SPA Spurts:The Finally Finished Dot and Dash Quilt

This quilt just happened to get finally finished.  I started it in March while misbehaving when I was supposed to be working from my project lists and QALs so I guess you can say this would be considered a DREAMi project. But truly it's a beyond DREAMi project since I was originally distracted to make another Staggered Strips and Squares Quilt with shades of teals, pinks, grays, colors that was inspired by Patchwork N Play's Delilah Quilt and low-volume fabrics.  The strips were die-cut and ready to be sewn together but before I started, I happened to be putting away some fabrics and came upon the Spa Green Quilters Linen fabric which I had forgotten I bought a mere six months ago.

I knew I had to dump one DREAMi project to work on this new DREAMi project because I had the perfect pattern which has been in my head to use the Spa Green fabric with the 2.5" strips already cut--Dot and Dash from Christa Watson's latest book Piece and Quilt with Precuts book which I used to participate in her Squiggle QAL.  There are quite a few "I wanna make" patterns in her book and the Dot and Dash quilt was the one I really wanted to make since it uses 2.5" which is my favorite precut size and I can die cut strips myself.  All I needed to do was to die-cut the Spa Green fabric into 2.5" strips.

This quilt was seemingly done during spurts of time found in between other projects I had going on and the blocks were all sewn by the time we left for our getaway last week.  Even though I needed to catch up with the 30 Quilts Blocks in 30 Days QAL when I came home, I wanted a change of quilt pace which didn't involve Kaffe Fassett fabrics or a QAL (since the start of 2018, I've made four quilts with Fassett fabrics and have participated or am participating in four QALs.)  What started as a quilt being made during spurts of time found became a mad dash to the finally finished line.  The top was finished this past Sunday, the basting and quilting started on Monday and the quilting and binding was completed late Tuesday (after I had lunch and a nice shopping spree with my partner in quilt crime, Carol, at my favorite quilt shop where I bought the binding for this quilt and 28 fat quarters and yardage also wanted to come home with me too.)  This rarely happens, no, not my fabric binge buying which happens more often that I like to admit, but a quilt top made and then quilted and bound within the same week.  Usually once a top is made, it's on quilting standby for more than a week but maybe less than ten years, standard quilt making procedures for me.   So yay for me for doing the totally unexpected this week.

I decided to add a little pizzaz (for me) to the machine quilting by adding a meandering, wavy line in between the straight lines. Since the fabrics are somewhat on the calm and quiet side, like a Spa, I wanted the quilting to show up so I used Connecting Threads Essential Thread in Parchment.  Since the Quilters Linen was a more tightly woven fabric, I used a Microtex Sharp Needle and the quilting went smooth and fast. I do a lot of straight line quilting,  so I did quilt it using the same method Christa does in her book by starting the quilting on one side (instead of the center of the quilt) and quilting it to the other side. I can say I've done it this way on my last four quilts and the distortion at the ends of the rows is minimal unlike when I start the quilting in the center.

Here are some closeups showing the mash of fun prints which included Meows, Mushrooms and a Mermaid print.  I wish I included more peachy/pink prints (this quilt may look a little too calm) but when I do make the other quilt which I was intending to make before Spa Spurts, I will definitely be using more peachy/pinky, which is a nice accent color for the teals and grays.

I've been saving my precious yardage of SUCH Design's 108" wide backing of Newsprint in Spackle for just the right quilt which I already used some strips for the front so I was happy to finally use it and the binding is a wonderful dark blue/green print from the Cotton + Steel Basics Collection.

I was hoping to take a nice photo outside but the wind once again reminded us that it wanted to be included.  I thought for sure we left it back in Myrtle Beach. It sure was nice, though, to see the sun making an appearance during these past few days and I wouldn't mind if it still stuck around, just lose that wind.

Now that I've enjoyed this brief change of quilt pace, I'm ready to work on finishing up the 30 Quilt Blocks QAL and putting the quilt together so I can be ready for MMM Quilts Adult Plus Playtime  QAL which started this week. And I was planning on giving the Fassett Fabric Stash a rest but my son has requested a quilt made with Shot Cottons since he loves my Postcard from Sweden Quilt and I can't say No to him (most of the time) or another Kaffe Fassett project.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt: Another Ernie Quilt Finally Finished

It's been awhile since I've made an Ernie Quilt and it's one of my favorite patterns because I just love making quilts with 2.5" strips.  I've had the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton and Woven Stripes strips die-cut and ready to sew since last year and finally had the opportunity to make this quilt since buying my new, sweet, very portable Juki HZL-70 HWA sewing machine which meant I am now able to sew in the kitchen while watching TV, a cause for much of my quilting downtime.

I posted several times about Ernie quilts HERE, THERE and IN BETWEEN.

While my Postcard from Sweden Quilt was being made, (you can read about it here), I started working on the Kaffe Stripe Quilt because I was loving the Shot Cottons and knew I had this project on the back burner--talk about constant Kaffe.  I consider this to be a DREAMi project and finally have something to cross out from one of my project lists I made too many of for this year.

I have to show you my "No Rose, You Didn't" backing for this quilt.  I do not like making pieced backings. To me it's just like making another quilt top and when I'm in a hurry to finish a quilt, I don't want to sew another quilt top.  I have a pile of quilt tops laying around in my studio and I knew laying in the pile was an 84" square top made from big patches of Kaffe fabric which may have been a modified Turning Twenty pattern, a pattern when it was first released, I couldn't stop making them.  It took me a couple of hours to remove some of the rows of this quilt top so I could use it for the backing since I really didn't have anything else in my stash vault that would be as neat as this quilt top was and besides I've come down with a slight case of not wanting to buy any new fabric (I hope this "virus" goes away real soon). Who knew five years ago I was making a future quilt backing when I made this top.  I just love the big purple cabbages. I'm thinking I may have made several quilt backings already and may be making more now without knowing it.

I don't usually talk about the color thread I use for machine quilting because I not very good at choosing a color and I mostly quilt with a light gray.  I knew gray wasn't going to work well with this quilt and luckily I had in my Connecting Threads Essential Thread stash (no affiliate link here) a spool of the Fawn thread which is an apricot beige thread which worked very well with blending in with the many colors in this quilt.  I am loving the quilting which sewed like butter on my Juki 2010Q and I could have finished the quilting in one sitting if I didn't have to go to bed at 3am in the morning--I didn't want to stop.  The quilt is bound with a solid Chartreuse Shot Cotton which was the only solid color that I had enough for the binding and fortunately worked very well.

I was really hoping to take a perfect photo of my Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt while in Myrtle Beach; one with it laying on the sand, sunset on the sea with a whale breaching in the background, perfectly centered on the horizon (just for Sandra) but it was not to be had--the wind was something fierce--20 to 30 mph.  It wasn't fun for the Master Quilt Holder on the balcony nor could the quilt stay on the railing at the beach. The best photos were taken either in the elevator lobby or inside the condo where we were staying.  Plus, there was no way I was going to lay it on the sand since I had visions of it parasailing over the Atlantic Ocean and onto the whale's back (again this vision prompted by Sandra's request and maybe to make it a tale, Louise (Quilt Odyssey) will rescue it during her sea travels).

I had planned to sew the binding while traveling to Myrtle Beach, but I ended up finally finishing the quilt right before we left (I'm beginning to like the look of machine sewn binding).  I definitely wanted to take photos of this quilt and my Postcard from Sweden Quilt here in warm, sunny weather since we're experiencing far too little of it in the Midwest as you can see from this photo taken on a snowy Sunday, the day before we left.  I really put the Master Quilt Holder to the test when I kept repeating to make sure the quilt does not touch the ground and get wet.  He did a practice stoop down before we went outside.  I think the quilt photographed better in Myrtle Beach, despite the wind, don't you agree?

I do hope you check out the links for the Ernie Quilts, especially the first one since it's about my dear friend Mary Etherington who started me on my Ernie adventures.  Like the old commercial saying goes "Try It, You'll Like It!".

Hubby and I will be traveling back home this Friday and look what awaits me when I return, my Dot Dot Dash blocks from Christa Watson's Piece and Quilt with Precuts book which were made during upstairs sewing time with my sweet little Juki. Also, Sandra of mmm! Quilts will be starting her Second Annual Quilt Along: Adult Plus Playtime Quilt, (you can read about it here) on April 24th. I had a fun time doing her Free Fall QAL last year and this year's pattern is not going to disappoint since I'll be using some of my Alison Glass Chroma fabrics. I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove since there's not much sewing happening in Myrtle Beach because I wanted to give my hands some rest.

And one more thing, this Sunday, April 22nd, I'll be posting my project for the 30 Quilt Block in 30 Days Blog Hop so I hope you'll check it out. (you can see it here)

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday