actually a BOM but I figure that working it like a BOM would be a great way to get it started.

Although I've made BOMs before, I've never done any of them the way they are intended:  one block (or a set of blocks) a month for the duration of the BOM period (usually twelve months but I've done one that was shorter and have seen some that are longer).  I usually have started them late and then wound up having to make multiple blocks at a time to catch up or making the blocks winds up stretching over years!  This time around, I'd like to work on them the "old fashioned way" -- one block a month for each BOM so one block for one of them each week .  Of course, since I'm already a week behind in my plans for that for the year, this week I'll have to make two!

The first BOM worked on is the Fig Tree Quilts "Christmas Figs".  I first discovered this great quilt design on Pat Sloan's blog all the way back in August of 2018.

When Pat announced that she was embarking on a quilt along using the book "Christmas Figs" by Joanna Figuora of Fig Tree Quilts (and published by "It's Sew Emma", the publishing arm of the Fat Quarter Shop),  I immediately got excited.  Later on I saw that Diane Harris (formerly of Quiltmaker magazine and now blogging independently over at Stash Bandit) was also sewing this one up.

Joanna's lovely sampler is based on an antique quilt in her collection.  Of course not long before seeing it I had said that I had done my fair share of samplers and didn't plan to make any more in the near future --- NOT!!   When will I ever learn that you NEVER say never when it comes to quilting!!

Pat actually made the quilt twice -- once in the Fig Tree "Christmas Figs" fabrics and again in Blue and White using Edyta Sitar's "Something Blue" fabric line which can be seen here.   I didn't particularly have an interest in approaching it in either of those two color ways --- I already have a number of Christmas quilts made and a couple more already WIPs, kitted or planned.  I have a Blue and White Drunkard's Path UFO project that I haven't worked on in years (and am not sure I even know where that is!).  So if I wanted to make this, I needed to figure out how to make it interesting for me.  Well that was easy:  I've always wanted to stash Fig Tree fabrics but hadn't had a project to sufficiently nudge me into doing so --- until now!

It should be noted that in Joanna's version of the quilt, she uses the same solid background throughout all the blocks and sashing so the blocks seemed to float across the top.  I liked that look and although I originally wanted to work scrappy on the backgrounds, I also wanted to try to achieve a somewhat floated look.  I was helped with that when shopping for wide back fabric for my MIL's Kringle gift for Christmas in 2018 (she is also a quilter so I gave her, what else? A quilt kit!).  I came across some Moda Bella Solid fabric in "Fig Tree Cream" on sale and stocked up.  So now two years later, I have a fairly healthy stash of an assortment of Fig Tree fabrics from some of the older lines!

So this becomes the first big "NewFo"  (to coin the term for a new project Barbara Stanbro over at Cat Patches used for a weekly link up) for 2020.  First up is:

Block # 1: Puzzle Star

While the sewing didn't go quite as fast as I expected, the cutting did.  All those HSTs meant this was a job for the Accuquilt Go!

Bonus:  I was also able to leader/ender the combo block sets I need to make for the Quiltville "Old Tobacco Road" mystery I am also working on so can keep that moving along too!

So one down for this week and this BOM!

I'm glad to be able to link up at Lynette's over at What A Hoot! for BOMS Away Mondays.

Back in 2012 I had linked up with Sinta Borland at the Pink Pincushion blog when she used to host BOM Rehab.  That one helped me get this one to a top....

Civil War Chronicles BOM

....and got this one started --- although it didn't get to a top until three years after Rehab ended!

Heart and Home BOM

Needless to say both of those are still just tops!  Really hoping I'll be able to keep the BOM momentum going this year and even take some to a full finish!  The other block I need to make this week is pre-cut so hopefully I can get it made up fairly quick.

1/14/20 Edited to Add:
Ooops!  It looks like I'm not finished with this block and this BOM for this month yet!  When I was packing everything away, I took another look at the book and I see I overlooked instructions to add a narrow sashing strip around the whole block.  Also, it turns out this BOM is a "Two Blocks Per Month" BOM so I've still got another Month 1 Block to make! I will get to that right after I get the block for the other BOM done for this week.

Finished Or Not Fridays: Embarking on a "NewFO"

Linking up to another edition of "Finish Or Not Fridays" hosted by the "Hostess with the QOV Mostess" Alycia of the Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog!  This time I've got one for the "...Or Not!" category although I will link back in a few weeks with the finish.

Years ago, Barbara Stanbro of the Cat Patches blog used to host a monthly linkup called "NewFo" which challenged you to share a new project that you started.  It was an interesting twist on the linkups that focus on sharing UFOs that you have finished up.  Despite having the usual multitude of projects in the hopper right now, I did have a very good reason to start yet another one.

I have my MIL, a fellow quilter, for my Christmas Kringle giftee again this year.  Last year I got her a quilt kit, a quilty mug and made a mug rug to go with it.  This year she asked for some notions which have already been purchased:

This is just a peek since I'm not sure if she has figured out how to read my blog!

When we visited her back in October, she and I had a conversation about "scrappy quilting".  I taught my MIL how to quilt and she has always perferred working with "big pieces" (nothing smaller than a 5" charm square) and in a controlled pallette.  She generally gravitates towards projects that call for only a few colors and then uses one fabric in each of the required colors.  However, she had worked on two projects in recent months that have pushed her a bit past her controlled fabric boundaries.

She is a huge fan of Jenny Doan and the Missouri Star Quilt Co. YouTube projects and has made a few of them already.  Back in August, she fell in love with Jenny's "The Big Star" project and made that one up.

My MIL has been trying to focus on working solely from her stash and this was the first time she had to challenge herself to start a project by figuring out what pieces she had in the amounts required and then make choices to coordinate unique pairs of fabrics together for each star and balance those choices and their placement in the quilt as a whole.  It was a real challenge for her but with a little help from me, she picked her fabrics and got the top pieced together and was reasonably happy with the outcome.  I think she'll like it even more once it's quilted --- complete finishes always tend to look even better than they did as just tops (IMHO)! 

She is also a member of a guild and in a "destash swap" got a few Block of the Month blocks already pieced along with the complete set of the BOM patterns.  She will have to make up the rest of the blocks to have enough for a completed project.  One of the rulers I bought for her Kringle gift is a specialty one that will help her make the pieced units for one of the remaining blocks.  The blocks that are already done were made up in a controlled pallette of Black, Navy, Gray, Dark Tans, Gold and Cream but with all the fabrics a scrappy mix within those colors.  During our visit, we shopped for more fabrics within the color pallette  (not her usual colors so none except the Gray and the Cream were in her stash) and that will add even more "scrappiness" to the finished set of blocks.

So project by project, she is getting more comfortable with the idea of "working scrappy".  She has often liked the quilts I have made and especially liked the Bonnie Hunter "En Provence" top I finished.  She doesn't think she'll ever be able to work that scrappy though!   I, on the other hand, have always loved the "everything but the kitchen sink" variety of scrap quilt so working scrappy was "in my blood" so to speak.  When I look at quilt designs, if they are not already scrappy, I think about whether they would work that way either with a scrappy mix of fabics within the colorway or if they would still work taking the "kitchen sink" route.

Recently I happened on an old Moda Bake Shop "recipe" from back in 2016 and saw an opportunity to make a quilted comment on the topic for both of us.  Even better, it was designed by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, a pattern and fabric designer I really like for the color pallettes she uses.  I have her Frivols tin (#9) that I hope to make up one of these days --- or maybe not since like Jelly Rolls and Fat Quarter bundles, these are just so cute staying displayed as they are!

The Bake Shop recipe as offered is for a lap quilt which is what I'll make for me.  For my MIL, I plan to make the same quilt but half size to give her as a wallhanging for her sewing room as the final piece of her Kringle gift.  I made her a walhanging all the way back in 2008 when she still lived here in New York and she still has it hanging in her sewing room today!

The pattern and the only pictures I still have of it which are in my journal.

I'm hoping this new wallhanging will inspire her as she continues to try working on scrappy projects in the future.

Of course, "S" is for Scrappy!

Once again, this is just a peek of what I've got so far.  I'll share more of it and the link to the recipe once I've got the whole thing made up and in the mail.  I'm hoping to make the U.S. Postal Service early mailing deadline on the 14th so I'm going to have to really focus to get this done!

Don't forget to go over to Alycia's to see what everyone else either got started, worked on or finished this week! 

Catching Up On Things

Didn't get to post last week at all --- DH was on vacation and I admit I get distracted when he's home.  Partly it's because I start making lists of all the things I figure we can try to tackle while he's off from work.  Next I think about places I want to go since I have unfettered access to the car (he usually takes it to work). Of course, all that has to be balanced against DH's desire to spend his ideal vacation week -- doing absolutely nothing, vegging out on the couch in front of the TV.  Always a challenge to reach a "Honey Do" détente agreement!

So to catch up on the quilty doings:

First:  a Win!

I had participated in the last (for now) NewFo link up at Barbara's Cat Patches blog at the end of December and lo and behold I won (thanks again Barbara)!  I received these lovely fat quarter cuts of Moda's Half Moon Modern Zig Zag fabric.  I have some great polka dot fabrics and batiks cuts in the same colors so I'm thinking a modern quilt project might be in my future. 

1/28/15 Edited to Add:

I also won this pin!  I completely forgot this was part of the prize and was putting away the Fat Quarters when I realized this was nestled between the bundles for safe keeping! 

 

 

It will look great added to the collection seen in this post!

 

Second: a Flimsie!

I FINALLY got the top finished on my "High Strung +2" quilt top!  This was an easy top but a slow finish because I underestimated the time it takes to blanket stitch around all those little applique pieces and make all the thread changes.  It's done now and I looking forward to quilting it and permanently adding the button embellishments and the reindeer's bell harness.  However, since Christmas is literally a year away right now, it will have to wait.  Why?  Because there are other holidays 'a brewin'....
 
Third: a new project!

This is the start of "Vintage Cherries For Valentines".  The original design is also from the same book -- "'Tis the Season" by Jeanne Large and Shelly Wicks -- that the "High Strung" quilt is from (Note:  both of these are also available as individual e-patterns from the Martingale website:  just click on the "epatterns" link on the book's page).

When I saw the quilt in the book I was immediately struck by the color palette but it reminded me of a chocolate candy assortment and that reminded me more of Valentines Day than of Christmas.  Raiding the stash, I found I had a lot of starter for it and since I don't already have a Valentines Day quilt and last year had bought a wool table topper pattern also for that holiday, it seemed the perfect time to get it started.

And throw in some Slow Sunday Stitching (that didn't get done until Monday so I'll post about it with next week's report) and Sunday's Downton Abbey installment (did the Dowager Countess have a fling in Russia back in the day?!?!?) and it all adds up to this being a bit of a busy week.

Hope you've been able to stay inside and combat the cold with the warmth of quilting.  I know I have!

Last Post of the Year: The End of Final Clearance and a Linky Era

It turned out my "Final Clearance" push did not go as well as planned.  I had hoped to be able to focus on at least four quilt projects once Thanksgiving ended but only managed two between all the holiday doings and both were new projects for Christmas.  I had been stressing about trying to get the last one to a flimsy before the year ended until I took a "motivation break" to do some catching up on Bloglovin'.  One of the first posts I read was Barbara's Cat Patches blog post for the December NewFO link up.

However, reading further I got the bad news: after three years of hosting this fun monthly get together she will be ending the run of the NewFo link ups!  I have enjoyed adding a link to her lineups on more than a few occasions because this is the one place where starting is more important than finishing!  While I hate to say good-bye to this tradition, this is also an opportunity to take some of the pressure off this last project.  I'm joining in to honor it's start since I know I can't nudge it to a finish for now. 

This is "High Strung (Plus 2)" the cover quilt from the book "Tis the Season" by Jeanne Large and Shelly Wicks, a Martingale book. 

 

 

 

I call it "High Strung (Plus 2)" because for my version, I've added elements from two other projects in the book: in the lower part of the top, the stars and circles are from "Holiday Stars Runner" and the Reindeer is from "To All A Good Night".  Right now the Reindeer looks more like a dog but he'll improve when I decide on the fabric to use to add his bell harness.  All the background fabrics are cottons from Connecting Threads and all the appliques are made from flannel scraps in my stash.

The other completed NewFo this month was a holiday runner from the book "Skinny Quilts and Tablerunners II" edited by Eleanor Levie:

 

A funny story about how I got this book:  I had added it to my Amazon Wishlist after seeing one of the runners from it in a recent Martingale blog post.  About two weeks later, I got a package which according to the note attached, someone had chosen to make a random selection from all the Amazon wishlists to gift me the book!  They asked that I not contact them to thank them but view it as a "pay it forward" opportunity.  I got to do that a few days later when I manned the evening order pickup table for the frozen baked goods fundraiser for my son's school.  One of the parents who had participated (and who was pregnant and at a midtown meeting) had forgotten to come pick up her order even though I had confirmed the date and time with her a few days before so I personally delivered the two boxes of items to her home after finishing that night. 

 

The inspiration for the project I did was Linda Lum DeBono's "Birds of a Feather":

I was looking for a quickie runner project to decorate the dresser we use as a sideboard in the dining room.  I realized that I could substitute the bird appliques with a focus fabric, in this case a lovely poinsettia print in my stash of holiday prints. The stash also provided enough coordinates for the frames around the poinsettia panels, the striped panels next to them, the shirred center strip, and the pleated ends. 

For the back, my intention was to just cover it with what I had left of the poinsettia print since it would make an nice reversible mat that way.  However, I didn't have enough to cover the whole back with what I had left of the print so needed to add something to fill it out.  I liked the idea of doing a paper-pieced candle but all the block patterns I found weren't big enough. I wound up drafting up my own pattern to fit the space. 

In the end, I wound up preferring the "back" when I put it out for display!

And as has often happened in the past, these NewFOs also make perfect "Let's Book It" entries too so I will end the year by also linking up with Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts (and look to do so again in 2015)!

Remember, even though you won't be able to link up NewFOs,  you can still visit Barbara and her cats Smitty and Gracie over at her Cat Patches blog.  I and my family wish you and yours a very Happy New Year full of fun, friends, family and of course Quilts!!

See You In 2015!!!

The Fabric Gal Finale!

**Note:  Previously Published 5/22/14, Post Edited 5/30/14**

 

I woke up last Thursday to this beautiful sight.....

....it was what was left from "The Night Before" (which of course means this popped in my head)......

I had been making my first attempts at quilting using my new ruler foot (that's the "Frame Set" in the picture, purchased from here)...

...and rulers (reviewed by Amy here and purchased from here)....

.....to do these straight line seams (well, relatively straight anyway).
 

Now it should be noted that when I "quilt whispered" this quilt I wanted to empahsize the diagonal progressions of the opposing sets of same color blocks.  But I didn't want to just stitch along the seams.  Then I realized that if I outlined the pairs of (same color) light squares by FMQing with the ruler and then created "shadow" squares on the background triangles, I would get the same impact but done a different way.

However, once I had done a few (well, a lot of them), I realized that because the squares I quilted connected,  I could have much more easily and faster achieved the same effect by straight line quilting with the walking foot between the seam lines.  Oh well, I still like how it looks and I got alot of practice using the ruler which was far easier to use than I expected. 

I added quilting in the borders using the curved ruler......

...and then bound it (in the same border fabric) and made a label area for another finish!

So now my bed can finally go from Winter........

Brrr! quilt finished in 2014.

....to Spring!

This also means I have a finished NewFO and Book It Project as well as another notch on the 2nd Quarter Finish A-Long list! 

 

 

Edited 5/30/14 to Add:

 

I am also linking up with Amy at Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures for Week 4 of her Free Motion Monday posts on using Rulers. She also has more posts on different free motion techniques that you can check out by going here.

So you know I'm "Happy" (here's why)!

Fabric Gal is a Flimsie!

Currently 60" x 68".  Now it's on to "quilt whispering" and then quilting!

NewFo, Let's Book It and FAL Progress For April

April is now over and Spring has finally sprung!  Having finished a few overdue projects in the past few months, I was also itching to start something new.  So this is what I started:

I'm hoping for a quick turnaround on this because I want to display it on my bed for Spring.  Starting something new means I have another chance to join in again on Barbara's NewFO Challenge over at her blog Cat Patches.

I've done a few NewFos before but this time my NewFO is also a great "three-fer" finishing opportunity (and finishing is what I'm trying hard to be about these days).  So in addition to being a NewFO, it also gets to be a part of the monthly "Let's Book It Challenge" being hosted by Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts.

For that challenge, you choose a book or magazine project that's been on your "To Do" list and work on it or better yet, try to get 'er done!  If that's not enough of an incentive, when you link up you earn a chance to win a beautiful barn quilt block charm to add to a Barn pin charm holder!

Since this is also a project I've wanted to make for a long time, I had also included it in my list for my participation in the second quarter of the 2014 Finish A-long which is being hosted this year by Katy Cameron of The Littlest Thistle.

For the FAL, I actually need to finish the quilt but I've got until June to do that.

So exactly what is it that's been cooking on the quilt stove for all of this?  My project for these missions is Eleanor's Burn's "Fabric Gal" quilt from the book "Quilt In a Day: Still Strippin After 25 Years".

I first saw this quilt being made on an episode of Eleanor's QID TV series for the book back when Quilters TV was still operating as a free video website (it seems they have now moved to You Tube with a limited number of videos).  At the time I could also watch it using my Quilter's Club of America subscription.  As the quilt fates would have it, not long after seeing the episode, I also came across a sale on either the Nancy's Notions the website or in her mail catalog for some fat quarter "mystery packs".  I loved the colors of the fabrics in the picture of the packs and ordered two.

It turns out the fabrics were all from Nancy Halvorsen's Benartex Fabric line  "Angels Among Us".  The packs offered almost all that I needed to do this project.  I needed two values of each of four colors (one medium and one light) and wanted some variety in the prints used so I wound up needing an additional medium blue.  That was solved by my stash.  Prior to this I had ordered fabrics from the Connecting Threads County Essentials-Fall line to use as additions to both my Vintage Treasures quilt (seen here) and my Double Wedding Ring project (last progress seen here).  So the blue on the far right is from that line.

The challenge was then to find a background and border fabric to pull them all together.  Enter one of my LQSs Hartsdale Fabrics.  They are always there for me with the filler, foundations, backing, embellishments or thread I need for projects, especially those times when I really need to see and feel the fabric up close to make my choices.  That's where I found two wonderful fabrics for the border and the block backgrounds.  The bonus was that the border fabric was on the sale rack at the store (I love when that happens)!  The striped fabric will be the backing and was found at what used to be one of my favorite internet sources, Aunt Bee's Fabric Stash, which regretfully has since gone out of business.

I've had all of these fabrics bundled away together since 2008 waiting for an opportunity to make the quilt.  My plan was to return to the video and follow the instructions for making it.  But once again the Quilt Muses intervened in my favor.  Last year, I was at the local Joann's store and they had a "clearance books" basket at the register.  Lo and behold this book was in the basket for the fabulously low, low price of $3.95!!!  I couldn't believe my luck!

At that price I couldn't pass up adding it to the library.  This couldn't have come at a better time since I had dropped my QCA membership and Quilters TV doesn't have any QID videos on their YouTube channel.  As reported previously on my FAL list, these were all the starting strips cut for the project:

I had planned to use the piecing of these as the "leader enders" for another big project that was supposed to be my primary focus this month but instead I worked on finishing up another FAL project and piecing the parts for this.  Unfortunately I underestimated how far the fabrics would go so it won't be quite as large as originally hoped.  I even had to make up two blocks from some of the other fabrics in the mystery pack set which hopefully won't be too evident in the finished layout!  As can be seen in the opening picture, parts for all the blocks are done so I only need to sew the blocks and then the rows together, make up a couple of borders and then hopefully can get it quickly layered and quilted up before the end of May.  But for NewFO and Book It this is more than enough of a start to link up!

So go see what everyone else has newly blooming on their quilty WIP list over at Cat Patches and Vrooman's Quilts!