Celebrating the 4th With My Fourth Finally Finished Quilt

Our trip to the Grandparent House was delayed so we ended up spending the 4th at our house which meant I could finish my Mackinac Island Rows quilt which was the first RWB (Red White and Blue) quilt I started this year but was set aside for the other three RWB quilts I just posted. After all, it was time to finally have a quilt made from the Minnick & Simpson Prairie Paisley Fat Quarter Bundle purchased in 2008. 

I started this quilt back in March when I came across two Charm Packs of Minnick  & Simpson's Mackinac Island which may have been part of a Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box. I thought that I would either make a Jelly Charm Chase or Staggered Strips and Squares Quilt but thought the layout needed to be more controlled since I didn't have a large variety of strips from my Prairie Paisley Fat Quarter Bundle.  I added to this mix, two fat quarters of large floral prints and a homespun plaid once a pattern was decided.

I decided to make another variation of a Strips, Squares and Brick Quilt and drew a layout on my trusted graph paper.  You wouldn't think by looking at this quilt, a lot of planning on the color sequences of the rail blocks, squares and bricks went into this quilt.  I was lucky that I only had a certain number of rail blocks in certain combinations and there were enough of each to have a balanced layout.

Over the course of several months, the rail blocks rows and the brick strip were sewn.  They were assembled into five panels; three of which consisting of one brick strip of seven 4.5" x 8.5" rectangles  framed by a rail block row of seven 6.5”x8.5" rail blocks and two panels consisting of three rows of fourteen 4.5" squares each from the charm squares which were trimmed. This quilt measures 56" x 72".

You can see by this photo the two different layouts of the rail blocks, one with light blue,  red and light strips and the other with red, light, and dark blue strips and they were laid in a certain way to contrast with the brick strips and the charm square panels.  This is a nice and easy pattern and I have plans to make this again with other fabric collections from the past which I somehow bought a charm pack and yardage.  I also decided if I ever buy charm packs, I should buy at least two.

The machine quilting went well with the combination of straight and wavey lines in red thread.  Backing was the ticking stripe from the Prairie Paisley line.  I considered doing a wide 1" binding in the red stripe but decided the usual size would accent the blocks better.

Two little tidbits about the Minnick & Simpson and the Prairie Paisley bundles as I was preparing to write this post.  When I was figuring out how the Prairie Paisley fabric was purchased, I remembered how much I loved the fabric so I purchased both a fat quarter bundle and yardage. I knew the bundle was no longer intact when I started the Mackinac Island Rows quilt since some fabric was used and was wondering what I could have made with it.  Well, duh, it was the Snowball Quilt (top) and I only posted about it just five days ago.  It was a chuckle and head shake moment.  As to why it took me so long to finally make a quilt, it could be sort of a grudge against Minnick & Simpson for the 12" block they designed for Fat Quarter Shop's Moda Designer BOM in 2007/2008.  This is the BOM, my Quilt Peep Carol and I refer to lovingly as the Block of the Month from Hell and the Minnick & Simpson block is the one we always mention when we talk about it.  Would you believe there were 91 patches of half triangles, squares and one plain rectangle sewn together for the background and another 10 for the appliqué for the darling pail and flag which I fused and raw edged sewn by hand-a total of 101 patches. Sometimes I wondered if the Moda Designers were trying to outdo each other to see how many patches could be in their block. I never finished the quilt, (there are three blocks left and I can't remember where I put them) partly because it was full/queen size, definitely made to hang on the wall and fortunately for me there wasn't a wall in my house to accommodate it.  I thought of making two smaller quilts, one with the appliquéd blocks and the other with the pieced blocks.  They really are sweet blocks and maybe one day I will post them.

Here's another photo of the quilt.  At first, after the top was made, I thought I could wait until later to quilt it but the next morning I looked at the photo of the top and decided I needed to quilt  it now since I thought it would be nice to have it finally finished by the 4th. Plus, I once again have an SOS ("Seasonally On Spot") quilt-coined by Nancy of Grace and Peace Quilts. It just wouldn't be appealing to post this quilt in the Fall.  I will say my RWB mood has now left the studio.

Also, a confession, I reverted back the the Legacy Blogger for this post since I had a number of links I wanted to use and right now I have not figured out how to do this on the new Blogger Interface.  I can't wait for Sandra's, mmm quilts, in-depth tutorial.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July.  It's now evening and the neighborhood is filled with fireworks.  I know one dog, Sophie, is not happy right now as well as some of the other neighborhood dogs.

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.

Creating A Quilted Legacy-Remembering Paula B

I've only been blogging for less than five years and during this time I have made so many quilting friends in Blogland. At first friendships were formed from leaving comments on Quilters' blogs, then joining QALS and, more recently, from the time I was a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers. This week, starting on May 6th, fellow quilt bloggers are celebrating the birthday of Paula Budinger, who blogged at Paula B Quilts and passed away this year on February 8th.  There are many quilters who have formed friendships with Paula and although I was not part of her circle, I was blessed with many of her kind and thoughtful comments she left over the years on my blog.  When I read Kate's post on March 1st inviting quilt bloggers to participate in Creating a Quilted Legacy Blog Hop by donating a quilt in Paula 's memory to an charitable organization, I knew I had the perfect quilt I wanted to donate.

If the above quilt looks familiar, it is one of the last quilts I finally finished during the last weeks of December and you can read about it in this post.  I knew when I made it last year, I wanted to donate it and before I joined this Blog Hop I asked Kate if this quilt would be acceptable and it was. I thought my Malka Stripes would be perfect knowing that Paula liked bright colors.  I will be donating this quilt to Hands2Help 2020/Caregivers Quilt Initiative and hope this quilt will bring comfort to a caregiver.

Thanks to Kate of Smiles from Kate and Janice of Color, Creating and Quilting for hosting and organizing this blog hop to honor Paula.

Here is a list of the others who are participating in the Creating A Quilted Legacy Blog Hop:

Wednesday, May 6

• Karen @kaholly.blogspot.com
• Kate @smilesfromkate
• Wendy @Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life
• Bernie @Needle and Foot
• Linda @ My Sew-Called Quilts
• Cathy @Crazy By Design
• Linda @ My Sew-Called Quilts
• Magpie Sue @From the Magpie's Nest

Thursday, May 7

• Kate @Smiles From Kate
• Diann @Little Penguin Quilts
• Rose @something rosemade, that's me!
• Nann @With Strings Attached
• Mari @The Academic Quilter
• Louise @My Quilt Odyssey
• Susan @Desert Sky Quilts

Friday, May 8

• Janice @Color, Creating and Quilting
• Kate @Smiles From Kate
• Joy @The Joyful Quilter
• Susan @Quilt Fabrication
• Edi @Edi's Crafting Life
• Carol @Quilt Schmilt
• Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts
• Emily @The Darling Dogwood

There are prizes for the Blog Hop.  To enter, leave a comment on a blog post, the more blogs you visit and leave a comment, the more chances you have to win a prize.

Here’s the list of prizes

• Lorna, Sew Fresh Quilts, $50 gift certificate for her pattern shop.
• Yvonne Quilting Jetgirl, 2 PDF patterns of choice.
• Bernie Needle and Foot, $25 certificate for her shop.
• A fat quarter bundle from Figo Fabrics
• A set of quilty gift cards from Initial Thought by DMF  Note cards set 1
• A pattern of choice from Karen, Sugar Free Quilts
• A $30 gift certificate for Doris, Cactus Queen Quilt Co
• A PDF pattern of choice from Joanne, www.etsy.com/shop/CanuckQuilterDesigns
• $25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop (donated by Janice Holton)

Happy reading and Good Luck!

Parade of Awesome Ocean QAL Quilts

It's been awhile since I posted (March 1st) and it's been even longer since I've had a Finally Finished Quilt to post.  So, it's good that the Parade of Awesome Ocean QAL quilts is happening on Saturday, because there would have been a good chance of my continuing my Flimsy Frenzy which started in February. Before this quilt and another quilt which you will see later in this post, I had ten flimsies which happened mainly because it was hard for me to focus during Miserable March and Awful April, I really wanted to make face masks but needed elastic and hard to believe I've been waiting for over a month for delivery, and the Squirrels were running rampant while reorganizing some of my stash and projects.

The Awesome Ocean Quilt Along, hosted by the Grand Marshall of the Parade, Kathleen McMusing, started last November, and I know two others besides myself, Wendy and Emily who participated in this QAL and we all happened to be Bee Sisters from the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers group.  I posted about participating in this QAL with my Preppy the Whale post and I can tell you the mishaps and salty language continued with making the final three pair of sea creature blocks.  

There were nine pairs of sea creature/foilage blocks to be made and to assure that the colors were going to be distributed evenly on the quilt, I chose to make each pair in the same color range, sometimes making them exactly the same or using the same fabrics but alternating the positions which worked out well except with the Kelp and Tony the Turtle blocks which both happened to be green. I changed the layout on the bottom half of the quilt, which originally had both of these blocks next to each other, so the Manatee block was put in between the green blocks, thus avoiding having a green glob at the bottom.

All of the fabrics used in my Awesome Ocean Quilt were almost all from my stash, including the backing and binding which was a 15 year old batik-like print.  I ended having to purchase another 1.5 yard of the Regatta Blue Grunge which was needed for the sashing and border.  Normally I do not like to sew sashing but I have to say I never love sashing as much as I did for this quilt because it really made sewing the top together so easy--thankfully the sashing wasn't a crazy cut like 1-3/16" which would have really made me want to jump in the ocean.  As for the prints used, they were fat quarters from Lilly and Loom from Blueprint, a layer cake of V and Company Mixologie and Zen Chic for the perfect yellow print for one of the Sea Horses.

During the past two months it was easy to lose track of which day it was and I really thought I missed the AO parade and was surprised when I saw the AO QAL schedule and realized I still had time to put the blocks together and quilt it.  I machine quilted it with wavy lines like Wendy and my Wave Ruler came in handy for marking the quilt lines 2" apart.  I will admit I was not the happy participant in this QAL, being that I like to make quilts which are easy on my brain, easy cutting, cruise control sewing and I am angle-challenged so this quilt definitely made me focus on following the pattern/instruction. I now understand why my hubby and some men don't like to follow maps or listen to OnStar.; in my house, it's OnStar 10 and Hubby 1.  If there was anything awesome about this Quilt it's the feeling I had once the quilt was finally finished and hanging up on my design wall--I couldn't stop looking at it and smiling.  I know the darling granddaughter is going to love looking at it when she's in her bedroom at the Grandparent House.

While I was making this quilt, it was so easy for me to say that this was one pattern I would definitely not sew again and was ready to send this pattern off. (After the top was done I couldn't find the pattern for several days until I realized I filed it in my pattern files; I thought I needed it because I couldn't remember some of the "proper" names of the blocks).  But after enjoying the awesomeness of it's finish I would make it again only if the other Son, Demando, would grace me with a Grandchild.  I'm not going to make the collecting the State Quarters mistake again which for some reason, I filled up only one collector book and realizing once I was finished collecting quarters during the course of several years, I realized I should have done two books since I had two sons.  But in my defense, only one son showed any interest in them and I'm pretty sure the darling granddaughter's father has them.

Thanks Kathleen for hosting this QAL and giving me a sense of awesomeness during these days where we are trying to stay positive.  This pattern has given me another descriptor for "hard" patterns, there is "fear of Jen Kingwell patterns" and now "faint of Hartman" both meaning shivers at the remembrance of that sewing experience.  Be sure to check out Kathleen's post on April 25th to see the other Awesome Ocean quilts made by brave quilters and their posts.

And speaking of the darling granddaughter, I mentioned that I had another Finally Finished for this week and it's her Shine Bright Unicorn quilt and it's her bonus birthday quilt.  When I was talking to her mother about not being able to come down for there 3rd Birthday celebration, she asked me if I had made her a birthday quilt which I thought I didn't so I started making this quilt, but then remember later after I started this quilt, the AO quilt was to be her birthday quilt.  Earlier this year, I bought a fat quarter bundle with panel of the Shine Bright by Katie Webb/Clothworks and made this quilt using these fabrics and some from my stash.

The design of this quilt was based on whatever blocks I could make from the panel and fat quarters which were five Star blocks with four Rail Fence blocks, all 15" finished,  set in a nine-patch layout.  Luckily I had fabrics in my stash which worked well with the Shine Bright collection and even more lucky, I had just purchased a yard of the purple multi-dot fabric from Bernie, Needle and Foot, thinking this print would come in handy one day and it sure did.  I don't think I could have come up with this design had I not had this purple print.  In order to make this quilt 54" square so it could be a another wallhanging for the darling granddaughter's bedroom, I wanted a border in just the right color and print scale, and three-times lucky, I found the pink gingham in the backing vault and forgot I had it--it was just perfect to showcase the many prints and colors in this quilt.  I did simple wavy lines and in the ditch quilting for this quilt and am happy with the way it looks.

The Shine Bright Quilt will replace the quilt that is currently hanging over the darling granddaughter's bed; I think it will go perfect with the ginormous Unicorn laying on her queen size bed, right?

I was hoping by me finally finishing the Awesome Ocean and Shine Quilts that it would be good quilt karma and it would mean we could soon go to the Grandparent House but the quarantine in Illinois has been extended thru May 30th.  Hubby and I keep going back and forth on whether we could go to the Grandparent House and resist having the darling granddaughter over. There's been much discussion on whether this is okay and doable.  For now, we're still staying home until at least the end of April.

Before finally finishing these two quilts, I had ten flimsies hanging on the rod and now I have eight.  Although I should keep the machine quilting vibe going, I am more tempted to keep the Flimsy Frenzy going.  But I am so willing to put this aside, once my elastic finally arrives and I can sew mucho face masks for family and friends now that it's required.

I wish you well during theses days of quarantine and pray for "normal" days to return and saying not having enough time to quilt is really true.

Flimsy Frenzy February

I am writing this post during the last few hours of the last day of February and was hoping to have four Flimsies to show for the month I did not have any Finally Finish which I don't think has happened very often since I started blogging.  I only managed to sew three flimsies and the fourth one is on the design wall waiting to be sewn.  This month was busy and for once did not involve having spent too much time with the darling Granddaughter which only amounted to only four days-let's not do that again.  Rather, much time was spent on Hubby's Mohs surgery on his scalp and he was told to limit his activities for two weeks which meant no visiting or traveling until the stitches were removed.  Thankfully, they were removed right before our ten-day vacation to Austin, TX and, yes, I was able to go to QuiltCON for one day. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to walk around much since my Piriformis ailment, or as I call it, pain the butt, was acting up so I spent a lot of time finding any available chair for me to stretch my leg.  I managed to meet up with Kathleen, Kathleen McMusing, one of my Bee Sistas, whom I have exchanged many e-mails, phone calls and even a FaceTime chat.  This was the first time we were going to meet in person and when she asked how she was going to recognize, I told her look for the tall Asian woman and she responded, yeah, right, meaning she thought I was joking since she assumed I was short which I have to admit isn't a wrong impression.  I'm 5'8" and imagine her surprise so we shared a few laughs about it (middle photo and note my legs were bent so as not to look too tall-hee- hee).  I forgot to give her a Thank You Hug for hosting the Awesome Ocean QAL. I'm really sorry that I missed seeing a lot of the Bloggers I follow whom I did not know until I saw their IG posts and I appreciate the ones who posted photos of the quilts since I didn't spend too much time look at the many wonderful quilts exhibited.  If you saw someone sitting around a lot at the Handi Qulter booth, it was me.  I spent so much time there I am now considering if one is in my future and Hubby even was in agreement and it wouldn't involve him buying a motorcycle.  I know if I decide to finally get a long arm, I know I can count on Kathleen, who is a Whiz on her Sweet Sixteen, SS Tabitha.  Even though, I didn't get to meet any fellow bloggers, I did happen to meet up with Pam, an old quilt friend from over 15 years ago.
Update/Correction: I absolutely hate when this happens, but I realized that I forgot to include that Kathleen and I also met up with Liz of Savor Every Stitch and almost by chance.  She had just posted about an improv bag she made and I suspected that meant she was going to be at QuiltCon so I sent her an email.  Liz lives twenty minutes from me, came to my house once, and we communicate by email.  So it was funny that we were both going to be at QuiltCon at the same time since we seem not to be able to get together more often. If I was going to have a quilt daughter, it would be Liz. Sadly, in my excitement of seeing her, a photo of us together was not taken.  Since I wrote my post based on my photos, that is why I forgot to include her.  Since my leg was aching so bad and Liz only had a short time to shop, our time was brief but wonderful.  It was fun going to the long arm machine booths where Liz demonstrated her skills--she is a natural.  P.S., Liz is almost as tall as me.

Now back to the three quilt tops or as I like to say my Flimsy Excuse for February.  I decided that after being caught up with my Awesome Ocean Quilt Blocks, I would treat myself to some easy sewing of strips and squares and I couldn't stop at just one top. .I'm just showing photos of the three, sorry for the indoor shots, and will provide more details once they are a Finally Finish which hopefully some of them will be in March.

Highland Room

Zingy Zebra Stripe

Blinky Bill

And in case you're wondering, here is my almost #4, Citron Canyon:

We'll be making up for lost time in March and will be heading to the Grandparent House next week for visit #1.  Visit #2 which will be later that month, will involve celebrating the 3rd birthday of the darling Granddaughter.  Don't tell Kathleen, that I'm now behind on the Awesome Ocean QAL and need to catch up with sewing the Tony the Turtle and Mr. Manatee Blocks which I hope to do before coming up with another flimsy excuse.  

Here's hoping for an early spring because tomorrow it's going to be a 50 degree day with sunshine.

Awesome Ocean Quilt Along--Preppy the Whale

Today is my day to present my Pair of Purple Preppy the Whale blocks for the Awesome Ocean QAL hosted by Kathleen McMusing.  Last Fall, Kathleen asked me and the other Sistas from the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Hive if we would like to join her in making the Awesome Ocean Quilt which was designed by Elizabeth Hartmann.  It would have been easy for me to decline since, I, being the simple and easy quilter and am partial to big strips and squares.  Also, as I have made many mentions on previous posts of being still in recovery mode from making Jen Kingwell's Gypsy Wife quilt and refrain from making anything with 1" squares and increments that are not whole or half inch, I was on the fence for participating.

I could have come up with a hundred excuses for not participating but I did have one very good reason and image for doing this quilt which is I have a dear, sweet Granddaughter who loves water and all the sea creatures who live in it.  It's a good thing I also had some wonderful fabric in my stash which is one of my criteria when I participate in a QAL.  I chose to do the Preppy the Whale block because I thought it was one of the easiest blocks plus the Sperm Whale is one of my favorite sea creatures. I chose to do the smaller size of the two quilt sizes in the pattern which meant I only had to make two blocks of each pattern; I just knew I couldn't handle sewing four of these blocks.

I purchased my pattern and chose my fabric back in December and was already behind since the QAL which started in November.  Once I started my blocks in mid January, I found these tools to be helpful when sewing these blocks: a prop-it stand to hold the pattern book up while cutting fabric and sewing, a clear sheet protector cut to fit over the cutting instruction page so I can mark it with a dry marker and then erase it after I cut the patches, a mini slotted ruler to cut those tiny patches and strips and an empty kleenex box to throw away the trimmings to help keep the table clean.  What I should have also done is put a fresh blade in my rotary cutter but will for the next blocks.

Initially I cut and sewed two blocks at a time but later found cutting and sewing them one at a time was easier but more time consuming.  I found that in order to avoid cutting and sewing mistakes it is important to pay really close attention to the diagrams.  The first cutting mistake I made which was early on was because I was singing along to Whitney Houston and you can't help but to throw back your head and close your eyes.  So the no more singing when cutting rule was enforced but salty language is permitted.  I found that after making the first block, the second block went faster but such was not the case with the Preppy the Whale blocks.  I made the same cutting mistake with Patch M, I cut it both times wrong and did not notice it until after both connecting corners were sewn and saw it did not fit with Patch H.  With the second block, I kept sewing the eye piece wrong and I attributed that to be overly confident with having finished the first block and thinking the second time would sew up like a breeze so I could listen to some music. Obviously, singing and music could prevent you from staying focused.

Since I made each of the Preppy Whale blocks with a 10" layer cake square, I had to be real careful with the cutting since there was no room for error.  I really paid close attention to the special cutting direction for the mouth piece which was originally a 1" wide strip.  I was initially confused with the diagram and ended up sewing the black strip to the D patch and once the seams were pressed opened, I then trim 1/4" from the black strip.  Now as I'm writing this post and looking at the diagram, the black strip could have been sewn to the head piece and trimmed.  If I had read the instructions more carefully, and not just look at the diagram, this would have eliminated the confusion.  I will say pay close attention to the orientation of Patch E and M which even though they are not square, there were no orientation marks on the diagram like there was on Patch A which also was not a square.  Maybe if I had labeled my patches like some of the other participants did, this maybe would not be a problem.

There are a lot of connecting corners in all of the blocks and I chose to draw lines on the squares  even though I have a corner trimming ruler but I find it hard to angle the ruler to the correct orientation to make the right cut.  Again it is important to look at the diagrams to make sure you are sewing the angles right, especially when sewing connecting corners on strips and rectangles.  Did you know that it's easier to draw diagonal lines when the ruler is placed horizontally like the photo above.  I just learned this tip from blogland recently. Also when I sewed the connecting corners to the patches, I only cut out the middle piece and kept the back piece on even though it adds some bulk it help to keep my blocks straight.

I called these type of blocks as "stir-fry", there's a lot of time spent on cutting but once that's done, the several rounds of sewing the patches into segments and then sewing them together sew quickly.  This is the first Preppy Whale block sewn and this shade of purple which I would call a royal purple was very hard to photograph to show the right shade and it looks too dark.

Forgive me for choosing a favorite of the two, but I really like how the Purple Polka Dotted Preppy Whale turned out and if I had more of this favorite I would make another one but only had a 10" square of this fabric.  The other Whale, the royal purple one whom I named Sid Stitches because of the hash marks looks too dark in the photographs but hopefully will look brighter once outdoor photos can be taken.

Here are all of my blocks together and am happy to say I am current in this QAL which was made possible by my having to present my Preppy the Whale blocks on February 1st.  The Awesome Ocean QAL had an easy timeline of sewing a new block(s) every two weeks but when you're a late starter, you make all of these blocks in two weeks.  Were these blocks fun to make, yes, but I'm not sure if I am enjoying the fun but appreciating the lessons of staying focused and being patient.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to read and follow the diagrams when cutting and sewing. Sometimes you need to have a slow sewdown but not too often.  I have too many projects and stash to do this. I feel I will have earned a badge after this quilt is finished and not sure if I'm going to hold Elizabeth Hartman in the same regard as I do with Jen Kingwell. I remember Elizabeth Hartman from her Oh Fransson blog and remember the simple quilts she designed.  I find it is amazing that she has now created these wonderful patterns with all these tiny patches which are sew clever. I know I'll be happy once my Awesome Ocean Quilt is finished and hanging on the wall at the Granddaughter room at the Grandparent House for the precious one to enjoy.

Emily of the  The Darling Dogwood will be presenting the Tony the Turtle block on February 15 and I know she is making four of each pattern so be sure to check out her post.