Graphix Galaxy

Graphix Galaxy is my third Finally Finish quilt for 2025 and has unexpectedly bumped the posting of my second quilt finish which  is the birthday quilt for the Darling Granddaughter. Our plans to be at the GP House now was interrupted by the Master Quilt Holder (Hubby) continuing back problems and his needing to see the Orthopedic Surgeon for a possible Kyphoplasty procedure on his spine. The soonest he could be seen was on the Darling Granddaughter’s birthday which meant we needed to stay home for that and because he was in no condition to make the trip.  There is no way I could post her birthday quilt without a photo of her with it so hopefully there will be a joyful Post next month.

Graphix Galaxy was inspired by the Braque Quilt Pattern by Melinda Lin and I was made aware of this pattern by Kate from England. If you read my previous Posts, you will know that I have been inspired by Kate of The Last Homely House and I’m being a little cheeky here by saying not this Kate, but Smiles from Kate who inspired me to be a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers. When I saw Kate’s quilt on IG, I had to ask her if this was a pattern and she said this was the second quilt she made from the Braque pattern. My favorite quilt to make after strips and squares are ones with HSTs especially since they  can be neatly die cut. I really used my Art History Degree to good use by misreading the pattern name as Baroque which made be wonder why there were no curves in the quilt but then realized it was named after Georges Braque, a contemporary of Pablo Picasso, both of whom were pioneers in the Cubist Art Movement. A little embarrassment for me since my area of concentration was Modern Art and Architecture but in my defense my degree was earned over fifty years ago.

I knew my stash of Marcia Derse fabrics would be perfect for the Braque pattern and I’ve been wanting to use them especially since I’ve been buying her somewhat latest collections—Marble Run, Spotted  Graffiti, Random Thoughts, etc for the past years. I also added a Lonni Rossi black tone on tone print which I later decided to remove all the blocks using this print. There are four different HST blocks and I have to mention I really love making the large block on the upper left. 

My plan for making the blocks was to use the blacks, grays and lights for the large HST blocks and the bright colors for the small HSTs. I did not use the layout in the pattern because I thought my layout of just rows of HST blocks would be easier than sections of HST blocks but after multiple layouts I ended up with HST sections which made my angle-challenged mind spin or explode. My working title for this quilt was Kaboom since it seems some blasting is involved but I knew there had to be a better name which kept me up thinking what could it be. The flimsy was finished on March 15th and the plan was to maybe machine quilt it later after other flimsies and taxes were done.

It was decided the day before we were to leave for the GP House that the trip would not be made so I wanted to quilt my disappointment away by machine quilting Graphix Galaxy, even though there were other flimsies waiting, but this fit my mood. I did quadrant machine quilting which is what I call it by drawing an X across the top and then straight line machine quilt 1” apart using #2605 Steel Gray Aurifil thread. I think the diagonal quilting lines accentuate the prints and blocks. The backing was a distressed tone on tone gray print from the backing vault and the binding was a V&Co black and gray ombré stripe which I used the same print but in a different color for another Marcia Derse quilt.  Graphix Galaxy measures 64” square and the plan is to hang it in the second floor sewing studio.

Here’s some closeup pics of the wonderful prints in Graphix Galaxy. I knew I wanted this quilt to have a name referring to graphics and thought of names with comics but then remembered Demando calls them graphic novels and then thought of graphic artists having a paint ball fight. Before I chose the name Graphix Galaxy today,  I was going with Supernova which was what I wanted to call my Magical Stars quilt made last year for mmm quilts Luminous Layers QAL. Once I found out that a Supernova is not a super duper pretty star but an exploding star so I changed it to Magical Stars. I thought it was funny that I remembered the name Supernova and maybe came up with it because Sandra must have been ESPNing me since she later sent me an email alerting me of this year’s QAL and asked would I like to “preview”the pattern. Of course, so I sewed two test blocks before machine quilting Graphix Galaxy because I had some leftover quilt guilt from last year’s QAL. (I didn’t realize that I was supposed to test her pattern, just “preview” it until she announced it in an IG Post I’d made the blocks and I almost fainted in front of the Master Quilt Holder.) I understood the assignment this year and I tested the blocks with another fabric stash I’ve been collecting. I can tell you it’s another fun graphic print line and also a fun mmmake. Sandra will be announcing her new QAL on April 3rd which also happens to be her birthday.

Here’s hoping that someday I will finally make a Supernova quilt. I’m still sad that I will miss celebrating the darling Granddaughter’s birthday but it’s important that the Master Quilt Holder gets better. You will see that I only had indoor pics because I couldn’t ask MQH. Besides, it’s also very windy and cold today so maybe outdoor pics would have not been possible. And yes, I will be working on the taxes now.

Joining Kathleen McMusing/TGIFF

First Finally Finish for 2025-Kaffe Fassett Tumbling Block Quilt

For a month with only 28 days, February seem to last forever with all of the busyness, i.e., the usual visits to the GP House, two wellness doctor visits, chiropractor appointments, an unexpected oral surgery involving a tooth extraction, a visit to immediate care for hubby’s sore back, a return to the fitness center, etc., I did manage to find time for my first Finally Finished Quilt which to me is epic. It’s been a month since my last Post, which you may not have seen which I will explain later, and I only had a flimsy finish for January. Although I have been having thoughts whether to continue blogging, I thought I should write a Post about this quilt since I like to use my Blog as a way of keeping track of my Finally Finishes.

I started the KF Tumbling Block Quilt in late November after seeing the one being made by Kate, The Late Homely House with Liberty Fabrics. I’ve become fond of Tumbling Blocks after making some from leftover EPPs from  my Smitten Quilt during our road trip to Yosemite last September. I thought I would make mine with my stash of KF fabrics which I have been collecting for over twenty years and it would look really nice if my diamond pieces were big to show off some of the large scale prints. I die cut my own diamond paper pieces with the sides measuring 4-1/4” which made 9-1/2” (approx.) Tumbling Blocks. A total of 50 full Tumbling Blocks, 8 half blocks along with half diamonds for the top and bottom borders were handpieced together with a dark gray polyester thread. The flimsy was finished by the end of January. 

My plan was to hand quilt the KF Tumbling Block quilt even though I wasn’t looking forward to hand quilting around each diamond. After basting with big stitches, I realized that I could hand quilt with just straight lines, 1” apart which would be much easier. I used several different needles, darners, embroidery, tapestry and found the Sashiko needles the best for me and didn’t use a thimble until half of the hand quilting was done. I used Aurifil, 12 wt., Marakesh thread, purchased from The Last Homely House shop and three small spools were enough. I love how this variegated thread blended in with all of the colors. The backing was the Geranium print designed by Phillip Jacobs and has been sitting in the backing vault for at least eight year. I purchased yardage of the  red Square Dance print for the side borders and binding.  (BTW, none of the purchases mentioned are affiliate)

The KF Tumbling Block Quilt measures 58"x70”. I’m calling this an epic finish considering all the die-cutting of the paper pieces, cutting the fabrics and  basting the diamonds, hand piecing, hand basting hand quilting and hand sewing the binding, all done in three months and a day. There were lots of  TV and YouTube watching with the quilt spread out on my counter height, 4’x5’ kitchen table which helped the hand quilting—I am amazed that it took only three weeks. I like to mention that removing the hand basting was a pain and took me 3-4 hours to remove. I am experiencing hand quilting withdrawal pains after this epic finish and have now found another project to handquilt.

I did take a break several times from the KF Tumbling Block Quilt to finish a flimsy, Daydream Dicey Log Cabin which I started right after the Tumbling Block Flimsy was finished. I’ll write more about this quilt after it is finished which will be soon since it will be for the darling Granddaughter in celebration of her eighth birthday later this month.

While at the GP House, I work on the Terry Rowland 3” blocks and so far have sewn 650 of the 1000 blocks needed. I really only need 900 but I like to make extra. These blocks were fun to sew and I can’t wait to assemble them for a 90” square quilt.

There’s a new animal sharing my headspace with the squirrels; a Wooly Mammoth. (Thank you Pixar’ Ice Age for this graphic)  One of my 2025 goals is to work on wool projects since I have a fairly nice stash thanks in part to one of my Peeps, Linda. I found time during this month to reorganize the bedroom formerly belonging to Demando and now known as the Fiber Studio since it is where all my wool, yarn, roving, non quilting fabric, etc. is located. I’m thinking of starting to do some rug hooking and now have all the necessary supplies to start.

Would you believe after the Fiber Studio was reorganized, Linda gave me more wool, two bags full. I spent Saturday die-cutting and rotary cutting 1/4”, 1/2” and 1” strips for quillies and rug hooking. Thankfully I have some projects planned and one of them is to make a quillies Christmas tree. I need more since I hope to put a dent in the Wool stash.

I mentioned earlier in this Post that some of you may have not seen my January Post because at the time I changed my Blog from public to private with a custom reader list. I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue blogging and I am always wary of the high volume of overseas bot and crawler traffic on my blog. Unfortunately, the custom reader list I created did not work and only a few were able to read my last Post. I finally came up with a solution which I thought of last year and now remembered because I was procrastinating writing this Post. I have now changed my Blog back to Public again but the Posts may be fewer and farther between. I decided that I can keep track of my Projects and Finishes under the 2025 Quilts and Projects tab and will write a Post only for certain finishes. I have to confess that there was less Blog pressure when I switched to private. Hopefully, with fewer Posts, there will be less bot and crawler activity.

I almost made it through February without having purchased any new fabric. The darling Granddaughter’s father had given me a $20 gift certificate for the local quilt shop and I needed to pay an additional $10 for the four yards of fabric purchased. I mentioned to my Son that next time he gives me a certificate that he needs to add an additional zero at the end.

I hope you're having an enjoyable Sunday.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT