It was a very productive November with four Finally Finishes and one Flimsy made. Surprisingly, only one was planned and the other ones were inspired by the scraps and leftover blocks found in their respective bins. At the beginning of November, I was still under the influence of the Dear Tula #2 Scrap Vortex Quilt and kept finding more projects in the brown/tan/black scrap box. I made a wall quilt and a twin size flimsy which I would have quilted if I didn’t realized that it was the middle of the month and I had to start making a Christmas table runner needed for the living room. I like to start decorating by December 1st and it was arriving quickly in my head. It turned out that even more inspirations were found in the Christmas stash to make two additional quilts with the leftover blocks and scraps from previous projects.
The first project completed and unplanned was the Taupe Baskets wallhanging/table runner. While I was preparing the fabrics for the Dear Tula II Scrap Vortex quilt, I came upon leftovers or block remains from past projects and a fat quarter of the basket print which I don’t remember purchasing.
I had set aside these fabrics several years ago not knowing what I was going to make with them. I knew that I did not want to cut up the basket print and thought now to use a 16”x18” cut as the main focus for a table runner. I ended up eliminating some of the lighter prints on the left and found some replacements stashed in other bins. A story for another day is I was needing one more dark print, preferably a Japanese Homespun, and remembered that had received some unexpectedly from Mary Etherington six years ago. I made my Scrappy Sixpatch Quilt from the scraps Mary had sent and still had some left. I now have much more which as I mentioned before will be a project for next year.
Here’s a close-up of the basket print which is from the Taupeism fabric line. I did do a search online to find out more about the print but nothing was found. Really, I was hoping to purchase additional prints but in the end I was happy with what I had. Initially, Taupe Baskets was going to be a table runner but is now a wallhanging in my hallway where it is hanging around the other wall quilts made with similar fabrics and colors. It measures 28” x 50” and was a quick and easy make with the meandering machine quilting.
Also found alongside the Taupe Basket fabrics were leftover blocks from the Disappearing 9 patch quilt I made for a Grandniece eleven years ago. I decided to make a number of patches needed to make 35 blocks or a 65”x91” twin size quilt. Fortunately, most of the scraps in the brown/tan/black bin are from this quilt. I would have finished this quilt if I hadn’t realized that I needed to start on some Merry Makings.
I am pretty pleased with myself for having completed these three during the last half of November which involved a lot of non-quilting busyness. Can you guess which one was machine quilted and bound several days while the darling Granddaughter was staying at our house, a wallhanging made from a block which was at least seven years old and a table runner made from a fabric collection purchased last year?
I won’t keep you in suspense. This table runner was made with Dashwood Studio Candy Cane line along with Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics using a modified version of Villa Rose Designs Clover pattern. I mentioned in previous posts how much I love this pattern and how easy it is to modify it in order to use the fabrics you already have. The table runner measures 22”x38” and is needed for the living room which during Christmas, all the quilts were made from Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star fabrics. The only holdout was the table runner on the coffee table and last year I made plans to finally make a new one this year.
Of course, while combing through the Christmas stash, I came across the 12” Tree block made in 2017 and was designed by April Adam, Janda Bend Quilts for that year’s I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along. This was one of the few blocks I made from this quilt along and had planned to use it with some other orphan Christmas block which I never got along to sewing. Divine inspiration to make it a wall hanging finally struck and I just needed a few strips and squares from other projects to make it a 23” square. April named this block Christmas Tree Farm, which is appropriate since she owns one and I did play Taylor Swift’s Christmas Tree Farm while hand quilting. I just love how this turned out and this will be hanging up in the hallway at the GP House.
Last, but not the very least, is the Reindeer Lane made possible with a past Christmas quilt and fabric purchases.
I was surprised when I realized that this Hoot and Loot Quilt was made five years ago. My original plan to make this with only the eight patch rail blocks and the Hoot and Loot fabric but decided to add the pinwheel blocks which meant 24 rail blocks were not needed. Most of these were made from Me and My Sister Red Dot and Dash fabric line and I thought if I ordered additional yardage from their fabric line this year, Reindeer Games, I could make just a Christmas bed quilt of rail blocks for the darling Granddaughter.
Normally, I like to include a pic of all of the fabrics gathered for the making of a quilt, but in my haste to finish it before the month ends, I forgot to take one. These photos show the new Reindeer Game fabrics purchased, the red ribbon weave, green diagonal stripe, red and green plus, and the Reindeer dot. In order to make this a 56”x72” quilt, I needed to use additional fat quarters of Kate Spain’s Merry, Merry fabric line along with a Robert Kaufman Sloth Christmas print, a Basic Grey text print and some other red and green prints found in the stash. I wanted to include some plain 8” blocks with the rail blocks but decided a pieced block of two coordinating 4”x8”(f) rectangles would worked. Rather than a random layout, I thought a controlled layout with two rows of the Reindeer block, top and bottom,and one row of the rectangle blocks with the Kate Spain houses in the center would work with the fabric I had. Rather than alternate the red and green rail blocks individually, they are set in vertical rows, creating a lane effect which is why I names this quilt Reindeer Lane. I thought it was also a nice address name for the row of houses in the Kate Spain Print.
Since the Kate Spain and Sloth prints had some gray in it, backing it with a light gray chenille plush was perfect. This is a thin plush, not so luscious, which the Pellon soy batting was used to add some weight. The flimsy was finished right before we left for the GP House to bring back the darling Granddaughter to spend Thanksgiving with us. I didn’t think I would be able to machine quilt it while she was here, but wonders happen during the night when she is sleeping. I usually don’t sew at night while at the GP House but maybe I will now. Machine quilting and binding went well, no problems, the darling Granddaughter should come to our house more often.
I thought I would close this Post with the darling Granddaughter, the Novice Quilt Holder holding up Christmas Tree Farm. It did not go well. Thanks to three photo app and along with the experience of creating graphics of Sandra, mmmquilts, I was able to photo edit this pic. Maybe I should learn AI.
I only have one project to complete in December which is to machine quilt my secret project. Once that’s done, I’m sure I can find other projects which are always popping up in the studio. Now that Thanksgiving have been enjoyed and now over, we will be traveling back with the darling Granddaughter and her father to the GP House tomorrow. Unfortunately, we will be driving after our area has been under a Winter Storm Watch and hopefully the roads will be cleared. I am so not ready for Winter weather and the only way to enjoy the cold and snow is to be inside and happily making quilts.
