Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt

 

It’s been over a month since my last Post and I have been absent from the studio with several visits to the GP House, attending Hubby’s final band gigs and, most importantly, prepping the house for the darling Granddaughter’s visit to our house in almost five years. And when she was here with her father (my youngest son) this meant there were several visits to family and friends, a Baby Christening which my son was the Godfather and a fun children theme park which she would have like to go there everyday thereafter. I, also, have been spending some time with some EPP projects and will be a topic for another Post.  Despite nursing a Cold along with Hubby, I finally spent some time in the studio this past weekend and have three finally finishes, one the Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt which I’ll share some details in this Post and the other two finishes will be another Post for later in the week.

I finished the Sweetwater Xmas Quilt back in early November. It was on my project list to finally make a Rambling Rows Quilt with several of Sweetwater fabrics lines I have acquired during the past years which  included On Dasher, The Cookie Exchange, Main Streeet, Hometown and Countdown to Christmas. Sweetwater fabrics hold a special place in my quilting memory since I made my Hometown Christmas Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt for Moda back in 2017. To be honest, since designing this pattern for jelly roll or 2.5” strips, I much rather use my Staggered Strips and Squares pattern or the Rambling Rows Pattern designed by Mary Etherington, Country Threads. The difference between these two patterns is that the strips sets are either made with two or four different fabrics. They both have the randomness look of a Jelly Roll Race quilt but eliminates having to cut a strip set of thirty-two rows apart and you can plan the layout of your fabric strips. I modified the Rambling Rows pattern to include 8” four-patch and rail blocks.

For the backing, I used a teal plush which I had in my stash. Normally when I use a plush fabric, there is no batting in the middle and I call it a Throw/Patchwork Blankie. This time because the plush was thin like a jersey knit fabric, I did include batting and this quilt has a nice weight. I machine quilted using a white polyester thread with both straight and wavey lines. The binding was one of the black Sweetwater prints used in the quilt. Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt measures 56” x 80”.

Here’s a pic of the Sweetwater Rambling Rows Xmas Quilt with the Hometown Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt. Even though they were made seven years apart, they do look similar, don’t they? The Ramblng Rows quilt will be gracing the darling Granddaughter’s bed at the GP House, just in time for Christmas. Because of our Colds, our GP visit has been delay which means I might be able to finish a Christmas UFO.

Kaffe Fassett Blue Plate Special Quilt

I’ve committed what I considered to be a Kaffe Fassett Faux Pas last month with my Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Post. I shared my joy about finally finishing this quilt, an “Oh Wow” in which the top was made almost twenty years ago. A week later, this wonderful joy and sense of accomplishment was deflated like air being let out of a balloon and accentuated with the loudest “No” when I discovered the Blue Plate flimsy while rummaging through some other flimsies. I am embarrassed for having forgotten I made this before the Blue Moon quilt and should have realized that the Blue Plate flimsy existed especially since the Blue Moon quilt was referred to as #2 in my quilt log and that I had seven yards left of the backing fabric. I even wondered why I bought so much of the blue stripe backing. 

Any hoot, I claim confusion as these two quilts look an awful lot alike with the same stripe border and color way. The Blue Plate Special was finished four months before Blue Moon. Blue Moon was made from the BPS leftovers for a wedding quilt which was subsequently rejected later. Somehow, in my quilt memory bank, these two flimsies morphed into one flimsy.

I’ve renamed this quilt as Blue Plate Special (BPS) from Blue Moon #1 to avoid more confusion and this was what I had planned to name it originally. BPS measures 64”x82” and Blue Moon measures 48” x 62”. The circles on this quilt only uses one fabric which is the Floral Dance print. If you think I remembered this detail, I didn’t. I found the name after combing through almost twenty Kaffe Fassett books which are located in my studio downstairs and I did enjoyed looking through them and now considering moving some of them upstairs to my bedroom. One of my past luxuries, which I haven’t done much since retirement, was reading quilt books while lounging in a warm bed and Winter is coming, so my timing is impeccable. Wait until I tell the Master Quilt Holder. At first, I wasn’t looking forward to machine quilting BPS due to its size and thinking I had to mark it but realized it would be simple by just doing diagonal wavy lines on the circles and straight line grid quilting along the 8” blocks. I used a Star variegated thread on the top with the same Teal thread on the bottom I used for the Blue Moon quilt. I happened to have another package of the Pellon Bamboo batting which I also used for Blue Moon and BPS is just as soft and snuggly.

Another embarrassing aspect to this Post, is in my Blue Moon Post, I had a photo of it with the Red Moon Quilt and mentioned these two were fraternal twins and that I seem to make two of the same quilts when I like a pattern or fabric. If anything Red Moon is a cousin and these two quilts were separated at birth. I really still can’t believe I forgot I made two quilts with the same fabrics almost twenty years ago. And with that in mind, this is why this is a short Post to admit my Kaffe Fassett Faux Pas. If only all faux pas were just as pretty.

Kaffe Fassett Red Row-ver Patchwork Throw

October seems to be the month of my “O” finishes with an “Oh Wow!”  and “Oooh Finishes” so my Red Row-ver Patchwork Throw is my “Oooh-La-La” finish to end the month.

I seem to have rekindled my “in-Fassett-uation after watching so many The Last Homely House videos  and also one of my projects listed for 2024/25 was to sew something with my Kaffe Fassett scraps. I’ve done a good job of keeping them contained in one of those vinyl suitcases leftover over from a mattress pad purchase. In this case were 123 four patches, which you can see clipped on the bottom of the left photo, made well over ten years ago for a wedding quilt and these blocks were rejects. In early September I grouped similar blocks together and there were either two, three and four or more of them made in the same/similar fabrics.

I decided to sew these group of four patches together  in rows and lay them vertically rather than horizontally. I got this idea from Mary Etherington, Country Threads who made a Bonnie Hunter’s Bitcoin quilt which has various rail blocks in different lengths. As you can see, I used my trusty graph paper to figure out the layout to see if I had the right amount of blocks and only had to make one more. I just love how this looks and you would think this was a St. Louis 16 Patch quilt sewn wrong.

While making Red Row-ver, I had an idea I wanted to back the quilt with red wide wale corduroy but settled for a double plush with a wonderful texture and feel. I also planned to machine quilt with vertical straight and wavy lines but realized after I was halfway through, they were horizontal lines. I was alright with that since the red plush had horizontal lines…Whew, salty language avoided. The binding was a Kaffe Fassett Madras stripe which has been in my stash forever. Red Row-ver measures 54” x 80”.

This isn’t the first time I backed a Kaffe Fassett flimsy with a luscious plush. The Zig Zag Patchwork Throw was finished in 2018 and sewn with a wonderful quilt memory. I am looking forward to snuggling with them when the cold weather or El Niño Winter arrives but not too soon because I’m enjoying the wonderful Fall we’re having.

I called Red Row-ver a patchwork throw because of the size but maybe I should call it a Bench Blankie or a Baby Boomer Blankie for two. What do you think?

Linking up with:My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Summer Spin Star

Sandra, mmmquilts released her Lilac Love pattern today and I loved it sew much that I made two small quilts, aka wall hangings. While I was on my Yosemite vacation last month, I was made aware that this pattern was forthcoming and was asked if I would like to make a wall hanging. The first one made was Christmas Cactus Star and in typical rebel style, I modified the star pattern from using three fabrics to two and it wasn’t easy for an angle-challenge quilter which I am. I decided to make Summer Spin Star as a challenge to myself to see if I could follow Sandra’s pattern and I can say it definitely was a much simpler sew.

You wouldn’t think that the simpler Christmas Cactus Star made my head spin but the Summer Spin Star would since it looks complicated and seems like it’s spinning. If I wasn’t set on the name Spin Star, Snappy Star would have been my next choice because this star sew much faster and was much easier. I do like the two versions I made, one looking more traditional and two dimensional with the two fabrics for the star points and the other one more modern with more fabrics used and a three dimensional look.

I have to admit I spent some time choosing fabrics again but happy to use the colorful Zookeeper print in the Summer color way with the citronickle text print which is from Laura Heine’s Happy Chance fabric line along with various colors from Basic Grey’s Grunge collection.

I was planning on making Summer Spin Star a small wall hanging like Christmas Cactus Star but when I added the Citronickle border (bottom left), I thought it needed more. Thankfully, Sandra mentioned that the Lilac Love pattern would include a baby quilt size which I then added the additional borders which I think energized the quilt. Also, I had the additional fabric and couldn’t pass up the chance to use the Zookeeper print for the final border. Summer Spin Star is a nice segue from being a late Summer to an early Fall wall hanging, don’t you think?

Here’s a closeup of the machine quilting in Aurifil thread in natural and like Christmas Cactus Star, I did quadrant lines. The binding was the same fabric as the final border. Summer Spin Star measures 39-1/2” square, a nice size for a wall hanging, a floor quilt for a new grand baby or a lap quilt.

Here’s a pic of the two quilts together; I love them both. I already have an idea for another one for a larger wall hanging and know which Star I would be making. I’ve learned my lesson and a Snappy Star it will be. 

I have to mention a little Master Quilt Holder humour; while he was holding up Summer Spin Star, I was saying that lately he’s been showing more fingers and somehow his middle two fingers in both hands popped out. You have to take my word he did that since I was too busy laughing to take a photo.

Do check out Sandra’s post and the pattern which will be offered at a special price (not an affiliate link). Sandra designs such wonderful star pattern that are “mmmagical” and are easy to sew. It’s not too late to make one for the upcoming Holidays (big wink here).

Linking up with:My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Christmas Cactus Star

If last week’s finish of my Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Quilt was my “Oh Wow” finish for October, the two quilts made this week will be my “ooooh” finishes, thanks to the MMMaster MMManipulator, Sandra, mmmquilts. When I was at the GP House several weeks ago, she sent me a photo first, then a pattern after I mentioned that she didn’t send it to me, of her upcoming pattern release Lilac Love, a beautiful quilt which was featured in the July/August 2019 issue of McCalls Quilting, but with an updated version. Being one of her mmmany mmminions, I made a wall hanging and then a baby size version. Christmas Cactus Star is the wall hanging version which was the first one made and not quite surprisingly, I didn’t follow the star pattern, for reasons I’ll explain.

When I first saw the Lilac Love pattern and possibly influenced by the name, I was thinking of using purple fabric but nothing in my stash sang out to me. I did happen to purchase while on our Yosemite vacation in September, a charm pack and yardage of Lori Holt’s Hometown Holiday fabric line and thought I could use this for Lilac Love. I wanted to use the lovely red floral print for the rectangles surrounding the Star and thought to emphasize it, I would make it with more green fabrics and accents of red and that's how I thought of Christmas Cactus Star. It took me some time to finally figure out how I was going to make the star and that I needed to purchase additional green fabrics from this collection and from the Calico and Autumn collection. I was only expected to make a cushion but I rather make a wall hanging,

The Star in the Lilac Love pattern looks three dimensional but I opted for a two dimensional look and for the angle challenge quilter  that I am, it took me three tries to get the star right. The first photo on the left, I thought only the red points in the fifth row were pointing wrong and once it was ripped out and resewn, I realized the green points in the sixth row was also pointing wrong so again the seam ripper was used, rip-it, rip-it. I think it’s ironic that the middle star looks like a frog star. Because of this, there was a possibility that I was going to rename the quilt Sailor Star because of all the salty language I used when realizing my mistakes. Thankfully the darling Granddaughter wasn’t around.

I had no problem sewing the corner stars and I used a yellow square from the charm pack which was just enough for the center. I think I may have finally learned my lesson to not deviate from Sandra’s patterns.

I added a 2.5” strip for the border to make this a 28” wallhanging. I machine quilted with white Aurifil thread with quadrant straight lines which is one of my favorite ways when a small quilt with a star in the center. It’s very easy and fast with just quilting an “X” in the center and then using that as a guide to quilt 1” apart. The binding is a plaid print from the Autumn fabric line.

I just love my Christmas Cactus Star Quilt and am looking forward to hanging it up in December. The Master Quilt Holder was not needed to hold up Christmas Cactus Star Quilt thanks to the nifty green wire hanger with the red mini clothes pins hanging from the flag pole bracket. He seems to be taking lessons from Texas Quilt Gal’s Hubby of wearing coordinating clothes when presenting a quilt. He will be needed to hold up the second quilt which is almost 40” square made with the Lilac Love pattern but will be behind the scenes because I'm pretty sure he doesn’t own a pair of shoes in Citronickle. I will post this very lovely and fun quilt when Sandra releases the pattern hopefully later this week. I will say with the second quilt I did follow Sandra’s pattern; it looks more complicated but was way faster to sew and lives up to her style of making complicated quilts sew easy. Now with these two quilts, I can resume machine quilting the Halloween quilt which is needed sooner than later.

My Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Quilt is Finally Finished

Even though it’s early in the month, I’m pretty sure my Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Quilt is going to be my Oh Wow finish for the month of October. Although the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge was discontinued for 2024/25, Mary Etherington is still giving me a number each month for my 2024/25 Project List which I compiled sixty-five projects. Last month, Mary drew number four and one of the projects I had listed was to finally finish the Blue Moon quilt which has been a flimsy or a “top” since 2005. I was really happy to work on this quilt since I’ve been spending many hours watching Kate Jackson/The Last Homely House videos on YouTube on a daily basis ever since I discovered her. Kate is also a big Kaffe Fassett fan and the colors in the Blue Moon quilt reminded me of the quilt she made for her granddaughter.

Here is the top which has languished for almost twenty years, partly because of my indecisions on how I wanted to quilt it. Around ten years ago I read an article in one of the English magazines by Jo Avery on doing big stitch quilting and instead of batting, flannel was used. I intended to do that but never got around to purchasing the flannel. I’ve listed this top on my UFO Challenge list for the past several years and still never felt like quilting it. I finally was inspired to finish it after watching The Last Homely House videos and was planning on hand quilting since it was only 48” x 62”, almost the same size as my Smitten Quilt which was hand quilted by me. As soon as we returned home from the GP House last Saturday afternoon, I was revved up to work on Blue Moons and went downstairs to my studio, ironed both the top and the already made backing and pin basted the quilt. Then the doubt of whether I really wanted to hand quilt struck. There was a possibility I could hate Kate Jackson halfway through the hand quilting and I couldn’t let this happen. I then considered quilting in the ditch around each block and doing some hand quilting but that didn’t excite me neither.

When I made the Blue Moon top back in 2005, I also made another version of it in red fabrics and named it Red Moons. It only took me seven years after the flimsy was made to have it machine quilted. When I was hemming and hawing on the Blue Moon quilt, I pulled out the Red Moon quilt to remind me on how it was quilted and thought the machine quilting looked nice over the appliqued Moons. I seemed to have a hesitation when quilting over applique but am getting over it now.

While I was thinking about hand quilting Blue Moons, I thought of machine quilting it with wavey horizontal lines but t dismissed it as being something Kate wouldn’t do. I got over that notion and decided that although Kate saids that it okay to take five years to finish a quilt, I think twenty years is a bit too long although I have several quilts finished in this time frame.

It only took me around four hours to machine quilt wavey lines 1” apart in CT Essential Threads, teal for the top and a light teal for the bottom. I decided to use the light teal for the bottom since I already had five bobbins already wound and only need three. I used a Pellon Bamboo batting and the combination of this and the machine quilting gave Blue Moon such a nice soft, snuggly feel.

I did hand sew the blue Shot Cotton binding down while, of course, watching a Last Homely House video and it was a relaxing sew. I am quite proud that within 48 hours of coming home Blue Moon is a finally finished but really embarrassed that it took me only eight hours to accomplish this once impossible to finish flimsy of nineteen years. I can imagine hearing Kate still saying it’s brilliant and lovely.

I seem to make two quilts around the same time when I really love a pattern or fabrics. Here’s a pic of the fraternal twins: Blue Moon and Red Moon which is slightly larger by four inches in width and height. The Red Moon flimsy was finished first and the Blue Moon was made as a wedding quilt for one of my Peep’s daughter but then told she rather have a quilt made with gray and taupe fabrics. I glad Blue Moon wasn’t gifted now. You wouldn’t think these quilts are almost twenty years old; there’s something timeless about Kaffe Fassett fabrics, isn’t there. Now that my September UFO project is finished, I have another great project to start for October and it involves applique also. It’s nice to be home for at least ten days before leaving for the GP House again.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

September’s Seven Year Stitch Surprise:The Farmhouse Baby Boomer Blankie

With vacation traveling and trips to the GP House, I was resigned to having only one finish for September which was the Scrapffiti Quilt finished earlier in the month. When I was home finally on the 26th and had a few days before leaving again for the GP House, I saw on the Fat Quarter Shop Facebook page, a simple rail fence quilt made to celebrate National Sew a Jelly Row Quilt Day. I figured this would be a surprise quick make and knew I had the perfect jelly roll and background sitting in my stash for way too long.

Way too long as in seven years + and I know this because my then six-month darling Granddaughter took a photo with it and other jelly rolls when she visited me during the week of National Sew A Jelly Day. She is now 7.5 years old, so this was another impetus for me to finally make something with the jelly roll.

The Farmhouse Jelly Roll is on the right of the photo with the darling Granddaughter and was design by Fig Tree & Co. When I purchased this jelly roll, I also purchased a yard of the text print which I used for sashing. The black and white gingham print is from Moda’s Essential Line and was used for the cornerstones and binding.

The flimsy was a fast make with the 10” rail blocks and only twenty strips were used. I removed any black prints and some of the ditsy print. The Farmhouse BBB measures 46”x58” which is a nice size to keep the lap warm.

I knew this could be a quick make if I backed the flimsy with a piece of plush fabric and I had the perfect size  and color which was a leftover in my stash, but not for seven years, maybe five. I did simple grid and diagonal machine quilting in a polyester lime green thread.

The Farmhouse Baby Boomer Blankie was the first surprise make for September (you can see the second surprise quilt Here.) I didn’t want to Post until we were at the GP House so that I can take a photo of the darling Granddaughter with the finished blankie so I could do a collage with her as a baby holding the jelly roll and finally after seven years which went by too fast, holding the finished quilt. She was quite co-operative with taking photos and I hope she doesn’t think it’s for her. I’m still deciding who I will be gifting this to and one of the possible recipients just so happens to live in a farmhouse.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT