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

The New Grandma Quilt

Last week while searching for some backing fabric, I came across an UFO of a Valentine quilt which I started in 2014. I thought with Valentines Day fast approaching and the rail blocks made with 2.5” strips from several Sandy Gervais fabric lines which just needed to be QAYG, I would have a quilt to give to the darling Granddaughter. Whatever I was supposed to do could wait.

There were twelve 18”x20” rail blocks already paired with batting rectangles in which two of them were already quilted. The quilting was done with a pale blush pink thread from CT Essential Thread which has been discontinued. Fortunately, I had kept the spool of thread with this project probably knowing that it was no longer available and there was enough left for me to finish the quilting.

QAYGing the remaining ten blocks went fast with just pin basting and straight line quilting along the seam lines; it just took several hours. The top and bottom of the blocks were not quilted but would be once the backing was added. As I was quilting, I remember more about how these blocks came to being and why maybe I never finished this project.

I know that these blocks were started in 2014 after Jera Brandvig’s Quilt As-You-Go Made Modern was released. From looking at the two blocks which were already quilted, I knew I used my Elena 8900 and was unhappy with the way the straight line quilting looked and at that time I was looking to purchase a new sewing machine. I purchased my Juki 2010Q in 2015 but still did not resume working on these blocks and was packed away with another flimsy (seen below) made several years earlier with some of the same Sandy Gervais fabrics.

In March of 2017, I posted about this quilt, named  The Grandma Quilt and I quilted and finished due to the pending arrival of our future grandchild in which we didn’t know the gender. I, being the future first-time grandmother wanted a pink quilt to hold my grandchild in but I ended making another  quilt, The Grandpa Quilt in case we had a grandson who wouldn’t appreciate being photographed with a pink quilt. The Grandma Quilt ended up staying with the darling Granddaughter with the understanding that it would be returned to me after a suitable replacement quilt was made which I then told them I had one in mind. It was the rail block quilt I just finished, almost five years later.

After the blocks were quilted which looked so nice thanks to my Juki 2010, they were trimmed to 18-1/2” square which made a 54”x72” finished quilt. I decided to back the New Grandma Quilt with a pink plush fabric I had in my stash since it was dark enough to hide the QAYG seams even I thought at first it was too pink but it grew on me. I finished the quilt in two days and in time before leaving for the Grandparent house. Before arriving, I let the darling Granddaughter’s parents know of this quilt and that I would like my Grandmother quilt finally returned to me.

And why am I calling this quilt the new Grandma Quilt and not just a Valentines Day Quilt. Well, it turned out the original Grandma Quilt cannot be found or has been misplaced which I am a little peeved; lesson learned, you snooze, you lose. So, the once Valentines Day Quilt is now the new Grandma Quilt and will be staying at the Grandparent House and will be added to the darling Granddaughter’s collection. Do I feel guilty about not letting her take it home, Nope, I plan to snuggle with her and the new Grandma Quilt and tell her a once upon a time story about a Grandma Quilt which came to the hospital on the day she was born.

As disappointed as I am with not getting the Grandma Quilt back, I am glad that the new Grandma quilt is a Finally Finish and now I have one less UFO. It feels like I have a wee little more space in the studio now. I don’t think this would be considered a DrEAMi being that it wasn’t a new project but it was an interruption. I can resume finishing some quilts which I was in the process of doing until I happened upon long-forgotten, but should have been finished sooner, the new Grandma Quilt. I’m planning on finishing my January and February quilts for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and hoping I don’t come across another long-forgotten project.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatutation/NTT

The Twisted Trail Quilt

The Twisted Trail Quilt was my last flimsy finished in 2021 and I waited until this month to finally finish it so I could write a tutorial (yes, I’m joining Kathleen McMusing’s Tips & Tutorial on the 22nd #25 Linky Party) on how simple and quick this quilt is to make and even more nicer, a great stash buster. If you’re like me who has been quilting for over twenty-five years and started out as a traditional quilter, you may still have a stash of Thimbleberries, Kansas Troubles or Civil War or primitive/country prints which you still love even though the colors and prints are not as fun as the new modern prints-this would be a great pattern to use for these fabrics.

Last November, I posted my Hocus Quilt which was inspired by Gudrun Erla’s Locus Quilt which is a layer cake pattern for 10” squares of fabric. The Hocus Quilt used a different size square because I had at one time cut up a bunch of smaller squares with my Kansas Trouble stash. I named this quilt Hocus as in Pocus since I thought it was so magical that these rail blocks were made from squares and not from strips. I also mentioned in this post that I wanted to make another quilt like this but would use strips instead of squares and also use my stash of Thimbleberries fabrics. I love making quilts with strips, usually 2.5” that I die-cut and rail fence blocks are one of my favorite because of the fast and simple construction and it goes really well with lots of different types of fabrics. Rail Fence Quilts are my go-to pattern for baby quilts, quilts gift/donation quilts  and also the best for quilts you know are going to be used/abused a lot which in house means that they’re going to be thrown on the floor or one of our dogs can be found snuggling with it. These are the quilts I like to lay on a couch or chair.

I decided to name my follow up to the Hocus Quilt, the Twisted Trail Quilt since it is made with strips,  the blocks are larger and the layout is different, plus I wanted to allude to it being a rail fence pattern. I originally pulled fifty-six prints from my Thimbleberries stash which was easy to do since there was a time, especially when I worked at the quilt shop, I used to buy prints from every collection when it was released and only stopped buying them almost twenty years ago when I left the shop and by that time acquired a nice stash.

I had planned to make the Twisted Trail quilt 84” long but had to reduce it to 78” (which I will explain later in the post) so I ended only using forty-four prints which was still more than needed. This is where the start of my tutorial on how to make the blocks begin once you decide on your fabrics. Like with most rail fence patterns, there should be good contrast between the fabrics, like light and dark, etc.

• Block Size: 6”x 18” wide
• Two different fabrics are used for each block and there are two block layouts, Type A & Type B
• Three strips measuring 2.5” x21” in each color is needed and will make (2) blocks. If your strip are less than 21” then you will need additional strips

My color palette for the Twisted Trailer quilt used blues and greens paired with beige/tan lights for my Type A Blocks and reds and browns paired with gold lights for my Type B Blocks.

For the Type A blocks, sew two strip sets, one with the color fabric on the top and bottom with the light in the middle and the other strip set with the light on the top and bottom and the color print in the middle. Press the seams according to the yellow arrows.

• The strip set with the color fabric (blue) on the top and bottom should be cut in (2) 9.5” segments
• The strip set with the color fabric (blue) in the middle should be cut in (4) 5” segments

Per the top pic, sew one 5” segment on each side of the 9.5” segment and press the seams towards the center segment.  These blocks should measure 6.5” x 18.5”.

For the Type B blocks, sew two strip sets, one with the light fabrics on the top and bottom and the color print in the middle and the other strip set with the color fabric on the top and bottom and the light fabric in the middle. Press seams according to the yellow arrows.

• The strip set with the color fabric (red) in the middle should be cut into (2) 9.5” segments
• The strip set with the color fabric (red)  on the top and bottom should be cut into (4) 5” segments

Per the top pic, sew one 5” segment on each side of the 9.5” segment and press the seams away from the center segment. These blocks should measure 6.5” x 18.5”.

In the top pic of the two block types, you can see how they alternate with each other once they are sewn together and in the bottom photo, the seams of the blocks will nest with each other when sewn together whether horizontally or vertically.

The Twisted Trail quilt measures 54” x 78” with three blocks across and thirteen blocks down; a total of thirty-nine blocks, (20) Type A and (19) Type B. To determine how many strips to cut, you will first have to decide on what size you want to make the quilt. As mentioned earlier, three strips of two different fabrics measuring 2.5” x 21” will make two blocks. For this quilt, just 10 strip set of each color combination needed to be sewn; there was one extra Type B block left. This quilt sews quickly as long as you remember to sew and press your Type A and B correctly . And this, ends the block tutorial and I hope it is not confusing.

I had wanted to make the Twisted Trail Quilt longer, especially since I had enough fabric but the reason why I had to reduce it was because of the above fabric which is an almost twenty year Marcus Bros. Print called Story Dogs which I purchased a whole bolt of it when I worked at the quilt shop. I love these hound dogs since one of them reminded me of our dearly departed blue tick coonhound and I had previously used some for a backing for a quilt made with Thimbleberries fabric. I still had enough left over and was planning on using it for the Hocus Quilt but when I saw the colors, I knew it would go better with the Thimbleberries fabric which is another good reason why the Twisted Trail Quilt needed to be made—the backing was cut and already sewn for a 78” long quilt and which is why this quilt couldn’t be any longer.

Machine quilting was a combination straight and wavey lines with a golden tan Star Machine Thread. Doesn’t the backing look wonderful with all of the Thimbleberries prints? This quilt will be going to the Grandparent House. It turns out that Grandpa’s recliner, the most popular chair in the living room and coveted by the darling granddaughter and the four-legged creatures is the only chair that does not have a quilt covering it; yes, I expect this quilt will be thrown on the floor by you know who.

Even though I said that my stash of traditional fabrics would be great for the Twisted Trail pattern, I’m now thinking it would work well with my stash of patriotic fabric, I’m already envisioning making one with a slightly different layout, and also seasonal/holiday fabrics. You can also make this quilt just using like all blues and lights, just designate which blues are to be used for which block type. Also, a suggestion, do not use the same fabric for both block types because as Quilt Karma layout would have it, the blocks with the same fabrics will be next to each other and you won’t notice it until after the quilt is finished. I do think some of my modern stash which I usually reserve for my Ernie Quilts might work as well. It’s really a great pattern to use up the stash and makes a very happy, scrapppy quilt.

I’m having a pretty productive January so far as this is my third Finally Finish for the month. Cold, snowy weather makes great sewing conditions. I would have a fourth finally finish, Petal Pop, my January quilt for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge, but it’s only a flimsy right now. I had hoped to have quilted it by now but I ordered some white batting in which the first shipment was lost and the replacement won’t be here until the end of the month. Bummer, for a no pressure Challenge, I still hate missing a deadline.

Meanwhile, I started a new project—a new pattern (not an affiliate link) with mostly new fabrics. We’re experiencing some sub-zero temperatures for the next few days so I will be sewing me some fun. Good news, all the die-cutting and rotary cutting— I did not hurt my knee.

Linking up with: Kathleen McMusing Tips and Tutorial on the 22nd and My Quilt Infatuation/NTT