First Two Finally Finishes for 2023

And just like that, after lamenting in my Last post of 2022 that I was feeling I was falling behind in my participation in Country Threads’ 2022/23 Dirty Dozen UFO because I only had flimsies to show for the months of October through December, I machine quilted and bound October’s and December’s flimsies this  week. This was made possible by Mary Etherington declaring that during January and February there would be no number or color drawn so we can catch up especially since these are the months where snow and cold would make it possible for us to stay home and sew. Well, here where I live in the Midwest, we’re experiencing unusual warm weather in the 40’s and 50’s and there has been no measurable snow for the past two weeks, but I still stayed home to sew after returning from the GP House. Despite really wanting to sew a new project with some new fabrics I received for Christmas and Juki Junebug still not sewing perfectly (I really miss my threads being cut automatically) I am happy that Wonderland, the patchwork throw, and FALLoween I, the future wall hanging are finally finished. Here are the deets:

Wonderland was the last flimsy I finished for 2022 and the plan was for this to be a quick quilt finish since I was only going to back it with my favorite Gray Chenille Plush which I will again mention that this makes for a wonderful, snuggly quilt/throw. Since we’re leaving once again for the GP House this weekend, I wanted to take this to give to the darling Granddaughter in hopes I can reclaim the Carrie Bloomston Patchwork Throw I made last May for me to use in her bedroom. She decided that this must be shared with her and I’m lucky if I get at least a quarter of the throw to snuggle under. Like her Grandma, she likes the feel of the plush backing.

The fabrics for this quilt/throw is from Katarina Roccella’s Wonderland collection along with other Art Gallery prints and some Cotton + Steel prints. These fabrics have been set aside for several years and I decided that this collection would be added to the 2022/23 UFO Challenge list. I just love the combination of the pinks, peaches, plum mixed with the grays and  the minty green I call Aquamint. The focal print of the sweet girls of which I only had a fat quarter would determine the pattern since there was no way I could cut this print into small patches. The prints on the lower right were added since I thought I could use these colors, especially the plum/abergine print.

I’m calling this pattern Easy Ernie Eights, since the eight inch blocks are made up of with either 4”x8”(f) Ernie rail blocks  combined with 4”x8”(f) plain rectangle patches, two plain rectangles or two Ernie rail blocks. I first drew out the pattern on my trusty graph paper to determine how many of each rail blocks/patches I needed to cut and sew. You can see that the sweet girl print was fussy cut into 4-1/2” x 8-1/2” rectangles and I used every bit of the fat quarter; I even had to piece together one of the rectangles together and hopefully the darling granddaughter won’t notice.

Since there was no batting in between the top and the plush chenille backing, I only quilted vertical lines between the four inch segments in a gray polyester thread. The binding is the pink xoxo print from Cotton + Steel, one of my favorite prints to use for binding. The Wonderland Patchwork Throw measures 56” x 80”. If the darling granddaughter still won’t give up the Carrie Bloomston Patchwork Throw, then I will be happy to claim this one as mine, hopefully she won’t decide she needs both of them and Grandma will be left out in the cold.

FALLoween I was a flimsy finished last October and would have been quilted then had Juki Junebug didn’t need to go to the Spa. 

I just love the prints and colors in this quilt as they are a collection of Sandy Gervais prints from when I first started quilting in 1996 and she was with Moda to some of her later prints from Riley Blake. I knew these fabrics would look great with the Cinnamon Spice pattern designed by Ledine Watson of Sugar Stitches Quilt Company and this would be the second time I made this pattern with my Cracker Jack being my first one made last April. I did modify the size of the blocks.

The pieced backing was made with yardage of two Sandy Gervais prints sitting in the stash for way too long and it didn’t take me too long to decide that it was time to use it up for  this very deserving top. I machine quilted with a combination of straight and wavy lines with a CT Essential Thread in Camel. The binding is the orange grid print, one of my favorite prints in my stash and may be the first time I ever used it for binding. Because Juki Junebug sometimes is continuing to sew after I release the foot pedal, I wasn’t comfortable sewing the binding down with her so I had to hand sew which was a good thing to do while watching the three crossover NCIS TV shows. FALLoween I measures 60” square, the perfect size to hang in the family room. I also have a FALLoween II flimsy and considered finishing it also but decided to wait since I still need to quilt my November quilt, which I did before starting this post and does it look awful. Guess what  I’ll be ripping out after this post. I love my FALLoween I quilt and can’t wait to hang it up this Fall. I’ve been wanting a new Fall quilt for the last several years but never seem to be in the mood during the Summer when it was too hot to be working with warm color fabrics. I’ll be ready this Fall for sure.

Here’s some photos taken outside which usually is hard to do in January with the snow and cold. The Master Quilt Holder definitely did not have any problems assisting me. Once my November quilt is finally finished, I am so looking forward to sewing a new project, but then again, I may feel like machine quilting some more flimsies, especially if I order my new machine next week.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Cracker Jack

I had plans to work on my April quilt for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge but decided I was in the mood to finally finish my Cracker Jack quilt instead. I thought the flimsy was done in December but it turned out it was finished the first week in February. I did though purchased the pattern Cinnamon Spice  designed  by Ledine Watson of Sugar Stitches Quilt Co. (not an affiliate link) last year. 

I loved this pattern when I first saw it on IG; it’s a great scrappy pattern made of squares and flying geese blocks which I could die-cut. What I especially liked about the Cinnamon Spice pattern is that it was quilted with horizontal wavy lines which is something I can do and that it was available as a paper pattern. At that time, I was having problems printing pdf files but would you believe that just recently, moi, the computer challenged, was able to set up the wi-if settings on my printer-game changer-it’s so nice to now print from my iPhone or iPad.

I chose to make the throw size quilt since I need a new wall hanging for the family room. I decided on a palette based on several of the multi-color prints, of blues, persimmon/peach/pinks, chestnut browns and golds and needed twenty-four fat quarter which I easily found in my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash. 

If there is anything I would have done differently with my fabric choice is to have added more darker blues and used more fat quarters for variety.  I found having only twenty-eight different flying geese blocks was too limiting when you need six different ones for each block. I really had a hard time finding a layout which I liked since the same fabrics/colors were too close to each other to my liking but decided after the sixth layout that this is what the pattern was all about. And if you’re wondering why I named this quilt Cracker Jack,  it’s because these colors were yummy and gave me the taste for munchies like pretzels and cheese, caramel and cheese popcorn mix or Chex Mix. Surprisingly, I do not keep or bring any snacks to my basement studio. I thought Cracker Jack would be a good name since it is one of my favorite snacks “caramel coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize”and I was going “crackers” over the layout. Cheez Whiz was also a consideration.

I knew I wanted to machine quilt wavy lines like the pattern; Aurifil threads were used, gold on the top and navy on the bottom. The backing was pieced with two Cotton+Steel navy prints from the stash and the binding was the plaid Hatbox print which was also used in the top.  Cracker Jack measures 64” square and the Cinnamon Spice pattern can be made in two other sizes. I already have plans to make another one with Fall fabrics.

I thought I end this post with a photo of the Apprentice Quilt Holder, Demando, with his injured right hand which was not caused by holding up one of my quilts. He severed two tendons on his pinky finger while on the job which resulted in surgery. Yes, he is right-handed and, hopefully, he will be healed by May. Both he and the Master Quilt Holder with his sore knee are doing PT so I’ve been doing more schelping than usual. And now, I’m back to working on my April UFO, the flimsy is done and hopefully I can add the plush backing before we head to the GP House.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT and TGIFF hosted this week by Homesewn by Us.