We are embroiled in college business/drama/selection. Of course, I have other stuff going on as well, but the college stuff seems to be dominating at the moment. This means that my quilt work is suffering and, particularly, my donation and charity projects.
I finally did spend some time a week or so ago finishing this Hawaiian quilt for BAMQG. You might remember that Gerre and I worked on it at a Sew Day recently.
I blather on about testing new techniques and practicing skills on donation quilts then I never do it. I tried something new on this quilt. I tested out applying a binding by machine on both sides. My first effort resulting in me ripping out 3-4′, but I persevered and the quilt is bound by machine.
I made sure that Gerre and Angela were both ok with me doing the machine binding. It requires some more experimentation on my part, but I am pleased with my first effort.
BAMQG Hawaiian Quilt by Gerre & Jaye
None of the fabrics were my choices, but I like the brightness against the black and especially think the back came out well.
As usual, I am really happy to help the guild. As usual, the Young Man worked hard as my quilt hanger.
Yes, shockingly I finished something. It seems like it took forever! I know it didn’t take forever, because we made the top on January 4.
I made the back, as I mentioned, then I sent it off to Gerre with a Frankenbatting and she quilted it. I got it back and put the binding on. It really went very quickly once I sat down and sewed the binding. <It went much better than the quilt in front of it with a batik back AND binding. What was I thinking?>
The back came out pretty well and wasn’t a misery to put together. I am still uncomfortable not putting a label on these donation quilts, but I hope that documenting the quilt here will help historians some day. If the quilt is just loved to death then that will be enough.
Pink T Quilt back
I was able to use up some pinks and make a fun quilt. I am already thinking about what color to cut next. I am not a big fan of green, but I have a lot of green. If I cut orange to go with it, it would be really different and might appeal to someone who walks to the beat of a different drummer.
The first thing I thought after I finished this quilt was to start counting the places in my life where I needed to make note. I stopped, because I got tired. Needless to say, the quilt is done, which means this one and the Disappearing Pinwheel can head off to nephew brothers at the same time and nobody will feel sad.
I showed it at CQFA, though the binding was only partially done. I finished, later that day, at the BAMQG Sew Day, but will probably wait to send it off so I can show it off at the BAMQG meeting. Kathleen will be there, which will make the display extra sweet, because her quilt is the one that inspired this quilt.
One of the reasons I brought it to show at CQFA was because I thought I would send it off before the next meeting, which is in November. It turns out I won’t be able to attend that meeting anyway. They are good eggs and don’t mind if the quilt isn’t finished. Everyone liked the colors and I am thinking of making another one just because this one turned out so well visually. Realistically, though, I have done what I wanted with this design and don’t really need to make another one. The oranges are just so striking that I almost can’t help myself. I have a lot of other projects on my plate (in process) and in my dream list, none of which are a second version of this quilt.
After YEARS, this piece is finished. I am pretty pleased with it. I think it looks good and I did a good job on the quilting (click on the photo to see the quilting close up).
Please do look at the quilting, because it was a pain to do and I am pretty proud of it.
As you may already know, I started this piece in a class with David Walker, held in Capitola, in 2003. I can’t remember who sponsored the class. I want to say a shop, but I am not sure that is right.
The piece includes Machine quilting, fusible Applique’ with satin stitching, and reverse machine applique’. This is one of the few art quilts where I have not added beading or hand embroidery with Perl cotton. I just didn’t think the piece need it even though I had planned on doing both.
Finished: See – back
I was pretty proud of how you could see the quilting so well on the back, but after facing and labeling, there isn’t much to see.
I actually sewed the label on by hand, which I don’t like to do, but really had no other choice. The piece didn’tlend itself to including the label into the back.
This piece is based on a Chinese character, the character for our word “See”. I made it as a reminder to really look at things, not just glance at them, snap a picture and move on. It is an ongoing process for me to really look and see things.
This has more significance than just a finish, because it means I can cross it off my UFO list. When I do that, it will mean that I am one step closer to having only current projects, albeit a lot of them, but current projects only.
I actually finished this piece last week (or, maybe, the week before), but it is so huge and the weather has been so wet that I wasn’t able to take a photo until Maureen and Nancy held it up for me at the CQFA Meeting last weekend. Thanks, Pals!
It was also the first time I had seen it all completely finished. I wrestled it in my lap to bind it, but didn’t even get DH to hold it up, because we were really busy last week and I was afraid it would have defeated him as well.
I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out. Not only is the finished pieced lovely, but it brings back good memories, despite some complaining, about working on a project with TFQ. She still has to finish hers, but perhaps seeing mind finished will spur her along.
I really like the different sized blocks. They really create a lot of movement in the quilt.
The most I had to do was the binding after Colleen quilted it. The fabric I used for the binding is okay and it was a lot easier to needle than the fabric around the edge of FOTY 2012.
We had some trouble photographing it as the thing is a BEAST so you can see parts of two chairs in the photo. Sorry about that.
Finished: Scrapitude Back
Not comments on the back this time from the quilt holders. Oh well.
I thought of waiting until next week to post this, but I just couldn’t wait! Last night I finished the binding on the Disappearing Pinwheel. Hooray!
That means that another project is finished.
This is probably the fastest that I have completed a project of this size in a long time. I started it in January and here it is barely June and the entire quilt is done. A new era of completion? Perhaps. I have to acknowledge that Colleen is back on her gamenow and that helps.
This quilt is part of the Niecephews series and will go to one of the small nephews. I have to finish his brother’s quilt first and hold off sending off either quilt until I show them at my guilds.
As you read this, I have hopefully just returned from another Grand Parlor. With any luck, I did not say something stupid and embarrass DH. With a little more luck and some preparation, I looked nice and people spent a lot of money for Cleft Palate buying raffle tickets to win the pillows. I am writing it in advance so I don’t have to worry about posting wearing high heels and lipstick. 😉
These were on my radar. Really they were. My BIL asked me to make them in plenty of time and I agreed. I really had no mental problem making them. Not much of a problem anyway. I don’t like making pillows and I always seem to have some problem making them. I just didn’t start them.
Eventually, the pillows really and truly entered my consciousness. I asked DH when we were leaving for Grand Parlor. I have been having a problem lately fitting where I am in space and time with the actual days of the week. I am not sure what that is about. I blame the months and a change in schedule. They seem really long lately. Anyway, I asked DH when we were leaving and he said May 18. I realized that I had a week (Yes, 1 week!!!) since we were talking on the Saturday before Mother’s Day.
So, I got started. I spent most of the day on Sunday (Mother’s Day) making pillows.
Fabrics for Pillows
First things first, I got DH to approve the fabrics. These aren’t what I would have chosen, but he knows the constituency, so I trusted his judgement.
He wanted a color scheme of blue and red and another of blue and yellow. I thought about making sets of two, though I don’t know if that is the way the pillows will be raffled.
Mrs. K. saved my bacon by sending me more of the Pointillist Palette blue. I know she didn’t even intend to send it for the pillows. It is an old fabric and one that got me hooked on quilt fabric and building a stash. She sent me some reserves recently, I think, as a subtle way of encouraging me to finish the series of Pointillist Palette quilts. 😉 [As an aside, I found some of the blocks for the next in the PP series of quilts which means I can get started on them again.]
She saved me, however, because I am mostly out of dark blue prints. I don’t buy or use them much and whatever I did have I used for the Stars for San Bruno quilts. I didn’t think I had any dark blue and then I saw the one on the top in the above photo. It is perfect and DH approved.
Tension Problem
I noticed that SIL had a tension problem on one of the embroidered panels. Tension issues happen, even in the best of circumstances. We all know that. I didn’t think that people would notice immediately, but I also didn’t want any awkward questions later.
I had recently used my fabric markers, so I pulled them out. No brown. A number of them had dried up and had to be thrown out. The brown must have been among them. I have another set, but I couldn’t find it, then I remembered the Staedler set I received for my birthday a few years ago.
I carefully colored over the parts of the N (see above in the poppy panel) and the A with the brown. If you look closely you will see that the brown of the thread and the brown of the marker do not match. It is a very slight difference and I don’t think the Muggles will notice.
Then I just started sewing. I forgot to use batting, so the blocks are a bit thin, but I think they will be ok. I’ll try to remember for next time.
Yellow & Blue NSGW Pillows
One issue turned out to be that I didn’t have the forms. My SIL bought the forms and originally I thought I would just give her the cases, she would stuff them and all would be well. I got nervous, though and worried that they wouldn’t fit. I needed to check the sizing to be sure they weren’t saggy or too small.
To alleviate my fear, she brought them over and, fortunately, the forms she bought worked with the pillow covers I made. I didn’t have to make any adjustments.
Red & Blue NSGW Pillows
I really had to sew a lot less than I thought. I did a good job cutting the embroideries apart so they were fairly close to the finished size of the pillow forms. I had way more fabric than I needed.
I finished the last bits, stuffed them and took them to Grand Parlor where I told the boys to charge a lot for the tickets. The proceeds of the raffle went to the Charitable Foundation. We had a separate sale of pins and bracelets for Prostate Cancer Awareness (BIL has it).
2014 NSGW Pillows Complete
You can see photos from the event on Flickr or read more about the event on another blog.
As I mentioned, I got two quilts back from Colleen at the same time. I just finished the sleeve on the second, which means the whole quilt is finished. Yes, I finished Fresh Fruit. 😉
I like this quilt and think it is very pretty. Do you see how there is continuity across the quilt with fabrics in different colorways? I think that the design could be used very effectively with other fabrics, even if they were not different colorways of the same line. Of course, I am thinking about Philip Jacobs fabrics and dots.
Fresh Fruit front
The sad part of this quilt is that I barely remember making it. I should have called this quilt Cinderella, as it is beautiful, but shoved to the side, in a way, like fairy tale step children. The design was from a pattern and I used same fabric as the pattern. I did the whole thing as leaders and enders, I didn’t quilt it. The most time I spent on it was on the back, the sleeve and the binding. It feels weird, but it is true.
I had help from inexperienced quilt holders in taking the photo. They were tired after the front, so the back isn’t straight.
I am really excited about this finish! I think it looks really good. I keep looking at the center red/orange/pink shape in the middle and wondering if it is the upside down tip of Italy. No heel on the boot, so probably no hidden messages. 😉
I am pleased that I remembered to put the darker patches on the bottom this year.
You might be wondering why I am so thrilled that a two year old project is finally finished. You are probably wondering why it takes so longer for me to finish these FOTY quilts. I don’t quilt quilts of this size myself and my quilter was going through some personal struggles, so she wasn’t as fast as she normally is. She is back on the saddle, so if I piece FOTY 2013, she can probably get it done in a few months. I need to do my part.
I am thrilled that it is done, because, hey DONE is DONE-Finished-Finito-complete! It means one less UFO/WIP. Who wouldn’t be excited about fewer WIPs?
FOTY 2012 Back
DH was my quilt holder of the evening and as he was getting in position, he noticed the back and actually commented on the Philip Jacobs fabric I used for the back. I used it as an opportunity to expound upon the virtues of Philip Jacobs’ design prowess. My own personal audience. 😉
And, did I say: another finish?!? Hooray!
See all Fabric of the Year quilts on the FOTY page.
I am glad this thing is completed. It was a pain from start to finish, but it will be cute for my young friend.
I think it will be perfect for a beach bag or some such for a teenager. I do think a teen would like it better.
I think I am not liking it that much because of all the problems I had with hardware. The last part was the*&^%$ grommets. Dritz grommets, I think, are not that good in terms of quality. DH helped me and we had problems putting them in. He had to pound like a crazy man and we ruined 2 of them in the process.
Still, the adjustments I made to the sizes worked out and I did a nice job finishing, so I think it looks ok. One friend told me my standards are too high. I’ll keep that under advisement. 😉
The Infinity Quilt is finally finished. I finished it last week and am relatively pleased.
I think it is an interesting quilt from a color perspective. I didn’t really try and arrange the blocks much. They came out pretty well when I laid them out. There is a quite a lot of variety in the fabrics and also a good balance of light and dark. There were a few places where I switch a couple of blocks so that a print was next to a tone-on-tone rather than next to another print.
Colleen did a great job quilting it. It is a little stiff. I can’t tell if it is from the Harry Potter panel I used for the back or if the quilting made it stiff, so I might wash it.
After about a gazillion years, I have finally finished the Spiderweb.
Now that you have all gotten back into your chairs after that shock, I have to tell you that, yes, I have finished the Spiderweb.
The easiest part of this quilt was sewing down the binding. The Reflections fabric was so easy to needle that the binding practically attached itself to the quilt.
This quilt was started in 1998 after I saw an article in Quilter’s Newsletter magazine by Beverly Dunivent.
This has been a 16 year journey that involved a lot of paper piecing, a long time not working on it and finally a commitment to get UFOs out of my life.
A few years ago, TFQ gave me a tea towel which I thought was too pretty to cover with kitchen yuck. i really liked the motifs, which echo,in shape, if not color, the Tarts Come to Tea. It hung over the door of the fabric closet for quite awhile. The door of the fabric closet is a hybrid inspiration wall and I-know-what-I-want-to-do-with-this-but-haven’t-gotten-to-it space. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with the tea towel, but one day it came to me that I could fold it over and make a pillow.
I sewed it as described except for a space to stuff it last week. It was a quick trip around the edge with white thread. Yesterday I stuffed it with a combination of shards and tiny scraps and leftover batting. Then, I sewed it together on the machine.Voila! back pillow.
I really like finishing something on New Year’s Day as I like to think it sets the tone for the year. We will see.
