An Oh My July: FALLoween II, Flimsy Frenzy, Etc.

With a busy July which included three trips to the GP House, attending two of Hubby’s band gigs, a day with my Peeps whom I haven’t seen for  many months and other activities which I don’t usually do like baking cookies from scratch, I had a pretty productive month with one Finally Finished, Five Flimsies, one Test Block and working on two twenty year old UFOs. And did I mention making Spider Balls which I wrote about in this Post. I thought that this Post would only include a brief mention of my FALLoween II quilt which was my Finally Finished for this month. It was included in my July projects for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and am always glad when I can cross a project off this list. After I sent this pic to Mary Etherington/Country Threads  and she asked about which pattern I used, I realized that I should include some details about this quilt.

Last year, I was having a sewing fling with my lovely stash of Sandy Gervais Fall fabrics which mostly are from her MODA days and are 10-20 years old. I made two flimsies: FALLoween I and Fallowween II. FALLoween I (pictured above) was one of my first finally finished for 2023 and you can read the details Here. Right around the time FALLoween I and II were made, I was experiencing problems with my Juki 2010Q so machine quilting was delayed until the arrival of Jinny Janome. FALLoween I was quilted first. Since I wanted Falloween II to be finished sooner than later, I added it to my Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge for 2023/24 and as luck would have it, it was drawn to be finished this July in time for Fall.

I did mention beforehand that I have a lovely stash of Sandy Gervais Fall fabrics and after the FALLoween I flimsy was made, there was enough to make FALLoween II which is a another version of the strips and bricks pattern I like to make. The rail blocks are what I like to call the Ernie strips which are 2.5” and were cut either 8”(f) or 16”(f). The brick blocks were made with focal prints cut 4.5”x8.5” and framed with 2.5” strips. A sample of these blocks are in the upper right corner of the above pic. For such a simple pattern, I did have to spend some time on determining the layout of the blocks and the colors, plus making sure I had enough fabric to make it work. This quilt measures 56”x 72”.

I remembered after the flimsy was finished and feeling a little disappointed with the way it looked, I’m happy to say after machine quilting it with an CT Essential Thread in variegated greens with straight and wavey lines, I am liking FALLoween II now. I used yardage of a Robyn Pandolph green stripe fabric found in the backing vault but did looked in the Fall stash to see if I could make a pieced back.

While looking in the Fall stash, I came across some 2.5” strips and yardage and remembered that a FALLoween III quilt was planned. I decided that I didn’t need another quilt but could make table runners instead.

While at the GP House this past weekend, I made two runners, which are two of the five flimsies made this month, the left one measuring 32” x 66” which will be for our primary house and the one on the right measures 20” x 36” and will be for the GP house. I had leftover fabric to make some placemats but decided to wait. I am glad once the table runners are machine quilted that it will be nice have them ready for Fall decoration.

Here are pics of the other three flimsies made during July. The top quilts, Wensleydale and Mazed were mentioned in my last Post and I will write more about them once they are a finally finished. The bottom quilt is Razzle Dazzle which is a Fat Quarter Shop pattern which came with a bundle of Ruby Star fabrics. I had die-cut the pieces in May and thought by sewing the flimsy in July I was working on a DREAMi project and feeling a little guilty but realized that this was one of my July projects I listed for the Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. This quilt plus Wensleydale can be crossed off my July list as flimsies count as a Finish.

Here is the test block I did for Sandra Healy Designs which I used Alison Glass fabrics. While I was sewing this block, I realized that I could used to make a pillow to go with the darling granddaughters new bedroom ensemble. I’ll be sure to post a photo once the pillow is made.

While I was searching for possible projects for the Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge, I came across two twenty year old UFO projects. The top pic are the 4” block exchange from a quilt guild I used to be a member and the bottom pic is a Sandy Gervais flag quilt. Once these projects are finished, it will be a post for another day.

I’m a day late with my July post because I lost track of the days thinking I had a few days left. So, I’m posting after Midnight which makes it August 1st and this means another new number will be drawn for Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. I think I’ll take it easy and only work on one project because there’s some house projects, like finally organizing some closets I really need to do.

A Week Down Under

A little fun with the Post title since it doesn’t refer to traveling to Australia but to the time I spent in my sewing space which I named Studio UP (Underground Palace) which is the finished basement where most of my quilt joy happens. One of the disadvantages of sewing done under are the spiders who are not spinning me fabric but instead are annoying me with their nasty webs and sometime appearances. One of the ways I deal with these unwanted studio mates are with “Spider” Balls. After spending this past week down under,  I decided I needed to replenish my supply after I made two flimsies which you will see below. They’re quick and easy to make with the leftover skinny fabric strips made when die-cutting, which I hate to discard, and the never ending batting scraps. I fold a 2” batting square in quarters and then wrap at least a 20” x 1/4 wide strip around the batting square. I do add a spot of glue before and after wrapping to hold the strip in place and trim any fabric frays. They are not round as balls and remind me more of oyster crackers but naming them spider crackers just didn’t appeal to me. Like moth balls, my Spider Balls are repellants once I add a few drops of peppermint essential oil. I could use white cotton balls but these are way more prettier. I put the Spider Balls in glass jars, group them in lids or push one in a water bottle cap which would also make a compact pin cushion. I do have to refresh them with the peppermint essential oils every few days but I see it as exercise since they are placed all around my 20’x30’ studio and it does make my studio smell good. As you can see, my latest batch of Spider Balls  filled an empty oatmeal container and were made while watching TV upstairs. I will admit that the Spider Balls don’t deter the spiders entirely and in which case I have to use my voice activated Spider Man system which is my screaming and Hubby running down the stairs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work when he’s not home.

The Spider Balls were made mostly from trimmings from Jen Kingwell (JK) fabrics, another reason for the reference to Down Under, used for the two flimsies finished this past week. The top quilt is the Wensleydale pattern designed by Jen Kingwell, the Down Under Quit Extraordinaire, a foundation pieced project, which I started last October and finished sewing all 60 sixty blocks in early June. The bottom quilt was made with a JK’s Fine and Sunny Jelly Roll plus some of her other fabric lines in order to make the Running Doe Quilts Mazed pattern larger which I’m definitely going to make again. Once these quilts are a finally finished I’ll do another Post. And to add to the Down Under vibe is while I was sewing these two flimsies, I was listening to one of my favorite authors, Kate Morton’s latest book Homecoming which is set in Australia.

We’re heading to the GP house where Hubby is finishing the basement and planning a studio space for me. I know when that happens I’ll definitely will make more Spider Balls which I already have the makings needed and way more courage since I still have not gone down under there still after four years. (For those who don’t know, the GP House is the Grandparent House which we purchased this 100 year old fixer-upper and is next door to the darling Granddaughter. It is our second home where we visit every other week. I have avoided the basement after Hubby found some meat hooks hanging around and I don’t like horror movies). I would rather fly to down under and I don’t like to fly despite claims from my menfolk that I fly on a broom, than go down to the GP basement.

Happy Sewing wherever you sew!

Celebrating My Country Threads Camraderie

Ever since I began quilting over twenty-five years ago, the Country Threads Quilt Shop (Country Threads) has been part of my quilting life. It started the good old fashioned way before the worldwide web when I received a catalogue around twenty-seven years ago from Quilt Farm, a shop or a mail-order company located in Minnesota and one of the first places I purchased fabric through the mail. Besides offering fabric and notions for sale in their catalog, they wrote tidbits and going-ons and mentioned that they were collecting blocks for a wedding quilt to be made for the then Mary Tindall for her upcoming marriage to Rick Etherington. But our friendship did not start with quilting, so I thought, but after subscribing to the Country Threads Goat Gazette, I was so smitten with Mary’s goat Susannah who was famous for her antics around the shop and most notably being caught inside the UPS truck. Fast forward to more than ten years later during which time, I purchased numerous Country Thread books and patterns, most notably made a Bulls-Eye Quilt, I finally met Mary at the Rosemont Quilt Show in early 2013(?) and did I talk to her about their lovely quilts, No,  it was all about Susannah. It was at that time I decided that I would one day visit her shop in Garner, Iowa which was a Quilters’ Mecca back then.

I finally met Susannah in August, 2013 and brought her many treats which she enjoyed very much. As I was preparing to write this Post and looking through photos, I was surprised to see  that my camraderie with Mary and Connie Tesene is less than ten years old. It seems like I’ve known them forever. The word Camraderie is defined as “mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together” which I think includes time spent online. Although I only visited Mary six times during the past ten years, we keep in touch almost every day through her Blog, emails or text messages. 

On several occasions we have exchanged fabric bombs and gifts through the mail or in person. On my recent visit in May, I brought Mary and Connie one of my feedsack mats in a wire basket (which I will write about someday) and I received a lovely pouch made by Connie who also makes the best rhubarb pie.

There is a “business” side to our Camraderie and that is my participation for the past three years in the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge which I listed twelve UFOs which mostly have been flimsies needed to be quilted. The Challenge starts in July and ends in June of the following year and I have been successful each year in finishing twelve quilts, one for each month and some of them being UFOs for over twenty years. I like to say that by participating in this Challenge, it has made me an honest quilter by making me work on projects I call “have to dos” and giving me some sort of focus. The 2022/23 Challenge was a little different than previous years whereby besides working on an UFO which was determined by the number drawn, you can now work on a project determined by a Color drawn for the month. I added something to the challenge with three more categories which included a Designer, Fabric Stash and Scraps which gave me a choice of sixty projects for the year. I thought I didn’t do to well but if you base it on only ten projects needed to be finished because we were off in January and February and that flimsies counted, I did pretty well because I finished thirteen quilts and made seven flimsies.

While I was on vacation during May/June and remembering that the old Challenge was ending and a new one beginning in July, I came up with my projects which I make a monthly photo collage so I know what was up when the number and color was drawn. I want to mention that I’m not doing a project based on color but am doing a true Bakers Dozen by coming up with thirteen months and five categories which are, Flimsies to be Quilted, UFO- Projects Started or Kits,  Fabric Designer, Fabric Stash and Scraps. This makes 65 projects to choose and it’s going to be a fun year. I’ve added the seven flimsies made from last year to this year’s Challenge. BTW, Mary added something different to this year’s Challenge by including another category called an Extra Credit Challenge which you can read about in this Post.

No. 7 was pulled for July and I am so excited because I have five projects to choose from: the FALLoween # 2 to be quilted, the Wensleydale blocks to be sewn together, the Fat Quarter Shop Razzle Dazzle pattern to be made with Ruby Star Fabrics, the Lucy June fabrics designed by Lila Tueller and scraps from Crazy Mom Good Neighbor fabric line. One of these projects will hopefully be a Post in July.

Now back to the fun part. Mary sent me a very lovely “exchange” several weeks ago which was her “Oh, Susannah” book and I waited to post until  today which is Mary’s birthday and she’s posted about this Book. It might not be unusual now to have a Goat in the House but back then it was and I made a friendship because of this. I love seeing the photos of Susannah and I should mention that I have several photos of her in my studio.The Master Quilt Holder who has been butted by Susannah and still complains about it was wondering why this wasn’t mentioned in the book. Mary said if she had listed everyone who Susannah bestowed this love tap too,  the book would have more pages, maybe the size of  a phone book—that’s a good old fashioned vision, isn’t it. Mary is selling Oh Susannah and you can order one for $20 which includes shipping and tax. You can send a check made out to Mary Etherington, 2345 Palm Ave., Garner, IA 50438 (this is not an affiliate link). I will be reading this book to the darling Granddaugher and I will be protecting it as she has a rather mean hand with a crayon.

Now that I realize that this year is a ten-year anniversary and needs to be celebrated, I’m going to have a Camraderie Chat with Mary. We were already planning on sewing an Ernie Quilt in September but maybe I need to do a two day visit in the Fall with sewing in the Shop, entertainment by the Master Quilt Holder and Mary’s sister Becky Rose who have formed a musical duo and maybe order Pizza from any place other than the last place we ordered. I mentioned earlier in this Post, that our friendship didn’t start with Quilting but maybe in a way it was prophetic because the wallhanging above was purchased for my Family Room at a craft fair in 1997. I did not find out until years later that this was a Country Threads pattern. It is a small world when Quilting is involved.

Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL Parade/Glass Houses

Today is the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL Parade hosted by Sandra, mmm quilts. This is the 7th QAL of Sandra’s which I have participated in and this year’s pattern was again a fun make. I previously posted about my progress on April 1st, which was the start of the QAL and then on April 10th when my nine blocks were finished. It was nice to have 2.5 months to finally finish my Glass Houses Quilt, so named because I used Allison Glass fabrics, although I waited until the last week to finally finish it. 

Part of the delay was due to two vacations and several trips to the GP House and my indecision on whether I wanted to machine quilt with vertical straight lines, my first choice, or horizontal wavey lines. As you can see, the vertical straight lines, 1” apart, was decided. Since Glass Houses is going to be a wall hanging, I thought the straight lines would add a more graphic look but used #3817 variegated Aurifil thread so the quilting wouldn’t look too stark. The binding is the same black Cross Stitch fabric used in the sashing. My original plan was to used the multi-color print as in the cornerstones for the binding but after machine quilting, I realized it needed to be the same fabric as the sashing to better frame Glass Houses.

If you read my Previous Post about becoming a happy pieced backer now, I had to make one for Glass Houses since I had three leftover quilt blocks made with Allison Glass fabrics from my Ernie Express Quilt #2. This is my third piece quilt back and I’m now at the stage in which I feel guilty if I don’t make one. Normally, for a wall hanging I prefer the backing to be the same fabric and light colored too.

Glass Houses was finished four days before the parade and we’re having iffy pic-taking weather besides unprecedented poor air quality with heavy smoke from the Canadian Wildfires both here and at the GP House. The front bench was moved so Glass Houses, Petal Pop and Ernie Express #2 can be taken together as this is going to be the darling Granddaughter’s new bedroom ensemble at the GP House. The Master Quilter Holder was glad to be standing behind the bench so he didn’t have to crouch down to hold the 54” square quilt but he did have to hold it up as high as he could which wasn’t too much easier.

I had fun with this year’s Collage of all the quilts I made to Celebrate A Famous Canadian’s Birthday. While I was making Glass Houses, I was thinking that this would be the 7th one which is a lucky number and Sandra must also have some sort of magical powers for me to participate in all seven of her QALs plus making other patterns of her’s. I like to come up with “mmm” names for her and “magnificent” came to mind which quickly changed to “Maleficent” the powerful fairy in Sleeping Beauty. Note Maleficent is a fairy, albeit a powerful one, and not a witch or as I say magically wicked which makes “mmmicked” a fun word, don’t you think? So, I thought it would be “mmmicked to add a graphic to this year’s Collage which was  easy for me to come up with my MMMaleficent. All I needed was to grab Sandra’ blog photo, which is very nice by the way, then the Maleficent pic with Angeline Jolie, apply a few apps like PicMonkey and Voila AI Artist and then iPhone photo editing to draw the hair and make the lips red on my iPhone. Fun, right? I thought I should explain this so Sandra doesn’t think this graphic was already available on the Web, although I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was.

The Rainbow Neighbourhood theme was very fitting for this year (one last pic of Glass Houses amongst an actual rainbow neighborhood in Allentown/Buffalo thanks to Google and picMonkey). I want to thank Sandra again for another wonderful QAL and if she isn’t going to banish or turn me into a mouse, I look forward to participating again next year.  I’m sure it will be mmmagically fun.

Wishing every one a safe and Happy Fourth.

Linking up with MMM Quilts Parade of Rainbow Neighborhood Quilts

Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs Book Review and Book Blog Hop/Unruly Safari Moon

Today is the book launch  of Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, the latest book by Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation. I was asked back in March if I would be interested in reviewing her book by making one of the thirty patterns designed specifically for quilt backs and participating in her Book Blog Hop. It was a  Big Yes from me. Kelly wrote the book for Quilters, like me, who aren’t comfortable with making pieced quilt backs or for those Quilters, definitely not me, who need new pieced quilt back ideas. 

It was rather serendipitous that I would be asked because around that time I was thinking my scrap fabric overload was caused by having too much leftover after a quilt finish and that I maybe ought to start making pieced backs which is something I avoid like catching Covid. Also at that time, Linda, Texas Quilt Gal, had posted about her latest quilt being a mullet quilt and since it didn’t remind me of Billy Ray Cyrus, I had to find out what she meant by that. Well, I learned that a mullet quilt means that the business or the seriousness is in the front and the party is in the back which I take it to mean the back of the quilt has the more “fun” fabric or approach. My quilt backs tend to be on the quiet or bland side and not much time is spent planning or making it, so in the terms of a mullet quilt, my backs are definitely party poopers. When I first started quilting over 25 years ago, quilt backs were not important to me, I didn’t want to use the same fabrics as in the front, especially at that time $9/yard and I used a fabric purchased on sale which is the reason for my backing fabric vault. Another caveat I had for backing was that it had to somewhat complement the top and not look like I sewed any old fabric(s) together.  

I was thinking the reason why Kelly asked me to participate in her Book Blog Hop was because several years I participated in her Book Blog Tour of Scrappy Improv Quilting but then I realized that she may have seen some of my backs and sensed that I needed to stop being a pieced back resister and come over to the party side. Like Kelly saids, she has your back.

It was no surprise for me to that Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs is just as inspiring and resourceful as Kelly’s previous two books, Scrappy Improv Quilting and Stash Statement.  It definitely is a Scrap-Smart Guide. The thirty patterns are divided into three sections depending on whether you want to use Small Scraps, Medium Scraps or Large or Mixed-Sized Scraps/Fat Quarters. It may have exceeded my expectations being that as you read my Post, I have been converted to a happy pieced backer and my days of whining and resisting are over. Planning  a quilt back beforehand and not as an afterthought is the way for me to sew now. As Kelly mentioned in her book,  a pieced back adds a little something extra or lagniappe as the French would say.

From the thirty patterns presented in Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, I chose to make the Double Bar pattern, page 64, because it made the best use of my leftover blocks and scraps which were large or mixed-sized scraps and fat quarters.I just needed to purchase yardage of the dark blue fabric.

The leftover blocks and scraps were from my Safari Moon  quilt using a modified version of Kelly’s Unruly Pattern (not an affiliate link) and I made especially for the book blog hop. We had a choice of either making a quilt back for an existing flimsy or just a simple top but I saw it as another reason to make another Unruly quilt as it is one of my favorite patterns.  I was planning on making this quilt and have been stashing the fabrics for several years now. 

The name of this quilt is also the name of the Art Gallery fabric line designed by Frances Newcombe which I had yardage and fat quarters of the wonderful prints. I modified the Unruly pattern so I could feature the Zebra and some of the other larger prints. Little did I realize that this would also be enough to use for the pieced backing and it helped that I originally made thirty blocks and decided to only use twenty blocks.

Three Quilt Backing Sizes (Lap (72” square), Twin XL (80”x108”) and Queen (96”x108”) are given for each of the thirty Quilt Back patterns. You can easily modify the dimension to fit your quilt which is what I did for the Double Bar pattern since my top measured 60” x 75” and I needed a backing to measure 68”x 83”. Using leftover blocks and scraps, I made three panels measuring 15-1/2” wide by 83”long and I cut the solid blue fabric 12-1/2” wide by 83” long. 

I should point out that I may have made a mistake with the block panels made for the sides. I thought I was being smart for putting the bright rectangles vertically to avoid having too many seams on the outside but you can see once the backing was trimmed, these bright rectangles were almost cut off just leaving skinny pieces on the sides. At first I thought it was awkward looking but then as Kelly pointed out in her book, you are not making double sided quilt, to which I add, you still want to be able to tell which side is the front and which one is the back. Although my back is pretty, it still looks like the back but Unruly Safari Moon does have two-sided appeal.

Some of the things I learned from Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs are:

• Patience as I used to think sewing a pieced quilt back was like sewing another top but it’s really not because you may just spend an hour piecing scraps and to me is it makes for a nicer finish. Rather than seeing the top and backing as two separate pieces, there is a connection now between the two with a pieced quilt back.
• I was making my quilt backs too large as I was using the measurement of adding 8” to both the wide and length which is what you do if you were sending it out to a long armer which I do not do 99.5% of the time. I can get by with just adding 4-6” on both sides now that I’m…..
• Taking the time to measure both the quilt top, batting and backing and marking the center of each piece in both directions.
• I am no longer eye-balling centering the backing on my big 48”x76” table where I baste my quilts since I have now marked the centers on the table.
• More confidence and less stress now that the layers of the top, batting and backing are centered and no surprises if one of the layers is  too close to the edge after the majority of the pin-basting is done. I may have been surprised more than once and salty language was definitely used.
• Making pieced backs is fun and using up leftover fabrics does feel good.

Here’s a pic of the leftovers which could have been more if I hadn’t made a pieced back. This is  enough to make a pillow to go with Unruly Safari Moon. A fun thought is to send these to Kelly so she has an idea for her next book like When Quilt Friends Give You Scraps.

And just to show how much Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs converted or inspired me, after I finished Unruly Safari Moon, I made a pieced back for my Sushi Shuffle Quilt. It is a version of the Double Bar pattern but with only one pieced panel in the center. 

Sandra @mmm quilts

Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts

Laura @Slice of Pi Quilts

Jayne @Twiggy and Opal

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Nancy @Grace and Peace Quilting

Vasudha @Storied Quilts

Kris @Sew Sunshine

Leanne @Devoted Quilter

Rebecca @Rebecca Grace Quilting

Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts

Susan @Quilt Fabrication

Kate @Katie Mae Quilts

Sarah @Sarah Goer Quilts

Linda @Flourishing Palms

Anne-Marie @Stories From The Sewing Room

Michelle @From Bolt to Beauty

Gail @Quilting Gail

Kat @Scrapbox Quilts

Julie @Julie’s Quilts and Costumes

Jan @The Colorful Fabricholic

Rose @something rosemade (that’s me!)

There are twenty-two (including me) Quilt Bloggers who are joining in the Perfectly Pieced Quilt  Backs Blog Hop by reviewing this book and making a pieced quilt which I can bet theirs’ will be perfect. We are all posting today so be sure  to check out their posts by clicking the links on Kelly’s Book Launch Blog Hop Post.

Besides the thirty quilt back patterns in Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, when you purchase this book, you will be able to download 18 bonus quilt patterns for the tops which went with the quilt backings. I already have a collection of Kelly’s patterns (I already made her Tinkering quilt, which I named Kaleidoscope Krosswalk) and to think I now have 18 more just make this book so worthwhile to purchase.  Kelly’s patterns are fun and easy to sew. There are already a few that I want to check out the pattern because I may already have the fabric. I will say now that most of the quilt back patterns I would consider making them as tops. (Please note that the Unruly Pattern is NOT one of the 18 bonus patterns but is a pattern so worth purchasing—not an affiliate mention). You can purchased this book directly from Kelly, through Etsy, which you will receive a signed copy or from Amazon Prime, Barnes and Noble, Connecting Threads, Missouri Quilt Co. and Fat Quarter Shop. (Not an affiliate link).

Just some closing “glamour” pics from of Unruly Safari Moon quilt, front and pieced back which I enjoyed making for the Book Blog Hop. I want to thank Kelly for inviting me again to participate in promoting her latest book. You are always an inspiration to me.  Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs is definitely a book you would want to have in your library and maybe you want to mention it to Pieced Back Resisters or Party Poopers which I am happy to say that I’m no longer a member of this group.

Remembering Ernie, My Quilt Muse

On our way to Colorado last week, we stopped in Iowa to visit Mary Etherington, Country Threads, which we usually do when traveling West.  A visit always includes spending time with her four-legged babies. I was able to take a picture of Ernie, her American Farm Tiger, who during this visit, was very receptive to some scratching and petting from me, which was unusual. Mary mentioned that Ernie was not himself and was worried. I was so sad  to receive an E-mail several days later that Ernie had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. A lovely Post by Mary about Life Without Ernie can be read here. I had to write a post about Ernie who was the inspiration for the many Ernie quilts I have made since 2016 which was the time I started blogging. My Ernie Journey about the making of these quilts was one of my first Posts. 

In this Post, I wrote about Mary making a quilt top with a Denyse Schmitz Jelly Roll and I had given her the backing which was an Orange Cat print purchased from IKEA which reminded me of Ernie so we named her quilt the Ernie Quilt. This quilt was the inspiration for my Ernie quilts and is a very versatile rail fence pattern made with 2.5” strips.

I’ve made  thirteen versions of the Ernie Quilt and is one of my favorite patterns and one that I always love making. It’s an easy make plus a quick finish with straight line quilting. The one I made with Kaffe Fassett’s Shot Cottons and Woven Stripes (lower right corner) is my most popular quilt on my blog with over 10,000 views.

Here’s a photo taken several years ago of Mary with Ernie, the Quilt Muse with my Ernie Express Quilt II. I was fortunate to have several of my Ernie Quilts be blessed by him.

And here is one of me holding Ernie in 2016 and he was one big dude. Mary and I are thinking we could remember Ernie by making an Ernie Quilt on National Sew A Jelly Roll Day which is “celebrated” every third Saturday in September.  I think this would be a wonderful way  for me to thank Ernie for bringing me so much quilt joy.

Sushi Shuffle

In between two projects which were “must-dos”, I managed to squeeze in making Sushi Shuffle a “shouldn’t be doing” which some would say is a “dream” but for me turned into a scream because that’s what Quilt Karma does sometimes, especially to my aging Asian mind. I was tempted to name my latest quilt Screaming Sushi but thought Sushi Shuffle would give a better image.

Anyhoot, while I putting away my fabric purchases made from last month’s Maine vacation, I purchased yardage of the black/gray/white Stof print (lower left corner). I knew I could use it  as backing for a quilt I would someday make with the other Stof prints which are stored  in my box of Teal fabrics. For such a small box, this has been a start of many quilts made as I mentioned in this Post. And wouldn’t you know just opening this box inspired me again to make the Sushi Quilt so I stopped working on my secret project.

No surprise that I wanted to make another Staggered Strips and Brick quilt with my initial fabric pull. Except for the black prints, the other prints were stored with the Teal stash. I knew someday I would make a quilt using the two fish prints on the left which were the color inspiration for the quilt. I did end up pulling some more gray and taupe prints because you can never have too much fabric when making a Staggered Strip quilt.

I decided that the Sushi Shuffle quilt would have (4) panels measuring 8”x72” each of staggered strips and three panels of 4”x8” blocks each also measuring 8”x72” since I wanted to feature the Stof prints purchased almost five years to the day from The Fabric Nook in Granby, CO which are the green and black and the gray and black print. I had to find some other prints which would complement the Stof  prints and was lucky to find the black/taupe which is by Basic Grey and from the Basic collection. Even luckier was finding the wonderful Stof print I didn’t remember purchasing, on the right and it wasn’t with the Teal box but with low volume prints. The orange Fish print is a Moda print which was stored in the Teal box. Have you notice my use of “the Teal Box”? I normally would refer this as my Teal Stash, but after making Sushi Shuffle, I’m thinking it’s like Pandora Box, not evil, but it does unleash sometimes untimely inspirations.

I really thought the Sushi Shuffle was going to be an easy and quick make and was I wrong as soon as this crossed my mind. I had to include a photo showing the seven panels so you understand how this quilt went from a dream” to a “scream”. First of all, I thought I was being smart by remembering that the strip panels needed to be on the sides of the block panels because I don’t like the way it looks when the blocks are on the outside. I also was going to add strip panels on the top and bottom but remembered that I don’t do this when the strip panels are vertical.  When making lap size quilts, I like at least an 80” length since we are a tall family and  now would have to settle for a 72” length since I already cut them this length before remembering I should have cut them 80”. But what really started the screaming was when I was sewing the two panels, what should have been the final seam, one with #1-#4 with #5-#7 and it did not line up. It seems that whenever I make a vertical Staggered Strip quilt there is always a problem with the panels lining up evenly and salty language is always used.  This time there was a 1” difference and I had to take the two panels apart. I thought maybe the solution was to also take apart panels #4-#7 and resew them back together.

I was so happy after ripping out two long seams that the panels lined up (left photo) but there was a problem. I don’t know how I did this but panels #4 and #6 were switched and finally corrected it after ripping more seams apart like three-four times, I lost count (right photo). I will say that this was not the original layout since panel #1 and #7  somehow got switched in all of the shuffling. If you’re wondering how I came up with the name Sushi Shuffle, I did want a name that tied in with the fish prints but really settled on Sushi because I was saying the four-letter “S” word a lot, especially after realizing I had to rip seams out again and again. Sushi is a nice alternative word for a swear word to use especially around the darling Granddaughter. And Shuffle was what I did and I do like alliteration when naming my quilts. I did mention before Screaming Sushi was in the running but also Senile Strips because I had to be with the many times I sewed the panels together wrong.

I did end up sewing panels on the top and bottom and wonders of miracles I sewed them in the correct spot. I really did want this top to be 80” long and since the panels were already made I decided to add them. I do like the way this looks. After the flimsy was  made, I did set it aside for the secret project that needed to be finished.

It’s no secret now that I am participating in the book launch blog hop for Kelly Young’s, My Quilt Infatuation, latest book “Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs which will be released on June 21st. My quilt made for this book launch is a Finally Finished and I am very excited to share it along with the other quilters who are participating in this book launch. This is another great book by Kelly and has converted this once pieced-back resister.

And to show how inspiring the book is, instead of backing Sushi Shuffle with just the black and gray Stof fabric which was my original intention when I bought the fabric, I did a pieced backing using the leftover strip panels and fabric chunks. The way I see it, I needed to use up the scraps, as encouraged in “Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs” and not put them away in the Teal Box because I don’t need another future project. I plan on staying away from this box for awhile. It feels good to spend just a little more time and thought into my quilt backings and making it a nicer Finally Finished.

Here’s are close-up pics of the machine quilting with straight and wavy lines using CT Essential Thread in Stone The binding done by machine was with the Basic Grey black and taupe print. Sushi Shuffle measures 56” x 80” (approx.)

I always like to close my posts with a “glamour” shot of the quilt and thought Sushi Shuffle would look nice in front of a Sushi restaurant. Unfortunately, there isn’t one close by so this one is made possible by PicMonkey. The colors in this quilt does go with the restaurant, doesn’t it? Knowing the reason why I’m using Sushi, I didn’t think it would be pretty if I used a photo of Outhouses, right?  Now that my May Misbehaving may be over, it’s time to put together my flimsy for my other mmmust-do, the Rainbow Neighborhood QAL parade scheduled for the end of June. We’ll be leaving soon for a vacation in the mountains and I’ll be visiting The Fabric Nook to see if they have more Stof fabrics to add to the Teal Box.

Wishing everyone a Safe and Happy Memorial Day Holiday.

Linking up with:My Quilt Infatuation/NTT