Chicks Challenge #1 Teal/Black 5 yard quilt

Almost, but not quite!

On March 18th, my local quilt group (Quilting Chicks) had our semi-monthly reveal day and die roll.
I showed the Space Ship Quilt and matching pillowcase that was my #6 challenge. Then Nickie rolled the die for the project that will be due/revealed in May.  She rolled #1.  My number one is a black and teal quilt that is to be ready for the quilter. It is fabric that I purchased in Sheridan, WY in May of 2016. It was still in the bag from the shop with the receipt.

I got the fabric out and the 5-yard pattern. I wondered if I could cut the large motif fabric to highlight the larger medallions. But because they are not quite far enough apart to do it in way that would not waste lots of fabric....I would need more yardage. The selvage was intact, so I hit the internet. Every site I checked was sold out of the large print. It is Isabella by WilmingtonPrints .  Some had small yardage of the coordinating fabric but not the one I needed.  So I cut as well as I could . I don't think it looks bad at all.

But note to self:  If you might want to fussy cut, be sure to buy 2x as much fabric as you think you need.

Then I wondered about the light gray I purchased for the center of the #2 blocks. So I cut fabric for 5 blocks and put it up on my design wall. I even cut some while on white from my stash for alternate frames for the focus block. I did not like the white at all.

Then I was really flummoxed. So I made a special post to only my quilting friends...and they weighed in. The majority of them like the black in the center instead of the light gray. (Sorry for the out of focus pic)

So I went with that.

I am liking it. This one will be for my daughter. She is not really into lots of flowers etc, so I think this will suit her.

Now the top is done, the inner teal borders are on. 

I am not sure about the gray print for the  4 1/2" outside border. 

How about the gray swirls. Does it look too light?  I thought of the black as the binding, but now I think is it too stark. I don't want to buy more fabric and most of this line is sold out on line anyway. I'll have to come up with something completely different for the binding.  Oh Boy!!!  I am frustrated!

Well, so here it is.   Finished or NOT!  I'll link up to Myra's Finished or Not Friday.  
and maybe Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday if her link up  is still open. When I checked just now at 8:15pm Friday, MDT the link up was already closed!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Oh My Heck! It's Spring, Mother Nature!

Did someone make you mad?

When I awoke this morning at 6:30am ( thanks to the cat!) , this greeted me.  It wasn't snowing then, traffic was moving slowly, the plows had not yet been by in our neighborhood.

 


Schools are closed today, but the City Government is open. Now 45 minutes later is it snowing again. One to three more inches is forecast.  I am anticipating a Snow Day/ Sew Day here.  I am working on a 5 yard quilt for a special person. My family is not aware of my blog and I do not think my friends have discovered it either. That is my decision.....so I don't think anyone will know if I show the progress here.

I did post these pictures on FB a few days ago to just my local quilting friends. Asking for advice about the color of the small center block in the teal/grey block.

Sorry this one is so "fuzzy".

The black centers won out!   Even Mr Busy preferred the black center. So I began. I finished cutting the fabric and spent several hours Saturday and Sunday afternoons piecing.

This is what it looks like this morning.

It is noon and still snowing off and on......but it's expected to be 40 tomorrow. It will be gone soon.

And I got this quilt back from the my quilter.  Snow Flurries need to be trimmed and bound. The binding is made and ready to be stitched on. This is always a big project for me.  I struggle with wrestling the mass of the quilt.  So it takes me awhile.

I supply the batting to my long arm quilter. So there is extra to trim off. It will be enough to make a baby quilt or maybe a table runner or two. I usually measure it, fold it and put it back in the original packaging, with a note of the size.  That way I remember is it cotton, wool, or 80/20 blend and I can tell of there is enough for a particular project.  How do you keep track of your batting extras?


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

OMG March 2018

March 2018, my One Monthly Goal was to complete 6 blocks for Covered in Love .   If you want to read more about that event, check out Kat and Cat Quilts and click the Covered in Love tab at the top of her page or scroll to the bottom of her March 15th post entitled Cuddly Cozy Patchwork Quilts
and click the link.

The current 2 month goal for that block drive is to make blue , any and all shades of  blue- one solid and one print, 12.5 inch Hunter Star  blocks.

I picked some blues from my stash.

Then I picked 3 different solids and 3 prints. I'll make 2 of each color combination.  The block is made from 1 large solid and 1 large print square and 8 each smaller half square triangle .

 After drawing diagonal lines on each of the lighter small squares, I sewed 1/4" on either side of the line.  Before pressing these open, I used my Quilt in a Day(no affiliation) square up ruler. I really really like this ruler. It makes squaring up HST's so easy.

I finished the 6  12.5" squares with no real trouble. ( I did have to unsew 2 blocks because I can't seem to follow a simple diagram and turned the hst upside down!)  Then  I laid them out to see how they looked all together.

I decided that I needed to make 8 blocks instead of just 6. I went back to my blue stash and made two more.  Eight blocks are done.

 I will be linking this post to the March OMG Finish Link Up at Elm Street Quilts

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

RSC2018 Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - March

Lime Green  and Yellow Green the colors for March.

I did not think I had a lot of lime green or light yellow green in my stash. Now I love green. But my green stash leans toward avocado, forest, and sage greens.  Thankfully, I had received a large bag of scraps from a few quilting friends.  Luckily,  these friends had used lime green and light yellow greens. I pieced slab of these shades of greens. Some look wonky, but I have not squared them up yet.

I still am not sure how I will use these blocks. I am thinking of a quilt similar to one on Angela's So Scrappy  RSC17 tab.

Or maybe  I'll make baskets for all the scraps that are left over like those shown in Amanda and Cheryl's book, Sunday Morning Quilts.

And maybe I'll add to each color and do both a quilt and storage boxes.  I'll keep thinking on it and let you know later.

I am already anxious to learn the new color for April.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

linking up with ScrappyHappy Saturday. 

APQ 2018 UFO Challenge - March Finished!

The beginning of March, the organizers of All People Quilt 2018 UFO Challenge posted the #3 as the project to be done for March. The Fat Quarter Bag by Melly and Me was my #3. 

This project had been in my UFO basket since 2012. I had purchased these gorgeous Australian fabrics just for this bag. 

I read the pattern, no less than six times, before I decided to find a different fabric for the handles of the bag. My fabric did not have enough contrast.  Then I traced the pattern onto freezer paper and read the directions, yet again. IMHO this pattern is not well written. If I had not made 3 purses and numerous totes and zipper bags, I would have been totally lost.  There is only 1 diagram in all of the directions. 

I checked off each step as I completed it. I ordered D rings and magnetic closures from Amazon. I guess I could have gone to JoAnn's, but the weather has been rather Wintery and I just decided to order the supplies and some 45mm rotary cutter blades while sitting in my rocker. 

There is fusible fleece fused to the main portion of the bag and the top curved section. Also the side panels,  that are horseshoe shaped. No problem, I can do that!  Quilt the main bag piece with a 2 " diagonal grid with lines 1/4" apart!  What?  Oh, look at the photo on the cover. OK! Can do!

The dark fabric is called Kangaroo Dreaming. Isn't it yummy? The contrast piece, not quilted, is called Women Dreaming. Also very nice. 

Add the curved top pieces to the two ends of the main bag piece. Carefully, carefully, I pinned and stitched. 

Look Ma, no puckers!!!  Success!

From there it went downhill. I should have taken more photos but I was so disgusted at the way it was going together, that I just couldn't think of photos.  Sewing the lining piece, went OK, but there were no marks as to where to stop and start sewing, how to ease the curved bottom piece. I think the top of the lining piece should have been interfaced to give it some stability where it attaches to the main front section. If I do this bag again, and there is "no way, Jose" that I will,  I would interface that section. In fact, I plan to put this pattern on the giveaway table at the local NEW Quilt Show in October. Maybe I should add some notes to the original pattern.  Certainly, there will be a EXPERIENCED BAG MAKER ONLY declaration!. 

It is done and although, I did reinforce the back of the lining where the magnetic closures are inserted, it isn't sturdy enough and it sags.  I may go back try to fix that somehow. I'll use it for a bit and see how it holds up. 

I like the fabrics and it looks good. And it is a finish for this week and a completion for the APQ Challenge.  Another UFO out of the basket!  WIN WIN!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

(or at least slightly satisfied)

I am linking this finish to Busy Hands Quilts: Finished or Not Friday  and to

Crazy Mom Quilts:  Finish It Up Friday.

Jelly Jive plus a space ship pillowcase

I have finally finished this "PINK" quilt. I used the pattern called Jelly Jive from Pieced Tree Patterns and put this together at a retreat in May 2012.    I do not remember the name of the fabric in the jelly roll. I did this before I started to blog about my quilting, so did not keep all that sort of information.

When I finished the top, I did not like it. From across the room, like this picture,

I kind of like it. Up close and personal, I don't like it. My friend, Kathy, says it's because it's not "me".  Not my usual pick of colors. She may be right!  I decided that I needed to "finish" it and get it out of my stack of UFOs. I ordered a wide backing online. Unable to find a pink one I liked, I chose a light green.

And I made a math error when deciding how much of the backing to order. I was short a little bit.

 So I inserted a piece of the stripe that I had decided to use as the binding.  Now that it is done, I have decided that I don't hate it and may just keep it in my "to gift" box. It was quilted by my friend Lynn using the Pretty Paisley panto.

In addition, I finished this single pillowcase to go with the Space Ship quilt for my great grandson..... you can see the quilt here. I found a piece of coordinating fabric on line and ordered 1 yard.

 It doesn't follow the pattern exactly, but I just inserted a piece of leftover red fabric, called Maze by Robert Kauffman that was included with the kit for the panel quilt. It turned out pretty cute, I think.

That's all for my Friday Finishes. I'll link up with
Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts : Finish It Up Friday
and Myra at Busy Hands Quilts: Finished Or Not Friday

Stay Happy and Stay Busy
Judy

Dick and Jane, 5 yard quilt

The first Wednesday of every month, I am privileged to meet and sew with 12 wonderful women. We call ourselves Loose Threads and we vary in age from 82 to 60. The first Wednesday in February I started putting this 5-yard quilt together. 

This quilt is approximately 52 X 68 . It is a pattern that I have used over and over. The focus fabric is called Go with Dick and Jane and was in my stash for  almost 18 years. The background looks a bit gray here, but it is a soft mint green.  The orange-y clamshell fabric and the gold were also in my stash.  I posted more detail on this post late last year.

The pattern calls for the inside border to be the same as the gold fabric in the offsetting block.
However, as I wrote in the 2017 post, the fabric has marks on it and I could not get it out or cut around it. So I decided on the dark brown.

I had just enough of the focus fabric to use it for the large outside border. I like it a lot and now that fabric is gone with the exception of about 4" by 18".  Because the fabric is directional, it took a bit of planning to cut it the proper way.  I don't have an idea for the backing, but will use the aqua/teal bubble fabric for the binding.  Because it is on one of my challenge lists, but only the top has to be completed, I am calling it done.  I don't quilt my own quilts, only table toppers, place mats and small stuff. So this will wait for a backing and for my long arm quilter to have time (she bought a new house and is going to Paducah in April) and for me to have some extra dollars! 

I will be linking up with Finished or Not Friday and Finish It Up Friday. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finish It Up Friday - Space Ship Quilt

I shared the top finished  in this post. But now the small quilt for my great grandson is completely finished. I received a piece of batting from my granddaughter when she moved recently. She is not a quilter and I don't know where it came from, but it was the right size for this smallish quilt. It was quilted by my friend Marva Jo using a pantograph called Starstruck. It's perfect!

I had originally selected an orange minky for the back of this little comfort quilt, but when I say this flannel backing on a quilt on Katie Mae's blog, I was smitten. It's perfect. The colors are complementary and it's happy. Katie generously shared that she had purchased it at JoAnn's. They didn't have it at my local JoAnn's and it wasn't eligible for shipping to the store, but I ordered it anyway ( it was on sale) and paid the shipping. It is really nice quality. I finished the binding on Tuesday night watching This Is Us. 

I am really please with how this quilt turned out. I plan to make a coordinating pillow case to go with it. Our great grandson will have a birthday in September, so I will be ready! This UFO was the pick for my local quilt group, due to be done by our gathering on the 3rd Sunday in March. I'll make that goal too!  

I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
and Myra at Busy Hands Quilts. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

APQ UFO 2018 for March

The number for March has been selected. #3 is a pattern called the Melly and Me Fat Quarter Bag. This pattern was purchased at a local quilt show 4 years ago. The fabric is Australian and it's gorgeous. The fabrics were in a bundle  pre-selected by the owners of the shop and I loved them at first sight. But in December when I put this project on this UFO list, I pulled the fabric and the pattern and really looked at the fabrics and the places to use them. I decided that , although I love all the fabric, it feels like it needs a different fabric for the top of the purse.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy
Judy

OMG for March 2018 Elm Street Quilts Challenge

My One Monthly Goal for March is to make at least 6 blocks for the Covered in Love Block Drive sponsored by Kat and Cat Quilts. This month, Kat has asked for 12.5 inch blocks in blue. Using the pattern for Hunter's Star and just 2 fabrics, one blue solid and one blue print. Click on the above link to see Kat's block.

I may have some trouble, because I do not have many solids. I did make a baby quilt late last year in solids, blues and grays. So I may be able to use up some of those scraps.

I just went to my sewing room and did this pull. I think I can do it!! 

 

and here , on the left, are a few more!   Now I am excited to get started.

I will link this up at Elm Street Quilts, One Monthly Goal   March Goal Setting Link Up. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy