It's a Week to Celebrate

A quilt that is finally finished is a cause for celebration for me and this one is no different. It's the middle of June and hard to believe that the year is almost half over.  In looking at my project list, I haven't been too productive in getting some UFO's quilted so I wanted to make sure I got one quilt done this week before the start of our week of celebration which involves two birthdays, my oldest son's and mine, and Father's Day in which my youngest son is celebrating his first one.

I made this top in July of 2015 and it was on my 2017 list to finally finish it.  I had to dig out my 2015 Planner to see what the inspiration for this quilt was besides finding a pattern to use the Bonnie & Camille stash.  I found a quilt on Pinterest and it was A Quilter's Table, Quarter Cut Baby Quilt, you can read the post here, but I changed the block dimensions from 8"(f) to 6"(f). After making the blocks, I saw Stitched in Color, Simply Stacked Quilt, you can read the post here, and was inspired to make more changes. I decided to orient all the blocks vertically and add some 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles intermittently in some of the rows to offset the blocks, making some of the square blocks look rectangular and giving the quilt a more improv look.  This quilt measures 48" x 60".

This was the first top I made using my, then, brand new Juki 2010Q and all of the strips were die-cut (3-1/2" and 2" strip dies).  Of course two years later, I did machine quilting with my favorite straight line quilting, (3/4" apart) and I'm happy to say my Juki and the Janome Walking Foot have recovered from the overdose of grease it received from its recent repair experience--no grease spots and the stitching was perfect.

After finally finishing this quilt, I now only have 11 tops left on my project list to machine quilt.  I was all set to do another quilt on the list, I sewed the backing, cut the batting and binding strips but wouldn't you know it, I got distracted as usual.

This was one of the distraction, Hazel, my new Juki HZL F600 which I have received, as I put it, in celebration of the Silver Anniversary of my 40th Birthday (nice way of saying I'm 65 now).  I haven't spent too much time checking out Hazel but there are several features I already love,  the LED lights under the arm, the Walking Foot and the bobbin feed is on top so I can see when the bobbin is running low. The only drawback was the patchwork foot, I prefer sewing with a 1/4" quilting foot and happily was able to order one specifically for this machine.  I wanted another sewing machine to complement and to back up the Juki 2010Q and was set on a Janome but I really like the Juki brand and this machine was half of the cost of a comparable Janome.  My hubby and I have an agreement that I can buy an expensive sewing machine as long as when we pick it up I can carry it home on the back of the new Harley Davidson he's going to buy.

I really wanted to spend more time playing with my new Juki but as I mentioned earlier, this is our week of celebrations. There's only a few things that come before quilting now and the arrival of my granddaughter Micah Rose for a four-day visit to celebrate is one of them.  I'm sure once this week is over,  I'll get back on the quilt track next week.

Micah's already a granddaughter after my own heart.  While we were at Ikea, she picked out her first yard of fabric which is the Farmers Market print.  There was a yard laying among the bolts of fabric and her Mom showed it to her and she was just enthralled with it so of course I had to buy it to make another play mat for her.  Guess who stayed up past Midnight so this was ready to take on our road trip today.

I was doing so well at the beginning of the year with my Minus 100 Yard Challenge and confident that I was going to reach my goal earlier this year but it seems like I going towards the plus side.  I'm sure once I get some more tops quilted and make some Blanket Ministry Quilts, I should be minus-ing once again.

Minus 100 Yard Challenge:  -50.25 Yards

Linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quilts: Finish It Up Friday

Busy Hand Quilts: Finish or Not Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

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