February Frenzy

 

I surprised myself with my February Finish for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. Number 4 was pulled and my project on my list was to make a quilt using almost seven year old scraps. It would be doable if February wasn’t filled with appointments for lab, annual physical exams with both my regular doctor and endocrinologist, a much needed haircut, two trips to the GP House and Hubby having five gigs (love hearing his rendition of Dreamlover) but worse of all my bridge from my very recent dental implant fell out. Of course, this happened right before our first GP visit and upon our return meant another visit which involved four Novocain shots and removing some gum tissues which had rapidly grown over the screws. The pain was excruciating when the bridge was reinserted and it took over two weeks for the pain and swelling to go away—thank you ice packs. Anyhoot, I was resigned to thinking that I was lucky if I had a flimsy finish since my #4 wasn’t a fast project.

My Spunky Americana Quilt was made almost seven years ago which seems like only yesterday to me and it was a fun make. This quilt measured 54”x72” and has been gracing the family room quilt rack since then.

As with most of my quilt projects, there were lots of patches and scraps left and I kept them in a bin where it reminded me that I needed to make something. Since the Funky Americana quilt was all 6” and 3” HSTs and I didn’’t want to sew any connecting corners, a simple Broken Dish block would be a fast and simple make. I was sort of right. First, I had to die cut more HSTs using additional fabrics which went well with the scraps and then over 150 6” and 66 3” HSTs were sewn. After that,  fifty-three 12” Broken Dish blocks were sewn in various fabric and patch combinations. You will see them later in the close up pics. 

Thankfully, I had a great audiobook to listened during this tedious sewing. Sadly though, there was no way I was going to make a quilt that large in order to use up all of the blocks. Before we left for the second GP visit, I decided that only forty-two blocks would be used after any blocks containing the cheddar/orange were eliminated and this would make a 72”x84” quilt.

I know I just mentioned in recent Posts that I planned on only making smaller quilts but I’ve amended it to if the large quilt would be used and not sitting on a shelf, then sew for it and Hello new couch quilt! Upon our return from the GP House this past Tuesday, the blocks were up on the design wall and the flimsy was finished on Wednesday. It was then I realized that with three days left in February, I could have a Finally Finish rather than just a flimsy.

I have to mention this was made possible by earlier pulling out from a seldom-visited bin, a seven yard piece of a brush Navy plaid which I offered to Quilt Peep Mary who politely passed on it and I am now very thankful she did. I machine quilted using a CT Essential Thread in variegated blues on top and a medium dark blue for the bottom, straight lines every 6” and wavy lines every 3” which created an interesting grid. The binding is a dark blue Aged Muslin which went well with both the top and back of the quilt. I’ve been hand sewing the binding with my last few quilts but this time since the plan is to use this quilt a lot, it was machine sewn this time.

My Quilt Fairy Godmother was definitely present when I was pin basting this quilt every 3”and much to my horror after I moved the quilt sandwich to pin baste the final edge, disaster involving very loud screaming was avoided. Usually, I am very careful to center my batting but not this time. It took me around three hours to pin baste and I would have been so unhappy if I had to remove it because of this mistake. I have to mention that I used Pellon Cotton/ Soy Batting again and I just love it. I machine quilted horizontally first which the pins were all removed which made it slow but then the vertical machine quilting went fast and I understand why some of us spray baste. My fingers were so sore from opening and closing almost 1000 pins.

Here’s a side by side of the two quilts and I think Spunky Americana  looks more bluer and the reds in the second one look more dominant. I’ve named this quilt Ricochet since looking at it my eyes bounced all over the quilt.

There were sixteen blocks leftover and I was determined not to let them sit for another seven years, so I quickly made a lap size quilt measuring 48”x60”. I’ve temporarily named this quilt Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Hopefully, once my new roll of soy batting arrives, I can finish it since I already have the backing. As for the leftover block and still beaucoup scraps, I’m planning on making placemats.

Yesterday it was sunny and in the sixties, so it would have been nice to take an outside glam shot but it was finished too late to take advantage of the light. So this morning with much cooler weather and snowflakes in the air, I settled for an inside pic with Ricochet on the family room couch where it will reside. I am so looking forward to snuggling with it while watching TV or a movie. The way the weather has been I’m pretty sure I’ll have several days to do this. Also, I am looking forward to a new number to be drawn for the UFO Challenge and whatever number it is, it’s going to be just a flimsy needing to be machine quilted.