Friday, June 28, 2019

Oh Sanada!, The Mission mmmPossible Quilt

I'm linking this quilt up with Sandra's (mmm! Quilts) monthly DrEAMi (Drop Everything and Make it) monthly party even though I now realize that this quilt may not meet all of the criteria since I made this quilt in stages rather than all at once like a true DrEAMi project is.  But I figured since Sandra was the main mmmPetus for this quilt being made since it involved sending me Squirrel Mail I'm sure she won't mind.
Since we became Blog Buddies back in 2017, Sandra and I have exchanged emails which included much laughter, Squirrel Talk and, of course, some fabric exchanges, which meant using the Drop-off Point Dayna because International postage rates are just so outrageous.  Last February, I received this brown paper envelope from Sandra which reminded me of the ones that Mr. Briggs or Mr. Phelps received their instructions in the beginning of each episode of the Mission Impossible TV series.  To protect the innocent, which would be me, I've covered up the addresses.  
Although there was no taped message in the envelope, I heard the Squirrel tell me that my  mission was to make a quilt with this lovely stack of Island Batik's Dear William 10" squares and the eight 2.5" strips of another collection which are on the left of this photo.  I immediately found some other batiks in my stash, which are on the right, some of which I received earlier from Sandra, so I could make a lap size quilt. After that, I didn't start making this quilt until the beginning of May because I wanted to finish some quilts the other Squirrels already put on my plate. I like to modify the DrEAMi criteria to include a quillt/project which wasn't planned but not made right away because sometimes you are surprisingly focused. One of the projects which preceded the Oh Sanada! quilt, was my Jolly Jinny Jungle quilt (you can read about it here) which was also a quilt made with mostly batiks and Sandra was also involved in my making of it.  It's funny that I don't work with batiks much and this year, I now have made two, both involving batik fabrics being given to me and both involving Sandra, the Master mmm-Nabler.
I purchased yardage of a Hoffman batik, black with sage green lines (lower right) to go with these fabrics since I knew this quilt was going to involve some rail fence blocks because of the 2.5" strips.
Based on the colors and the amount of fabric on hand, I came up with making four different 8"  blocks: Rail Fence blocks made with the black with sage green lines with the 2.5" strips and some of the 10" squares which went with these strips, Eight-Patch blocks made with the gold and navy prints, Boxed Squares made with either green or navy frames and Four-Patch blocks made with the gold and fuchsia prints.  I also made Eight-patch blocks with the black batik I had in my stash and gold prints but decided not to include them in the quilt since they look so stark next to the other blocks.
My original layout was to use a random layout of the different blocks but decided to do a controlled layout instead with the blocks which had gold placed in the center of the quilt surrounded by the green blocks.  I thought I need to contain the Four Patch blocks in one area since they did not look good when they were randomly placed throughout the quilt. You can see Oh Sanada! has an inner glow with the gold and fuchsia blocks which radiates softly towards the outside with the green blocks which has a touch of fuchsia in it. Surprisingly, I made enough of each blocks needed for this layout.

One of the nice thing about sewing with batik fabrics is that there's very little thread shedding which makes getting the top ready for quilting go fast. In order to back the quilt and there was no batik yardage in the backing vault, I had to buy yardage of a batik print which I found at Joann's.  It had most of the same colors in the top and best of all I had a 40% off coupon.  I quilted it with wavy lines around 1" apart and some of the wavy lines intersected along the seam lines. I used a thread from Connecting Threads in Cornsilk. The binding was machine bound with the black with sage green lines print. Oh Sanada! measures approximately 56" x 72" before quilting and I'm sure it's a little bit shorter now with all of the machine quilting I did.
If you're wondering about how I came up with the name "Sanada", it's the name I use when I have conversations with my Hubby involving Sandra and it's a combination of her name and Canada. It really is a lot quicker to say this rather than Sandra from Canada.  (Some of my other blog buddies had combo names also like Wendy, Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting, who lives in Minnesota so she is called Wendy-sota.  Believe me, these names help Hubby know whom I'm talking about.)  I included the "Oh" in the name of the quilt since I like to hum "Oh Canada" long before it was heard a lot lately thanks to the NBA Finals.
I had to include another photo of Oh Sanada! since the weather was so co-operative the morning I took photos.  Now that this quilt is finished or should I say mission completed, I think I'm hearing the Squirrel tell me that Sandra's beloved cat Bella should be my reward.  Doing this quilt, along with the Jolly Jinny Jungle Quilt and the Beothuk Star QAL so far this year, as well as the three other QALs Sandra hosted, I think my Get Bella Card has enough punches. With that being said, I'm sure I'm going to be receiving some lively email exchange from Sandra.  I'm sure if Bella had her way, she would be sending me Rufus, the dog, who may still be tormenting her.  Now that would be one big brown paper envelope for Drop-Off Point Dayna to handle. Seriously now, I would like to donate this quilt to a Canadian Charity/Cause so Sandra and I need to discuss options and to give Drop-Off Point Dayna a heads-up.

After I finished the top, Sandra posted her Luminous Layer which she made with, yep, a stack of Island Batik 10" squares.  And if she decides to do a QAL of this pattern, I most definitely will buy my own Island Batik fabrics, this time yardage would be nice.

Lastly, beware of Squirrel Mail!

Linking up with MMMiQuilts DrEAMi

11 comments :

  1. It's lovely! I get the naming of your quilting buddies. My husband usually says "who?" when I mention mine by name. I may just need to do some name changing myself!

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  2. Haha -- Wendy-sota -- I love it! Why haven't I thought to give my quilty buddies names like that? Yours might be a bit tricky though! I love how you take the fabric, think on it, and come up with a winning design. How fun! Great finish, Rose!

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  3. Oh Sanada Oh Sanada.....your cat or dog car are soon mine. That may not work but it was what came to my mind. It is good that you have a way of identifying us to hubby. I know we have had our own for a few folks Lynn Owner for the store K2 for the treasurer of our church (as she was Kathleen too). I do love this and the way it turned out. It is gorgeous! I love that you have a drop off point and a charity quilt is always a good thing and a great home for that gorgeous quilt - to comfort someone who really needs it.

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  4. You did a beautiful job putting those fabrics together. I am not sure I could have done as well as you did!

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  5. That is such a lovely quilt, Smiling Rose! You made so many good calls in its construction!
    Thanks for sharing the method and the story.

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  6. Nice rose! Very creative. I love your controlled layout, which on first glance looks random!

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  7. Laugh, laugh, laughing and smiling and feeling all warm 'n fuzzy the entire way through reading your post. I saved it after seeing the heads-up email and Instagram post for when I could thoroughly enjoy it, which is now, cup of coffee in hand, munching on my free range laid by a Canadian hen fried egg croissant-wich after sweating my way through a yoga class early this morning. What a fabulous way to start off our first long weekend of the summer, with Canada Day on Monday, and in my head, the anthem as an ear worm I'll have you know! I LOVE what you did with these Dear William batiks, and combining it with the Jingle ones and others from stash and quilt shops is brilliant. I love the inner glow with the soft outer points so creatively and intelligently placed (like the women who designed and inspired the quilt, right?! ;-) I may have to copy this idea for my August hop quilt where we have to feature as many fabrics in the line we've been given....AND
    I think I will be recommending you as an ambassador for 2020! I mean look at all the batik work you've done this year! As for Bella, yeah you know her well: I'll ship Rufus on her behalf!

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  8. Rose, the quilt is wonderful—of course! But I love all your plays on words—especially as they relate to Sandra. The shortcut names are a great idea. I may need to borrow them as I am tired of always explaining to my husband who other quilters are by describing geography. I’m not sure why I’m always talking to him about other quilters, but hey, at least he listens or at least looks attentive.

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  9. Fun post to read, and a beautiful quilt to boot! I love how we all enable each other in so many ways.

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  10. There really is a lovely glow emanating from your quilt. Batiks give such a different effect and, as you said, there is little fraying. Enjoy!

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  11. Hi Rose! What a delightful read this morning. I'm trying to play catchup, and I'm sure glad I didn't miss this post. Oh Sanada turned out just wonderful. I love your thoughtful placement of the framed squares surrounding the golden hued ones. I would say your mission is a successful completion. When Rufus is over, taking a break from Bella, you'll have to have him photobomb your shots as well. I can picture him laying in front of that bicycle quite nicely. ~smile~ Roseanne

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I appreciate your comments but due to traveling and my ineptitude with typing on either my iPhone or iPad, my response may be somewhat delayed. Thank You for your understanding.