Another QAL Finally Finished: Wishi Washi

The good Quilt QAL energy continues with the Wishi Washi quilt which I started and finished within a week of participating in the Second Sew Along hosted by Roseanne of Homesewn By Us.  The official start of the Sew Along was July 1st but I didn't begin working on it until July 6th because I had to first finish my Playtime Plus Quilt for the parade which started on July 5th.  Once I was finished with that QAL I was ready to start another QAL or Sew Along with "no stress, no deadline, no prize and just for fun." Participants had a choice of making one of three patterns and I chose Up From Here designed by SewMamaSew which was the perfect pattern to make after coming off of the fun sewing time I had with my Playtime Plus Quilt.  I enjoyed Sandra's pattern so much, I modified the Up From Here pattern to the point it could be called a junior Playtime Plus quilt because I used 3.5" strips making my blocks 18" finished.

At the start of the Sew Along, I told Roseanne that I planned on using fabric from my Asian stash since I join Sew Alongs or QALs with the intent of using what I have and I do have a lot of Asian prints that have been long neglected.  As you can see, my Wishi Washi quilt doesn't look very Asian but if I hadn't looked in my Asian stash, I would not have found my inspiration print with the gray multi color print (second from the top) which is the Fiddlesticks print from the LahDeeDah collection designed by Erin McMorris/Windham Fabrics. If you're wondering why the Fiddlesticks print was in the Asian stash, it's because it reminded me of the Washi Tape print designed by Rashida Coleman Hale before she joined Cotton + Steel and it was a print that I wished I bought when it was available.  The coral print on the bottom is a Cotton + Steel print designed by Rashida so that's why I thought Wishi Washi would be a good name for the quilt.  I'm hoping Rashida will reissue this print again now that she is no longer designing for Cotton + Steel and if she does I'll make sure I buy some this time.  The lime green print is an Art Gallery Square Element and the gray crosshatch fabric on top is something I just purchased two weeks ago from Joann Fabrics with no idea that I would be using it for this quilt.   I am amazed and pleased that these four prints from four different fabric lines played so nicely with each other.

I have to mentioned that it's a challenge for me to make a quilt using just four fabrics but I was able to think clearly with the Wishi Washi quilt, which may have been fueled by my Hubby now adding cacao powder to my coffee in place of a certain sugar substitute, at least that's what I'm hoping it is. I decided that I would jazz up the quilt by using two different block layouts by keeping the the gray Fiddlesticks print in the same position but changed the orientation of the sticks and alternate the coral and lime green prints positions for each block layout.  I usually don't do this but I made two blocks before making the rest of them, one in layout A with the coral print in the top and bottom and the lime green print in the center of the block and layout B with the lime green print on the top and bottom and the coral print in the center just to make sure my idea would work.  Can you see how the gray Fiddlesticks print looks different in each block layout?

I am so glad I made the test blocks first because I was planning on making five layout A blocks and four layout B blocks since the blocks were going to be set in a three by three layout and they would alternate next to each which is what you usually do with this layout.  After I made the test blocks and they were next to each other, I could see that in order for the fabrics prints to alternate with each other diagonally and vertically, I would need to make six layout A blocks and they would be set in the top and bottom rows and three layout B blocks and they would only be in the center row.  Whew, so glad I realized this, big thanks in part to making the test blocks.  I also would like to mention that in the Up from Here pattern, the block seams were to be pressed open which I did not do because as you can see, the seams need to match up. In order for me to do this, I need to have nesting seams so for each block, I pressed the odd rows/strips with the seams up and the even rows with the seams down and once the blocks were sewn, which clicked together so nicely, the seams for layout A blocks were pressed to the right and the left for layout B blocks. Before I sewed the row of blocks together, I pressed the block seams for the rows with the layout A blocks to the right and left for the row with the layout B blocks and again clicking was heard. The Wishi Washi Quilt measures 54" square which is also the same size as the Playtime Plus Quilt.

My clear head came to the rescue once again when it came to deciding the backing, which usually takes a day or two, because I wasn't really excited about using my IKEA black and white print for this quilt. I remembered that I had this stash of a wonderful Phillip Jacobs Geranium Leaves print which has the same colors as the gray Fiddlesticks print.  It's really unusual for me to have the backing decided on before the top is finished.  I'm really glad that I finally was able to use the Geranium print since it's been sitting in my stash for more than ten years.

I quilted wavy organic lines, 1" apart, no straight lines this time, with Coral thread on the top and pale pink on the bottom and am happy to say this quilt lays nice and straight.  The Fiddlesticks print was used in the binding which is a nice way of using the inspiration print once again.

If I could give this quilt another name, besides the other two I already have, it would be the Rolling R quilt since the blocks look like a series of five lower case "r"s which I like to use the lower case letters as you can see on my logo.  I also admire people who have the enviable talent of being able to roll their "r"s  when saying certain words such as "Perfect" like my quilt peep Carol can do which I wish I could do, being the only one among family and friends who can't. I am so happy I found this gray print in my stash because it brought together some wonderful prints sitting in the stash for one fun quilt.  Like the Playtime Plus Quilt, once I started the Wishi Washi Quilt, I could not stop and I do believe this quilt was made and finally finished in 48 hours which is my fastest QAL finish ever.  It's going to be pretty hard to beat this time unless I make another one.  The Wishi Washi quilt is my sixth QAL quilt for the year and it's hard to believe that all of them are all finally finished.  Usually, there's at least a long year or more waiting period for the tops to be quilted but for reason I have good QAL energy this year and for that matter any quilt I started this year, I finished, so I thought.  As I am writing this post, I just remember that I have a quilt top I made for my granddaughter back in March which still needs to be quilted so guess what I'm going to be doing next.

As for the other two QALs which are continuing until the end of this year, I am on schedule and here are some photos:

Classic Meets Modern (hosted by My Quilt Infatuation)

The July blocks were both 12" and are the Bowtie and the Weathervane blocks.  I'm on schedule for this month and also for next month because I accidentally made the 10" Dutch Pinwheel block because I assumed the patterns were in order when I started making the June blocks.  Well, they weren't and the Dutch Pinwheel block wasn't supposed to be made until August.  It wasn't until I was writing my post I realized my mistake so I took a brief break to make the Bowtie Block which fortunately was pretty easy to make.  I have an extra block, the block in the middle on the bottom row in my quilt layout for this month.

Fireburst Mystery Quilt (hosted by Tish's Adventure in Wonderland)

The July blocks are done and were fun even though I was only able to die-cut the 2.5" squares which was a good thing since I need forty-four of them.

I'm thankful for the good quilt energy I've been experiencing so far this year and hopefully can start working on my UFO list, and maybe a DrEAMi quilt or two before the next QAL comes around.  Meanwhile, I'm going to check our supply of Trader Joe's Organic Fair Trade Cacao Powder (not an affiliate link) to make sure we don't run out and also to make sure this is what Hubby has been adding to my coffee.

Linking up with:  Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday, My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday