Cracker Jack

I had plans to work on my April quilt for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge but decided I was in the mood to finally finish my Cracker Jack quilt instead. I thought the flimsy was done in December but it turned out it was finished the first week in February. I did though purchased the pattern Cinnamon Spice  designed  by Ledine Watson of Sugar Stitches Quilt Co. (not an affiliate link) last year. 

I loved this pattern when I first saw it on IG; it’s a great scrappy pattern made of squares and flying geese blocks which I could die-cut. What I especially liked about the Cinnamon Spice pattern is that it was quilted with horizontal wavy lines which is something I can do and that it was available as a paper pattern. At that time, I was having problems printing pdf files but would you believe that just recently, moi, the computer challenged, was able to set up the wi-if settings on my printer-game changer-it’s so nice to now print from my iPhone or iPad.

I chose to make the throw size quilt since I need a new wall hanging for the family room. I decided on a palette based on several of the multi-color prints, of blues, persimmon/peach/pinks, chestnut browns and golds and needed twenty-four fat quarter which I easily found in my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash. 

If there is anything I would have done differently with my fabric choice is to have added more darker blues and used more fat quarters for variety.  I found having only twenty-eight different flying geese blocks was too limiting when you need six different ones for each block. I really had a hard time finding a layout which I liked since the same fabrics/colors were too close to each other to my liking but decided after the sixth layout that this is what the pattern was all about. And if you’re wondering why I named this quilt Cracker Jack,  it’s because these colors were yummy and gave me the taste for munchies like pretzels and cheese, caramel and cheese popcorn mix or Chex Mix. Surprisingly, I do not keep or bring any snacks to my basement studio. I thought Cracker Jack would be a good name since it is one of my favorite snacks “caramel coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize”and I was going “crackers” over the layout. Cheez Whiz was also a consideration.

I knew I wanted to machine quilt wavy lines like the pattern; Aurifil threads were used, gold on the top and navy on the bottom. The backing was pieced with two Cotton+Steel navy prints from the stash and the binding was the plaid Hatbox print which was also used in the top.  Cracker Jack measures 64” square and the Cinnamon Spice pattern can be made in two other sizes. I already have plans to make another one with Fall fabrics.

I thought I end this post with a photo of the Apprentice Quilt Holder, Demando, with his injured right hand which was not caused by holding up one of my quilts. He severed two tendons on his pinky finger while on the job which resulted in surgery. Yes, he is right-handed and, hopefully, he will be healed by May. Both he and the Master Quilt Holder with his sore knee are doing PT so I’ve been doing more schelping than usual. And now, I’m back to working on my April UFO, the flimsy is done and hopefully I can add the plush backing before we head to the GP House.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT and TGIFF hosted this week by Homesewn by Us.

Celestial Moonrise

After finishing my UFO project commitments, studio reorganization, taxes, QALing, a somewhat secret sewing project, etc., I was finally ready in April for easy sewing involving some new fabrics.

Ever since I received my Fat Quarter Sew Sampler box in February which included a junior Jelly Roll of Zen Chic Celestial, I’ve been wanting to make a version of my Staggered Strips and Squares Quilt. It also helped that I already had in my stash another junior Jelly Roll and Fat Quarters of Zen Chic’s Modern Background Even More Background. I still needed to buy additional yardage of the Celestial fabric since I wanted to include more pink and feature the main focus print of the circles and text which ties in most of the colors.

After die-cutting the additional 2.5” strips, I then subcut the approximate 110+ strips into various segments of 5” to wofq depending on the colors. My initial plan was to do a horizontal layout of the strip sets with an 8”(f) square of the focus print but changed it to a vertical layout with an 8”x12”(f) rectangle of the focus print since I love this print so much.

My favorite part of this pattern is first sewing the strips together, then sewing the very long strip together to make two rows and then sewing the two rows together to make a four-row strip set. After this was done, I then subcut twelve 8-1/2”x16-1/2” and three 8-1/2” x 84-1/2” strip sets/panels. This was going to be a quick quilt I thought with a row of the rectangle focus print with an 8-1/2”x16-1/2” strip set alternated with an 8-1/2”x 84-1/2 strip set.

After the flimsy on the left was sewn, the layout looked off balanced with the row of rectangles on the top. I realized I should have started and ended this row with an 8-1/2” square of the strip so I trimmed 8-1/2”off the bottom and then sewed it to the top. But I still was not happy with the way the rectangles looked with the strip sets.

I decided that I wanted the rectangles to “float” more so I added a two row strip set to each side of the flimsy which was an easy fix since I had almost enough left over from the original strip set sewn, I just had to seam rip it apart and then sew some more patches. 

Once I was finally happy with the flimsy, I can say finishing Celestial Moonrise was easy. I had to piece a backing which is something which I do not like to sew but I only had a four-yard piece of the gray Good Neighbor strip. Normally when I use a stripe print for a backing, I like it to run vertically but since I wanted to use this, I was okay with the stripe running horizontally and in order to have enough length, I inserted an 8” strip of the gray Impressions Newsprint which is another print from Connecting Threads (not an affiliate link). Machine quilting went well, and it helped that I was able to use my laser light to keep the lines straight whenever I had to quilt over the rectangles. BTW, when I cut the rectangles, I made sure to cut it so that the circles would be centered on the strip set.

The machine quilting was a combination of straight and curvy lines which is my favorite whenever I make  this pattern. I used the focus print for the binding also which I love how it add an interesting touch to Celestial Moonrise. It almost looks scrappy which I am one who does not like to do scrappy bindings but I might consider it now for the right quilt. This quilt measures 64” x 84”.

I wanted to take a photo of Celestial Moonrise outside and this was the best I could do since today we’re having high winds up to 60+ miles. I really need to stop making such long quilts since the Master Quilt Holder has trouble demonstrating his ability when they’re this long especially since he is experiencing some knee problems now (nothing I did but maybe the darling Granddaughter was involved). As for the Apprentice Quilt Holder, his right arm is in a cast and neither I nor the Granddaughter was involved in this.

Once last photo of Celestial Moonrise and I think the colors of the fabrics look better here. It’s nice to finally make a quilt you’ve been just “itching” to make but you surprisingly stayed on task plus getting to use some new fabric. Now it’s back to the Quilt Mines since I have to start working on my April quilt for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge.

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

CT Dirty Dozen Challenge #12 March-Memory Lane

This is my second post for this week which I am posting another finish for the Country Threads 2021/22 Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and this quilt is for March. I am beyond happy and relieved with this quilt for several reasons but mainly because this means I am now all caught up with the UFO Challenge having fallen behind since the beginning of the year. I am so glad there are thirty-one days in March since it was enough days for me to finish the January, February and now March with just hours to spare. I thought my March Quilt would be nothing to post about being that these fabrics are so yesterday but it turns out I needed to post about it just for the record or for the “memories.” Sorry for the photos taken indoor, but we’re having another cloudy and rainy day.

I started Memory Lane after seeing this quilt in the APQ Quilt Sampler Fall/Winter 2016 magazine and fell in love with the pattern most likely because I had just the right fabrics in my stash, especially the yellow print which I may have bought during my Quilt Shop days. I wish I could remember which fabric line it was from but I’m thinking it may be either In The Beginning or Clothworks and maybe at that time the fabric was in my stash for at least five+ years and I’ve been waiting for the right pattern. Before I knew what a DrEAMI was, I gather the fabrics and then proceeded to die-cut the patches and even the borders but must have lost my mmmomentum after than because it sat on my shelf until November, 2018 when I ran out of sewing projects to sew in the Formal Sewing Studio (aka Dining Room) during my recovery/Pajamazon days from my fractured left knee. I called finally sewing the blocks together as scrapping the bottom of the project barrel. After the blocks were sewn, the blocks sat until this month when I added this to the 2021/22 Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. BTW, I am pretty sure this is the last project from Pajamazon Days.

I was so not looking forward to working on this project because I knew from the other past projects sewn during Pajamazon Days, my piecing and sewing was far from stellar, i.e., like simple rail blocks which the seams did not line up with the other blocks. These blocks needed to snap together  and line up to emphasize the barn raising layout. It also didn’t help that I didn’t label the blocks so I had a little trouble positioning the blocks up on the design board with my angle-challenge mind and I kept thinking “abandon quilt, abandon quilt” but I persisted.

And I’m glad I did, the blocks sewed together nicely, there were only a few spots where it didn’t line up but I was okay with it. This was more than what I anticipated. My next challenge was the quilting and there was no way I was going to custom it like the one in the magazine. This is why I never use solid white in my quilts and choose a print to guise my simple quilting style.

I decided to only quilt in the ditch and thankfully had just the right quilting foot, bought many moons ago but never used, for this task. Usually, when I quilt in the ditch there are the inevitable spots where I veer off, often times in the places where it would be noticed. There are spots in Memory Lane where you can see the stitches veering off from the seams lines mostly because the seams were not lined up or at the corners but overall I am satisfied with the quilting.

Looking at the front of the quilt, you wouldn’t think it was quilted so I thought I would show the back so you can see the quilting lines. I used a white Aurifil thread and a Microtex Sharp needle to make sure there were no problems when sewing through some of the thick seam lines. I also like to mention this was the first time quilting without a walking foot and it was so quiet I had to look hard to see the quilting in the seams. I almost committed a faux pas with the backing since I found six yards of a light blue print in the backing vault and almost cut into it but then realized I was saving it for another quilt which needed all of it. Whew, I was lucky to find another piece in my stash. Quilting in the ditch meant I had to do a lot of maneuvering around the many angles and block centers which meant a lot of thread burying which is something I am so not use to doing but I had to do what I had to do which is a big accomplishment for me.

Once the quilting was finished around Midnight last night, I decided once the red gingham binding was sewn on I wanted to hand sew and not machine sew the binding down which is what I did this morning.

I just love the look of the red gingham binding and use it whenever I can. There was a slight scare when I couldn’t find the binding in the drawer and thought I might have given it away to Pieceful Wendy but I found it with another project. It would have been just tacky for me to ask for it back being that she already used it, right?

Another reason for my lack of excitement for Memory Lane is that I thought there would be no place for it around the house  but then realized  that I could hang it up in the spare bedroom and the sweet rail fence quilt made from Urban Chix prints with the wonderful rose prints would be on the bed. I made this quilt almost ten years ago but avoid laying it on the bed because of Sophie, the World’s Worst Dog possibly scratching at it. This is the second time that one of the Challenge Quilts bought another quilt out of hiding in the closet, I love when this happens.

With the March UFO done, I can start on somewhat secret sewing. My fabrics have been chosen and I’m ready to start cutting. And the April project for the UFO Challenge is going to be announced tomorrow and I’ll be ready.

Linking up with TGIFF hosted this week by Grace and Peace Quilting and My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Petal Pop

I am back from my Blog Break and am very happy to finally reveal (or a Boast Post as my Hubby calls it) my Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge Quilt for January which is rather late due to at first waiting for white batting to arrive and then some other commitments. This is one quilt I was ready to pop a cork to celebrate this quilt because this UFO, like many of the others, has a story.

Back in October, 2018, I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing Rene’ Creates Happy Flower Blocks and thought I could easily die-cut hexies and squares from my many colorful scraps and it would be a great road trip project for our upcoming TRIP to Washington DC. This turned out to be just the right project for the wrong reason as it turned out I had fractured my left knee while walking to the Smithsonian Institute (now you understand why I capitalized the word trip) and this is what I was able to do while recovering during Pajamazon Days (wearing pajamas all day as my Hubby coined it).

After making seventy of these flowers, I appliqued them to various low volume prints in shades of gray and finished them in May of 2019 and have languished since then…maybe because of painful memories? 

I decided last year that I would add these blocks to my #6 for the 2021/22 Country Threads Dirty Dozen Challenge and this one would be a big project since I still needed to cut and sew sashing strips for the sixty-three blocks I decided to use for a seven by nine layout or 70”x90” size quilt.

I used two different black and white prints, one print for certain flower colors, so it was easy to alternate the blocks but not so easy on the eyes, right? The flimsy was finished way before the middle of January and because my backing was a white and gray print, I needed to order some white batting. Due to some shipping mishap and having to order it from another source which didn’t arrive until mid February, I was unable to quilt it until March 20th because of taxes and my studio reorganization which involved a new sewing table.

It is a good thing I waited until my studio was reorganized before the quilting began. I will admit that I was not looking forward to the quilting because of the size, ironing the top and backing and because I was not quite sure how I wanted to quilt it because I had some reservations about quilting over the appliquéd flowers. Once I realized that this quilt would probably be a future quilt for the darling granddaughter, I thought it would be best for stability from future washings that the flowers have some cross-hatch quilting. I was going to do wavy lines over the flowers so I wouldn’t have to mark straight lines but I remembered I purchased the ViviLux 3-in-1 Laser System several months ago which came in handy. This and my new sewing table from IKEA with the expandable leaf on the left side made the quilting a much easier task. (I am not affiliated with any of the products mentioned in this post).

Here’s a collage so you can see the straight and cross-hatch quilting in an Aurifl silver thread and the backing. The binding was one of the black prints from the sashing. As mentioned earlier in this post, Petal Pop measures 70”x 90” (approx., maybe a little bigger). 

Petal Pop was finished almost a week ago but as luck would have it, the weather was not co-operative for me to take a photo outside. We had to wait until our weekend trip to the GP House until a photo could be taken from my son’s porch next door. I didn’t want to boast post until I could include a proper photo and I think it was worth the wait even though the Master Quilt Holder had a hard time holding it because of the size and with the mild wind blowing.

Here’s another photo from the GP porch because I just love and am happy that Petal Pop is a Finally Finish. And I didn’t reinjure my knee again like I did with the Kaleidoscope Krosswalk Quilt  even though it would be understandable as I’m rubbing my left knee while writing this post. I was feeling a little bad that it was not finished in January because I was priding myself that my UFOs were finished in time up until this one. I stilll might be able to finish the one for March but….

The Supreme Co”mmm”ander in QAL is distracting me right now (this photo from Pinterest and what I just typed should give you a clue whom I’m writing about, please the red maple leaf should be a dead giveaway if not the squirrel). She’s asked me to do something which I just can’t refuse.

Finally, sorry for the long post heavy with the photo collages but one last one since that’s what you can do when you have the app. Sometimes I have been mentioning my darling granddaughter as long as I have been blogging which is now 5.5 years. Part of my March Gladness included celebrating her Fifth birthday or as I like to call it my Five Year Anniversary of being a Grandma. My time flies when you’re having fun.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT, TGIFF

Pat Yamin Feedsack Star Quilt #2

My Pat Yamin Feedsack Star Quilt #2 (PYFSQ#2) is my February finish for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and I’m a few days late which is understandable once you read my explanation(s) in this post. So far in 2022, I am not doing so well with getting my UFO quilts finished in time, especially my quilt for January which was delayed because of a shipping problem with the white batting ordered which will be a post for another day. For a quilt which involved a lot of time, handwork and  some machine piecing, this quilt looks rather quiet, don’t you think?

This was a quilt I planned as a roadtrip project in 2015 which I first die-cut paper pieces of kite blades using a Sizzix die for EPP along with 4” squares cut from mostly Pat Yamin’s Come Quilt With Me Feedsack Fabric line which I think was released in 2010/2011. There are also other feedsack prints used, some of them old favorites. Once the EPP of the blades were basted, six of them were sewn together to make a star. The only problem with these stars were the very small hexagon circle in the middle which could be seen once the stars were appliquéd to an 8.5” square of muslin (Springmaid Natural Charm). I figured I could cover this hole with a button once the blocks were sewn together and ready to be quilted since I have done this before with Two other Appliquéd Quilts. I finished the appliquéing of 67 blocks in 2016 and they languished in my studio for over five years until I decided this would be a project to finish for the 2021/22 UFO Challenge.

A little side note here that I had to mention is about Pat Yamin and how after I started working on the PYFSQ#2 is remembering how much I loved the Come Quilt With Me fabric line. I just could not buy enough of it when it first came out since it was inspired by her love of feedsack fabrics which was one of my first fabric crushes when I started quilting. I had gone to a Quilt Show after the the fabric line was released and saw that Pat Yamin had a booth so I went in to see if she had any of this fabric. I quickly walked in, saw a lady behind the counter looking down, said “Hi” as I flew by her, circled her booth, saw no fabric, and by the time she lifted her head, I was saying a quick “Bye” much to her surprise. I realized after taking a few steps out of her booth that this was rude of me, especially since it was Pat Yamin who was standing behind the counter. I went back in to apologize and explained what I was looking for and to tell her how much I loved her fabric line. After a few laughs, I ended up purchasing the very large acrylic tumbler template which I have never used but after gathering this and the other Pat Yamin products purchased over the past years, I’m thinking I could use this whenever I sew some of my pretty selvedges together which I have collected. Pat has designed many templates which are great for hand piecing projects and may finally use the Thimble template for a small quilt with Civil War/reproduction fabrics.

Once I found out this was going to be my February project and pulled out the blocks along with yardage I was going to use for an alternate block, I first was at a lost since I couldn’t come up with a pattern. Since there were 67 blocks, I knew I didn’t want to make a twin size quilt so I decided to exclude the blocks that had brown fabrics which left 41 blocks of mostly red, black, green, blue, yellow, purple, pink and gray prints. Since the alternate blocks would be 7.5” (finished) rail blocks, the appliquéd blocks needed to be trimmed 1/4” on all four sides.

I made 40 rail blocks to alternate with the appliqué blocks for a 9 x 9 layout to make a 63” square quilt.

I knew I had the backing fabric which is one of my favorite print in the fabric line and had been patiently sitting in the backing vault. I wasn’t looking forward to piecing the backing so I was surprised to see it was already sewn. While ironing the backing and wondering why this was already sewn since I didn’t know what I was going to do with the blocks, I remember I did make another quilt with the fabric line and couldn’t picture it so I had to do a little search around the house and found it hiding underneath other quilts in a closet.

And here is the quilt which I am naming the Pat Yamin Feedsack Star Quilt #1 and it measures 78”x92”. This is the quilt the backing was meant for but the top was too large so I ended using a wide piece of muslin I had in my stash since my long armer was ready to quilt it. I never photographed this quilt, probably because of it’s size and only started using the garage door or screen room as a way to photograph my large quilts. I pretty sure I came up with this pattern in order to showcase the wonderful prints and am glad to be reacquainted with this quilt. As mentioned before, I just love these prints.

And now back to the finishing of the PYFSQ#2. After straight line and crosshatch machine quilting with an Aurifil Natural thread was done,  I needed to sew the buttons to the center of the appliquéd star blocks. I could have finished this quilt before the end of February but there was a slight problem. Remember the small hexagon hole in the center of the star blocks. I never appliqued them to the muslin blocks which needed to be done before the buttons could be added. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this before leaving for a five day visit to the GP House last week and no way I wanted to take it with me—think of four dogs and the darling granddaughter laying it on the floor.

I was thinking that I didn’t need to sew the centers down if a larger button was used, but I found these small black hexagon buttons which fit perfectly in the centers. I wished I remember this small detail before sewing the top together and thankfully the finishing touch to this quilt was made a little easier by being able to do this by spreading it over my large dining room table. The black buttons really add a sweet touch to my quiet quilt. If I ever use the other blocks with the brown and teal fabrics, I’ll be sure to appliqué the centers.

Here are both of the Feedsack Star Quilts together. I am so glad I finally made a quilt with the appliquéd blocks. It brought back memories and the first quilt out of hiding and I now have another ensemble for my bedroom. I’m planning to use these two for the summer, the #2 to hang on the wall and #1 for the bed which is a little small but will be fine. Warm weather can’t come soon enough for me. I’ll be taking a little break from sewing in March since I’ll be working on taxes, reorganizing my studio since I finally bought a new sewing table and most important of all will be celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of being a Grandmother to the darling granddaughter.  It may involve the making of another Brown Bear Quilt which is going to be a post for another day.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT