Slinky To The Finally Finish Line

Last month when I finished the Slinky top, I had mentioned that I needed to quilt it as soon as possible because Fall was in the air despite being in a heat wave at that time.  And wouldn't you know it, after finally having some cool temps for a few hours this week, a voice living outside my head said: "Are you ever going to finish my quilt?".  Yes, the screaming squirrel has morphed into my 6'4" son and the quilt was now needed at the fire station. It's not that I wasn't working on it, just thinking about it for the past month.  I still had to purchase the Star War fabric for the backing and I was tempted to not quilt it myself since this was going to be the largest quilt I ever machine quilted so I needed to ruminate for the challenges.  Slinky was finally finished yesterday and wouldn't you know it, we're going to be having cloudy weather for the next few days so my photos are going to be on the dismal side.  Master Quilt Holder is happy that this quilt needed to be hung off the screen room room since it was too long for him to hold up.

The fabrics I chose were Amy Ellis' Chic Neutral, which I had in my stash, a charm pack and yardage were left over after using it as a test quilt for the Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt last year and also yardage of Marcus Brothers Aged Muslin in gray.  Since I had to design Slinky around the charm pack, the quilt is made up of 4.5" squares and strips in varying widths as you can see in my sketch.

I wanted a modern look rather than a traditional one patch layout and was inspired by some of the quilts I've seen made by Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation and others on Pinterest.  I opted for the gray strips to be equal on both sides rather than offset since I thought it would have looked crooked laying on the bed. The sizes of the gray strips depended on what I could have cut from my June Tailor Shape Cut ruler since I wanted them to be exactly the same size and my cuts are never accurate when it involves cutting them either with a ruler or the measurements on the cutting mat.  I've learned from making my Regatta quilt  that it's easier for me to precut my strips to size before sewing and not to cut them to size after the top is sewn. After the top was sewn, the end of my rows were exact and, if I can remember, there was no trimming at all.

For such an easy pattern, there was a challenge with Slinky when I was sewing the top. Once the squares and strips were laid out on my design board, the squares were numbered and the rows separated by a fabric scrap in between, this should have been an easy sew but it was not since I wasn't paying close enough attention to the numbers and sometimes inadvertently flipped some of the squares the wrong way up while sewing them together.  Sir Seam Ripper was called to action way too often to take apart some rows which I knew were wrong when two squares of the same fabrics happened to be in the same spot and didn't noticed it until after it was sewn together.  Lesson learned--take a photo of your layout before sewing for reference, which I did several times before the seam ripping began.

Once the top was sewn I was ready to take a break from Slinky because I had other projects like my Echinacea Quilt which I mistakenly thought needed to be finished for the 2018 Quilt Bloggers Festival and there were other new DrEAMi projects which distracted me from the inevitable piecing of the Star Wars backing.  Normally, I'm not particular about matching seam lines which is why I choose busy prints for the backing, but the Star Wars print needed to match.  I thought I did a pretty good job by getting Princess Leia's shoulders to match but after the backing was sewn, I realized the match point should have been Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker with their lightsabers.  Oh well, not too noticeable, right?  And this should prevent Demando from using the backing for the top which someone (specifically his sister-in-law) does.  Sometimes piecing is not appreciated when the backing is really cute or cool.  My only disappointment with the Star Wars fabric is that Yoda does not appear on it and would have been sweet since Demando used to call my late mother, his grandmother, Yoda.  BTW, when my sweet granddaughter is going to call me Moda when she's able, which is way more nicer sounding than "Da" which sounds like dog.

Slinky measures 68"x 90" after quilting which is not as long as I would have liked; I am still amazed that the quilting could shrink a quilt as much as 2". The machine quilting went very nicely, despite the size and the wrestling involved--just straight lines along the seams and slinky, wavey lines in between using a gray thread on top and silver on the bottom.  Surprisingly and very welcomed was the lack of distortion on the sides--I think the tight weave of the Aged Muslin prevented that which is also why I used a Chrome Microtex needle. I'm glad I decided at the last moment to machine bind Slinky with the gray aged muslin rather than with one of the prints used in the quilt. I had planned to use wool batting since Demando wanted the quilt to be warm so I purchased Pellon's wool batting, in Queen size, since I've already used their cotton batting for many of my quilts and never had any problems with it.  Once the wool batting was placed over the backing, I happened to look at the care instructions and much to my surprise and disappointment I saw that this it could NOT be put in the dryer which I did not notice when looking for wool batting online.  Why would or could anyone hang dry a bed quilt after washing especially in the Winter.  I can't even get a clothes line in my backyard let alone inside my house.  So the wool batting was replaced with the Pellon cotton batting in white, thankfully I just purchased a bolt of it recently and mentioned to my hubby that Demando probably wouldn't notice the difference.  I was wrong.  The first thing he said after touching the quilt was why didn't I use wool batting. I asked him how he knew and his response was Slinky felt like all of the other quilts in the house. Really, I now have Quilt Detective Demando living in our house. When I explained to him that the quilt would have to have been hang dry which is hard when the weather is cold, Demando's response was didn't I know that quilts were supposed to be washed in the Springtime so they could be hung outside. Demando knows way too much about quilting for someone who's never made a quilt.  

All in all, I'm happy that Slinky is a Finally Finish and I really like this pattern which I think will be using it again--it's great for squares which I have with the many charm packs I have and can easily be die cut from my stash. Demando is happy, he better be, despite not having a long, super warm quilt to sleep under while he's at the fire station.  My thought, he shouldn't get too comfortable, after all he's on duty.  Maybe, I'll make him a new quilt with the wool batting for his bedroom at home so he can wash it and hang dry it outside himself if and when I ever get my clothesline.  A Mother's love only goes so far now that my granddaughter is around.

Linking up with: DrEAMi September Linky Party, Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap!, My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  and Crazy Mom's Finish It Up Friday.

August DrEAMis

DrEAMi

When Squirrels Scream

Make Me Now!

With August almost another month gone for the year and my To Do List magically transformed to a TaDa List, I finished two tops which I am saying are DrEAMis since they definitely weren't planned this month.  The Squirrels are alive and running around the studio, some happily hibernating in the project bins and some just lurking and prodding around me while I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Two Squirrels screamed at me during the past two weeks, my Slinky Quilt and my DS Strip Quilt, both flimsies and finished in time for this month's link-up hosted by Sandra, mmm Quilts.

First up is the Slinky quilt, originally referred to as the Firehouse Quilt since my oldest son, the Apprentice Quilt Holder, asked me earlier this summer if I would make him a new quilt for the Fire House and besides the usual requests of no pink or purples and appropriate prints, he wanted it warm and long.  I finished this top last night and let me say for such a simple quilt, I never used my seam ripper so much. This quilt measures 64"x92" and uses the one charm pack and yardage of Amy Ellis' Chic Neutral fabrics which were leftovers from another quilt made last year and my stash of gray Aged Muslin.  I had originally set side this these fabrics for another QAL and thought it would be perfect for the Slinky Quilt.  I didn't come up with the name for this quilt until after the rows were assembled and I thought the quilt looked like a caterpillar. I'll spare the details on the making this quilt for another post after the quilt is a finally finished which should be soon since Fall is in the air.

And finally, my last DrEAMi top which is truly a Squirrel and I named it Gee Whiz since this was totally an unexpected make and it also reminds me of a Gee Bend quilt.  This is quilt is made up of a charm pack of Denyse Schmidt's New Bedford fabrics and yardage of her Chicopee fabrics with some added black from my stash.  These fabrics have been on my mind for awhile and back in May when I came across them I decided I would finally cut them up into 2.5" strips and make another Ernie quilt. I changed my mind and made two types of strips blocks and couldn't decide on a layout even after ripping apart several times these blocks and decided to put them away. While finishing my quilt for this weeks's Fabulous Freebies Blog Hop, which involved only sewing down two sides of the binding, I happened to walk past my cart which holds my projects and saw the Gee Whiz blocks and immediately saw how these blocks should be laid out. Wouldn't you know it, I stopped what I was doing and put the blocks on my design board and sewed up this  top.  This top measures 48"x72" and again will provide more details on another post once this top is a finally finish.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to throw this top, meaning I'll going to back it with gray Minkee which I already have.  I was going to do this but then Slinky came along. 

I hope but am pretty sure I was not the only one for whom the Squirrels screamed at this month.  I'm looking forward to a Screaming Squirrel September.

Linking up with: mmmquilts, DrEAMi August Linky Party, Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap!, My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop Friday 

Jiffy July

I thought the end of my freakishly fast July would be these two quilts but decided that I could do one more Finally Finish with my Flour Garden Table Runner.

All three of these were 2020 Flimsies and also happen to be the last of the quilts in which the color Citronickle makes an appearance. I also decided to switch calling this month Jiffy instead of Freakishly Fast because I like the alliteration of Jiffy July. Here are some deets of each of these Finally Finishes:

Kiwi and Mango Tango (KMT) Slinky

If the prints in this quilt look a little familiar, it’s because I made this from the leftover strips and squares from the Kiwi and Mango Tango Bundle Buster quilt made in 2019. 

The Kiwi and Mango Tango Bundle Buster Quilt was given to the darling Granddaughter’s parents and I always wanted to make a quilt for myself from the scraps.

Usually, only squares are used in “Slinky” quilts but since I had some strips leftover, I didn’t want to cut them into squares which would result in some waste. Plus, some of these strips were my favorite prints of Pam Goecke Dinnorf’s Figment Fabrics. I think the Charcoal Aged Muslin setting strips by Marcus Brothers accents these fabrics nicely.

I machine quilted with a combination of straight and wavey lines in an Essential Thread in Charcoal Gray on the top with a variegated Gray thread in the bottom which I thought would go well with the fun backing fabric. The binding is the same Charcoal Gray fabric used in the top which makes it look like I faced the quilt. KMT Slinky measures 55” x 75”.

Ernie a Go Go (previously named Urban Ernie)

I thought the name Ernie a GoGo fit better with the colorful VeloCity fabric line by Jessica Hogarth, P&B Textile since the focal prints has a few things with wheels that say “Go”. 

I can’t remember the idea behind this quilt which the rail blocks of various widths were paired with plain patches of the focal print and black and white rails which sort of remind me of prison stripes and jokingly thought of renaming this quilt Ernie Goes to Prison. Additional fabrics used in this quilt were from Art Gallery and Cotton+Steel.

My favorite way to machine quilt the “Ernie” Quilts is to combine straight lines with wavey lines and I used Charcoal Gray Essential Thread. The backing is the splatter print which I purchased a bolt of just for backing the modern quilts and it complements this top well. For some reason, I did not set aside any fabric for binding and spent some time hunting the stash to find a print which went with the other other fabrics. I chose a Jackie Shapiro black and white stripe. This quilt measures 56”x72”.

After Ernie a GoGo was a Finally Finish, I thought a photograph with Banana the Bike would be fun so I asked the Master Quilt Holder to take it down from the rafter in the garage. 

I thought I would include a collage of the Master Quilt Holder who thought I should take Banana for a spin but I rather use her as a quilt prop for just the right quilt. Banana has been gathering dust hanging in the garage for the past several years as you can see from the dusty Swifter that’s stuck in the Master Quilt Holder’s back pocket and laying on top of the back seat; sort of looks like a bunny tail, doesn’t it?

Flour Garden Table Runner

If I haven’t already plan for this quilt to be a table runner, it would make a nice bench seat cover, wouldn’t it? I just love the happy color combination of teals, grays, navy and Citronickle.

I mentioned in a previous post that I seem to like collecting the fabrics received in the Fat Quarter Shop’s Sew Sampler box but here is a rare instance when I was perusing through an old quilt magazine and I was inspired to make a log cabin table runner with Linzee McCray’s Flour Garden Honey Bun Mini Roll. I added additional prints from other fabric lines for more variety.

Simple diagonal quilting with Aurifil #2920 thread on top and smoke gray on the bottom went easy-Thank you Hera Marker. Binding was, no surprise, the Citronickle Kimberly Kight print. This table runner measures 24”x48”.

Just two more days left for the month of Jiffy July and I think five Finally Finishes makes it a pretty productive month. I’m going to spend the last days starting on some secret sewing and I’m going to be slab happy. I’m looking forward to an Awesome August which may not involve a lot of quilting since we will be traveling and Hubby with his band, The Fossil Tonez have several gigs planned.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, NTT

Here's Looking at 2018

I've been reflecting on my last post of 2018 for the past few days and realizing it's New Year's Eve, now is the time to write a post especially after reading the other reviews and planning post. I don't want to be late or a no show in joining the other end-of-year posts. But before I do my review, I thought I should briefly write about my final quilt/throws for 2019 which were Christmas gifts for my granddaughter Micah and her parents.

Micah's Patchwork Blankie features yardage of a Finding Dory print backed with the prettiest teal Minkee plush which was put together quickly in time to be gifted when Micah came to visit during Christmas.  It was my oldest son's idea (Demando of the Slinky Quilt fame) who had the bright idea when he saw this print in my studio that I should make a quilt for Micah to go along with the Hank Octopus toy (sitting on the ladder, top right) he would purchase.  As you can see there's not a whole lot of Hank, smaller than a beanie baby, who arrived after the blankie was finished.  I told Demando I could have just made a mug rug instead but according to Demando, his niece likes a toy she can hold in her hand.  Besides a Quilt Detective, he's now a Toy Expert.

Last year when I was visiting Micah's house during Christmas, I realized that I've never made her family a Christmas quilt so I planned to make one using most of my Sandy Gervais Holly Jolly collection and other fabrics from her Christmas line.  Since I was short on time, my plan was to back it with the green plush polka dot fabric but I wanted it to feel more substantial so I put fleece in between which makes for a very heavy quilt.  I used fleece before in between before for the usual cotton tops and backs but paired with the plush it makes a very warm and soft and heavy quilt. I thought Micah's parents would not appreciate it but turns out that Micah likes sleeping on top of it with the plush side against her body.  It's not the first time with her family that the backing was preferred over the top.  By the way, this quilt was made with all different size strips and made like my Staggered Strip pattern which you will see more of later in this post.

And now for the review of the 35 projects for 2018, which 33 are finally finished and two are flimsies, which seems to have fallen into categories/groupings or phases.

I participated in eight QALS which six of the quilts are finally finished:

Postcards from Sweden
Wishi Washi, Dot is Crazy
Squiggles, Regatta, Adult Playtime Plus

and two are flimsies for very good reasons:

The Classic Meets Modern hosted by My Quilt Infatuation quilt completion date is January 15 so I'm pretty sure this quilt will be my first finish for 2019.

                           

My Fireburst Mystery Quilt hosted by Tish in Wonderland is still in a "I Don't Know How to Quilt It Yet" phase and I was also distracted with having to complete the two Christmas quilts.  Hopefully, I will finish it in 2019 because I think this would look nice in my son's house.

                                Spa Spurts, Kaffe Fassett Ernie Quilt, Hinto Minto Quilt

                                Smiling Sloths, Big Cat Crossing ,Echinacea

My favorite pattern seems to be any using 2.5" strips since I made six quilts including my Staggered Strips and Squares pattern which I made four variations of it. These quilts were made possible by my die-cutting and 2.5" strip die.

Four Baby Quilts were made and I used the Jungle Boardwalk pattern I created for the 30 Blocks in 30 Days Blog Hop.  It's a great pattern to use for the focal prints and for future Chicago Cubs fans.  As for the Mauve-lous Panda Quilt, I couldn't bear to cut up the very cute Panda print.

Besides the two Christmas quilts backed with plush fabrics, five other quilts were plush-backed and I have to admit I am now a big fan of making patchwork throws now.  It's a quick finish since light quilting is done and they make good snugglers.  I should admit now that my stash of plushes have increased so I am pretty sure I'll be doing more of these in 2019.

Going clockwise from the top left:
Slinky, Stacked Squares, June Quilt and Kaffe Fassett  Appliquéd Flowers

And these four quilts which three were UFOS and one refusing to be one (Slinky) since it needed to be finished now and not later.

Last but not least, are the Micah Makes which does not include her Christmas Quilt nor the other Christmas Quilt made for her parents but decided it should be hers also.  As for being my only grandchild and long anticipated granddaughter she has this right and also to interrupt any project I may be working on.

Until my accident in October which involved wearing a knee brace for six weeks and curtailing for sewing somewhat, I had a pretty good track record for finishing anything I started with the exception of the two QAL which had a later deadline.  With that being said, these projects are now part of my 2019 UFOs. (you can read about it here)

In reviewing my 2018 "production", I'm more than happy but when comparing it to my project lists, only 20 of them were planned and 15 of them can be considered "DrEAMi"--the Squirrel is strong in my studio.  I'm good at making plans and even better at not following them so I've decided in 2019 that my best laid plans are not to make them.  Although I enjoy making lists while watching the Rose Bowl Parade, an annual tradition, I don't think my planning will be as intense as in years past.  Last year was "making it easy" and this year will be "taking it easy" with few commitments and resolutions.  The one commitment I will make for 2019 will be to resume making baby quilts for the Blanket Ministry at my Church and the one resolution will be to once again repeat the 2017 Fabric Fast by decreasing my stash by 100 yards.  I have enough projects to do with this year's UFO's and the ones on my 2017 lists to keep me busy and focused.

Now that my end-of-year post is finally finished, it's time to partake in a very quiet New Year's Eve observance.  In the past, we have always celebrated with my two peeps and their husbands but this year's has been postponed until the one peep's new house is ready for entertainment.  Since rain and icy roads are predicted in my neck of the words, I do appreciate not having to travel tonight.

Wishing all of my friends and fellow bloggers a very and safe Happy New Year filled with blessings, good health, amazing energy, laughs, etc.  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings.

Another February Finally Finish: Pinky

I started the Pinky quilt during the first week of January which is a good time of year to make a quilt with bright, happy colors to celebrate the new year and to help me forget the cold, dreary weather outside. Also, another reason for making this quilt was the commitment I made this year to finally use my stash of Tula Pink fabric which I've been collecting for several years now and I was, in my mind, at risk of being issued a citation by the Tula Pink enforcers for fabric abandonment.  As soon as I finished the top, I had to set it aside for other projects and finally was able to finish this quilt this past Saturday. I thought I should explain why I named this quilt Pinky which is no disrespect to Tula Pink's name, since I don't like being called "Rosie". I first was going to name it Totally Tula, but realized  since this quilt is a variation of the Slinky quilt I finished last year, Pinky seemed fit better.

  

This quilt measures approximately 56"x76".  The squares were cut 4-1/2" and the solid Mint strips were cut 4-1/2" wide and the lengths were cut in 4-1/2", 8-1/2", 12-1/2" and 16-1/2" increments.  I used my two Chipper charms packs and trimmed them to 4-1/2" which is a good thing I did since none of the squares were a consistent 5" square as they should be. After my squares were trimmed and additional 4-1/2" squares were cut from my stash, I put them in an order so that it was easy to put them up on my display board. After the first four rows were up, I could see that Pinky lacked any spark or energy.  I didn't take a photo so you will have to take my word that the quilt was going to be lifeless but then it's a good thing since there's no proof of this attempted misuse of beautiful fabric and I could have been banned from ever using Tula Pink fabrics again by the you know who enforcers.

I don't understand why my initial batch of squares did not include the Queen Elizabeth head print nor the orange Tabby Cat print nor the bright green silouhette print. I also added some squares from more current fabric lines like Spirit Animal.  Truth be told, I don't like fussy cutting but really should have for these prints. After these much needed squares were added to the mix, this quilt finally had some spark.

I think it also helped, that unlike the Slinky quilt, the Pinky rows were offset unevenly on each  side which, pardon the mention of the fabric line, added to the "Free Spirit" feel and look.  Even though I had to refigure my layout, I think it was worth it.  Because the rows were offset, I did not add the top and bottom borders since I thought it would look funny.  The solid Mint fabric was the perfect complement to the many prints used and was included in a Tulip Pink kit which I purchased from Craftsy many years ago. Yes, I'm guilty of buying kits just for the fabric and no intentions of using the pattern especially when it goes on sale.

Here are some close-ups of the squares and the wonky loops I quilted with the perfect Essential thread I had in Mint.

Since I started a new fabric fast this year, I had to break it when we were in Texas last month where I found this Art Gallery print on sale for 50% off; I knew it would be perfect for Pinky. The fabric I already had, which was just okay, will be returned to the backing vault to wait for another quilt. I did use a Tula Pink fabric for the binding.

More often than not, whenever I have a finally finish, you can bet the weather is not going to co-operate for taking outside photos.  I should let the local weather reporters know that I could help them with their weather predictions by telling them if I have a finally finish quilt I want to photograph. I was ready to post with just inside photos of the quilt, which most of them are, but thankfully, Monday's weather allowed me to take a photo of Pinky on the front porch. Posting just doesn't look right if an outside photo of my quilt is not included.

Here's a photo of the layout for the Pinky Quilt, the top layout is based on 5" cut squares and would measure 60"x76" and the bottom one would be for 4-1//2" cut squares which is the one I used.  The numbers at the end of each row is the finished size for the setting strips and the numbers in the middle refers to the number of squares needed. I know I'm going to make more of these, especially with all of the charm packs I have in my stash and, of course, my partners in quiltmaking, my die-cutters.  To add to the "Inky" theme of these quilts which I seem to have started, if I make them crib size, they're going to be named "Binky".  I really don't think there won't be a "Kinky" or "Stinky" version though.

The only good thing about this cold weather we're having for the past weeks is that it makes for some good sewing time.  My SewJo has returned and yesterday's yarn yearning has been tempered down a bit. I sure can't wait for Spring and sunshine or as I sometimes refer to as good photo-taking weather.  The Master Quilt Holder doesn't like standing out in the cold, especially this Winter.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation NTT