Merry Finishes and Makings for December

 

‘Twas just a few days before we leave to celebrate Christmas week at the GP House and my two projects for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge are finished. The quilt on the right was my December UFO and the quilt on the left is an extra finish which I will explain later.

Rec-tango is based on Alexa Abegg, Ruby Star Society, Swatch quilt pattern which I saw on Pinterest and I made the flimsie back in March of 2020. This was one of the twelve flimsies I made back then and I now have only three flimsies left to machine quilt.

I really loved this pattern with the simple pairing of two fabrics similar in color vertically to create the stripe look. 

I knew I wouldn’t have any problems finding fourteen fat quarter in my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash and I changed the measurements so I could die-cut the rectangles using my 3”x6”(f) die.

Vertical straight and wavey line quilting was done using an Aurifil medium gray thread. The Waverly gray  print was used for the backing and is one of my favorite to use for modern quilts. I was planning on using the light purple cross print for the binding when the flimsy was made but decided to use the gray strip instead since I thought it accented the prints better. Rec-tango measures 42”x 60”.

 

Since I still had some time left, I decided to machine quilt the Sidewalk Quilt which was a flimsy made in March and was part of my 2021/22 Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO finishes. It was an UFO projects which I had rows of charm squares from Riley Blake’s Sidewalk fabrics and brown strips from Windham/Bari Ackerman Country Lane collection ready to be sewn together for more than five years. My plan was to back this flimsy with a light pink plush since I wanted an easy and fast finish but then I purchased Jinny Janome and wasn’t sure how she would like machine quilting plush fabrics. 

Since machine quilting Rec-tango with the straight and wavey lines went well, I decided that the Sidewalk Quilt would be a regular quilt with batting and backing and quilted it the same way but horizontally.  I knew that I had several prints in my brown stash which could be used for the backing and chose the large daisies which I thought was whimsical like the prints in the Sidewalk collection. Would you believe I purchased four charm packs of this collection many moons ago and I’m pretty sure a Craftsy sales was involved. Like with Rec-tango, I made a binding change since my original plan was to use the brown stripe but changed to a brown check which I thought would accent the quilt better. Sidewalks measures 40” x 52”.

I just love making quilts which showcase the fabrics with simple cuts. I will be adding these two to my ever growing Baby Boomer Blankie collection.

Another Merry Finish was the Chair Runner which in my last post was just a flimsy. Machine grid line quilting with a white thread went well. I am just pleased with how this turned out and the 20” x 72” size fits perfectly on the wingback chair. I know I will be making more of these but not too many since I already drape quilts over my chairs and sofas. Maybe I can come up with something for my Queen Anne dining room chairs.

Here’s a sneak peek of My Merry Making for this month which was making this flimsy from My Quilt Infatuation’s Bubble Bath pattern with Carrie Bloomston’s Happy Collection. It’s a combination DrEAMi and a project listed in my 2022/23 CT DD UFO Challenge. A pieced back is already made and I’m planning on this being the first quilt to be machine quilted in 2024.

And if there was any mischief, it would be coming across some C+S/RSS scraps and wanting to die-cut more HSTs and strips so I can make the quilt on the right even though I should have been finishing my UFO quilt. I was easily distracted this month because I kept finding projects and stash I wanted to sew. I really surprised Hubby by telling him that I didn’t want any fabric for Christmas and just wanted a new cutting mat.

And per usual, when I knit, I need to have three projects going despite one of them being a Christmas present. I had a pretty productive December even with being at home for only half of the month. We already celebrated Hubby’s birthday which marked with some illness and very much sadness with the passing of my beloved Granddoggy Duke. I am looking forward to the remaining days in December with celebrating Christmas, another birthday and, of course, spending time with the precious Granddaughter. In the event of a lull, I will be bringing some sewing and knitting projects with me.

Kharma Khameleon, A Baby Boomer Blankie

As mentioned in my previous Post, Karma came knocking via an email from Sandra asking if I would like to be a pattern tester for her latest pattern Sunset Strip.  Like her previous patterns I have tested or made, Sunset Strip was a fun make. The pattern is for two sizes: Throw and Crib and I tested the Crib Size. I’ve proven once again that I can’t quite follow a pattern as I’m always looking for ways to sew easy and quick so maybe I’m a pattern interpreter. Today, Sandra, mmmquilts is releasing Sunset Strip and you can click on these links to read her Post about the making of her quilt and to see the pattern in her Etsy shop with a special launch price of $5.41. You might see how I “interpret” her Sunset Strip pattern.

Before I agreed to be a pattern tester, I had to make sure that I had fabric in my stash already and am happy to have found yardage of a Free Spirit print, Dance Moves, by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I had purchased this fabric earlier this year when I was in Maine and enjoyed a fabric buying spree with good Quilt Sista  Kathleen McMusing at Mardens in Scarborough. I knew I wanted to use this wonderful Citronickle print for the background. When I first saw Sandra’s Sunset Strip which is a wonderful pattern with negative space to showcase beautiful machine quilting, I knew I had to find a background print to make up for my lackluster machine quilting. Happily, I knew Dance Moves would be perfect. 

I’ve always say when I have to choose under ten fabrics for a quilt, it takes me forever like several days which was true for Kharma Khameleon. I wanted to use my Basic Grey Grunge stash and it took three layouts until I was happy with the final fabric choice. I decided to add the black window print which almost looks the same as the black squares in the Dance Moves print and gave it the color punch I needed  to make these circle blocks pop.

As mentioned earlier in this Post, I am confessing that I constructed the blocks differently because I happened to have an Accuquilt die (not an affiliate link) which allowed me to make  the “O” blocks even faster. I did let Sandra know what I planned to do and she approved. This die can be used as a signature block and O and X blocks also known as Hugs and Kisses.

And another way to make Kharma Khameleon a quick make was deciding to back it only with Minky, no batting. I had just the right shade of green and yardage in my stash. You can see above I basted with just long straight pins.

Machine quilting  was quick with wavey lines spaced 4” apart using a lime polyester thread and a ball point Jersey needle. I could say there was nothing but good karma in the making but you can see in the lower right pic I miscalculated how much binding of the black print I needed. I can’t say enough how much I love backing my flimsies with Minky/plush fabric. When I do this, I call it a Throw for an Adult size and a blankie for a baby/child.

I have to mention how I came up with the name Kharma Khameleon Baby Boomer Blankie.  In previous Posts about making smaller quilts, I said that they would be nice to give to friends who are retiring and the size is right for keeping our legs warm when sitting outside or in the car. Let’s say this small size “sits well”. Most of my friends are Baby Boomers, as I am, and being that I like alliteration in my quilt names, I had to call Kharma Khameleon a Baby Boomer Blankie. Kharma Khameleon is what I came up with while I was basting the quilt and admiring the Dance Moves fabric once again and wondering what a chameleon would look like against it. I started singing Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and maybe busting a few dance moves. Despite  already chosen two other names for this quilt, Squircle Alley and Huggsville,  Kharma Khameleon just sang to me. I have a connection to Boy George, being that two of the men in my family have birthdays the same day as famous musician/composers; one shares a birthday with Beethoven and the other with Paul McCartney. I wondered if I shared a birthday too with a famous musician and learned that mine was with Boy George. Am I lucky or what? While I was finishing Kharma Khameleon and Hubby wondering why I was singing a blast from the past, probably thought I was going to ask him to put this song on his Band’s playlist, decided to look it up online and found an explanation for the lyrics. “Basically, if you aren’t true, if you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.” This message still resonates today and I think I can apply this thought to why I prefer to make easy quilts, if I’m making a quilt I find too challenging or not my style, then my seams aren’t going to line up or my sewing machine is going to act up. I do believe in quilt karma.

Kharma Khameleon measures 38” x 44” which I have to mention again it’s a nice size which sits well.  I am ready to rock my first official Baby Boomer Blankie. This is really a fast make and a wonderful gift for yourself, family or friends, just in time for the holidays. I am finding out that I don’t have too many baby quilts to make anymore but I do have Boomers who might need or want a blankie. Do check out Sandra’s post and you will see the quilts from the other pattern testers, Tish, Carol and Michelle Peet.

Here are the links once again:

Sandra’s Post: https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/12/sunset-strip-pattern-release.html

Sunset Strip Pattern: https://sandrajanequilts.etsy.com/ca/listing/1626014691/sunset-strip-pdf-quilt-pattern-throw