A Finish for the Q1 Finish-A-Long

It's time to report on my First Quarter Finish-A-Long efforts (and finally get back to blogging after too long away).  Despite a hope for four finishes this quarter (well, three and a bonus as I talked about here), I only got one completed. 

My #2 project, the "Merrimac Dresdens" is quilted and bound. The top and binding is made in fabrics from the Marcus Brothers "Merrimac" line that was issued way back in 2008 and the top was finished in November 2011.  After putting it on my Q1 2013 FAL list, I started basting it in late January with hopes of completing the quilting by the end of February. But the stitching took a lot longer than expected when my initial stitch plans changed a couple of times during the process and at one point I took a break from it during the latter half of February before getting back in gear and finishing it up in early March.

For the quilting, I free-motion outline stitched the plates and stitched a decorative pattern on top of the blades (the plates were machine blanket stitched to the backgrounds during the piecing process).  I used two different stitch patterns to fill the backgrounds of the blocks and a vine design in the border with a fill around it. 

The floral fill was the original background fill stitch I chose (and was based on and supposed to look like Leah Day's "Swirling Petals"). After doing a few blocks and seeing just how long it took to complete, I tried the wavy line fill as a test of a faster alternative. While I found that I liked it, I didn't like it enough to want all the blocks done that way or to rip out the floral fill I had already done. So a compromise was reached and I scattered four wavy line fill blocks throughout the top and continued the rest with the floral fill.  There is also some of the border vine scattered between a few blocks (another attempt at minimizing the amount of fill to be done) but the fabrics are so busy and thread so well matched that you can't really see them.  Overall, I love the texture created across the quilt but wish I had chosen a simpler motif to get it. 

The backing is a print from Andover Fabrics “From Lucinda’s Window” fabric line.  That line commemorated the "Reconciliation Quilt", an applique quilt made by  Lucinda Ward Honstain of Brooklyn NY completed in 1867 which depicted scenes from her life during and after the Civil War (you can download an IQSC article about that quilt here) .  I love to do contrasting backs and the applique cheater print against the dusty brown reproduction prints of the same time period really accomplished that. 

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Edited To Add:  I got to see the actual "Reconciliation Quilt" in April, 2014 when the New York Historical Society in NYC hosted the "Homefront & Battlefield" exhibit of Civil War quilts, clothing and artifacts.  I rounded out the day by also visiting the General Grant National Memorial (more commonly known as "Grant's Tomb") also here in NYC.

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The good news is that this finish checks off things on a few lists:  a UFO done, a "bucket list" project (Dresden Plates) completed and the second of five quilts to be completed for a Civil War quilt display series I am trying to put together.   I also did get some work done on the #1 project on my Q1 list but that will be a story for another post!

To see what everyone else accomplished for the first quarter, head on over to Leanne's "She Can Quilt" blog and check out all the links to see all the projects that have been finished!  A note about the Finish-A-Long:  during the Q1 linky period (through April 8), Leanne has lined up other bloggers to post interesting tutorials.  There is already one from Jennie of "Jennie's Threads" for a block carrier.  So check that out too!

Do You Dare To Dresden?

Today is the start of Madame Samm's "Dare To Dresden" Blog Hop over at Sew We Quilt.

For six days, she and Christine from Quilt Monster In My Closet will organize a blog hop where quilters can show off their Dresden projects. I am looking forward to this for two reasons.  The first is that her first hop of the year, "In Your Own Words", was a very interesting hop to the blogs of quilters who showcased projects that featured their favorite words or words that said something about who they are.  If you missed it, check out the daily posts starting here and a Pinterest board of all the featured projects here.

The other reason that I am excited about this hop is that I hope it will entertain and inspire me as I work on the finish of my own Dresden adventure:  my Merrimac Dresdens top is on the table being prepped for layering and quilting.

Hopefully while the hop progresses, I can make some progress on this one.  It is the first of my 2013 Finish Along First Quarter projects.  I'd love to be finished with it by the time the hop ends.
 
So hop on over to Madame Samm's and maybe you'll find the Dresden project of your dreams!

First 2013 Finish

Happy dance, happy dance!  The Underground Railroad and Pioneer Sampler wall hanging is finally complete!  I put on the last of the binding on Wednesday and ran out and bought the rod to hang it as well.  Now heeerr's the samplers!
 
Pioneer Side

 UGRR Side

And yes, it is reversible!

So a little (o.k., a lot of) background:  these samplers are from the books of the same name published by Eleanor Burns of Quilt In A Day fame.  The Pioneer Sampler was the first QIAD TV series I ever saw back in 2003 (my second year of quilting).  I fell in love with Eleanor's techniques and loved the shaded colors of her quilt not realizing then that it was to be "my style".  That same year I heard mention that the UGRR book was also going to be released and vowed to eventually get it too. 

And the episodes can still be seen on QNNTV.com.

After seeing the UGRR series when it came on TV and once I had both books, I realized an important history lesson.  Although I had always known about both of these two movements in U.S. history, I had never really taken note of the specific time period they occurred in.  By the time I got the UGRR book in 2005, Civil War Reproduction fabrics were all the rage.  I was surprised to realize that all of these social movements were happening around the same time!  Needless to say I immediately decided that both of these samplers had to be made in the CW palette and began collecting stash. 

But I also felt that these two needed to be part of the same quilt since to me they represented two sides of the same coin:  a difficult and hazardous flight to a new place for a new and better life.  As intense as we feel our own time is, imagine living through an age where the political upheaval of the War was going on along side the fight over slavery and the migration of thousands across country to establish new homesteads, towns, cities and states.  The idea to make this a reversible quilt was furthered when I read an article in a back issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.  In the November, 1996 issue (#287), Elizabeth Akana gave instructions in a "Quilters Workshop" article for making a rod pocket between the layers of a two-sided quilt (“Invisible Sleeve” with Kaye Jesse).

Like most projects this one progressed in dribs and drabs.  I started piecing the blocks in 2010.  Wanting a wall hanging, I planned to make both with  6" finished blocks.  Easy enough for the UGRR since that book provided instructions for both 6" and 12" blocks.  But the Pioneer book only provided 12" blocks so that meant I had to redraft them myself to the smaller size as I went along.  I got them done but didn't put the tops together until 2011.  

At that time, to even out the tops so they could be made back-to-back (the Pioneer sampler is only 12 blocks while the UGRR has 15) I added text blocks with information about each that I printed on muslin that I tea-dyed and prepped with Bubble Jet Set (the UGRR text was provided in the book and the Pioneer text was information I had collected from reading while making the project.  You can see close-ups of the text in this post).  They got layered because I hoped to push myself to finish the project by joining Myra's PHD Challenge that year.  I was disappointed when I didn't get them finished but appreciated that I managed to get them that far and was determined they would not languish forever. It also helped that Myra extended the Challenge into the new year!

By this time I decided that I wanted to hand quilt the two pieces.  But admittedly daunted by that prospect (well, that and I had a lot of other projects on my plate), I let it sit until December when I started on the hand quilting in the hopes of putting this one to bed as my last finish for 2012.  Didn't happen but once it was underway there was no chance of letting it flounder any longer.  After quilting in the ditch around the blocks, sashing and sashing squares (and finding that rather difficult to do with all the seams), I was not sure I wanted to quilt the blocks themselves.  I felt the power in the samplers were in the blocks and their story and since this was not a show quilt, it wouldn't suffer from the lack of extra quilting.  Not to mention it would save me about another two months of work! 

But once the centers were quilted, I felt the borders still needed something so I set out to find a stitch pattern -- nothing too complex -- to finish them off.  I found two great but simple cable designs in the book "Quilting With Style" by prolific hand quilters Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham. 

You can see the stitching better from the back.

Since the borders had no seams, they were far easier to quilt (a note to myself for future hand quilting endeavors) and the stitching finished off the borders perfectly.  

By now I really wanted this up on the wall!  I was willing to bind it, live with it for a while and (heretical for me) be willing to go back and remove the binding and quilt them more at a later date if it really, really, REALLY bothered me. After tack stitching the wrong sides of the two quilts together, it was on to the binding.  And THAT almost didn't happen when I couldn't find the fabric I had planned to use for them, then found it but realized it wasn't going to work after all!  But scraps to the rescue!  Like many, I keep the leftover lengths of binding from my projects.  It just so happened that this plaid binding....

....leftover from making this quilt in 2008....

....turned out to have the perfect coloring to be a good finish for this project as well.  Bonus:  it was already cut!  This was a brushed cotton fabric and although I used the "fuzzy" side on the original quilt (which was made with brushed cottons and flannel), for this quilt I used the flat cotton side which is more in line with the fabrics used in these quilts. Although I usually add my bindings completely by machine, I finished this one by hand to insure that it was presentable on both sides.  It took a little finagling to cover the join where the two quilts form the sleeve but it got done and I even figured out how to add a label!

 

So the first finish for 2013 is in the can and I hope it won't be the last!

2013 Finish-A-Long Quarter 1

As has been my habit for the last few years, it's time for another finish challenge.  I am hoping this time my habit will also be to get all the things I pledge finished! 

The 2013 Finish-A-Long is a quarterly challenge which is being hosted by Leanne at the She Can Quilt blog.  The interesting thing about this one is that the hosting duties pass to another quilter each year.  Leanne is taking over from Rhonda at Quilter In the Gap who hosted in 2012.

The rules:  post a list for each quarter of what you'd like to finish and then post the results at the end of the quarter.  The other good thing is that you can commit for each quarter individually -- so for me that means no extra guilt going forward if I don't get anything done this quarter.  Seems simple enough.  Looking back, I realize that the key for me is to try to avoid getting too diverted by introducing too many other/new projects at the same time.  I have to fully commit to the project I want to complete if I am going to get it done.

So I am going to make it easy for myself.  I'm limiting my commitments to four for each quarter in the hopes that I can designate one for each month and if I do really good, get an extra one completed as well.  Also with the quarterly deadline, I really have three months time to give to each project.  Should be doable right?

So for me the list is:

1.  Quilt Brrr!.

This one was on my list list for Judy's Patchwork Times UFO Challenge last year.  I took on too many new piecing projects and let all the quilting I needed to do fall by the wayside.  But I have long desired to have this for my winter bed quilt so there is no time like the present!  I am also encouraged to see that Vicky at the LA Quilter blog is starting on this one so watching her work on hers will further encourage me to get mine done.  Finally this also plays into my quilt word for this year -- PRACTICE.  I need to make it a priority to embrace the opportunities to "practice by doing" and banish the initimidation factor that the quilt stitching has on me once and for all.

2.  Quilt Merrimac Dresdens.

This was also on my UFO Challenge list last year  and is part of a Civil War series of quilts that I want to display in my house.  As I am also FINALLY in the process of finishing up another CW project (see this post) that was on my list for Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge last year, I'd really like to also get this one done to continue to build up my display.

3. Finish the Modern Twist Mystery Quilt

Each year the Planet Patchwork website hosts a mystery quilt on either the Sunday after Thanksgiving or New Year's Day.  The projects are designed by Merry May (aka Merry Meyhem).  I've often read (most recently on Vicky's blog) that what you do on New Year's Day is what you'll do all year and I really wanted to start off 2013 just right so I took this one on.  The center of it is completed and I have an idea to tweak the borders beyond what the pattern called for so I have a little more work to do on this.  Also since it's my first new project of 2013, I'd also like to start a new trend -- start it this year, finish it this year!

4.  The bonus project: Quilt Check It Out.

This was the Planet Patchwork post-Thanksgiving mystery back in 2007.  At the time, I took it on because I wanted to make a neutral quilt and had just the right values and amounts of fabrics in stash to do the mystery.  But then I got stumpled on how to quilt it so its sat ever since.  I'm a little more confident in my quilting than I was then and have been thinking about ideas I want to try on it (not to mention I now have a neutral colored couch that it would look good displayed on).  And how great would it be to get both mystery quilts finished!

So that's my list.  Wish me luck and the same to you with yours!!

UGRR/Pioneer Update

Well 2013 is starting off promising!  After getting these sampler tops completed in 2011 , I fully expected to quilt them as part of Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge in 2012. 
But I really wanted to hand quilt them and then was stumped about what to do for that.  I was admittedly disappointed when I let them remain undone as 2012 was coming to a close.

But I finally decided to step it down a notch.  Looking at the Quilt In A Day books that these projects were drawn from, I realized that many of them were quilted simply-- the blocks and borders just stitched in the ditch.  That seemed to me to be simple enough.  To me, the blocks themselves were powerful enough that they didn't necessarily need additional stitching which admittedly would be difficult for me to do by hand given the amount of piecing in them and the size (6") of the finished blocks.  Since getting these displayed was more important to me than how ornately they were quilted, the week before Christmas I decided to get started.

To date, I've completed the ditch quilting of the blocks on both tops and am now working on the borders.  I wasn't going to quilt the borders but decided they did need a little something more.  I found two cable designs in Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham's Quilting With Style book that added just enough without being too much for my current hand quilting skills or patience. 

I am happy with the progress on them even if my quilt stitches are still far from proficient.  I learned a lot doing this one:  how important the thinness of the batting is in getting good stitches (need to test for that in the future) and why it may be better to do larger blocks and outline stitching or a wholecloth for my next hand quilting project if I want to get my stitches per inch down. I even came to the heretical (for me) decision that once they were up, If I wasn't satisfied with the level of quilting, I'd take them down, take off the binding and add more quilting.  We'll see if that happens though!

I am very happy that this is finally moving toward completion and hope to be able to display them in the coming weeks.

Floribunda Is Done!

 

 

 

Added For the Tuesday Archives

 

This was a Bonnie Hunter Quilt-A-Long project from last year that is now finally quilted and bound.  I finished it up on Monday after having a binding crisis over the weekend.  The striped fabric used around the edge was the original binding I picked but wanting it on the diagonal (candy-striped) I realized too late that I didn't have enough.  Having bought the fabric over a year ago I didn't think I'd be able to get more and didn't want to wait to try order more.  So the solution was to alternate some solid yellow (the one featured on the back) with the stripe to make it stretch.  I like it although my first choice would still be to have it all in the stripe.

 

Added For the Tuesday Archives

 

Here's the back:

With the label written in on the lower right.

I got the idea for the "framed" design from Lerlene Nevaril's book "Over Easy: Creative Ideas For Pieced Quilt Backs".  The small floral print that comprises most of the back had been purchased years (and years and years) ago so had to also be stretched to fill out the back.  The simple solution was to add the yellow insets.  Then I decided to add some of the front background florals as well, partly to use up the scraps and partly, well just for fun!

Fun facts about this project:  it has survived three weather extremes:  I had started this project shortly before the earthquake that hit the east coast last year and continued working on it when Hurricane Irene came right behind that.  It was shortly after Hurricane Sandy that my tax class ended and I could go back to this.  Ah, memories!

When it didn't get finished last year as hoped, it went on my 2012 UFO Challenge List.  It was my #2 which Judy pulled in May.  Well, better late than never!  And at this point it's my only completed Challenge project (although a couple of others were layered or worked on).  Can't wait to throw this antique inspired bit 'o sunshine over the end of the bed (or my legs) in the spring (or perhaps on one of the cold dreary winter days ahead).

Next challenge: to make some of these cute crocheted pillows to go with it.  The design is by Beata who blogs at RoseHip and the pattern for the squares can be found here (or from the link on her sidebar).

Back In the Saddle Again....

I am finally back!  I've been away all Fall because I had taken an income tax preparation course in the hopes of getting work for the upcoming tax season.  I thought I'd be able to take the course (3 hours a day, three days a week) and still quilt.  But between the extra time spent after class reviewing concepts with my classmates and then the need to commit to a lot of study time, at the end of the day, I really didn't have the head space left for quilting. Then Superstorm Sandy wound up extending our course an extra week.  After I passed the course came another two week nail biting period waiting to be called for an interview.  So far, I haven't been hired so now I really want to get back to the quilting -- both to bring my life back to normal and to take my mind off the waiting.

Compounding all that was the fact that I had a couple of home dec projects I wanted to get out of the way before focusing on the quilting and I had a very long list of all the UFOs I still want to try to get done before year's end (yeah right!).  Now I am really feeling all the missed machine time.  So after knocking out two of the home dec projects earlier this week, the first quilt project is up -- finishing Floribunda!

The quilt stitching is my kryptonite -- it's the one part of the process that I'm most unsure of and usually procrastinate on. Which is funny since I set out to be a machine quilter from the time I started quilting and have always quilted my own quilts (over 40 to date).  Actually now, it's not so much the actual stitching that I fear but choosing a good stitch design and finding the balance between enhancing the quilt and what I am capable of executing at my current skill level.

I wasn't too scared of this one:  It was only lap quilt-sized, I had already picked an all over stitch design for it, the fabric prints and block design used in the top were busy enough to hide a lot of sins and I already had my thread picked out.  So I did some practice sketching and quilt samples and then got it on the machine.

I got a little more than a quarter of it done today so figure I should be binding it by Friday at the latest!  Yippee Ki-Yay (and with work continuing, I don't need that last part)!