Throwback Thursday: The Picnic Quilt

Since May is the month of Mothers' Day, I thought my May Post for Throwback Thursday should be about a quilt which brings back Quilt Mom Memories, the Picnic Quilt made at least twenty years ago.  When I first mentioned to my Hubby that I wanted to write about this quilt, he knew which quilt I was talking about and even knew it by name.  But then he made me panic when he said he hasn't seen it for awhile and I really had to remain calm.  It wasn't in the car or the garage like I thought it was but then realized several years ago I moved it to my studio so it wouldn't get tossed or lost. Whew, this made me take a few deep breaths. It's one of the first quilts I made when I started quilting but not until I first made each my two boys a bed quilt because that's what a quilter should make before anything else, right?

I didn't start quilting until my boys were respectively around 13 and 9 years old which I think I was pretty fortunate since they were somewhat self-sufficient and left me alone when I was quilting.  I should mention that the boys had Mario Brothers to play with also. My two boys, in fact, were pretty receptive to my quilting even when I exercised Quilter Mom Eminent Domain and took over the upstairs TV/Computer/Toy room which was next to their bedrooms and was renamed The Quilt Room.  It really was no problem since the basement was after all finished and the computer was moved to the never used formal dining room which was good for me to keep an eye on their computer use while I was in the kitchen.  I used to cook back then.

I still remember when both of my boys were in my quilt room, kneeling on the floor next to each other, watching me use the rotary cutter to cut off the legs of my oldest son's ripped khaki pants to turn them into shorts.  Mike, my youngest, with his mouthful of bubble gum turned to his brother, Tom and said "aren't you glad you have a mom who quilts."  Mike is the one who blurted out quite a few memorable lines when he was young; my favorite being, when when were going out to dinner at a local buffet restaurant and we're walking in the parking lot and he said, "I'm so hungry, I can eat TWO all you can eats." This same Mike also committed the worse quilting travesty by using my rotary cutter to trim a photo he was going to use on his Science Fair board when I was not home.  He did not quite grasp the knowledge that anything under the rotary cutter is going to get cut too and laid the photo on top of a just appliquéd lady bug block which happened to be laying on the board.  He never did that again; I made sure I never left my rotary cutter laying around after that.  And not to leave out my oldest son, Tom, out of my Quilt Mom memories of him is he was recanting to me a discussion he was having with his then wife, now an ex, about their bedding and her wanting a down comforter and he telling her his preference by saying "I grew up sleeping under handmade quilts" which just warmed my heart even though he was off by a decade.

Getting back to the Picnic Quilt which is in a sorry stage now, is made up of mostly Tom and Mike's old blue jeans and madras summer shorts which at that time they had outgrown with some batiks, plaids, denim and fun fabric from my stash.  The utility side of quilting appealed to me so I remember cutting the tumblers out individually and then hand piecing the tumblers together during numerous weekend road trips and watching TV.  The rows and the blue batik border were sewn by machine.  I guess this really isn't a quilt but a throw since I only backed it with denim and there is no batting in between, but for the sake of this memory, it is a quilt.  It was always meant to be a picnic quilt kept in the car in case we needed it to put over a picnic table or to lay on the ground and it was used for that reason many times.

Here are closeups of the fabric and patches and as you can see, some of the hand pieced patches has fallen apart and were mended with some real noticeable stitching and some of the patches from the boys' jeans included grass and mud stains--see the big green arrow on the right. I still love the multi-color denim print with the purple and green which was from a pair of muscle pants, a popular style back then for boys and it's hard to believe the print is over twenty-years old and still looks cool.

My best and favorite memory of the Picnic Quilt is when I was making it and sitting in front of the sewing machine with the patches strewned all around, Mike was walking past the Quilt Room, popped his head in, gave a cursory glance at what I was doing, made a quick, subjective interpretation and then ran down the stairs. Mike, being the Gallant to his brother, the Goofus who was probably laying down on the couch watching TV (if you've read Highlight Children Magazine while at the doctor or dentist office like forever as I have, you know what I'm talking about) was yelling, "Tom, Tom, you gotta pick up your clothes off your floor, Mom's cutting them up and making a quilt; she must be out of material!”. I am hearing this and my mind was responding, I am?, no, I'm not, these are old clothes you've outgrown, is that what you think I'm doing and if that's what it takes to clean your room, then I am.  I had to chuckle about Mike thinking I was out of material.  Did you notice the usage of the word "material" which at that time was what it was called back 20+ years ago and soon after I started working at a Quilt Shop, I quickly adapted the more proper word to say and write "fabric".

There are times when I wish my boys were little again, probably when I feel the years creeping up over my mind and body and when I see Tom and Mike facing grown-up problems which we don't want our kids to have, but that's life.  If there's a quilt I want to hold on to for the memories of my boys when they were little, it would be the Picnic Quilt.  It will always hold a special place in my quilt memories and will remind me that I'm a Quilt Mom who has two boys who love quilts...and also someone who still has not yet ran out of material.

Linking up with:  MMM Quilts, Throwback Thursday

Another Finally Finish: Dot Is Crazy Quilt

Today is the last day of the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop hosted by Carla of Creatin' In The Sticks in which I have enjoyed participating with the other bloggers by presenting a project made from one of the blocks and by making all of the 30 blocks somehow.  I'm glad I was able to finish my quilt to celebrate the end of the blog hop.

The month of April has been crazy in terms of the weather we had; snow, ice, rain, wind, etc. all unseasonable for Spring but must have been good for my quilt output because I was going subconsciously for a five for five or a quintuplet of quilt final finishes.  It seems that anything I sewed turned into quilts which is a nice superpower to have and the only time I seem to have possessed it was when I had to make a number of baby quilts for the Blanket Ministry in a short period of time which was expected and not unexpected like my April quilts were. Or it could be another instance of hexing myself, but in a good way, when I say or write something, the opposite will happen and in this case, I mentioned that I thought my 2018 production so far was lacking.

For my thirty blocks, I decided to use a stash of fat eighths and some light yardage of Zen Chic's Hey Dot which has sitting idle for awhile and as you can see above I still have some leftover.  I deviated from the original quilt by not using the same background fabric in all of the blocks or lights were excluded from some of the blocks.  I have to admit, but you probably could figure out, that I did not make the block of the day on the assigned day but rather made them in groups of five and one time I made ten blocks in one evening because I needed to catch up.  All of the blocks sewed up fast and it was very easy to make more than one at a time.  I ended up finishing my blocks ahead of schedule and decided that I would finish the quilt by the end of the month to coincide with the end of the blog hop.

And another admission which sort of contradict my statement that all of the blocks sewed up fast which is that #29 Block-Dovetail had sixteen 1-3/4" x 4-1/4" strips for two rail blocks which I decided not to do because I still had a one-eighth piece of this funky stripe left and thought it had the same essence of the dovetail strips.  So I guess, if you sewed #29 like I did, then all of the blocks do sew up fast.

The blocks were arranged by block number for the quilt.  It helped that after I made each block, I placed it on my design board to ensure that the colors were evenly spread  throughout the quilt.

If there was any indecisions for this quilt, it would be for the quilting and for the backing.  I couldn't decide at first if I was going to do straight line or curvy line quilting and settled on horizontal straight line but then after sewing the top I realized that vertical curvy line would look better.  And for the backing, they say three times the charm and after choosing two other possible backings I decided on this wonderful yellow patchwork print with stripes and dots which helped me to choose lemon yellow thread for the quilting.  If there's a lesson to be learned, it's to buy additional yardage when buying precuts for the binding and sadly I did not have any Hey Dot yardage which I could use (I don't do scrappy binding) but I did have this gray plaid dot in my stash.

Have I mentioned how much fun I had making these blocks.  This is definitely a fun and happy quilt. It measures 50" X 60" and each block finishes 10" square.  While I was making the blocks, I thought it could easily be renamed 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Hours and thought it would make a great quilt marathon where the quilters stayed up for at least 30 hours straight to make these blocks but there would need to be some safety rules like no rotary cutters or scissors could be used after the eighth hour.  But, I thought better and decided it would instead really be a fun quilt guild project for each member to draw the number of the block they're to make and #29 is the block you don't want if you don't like cutting odd sizes.

And you can guess who's going to receive this quilt to go with her new play porch?  Yes, my sweet granddaughter Micah whose mother worked very hard this past weekend to put it together but to my quilt horror took a photo of Micah with her Christmas quilt (which I won't show) in her play porch.  It's also time Micah receives a new quilt because Sandra, MMM Quilts mentioned to me that she thought I needed to make a 1-1/4 year old quilt for her but it's too early so Dot Is Crazy will be her 1-1/8 year old quilt.

And in case you didn't see my post for my Jungle Crosswalk quilt made from Block #22, you can read about it HERE.  If you're looking for a quick and easy quilt to make, a lot of these block patterns could be used.  Be sure to check out the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Link.

I don't know if I can keep up this momentum for May but I do know that I'm ready for my next QAL, MMM Quilts Adult Playtime Plus QAL.  My fabric has been chosen and instructions will be posted next week.  And I know there's a couple of projects which need finishing or starting lurking in my studio but then again we're going to have some nice 70 to 80 degree weather this week and the garden centers are filling up with flowers.  I'm pretty sure we're finally going to experience Spring or Too Soon Summer now and I'm really hoping I'm not hexing myself again if snow happens to appear next week.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

SPA Spurts:The Finally Finished Dot and Dash Quilt

This quilt just happened to get finally finished.  I started it in March while misbehaving when I was supposed to be working from my project lists and QALs so I guess you can say this would be considered a DREAMi project. But truly it's a beyond DREAMi project since I was originally distracted to make another Staggered Strips and Squares Quilt with shades of teals, pinks, grays, colors that was inspired by Patchwork N Play's Delilah Quilt and low-volume fabrics.  The strips were die-cut and ready to be sewn together but before I started, I happened to be putting away some fabrics and came upon the Spa Green Quilters Linen fabric which I had forgotten I bought a mere six months ago.

I knew I had to dump one DREAMi project to work on this new DREAMi project because I had the perfect pattern which has been in my head to use the Spa Green fabric with the 2.5" strips already cut--Dot and Dash from Christa Watson's latest book Piece and Quilt with Precuts book which I used to participate in her Squiggle QAL.  There are quite a few "I wanna make" patterns in her book and the Dot and Dash quilt was the one I really wanted to make since it uses 2.5" which is my favorite precut size and I can die cut strips myself.  All I needed to do was to die-cut the Spa Green fabric into 2.5" strips.

This quilt was seemingly done during spurts of time found in between other projects I had going on and the blocks were all sewn by the time we left for our getaway last week.  Even though I needed to catch up with the 30 Quilts Blocks in 30 Days QAL when I came home, I wanted a change of quilt pace which didn't involve Kaffe Fassett fabrics or a QAL (since the start of 2018, I've made four quilts with Fassett fabrics and have participated or am participating in four QALs.)  What started as a quilt being made during spurts of time found became a mad dash to the finally finished line.  The top was finished this past Sunday, the basting and quilting started on Monday and the quilting and binding was completed late Tuesday (after I had lunch and a nice shopping spree with my partner in quilt crime, Carol, at my favorite quilt shop where I bought the binding for this quilt and 28 fat quarters and yardage also wanted to come home with me too.)  This rarely happens, no, not my fabric binge buying which happens more often that I like to admit, but a quilt top made and then quilted and bound within the same week.  Usually once a top is made, it's on quilting standby for more than a week but maybe less than ten years, standard quilt making procedures for me.   So yay for me for doing the totally unexpected this week.

I decided to add a little pizzaz (for me) to the machine quilting by adding a meandering, wavy line in between the straight lines. Since the fabrics are somewhat on the calm and quiet side, like a Spa, I wanted the quilting to show up so I used Connecting Threads Essential Thread in Parchment.  Since the Quilters Linen was a more tightly woven fabric, I used a Microtex Sharp Needle and the quilting went smooth and fast. I do a lot of straight line quilting,  so I did quilt it using the same method Christa does in her book by starting the quilting on one side (instead of the center of the quilt) and quilting it to the other side. I can say I've done it this way on my last four quilts and the distortion at the ends of the rows is minimal unlike when I start the quilting in the center.

Here are some closeups showing the mash of fun prints which included Meows, Mushrooms and a Mermaid print.  I wish I included more peachy/pink prints (this quilt may look a little too calm) but when I do make the other quilt which I was intending to make before Spa Spurts, I will definitely be using more peachy/pinky, which is a nice accent color for the teals and grays.

I've been saving my precious yardage of SUCH Design's 108" wide backing of Newsprint in Spackle for just the right quilt which I already used some strips for the front so I was happy to finally use it and the binding is a wonderful dark blue/green print from the Cotton + Steel Basics Collection.

I was hoping to take a nice photo outside but the wind once again reminded us that it wanted to be included.  I thought for sure we left it back in Myrtle Beach. It sure was nice, though, to see the sun making an appearance during these past few days and I wouldn't mind if it still stuck around, just lose that wind.

Now that I've enjoyed this brief change of quilt pace, I'm ready to work on finishing up the 30 Quilt Blocks QAL and putting the quilt together so I can be ready for MMM Quilts Adult Plus Playtime  QAL which started this week. And I was planning on giving the Fassett Fabric Stash a rest but my son has requested a quilt made with Shot Cottons since he loves my Postcard from Sweden Quilt and I can't say No to him (most of the time) or another Kaffe Fassett project.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop: Jungle Crosswalk

Today is my turn to be hoppy for the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop by showing you the baby quilt I made with the Crosswalk Block.

When Carla first put out the call early this year for bloggers to participate in the Blog Hop, I knew I wanted to because I just love making quilts with simple blocks.  And the #22 Crosswalk block couldn't be any simpler and what a wonderful block it is to showcase fabrics.

Here is the link to the original TUTORIAL for this block.  Disclaimer:  since I was making multiple blocks in a different variation, I constructed my blocks differently.

I think I have a new favorite pattern for baby quilts thanks to the Crosswalk Block.  As you will see later in this post, my quilt uses two variations of the Crosswalk Block which I did in order to create the colorful checkerboard sashing.

To make my 40" square quilt, I used the following fabrics:

1/3 yd each of two prints for the rectangles each block

1/3 yd each of four different colors for the side squares (sashing)*

1/3 yard for binding

1-1/4 yard for backing (provided the wof is at least 45" wide)

*the original pattern called for two colors to be used for the squares but I wanted to make this quilt as colorful as possible so I chose to use four different colors.

Before making the blocks, the side squares (sashing) need to be made first. From the 1/3 yard of each of the four different colors, cut three 3" x wof strips.  When sewing strip sets, I like to cut my wof strips in half which will give me at least 22" to prevent the strips from warping.  Once you decide on the color order of the strips, make six panels, all in the same order,  which should measures 10-1/2" high by the width of the strips.  Press all of the seams open.  Depending upon how wide your strips are, you may be able to cut seven strip sets from each panel which means you will have an extra panel to save for another project.  You will need 32 strip sets for the quilt.

From each of the two prints, cut eight 5-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangles.  Decide which print will be used for either the Type 1 and Type 2 blocks; the same print should be used for the same type block.

You are now ready to sew eight Type 1 Blocks and eight Type 2 Blocks.  You will see that the difference between the two blocks besides the different rectangles is the placement of the strip sets.  If you look at the Type 1 block, the strip set with the blue square on the top is on the left side (see red arrow) and and on the bottom on the right side. For the Type 2 block, the strip set with the blue square is on the bottom on the left side and the blue square on top is on the right side (see red arrow).  For both of these blocks, the seams when sewing the rectangles to the sashing squares should be pressed open.

Each row of the quilt consists of two Type 1 and two Type 2 blocks and when the blocks are set in an alternating block layout, you will see that a checkerboard sashing is created.  If you were to sew all of the blocks the same way, the colors squares will not alternate like a checkerboard and you will have two squares of the same color next to each other.

Here's a photo of the quilt and you can see how the checkerboard sashing is creating by alternating the layout of the Type 1 and Type 2 blocks.

For the backing of the quilt, I chose one of the prints from the top as well as for the binding, it's one of the colors used in the sashing squares.  I machine quilted with simple diagonal lines across the blocks and also quilted in the ditch around each block--nice and simple.

Did I mention how much I love this pattern and the resulting quilt.  I thought taking photos of the quilt warranted a visit to the nearby play park and Hubby, my Master Quilt Holder, was able to climb up the jungle gym and stoop down for me to take this photo.  I told him it was good training for him when our granddaughter comes to visit.

I enjoyed participating in the Blog Hop and making this quilt which turns out will soon be going to a new home.  We just found out that our niece is expecting a baby boy in August so the timing was just perfect.  

I hope you find this quilt fast, easy and fun to make and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Here's a LINK to Carla's blog where you will find the schedule of the bloggers who are participating in the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop and to check out their projects.  This blog hop runs until April 30th so there are eight bloggers after me who will be posting their projects.

Thank you Carla for hosting this wonderful blog hop; I am so happy I was chosen to be one of the participants. I've been sewing along and these blocks sure are fun to make and I will be able to share  my quilt made with the 30 blocks soon after the Blog Hop is over.

Hoppy Reading and Sewing!

Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt: Another Ernie Quilt Finally Finished

It's been awhile since I've made an Ernie Quilt and it's one of my favorite patterns because I just love making quilts with 2.5" strips.  I've had the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton and Woven Stripes strips die-cut and ready to sew since last year and finally had the opportunity to make this quilt since buying my new, sweet, very portable Juki HZL-70 HWA sewing machine which meant I am now able to sew in the kitchen while watching TV, a cause for much of my quilting downtime.

I posted several times about Ernie quilts HERE, THERE and IN BETWEEN.

While my Postcard from Sweden Quilt was being made, (you can read about it here), I started working on the Kaffe Stripe Quilt because I was loving the Shot Cottons and knew I had this project on the back burner--talk about constant Kaffe.  I consider this to be a DREAMi project and finally have something to cross out from one of my project lists I made too many of for this year.

I have to show you my "No Rose, You Didn't" backing for this quilt.  I do not like making pieced backings. To me it's just like making another quilt top and when I'm in a hurry to finish a quilt, I don't want to sew another quilt top.  I have a pile of quilt tops laying around in my studio and I knew laying in the pile was an 84" square top made from big patches of Kaffe fabric which may have been a modified Turning Twenty pattern, a pattern when it was first released, I couldn't stop making them.  It took me a couple of hours to remove some of the rows of this quilt top so I could use it for the backing since I really didn't have anything else in my stash vault that would be as neat as this quilt top was and besides I've come down with a slight case of not wanting to buy any new fabric (I hope this "virus" goes away real soon). Who knew five years ago I was making a future quilt backing when I made this top.  I just love the big purple cabbages. I'm thinking I may have made several quilt backings already and may be making more now without knowing it.

I don't usually talk about the color thread I use for machine quilting because I not very good at choosing a color and I mostly quilt with a light gray.  I knew gray wasn't going to work well with this quilt and luckily I had in my Connecting Threads Essential Thread stash (no affiliate link here) a spool of the Fawn thread which is an apricot beige thread which worked very well with blending in with the many colors in this quilt.  I am loving the quilting which sewed like butter on my Juki 2010Q and I could have finished the quilting in one sitting if I didn't have to go to bed at 3am in the morning--I didn't want to stop.  The quilt is bound with a solid Chartreuse Shot Cotton which was the only solid color that I had enough for the binding and fortunately worked very well.

I was really hoping to take a perfect photo of my Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt while in Myrtle Beach; one with it laying on the sand, sunset on the sea with a whale breaching in the background, perfectly centered on the horizon (just for Sandra) but it was not to be had--the wind was something fierce--20 to 30 mph.  It wasn't fun for the Master Quilt Holder on the balcony nor could the quilt stay on the railing at the beach. The best photos were taken either in the elevator lobby or inside the condo where we were staying.  Plus, there was no way I was going to lay it on the sand since I had visions of it parasailing over the Atlantic Ocean and onto the whale's back (again this vision prompted by Sandra's request and maybe to make it a tale, Louise (Quilt Odyssey) will rescue it during her sea travels).

I had planned to sew the binding while traveling to Myrtle Beach, but I ended up finally finishing the quilt right before we left (I'm beginning to like the look of machine sewn binding).  I definitely wanted to take photos of this quilt and my Postcard from Sweden Quilt here in warm, sunny weather since we're experiencing far too little of it in the Midwest as you can see from this photo taken on a snowy Sunday, the day before we left.  I really put the Master Quilt Holder to the test when I kept repeating to make sure the quilt does not touch the ground and get wet.  He did a practice stoop down before we went outside.  I think the quilt photographed better in Myrtle Beach, despite the wind, don't you agree?

I do hope you check out the links for the Ernie Quilts, especially the first one since it's about my dear friend Mary Etherington who started me on my Ernie adventures.  Like the old commercial saying goes "Try It, You'll Like It!".

Hubby and I will be traveling back home this Friday and look what awaits me when I return, my Dot Dot Dash blocks from Christa Watson's Piece and Quilt with Precuts book which were made during upstairs sewing time with my sweet little Juki. Also, Sandra of mmm! Quilts will be starting her Second Annual Quilt Along: Adult Plus Playtime Quilt, (you can read about it here) on April 24th. I had a fun time doing her Free Fall QAL last year and this year's pattern is not going to disappoint since I'll be using some of my Alison Glass Chroma fabrics. I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove since there's not much sewing happening in Myrtle Beach because I wanted to give my hands some rest.

And one more thing, this Sunday, April 22nd, I'll be posting my project for the 30 Quilt Block in 30 Days Blog Hop so I hope you'll check it out. (you can see it here)

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

QAL Blocks: Classic Meet Modern and 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days

Yesterday, it was all about sewing blocks and Zen Chic fabrics; two for the Classic Meet Modern (CMM) QAL hosted by Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation, (you can read about it here) and seven for the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop hosted by Carla Henton of Creatin' In the Sticks, (you can read about it here).  I would like to mention that the weather we're having this weekend is just perfect for staying at home to sew.  Thankfully, we don't have the snow like our neighbors up North.

First up, are the April CMM Blocks: the 18" Rolling Stone Block on the right and the 10" Susannah Block on the left done in Zen Chic's Figures fabric line.

I'm now one-third done with the Classic Meet Modern QAL.  In a rare moment of mental clarity after thinking about how those who are participating in the Gypsy Wife QAL (yes, I'm talking about Nancy of Grace and Peace Quilting ) and are able to post their blocks using a quilt layout to show their progress, I figured out how to do this on PicMonkey using the layout sheet included in the CMM pattern.  It's not perfectly done but now gives me an idea how my quilt is coming along and will help me with fabric choices for future blocks--much easier than laying the blocks on the display board every month.

Last week, I posted about the first seven blocks for the 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop and I now have finished blocks #8 - #15 (done in Zen Chic's Hey Dot fabric line. (Sorry for the gloomy photo but it was 1am in the morning and there's no sunshine in my underground studio.)  I'm now current but only for today since we're leaving for a one week road trip tomorrow. I'll have some catching up to do when I return but it won't be too difficult--these blocks really sew up quick and fast.  BTW,  I like to mention again that I have completed my project and post for Block #22 Crosswalk block and excited when I can post it next week, Sunday, April 22nd.

For my fellow bloggers who were unable to participate in these two QALs and said they would be sewing vicariously through me, we are having fun and there's still time for you to join in.  Here's hoping to finding some sunshine and warmth next week ........

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation

A Finally Finished: Postcards from Sweden

My Postcard from Sweden quilt is finally finished so I'm happy to post since it seems that finally finishes have been few and far between for me this year. I know the linky party hosted by Sandra of mmm! Quilts isn't until next week (April 18th) but I wanted to post about it today for several reasons but mainly because it is a big finish for me.

Hubby and I took advantage of the glorious sunshine today to take photos at the walking path by the neighborhood playground and it would have been perfect if Windy didn't decide to tag along.

So far in 2018, I have participated or am participating in five QAL and I'm pretty proud that I have stayed on schedule with them despite having a few squirrels and one blogger (clue: she's hosting the Postcard QAL) distracting me.  I have to say my participating in the Postcard from Sweden QAL was erratically consistent, I was either early starting with the sewing of the HSTS, really behind in sewing the rows together due to a visit to the Granddaughter and then finally pushing to getting the top and the quilting done (an extra week was added to the schedule) during the past few days only to be early.  

The making of the Postcard quilt was made possible by:

• my stash of Kaffe Fassett shot cottons which have been waiting patiently for the right project to use them
• my Sizzie die-cutter--thank you 4-1/2" HST die
• my having a supply of 5" cardboard squares to make color cards and them little white labels to help keep the HSTs in order.  I only made one HST wrong but when you think about it, would anyone had noticed
• my big display board to make sure the HSTs were positioned right

The machine quilting was a breeze; I did squiggly quilting lines, just like the original quilt, in a lilac thread.  Needless to say but this quilt is so squishy soft.

As for the backing and the binding, it had to be Kaffe Fassett fabric and it had to be from my stash so despite not having a lot of Kaffe yardage in my stash, I had this purple somewhat paisley print which had most of the colors in the top.  As for the stripe binding, it was not my first choice, I was going to mix two fat quarters of other stripes since I didn't have enough of one but wasn't really sold on using them. I decided to check in my binding drawer to see if there was any Kaffe fabric in there and lo and behold there was yardage of the pretty multi-stripe.  (The rule of my binding drawer is that right after a top is made, I set aside the binding fabric in the drawer which then is not to be used for any other project.  I cannot remember which quilt top  I set aside this stripe fabric for and I'm hoping that I didn't need all of it.)

I just had to include another photo of my Postcard from Sweden Quilt because I love it so much.  My quilt measures 48" x 60" and it just the perfect size to cover the legs especially for the road trips which we will be taking one next week to Myrtle Beach.  This quilt is so soft thanks to the Kaffe fabrics and the colors just make my heart sing.  I will say my quilt is not as bright as the original Postcard from Sweden quilt. I used whatever Kaffe fabric came closest to the ones specified from the original quilt based on what I saw online and even though I don't know if they were on the mark I just love the combinations.  As I mentioned before, would anyone notice if my colors are off.  

And lastly, two more things:

If you read my last Throwback Thursday post, hosted by guess who, Sandra of mmm! Quilts, (you can read about it here where I recounted my memory of receiving a gift of a doll pattern from Amy Butler which may have been prompted by the outfit I was wearing, here are the lime green socks I mentioned.  After I posted, I remember that I still had the socks, maybe a little faded, and I pressed them for the photo--are they not cute and the wearer deserving of a free pattern.  They're now hanging in my studio and maybe one day I'll make a really big doll so she can wear them or I'll save them for Micah who I think will have big feet like me since at one-year old, she's at the 99 percentile for height.

And speaking of Micah, here is a photo taken by her Godfather, Chad, of Kamerad Arts, reminding me of how long I've been her  Grandmother. Thanks for all of her birthday wishes which were posted. BTW, see what I mean about her having big feet; at least she has a smile to go with them.  Hee, Hee, I should be receiving a message from her mother soon.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  MMM Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday