Cracker Jack

I had plans to work on my April quilt for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge but decided I was in the mood to finally finish my Cracker Jack quilt instead. I thought the flimsy was done in December but it turned out it was finished the first week in February. I did though purchased the pattern Cinnamon Spice  designed  by Ledine Watson of Sugar Stitches Quilt Co. (not an affiliate link) last year. 

I loved this pattern when I first saw it on IG; it’s a great scrappy pattern made of squares and flying geese blocks which I could die-cut. What I especially liked about the Cinnamon Spice pattern is that it was quilted with horizontal wavy lines which is something I can do and that it was available as a paper pattern. At that time, I was having problems printing pdf files but would you believe that just recently, moi, the computer challenged, was able to set up the wi-if settings on my printer-game changer-it’s so nice to now print from my iPhone or iPad.

I chose to make the throw size quilt since I need a new wall hanging for the family room. I decided on a palette based on several of the multi-color prints, of blues, persimmon/peach/pinks, chestnut browns and golds and needed twenty-four fat quarter which I easily found in my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash. 

If there is anything I would have done differently with my fabric choice is to have added more darker blues and used more fat quarters for variety.  I found having only twenty-eight different flying geese blocks was too limiting when you need six different ones for each block. I really had a hard time finding a layout which I liked since the same fabrics/colors were too close to each other to my liking but decided after the sixth layout that this is what the pattern was all about. And if you’re wondering why I named this quilt Cracker Jack,  it’s because these colors were yummy and gave me the taste for munchies like pretzels and cheese, caramel and cheese popcorn mix or Chex Mix. Surprisingly, I do not keep or bring any snacks to my basement studio. I thought Cracker Jack would be a good name since it is one of my favorite snacks “caramel coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize”and I was going “crackers” over the layout. Cheez Whiz was also a consideration.

I knew I wanted to machine quilt wavy lines like the pattern; Aurifil threads were used, gold on the top and navy on the bottom. The backing was pieced with two Cotton+Steel navy prints from the stash and the binding was the plaid Hatbox print which was also used in the top.  Cracker Jack measures 64” square and the Cinnamon Spice pattern can be made in two other sizes. I already have plans to make another one with Fall fabrics.

I thought I end this post with a photo of the Apprentice Quilt Holder, Demando, with his injured right hand which was not caused by holding up one of my quilts. He severed two tendons on his pinky finger while on the job which resulted in surgery. Yes, he is right-handed and, hopefully, he will be healed by May. Both he and the Master Quilt Holder with his sore knee are doing PT so I’ve been doing more schelping than usual. And now, I’m back to working on my April UFO, the flimsy is done and hopefully I can add the plush backing before we head to the GP House.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT and TGIFF hosted this week by Homesewn by Us.

Celestial Moonrise

After finishing my UFO project commitments, studio reorganization, taxes, QALing, a somewhat secret sewing project, etc., I was finally ready in April for easy sewing involving some new fabrics.

Ever since I received my Fat Quarter Sew Sampler box in February which included a junior Jelly Roll of Zen Chic Celestial, I’ve been wanting to make a version of my Staggered Strips and Squares Quilt. It also helped that I already had in my stash another junior Jelly Roll and Fat Quarters of Zen Chic’s Modern Background Even More Background. I still needed to buy additional yardage of the Celestial fabric since I wanted to include more pink and feature the main focus print of the circles and text which ties in most of the colors.

After die-cutting the additional 2.5” strips, I then subcut the approximate 110+ strips into various segments of 5” to wofq depending on the colors. My initial plan was to do a horizontal layout of the strip sets with an 8”(f) square of the focus print but changed it to a vertical layout with an 8”x12”(f) rectangle of the focus print since I love this print so much.

My favorite part of this pattern is first sewing the strips together, then sewing the very long strip together to make two rows and then sewing the two rows together to make a four-row strip set. After this was done, I then subcut twelve 8-1/2”x16-1/2” and three 8-1/2” x 84-1/2” strip sets/panels. This was going to be a quick quilt I thought with a row of the rectangle focus print with an 8-1/2”x16-1/2” strip set alternated with an 8-1/2”x 84-1/2 strip set.

After the flimsy on the left was sewn, the layout looked off balanced with the row of rectangles on the top. I realized I should have started and ended this row with an 8-1/2” square of the strip so I trimmed 8-1/2”off the bottom and then sewed it to the top. But I still was not happy with the way the rectangles looked with the strip sets.

I decided that I wanted the rectangles to “float” more so I added a two row strip set to each side of the flimsy which was an easy fix since I had almost enough left over from the original strip set sewn, I just had to seam rip it apart and then sew some more patches. 

Once I was finally happy with the flimsy, I can say finishing Celestial Moonrise was easy. I had to piece a backing which is something which I do not like to sew but I only had a four-yard piece of the gray Good Neighbor strip. Normally when I use a stripe print for a backing, I like it to run vertically but since I wanted to use this, I was okay with the stripe running horizontally and in order to have enough length, I inserted an 8” strip of the gray Impressions Newsprint which is another print from Connecting Threads (not an affiliate link). Machine quilting went well, and it helped that I was able to use my laser light to keep the lines straight whenever I had to quilt over the rectangles. BTW, when I cut the rectangles, I made sure to cut it so that the circles would be centered on the strip set.

The machine quilting was a combination of straight and curvy lines which is my favorite whenever I make  this pattern. I used the focus print for the binding also which I love how it add an interesting touch to Celestial Moonrise. It almost looks scrappy which I am one who does not like to do scrappy bindings but I might consider it now for the right quilt. This quilt measures 64” x 84”.

I wanted to take a photo of Celestial Moonrise outside and this was the best I could do since today we’re having high winds up to 60+ miles. I really need to stop making such long quilts since the Master Quilt Holder has trouble demonstrating his ability when they’re this long especially since he is experiencing some knee problems now (nothing I did but maybe the darling Granddaughter was involved). As for the Apprentice Quilt Holder, his right arm is in a cast and neither I nor the Granddaughter was involved in this.

Once last photo of Celestial Moonrise and I think the colors of the fabrics look better here. It’s nice to finally make a quilt you’ve been just “itching” to make but you surprisingly stayed on task plus getting to use some new fabric. Now it’s back to the Quilt Mines since I have to start working on my April quilt for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge.

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT