The Bitsy End to 2024

I thought after my last Post two weeks ago, I would only have one finish to write about but I managed to sewqueeze out a Quilt repair, EPP over fifty Tumbling Blocks and two flimsies before heading back to the GP House to spend the last week of December with the darling Granddaughter. I’ll be somewhat brief, hopefully, to explain these pics.

• The Fish Quilt, upper left, was made and gifted twenty-five years ago to the Master Quilt Holder for his 47th birthday. After the last washing earlier this year, I noticed the binding was coming apart in several places and planned to do a quick mending. But, upon further examination, I  saw the crossed-hatch machine quilting across the framed nine patches  were coming apart so this was going to take more time. Fortunately, unlike Demando the Son, Hubby is patient and didn’t mind that his quilt sat on a chair in the dining room all these months. It helped he has three other quilts to use when he’s reclining in his chair. After finally being tired of seeing it in the dining room, I decided to mend it by removing all the cross-hatch quilting and requilting the middle and hand sewing the binding. I should mention that this was one of the first quilts I machine quilted and it didn’t hold up to all of the washings. I read sometime ago that machine quilting should last 250 washing which definitely did not happen and at the least only lasted ten washings. Coincidentally, I finished it the day before Hubby’s birthday and jokingly referred to it as a Silver Anniversary re-gifting of his birthday quilt. Another interesting side note is that the quilt pattern is the same one used for The Granddaughter Quilt #1 which was made the same year, 1999, and was finally finished earlier this year. Kind of serendipitous, right?
• I really dropped the ball when it came to making new Halloween, Fall and Christmas quilts this year. I only managed to make the Kitty Christmas Table Runner, upper right, and only did so because I thought it was needed for the GP House because I misplaced the one we had. As luck would have it, I found it and the Kitty Christmas Table Runner is now a wall hanging. The pattern is a modified version of Villa Rosa’s Clover pattern  and I used Urban Chiks Kitty Christmas fabrics.
• As mentioned in earlier Posts, I’ve become a big fan of Kate at The Last Homely House YouTube videos and once again I was inspired by her EPP project of making Tumbling blocks with Liberty Fabrics. I am not yet a fan of Liberty fabrics but thought it would look nice with Kaffe Fassett fabrics but the blocks needed to be larger, like 9” blocks. I’ll write more about my epic EPP project once I get to the next stage of sewing the 58 blocks together to make a 52”x 70” flimsy. I’ve already sewn two rows together and the first seam had me asking why did I ever wanted to make this but the sewing got easier after the first few blocks were sewn together.
• Two flimsies (last two pics) were made to close out the year: one using Zen Chic’s Frisky fabric line and the other one with a fat quarter bundle of Kaffe Fassett fabrics received on Christmas Eve. I have a new favorite pattern which is Fat Quarter Shop Fat Eighth Flip pattern which is what I used for the Frisky fabrics and a variation I’m calling Fat Quarter Flip for the Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I’ll provide more details once these flimsies are machine quilted which I hope will be in January after my sewing desk is cleaned and reorganized.

It wouldn’t be an End of Year Post without providing some stats, right?

• Forty-four quilts were finished: 26 were lap size and larger, 18 were smaller, baby quilts, table runners, wall hangings, etc.
• Thirteen were backed with Plush also referred to as Patchwork Throws, Baby Boomer Blankies or Baby Blankies.
• Fourteen were UFOs; two were over 20 years old and two were 19 years old.
• Seven Flimsies

I compiled my own Top Nine Quilts pic based on Post views and you can find links to these quilts by clicking on the 2024 Quilts and Project tab on my Blog. I had a pretty productive year considering we spent over a hundred days at the GP House where I don’t have the conveniences of my home sewing studio. But, I’m not complaining since it’s nice to take a break and I rather spend time with the darling Granddaughter who is growing up too fast.

My plans for 2025 are to enjoy my Kaffe Fassett fabrics, more EPP and FPP projects and spending time with my wool and felt stash. I really don’t want to purchase any new fabrics as my 2024/25 Project List includes some lovely fabric bundles which have been sitting on the shelf for too long. My aim is to add new scraps to the already existing heap but then  I want a break from making scrap quilts. And Wonders of Wonders, I figured out the annual puzzle of adding the new 2025 tab to my Blog without any problems.

Wishing you a most blessed and Happy New Year filled with Love, Good Health and Peace.

The Last Two Patchwork Throws

It may be hard to see but there are two patchwork throws in this photo which were finished during the months of November through early December and is safe to say that these will be my final big finishes for 2024.

It’s been three years to the date that I posted about my Kaliedoscope Krosswalk quilt and the making of it was quite an experience. The quilt pattern is Tinkering designed by My Quilt Infatuation and was a fun pattern to use lots of different fabrics in which I most certainly did. I am lovingly referring the Kaleidoscope Krosswalk as the Mother Quilt for spawning the three projects made after the completion and not for any of the problems I experienced.

Along with my large stash of Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Fabrics and die-cutter, I did cut way more patches and strips that was actually needed and kept them together along with leftover blocks in a nice sized box. For the past several years, it was on my project lists to make something with these leftovers. In addition to these leftovers and die-cutting a few more 6” HSTs, I was able to make three Patchwork Throws which you will see below:

The Broken Dish Patchwork Throw was finished in July and were made from 6” HSTs, both leftovers and additional die-cuts.

I was planning on making a different block using the leftover 1-1/2” strips but glad I chose to make the simpler Broken Dish block instead. 

The Bitty Quilt was finished in early November and used the 1-1/2” strips cut for Kaliedoscope Krosswalk—I definitely die-cut more than I needed.

I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter’s Bitcoin pattern and started working on sewing the strip sets back in July. Instead of sewing a single row of rail fence blocks, I made a variety of block sizes with either six patches, nine patches, 12 patches, etc and used the same Bitcoin layout of varying block lengths. The Bitty quilt is the smallest of the three and measures 56” x 72”. Although I would have liked for it to be longer, I ran out of strips and didn’t want to die-cut anymore.

The last and final Patchwork Throw finished last week is the Krosswalk Karma Patchwork Throw and so named because there were exactly enough leftover Kaleidoscope Krosswalk blocks and large Broken Dish blocks plus leftover 3” HST to make enough 6” Broken Dish blocks to make it.

I will admit that I do not like this Patchwork Throw as much as the other two but thankful all of the leftovers were used up except for one 6” Broken Dish block.

All three Patchwork Throws were backed with the same dark gray double plush, which feels wonderful, and the same binding from Cotton+Steel Netorious print in Teal. As mentioned earlier, the Bitty measures 56” x 72” and both Broken Dish and Krosswalk Karma are the same size of 60” x 84”. The Broken Dish Patchwork Throw has been used since July and has went through a washing and drying very well.

Here’s a pic of the Mother Quilt and the three Spawns together. Is it hard to see the four together? Because of the cold and windy weather we’re experiencing now, the Master Quilt Holder is glad that indoor photos were taken and his assistance wasn’t needed. I’m glad I have three more Patchwork Throws perfect for the weather now. It’s funny and maybe ironic that my first Post for 2024 were the three patchwork throws I called The Three Bears and that my almost final Post for the year, I am once again closing with three more patchwork throws. They’re wonderful to make to keep or to give away. My last Post will be after the holiday so I’m wishing everyone a warm and wonderful Christmas. I know I’ll be warm.

Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt

 

It’s been over a month since my last Post and I have been absent from the studio with several visits to the GP House, attending Hubby’s final band gigs and, most importantly, prepping the house for the darling Granddaughter’s visit to our house in almost five years. And when she was here with her father (my youngest son) this meant there were several visits to family and friends, a Baby Christening which my son was the Godfather and a fun children theme park which she would have like to go there everyday thereafter. I, also, have been spending some time with some EPP projects and will be a topic for another Post.  Despite nursing a Cold along with Hubby, I finally spent some time in the studio this past weekend and have three finally finishes, one the Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt which I’ll share some details in this Post and the other two finishes will be another Post for later in the week.

I finished the Sweetwater Xmas Quilt back in early November. It was on my project list to finally make a Rambling Rows Quilt with several of Sweetwater fabrics lines I have acquired during the past years which  included On Dasher, The Cookie Exchange, Main Streeet, Hometown and Countdown to Christmas. Sweetwater fabrics hold a special place in my quilting memory since I made my Hometown Christmas Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt for Moda back in 2017. To be honest, since designing this pattern for jelly roll or 2.5” strips, I much rather use my Staggered Strips and Squares pattern or the Rambling Rows Pattern designed by Mary Etherington, Country Threads. The difference between these two patterns is that the strips sets are either made with two or four different fabrics. They both have the randomness look of a Jelly Roll Race quilt but eliminates having to cut a strip set of thirty-two rows apart and you can plan the layout of your fabric strips. I modified the Rambling Rows pattern to include 8” four-patch and rail blocks.

For the backing, I used a teal plush which I had in my stash. Normally when I use a plush fabric, there is no batting in the middle and I call it a Throw/Patchwork Blankie. This time because the plush was thin like a jersey knit fabric, I did include batting and this quilt has a nice weight. I machine quilted using a white polyester thread with both straight and wavey lines. The binding was one of the black Sweetwater prints used in the quilt. Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt measures 56” x 80”.

Here’s a pic of the Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt with the Hometown Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt. Even though they were made seven years apart, they do look similar, don’t they? The Ramblng Rows quilt will be gracing the darling Granddaughter’s bed at the GP House, just in time for Christmas. Because of our Colds, our GP visit has been delay which means I might be able to finish a Christmas UFO.