A Twice is Nice November

I like to mention first that I thought I was going to be late with my November post thinking today was December 1st, so imagine my surprise and joy to find that I have an entire day to think and type this post. Usually I draft and type my post under the imagined deadline or the thought that my post is going to disappear into thin year.  While coming up with the title to this post which I like to tie it with my activity for the month, I found there were several things which happened in pairs, combos, duos, twice, double, etc.  There were three Finally Finished quilts and one Flimsy for his month and why they were twofers will be explained in this post.

I’m participating in Country Threads’ Dirty Dozen QAL and my #1 quilt to finish in November was near and dear to my heart.  The Dogma quilt top was made in 2014, but the Dogma fabric which was an In the Beginning fabric line designed by artist David Hearn was purchased in 2013, which I picked a kit up at Country Threads (a 5-6 hours drive), my first of several visits.  This is when my friendship with Mary Etherington truly started since, besides her, I became acquainted with Susannah, her late, great Goat and other four legged babies.  I called ahead to order a kit, since we were going to stop by on the way to Colorado, which included a pattern but if you know me, I chose instead to make a 42”x46” wall hanging to better showcase the fabrics. I loved the funky and organic prints which seemed to be popular at this time, since I also purchased Hot Flash and Primitiva too and already finished quilts with these fabrics. This quilt has been listed several times on UFO lists during the past years as one I wanted to finish and this year it finally was.

Before I could quilt the top, I had to choose a backing which I could not find anything to my liking in the backing vault and thought I piece one using leftovers from the Dogma stash.  Aren’t these prints wonderful?  However after looking at these prints I decided that another top needed to be made before I could quilt the original Dogma quilt.

Before we left for a Grandparent House visit, I made this top which I called Double Dogma Dare, a sort of tongue-in-cheek name since I was suppose to  be quilting the original Dogma quilt (Dogma One) and thought I could do that plus make the top plus quilt it, but no I was so wrong. More about Double Dogma Dare later.

We came home with less than a week left in the month to finish the Dogma One.

For some reason I thought this was a 54” square top and surprised it was smaller which meant I just need just under 1.5 yards of fabric for the backing which I was able to find a gray/black print in the stash. If I had known this beforehand, maybe I wouldn’t had to look at the Dogma fabric stash and maybe not have been distracted with making Double Dogma Dare. The binding was a print from the fabric line and grid machine quilting was done with black Aurifil thread.

As I was quilting Dogma One, I realized that this was the second quilt I made this year which had the color Teal and was a square, almost the same size; the first one being the Centred, a QAL hosted by Sandra, mmm quilts earlier this year.  When this quilt was finished I mentioned in my post that her cat, Bella, would look so gorgeous laying on this quilt.  I realized by looking at the dog in the center of the dog panel, this could be Sandra’s dog Rufus so I sent this photo to Sandra in a shameless attempt of finally getting my hands on Bella to let her know that I have proper sit mats for both of them when they come for a visit. Sandra, who is onto my Bella attempts, responded she would be happy to send only Rufus once the borders were opened.

Once Dogma One was finished this past Saturday, I started getting Double Dogma Dare ready for quilting. Fortunately, I already pieced a backing with black prints from the stash and took some time in deciding which prints could be sacrificed. It was during this time I realized that stash should not be saved for a maybe future project and should be used now for backing since I could always buy another equally perfect print if and when a project appears. Sadly, this epiphany came after buying fabric for almost twenty-five years. I would like to say that the finally finishing of this quilt was a breeze but it was not. One of the things that I am always afraid of when basting a quilt is that I would have the wrong side facing up  and not realizing this until after I was done pinning.  That didn’t happen but after the backing and batting was clamped down on my big basting table, I realized that the batting was not wide enough so that had to be taken off and a new piece of batting cut. After the backing and batting was clamped down for the second time and the top was then pin basted, it was then I realized I did not lay the backing down evenly on the table so my top extended below the backing so I had to unpin more than 100 safety pins, which my fingers became very sore and restarted the process again. They say three times a charm which almost wasn’t the case because after doing twenty lines of straight line quilt at 2am, I thought the back was just a little too puckered and thought I had to rip out all the stitching. 

Fortunately, I waited until the morning to start ripping because my fresh eyes realized that it was the prints  which made it looked so puckered and quilting the rest of the quilt was a breeze. I used a dark gray Aurifil thread for the machine quilting. As for the binding, I didn’t want to use a print from the Dogma print line (maybe because a Triple Dogma Dare is in my thoughts) since I thought it needed a somewhat solid black and was happy to find a vintage Debbie Mumm skinny line print in black/gray. After spending much time foraging in my black stash, I really have some wonderful prints or as we use to say in my Quilting Shop days, old friends.  Double Dogma Dare measures 64”x80” and is based on Quilting Jetgirl Bundle Buster pattern. This is a wonderful pattern for making big blocks and this is the third quilt I made using this pattern. This pattern is also very versatile being that you can easily change the size of the strips and can be made from yardage as well as fat quarters. The first one was my Kiwi and Mango Tango quilt made last year.

And in case you’re thinking I miscounted, Highland Room is the second quilt I made inspired by the Bundle Buster pattern made this year.

This is the first top I made in 2020 and I used a combination of Violet Craft’s The  Highlands fabric line with Erin McMorris In My Room fabric stash along with a few other lines like Denyse Schmidt and Cotton+Steel. I thought these collection of fabrics which had similar colors went well together.

I especially like the Violet Craft Cat print, in a lovely shade of yellow which Wendy and I would call Citronickle, and wanted to be featured so I modified the Bundle Buster pattern to make this a 56” x 72” quilt.

The backing was pieced with a combination In My Room print with a gray and white Waverly print.  Straight line quilting spaced 3/4”apart with a Connecting Thread Essential Stone Thread went well, no problems thanks to the quilting guide on my walking foot.

Here’s another view of the fabrics used in this quilt; loved that I was able to use some Denyse Schmidt’s prints.

The Highland Room quilt is now residing in the darling Granddaughter’s bedroom along with some of the recently finally finished quilts from previous posts.  I was able to use it at our last sleepover which was needed since she doesn’t share the bed quilt very well.

Sorry for this post being so long, but I did mentioned that I also made a Flimsy which is the annual Christmas quilt I used to make for the darling Granddaughter’s house but will now reside at the Grandparents’ house instead.  My plan is to quilt this next.  I’ll also be making a smaller one for the little darling and hers will be a blankie since it will be backed with a leftover plush fabric from Christmas Quilts past.  Two-ing things will continue in December.

Just a little recap of my sewing double in November: two Bundle Buster quilts were a finally finished, two quilts made with Dogma fabrics, two square Teal quilts made this year, a twofer planned for December and also piecing two quilt backs which is a form of torture for me.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that I’ve been blogging for four years now. I’ve been posting only once a month for over a year and was thinking that maybe I should try to post more frequently so I can focus on writing about one quilt instead of several. But then, I found out that Bloglovin is not picking up my posts so maybe Blogland is trying to tell me something. I appreciate those of you who are reading my posts from another source.  I thought it was just me but I read that Quilting Jetgirl is also experiencing Bloglovin problems also. I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the two Bundle Buster Quilts I finished this month.  I contacted Bloglovin who did not respond so I guess I will be blogging under the radar if this post does not appear.

Wishing you a safe and healthy December.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

In the Mood for Red, White and Blue

‘‘Tis the month for sewing red, white and blue quilts which means I have three Finally Finished, two of them longtime UFOs and one quilt a start and finish within nine days which would have been done sooner if not for a five day visit to the Grandparent House. I already have a nice collection red, white and blue (RBW) quilts and it’s been awhile since I’ve made one, with the exception of some small wallhangings, but these three just “happened” to get made. 

This is the first RBW quilt finally finished and if it weren’t for Mary Etherington, Country Threads posting the one she was currently working on, there was a strong possibility this would have remained a top. It’s been over five years since this was made and was a QAL which Mary hosted. I changed the dimensions of the blocks to 6” finished so I could die cut them and used fabrics from my Minnick & Simpson stash. Seeing Mary’s current quilt gave me the impetus to finally quilt it. It’s the first time I’ve ever sprayed basted and really liked it and thought it would be a game changer but as I later discovered it works best right now for small quilts. This quilt measures 28” square and already hanging on the hallway door.

This is the second RBW quilt which I finally finished as a result of the first quilt because I made the two at the same time and it just wouldn’t be right for it to remain an UFO. The pattern is Dandy designed by Pat Sloan and she also hosted a QAL. I thought this was a great pattern for the Zippity Doo Dah fabrics designed by Sandy Gervais which I had a layer cake and yardage. This has to be one if the few quilts I've made which only used four fabrics. After I made this top, I wasn’t sure how to quilt it so that’s why it was an UFO for so long.  I decided to quilt it with curvy horizontal lines and again I spray basted it and this time I don’t think I liked it as much with the numerous pinches and puckers. This quilt measures 34” x 46” and will be a seasonal table topper for the dining room table.  (I’ve been thinking a lot of Pat lately because right after I finished my Dandy quilt, I learned that while going for a walk, she tripped over uneven pavement and broke both of her wrists and had surgery today. I’m a big fan of Pat’s patterns and fabrics and wish her a speedy recovery and hope she heals well.)

While hunting for the binding for the Dandy quilt and coming upon the Zippity Doo Dah layer cake, I knew I wanted to use it for an Algorithm Quilt, a pattern designed by Gundrun Erla, GE design, which is a fun pattern to make and a nice change of pace from the strip and square quilts I’m fond of making. Would you believe, we're at the end of June and this is the first quilt the Master Quilt Holder has held up outside? 

The pattern did not include borders and measures approximately 49"x64". Normally I do not add borders but thought since I still had yardage of the floral print I would add borders so the quilt measures 57"x70 which is a nice size to cover more than a lap.

Since I added borders, I was tempted to quilt straight through the borders but decided that I would start the straight and curvy line quilting inside the top and bottom and spent the time burying the knots.  I was going to use a natural color thread and glad I decided at the last minute to use instead Red. For the borders, I also did a combination of straight and curvy lines also.

For both the Algorithm and Dandy quilt, I was able to back it with a 2001 print designed by Jill Kemp/Bear Paw Design.  It's a patriotic print with text saying "Remember Me' which I'm glad I did because it's definitely been waiting to be used.  Since I didn't like the red print I had left from the Zippity Do Dah stash, I decided to use a ticking stripe of red and natural which went well with the other prints.

If you read my last post about my Centred Quilt, which I mentioned that I was unhappy with the new Blogger interface and some may have interpreted that I wasn't going to post anymore since I wrote that this post would be the last post I would do in the old or Legacy Blogger interface which I dearly love. Well surprise, surprise, I'm writing this post in the new Blogger interface since I decided to put on my big Blogger pants and post with the flow.  My mentor Sue of PatchworknPlay and tormmmentor Sandra of mmm quilts have been helpful.  I discovered one of the problems I was having is that my MAC Pro Laptop is ten years old and cannot support the new Blogger interface so the toolbar was not appearing.  It worked on my iPad but there was no way I was going to type with one finger.  My hubby suggested that I try typing it on my PC and it works but I had problems with uploading photos directly from OneDrive.  Another problem is inserting links so I apologize for not including them in this post.  Hopefully, Sandra, who promised a little tutorial for the new Blogger interface can offer some insight.

Wishing everyone a Safe, Happy and Healthy Fourth!

Centred/Celebrating a Famous Canadian Birthday Again

Once again I am joining in the celebration of a famous Canadian's birthday with my Centred Quilt which is only the seventh quilt I finally finished this year. According to Sandra, mmm quilts, who is hosting this QAL and also the daughter of this famous Canadian, this is her fourth annual QAL but for me, this is the fifth QAL of hers that I have participated in or as I say I have reached the QAL Quintuplet level now that I have five finished quilts.  Here's a link to the post with the other four quilts. The reason for the difference in which number this QAL is because Sandra is not counting the Postcard to Sweden QAL because it was not her design but I'm including it in my count because I would not have made it if she didn't host a QAL.

When Sandra first announced the QAL back in March and mentioned that the size was perfect to "perch my sit bones" (or do you say arse?) while doing Yoga, I knew I had the perfect fabrics in my stash; Mary Fons' Small Wonder fabrics of which I had several prints inspired by India.  If my Centred Quilt looks different from the other Centred quilts, it's because I was too mmm-patient to wait for the instructions and thought I could figure it out based on the quilt Sandra first posted and she doesn't do complicated, right?. I recently told her that “mmm” is the acronym for “must make me”. The fabrics I wanted to use were prints and not batiks (most of my batik stash was used for making face masks so I didn't have much useable stash anyways). Seam lines tend to blend better with batiks which also gives this pattern so much movement and with prints they seem more pronounced and stationary..  And yes, I made a full confession to Sandra for being a rebel and doesn't every QAL need one?  The top was done before the QAL started and I stayed quiet about it in  Blogland. All I'm going to say is that only four of my blocks were quarter log cabin blocks and that all my blocks are the same colors throughout the quilt.  Also, Sandra's pattern would have been much easier for me to do. Thankfully my quilt did measure to 40.5" square. (Note for next year: just wait). Although I don't do Yoga, I know my Centred quilt is going to make a great meditation mat; it's look so good laying on the floor.

Here's a close up of the center block which you can see the fabrics used in the Centred quilt.  I ended up switching the black/natural print with a black and white crosshatched print which I thought contrasted better with the other prints.  One of the reasons I made the quilt the way I did was to leave the fuschia print intact but after the quilt was done I don't think it wouldn't have mattered but I think it would have for the teal India Crown print. Isn't this print beautiful? This block does have the "you "perch your sit bones" right here" feel to it.

And I love how the Elephant print is showcased in this quilt.  This print has been stored on the back of my mind, waiting for just the right project to use it.

I really love participating in Sandra's QAL because her patterns are so fun and easy and I always manage to have the perfect fabric in my stash.   I was even lucky to find a backing fabric quickly and didn't spend a whole lot of time searching.  In fact, I saw it immediately on my shelf in one of the bins housing my black fabrics, no search and rescue party this time. The Jane Sassaman "Jane's Hothouse Garden" bought in 2007 is finally being used and really fits the energy of my Centred Quilt. The swirl motif on both the black and teal fabric on the front and the backing ties it together.

Although I only did straight line quilting along the seam lines, it did take some time since there were a lot of stops and thread burying which I don't normally do a lot.  I think the black thread did a nice job of quietly accenting the fabrics and the lines in the quilt.  This is the first time I used fusible batting which was helpful while quilting.  I liked the convenience of not having to remove a safety pin every several inches. The only problem I had with it was the fuzz/lint it left on both sides of the quilt--lots of it--I had to change the sheets on the lint roller seven times.  Can you see the fuzz, especially on the black and gray stripe?  I'm really pleased how my Centred quilt lays nice and flat with the simple but fancy, as I'm calling this, straight line quilting.

I haven't posted much this year mainly because of everything that happened or still is happening that is making me feel "off-centered."  I am looking forward to the days when I feel "Centred"--mentally and emotionally confident, focused and well balanced. Having made this quilt helped--it has good, positive energy.  Since my Centred quilt reminds me of a magic carpet, the song to be humming while finishing this quilt was "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, appropriate for the times "they are a changing."

permission to use this photo by Sandra

Thank you, Sandra for once again designing and hosting a wonderful QAL and I now have five out of the million punches on my Get Bella Card (wink). And yes, I have a pipe dream that Bella is going to be one of the giveaways in Sandra's QAL and I'm going to win. Wouldn't she look just so gorgeous lounging on my Centred Quilt?  Be sure to check out the other Centred quilts and Bloggers who are also celebrating the Famous Canadian Birthday.

On a side note, this may be my last post done in Blogger since the new format is starting at the end of July and as some bloggers feel we are being forced to relearn how to blog.  I really love the current Blogger, it was very easy to learn and do.  I've tried the new Blogger and it just ain't the same. At first, I could not find a tutorial or resources to learn the new format  but there may be hope since I just discovered that if I do a search for "New Blogger Interface" I can find some information but not what I was looking for, i.e, how do I edit my "Pages" which is where I store photos of my flimsies. They say the new Blogger will help those who write or manage posts on their phones which is something I never do since I have a really hard time typing on my phone.  I really like my blog so I have a record of my quilting life but it's sometimes a source of frustration for me. Hopefully I can get up to speed on the new Blogger because I have a lot of quilts that are in the stages of being finally finished and that is always a good reason for me to post.