Finishing 3rd

With another move ahead of us, I am going to finish up some UFO’s before we disassemble the Gammill and pack up the fabric stash.

The house is in good shape from repairs, cleaning, etc. for the appraiser and we enjoyed having friends over on Sunday for brunch. I had several bits of time this past week to get this UFO top complete. It is the 3rd of 4 projects from last summer’s retreat with Jenny Doan. These were the blocks I made at the retreat…the pattern is “Chopped Block” and can be found in the MSQC magazine BLOCK, Late Summer 2014 Vol. 1, issue 4. The fabrics are from jelly strips in the Desert Rose collection by Island Batik.

With all the blocks made, here was the design laid out (hung up?!) on the design wall…

The next step was to sew the blocks into rows…then sew the rows together.

I used my super (cheap-o) row numbering pins to keep from losing my (mind) place…

as I sewed the rows together…

And now the last side of the outer border is sewn on…the end is close!!

A little pressing and ta-da!!! One almost queen sized FINISHED quilt top!! Woohoo!! 🙂

It measures approx. 81 x 90…a generous full size but add another row and it would easily fit this queen bed. The pattern stated it would finish 82 x 93″…well, close enough! Finishing the 3rd project is better than perfectly sized. Once it is quilted, bound, and washed…it will be so super soft and warm…and perfect for someone! 😉

It is so colorful and bright after a gray, rainy weekend! Now to get the backing fabric and batting so I can let the quilting magic happen! I hope your Monday was just as productive!

Have a great week!

Aloha!

 

 

Show Me Some Teal!

I signed up for a mini quilt swap benefiting ovarian cancer research. I found the swap through a conversation on Facebook with the woman who started it – Beth of Eva Paige Quilt Designs. She directed me to the Facebook group she created. You can find it here.

This year, she had participants from all 50 U.S. states and Canada and raised more than $4,000! I was the only participant from Hawaii! (I’ll have to do a better job of recruiting for next year!)

She sent each participant an 8″ square of this fabric, from Moda’s Basic Mixology collection, which had to be used in some form or fashion in the mini quilt or mug rug. That’s about it for the rules…make something of your own design, about the size of a mug rug or mini quilt.

My swap partner this year is Joan C. from Massachusetts. Here were my fabric choices – I used a group from Sandy Gervais’ “Flirt” collection, the inner border is part of “Desert Bloom” by Sherri & Chelsi of a Quilting Life (which my daughter sent to me from Japan!), both from Moda, and a teal fabric in my stash for the border.

Joan has received her mini so now I can share it! It measures 17″ square. I used the MSQC “Wacky Web” (also called the Periwinkle) template and triangle papers for each section.

Joan happens to be an ovarian cancer survivor so this was really a special mini quilt to make!

Please consider participating in next year’s swap or any other opportunity to make a quilt for a good cause. I made this in just a few hours over Labor Day weekend…it was truly very little effort and a lot of fun on my part, and I hope it feels like a huge hug for Joan…whom I have never met, nor knew until this event.

Aloha!

P.S. I was having technical issues but now have the picture of the mini quilt that Joan sent me along with cute batik necklaces she makes and info on her hometown! Thanks, Joan!!

 

Save

Had Enough of These Colors?!

I have another finish!!

I love the end of a project and this one is no exception! I think I finally used up all of these fabrics (except for the pieces left over from the backing…sigh!). I love these colors and I don’t think I’ll get tired of them, but have you had enough!? LOL

This quilt started not that long ago with this post. I was stash busting before our move to Hawaii but this stuff seemed to dwindle so.very.slowly! Here are some of the quilts made with these fabrics…I don’t know how some of these newbies kept sneaking into my stash?!? 😉

“Freefalling” is waiting to be quilted!

Beachy quilt from scraps!

Gifted to a friend in OK-2015

Connie’s Zen Quilt and…

 

 

the pieced Back

Can you tell I like teal, purple, aqua, lime green, seafoam green, and…well, you get the idea! I think it might be time for a bit of a change…naaaahhh! 🙂

Aloha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

More practice!

Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a lovely day where ever you are!

We’ve had a rainy weekend so I got to do some quilting today! I successfully quilted a nice lap or couch size quilt top – 62″ x 80″!

Here was how it started…a very nice selection of fabrics!

I made this quilt top a month or so back and I guess with the quilt show and delivery of the Statler I never posted it here! I’m glad I at least posted it on my Facebook page!

I did my daily maintenance on the Gammill – oiling, dusting, bobbin winding, etc. Then I loaded the backing fabric and floated the batting and top. Here is the first row!

With the Statler magic and only two stops for refills in the bobbin, it is quilted!!!

I tried to photograph the back…white on white fabric with natural thread…a cloudy day…isn’t’ the best for a great photo, but I promise, there isn’t any puckers, pinches or skipped stitches! Yay!!

All the trimming is done and it is ready for the binding! I am happy I am getting the measurements better so the quilting goes almost to the edge but leaves enough for the binding to be attached without cuting off the design.

I’ll get the binding made next and I might even get it sewn on today but most likely not until the morning!

This one will be for sale in my online shop, so watch for that posting! Subscribe to my blog and you won’t miss it or any other items I make in the future!

Thanks for stopping by!

Aloha!

 

 

Share this:

Hello, April! We are looking forward to a wonderful Spring!

I finished the top I mentioned in this post that I started last week! I sent this photo out to the Facebook quilting group Just Us Quilters for the vote…borders? Yay or Nay?

With an overwhelming 150+ likes and comments, the Yay’s won the day!! I had suggestions for borders including a solid or single fabric from the scraps, a piano key style border to just a white border and binding.

I thought the piano key style was too busy (plus I didn’t have enough variety of fabrics left to make that work AND I was a bit tired of chain piecing scraps by this point!) I usually lean towards an inner border to make the blocks appear to float so that was a given. I had enough scraps to do a scrappy border so I decided on this one!

I think it turned out so beachy and cute!! I used a border technique (again…busting those scraps!) that I used in this scrap quilt, too! I like the corners wrapping around to the next section of the border.

Ahem…can you see the fabrics that are in BOTH of these quilts?! From here on, I pinky swear to only purchase the amount of fabric needed for one project…I will try not to purchase what’s left on the bolt…um, yea…good luck with that, right?! 😉

What are you doing to bust your stash of scraps!? I am using up the last bits of this stuff as pieced backs and small kid quilts to donate to our guild’s community service.

I am ready to move on to something new…hmmm, what might that be?!

Have a great weekend!