March 2020 OMG

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

My March 2020 One Monthly Goal is to make a high school graduation quilt top for my great-nephew, Hayden. Over the last few months, I’ve been accumulating fabrics to use in this quilt with the theme primarily being camping which is a major family activity/interest, but I’ve also purchased some fabrics that reflect some of his other interests such as fishing, bicycling, and cowboy hats and boots. Below are some of the 5” squares that I’ve cut. I will need a total of 54 squares, so I will be cutting 2-4 squares from 18 different fabrics.

I needed to fussy cut most of the above squares which I both love (for the opportunity to feature specific items) and dislike (because of how much fabric I end up wasting). I do have a fussy cutting tip to share that I learned from the amazing Elizabeth Hartman at Glamp Stitchalot 2016. For my 5” squares, I cut 4.5” squares of freezer paper and centered the square over the image I wanted to cut and then pressed the freezer paper square shiny side down. Then I placed my ruler on the square and added a 1/4” seam allowance around each side to get a 5” fussy cut square. See my deer fabric below after cutting two squares and getting ready to cut one more. I’ve been watching a lot of old Great British Baking Show episodes on Netflix, and the bakers often talk about feeling “gutted.” That’s what I feel I do to my fabric when I fussy cut!

I will be using Amy Ellis’ Soirée Quilt Pattern for Hayden’s quilt, but I will be cutting all of the snowball triangles from one fabric (Kona Cadet) and the white in Amy’s pattern will be Kona Windsor.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: March 2020 OMG.

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Stargazer (Modified) Quilt Finished

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have a favorite finish to share on Meadow Mist Designs: Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup – February 2020.

It is my modified Stargazer quilt which I started last year through participation in Rebecca Bryan’s Block of the Month program. I originally was going to use the main colorway in blue, green, and turquoise fabrics (after all, anyone who knows me is aware those are some of my very favorite colors). Take a look at Rebecca’s finished Stargazer quilt. Isn’t it awesome!?! I decided to switch out the green solids for purple solids because purple is the favorite color of my best friend (also named Mary) who is the recipient of this quilt.

I completed all the units and cut the base triangles cut by the end of December, and on first day of 2020, I started to sew the chevron arms of the quilt top together but struggled getting the seams to line up, and I wasn’t having fun (I realized after the fact that if I had nested my seams rather than pressing them open, I would’ve had an easier time).

I spent a little time looking at Modern Triangle Quilts (also by Rebecca Bryan), and that night, when I couldn’t sleep well at all, I started redesigning in my head the chevron sections of my soon-to-be-modified Stargazer quilt, using some quarter base triangle units from Rebecca’s book, which would also eliminate the matching of many other seams of the blocks that surround the chevron units. I eventually decided to modify the Stargazer quilt highlighting the block I like best (Rebecca calls it the Starbucks block) using purple and blue solids.

I had the quilt top done by mid-January and sent it out for quilting to Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting, choosing the Pick-Up Sticks quilting pattern to accentuate the variety of angles in my modified Stargazer quilt, and using a pretty wide-back batik fabric for both the backing and binding. Below are several pics I took this morning at our local plaza park. The third photo which shows the full quilt hanging straight really is too dark, but I like how it highlights the center of the quilt.

 

And here’s a pic of the back of the quilt on the dry winter grass.

My friend, Mary, is on a trip and will return on Monday. I can’t wait to give this finished quilt to her!

I’m also linking up to Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday being hosted this week by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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To-Do Tuesday #28 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

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February 2020 One Monthly Goal Finish

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

My February 2020 One Monthly Goal was to finish my Glimmers of Gold quilt top for my friend, Karla, who will be awarded her Doctorate in Education from Denver University this May. The long title for this project is Shades of Grey, Patches of Black, and Glimmers of Gold to describe Karla’s journey toward the achievement of this amazing accomplishment. The pattern is Sea Glass from the Sew Kind of Wonderful Mini Wonderful Curves book. It was designed to be a wall-hanging, but Glimmers of Gold is a small throw-size at 43” X 49.5”.

Below is a pic I took of Glimmers of Gold Swatch page in my Quilter’s Planner. I wish I could say that I do this with every project, but truth be told, this is the first time I’ve done this. I think it is interesting to look at how all the greys compare with each other.

I finished my Glimmers of Gold quilt top on Saturday. Overall it sewed up pretty easily though there are certainly a few seams that aren’t perfectly matched. (Like I’ve ever had a project that didn’t have any misaligned seams!!!) The Sea Glass pattern instructions recommend pressing the seams open when sewing the units into rows and then sewing the rows together. That’s generally how I press, but I did try one new thing with this project. I read a tip  by @blossomheartquilts on Instagram about using a finger presser to keep seams straight, so I ordered a Clover Finger Presser, and I found it helpful to open up the seams prior to pressing.

I will be sending it off today to The Modern Quilting Company (used to be My Long Arm Quilting Service), and the quilting pattern I’ve chosen is called Parallel Journey which I think is perfect for this project!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Feb 2020 OMG Finishes.

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To-Do Tuesday #27 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

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To-Do Tuesday #26 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

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I Love Triangles!

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

My friend, Sarah, with Sarah Goer Quilts, has a fun monthly Linky party called Show Me Something. The theme this month is triangles. I decided to write a reprise post about my three favorite triangle projects. I’m going to start with my Blue Ombré HST quilt that I made in 2017 for my great-nephew, Jimmy, when he graduated from high school. This incredible pattern was designed by Sarah Goer, and it launched my love for color gradient projects. I blogged about this quilt in my Onward and Upward post, which also features another HST quilt that I made for Jimmy’s twin sister, Rachel.

The next project I want to include in this reprise post is the quilt I made for my stepdaughter, Alisha, when she married her wife, Wendy, in 2018. To learn more about this quilt, please see my Wedding Whirl Finished! and Wedding Whirl Quilt Top Finished posts. This was my first experience making paper-pieced half-square triangles which has become my preferred method for making HSTs.

And the last triangle quilt I want to share again is my Tranquility quilt which is on my bed right now. See my Tranquility Quilt Finished! post for details about this paper-pieced half-rectangle quilt that I made in 2019.

Linking up to Sarah Goer Quilts: Show Me Something with Triangles Linkup.

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To-Do Tuesday #25 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

To-Do for the week of January 28th-February 4th:

  1. Make a label for my Medallion Lanterns quilt. – √ Done
  2. Machine sew the binding for Medallion Lanterns on the front of the quilt and start hand-stitching it down on the back of the quilt.  – √ Done
  3. Write my One Monthly Goal post for February.– √ Done

To-Do #1/2

I got my quilt back from Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting on Thursday, and she did a lovely job quilting it with a simple motif called Serpentine. I had the quilt label ready (see photo of the label on the back of the quilt in the second pic below) and on Friday, I got this monster of a quilt  (91.5” x 96.5”) trimmed and the basting stitches removed around the 376” perimeter of the quilt. On Saturday I got the binding machine stitched to the front of the quilt and started hand-stitching it the back. And on Sunday, I finished hand-stitching the binding watching a marathon of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix and a little Super Bowl pre-game show. Woo hoo! The photo below shows my cat, Bug, on the quilt which was almost finished when she jumped up on the bed for the glamorous cat-on-quilt pic.

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February 2020 OMG

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

I’m very excited about my February 2020 One Monthly Goal. Karla, who is a long-time friend of mine, will be awarded her Doctorate in Education from Denver University this May. She is an exceedingly classy woman, and when I visited her house in Denver in January, I loved her redone living room in grey, black, and gold. It looks totally classy, just like my friend! I felt inspired to make her a small throw quilt to celebrate her amazing accomplishment and thought about Karla’s journey that included shades of grey, patches of black, and glimmers of gold. I had fun picking fabrics in this color palette and decided that I wanted to make a quilt out of the Mini Wonderful Curves book. All of the projects in the book use the Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Mini Ruler. I’ve used the larger Quick Curve Ruler but hadn’t used the mini before. Fortunately it didn’t have much of a learning curve (ha!ha!). The four-inch units are quick to make, and I’ve made over 100 so far experimenting with different color and fabric/texture combinations. Below is a pic of the work in progress:

The pattern is called Sea Glass, and it is designed to be a wall-hanging. Mine will be a bit bigger at 42” X 49”. I’ll list all the fabrics used in my finish post at the end of the month. I plan to add one more fabric that isn’t shown in photo above. My February OMG is to get this quilt top completed.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: February 2020 OMG.

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To-Do Tuesday #24 Weekly Progress Update

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Quilting is in my Blood

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

To-Do for the week of January 21st-January 27th:

  1. Make one more tree block to donate to the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild in Australia who are collecting tree-themed blocks for families who have lost their homes from the Australian bushfires. – √ Done
  2.  Quilt (very simply) eight Reel Time mug rugs and finish them using the “cheater binding” method (See Last Week’s Post for details).  – √ Done
  3. Make 12 Solstice BOM Month 1 units.– √ Done

To-Do #1

The pine tree block below was made using a free tutorial from Sherri@A Quilting Life, and it uses traditional piecing. It sewed up quickly, and I think I will probably make this block again. Sherri made hers into a cute Christmas patchwork pillow surrounding the block with a border of bright squares of Christmas fabric.

To-Do #2

These eight mug rugs weren’t quite as quick to finish, but they didn’t take too long. I just quilted simple diagonal lines. I used 2.5” squares, so the four-patches were 4.5” square. I cut 6.5” squares of the backing fabric that I flipped over for binding.

To-Do #3

I made strip sets for my Solstice BOM Month 1 blocks and decided to get the Creative Grids 60 degrees Equilateral Triangle ruler to trim to 8” triangles, rather than using a handmade plastic template. It made trimming the triangles a breeze! I formed a hexagon with these Month 1 triangles stacked in pairs and placed the hexagon in front of the panel that I will use on the back of the quilt.

To-Do for the week of January 28th-February 4th

  1. Make a label for my Medallion Lanterns quilt which I should be getting back from Sew Shabby Quilting this week.
  2. Machine sew the binding for Medallion Lanterns on the front of the quilt and start hand-stitching it down on the back of the quilt.
  3. Write my One Monthly Goal post for February. I have a brand-new project that I’ve started working on that I will share in that post and then of course you will all get blow-by-blow updates in my weekly To-Do Tuesday posts!

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #25.

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