Monday, February 22, 2021

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.

Sunday, February 7, 2021

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!

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

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 ...


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