Happy Bubbles

I had planned on my Happy Bubbles quilt to be the first one finished for the New Year since I always like to begin with a colorful quilt, but Love 2024 took precedent. After Love 2024 was first finished, Happy Bubbles was ready for machine quilting since I had pin basted it before we left for the GP House. I know it’s way too early to say this, but Happy Bubbles is my favorite finish so far.

Last year, when I participated in Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation’s book launch of her Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, I have been wanting to make her Bubble Bath quilt which was one of the 18 bonus quilt patterns. Besides being a fun pattern, I had purchased in. November, 2022, Carrie Bloomston Happy fabric collection of 24 pieces which was perfect to use for Happy Bubbles. I bet you can guess how I came up with the quilt name which I, of course, hummed “Tiny Bubbles” during the merry making. BTW, I’ve made several quilts with my stash of Carrie Bloomston fabrics but this is the first time I’ve made a quilt exclusively with just one collection.

I didn’t have enough of one light print to use for the background/sashing so I used the two above on the right. The grid print was used for the connecting corners and the scribble print was used for the sashing. The focus print on the left was used for all of the large bubbles.

There are three bubble sizes and I separated the fabrics i.e., prints were for the medium bubbles and the grid and colorwash colors were for the small bubbles.

Once the bubbles and sashings were laid out and segments sewn, assembling the quilt top was easy as the diagrams and instructions to do this was clear and understandable. What I like about Kelly’s patterns is that her patterns look complicated but really are simple. I will confess, that after all the bubble blocks were made, I did not want to sew another connecting square for awhile.

Once the top was sewn, I thought using two different backgrounds didn’t seem to blend as well I would have liked, so I added a 2.5” border of the grid print, which I think ties the backgrounds together better.

Of course, I had to make a pieced backing since I had leftover blocks. Luckily, the bottom half of the backing was already sewn for another project but ended up not being used and has been sitting in the backing vault.

I machine quilted with soft, meandering horizontal lines spaced 1” apart with silver Aurifil thread. Although I really didn’t want to use the main focus print for the binding, it was the right choice. Happy Bubbles measures 52” x 72”. The rainbow-loving, darling Granddaughter will be receiving this quilt as well as another one to be made with the leftovers. I have to confess that although I did say in a previous post that I didn’t want any fabric for Christmas, guess what, I did purchase, through the generosity of a gift card from Demando, Carrie Bloomston latest collection “Found” which is her first batik collection and would also look great with this pattern.

Kelly’s first book Stash Statement was released in 2018 and the quilt I wanted to make back then from this book was the Murrina quilt which reminds me of the Bubble Bath pattern. Kelly has announced that this book (originally published by Martingale and no longer in business, the rights have now been purchased by Fox Chapel/Landauer who published Kelly’s last two books Scrappy Improv Quilting and Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs) will be re-released in April with a new cover and in addition to the twelve patterns, there will be three new ones. Not an affiliate link, but I’ve already preordered a copy.

We’ve had real, real cold and snowy Winter weather, typical of January this week and there was no way I could ask the Master Quilt Holder if we could take a glamour photo outside. Also, I really didn’t want to go outside either. I think this inside pic looks nice. There’s going to be a warm up in a few days which will be much appreciated although I will admit cold weather always makes great sewing conditions. I do have a few more finishes before January ends.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

 

Goodbye 2023 and Hello 2024

It’s almost the middle of January and I am finally ready to say goodbye 2023 and ushering 2024 with my first Finally Finish of my LOVE 2024 wall quilt. Since we were at the GP House since Christmas Eve and not returning until January 4th, I wasn’t ready to post my 2023 tally which I will share later in this Post.

When I was preparing for our extended stay at the GP House, I decided to take an unexpected UFO which I found while working on another project for Country Threads 2023/24 Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. I’m not sure if this was really an UFO since all I did was tie the pattern to some hand-dye fabrics with a backing fabric together and it laid underneath my big basting table which has eight shelves underneath full of fabrics, scraps, UFOs and fabric pulls. It’s been sitting on the shelf for almost ten years when I first intended to make this when my youngest son and his then wife purchased their first home. They painted each room of their house in different, bright colors so I thought this would be a perfect wall hanging. I never got around to making this and may have been a good thing since a divorce happened almost two years ago. After coming across this bundle, I thought it would be a good project to work on and made quite a few changes which I may not have not done if I made this earlier. First, instead of piecing the blocks using freezer paper templates for the letter blocks, I decided that my piecing would be more accurate if I made FPP for each letter even though it meant tracing the letters backward on a light box using newsprint plus doing this twenty-four times, six for each letter. Another change made was to use Shot and Pepper Cotton instead of the hand-dye fabrics since the colors were more vibrant.

I like FPP and this is the third project in 2023 which I used this technique and you think this would come easy for me but it doesn’t because I always forget there is a sequence and how I start is to fold all of the seam and cutting lines and the first patch should always be cut to size with a 1/4” seam allowance. This makes sewing the patches so much easier. I thought by writing this I would remember this for the next time.

I started these blocks on New Year’s Eve and all twenty-four blocks were finished by the time we left which was somewhat of a surprise since the darling granddaughter was with us ten out of the eleven days and usually in the same room as I was in. The distractions were minimal as long as I took a break to color with her. I should mention that for each set of letters, I used cool fabrics for three and warm fabrics for the other three to make sure the colors were balanced as well as planning on using two cool and two warm color letters for each word.  I did not plan for LOVE 2024 to be my first finish for the year but thought since I always like to start the New Year with a bright and colorful project plus I didn’t want to leave these blocks laying around for too long and decided to continue working on this after we came home since I had the momentum.

I made a slight change with the sashing by using only cornerstones in the center sashing. I’m pretty sure the color used was Kona Yarrow which is fun to say if you’re a Pirate wannabe. Another small change was to put the four larger border blocks in the corner instead in the middle of the top and bottom border.

And the last change made was the original backing chosen almost ten years ago (left) was replaced because I thought the colors were not bold enough as the top so I found a Libby Lehman Threadplay print which I am pretty sure is over ten years old

One of the things I noticed about the LOVE pattern was that Mary Etherington made this in 2013 and machine quilted it with straight lines which may have been “new” at that time, especially continuing it through the borders. Mary is one of the reasons why I started to  quilt with straight lines and was able to see you can do this with both modern and traditional quilts.

I machine-quilted with a Coats & Clark golden tan thread, 3/4” apart which went well except for the right side which looks a little wonky. I was ready to finally do a scrappy binding like the pattern but then remembered that I had Kaffe Fassett stripes so I used a fat quarter which was just enough. Because this stripe had warm tones, I did not use any gold or yellow squares in the border. LOVE 2024 measures 31”x44”. Sadly, the LOVE pattern is no longer available from Mary Etherington/Country Threads.

I have to mention two funny stories relating to this quilt, Green Bay Packers and Kaffe Fassett fabrics. The first story is living near Chicago and rooting for the Bears, while I was finishing the LOVE 2024 flimsy, the Bears were playing their  arch rival, the Packers whose Quarterback’s last name is Love. The Packers did win and I want to say that my LOVE quilt played no part in this. I did send an email to Quilt Sista Roseanne, Home Sewn By Us who is a diehard Packers fan. The second story is that earlier this year, someone contacted me after reading my Blog to see if I would be willing to sell her some of my Kaffe stripe scraps as she was making a jacket. Before I communicate with anyone I don’t know, I do some background digging on FB and found that she lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I replied I would be happy to send her some at no charge but would she have a problem with them being from a die-hard Chicago Bear Fan. Not at all she said and mentioned that perhaps we could meet at a Bears/Packer game which I promptly confessed that I’m really not a die-hard fan and was only joking. Her reply  was that in all the many years she lived in Green Bay, she has never attended a game. I was busted but did feel I should have reported her to the Packers. It’s fun meeting Blog Buddies, isn’t it.

I do like making blocks with letters which had me thinking of the possibility of making another version of LOVE 2024 but using other four letter words. I have to confess that I thought of this when I was saying or thinking a bad four letter word (depending if the darling granddaughter was around) beginning with S whenever I made a mistake which was often at the start. This had me thinking there are a lot of other nice four letters important to me this year and I chose four, if and when, I make another wall quilt which are LOVE, HOME, HOPE and VOTE. It would be easy to design the letters based on LOVE and I only need to draft them on my trusty graph paper.

Now for my 2023 Tally:

31 Finally Finishes:    19 Lap Size or Larger

                                    12 Baby/Wall/Runners

Flimsies                        3

One of these Flimsies I was planning on this to be my first finish for 2024 but now I will be getting it ready for quilting later.

I did not include in the count several place mats and a small wall hanging. If you’re interested in seeing the quilts you can click on this Link.

I didn’t  compile a Best Five or Top Nine list because I really am pleased with all of my finishes this year and for me 2023 sure felt like a long creative year. 

We expecting a big snowstorm tomorrow which will delay our trip to the GP House but I am so looking forward to what I call great sewing conditions. Happy Belated New Years!

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

Merry Finishes and Makings for December

 

‘Twas just a few days before we leave to celebrate Christmas week at the GP House and my two projects for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge are finished. The quilt on the right was my December UFO and the quilt on the left is an extra finish which I will explain later.

Rec-tango is based on Alexa Abegg, Ruby Star Society, Swatch quilt pattern which I saw on Pinterest and I made the flimsie back in March of 2020. This was one of the twelve flimsies I made back then and I now have only three flimsies left to machine quilt.

I really loved this pattern with the simple pairing of two fabrics similar in color vertically to create the stripe look. 

I knew I wouldn’t have any problems finding fourteen fat quarter in my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash and I changed the measurements so I could die-cut the rectangles using my 3”x6”(f) die.

Vertical straight and wavey line quilting was done using an Aurifil medium gray thread. The Waverly gray  print was used for the backing and is one of my favorite to use for modern quilts. I was planning on using the light purple cross print for the binding when the flimsy was made but decided to use the gray strip instead since I thought it accented the prints better. Rec-tango measures 42”x 60”.

 

Since I still had some time left, I decided to machine quilt the Sidewalk Quilt which was a flimsy made in March and was part of my 2021/22 Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO finishes. It was an UFO projects which I had rows of charm squares from Riley Blake’s Sidewalk fabrics and brown strips from Windham/Bari Ackerman Country Lane collection ready to be sewn together for more than five years. My plan was to back this flimsy with a light pink plush since I wanted an easy and fast finish but then I purchased Jinny Janome and wasn’t sure how she would like machine quilting plush fabrics. 

Since machine quilting Rec-tango with the straight and wavey lines went well, I decided that the Sidewalk Quilt would be a regular quilt with batting and backing and quilted it the same way but horizontally.  I knew that I had several prints in my brown stash which could be used for the backing and chose the large daisies which I thought was whimsical like the prints in the Sidewalk collection. Would you believe I purchased four charm packs of this collection many moons ago and I’m pretty sure a Craftsy sales was involved. Like with Rec-tango, I made a binding change since my original plan was to use the brown stripe but changed to a brown check which I thought would accent the quilt better. Sidewalks measures 40” x 52”.

I just love making quilts which showcase the fabrics with simple cuts. I will be adding these two to my ever growing Baby Boomer Blankie collection.

Another Merry Finish was the Chair Runner which in my last post was just a flimsy. Machine grid line quilting with a white thread went well. I am just pleased with how this turned out and the 20” x 72” size fits perfectly on the wingback chair. I know I will be making more of these but not too many since I already drape quilts over my chairs and sofas. Maybe I can come up with something for my Queen Anne dining room chairs.

Here’s a sneak peek of My Merry Making for this month which was making this flimsy from My Quilt Infatuation’s Bubble Bath pattern with Carrie Bloomston’s Happy Collection. It’s a combination DrEAMi and a project listed in my 2022/23 CT DD UFO Challenge. A pieced back is already made and I’m planning on this being the first quilt to be machine quilted in 2024.

And if there was any mischief, it would be coming across some C+S/RSS scraps and wanting to die-cut more HSTs and strips so I can make the quilt on the right even though I should have been finishing my UFO quilt. I was easily distracted this month because I kept finding projects and stash I wanted to sew. I really surprised Hubby by telling him that I didn’t want any fabric for Christmas and just wanted a new cutting mat.

And per usual, when I knit, I need to have three projects going despite one of them being a Christmas present. I had a pretty productive December even with being at home for only half of the month. We already celebrated Hubby’s birthday which marked with some illness and very much sadness with the passing of my beloved Granddoggy Duke. I am looking forward to the remaining days in December with celebrating Christmas, another birthday and, of course, spending time with the precious Granddaughter. In the event of a lull, I will be bringing some sewing and knitting projects with me.

Kharma Khameleon, A Baby Boomer Blankie

As mentioned in my previous Post, Karma came knocking via an email from Sandra asking if I would like to be a pattern tester for her latest pattern Sunset Strip.  Like her previous patterns I have tested or made, Sunset Strip was a fun make. The pattern is for two sizes: Throw and Crib and I tested the Crib Size. I’ve proven once again that I can’t quite follow a pattern as I’m always looking for ways to sew easy and quick so maybe I’m a pattern interpreter. Today, Sandra, mmmquilts is releasing Sunset Strip and you can click on these links to read her Post about the making of her quilt and to see the pattern in her Etsy shop with a special launch price of $5.41. You might see how I “interpret” her Sunset Strip pattern.

Before I agreed to be a pattern tester, I had to make sure that I had fabric in my stash already and am happy to have found yardage of a Free Spirit print, Dance Moves, by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I had purchased this fabric earlier this year when I was in Maine and enjoyed a fabric buying spree with good Quilt Sista  Kathleen McMusing at Mardens in Scarborough. I knew I wanted to use this wonderful Citronickle print for the background. When I first saw Sandra’s Sunset Strip which is a wonderful pattern with negative space to showcase beautiful machine quilting, I knew I had to find a background print to make up for my lackluster machine quilting. Happily, I knew Dance Moves would be perfect. 

I’ve always say when I have to choose under ten fabrics for a quilt, it takes me forever like several days which was true for Kharma Khameleon. I wanted to use my Basic Grey Grunge stash and it took three layouts until I was happy with the final fabric choice. I decided to add the black window print which almost looks the same as the black squares in the Dance Moves print and gave it the color punch I needed  to make these circle blocks pop.

As mentioned earlier in this Post, I am confessing that I constructed the blocks differently because I happened to have an Accuquilt die (not an affiliate link) which allowed me to make  the “O” blocks even faster. I did let Sandra know what I planned to do and she approved. This die can be used as a signature block and O and X blocks also known as Hugs and Kisses.

And another way to make Kharma Khameleon a quick make was deciding to back it only with Minky, no batting. I had just the right shade of green and yardage in my stash. You can see above I basted with just long straight pins.

Machine quilting  was quick with wavey lines spaced 4” apart using a lime polyester thread and a ball point Jersey needle. I could say there was nothing but good karma in the making but you can see in the lower right pic I miscalculated how much binding of the black print I needed. I can’t say enough how much I love backing my flimsies with Minky/plush fabric. When I do this, I call it a Throw for an Adult size and a blankie for a baby/child.

I have to mention how I came up with the name Kharma Khameleon Baby Boomer Blankie.  In previous Posts about making smaller quilts, I said that they would be nice to give to friends who are retiring and the size is right for keeping our legs warm when sitting outside or in the car. Let’s say this small size “sits well”. Most of my friends are Baby Boomers, as I am, and being that I like alliteration in my quilt names, I had to call Kharma Khameleon a Baby Boomer Blankie. Kharma Khameleon is what I came up with while I was basting the quilt and admiring the Dance Moves fabric once again and wondering what a chameleon would look like against it. I started singing Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and maybe busting a few dance moves. Despite  already chosen two other names for this quilt, Squircle Alley and Huggsville,  Kharma Khameleon just sang to me. I have a connection to Boy George, being that two of the men in my family have birthdays the same day as famous musician/composers; one shares a birthday with Beethoven and the other with Paul McCartney. I wondered if I shared a birthday too with a famous musician and learned that mine was with Boy George. Am I lucky or what? While I was finishing Kharma Khameleon and Hubby wondering why I was singing a blast from the past, probably thought I was going to ask him to put this song on his Band’s playlist, decided to look it up online and found an explanation for the lyrics. “Basically, if you aren’t true, if you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.” This message still resonates today and I think I can apply this thought to why I prefer to make easy quilts, if I’m making a quilt I find too challenging or not my style, then my seams aren’t going to line up or my sewing machine is going to act up. I do believe in quilt karma.

Kharma Khameleon measures 38” x 44” which I have to mention again it’s a nice size which sits well.  I am ready to rock my first official Baby Boomer Blankie. This is really a fast make and a wonderful gift for yourself, family or friends, just in time for the holidays. I am finding out that I don’t have too many baby quilts to make anymore but I do have Boomers who might need or want a blankie. Do check out Sandra’s post and you will see the quilts from the other pattern testers, Tish, Carol and Michelle Peet.

Here are the links once again:

Sandra’s Post: https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/12/sunset-strip-pattern-release.html

Sunset Strip Pattern: https://sandrajanequilts.etsy.com/ca/listing/1626014691/sunset-strip-pdf-quilt-pattern-throw

Sew-vember

I only had one project that was a must sew this month and thankfully was an easy finish for November’s Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. I already had the strips cut from Lily & Loom’s High Sea fabrics for several years for another strip pattern but since I’ve been on a Rambling Rows kick, I couldn’t resist making another one.

I purchased the High Seas fabrics years ago when Craftsy sold fabrics. I decided to make a smaller version of the Rambling Rows quilt since I also had a three yard piece of the dark blue whale pattern which would be perfect for the backing. I added several Basic Grey Grunge and print fabrics to the mix because you can never have enough variety.

A different variation to the Rambling Rows pattern was to only use the dark whale print for the rectangle blocks in two widths. 

The High Seas Rambling Rows quilt measures 48”x64”. This was an easy make with the usual wavey and straight line machine quilt with the blue gray Aurifil thread. Only two problems, the first one being that I did not follow my rule of always buying yardage for binding when purchasing a precut bundle. I was happy to have found the  triangle check in the perfect shades of blue in my blue stash.

The second problem was that I did not noticed until after I pieced the backing that there were numerous brown stains in several areas. This coupled with piecing the batting which I don’t like to do made me decide that there would be only one person who I would feel comfortable giving this quilt to and who also is my favorite person to bequeath one is the darling granddaughter..and don’t I alway make her a Christmas quilt? I’ll be bringing it to the GP House this weekend so she can muck it up so I can wash it and hopefully these brown stains will wash out. Not an affiliate link but the Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray is a wonderful laundry tool.

No glamour outside photo High Seas because of the below freezing weather we had for the past few days; neither  the Master Quilt Holder nor I weren’t ready yet to brave the cold weather. I should mention that the High Seas Rambling Rows quilt was finally finished until last weekend due to some other projects not planned or maybe took precedent over like a “Dreamii” which replaced the “NO” in Sew-vember.

First project to interrupt High Seas which I thought would be okay since this is a Mary Etherington/Country Threads pattern is the Baby Bullseye. There were several days of pulling and cutting fabrics and definitely will be a Post for another day. I will mention that the Peeps and I who did the original Bullseye Quilt almost twenty-four years ago are back together to make this one.  We did exchange fabrics again with the rule of modern prints and no calicos even though it’s popular again. I will also say that we were a little bit more “ornery” or loose with the pattern which may be due to the fact we were twenty-four years younger and less experienced than we are now. This is definitely going to take me awhile to finish and I can’t wait to finish this quilt and write a Post about it since I need to “narc” on the Peeps.

While I was sewing my own busy-ness with the Baby Bullseye blocks, karma came knocking with an e-mail from Sandra, mmm quilts asking me if I wanted to do a pattern test which if you read any of my previous posts, I don’t do well but I have a lot of fun. Here’s a sneak peek which I will post my finish once Sandra does the pattern release of Sunset Strip in early December.

Demando reminded me that he needed a Christmas table runner so after High Seas Rambling Rows was finished I spent some time digging in my Christmas stash for prints he would like. I thought I would make him a Winter quilt using Holly Taylor’s Moose, Bear and Pine Cone prints in quiet colors of forest greens and maroons but No, he wanted cheery and bright and really liked the red trees which I think is an Anne Kelle print so I relented by making the above one which measures 18” x 40”.  I love the combination of this print with Stacey Hsu, Victoria Findley-Wolf, Cotton+Steel, etc, all of them scraps which I love plus using scrap batting. I like to mention while digging through the Thimbleberries, Basic Grey and Sweetwater Christmas stash, I now have two more Rambling Rows quilts I want to make.

While I was digging through the Christmas stash, I came across leftover blocks and scraps from the Hoot and Loot Quilt which I thought was made last year but instead in 2020. Is it just me but the last few years seem to blend into just last year. 

I thought I would be making this for the GP House where the Hoot and Loot Quilt resides for Christmas but I realized, unexpectedly, that this would be perfect to hang next to the Tannis Keene quilt. During my sewing blitz, I managed to set aside some hours to take down the Fall Quilts and put up the Christmas/Winter quilts. I had decided that I couldn’t hang the Tannis quilt on the double front doors because I didn’t have another quilt which would complement it in color and prints so I left it out and was going to give it to Demando who was just over yesterday to pick up his Christmas runner. I forgot about offering this to him and glad I did because late last night I realized the Hoot and Loot Quilt would be perfect and it’s the same size as the Tannis Keefe quilt. I don’t have a pic of the two together in the front hallway as the lighting is just too dark. I am so glad my subconscious but conscience Quilt Mind who knows when I need to sew the right thing. I came up with a name for my alter-ego who I’ll refer to as Eunice, a combination of you and nice and means Victory, sew fitting, don’t you think? Oooh, does this mean, I would be refer to as Medieval….sewing Medieval would not be a problem for me.

I thought I would close this post with last night’s flimsy made during the waning hours of my Sew-vember. During the merry decorating in my living room which has several Cotton+Steel Christmas quilts, Eunice decided another Cotton+Steel Quilt but instead a chair runner size was needed. I made this with 4.5” squares from the Cotton+Steel scraps and measures 20”x72” which will fit perfectly on the chair, no folding needed if it were a quilt and a lot quicker to make. I’ll be quilting this upon my return from the GP House unless Eunice and her pals, the Studio Squirrels, decide on  another project.