Jolly July

It's usually a good month of quilting when I have two Finally Finishes but I surprised myself with three. Late last night I finished hand sewing the binding of one of these--can you guess which one? I think it might be my favorite finish. Looking at my past July Posts, it seems that it’s a very productive month for me despite it being very hot and inhumid and doesn’t prevent me from using my Plush stash again. I’m numbering these quilts in the order that the flimsies were finished which means the top two made with Marcia Derse fabrics are #1 and #3 and the one in the middle on the bottom is #2. All of these were made from scraps and stash, all new projects, no UFOs and inspired by the Squirrels and Eunice who live in my Studio. There are similarities between them either by size, fabrics or pattern. Hopefully, I can be brief in providing details of my Jolly July.

The only plans I made for July was that I couldn’t use any Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics, so I decided to spend some time with my Marcia Derse stash. These two, #1 and #3 are Patchwork Throws since they are backed with Plush and both finished by the third week in July.

Since I had a lot of strips and HSTs in my Marcia Derse scrap box and enjoyed making my KF String Quilt finished last month, I decided to make another one using the same QAYG technique.

This time, I QAYG HSTs on 15” squares of batting with one side sewn with mostly black and white fabrics with a color HST and the other side with color fabrics and a black/white HST. Once sewn, they were trimmed to 14.5”. I made twenty-four HST and they were set to create either a black/white or color diamond and they were much easier than the HRTs I made with the KF fabrics. Normally when I back with a plush fabric, there isn’t any batting in between but since these are QAYG blocks, I used a very thin plush with lines to make it less heavy but this definitely has a weighted blanket feel. I machine quilted with straight lines along the block seam lines with a steel gray polyester thread. For the binding I had hoped to use a Vanessa Christensen Ombré Stripe in Citronickle but sadly did not have enough. Fortunately I found another Citronickle print in my Marcia Derse stash which accented the quilt quite nicely. This quilt #1 measures 56” x 84” approximately. This will be my throw for me in the Family Room as I found when I was spending a lot of time there while my Hubby was recovering from his two back surgeries that there was only one Patchwork Throw and it belong to him and was using it.

I thought I share a before and after pic of my Marcia Derse scraps and as you can see String Quilt #1 hardly made a dent.

Earlier in July I had a dental appointment which meant I could go to a wonderful quilt shop near there which carries modern fabrics and they had the latest Marcia Derse Sketchbook fabric lines. I picked up a few fat quarters and yardage with the idea of making another quilt, like my Cicada Colada made last year and given away, by adding it with the other black, brown, taupe, and gray prints from my Marcia Derse and Lonni Rossi stash.

After I made the #2 Flimsy which you will read about later, I decided to use the same big block pattern wince I thought would showcase the prints better, especially the focus print which you can see I used for the plain blocks.  These blocks also measure 14.5” square and I needed 20 squares to make a 54” x 70” Patchwork Throw.

The size of this throw was determined by a wonderful piece of Plush which has been in my stash for several years and been wanting to use. It is thicker than the other Plush in my stash, has a wonderful feel and geometric design and what I now call Plushcious. This may be an instance where the back came before the flimsy. When I ordered this Plush online, I don’t know why I only ordered two yards which for a tall family, we need our lap quilts to be at least 80” long. Because of this, I now always purchase Plush at least 2.5 or 3 yard lengths. Since I already had my sewing machine set up to machine quilt for plush with the #1 Strip Quilt, #3 was finished before #2. I machine quilted with both horizontal and vertical lines with the Steel Gray Polyester thread and this time I was able to use Vanessa Christensen Ombre Stripe in Black. I have now used her Ombre Stripe for binding in three of my Marcia Derse Quilts and they seem to pair well with each other.

While I was sewing the #1 Stripe Quilt, Eunice, my Quilt Tormentor who lives inside my head and likes me to sew the right thing which is usually an UFO but this time she was reminding me of a ten year old stash of French General prints, mostly Petite Odile. These fabrics were released in 2012 and I remember buying yardage of these prints at a July Sidewalk Sale at least ten years ago. I really love the focus print on the right side and somehow found a Charm Pack back then. I love the children print and the colors have a vintage vibe. This stash has made an appearance on several Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenges but I never made a cut. I thought maybe I could make a wallhanging to satisfy Eunice but once I started playing with the stash, when I should have been focused on my #1 Stripe Quilt, I decided to make a larger quilt to use up more of the stash. I realize that sometimes my quilts are large because I want to use up as much stash as possible. 

Since I had yardage and a charm pack, I thought I could make a modified version of Quilting Jet Girl’s Bundle Buster Pattern which is one of my favorite patterns. I think I made at least five quilts using this pattern and thought I knew it well….which it turns out I didn’t. After the flimsy was made and thinking the construction of the pieced blocks were sewn like a log cabin block, I realized I forgot to add another charm square plus row. But I still liked the way it looks and it accented the plain blocks with the focus print nicely. I liked it so well that I decided to use this big block pattern for the #3 Marcia Derse quilt. These blocks also finished 14.5” square and twenty-four blocks were made to make a 56”x84” quilt.

We were at the GP house this weekend and didn’t think I would have time to machine quilt #2 but as luck would have it, I forgot there were 31 days in July so I spent Tuesday and Wednesday finishing it. There was no problem in choosing the backing since I already had a six yard piece of the Button print. As for the thread for the vertical wavy line quilting spaced 1” apart, I knew I wanted to use my recent purchase of Star Thread in Mother Goose, a golden tan, which is a favorite and used it when I first started quilting. I had run out of this thread and saw in an online chat quilt that this thread is still available so I purchased two spools.

 I always like to use either a stripe or mini check for binding and remember I had this print in my stash. It used to be in the French General bin but I had removed it years ago when I saw it wasn’t a French General print. Fortunately I found it and thought it was special enough for me to hand sew the binding down. I still have quite of bit of French General fabric left and this time I do have a plan to make a wall hanging.

Yes, this is my favorite finish for July mainly because I finally used my French General stash and the colors are perfect for the Family Room where most of the red/blue quilts are located.

Since I mentioned that #1 and #2 quilts are for my Family Room and if you’re wondering where #3 will be going, it’s for the Family Room also. I gifted it to the Master Quilt Holder who is recovering quite nicely from his two back surgeries—I thought he was Plushcious worthy. He uses his Big Blinky Bill Blankie a lot in the Family Room and it’s almost five years old so he deserves a new one. Plus, I will enjoy looking at it whenever I’m in the Family Room.

I’m pretty sure that there will be no more finishes left in me for July and the only plans for August is not to use any Marcia Derse or Plush fabrics. As for my KFC hiatus, it may end because the August Collective is being shipped out next week so I am looking forward to receiving twenty new fat quarters. But then I’m ready to do some Holiday sewing since I’m pattern and stash ready. There was a time for many years that I absolutely hated August because we could never take vacations then because I worked for a community college and we had to prep for the new school year and also for the many years I had to get the boys ready for school too. I’m enjoying August now with it’s 31 days which means an extra day for quilting. I’m hoping it’s going to be an Awesome August.

Two More Kaffe Fassett Finally Finishes

I'm being a little old school here by referring to these two finishes as Kaffe Fassett and not KFC but I didn't want you to think this Post has something to do with me eating two buckets of fried chicken.  Despite there being less than a week left in June, I decided I would end this month with these two lovelies. The bottom right String Quilt was a new project started at the end of April and the one on the upper left corner was a flimsy made last Christmas Day. Both of these are what I call Patchwork Throws since they are backed with plush but one of them had batting in the middle which technically would be considered a quilt. The crazy thing about these two is that they were finished during the past few days right in the middle of a heat wave. Thankfully, I sew in the lower level (basement) and it’s quite cool down there.

Kate/The Last Homely House had posted a YouTube video of her making a String Quilt and when I first saw it I thought I’ve already made several during the past few years so “No.” But after I was organizing the scraps leftover from my Kaffe Fassett Dazzling Diamond Quilt, I changed my mind. I did pull other strips from the KF scrap stash and did cut more strips from KFC fabrics purchased recently. I made my string blocks differently than Kate by sewing them or QAYG onto scrap batting rectangles measuring 6.5”x9.5”. I sewed 84 rectangles in two diagonal directions to make 21 diamond blocks measuring approximately 18” x 12”. This was a great way to use up scrap batting plus using half-wound bobbins which I have quite a few. This was a traveling project which I could work on during our few and far between stays at the GP house as well as at home.

I decided my diamond block layout would be horizontal, much like my Wensleydale Quit. When sewing each block together, I considered color and fabric distribution. Once all of the diamond blocks were sewn and ready for layout, I separated them into two piles, one warm and one cool for color to make sure one fabric or color were not concentrated in one area. I didn’t want to sew a pieced backing with my KF stash and since the width was only 54”, I thought the cheddar butter yellow Minky in my stash would be perfect. I still was able to do light straight line quilting along the block edges because of the QAYG method and, yes, the combination of batting and Minky makes for heavier quilt which I’m sure would be extra snuggly during the Winter. I used a yellow polyester thread for machine quilting and the binding is the red KFC caterpillar stripe. 

The KFC String Quilt measures 54” x 84” (approximately.) I should mention that I still have a lot of strips and scraps left as well as scrap batting. Oh well, that’s the circle of Scraps.

I briefly mentioned the making of the KFC Fat Quarter Flip Flimsy made on Christmas Day in this Post. The pattern is a variation I made of  Fat Quarter Shop Fat Eighth Flip Pattern which is a free pattern available on their website and is perfect for the large scale prints.

I received the February 2024 Kaffe Fassett Collective Fat Quarter Bundle on Christmas Eve and the next day the flimsy was a finish. Of all of the KF projects made since last Fall when I discovered Kate/The Last Homely House, this is the first time I used exclusively KFC fabrics which are recent releases. The other projects I used stash  and some were collected over twenty years ago. I did have a brief hiatus when I did not purchase any new KF fabrics so I was unaware of it now being called KFC fabrics. I am slowing building up a nice stash of KFC fabrics now. My favorite steel gray Zig Zag double plush was used, no batting, and simple straight line machine quilt 1” away from the block edges using a gray polyester thread which is truly a Patchwork throw. Brandon Mabley’s black/white stripe fabric was used for the binding so it may not be official KFC. My KFC Fat Quarter Flip Patchwork Throw measures 56” x 76” (approximately).

These two definitely were not made for a Summer Day but lovely to look. I am in no hurry to wrap myself up and snuggle in them; I can wait at least six months for cold Winter days. I now have made five KF/KFC projects so far this year and may need a hiatus from the KFC stash. Should I refer to my other fabrics now as De-Kaffe? Big laughs here….

The Master Quilt Holder had his second Kyphoplasty surgery for his spine yesterday and is recovering quite nicely so we will be visiting the GP house this weekend. This means I need to clean up the studio, return comments and organize my next projects. I really would like to take a break from sewing but the KFC and De-Kaffe fabrics are calling my name.

Linking up with Kathleen McMusing/TGIFF

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

A Pair of Patchwork Throws

Whenever I back a quilt top with just a plush fabric like Minky, I call them a Patchwork Throw since there is no batting in the middle. I’ve made at least twenty Patchwork Throws during the last six years and like to make them for a number of reasons; they finish quick with simple quilting, feel and wash nicely, no need to iron the plush fabric and a nice way to finish a flimsy which may have been sitting around for too long. The pair above are for me, the one on the right is for my bedroom at home and the one on the left is for me to use when sleeping in the darling Granddaughter’s bedroom. Here are some deets on these pair of Patchwork Throws.

The Amy Butler Patchwork Throw is my April finish for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. This is the second patchwork throw finished for the Challenge, the first one Innocent Crush was posted last August and I mentioned that I would be finishing the Amy Butler throw some day. Both of these throws were made with 8” HST from over five years ago when I went on a die-cutting spree after I purchased the die. This throw measures 48” x 64”, a nice lap size for keeping the legs warm when sitting and is backed with one of my favorite plush fabrics in lime green. I machine quilted with straight and diagonal lines and was pleased with how it looks and feels. BTW, this is the second patchwork throw made with the Amy Butler fabric since I made almost 100 HSTs back then. The first throw was a quick gift I made for my Godmother who was recovering from a knee injury in 2016 and also the first time I ever made a patchwork throw. I can’t say enough how nice these are.

After I finished the Amy Butler Patchwork Throw, I thought I would work on my Carrie Bloomston quilt which is a modified Unruly Pattern by Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation (not an affiliate link). I started  sewing the strip sets almost a year ago and finally pieced the blocks. After the flimsy was finished, I decided to make it a patchwork throw since I needed one and I like them for sleeping. I bring one whenever we travel and stay at a hotel. I have to mention that the second patchwork throw I ever made was with Carrie Bloomston fabrics but a little smaller.

The backing is a gray chenille plush which is another favorite. I machine quilted with straight vertical lines spaced 2” apart. Again, this throw quilted beautifully. The gray binding was the only print which is not a Carrie Bloomston fabric and is a print from Ann Kelle’s Remix fabrics. This throw measures 54” x 90”. 

The Master Quilt Holder was able to help me this time as his knee is feeling a lot better.  He was able to climb the step ladder to hang one throw and stoop a little for the other throw—glad to have him back. I wish the weather would have been nicer for the photos outside but we’ve been experiencing cloudy and rainy weather for the past week. Supposedly, we may have some 80 degree days next week but I’m pretty sure I won’t have a quilt ready to photograph outside. Would you believe the next project I’m working on involves more Carrie Bloomston fabrics. I forgot to mention earlier that I really love her fabrics.

I’m looking forward to a nice and relaxing Mother’s Day weekend and hope you are too.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

I Keep Throwing Along: Patchwork Throw #4

Yep, I made another patchwork throw; the three made within the last few weeks was not enough.  Truth is I needed to make this one after my Hubby's surgery last week after realizing that the other patchwork throws I made were just not the right size or were not meant for my use.  I needed one small enough to cover my lap while sitting in the hospital waiting room which I knew would be too cold for my newly acquired Senior Citizen body so I was resolved to make one when we returned home.  While Hubby was recovering sitting in the family room, I stayed upstairs and made this while sewing in the dining room.  I needed to be close by if case he needed anything or if someone came knocking at the door which always happens when you can't get out of the chair.  Before I continue with this post, surgery went very well and Hubby was feeling like his old (literally and figuratively) self in a few days; in fact, he said he hasn't felt this good for awhile since the hernia was really bothering him for the past few months.  

I can say that this patchwork throw was ready to be made; I already had the right scraps already cut to 8-1/2" wide strips mostly from my C+S Coin Quilt, Ernie Interrupts Quilt and Unruly Quilt along with leftover patches of some of my favorite Tammis Keefe, Lotta Jansdotter, and of course, Cotton + Steel prints.  Since I wanted to make this a smaller patchwork throw, it was quickly sewn together by sewing five rows of the 8-1/2" strip sets and patches 'ala Scrap Vortex style until the desired length of 60" long; this was a quickie.

Another reason for making this throw 40" x 60" is that I wanted to use this IKEA fleece throw purchased many years ago for just $2.49 and no longer available. I'm using this with some trepidation since the washing instructions are, wash in warm water, gentle cycle, do not dry or iron which makes me wonder if this fleece can't handle heat and might melt or disintegrate.  So, if I'm going to use this, I might as well be the guinea pig and of course will follow the washing instructions. This fleece is very lightweight, almost like flannel, and if you hold it up to the light, you can see the top but that doesn't bother me, just the possibility that I really didn't want to make a disposable throw.  We'll see and hopefully I can't report later about this patchwork throw after I wash it, but first I'm going to use it for awhile.  It is such a cute and modern print.

I did some daredevil machine quilting with straight and wave lines by only basting the top with flowerhead pins.  I know I could have spray basted, I have never done this yet, but didn't want to wash it for reasons stated above.  The fleece did sew very nicely and I didn't experience any problems.

What I love about my latest patchwork throw is that I'm once again using my beloved scraps and laughing at this Tammis Keefe print which you can see why it didn't make the "cut, for the quilt since Mama Kitty's head went missing but I thought it was okay for the throw.

Also, I used one of the prints for the binding, red newsprint from Carrie Bloomston's Paint fabric line and I love seeing the words appearing around the throw and thinking of using more text prints for binding.

As you can see, the lightness and size of this patchwork throw can be easily rolled up in case you need a pillow and fits in my hand so I can take a photo of it with my other hand.  Okay, I do have large hands.

Seriously, with Florence happening last week and people having to evacuate, it made me think this patchwork throw is small enough to throw in my bag if needed which I pray I never will.  I'll be leaving this where I can quickly find it.  Also, if I can find a suitable fleece, (I'm really hoping the IKEA fleece will wash fine)  I'll be making more of this size to give.

Unfortunately, National Jelly Roll Day fell on the 15th this month which is the day I always set aside to work on my QALs:

Classic Meets Modern hosted by Kelly, My Quilt Infatuation

The 12" Squash Blossom and Eccentric Stars were so fun to sew and they may be my favorite blocks so far.

Next month, the last two blocks will be made and then in November we will sew the filler blocks before the top can be assembled and finished by December.  I really love this quilt along; I'm using skills long neglected like patience and paying attention to details and my seam ripper is my Studio Pet.

Fireburst Mystery hosted by Tish's Adventure in Wonderland

Block #2, four blocks are finished and I am up to date.  Would you believe these took the majority of my day to make--I had to read the instructions nice and slow and Señor Sudio Pet was very helpful.

Last but not the least, I finally finished the fabric flash cards made from an Einstein Baby Genius panel.  I originally was going to make a quilt sooner but had an epiphany that granddaughter Micah has enough quilts for now and can play with these fabric flash cards when she is at my house since I realized that I hardly have any toys for her here.  Another reason why they're staying at my house is because these cards were pretty labor intensive and I could have made at least two-three patchwork throws for the time it took me to make these fabric flash cards, these need to stay here so they don't get lost with her other toys.  Of course, I may change my mind if she really wants to take them home. What sound does an unhappy Grandma makes when her hard work gets lost.  Grrrrrrrrr with a smile of course.

And speaking of epiphanies, I had one while I was doing upstairs sewing in the dining room, the formal dining room with the Queen Anne furniture, dark and heavy.  This room also houses a lot of my finished quilts and with the thought of moving the desktop computer back to the dining room for various reasons, I thought I could turn the dining room into a FORMAL sewing studio.  My regular studio, or soon to be renamed my informal sewing studio, will still be downstairs in the basement.  It would involve no furniture moving or purchase, I would just need to pack up the never used China from the cabinet and buffet which would be replaced by lovely bundles of fabric stash never used or to be purchased.  Pretty good idea but of course I would have to wait until Hubby recovers from his surgery which depending upon how much he's on board with this idea may not happen for another five years.  Hee Hee, one can dream and scheme, right.

Linking up with: Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap!, My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday