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.

Linking up with:My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Sewing and Growing Vintage: January Final Four Finishes

January with the cold and snow is my least favorite month of the year and it’s the month I would choose to hibernate but we were still busy. Besides the semi-weekly visits to the GP House, dental appointments and hubby’s gigs, I was feeling my age this month with catching my first Cold of the season. I have been doing some reminiscing lately and this may be the reason for this theme with these four finishes—quilts made with vintage children prints which have been sitting in my stash for maybe ten to twenty years and just “bugging” me for the past years to finally use them. 

Although I Ike to start the new year with a quilt with bright colors, I decided that I would finally make a quilt with with a group of fabrics I’ve been collecting for over twenty years which included the 26 Letters designed by Chloe’s Closet, several Thimbleberries prints along with miscellaneous prints from Moda and Lakehouse. Can you guess which print was the inspiration for putting these fabrics together?

It was this blue floral print which reminded me of the curtains my late mother made and I loved the vintage look. You can see on the ticket that I purchased this fabric in 2001 and it was only $2 per yard.

I designed a pattern which I call Crazy Eights which are blocks in increments of 8” or eight patches and came up with six different blocks made using the same fabrics. Not pictured is the 8”x16” plain block of the blue floral print.

Coincidentally, while I was planning this quilt,  Mary, Country Threads, restarted the Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge for 2026 and #12 was pulled. I decided that since this was an UFO it would be my #12.

Here’s a pic of the 26 Letters fabric and the adorable vintage illustrations which I remember seeing in my childhood books and the reason why I named this quilt Vintage Alphabet.

I decided to machine quilt with just soft horizontal meandering curves with Mother Goose Star Thread.

Here’s a collage showing the backing which is the blue floral I definitely had enough yardage to use. Can you see the Quilt illustration? The binding is the brown dot which I thought accented nicely with all of the fabrics. Vintage Alphabet measures 56”x72” and I could have added another row of 8” blocks but decided not to since this is the year I wanted to focus on making smaller quilts.

Sacre Bleu or should I say Sacre Pink! While I was sewing Vintage Alphabet, I found yardage of the floral print in Pink while I was in the backing vault. I don’t remember purchasing it and I don’t think I want to make another quilt with it. I do think it would make lovely curtains though.

While I was working on the Vintage Alphabet quilt and within my view, was a bundle of another vintage children print which I had plans to make a wall hanging for several years. I decided to quickly make this after the Vintage Alphabet Quilt was finished since I like dual finishes. The focus prints with the children are from Windham Fabrics. This wall hanging measures 24” square and definitely was a quick and easy make. I should mention that the focus fabrics in this quilt and the blue floral print in the Vintage Alphabet quilt were purchased on one of the many shopping trips, locally and Shipshewana, made with my Peeps.

Since arriving home on Tuesday from the GP House, I thought I would machine quilt these two flimsies made in 2024 and I had on my Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge List and they were fitting for the children theme I’m on. Both of these were made from my American Jane stash which included charm packs. The table runner is a modified Villa Rosa Clover pattern and measures 18”x 43”.

This small lap quilt was made with charm squares and rectangles and I can’t remember if this was a pattern or something I came up with because I didn’t want to make another Fat Quarter Shop Charm Pack Cherry. This measures 45”x54” I have a love/hate relationship with this quilt because I decided to try a new batting I purchased and it’s a little too poofy for me. I definitely will have no problems with laying this on the floor or grass. Fortunately, I still have lots of American Jane stash to make more quilts. Also, I do have a lot of Mary Engelbreit fabrics and I could make a lovely wall hanging with her adorable prints.

Thanks to the cold and snow, I definitely had good SewJo in January with six finishes. As mentioned earlier, I had two major dental visits for the final fitting of my implants and for a crown replacement. This pic is definitely something I did while laying  in the chair for over an hour during each visit. Boy, I ddid I have some aches and cramps afterwards. Thankfully, my dental visits are over but yearly physicals are scheduled for February. It’s looks like cold and snow and growing old or vintage will continue this week and I definitely will be in the studio. Tomorrow a new number will be drawn for the Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and I am ready. I have a lot of projects I would like to make from this list.

Happy Endings and Great Beginnings

I’m a little late with my Post to recap my 2025 projects and my 2026 plans but then this is the year I don’t want to be stressed or restricted with schedules and deadlines. In the past, on New Years Day, I sat in front of the TV to watch the Rose Bowl Parade and compiled my lists of completions and plans but somehow the last few years I forgot about this ritual, especially forgetting about the parade. I did watch the parade on New Year’s Day but was disappointed since it rained and the floats and marchers didn’t look as pretty and the next day I finally compiled my lists.

In 2025, I finished 29 quilts and 10 flimsies which I am pleased since I thought my production was down from previous year but then I did finished some pretty big projects. The photo above represents the five quilts which received the most views, three were made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics and the bottom two quilts were made with fabrics which did not sit on my shelf for more than five years. Seventeen quilts were lap size or larger and 12 were wall or table runners. Six were UFOs, Seven were made from newer fabrics, Nine were made from stash over five years old and seven were made from scraps. To bore you with more details, five were made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics and four with Marcia Derse and Ruby Star fabrics. Most of the quilts were on the colorful side with four made with my next favorite color combinations of black, brown and tan. You can view my wonderful makes Here. I do have to mention again that my most challenging quilt finished is the one I can’t show until later this year, sorry.

As for my 2026 plans, I have five lists: Flimsies to be machine quilted (I have 16), UFOs (12 projects), Scraps by Designers (8), Stash (12 Designers) and Patterns (10). I compile these list so I can review what needs to be finished which calms Eunice, my Studio Tormentor and what the Studio Squirrels can throw at me. Happily after my UFO list was compiled, I later learned that Mary Etherington, Country Threads, has resumed her annual Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge starting as of January 1st (it used to be July 1st) and I have been a happy participant in the past. What’s so funny and coincidental about this is that I had already planned to sew a UFO as my first project to start the year. Mary pulled #12 for January so I decided this project as my #12. The Master Quilt Holder had the honor of randomly numbering my UFO list which he took quite seriously.

Would you believe I have a flimsy finish for #12. One of these fabrics shown is one I purchased 20 years ago, can you guess which one. I am pretty sure this will be a finally finish by the end of January and will then post more pics and details.

I already have my first Finally Finish for 2026 which was not on any lists. I made this fleece throw on January 2nd with Chicago Bear fleece purchased again twenty years ago. I came across this fleece while rummaging through one of my bins and pulled it out several months ago. I thought this would be a good time now to make a simple throw since the Chicago Bears are the NFL Central Division Champs. I’m gifting this to Demando, who is a Paramedic/Fire Fighter in the town which may be the new home if the team relocates. I felt so good after I made this, it was a sew/soul cleansing.

During the first few days of the new year, I’ve already “lost” fabric; my National Park stash which I have been promising my niece a quilt. After spending an hour trying to find it, I decided that I was not going to get stressed and  have accepted the idea that my niece got tired of waiting and contacted her cousin Demando who gave her the fabric. I’ll be giving him some side eye when he picks up his Chicago Bear throw.

We’re experiencing some crazy weather right now, first the normal cold Wintery weather and by next week there will be warm weather in the fifties and sixties depending upon which house I’ll be at. I prefer the traditional Winter weather which is great for staying home and sewing because I have some great projects lined up.

P.S. The new year is definitely starting out great because I remembered how to add the 2026 Quilts and Projects Tab on my Blog. Sometimes I amaze myself.