It’s taken me all month, but cutting the fabric for the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch is now complete. Next up pairing lights to darks so I can start sewing.
Category Archives: Quilts
Black and Bright
This is Black & Bright. The blocks were from a May 2007 swap I participated in. The blocks then sat for several years waiting for inspiration. At one point I wanted to set the blocks with applique (yes, I know I say that’s a 4-letter word) flowers.
I went as far as taking an on-line class to learn applique and quickly decided that wasn’t going to work. So, I took the class blocks and made this wall hanging in 2010.
I didn’t like the original border with the wall hanging, so came up with this layout with the plan to use it on the quilt when I got that far.
The quilt top finally got finished in April 2013 at a quilt retreat. It then sat in my stash of quilt tops to be quilted. This summer it was on of the quilts that was picked to be quilted as a thank you for the help in the yard (Aiming for Accuracy, Orange Crush and Nifty Thrifty were the other 3 quilts).
I found a bright green fabric on clearance to use for the backing. I also used it as the body of the pillowcases.
It was quilted on both the longarm and my DSM. I had a plan for the black borders and quickly realized I wasn’t able to execute it well — especially in the bright variegated thread I was using (Superior’s So Fine #40/3 in Crickey!) So came home and ripped out the top border and did a simple cable. It was either Wednesday night or Christmas Eve morning I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough thread — I was using Crickey! in the bobbin as well. So, I had a design opportunity.
The ‘inner’ black band between the pieced border and the blocks is narrower than the ‘outer’ black bands, so I did a simple diamond in those two borders and used black thread on the top. Finally in the turquoise of the pieced borders I did a simply s-curve and used turquoise thread. I think I have less than 1/2 bobbin of Crikey! left.
I picked the green from the border to repeat in the binding. “Susie’s Magic Binding” is my go-to binding when I need to do a fast binding. There’s no pinning and the entire thing can be done on the machine.
I used Hobbs’ Heirloom 80/20 black batting in the quilt. It started out at 103″ square and after washing it measures 98″ square.
It was finished Christmas Day, just in time to leave for Christmas dinner.
It was part of my Crazy Challenge II and on the 4th Quarter Finish a Long list.
What’s On My Design Wall
This past week has gone by in a blur – lots of errands and not much time at the sewing machine. The good news is I have finally finished the quilting on the Red Disappearing 9-Patch and I have the binding cut. This means I now have two quilts to bind as the Hardware Quilt still needs binding — and I don’t have those strips cut.
While I had the cutting board cleared, I made one set of clue 2 of the mystery quilt. I started with just a single headless goose, using the Companion Angle ruler, which came out OK. But then apparently the next 3 I cut wrong as they almost have their head. I finished up the set using squares and the stitch and flip method – which I think I’ll use going forward.
Looking at this week, I have 2 evenings of activities which will limit my quilting time, so I doubt I’ll get much done on the mystery – I’ll have to focus on getting the Crazy Challenge quilts done.
See what others have on their Design Wall over at Patchwork Times and how others are doing on their mystery quilt over at Quiltville.
What’s On My Design Wall
This morning I have a little bit of several things in the works. I started Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt — because clearly I don’t have anything to work on — 😉 Although I had all of clue 1 cut out, I only got 1/3 of them made since I got a chance to use the long arm.
This is the Hardware quilt which I quilted on Saturday. It still needs binding which is on my list for this week.
The Red Disappearing 9-Patch is maybe 1/3 quilted – I set it aside – I thought briefly – to work on Allietare and I haven’t gotten back to it. It too is also on my list for this week.
Hopefully I can get these two quilts finished up by midweek so I have plenty of time to finish up the rest of the Crazy Challenge II quilts.
I’m linking up with Patchwork Times for the Design Wall Monday post and Quiltville for the Allietare link-up.
Orange Crush – The Blog Post
The time change and weather has not bode well for getting good pictures outside. I’ve put off this post waiting for a good picture, but have decided if I don’t record details now, I’ll forget them.
My Orange Crush was started April 1, 2008 — well at least that’s when the first clue was released. I finished up the top 7 months later on November 4, 2008. The quilt top needed to age – waiting for the perfect occasion to gift it. I quilted it on October 26, 2015 using Superior’s So Fine! #722 “Crikey!” in the top and pre-wound SuperBobs in white for the bobbin. The quilting pattern is Curley-Q, a pantograph by Aimee Mahan. The batting is Hobb’s Tuscany 100% Bleached cotton. Finally I bound it using Susie’s Magic Binding. After washing the quilt measures…well shoot, I don’t have that information in the spreadsheet. I’ll have to come back and add it before it is gifted.
This was an October 31, 2015 finish – pulling it out of the washing machine that morning in time to be included in the November UFO Parade Aunt Marti’s 52 Quilts. It was also counted as a finish for the UFO Busting Report sponsored by Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber. It is one of my finishes for the 2015 Finish Along off my 4th Quarter List and finally it is one of the Crazy Challenge II quilts.
I didn’t mention it, but the backing is the same Kansas City Chiefs fabric that I used for the pillowcase.
Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 7
Last month I said that on Tuesdays until Thanksgiving I am working on my Sew Scrappy quilt as part of Jo’s “finish a UFO before Bonnie’s mystery quilt starts challenge”. Sew Scrappy is from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I don’t think I have any Bonnie Hunter quilts in pieces, but I want/need to finish this one and I’ve been stalling for 3 years. Monday I got it washed and hung to take a picture. These days it is too late to take pictures outside after work, so I hung it on my shelves. It has also been delivered.
The quilt measures 69″ x 83″ after washing. All of the fabric is Kansas Troubles, including those really light pieces. As I was working on the quilt, I’d pick up a light piece then go check the selvage to make sure it really was KT fabric.
The batting is Hobb’s 100% Cotton Tuscany and I used Cairo-quilt in Military Gold thread in both the top and the bottom. It blends so well, I had a hard time telling where I had quilted! There was one spot that I added a bit of quilting to after I got home.
The quilting was done free-hand – just a loopy flower that I do. The picture above is before I washed the quilt, the one below, after.
This quilt will link up with Jo’s Country Junction, Aunt Marti’s UFO Parade, the UFO Busting – 2015 over at Field Trips in Fiber, the 4th Quarter Finish Along (list is here) and of course my Crazy Challenge II.
I nearly forgot. Yes, there is a pillowcase to go with it.
What’s On My Design Wall
I am happy to report that Sew Scrappy is quilted! It’s amazing what can get done if you stay focused. I found out Tuesday or Wednesday that I would be able to use the longarm Saturday afternoon, so I scrambled to finish up the quilt top — then changed my mind about simply binding it, opting for a 3 1/2″ red border. Then the challenge was to get a backing ready.
I cut 9″ squares from my FQ (they had already been chopped into) and used a length of fabric given to me by a friend. But changing horses in the middle of the stream, I decided I needed a bit of the backing fabric for a matching pillowcase, so I pulled the blue fabric in to get the backing large enough.
Here’s a look at the quilting from the back.
Now to get the binding on the quilt.
See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.
What’s On My Design Wall
Sew Scrappy, from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts is what I’ve been working on the past couple of days. What can I say? I really didn’t want to swap out my walking foot again. I still have a few of the really light lights clumped together, but I don’t know that I’m going to worry about trying to spread them out. It looks much better than it did last week.
I hope to get the top together today or tomorrow, then it will be back to the Green & Cream Swap blocks. Although something was said about cleaning the front gutters…
See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.
Aiming for Accuracy is Finished!
Yes, Aiming for Accuracy is out of the wash. I love how it crinkled up. I made this as part of a quilt along in 2013 – then modified it slightly making it a tad wider. I started with the pink fabric and then used florals from my stash. Originally, I was going to just cut squares of the floral fabrics to make the backing, but I got a wild idea.
Starting with the pink and purple butterfly fabric, I combed through my Orphan Block Box for pink, purple and floral blocks and block parts. I made tons of pinwheels using bonus HST and I still have bonus HST left over.
- Top Started: 8/4/2013
- Top Completed: 10/21/2013
- Quilt Completed: 10/28/2013
- Batting: Hobbs Tuscany 100% Bleached Cotton
- Top Thread: Superior Omni Thread in “Verbena”
- Bobbin Thread: SuperBob in a light lavender – 1 + and I ran out at the end of a row!
- Used Curly-Q pantograph by Aimee Mahan /Splendid Stitches
- Susie’s Magic Binding
- Measures 61″ x 76″ after washing
This quilt is on my list for the 4th Quarter Finish Along – I’m sending it to Aunt Marti for the UFO Parade. It’s also being sent in for the 2015 UFO Busting over at Field Trips in Fiber. It is part of the Crazy Challenge II which started August 15th.
What’s On My Design Wall
Left to Right:
- Green Disappearing 9-Patch that needs binding
- Aiming for Accuracy ready to be quilted
- Orange Crush ready to be quilted
It’s going to be a long day – I’ve booked 6 hours on the long arm to get these quilts quilted.
See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.
