IIf you can see from this collage, I had a very productive October with six Finally Finishes; three large quilts and three small quilts. It seems that I still wasn’t done sew-lebrating Halloween with one large and three small quilts made. Also, I machine quilted two recently made large flimsies. Out of the six, only one was made with very recently purchased fabric less than a week old which is something I don’t do very often. One was an UFO, well over ten years old and the others made from simmering stash and scraps. Even though there are several days left in October, I decided I had enough for a Post and will try to be brief in explaining these howling makes.
In my last Post, I had mentioned the darling Granddaughter did not have a Halloween quilt for her bed at the GP House and was contemplating if I should bring the Minnick & Simpson Scary Cat twin sized quilt. But I remembered that she loves her bed quilts backed with plush and decided to make her another Eerie Unruly Quilt, made over four years ago and used in the living room at the GP House during Halloween. Since I had enough scraps from this quilt as well as other fun prints from the stash which would go well, the bed quilt was quickly made. I think I’ve mentioned in the past, My Quilt Infatuation Unruly Pattern is one of my favorite patterns for fun fabrics as well as a fast and easy make.
Here as some close-ups of Eerie Unruly II and my favorite plush was used. Sadly, I only have a few small pieces of this wonderful gray plush left which I will definitely use for future Baby Boomer Blankies. Eerie Unruly II measures 56”x 75”.
Here’s some pics of the Darling Granddaughter snuggling with her new bed quilt and a photo of the two Eerie Unruly Quilts together on the front porch. I have to mention that the three nights she spent at the GP House, the darling Granddaughter slept an average of 10+ hours each night.
I purchased a fat quarter bundle, during the beginning of October, of Ruby Star Society Good Spirits. I had to make a modified version of Villa Rosa Design’s Clover pattern which is wonderful for either a wall hanging or table runner. This measures 22”X 33” and is hanging in the hallway.
While doing some tidying up in the Studio and being in the Halloween mood, I remembered I made a Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) wall hanging maybe fifteen years ago while I was still working at the local community college. I had planned to give it to the Latinas Unitas group but sadly never finished it. I was lucky to find just enough strips of the purple swirl fabrics for the binding. This quilt measures 29” square and hanging up at the GP House.
While looking in my Halloween stash for the Eerie Unruly II quilt, I happened upon this cute Indygo Junction Trick or Treat Vintage Workshop print which I had forever and other fabrics which I thought I would use to make four quilt as you go table mats. I came to my senses quickly when I realized I didn’t want to use these fabrics for table mats and decided instead to make a quick 20” square wall hanging. I am very proud that I made bias binding, although way too much and finally glad to have finally made something with ths cute Halloween print.
Back in August when I had an awesome month of making flimsies from stash sitting too long on my shelf, I made the Birds and the Bees from a collection of yellow, gold,, black and gray prints inspired by the Joel Dewberry Aviary 2 prints.
I would have loved to have used a plush fabric for the backing but didn’t because I had yardage of an Anna Griffin gold and gray print which was saved together with the other fabrics for the backing. Since this quilt will be given to a good friend of the youngest son, the binding was finished by hand. The Birds and the Bees quilt measures 60” x 80” (approx.). I still have some fabric left to make a small wall/door hanging, Clover style, for me.
In August, I started making a Scrap Vortex quilt which was an easy project to sew while at the GP House. It was still in the panel stage when I brought it home so I could hang it up on my design wall since there isn’t one in the GP House.
The panels were hung on the window blinds which worked in the beginning but when the last panel needed to be made I really needed to know what size the bottom center panel needed to be.
All of the fabrics for this Scrap Vortex quilt was made from these six quilts, especially the Dear Tula Pink Quilt (top right) made over eight years ago. I had made forty-one duplicate blocks and used them in this quilt which I now named Dear Tula #2.
The first quilt measures 54” x 70” (approx.) and Dear Tula #2 60” x 80”. For this quilt, I finally used my roll of Pellon Soy Batting purchased several years and avoided using since it looked like soy sauce sprayed on it instead of the clean batting I’m usually use. But I am now fond of this batting, it was just the right light weight (similar to Quilter’s Dream) and the machine quilting was smooth. I did have a few puckers but was caused by late night heavy pedal speeding and not paying attention. I did wavy lines in a CT Variegated Brown Thread on the front and Sandstone for the back. Would you believe after sewing hundred of patches together, I was really procrastinating on the backing. I really wanted to use yardage but I channeled my Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation, Perfectly Pieced Quilt Back energy and made my pieced backing I call Iron and Lace. It does feel good to finally use fabric from the stash which otherwise might not ever be used.
Here are some pics o the Two Dear Tulas together. I still love these fabrics and still have lots of scraps left. I do have blocks left from the other quilts made above so another quilt could be made. Also, I’m thinking another Terry Rowland scrap quilt would be nice in these colors. It looks like I can bring back the brown bin back to the GP House but maybe after a little break since this second quilt made this year with these colors. I have some Christmas runners/wall hangings planned—can you guess the pattern?
If you’re wondering which one is my favorite make for the month, it might be the one I had the perfect song to sing while making it. Afterwards, I mentioned to The Master Quilt Holder, he should sing it with his band mate when performing at the retirement homes. I think the kazoos are a wonderful accompaniment to The Birds and the Bees song.
