July 4th last year was on a Thursday and I turned in into a really long weekend. My company gave us both Thursday and Friday off and I took off Monday – 5 days off from work and I used it to jump start my quilting.
First up was finishing the binding on Auction Strings IV. I was working on the binding of this quilt October 29th and the following morning I heard that nearly half my team at work go laid off. Life got super crazy and it simply sat on the sewing machine for 8 months before I got back to it. This is called Auction Strings IV as it is the 4th quilt I made from a stack of string blocks I bought at auction in 2018. I think I’ve finally used them all.
- Started 9/21/18 (the date of the Auction) Finished 7/3/2024
- 71″ x 91″
- Glide 40wt in Strawberry Blond
- Overlapping Crop Circles
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Donation Quilt
Another quilt on the to-be-bound list is Chain Link. This is a Villa Rosa pattern. The fabric I received from the estate of a former guild member. The quilt was a quick piece, in fact I had it quilted the same day, the set it aside before getting it bound.
- Started 9/30/2023 Finished 7/4/2024
- 41-1/2″ x 63″
- Glide 40 wt Thyme
- Gaiety
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Donation Quilt
July was not all about old UFOs. This is Double 4-Patch, my own pattern. I pieced and quilted it in June while I was working on the pattern.
- Started 6/2/2024 – Finished 7/4/2024
- 12-1/2″ x 48″
- Glide 40 wt Amethyst
- SCF-196 Tur 1 Block v2 — I cut the block in half for the setting triangles
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Mine
Yes, I made a 2nd runner, this one for the shop sample as I taught this class at Ritzy Quilting Company last summer. The fabric is from a line called Rory. I quilted it on my sewing machine.
- Started 6/17/24 – Finished 7/4/24
- 12-1/2″ x 48″
- Thread – unknown
- Straight line on the domestic machine
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Mine, currently hanging in the shop
Back to the stack of binding. This is Garden Lattice. The pattern can be found in the book Just Can’t Cut It! by Pamela Moster. The fabric is from the estate of a guild member.
- Started 9/10/2023 Finished 7/4/2024
- 62″ x 76-1/2″
- Glide 40 wt Thyme
- Gaiety
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Donation Quilt
I call this quilt Squirrel! Last summer I did a presentation on Orphan Block quilts, so I pulled out my stuffed box of orphan blocks, threw them up on the design wall and started editing them. This is what I came up with. I call it Squirrel because it’s all over the place and I finally got to use my Squirrel fabric in the border.
- Finished 7/4/2024
- 56-1/2″ x 67 -1/2″
- Glide 40 wt Strawberry Blond
- Overlapping Crop Circles
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Mine
The final quilt of July is the Brandon Quilters Half-Square Triangle quilt. At the May meeting we had a program on Half Square Triangles (HST). After the presentation the group broke up into groups of 3 or 4 and were given a bag of pre-cut HST to design a block. Someone from each group took the pieces home and bought them back the next month as a completed block. I then brought them home and designed this quilt, quilted it. The guild ultimately donated it to one of our charities.
- Started 5/5/24 – Finished 7/4/2024
- 65 -1/2″ x 83″
- Glide 40 wt Mercury
- Nightlight
- Legacy 80/20 batting
- Donation Quilt
Bonus Quilt
A friend asked me if it was possible to re-quilt a quilt without taking the binding off. I had no idea, so I threw my Strippy 4-Patch which I finished in April of 2010 on the frame. It was originally quilted on my domestic machine. Because it is a well loved quilt, the stitching has started to pop. I threw it on my long arm and re-quilted it with edge-to-edge design Espalier. Is it perfect? No, but I expect the quilt to easily last anther 15 years if not longer.