NewFOs, a UFO and a Donation

Two finishes this week and both for a good cause.  Back in August 2011, Victoria Findlay-Wolf of BumbleBeans, Inc. and quilt designer Pat Sloan put out a call for more quilts for the BASICS organization that helps transition the homeless to new housing.  I've contributed before and knew I wanted to send another donation.  I had a top on hand that I was willing to donate so figured it would be a cinch to get it quilted up by the late November deadline.

Best intentions aside, that didn't get done.  So I promised Victoria that for the next distribution event, I'd send two quilts.  Of course, then the challenge was what to make.  Fortunately Joann's had a big Winter Warm-up sale in mid Januay at which I found a 2-1/2" strip set of mottled solids and some coordinating background and backing fabric perfect for a new project.  It also helped that right opposite the fabric display was the quilt book display and I was able to find a pattern I liked and even better, it was in a book I already owned.  That resulted in my NewFO for February:  Spinning Tops & Flowers!

It is my variation of the "Spinning Tops" design from Pam & Nicky Lintott's book "Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts".  The Lintott's design had the blocks set right next to each other but I had to add sashing to mine to make the variety of colors I used work.

The second part of the promise was the top I had on hand (the UFO) called "Flowing Silk".

It was a Connecting Threads kit for their "Sweet & Sour" line that I had purchased in 2010 to re-purpose one of the orignal kit fabrics for use in another project.  The replacement fabric, the one in the dark purple columns, and the backing were purchased at Hartsdale Fabrics and worked perfectly with the CT fabrics. 

So I feel good:  a NewFO, a UFO and a quilt donation -- it's a triple play!  I had to work right down to the wire because the distribution day is Friday.  I finished up the binding on both and had to launder the quilts on Wednesday and just barely made it to UPS to ship them off for delivery today.

In other NewFO news:  one of my January NewFOs is also finished and has been placed in its designated spot.

I quilted the Civil War Mini Twister quilt on the Sunday before Valentines Day and hung it up right away.  The other January NewFO mini "Pink Ginger Lemonade" is still awaiting hand quilting but hopes are it will also get done and get to join its pals soon. 

Hopefully now I can get back to what I really need to be working on: the PHD and Patchwork Times UFO Challenge projects!


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Last Post of 2010

It looks like the last finish for 2010 will be my Schnibble now called "Tribal Scratch":

It was finished on Wednesday.  I thought I'd get to also quilt the last two quilts on deck but had no energy on Thursday (actually stayed up late to finish so was just too tired the next day to do anything).  I am working on the Crumb quilt today but it doesn't look like it will be done by day's end.  No matter, I'll probably spend the rest of the weekend and even early next week finishing them so they will not be hanging over my head as I move on to the PHD Challenge projects list.

Once again, wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year's.  See you in 2011!!

Quilters Accountability 12/29/10

The Final Push and the Last QA Post for 2010

Last Week's Goals:

1. Layer the Crumb quilt. Done.
2. Quilt the Schnibble, Crumb and Brrrr! quilts. Started the Schnibble today.
3. Finish up the Sage Sampler blocks.  Didn't touch 'em.
4. Get back to work on the DWR top. Nope.

It's a good thing I accomplished the things I did last week, because after setting up my machine to start this week's list, I broke my new sewing machine!  I hit the plate converter with the needle (don't know how I did that) and it popped off, prompting a rush visit on Friday to the Nimble Thimble where I had purchased it so it could be sent out for service.  I was lucky it happened at the end of last week because the store is closed all this week.  Which was fine since I had promised DS2 that I would take him to purchase the skateboard he wanted for Christmas so we were able to "kill two birds with one stone" that day.  Thank goodness I still have my old machine so I am not totally stranded.

So after maiming my machine, visiting relatives on Christmas Day and prepping for friends who were going to stop by on Monday, I think I expended the last of my Holiday energy. After DH and I shopped early Sunday in anticipation of either our guests or a forcasted snowstorm, I took the rest of the day to relax. By Sunday afternoon the blizzard came in, by that evening we had cancelled the plans with our friends and by Monday morning we had no more storm and twenty inches of snow blanketing the city! New York City rarely stops even for a snow storm so you know this was a big one when most of the public transporation was not running, the airports were closed and Mayor Bloomberg was exhorting everyone to stay home and take a Snow Day.

Picture Courtesy of the NY Daily News; 12/27/10 Article 

So this is how my week started:

All the layered quilts:  The Schnibble "Scratch" top is on top (layered the week before last), Brrr Park on the left (the last of the quilt tops made and layered in 2009) and the Crumb top which I finished layering on Tuesday.  So I did not get to start quilting until today.  However, "Scratch" is small and I've got about a quarter of it done already, so the quilting may get finished tonight and the "back-turned-to-the-front" binding tomorrow.   

Goals for the Rest of the Week:  I still have tomorrow and Friday to try to finish up the other two and make the list for Finn's Year-End Challenge.  For Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday, I plan to participate in Pat Sloan's New Year's Eve/Day UFO Busting Party (details announced today on her blog).  I am hoping to finish things for the YEC as well as get a start on some things for Myra's 2011 PHD Challenge that I signed up for (you can see what I've got on my list for that here).  My goal for next year: NO UFO's!

Hoping you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations and are planning big things for New Year's Eve and Day.   Hop on over to Bari's to see how everyone else finished up for this year.  Here's to a productive 2011!

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!

The Flannel Series Continued

Last week I finished my second finish for 2010 and the latest quilt in the "Flannel Series", so as promised in my last post, I wanted to give the details for both projects.  First up is the finished quilt pictured in that post.

It's called "Flying For Cover". I learned about it when Keepsake Quilting sent me an email last October about projects using flannel.  This was one of two quilts offered as a kits. I thought it was a gorgeous quilt, loved the fact that it was in flannel and probably most important, would fulfill two "Bucket List" desires.  You know, the Bucket List -- the list of quilts you want to make before you "kick the bucket"!  

While I plan to do another post about that later, I will say that the two quilts this satisfied for me was doing a strippy quilt and doing a quilt with (a lot of) Flying Geese.  I wasn't able to purchase the actual kit for this though -- at the time I wanted it Keepsake had it on back order for quite awhile.  I was able to find the sashing and border fabrics ("Two In The Bush" by Bonnie Sullivan for Maywood Studios) at EQuilter.com and the flannel tone-on-tones at Fabric.com and then bought the pattern at Keepsake (which was also sold separately from the kit but also can be purchased from the pattern designer's website).  With everything gathered, I was able to put together my own "kit".  Later, the backing fabric came from AAA Quilters Supply another favorite Internet vendor.

Most of the time when I make a quilt, I am also looking to try new techniques.  In this case doing the Flying Geese allowed me to finally get a chance to use what I call "Eleanor Burn's Two Squares" method of making them.  I saw her demonstrate this when she did the "Pioneer Sampler" and the "Underground Railroad Sampler" on her Quilt In A Day TV shows.  If you've never seen her technique check out Mary's post on this blog or go to the Quilt In A Day channel on Quilters TV.com and watch any of the Pioneer Sampler episodes or any other episodes using what Eleanor calls the "Triangle Pieced Rectangle" method. 

Although the finished units can be squared up with a regular ruler, I knew if I ever did a project with a lot of flying geese, using hers would be easier but I hated the fact that you needed a different ruler (sold separately) for each different size geese (actually each ruler makes two sizes).  I resisted buying them until I was able to get her Mini Ruler set on sale. Unfortunately the mini set didn't make the size needed for this pattern so I wound up also buying the Jumbo set.  Once I started making them, I was hooked (it's such an efficient method) and then wanted all the rulers which I wound up buying before I finished this project!  Prior to this my favorite was the "no waste method" (or what I call the "five squares method") demonstrated here but now this is my favorite.

Another technique I got to try was Sharon Schamber's hand basting technique.  You can watch videos of it here and here.  It was really easy to do although I disagree with her that it's any faster than pin basting.  She says you can baste any size quilt using this method.  However, you should take note that to do a large quilt like a queen or king size will require a couple of long tables to hold the whole top stretched out end to end.  However for this lap size quilt, my cutting table accommodated it just fine.

This method worked really well, in the end I had no puckers on the back and as she notes in her demo it was very easy to remove the basting stitches as I quilted. While I won't give up pin basting (I baste on my cutting table so physically it is not hard), I definitely would use this technique again as well.

The finished quilt was quilted in a clamshell pattern.  I got that idea from the pattern designer Janet Locey of Henscratch Quilting. In the picture of the quilt on her website, that was what she used and I felt it was doable.  While I have always quilted my own quilts, I am not always confident about doing it before I start.  I started out with the plan to use templates printed on sticky-backed full sheet labels as instructed in the book "One Line At A Time" by Charlotte Warr Anderson, one of the many quilt stitch books I invested in last year.  But after doing two rows across the quilt I felt confident enough to finish the rest of the quilt freehand.  I can't say the clamshells were all even but in the end, the texture on the quilt looked real good.

In the next post I'll detail the latest installment of the Flannel Series.

To Quilt Is Human, To Finish Divine!

I finally have some finishes for 2009 and for the "Spring To Finish Challenge" being hosted by Jacqui at the Tallgrass Prairie Studio blog .

The basket quilt is done. The pattern is the "Postage Stamp Quilt" from Alex Anderson's very first book "Quilts For Fabric Lovers" (C&T Publishing, 1994, out of print). My quilt was made a little smaller than the one in the book. The picture of the back was taken before I wrote in the quilt label information.

This was one of my "scrap quilt challenge" projects. I have a self-imposed challenge to make (or at least start) a quilt from scraps each year. All the basket blocks were cut from leftover pieces cut from other projects with a few backgrounds cut from stash if no coordinating scraps were available. The border and backing fabrics were purchased new as were the blue, yellow, pink and two of the olive prints used in the nine-patch blocks (the rest of the olive prints came from stash).

In a previous post about this quilt Sue posted a comment that she didn't think she'd ever get to do one. I've got to say that in the book Alex said making these blocks is addictive and I agree with her! They are quite simple and small (4-1/2" finished) and pieced except for the handle which is stitched onto the background and then finished by applique (I did the applique by machine). Alex also demonstrated this block on the "Simply Quilts" show episode #216 "Designing Fabric with Nancy Martin" for those of you who (like me) may still have the shows on tape (and which reminds me I've got to check on DVD recorder prices again so I can finally get all those tapes transferred to disk!).

While I love the way the quilt turned out, it's definitely not square since the bottom edge is rippling something awful. However, I think it's striking enough to display for a while. I also love the binding technique I used. It is a "piped binding" -- no actual piping cord is used just two fabrics layered and best of all applied completely by machine. The technique is from the book "Triangulations Bed Quilts" by Brenda Henning and is one I will definitely use again.

The second finish is a quilt made for my cousin's soon to be three year old daughter. It is made from the "Five and Dime" quilt pattern by All Washed Up.



I call it the "Girly Pink Spring Quilt". The quilt got its name because it started with some bright fabrics purchased in a Fons & Porter scrap bag that I thought were real "girly", something my cousin said her daughter was quickly becoming. I added some coordinating fabrics from my stash and then found the pink fabric used for the vertical sashing on the front and the green backing fabric at Aunt Bee's Sewing Basket at a clearance sale at the beginning of the year. When I started working on the quilt, my husband asked me if I was making a "spring quilt" and I added that to the name. I hope to give it to her this month for her birthday although now this means I must also layer and finish the quilt I've got for her brother too!

In other quilty news: I was accepted to participate in my first block swap. Margaret of the Quick Queen of Quincy blog is hosting a summer "Color Block" block swap. She opened the block swap up to fifty participants and I was able to snag the last spot. So I'll be working on those blocks over the next two months since we are to submit sets of blocks by the beginning of July and mid August.

Unfortunately having just finished these two pieces I don't have anything up on the design wall right now. I'm taking a break for a day and then as of June 1 will be plunging back into my Joann BOM project and the aforementioned brother gift quilt. So I should be back in June with some good quilty stuff to post!