Two Last Finishes for 2022

This first finish is for me. I bought this panel at The Busy Bobbin in Rice Lake Wisconsin on our fall trip north. I decided a little color would be good so I added some when I added the border design. 

The backing is a piece that was in my stash.

I used 40-wt Glide #11001 Black thread to quilt a large meandering stitch.

I enjoy the message and decided to hang this where I would see it every time I went up to my sewing studio. I cut it down a little to fit a hanger that was already mounted to the wall. It is now 28" by 48".

On our summer trip to Virginia, I decided that I wanted to make a gray quilt with a pop of color. Not really having a pattern in mind, I added a number of grays to my stash and at Lolly's in Shipshewana, IN, I picked up an orange and a teal with more grays. After we got home, I saw this Missouri Star pattern 

and I decided this would be perfect, although it was nothing like I usually make. I think the colors on the pattern cover (grays, orange, and teal) really caught my attention.

The  pattern was free but it requires a special template. I guess the template has the cutting and stitching instructions. So... I looked at the picture and made the quilt with 5" HSTs and squares and quilted it on my longarm. 

The orange isn't as dark as it appears; it is more coral.

This 55" by 64" is a donation quilt. I used Glide 40-wt Sterling #10877 thread to quilt a large meandering stitch. 

The backing, a gray ombre with black and white polka dots, was purchased at the same time as the teal and orange.

I'm not sure you can really tell from the pictures but the left side is much darker gray and has more dots than the right side. 

I do enjoy stepping outside my comfort zone sometimes and I'm really glad I had a picture helping me with placement of colors.

Yup, those are my shoes!

So as far as quilting goes, that's a wrap for 2022! 

Looking forward to 2023, I'll be trying to whittle down my stash by making lots more quilts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A couple of December finishes

I hope you've had an enjoyable Christmas or Holiday. We did and are looking forward to a quiet week now. I'm hoping for another finish but who knows?!

These two finishes happened just before Christmas. 

The first is a wool Snowman Wall Hanging for us. I bought the kit last fall at Plum Lake Quilts while on our fall trip to northern Wisconsin and the Michigan UP. The hanging is meant to be in a frame but I put a backing on it and will use it as a regular wall hanging.

The wool hanging is 10" by 41". Everything was done by hand except attaching the backing and top stitching around the edge. 

Here are some closeups:

The second finish is Blue Cheerful Race, a donation quilt that I think even a teenage boy would like. I got the idea from Jasmine at Quilt Kisses. The quilt is made similar to a Jelly Roll Race but faster!

I decided to use blue fabrics, mostly scraps. The pieces are 4" by the width of fabric - approximately 4" by 21". You don't need to measure the length exactly, just cut a 4" WOF piece in half and cut off the selvedges.

I wanted the width of my quilt to be about 60" which would be about 3 strips. I made the first section with 12 strips so it would have 4 rows. One of the strips needs to be about half the length of the others. 

The next two sections were made the same way, each with 24 strips so there would be 8 rows each time. Again one of the strips needs to be a half strip for each section. (I could have made this as one section but it is easier to work with fewer strips.)

To make a section, beginning with the 'half' strip, sew the ends of the strips together with straight seams making a long strip. *Fold the resulting strip in half and sew the long sides together. When you get near the end, cut the piece so you can sew the seam and the piece will lie flat. (This is easier than measuring, cutting, and then sewing.) Repeat from the * until the piece is the right number of rows.

Measure the width of each section and trim all sections to be the same width. My width was 57". Then arrange the sections however you want and stitch them together.

When I finished, I had a really light strip near the edge which I didn't like so I used 2 half strips and 2 whole strips to make the last row (the top row in the picture below).

My finished quilt is 57" by 77". The backing is a red and blue design with yellow from Frond which was in my stash. I decided the colors were perfect and bright!

I quilted this with 40-wt Navy Glide thread, #32765, using a double loop with single loops thrown in.

I'm really happy with the Cheerful Race 'pattern' and I'm sure I'll use it again. It's a great way to use scraps and I think it will work fine even if all of the pieces aren't 20"+ long. A few 10" - 20" pieces will just add more interest. 

A Visit to an Alpaca Farm

I've been looking for alpaca sweaters and hats and I happened to find Irish Meadows Alpaca Farm online. It is about an hour and 15 minutes from us so Ray and I decided to visit earlier this week. They have a great retail store and over 150 alpacas in the barns and out in the fields. I loved seeing the crias (alpaca babies). I didn't find a sweater but Ray did; I found a handmade alpaca hat which I've already worn.

I wanted to share a few photos. We look forward to visiting again. 

I've been doing a little sewing and am working on this quilt. I hope to finish the top this week. 

I have more inspiration in my head and have already cut pieces for another quilt. Of course I have a pile of projects already started that I should be working on . . .

One last finish for November!

On our Michigan trip this fall, we stopped at Plum Lake Quilts in Sayner, WI, where I bought a kit with The Little Red Hen pattern Jingles. It was fun to work with wool and make something I would use. The majority of the quilt is cotton. 

This 41" by 60" quilt is for us. I changed the design slightly. The strip with the appliqué was in the center and I moved it down because the quilt will hang.

I free-motion quilted this with Glide 40-wt  #10877 Sterling Gray thread. I used a large meander on the narrow stripes. 

The area with the wool appliqué has a horizontal stipple.

When the season is right, this quilt will hang on the quilt rack above a couch in our living room.

Yesterday I decided to clean one of our four large dormer closets. This one hasn't been cleaned for a while. It's taken me two days and I now have 5 large trash bags and 1 large box to deliver to a Second Hand store near us, 1 large bag of trash, and 4 large pieces of luggage to deliver to the new owner.  The closet looks MUCH better and it was easy to retrieve the Christmas decor this afternoon! 

Now I think it's time to focus a little more on Christmas and maybe a bit less on quilting ...

Some Small Finishes

My latest finishes are all Christmas/winter table runners for us. They all are flat, but, as usual, I do not get down on the floor to straighten them out.

The two red pickup runners are each 16" by 47". I free motion quilted one with a loop de loop

and the other with a meander.

The third runner has bears and trees. It is 14" by 42". 

I quilted it with a horizontal stipple.

I used Glide 40-wt #10WG1 Linen thread on all three runners. They all have the same gray fabric on the back.

I'm working on a couple more projects for us and various donation quilts. With Thanksgiving this week, I doubt that I'll get in much more quilting. We are hosting and just a bit busy! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Third Finish for November

One day I was reading something that Christina Cameli had shared. She suggested cutting up charm squares and sewing them back together as strings. I had two matching Kaffe Fassett charm packs that I decided to slice into pieces without thinking through the process. If you do this, do not cut too big of a slant or your strips will have to be trimmed to less than a 5" width. I'm just speaking from experience here. 

This just came out of the dryer and I did not get on the floor to flatten it.

This donation quilt finished at 52" by 57".

I quilted this on my long arm using the pantograph, Water Wings from Urban Elementz. Although I love free motion quilting, I'm trying to learn to use pantographs - it is getting easier and my quilting is looking better! I used 40-wt Glide thread - Lemon Ice #80607.

I found fabric for the back that matches one of the fabrics in the quilt. It is orange rather than pink as it looks in this photo.

This is the third quilt I finished at the recent retreat. Again, all I had to do was hand stitch the binding. I also did some wool work at the retreat. I'm hoping those projects are finished soon.

Another November Finish

At the recent retreat, I did lots of handwork.  My second finish also just needed the binding sewn down. It is called Bright Gems. I saw a picture of a quilt similar that was called Vintage Jewels. I made my squares about 4 1/2" finished and used bright colors (because the pastels didn't seem to fit). 

This donation quilt is 58 inches square. 

Did you see the binding? It was in my stash and seemed the perfect choice.

The backing is from my stash also.

I free-motion quilted this with a meandering stitch using 40-wt Glide thread, Bone #17443.

It was nice to get another quilt finished. And there's still more to come!

A November Finish

In early November, I have a retreat with three friends. I have missed this for a few years and was delighted to be able to attend this year. We were missing one of our group but we still had a great time. I found that sewing on my machine - I assume it must have been the height of the table and/or the chair - was painful. (At home, I can typically sew for 1+ hours at a time.) Anyway, I did very little machine stitching and lots of hand stitching. 

I finished Hill n Dale. I purchased a kit for this quilt in early September. I fell in love with the baby blue fabrics - Moda's Crystal Lane by Bunny Hill Designs. I very seldom buy kits but it was on sale and quite a deal.

I decided to use the same fabric line for the backing and finally found fabric at an online shop. This matches the most used fabric (the medium fabric used in the square patches) on the front.

The quilting motif is just two loops with an echo across the loops. Here is my practice piece:

This 64" square quilt will be staying with us. I used Glide Linen #10WG1 40-wt thread to quilt this.

At the retreat I finished putting the binding on this quilt - it just needed the hand stitching.

There are more finishes to come...