FALLing into Piecing

For the past two weeks, which involved the darling granddaughter babysitting us for a week which we recovered nicely and being home this week, I have no finished quilt to post; only some new projects in the beginning stages and a hopeful solution involving fabric.

During the week we were at the Grandparent House, I started making Jen Kingwell Wensleydale blocks with foundation paper piecing after much hesitation but was finally inspired to make them thanks to my down under Quilt torMentor Sue of Patchwork and Play who is doing a wonderful job with her blocks. I won’t give too much details right now but only to mention before finishing the very first block, I was ready to call it quits and was planning an Escape from Wensleydale quilt. After much careful ripping of patches and finally making the first block which took more than three hours due to some fabric patches being too small and some distraction, I decided to do another block but this time cutting my patches larger resulting in some waste but was worth it. I originally precut my patches based on the templates in the Quilt Recipe book and adding 1/4”around. For me adding 1/2” around worked much better. I’m using several Jen Kingwell fabric lines which  include some bright colors and prints and to tone it down, I’ll be making neutral blocks to alternate with these colorful blocks.

Before I can continue with the Wensleydale blocks, I had to decide what I was going to do with the Jen Kingwell Glitter Blocks which I paper pieced last year. After making forty of these blocks, I decided to stop since I couldn’t see making a large quilt with these blocks. I came up with a plan to make a wall/door hanging for the recently vacated bedroom using  the gray/tan Radiator Cover print, designed by Amanda Nyberg purchased several years ago, for sashing with apple green cornerstones. Now that I have a plan for the Glitter blocks, this will free up the fabrics set aside and can now use it for the Wensleydale Blocks which will give them even more variety.

The October Project Number for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge was Five and in my group of projects for  this number was two quilts using Sandy Gervais fabrics which I am calling them FALLoween #1 and FALLoween #2. I still have a nice stash of Sandy Gervais fabrics and my favorites are the ones she designed for Fall and Halloween. This week, I’ve been busy die-cutting  HSTs and squares plus sewing 2.5” strips together which were die-cut last year. BTW, the skinny strips leftover from die-cutting the strips were used to make what I call fabric marbles seen in the top opening photo of this post. I am hoping I will have both of these finished by the end of the month.

When we were with the darling Granddaughter last week and observing the napkin war she was having with her father who thinks she shouldn’t be throwing her paper napkin on the floor after one use or not using one at all, I decided to make her some fabric napkins. I know when we eat at Olive Garden she uses the fabric napkins and doesn’t throw them on the floor and may take disposable napkins to heart by throwing them on the floor. I remember seeing a post about fabric napkins made with terry cloth so I purchased a pack of 18 for under $7. These inexpensive washcloths are the right weight to go with the fabric. I trimmed the wash cloths to 10” square since the size of each one differed which turned out to be a good idea since I could use a 10” cut x width of fat quarter to make two napkins. After top-stitching around the napkin edges, I also did diagonal stitching on the center to make sure the fabrics stayed together after washing. I have washed the napkins after sewing 18 of them and I can say they are nice and soft, not wrinkly and probably will get softer after each washing. Here’s hoping the darling Granddaughter will use them so I don’t have to hear her father say “Napkin” at least twenty times during meals. In her defense, I will say her father was a very messy eater when he was her age.

Another thing that kept me busy was the slow makeover of the recently vacated bedroom once occupied by Demando along with other rooms. My yarn stash which has been residing in the dining room and the spare bedroom will now be residing in this bedroom since the nice IKEA shelf unit was left behind. And if I didn’t have enough Jen Kingwell during the past two weeks, my Gypsy King bedroom  ensemble was finally laid out this week; the king-size quilt was finished October of last year. So far, there has been no bad dreams sleeping under the Gypsy Wife quilt.

We’re once again heading off to the Grandparent House. It’s nice to know that upon my return I’m going to have some wonderful projects to sew but then again there’s also more room/closet reorganization to do. I need a magic nose.

A Pair and a Spare of UFO Finishes for May

I surprised myself by finally finishing three UFO flimsies in the course of one week which included a three-day visit to the Grandparent House. I only planned on finishing just the one I committed for Country Threads’ Dirty Dozen UFO QAL which in turn prompted me to finally finishing the other two.

The first flimsie finally finished was my May Quilt which was my #8 for the Country Threads’ Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. The flimsy was finished in 2013 and was made from fat quarters and yardage of Lori Holt’s Gracie Girl collection. Aren’t these prints fun?

This quilt measures 39” square.  I’ve become fond of quadrant quilting ever since I did this on my Frosty Flakes Quilt and glad I thought of this when I was ready to quilt Gracie Girl. The only marking I had to do was drawing a “X” with a Hera marker across the top and then quilting it. From there, I quilted 3/4” apart on each quadrant with a Silver Aurifil thread. The backing was a gray polka dot from the backing vault and thankfully the binding, a grey and white mini check used in the top was found in the binding drawer. 

The machine quilting made my Gracie Girl quilt somewhat stiff and would be perfect for a play mat or a wall hanging. A funny thought came across my mind as I was finishing this quilt which was several years ago when I finished a baby quilt for a QAL, I found out my niece was expecting a baby as well as her oldest daughter was graduating high school. I brought the QAL baby quilt to the daughter’s graduation party. Now her son is graduating from high school and the party is next week so I’ll be checking with her to see if I need to bring Gracie Girl to the party. I’m pretty sure I won’t have to, but it’s going to be fun just to ask her.

After the Gracie Quilt was finished before we left for the Grandparent House and upon my return I thought it would be nice to finally finish the Glamping Flimsie which was made the same time.  I thought the fabric was another Lori Holt collection but actually was designed by Mary Jane Butters for Moda and came  out the same time. I only had a charm pack of this collection and yardage of the teal and white check.  I added some white with teal/green pin dots to make this simple baby quilt of squares and rectangles or modified coin quilt which measures 39” x 42”.

The quilting was a combination of straight lines 3/4” apart on the sashing and wavey lines on the squares and rectangles and Essential white thread was used.  The pink patchwork print was found in the backing vault and really fits the “girliness” of this quilt. I almost couldn’t find the binding which I swore I put it in the binding drawer over seven years ago. After clearing out the drawer I found it stuck in the corner; proof that Hubby is right that it’s always going to be in the last place you look and I say I really need to reorganize the binding drawer. My plan for this quilt when the top was made to gift it to good Quilt Peep Mary who goes camping and was also celebrating the birth of her first grandchild/granddaughter. Now Mary has four granddaughters and I’m having second thoughts of keeping this for myself since I’ve been dreaming lately of Class B Campers. Do I need another quilt- No, but I always want another quilt. The Glamping Quilt is definitely one for traveling and I’m looking forward to taking it on vacation when we travel to Colorado in August. I’m pretty sure we won’t be traveling in a Class B camper.

When I was pulling out the Gracie Girl and Glamping flimsies, I came across the Fireburst Mystery Flimsie which was finished in 2018.  This was a mystery quilt hosted by Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland and I know that it remained a flimsie because I did not know how I wanted to quilt it. After Gracie Girl was quilted, I knew I could do quadrant quilting for the Fireburst quilt. I used the Silver Aurifil which blended really nice with all of the colors. This quilt measures 32” square and the plan is to either to give it to my son who lives next door to the Grandparent House and has purple living room walls or my new neighbor on the other side of the Grandparent House who loves purple. For now, I think I’m going to keep it awhile since I love how it turned out. Also, I have to make sure I link up to Tish’s UFO Busting post.

Here’s a photo of the pair and spare hanging on the garage door which is a nice substitute for a clothesline as long as you have strong magnets.

I should mention that before I started on the final two flimsies, I had to get caught up with the Follow Your Own Path QAL hosted by Sandra, mmmquilts by sewing the blocks together. It’s ready for quilting and I’m pretty sure it going to be straight horizontal line quilting but do I dare do quadrant quilting? Either way, this quilt will be done in time to celebrate a famous Canadian’s birthday on June 15th. I know it’s going to be a wall hanging either in Demando’s bedroom, although he doesn’t know it or in the soon-to-be basement studio at the Grandparents House which is another post for another day. I’m not entirely sold on the idea, something to do with the long meat hooks found hanging in the basement. Good Quilt Peep Mary thinks since the  house is almost a hundred years old that meat, etc. was hung there because it was cold down there. Confession: it’s been two years and I have not yet set foot in the basement, Hubby shows me photos.

Finally, I am enjoying sewing my Glitter blocks and sew far have ten blocks done. It’s a nice project to do when traveling to and from the Grandparent House but as I tell Hubby, it would be easier if I was sewing in a Class B Camper.

As I tell Hubby, I saved 100K with the purchase of this Everything Mary Large Lap Desk for $6 which makes sewing the EPPs much easier but not as nice as it would be in a Class B Camper. BTW, Demando the Paramedic/Firefighter saids that I should not be using this tray in the front seat in case of an accident so there will be no sewing when road conditions are iffy.

Thanks for reading this rather long post and we’ll be leaving the Grandparent House before the Memorial Day Weekend. I’m hoping to have one more Finally Finished before the rather lovely month of May is over.

Sew Safe!

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation and Tish’s Adventure in Wonderland

The Ernie Express Quilt, Etc.

It isn’t very often when after a quilt is a finally finished that the weather is co-operative for taking photos outside. This past Tuesday was one of these rare occasions with beautiful sunny skies, warm temperatures with a slight breeze and the landscaping around our house looking presentable thanks to the Master Quilt Holder which made taking photos such a pleasure for once. 

Last August, I purchased a fat quarter bundle of Jen Kingwell Grainline Wovens with the intention of making another Ernie Quilt (You can see the previous ones make here) with this and  my stash of Jen Kingwell fabric scraps. After my strips were cut, combinations decided and strip sets sewn, the project was put away and sort of forgotten until I happened to come across it this past March.  

As I was ready to start cutting the strip sets to sew the 4”x8” blocks, I happened to catch with the corner of my eyes, the 6” Checkerboard Express block which I designed for Moda’s 2017 Countdown to Christmas, (You can see the tutorial here), hanging on the board next to my sewing machine. I thought that I could spice up the Ernie Block if I changed the orientation of the block and make the blocks 12” x 16”.

I also had another idea of instead of using just two fabrics, I would use four fabrics just like the original block I submitted to Moda. I decided that this block would be my “A” Blocks which would be the checkerboard blocks in the center and the rail blocks on the outside. Since I didn’t want all of the blocks to be “A” which then all of the checkerboard segments of the blocks would be lined up and running up and down the quilt, so to offset this, I designed a “B” block with the checkerboards on the outside and the rail block in the center and only using two fabrics. Because of this newly inspired design, I had to add some Cotton+Steel and other bright prints so there was enough fabric and variety for more strip sets.

After the Flimsie was finished earlier this month, I have to admit I was disappointed with the way it turned out. I liked how the “B” blocks with using just two fabrics looked and wished the “A” blocks only had two fabrics also. It’s rather ironic that after the Checkerboard Express Block with the four fabrics was accepted by Moda, I switched to just using two fabrics to keep it simple and because I liked it better--wished I remembered this when I started making this quilt.

But I’m happy to say that once I quilted it with a combination of straight and wavy lines, I really love this quilt now.  The colors and fabrics are so happy. I used an Essential Thread in Charcoal Gray and the binding was a small white polka dot on black print. Also what is nice about the Ernie Express Quilt is that it’s a finally finished but I am feeling a little guilty that I have 12+ flimsies waiting to be quilted and this one jumped ahead of the queue. Maybe it’s because I just purchased yardage of the black and white splatter print last week and knew it would be a perfect backing for the Ernie Express Quilt.

Here are some close-up shots of some of the blocks so you can see the quilting and the happy fabrics.

Before I quilted the Ernie Express Quilt, I was planning on making another one with using just two fabrics for the Type A and B Blocks with my newly acquired stash of Alison Glass fabrics but now am having second thoughts. I’m thinking now of just making just the usual Ernie Quilt unless I see another pattern for these wonderful prints. But if I do make another Ernie Express Quilt, I will provide instructions on how to make it since I’ve come up with a different and maybe a faster way to make the blocks. If the strip sets for this quilt weren’t already cut and sewn, I would have made it this way.

I thought it would be interesting to show a photo of my first Ernie quilt made over four years ago with Jen Kingwell fabrics next to the Ernie Express Quilt, so named since it was inspired by the Checkerboard Express block.

Here’s a photo of the happy Master Quilt Holder who was glad these photos went without a hitch. This quilt measures 60” x 80” which was just the right size to hang it on the garage door with heavy duty magnetic clips which I learned about these from Shannon, The Fleming Nines, who learned about them from Myra, Busy Hand Quilts. Between hanging long quilts from the garage door or from the gutter outside the screen room, I don’t think a clothesline is needed which makes the Master Quilt Holder very happpy.

I had to include a photo of the Ernie Express Quilt with my metal goat Susannah as a shoutout to Mary Etherington, Country Threads, the designer and inspiration for the Ernie Quilts.

Just when I’m thinking that my stash of Jen Kingwell fabrics is dwindling, I’ve decided that I need a new challenge, which didn’t involve falling down and bumping my head and making me forget I have a “fear of Jen Kingwell patterns.” Maybe it’s because of inspiration from my down under quiltTormentor Sue, Patchwork and Play and her wonderful creations she’s been posting lately on her Instagram and Blog.  I have a new “forever” project with Jen Kingwell’s Glitter pattern which I’ve been procrastinating doing since finishing Smitten several years ago. The templates were purchased back then and I admit I was not looking forward to cutting the fabric until I saw that paper pieces were available.  I originally was going to use reproduction fabrics but decided that I needed more Jen Kingwell fabrics so I purchased a fat quarter bundle of WikiPops and a jelly roll of Fine and Sunny, my early Mother’s Day present. Cutting the fabric pieces will be easy with the templates and using 2-1/2” strips, which I am looking forward to cutting up my new stash. I think there might be leftovers and another Ernie quilt would need to be made which now seems to be a tradition.

My first four blocks for the Sandra, mmmquilts, Follow Your Own Path QAL, are sewn and I am happy to say these blocks were a snap to make which is no surprise. After participating in all five of Sandra’s QAL, her patterns are fun, sew easy and quite conducive to wanting to finish the quilts all at once.  I am quite surprised at myself for sewing on schedule and not being the usual “rebel”in her QAL. But I do have a new name for her; the great mmm-tivator. Funny I had visions of Darth Vader and hearing the Empire music as I was typing this.

Thanks to my Accuquilt Go Baby die cutter and Flying Geese die along with my Stripology Ruler and a brand new blade on my rotary cutter, the remaining patches are cut and I am ready to sew the rest of the blocks.  My quilt will be the throw size and my arrows will be going both left and right. But before that, the dreaded Tax Returns must be filed first.

If you have been reading other posts on Blogger, you will know that starting in July, Feedburner will no longer be sending posts through email but you could continue seeing posts through Bloglovin which is a problem for me since my posts are no longer being picked up by them. I’ve contacted them several times and have not yet received a response. For several years I’ve been avoiding link-ups since it seem to be atttracting “strange” activities on my blog but I guess I will start doing link-ups again. Hopefully I can resolve my Bloglovin issues before July.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday and From Bolt to Beauty, Brag About Your Beauties.