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.