February - a month for Finishes!

I didn't plan on February being a month of finishing things but it sure turned out that way. In addition to the two earlier finishes, I have 4 more quilts and a hat! That makes six quilts finished in February!

#1 was shared here and #2 here.

#3

Rhombus Gemstones is a 51" by 64" donation quilt. The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company and I used their large rhombus template to make this quilt. I used a Moda Grunge Jellyroll for the strips. 

The quilting is free motion lazy eights in the colored strips, free-hand free motion feathers in the negative (white) areas,

and ruler work candy ribbons on the border. I had pretty good success with my ruler foot on the ribbons. It gives me headaches when it has to cross seams. 

I used Aurifil #2600 Dove gray Forty3 thread. I ordered the thread from an Etsy shop. It took a while to get here and then was a yellow spool instead of orange. I wanted a big spool of 50 weight and got Forty3 which is 40-weight 3-ply cotton.  I decided to keep the thread; it sews like a 40-weight but is stronger. Of course, I still need some 50 weight.

The backing is orange from my stash.

#4
Easy Breezy is a 59" square donation quilt. The block is Bonnie Hunter's 2020 Leader/Ender project. I added sashing with corner squares and a border. The blue in the four small squares of each block, the sashing corner squares, the border, and the binding match.

I quilted this with a walking foot and curved lines. I drew an arc with a 42"radius from one corner of the quilt. Then I  stitched the arc and every 1-1/2" from the arc.  I used Aurifil #2600 Dove gray thread - Forty3 for the top and 50-wt for the back. 

I think you can see some of the stitching above and below.

I had just enough blue fabric that matched the border for the binding but some of the pieces were only 4" or  6" long. So I decided to add a little color to the border because I didn't want a bunch of seams in a plain blue border. Each side has a pop of color 2" from the corner, 4" away, and 6" away. 

The back is another orange fabric from my stash.

#5

Pathways to Friendship has serpentine strips that I learned in Christina Cameli's Pillow class quite a while back. The other blocks in this quilt are from my orphan/leftover bin. It's always fun to find a use for the extras.

This 56" by 58" quilt is ready to donate.

This entire quilt was free-motion quilted using Aurifil #2600 Dove gray thread - Forty3 for the top and 50-wt for the back. I used the lazy eights motif in all pathways, both serpentine and straight. 

The rest of the quilt has a horizontal stipple.

The back of the quilt is fabric from my stash.

#6

I found the pattern for Magic Squares at The Joyful Quilter. I had a burnt orange layer cake and a yellow one to use with white. After making a few squares, I decided to just go with just the orange and white.

I wanted to quilt this 60" X 60" donation quilt with a large SQUARE spiral but it looked off-kilter so I settled for a large spiral. I used the walking foot and spaced the stitching at 1-1/2". I used # 2315, a light beige/cream, 50-wt Aurifil thread. Note to self: I sewed the spiral counter clockwise and think it would have been easier if I had gone clockwise.

The binding and backing are both from my stash. I think the back is a neat surprise when one turns the quilt over.

And I made this hat. I used Jagger Spun Mousam Falls yarn from my stash and a fake fur pom. The pattern is Trail 4 Hat by Claire Borchardt. 

I think it's time to take a break from finishing quilts. Six finishes are enough for one month! The remaining 3 finished tops will wait while I pursue a couple of new ideas. I think this may take a while - I'll let you know how it goes.

On the health scene: This week I'll see a specialist and hopefully find out exactly how we are going to make my bones stronger. Later that day we're supposed to get our 2nd Covid vaccination. It feels like progress.

A second finish in February!

I have a second finish this month - Diamonds with Squares! You may recall that I bought the book, Quilts for Scrap Lovers, so I could see this simple block. I wrote a little about that in this post. I made this entire quilt, except for the white border, with this little block.

Diamonds with Squares is a donation quilt that is 53" square. 

I quilted it with Aurifil #2784 navy 50-wt thread. I echoed the blue squares in the white using rulers. In the blue diamonds, I free motioned the lazy eight motif (which happens to be one of my favorites) and a fun madeup medallion in the corners.

This is the first quilt I have used an actual color wheel to choose fabrics. In this case, all of the fabrics were from my stash. 

The backing on the quilt is Navy Grunge - I do love working with the Grunge fabrics.

We are really having a cold spell here and we have lots of snow. It is great weather to stay inside and sew or watch the Super Bowl or both!

Patience . . .

Amazing what a few minutes a day will yield. I try to do a little quilting each day and I've managed to finish another quilt top, sandwich/pin three tops, quilt two tops and finish one. Here are a couple views of my studio today with different things in progress.

B/W with Red is finished! I used some black and white strings that I've had around here for a few years. Every so often, I dig them out and use some for another quilt. One of these days, that bin will be empty.

This donation quilt is 58" square. I quilted it with large loops and double loops using Aurifil #2600 50-wt Dove thread for the top and Microquilter 100-wt #7007 light gray thread for the back.

The back is black with a small white dot and the binding matches the red in the quilt.

The newest quilt top, The I Spy Tree, is based on Bonnie Hunter's Pine Tree Point. I used strings from my overflowing string bin to make the trees. Since this will be donated to a child at the Children's Hospital, I made one tree with prints, the I Spy tree. I made minor changes to the pattern. The most significant was cutting the trees with fewer pieces. I also changed the borders. 

Update on my health:
Monday I saw the surgeon. I've had lots of imaging - CT scan, X-rays, MRI, and more X-rays. The surgeon said I needed surgery which I expected. BUT... he went on to say that my bone strength/density is not good enough to have the surgery. That came as a shock. So we are working on changing the strength and density of my bones. He is hopeful that he'll be able to do the surgery in 6 months. He said that I can work through the pain - I was told a few months ago to stop any activity when the pain ramped up. The surgeon said I will not be doing any more damage to the nerves. So for the next 6 months, I'll still have the pain but at least I can do some things. I've started riding the stationary recumbent bike again and I'm trying to walk a little on the treadmill. Patience ...