Jack In The Box 23 Quilt

Jack In the Box 23 is my September finish for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge which I finished on September 2nd but couldn’t Post until today. I have once again have befallen to what seems like an annual “knee/sciatica/piriformis” pain during this time of year and sadly the culprit seems to be Quilting.  I really did not expect that pressing a flimsy and backing, basting and machine quilting a small quilt and then pressing another backing and flimsy would cause a flare-up. But anyhoot, after the usual five days of resting, taking OTC, no studio time, a few Pajamazon Days and finally a visit to the Chiropractor after Labor Day, I am back on the quilting saddle although I have imposed some time limitations for awhile.

There is a lot of story about the Jack in the Box 23 which is the second quilt I’ve made of the Jack in the Box pattern from Sue Pfau’s One Bundle of Fun. This book was published in 2016 and there are so many great patterns which uses fat quarter bundles, jelly rolls and layer cakes that I’ve already have another quilt or two planned. 

The first Jack in the Box flimsy was made in 2017 and I used a Jenn Ski Tiki Tok layer cake which was perfect for this pattern  as it works well with large scale or novelty prints. It was finally finished in January, 2020.

Sometime after the Tiki Tok flimsy was made and since I loved the Jack in the Box pattern so much, I planned to make another one with another fun modern graphic fabric line, Julie Comstock 23 fabrics which I had a charm pack and yardage. Soon after I cut the strips and squares I forgot all about it. In my defense,  2017 was a busy year for me which I finished 24 quilts, 5 wallhangings, 12 baby quilts for the Blanket Ministry at my church and probably the biggest distraction of all, this was the year my darling Granddaughter was born which numerous projects were also done for her.

It wasn’t until December 2020, when I made my Mori Girls flimsy on the right that I finally made the Jack in the Box 23 flimsy. It was only made because while I was making Mori Girls I kept thinking that the colors of the fabrics reminded me of another fabric collection so I did some searching around my studio and found the Jack in the Box 23 project. Of course after finding this and feeling guilty about forgetting it, I had to make the flimsy. I added Jack in the Box 23 on my Dirty Dozen UFO list for this year since the Mori Girls Quilt was a finally finished a year earlier in August, 2022. Is it me, but 2020 seems to be just last year but really it’s two to three years depending on how you look at it.

After our return from the GP House last week and finding out that #4 was drawn for the DD Challenge, I knew Jack in the Box 23 was my pick out of the five projects to finish. It helped that the backing was already sewn which I must have done last year when I was finishing Mori Girls. The backing fabric which is the Dots on yellow fabric on the left is the one that kept coming to mind when I was sewing Mori Girls. The machine quilting was vertical straight and wavy lines, the same way I did for Tiki Tok, and I used CT Essential Thread in Parchment. The binding, safely stored in the binding drawer, is a pink/red orange mini check which I thought would work well with the fabrics. Jack in the Box 23 measures 42”x64”, approx.

I thought my last pic for this Post would be of the two Jack in the Box quilts which is a great pattern for fun fabrics. It’s a nice size for keeping the lap and knees warm and would make great gifts for the “golden babies” who are retiring, celebrating a milestone birthdays or new grandparents who will have a quilt for cuddling. I’m glad the Jack in the Box 23 is a Finally Finished after six years and also glad I’ve finished my September UFO. But I still have at least another finish planned, maybe more, but I have to remember I have limitations at least for awhile. I really don’t like pain nor having to spend time away from my studio, but have I learned my lesson, maybe……

January Juggling

I managed to juggle some time in between the two separate one-week trips to the Grandparent House to work on planned projects and unforeseen projects this month.  My QAL blocks, planned projects, are done and as well as, unexpectedly, so are three Finally Finished Quilts which were UFOs. I hesitate to call these DrEAMi quilts since they were maybe done because I was avoiding working on one of the QALs which I will mention briefly later on in this post. Before I retired seven years ago, January was my least favorite month of the year with the cold, snowy weather which I dreaded driving in to work and the thirty-one days just went by too slowly which made the month seem to last forever.  Now I have a new appreciation for January with the weather we've been having this month and realizing that the once dreaded cold and snow makes for good sewing weather and those days can last forever. However, this is the time of the year that taking good outdoor photos are few and far between. I was lucky to have finished these quilts during a three-day sewing spree during the middle of the month and the weather was co-operative afterwards for taking a photo which usually it's not. Here are some indoor photos of these Quilts individually with some details:

Cotton+Steel Hatbox Quilt,  56" Square

I started working on this quilt last year when I decided I had to make Rail Fence Blocks from the various Cotton+Steel pinks, corals and reds with sashing and cornerstones with yardage of the Navy Hatbox and plaid print sitting in my stash.  The blocks are 10" finished.

Four different strip sets were made and unfortunately I was only able to cut three 10.5" blocks from some of the strip sets so I had to improvise making five blocks with squares from the leftover ends which went well with the other Rail Fence blocks.  Since my plan for the Hatbox Quilt is for this to be as a play mat and used fleece instead of batting, I only did minimal machine quilting of grid lines around the blocks, sashing and cornerstones and wavy diagonal lines inside the blocks and squares using a variegated pink thread. 

I found a navy and white ticking stripe fabric in the backing vault which went perfect with the top and for its purpose of being a porch patchwork blanket for the Grandparent House.  I didn't intend this to be for the Grandparent House until I realized the gold in the cornerstone fabric matched the front door. Warm sunny weather can't come soon enough for me to sit on this on the front porch with the sweet Granddaughter.

Strawberry Fields Revisited, 38"x52"

I made this top almost four years ago in 2016 and can't remember if this was a pattern or was something that I saw on Pinterest or in a magazine.  I happened to have a charm pack of Fig Tree's Strawberry Fields Revisited and once I decided on the pattern of two patches made from the charm pack and four patches with sashing, I ordered yardage of one of the red prints, spearminty green gingham and the large floral print from the collection.

I know that one of the holdups in finishing this quilt was the thread color for the machine quilting and thought none of the greens in my thread collection looked right.  I was resigned to using white but decided to look in my box containing long-forgotten Mettler threads and there I found the perfect green.  I machine quilted straight lines along the edges of the blocks and sashing with a wavy line in the middle of the two-patch and four-patch blocks.

I have to admit I don't often back my quilts with fabrics from the same collection as the top, but really glad I decided to splurge and buy two yards of the floral print for the backing.  I'll be saving this quilt for a future gift but then again the yellows in the quilt sure do match the front door at the Grandparent House.

Tiki Tok Quilt, 40"x60"

This top was also made around the same time as the Strawberry Fields Revisited top and this too was waiting to be machine quilted for four years.  I do remember the pattern which is Jack in the Box from the One Bundle of Fun book by Sue Pfau.  I used a layer cake of the Tiki Tok fabric designed by Jenn Ski which was perfect for the pattern.  This is one of the first layer cakes I purchased which prompted me to come up with the rule that anytime I purchase a pre-cut bundle, I need to buy yardage for the binding, which I did not do at the time, and is especially important when the layer cake is finally used years later. Another good rule is to have a binding drawer, like I do, to store the fabric so it doesn't get accidentally used for another quilt. Thankfully, the skinny black and white stripe I had in my stash worked for this quilt. 

I machine quilted straight lines, 3/4" apart and then wavy lines in the center squares of the block and sometimes the wavy lines went past the intended spot but it's not noticeable.  I used an Essential Thread in natural since I didn't want a color to distract from the fun colors in the Tiki Tok fabrics.

I remembered after the top was finished, it took me awhile to finally decide on the backing which involved piecing a Patty Young green and white stripe and yardage of the Tiki Tok which I happened to find in my stash. At least it was already sewn and made finishing this quilt all the more faster.  I'm glad this quilt is finally finished since it's been on a 2018 UFO list and I've been wanting to get it done.  I love everything about this quilt and will probably save it for a future gift. But then again, the yellows sure matches that front door at the Grandparent House but all of these colors are in my living room here. I really don't need another lap quilt for the living room.

It seems that I may have subconsciously finished these quilts because of the yellow/gold present in each of these quilts, but only one of these quilts will be for the Grandparent House.  I like the idea of saving some of these quilts for the giving cupboard which is an idea I am borrowing from Susan Snooks of PatchworknPlay.  I am especially liking the size of these quilts and thinking this size is not only for baby quilts but also would be perfect for family and friends whose knees may needing some warmth.

As mentioned earlier in this post, I am participating in two QALs this year:

Before I starting on my sewing spree of finally finishing the three quilts, I first made my January block for the 2020 Monthly Color Challenge hosted by Patterns by Jen. The first block color was the Goldfinch and coincidentally were yellows.

I decided to join this Challenge after learning that the colors were inspired by Birds and thought I had the most perfect bundle of ombre fabrics purchased several years ago in Colorado to use. Hopefully once the blocks are finished, I will be able to use the prints on the left in this quilt which were also purchased with the ombres.

Last year, Kathleen of kathleen mcmusing blogspot asked me if I wanted to participate in her Awesome Ocean QAL which is a pattern designed by Elizabeth Hartman.  Being that we are "sistas" from the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers I couldn't say no and thought it was time to do something challenging so I could justify my simple and easy quilt style.  The QAL started last November but I didn't start my blocks until last week after the three Finally Finished Quilts which is when I finally realized I had to get moving since I was on for writing a post for one of the blocks. You'll see this post on February 1st of presenting the Preppy the Whale block.  Can you guess what color my whales will be from looking at the colors from the blocks already made?  Here's a hint, it's not yellow.

Now that my January post is done, I can now work on my Whale blocks and then decide on a new project.  Hopefully, I won't be distracted by another UFO(s) which has yellow in it.  Maybe I am secretly yearning for the Sun which I think everyone else living in the Midwest might be doing too.

Sew Warm!