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

Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt: Another Ernie Quilt Finally Finished

It's been awhile since I've made an Ernie Quilt and it's one of my favorite patterns because I just love making quilts with 2.5" strips.  I've had the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton and Woven Stripes strips die-cut and ready to sew since last year and finally had the opportunity to make this quilt since buying my new, sweet, very portable Juki HZL-70 HWA sewing machine which meant I am now able to sew in the kitchen while watching TV, a cause for much of my quilting downtime.

I posted several times about Ernie quilts HERE, THERE and IN BETWEEN.

While my Postcard from Sweden Quilt was being made, (you can read about it here), I started working on the Kaffe Stripe Quilt because I was loving the Shot Cottons and knew I had this project on the back burner--talk about constant Kaffe.  I consider this to be a DREAMi project and finally have something to cross out from one of my project lists I made too many of for this year.

I have to show you my "No Rose, You Didn't" backing for this quilt.  I do not like making pieced backings. To me it's just like making another quilt top and when I'm in a hurry to finish a quilt, I don't want to sew another quilt top.  I have a pile of quilt tops laying around in my studio and I knew laying in the pile was an 84" square top made from big patches of Kaffe fabric which may have been a modified Turning Twenty pattern, a pattern when it was first released, I couldn't stop making them.  It took me a couple of hours to remove some of the rows of this quilt top so I could use it for the backing since I really didn't have anything else in my stash vault that would be as neat as this quilt top was and besides I've come down with a slight case of not wanting to buy any new fabric (I hope this "virus" goes away real soon). Who knew five years ago I was making a future quilt backing when I made this top.  I just love the big purple cabbages. I'm thinking I may have made several quilt backings already and may be making more now without knowing it.

I don't usually talk about the color thread I use for machine quilting because I not very good at choosing a color and I mostly quilt with a light gray.  I knew gray wasn't going to work well with this quilt and luckily I had in my Connecting Threads Essential Thread stash (no affiliate link here) a spool of the Fawn thread which is an apricot beige thread which worked very well with blending in with the many colors in this quilt.  I am loving the quilting which sewed like butter on my Juki 2010Q and I could have finished the quilting in one sitting if I didn't have to go to bed at 3am in the morning--I didn't want to stop.  The quilt is bound with a solid Chartreuse Shot Cotton which was the only solid color that I had enough for the binding and fortunately worked very well.

I was really hoping to take a perfect photo of my Kaffe Fassett Stripe Quilt while in Myrtle Beach; one with it laying on the sand, sunset on the sea with a whale breaching in the background, perfectly centered on the horizon (just for Sandra) but it was not to be had--the wind was something fierce--20 to 30 mph.  It wasn't fun for the Master Quilt Holder on the balcony nor could the quilt stay on the railing at the beach. The best photos were taken either in the elevator lobby or inside the condo where we were staying.  Plus, there was no way I was going to lay it on the sand since I had visions of it parasailing over the Atlantic Ocean and onto the whale's back (again this vision prompted by Sandra's request and maybe to make it a tale, Louise (Quilt Odyssey) will rescue it during her sea travels).

I had planned to sew the binding while traveling to Myrtle Beach, but I ended up finally finishing the quilt right before we left (I'm beginning to like the look of machine sewn binding).  I definitely wanted to take photos of this quilt and my Postcard from Sweden Quilt here in warm, sunny weather since we're experiencing far too little of it in the Midwest as you can see from this photo taken on a snowy Sunday, the day before we left.  I really put the Master Quilt Holder to the test when I kept repeating to make sure the quilt does not touch the ground and get wet.  He did a practice stoop down before we went outside.  I think the quilt photographed better in Myrtle Beach, despite the wind, don't you agree?

I do hope you check out the links for the Ernie Quilts, especially the first one since it's about my dear friend Mary Etherington who started me on my Ernie adventures.  Like the old commercial saying goes "Try It, You'll Like It!".

Hubby and I will be traveling back home this Friday and look what awaits me when I return, my Dot Dot Dash blocks from Christa Watson's Piece and Quilt with Precuts book which were made during upstairs sewing time with my sweet little Juki. Also, Sandra of mmm! Quilts will be starting her Second Annual Quilt Along: Adult Plus Playtime Quilt, (you can read about it here) on April 24th. I had a fun time doing her Free Fall QAL last year and this year's pattern is not going to disappoint since I'll be using some of my Alison Glass Chroma fabrics. I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove since there's not much sewing happening in Myrtle Beach because I wanted to give my hands some rest.

And one more thing, this Sunday, April 22nd, I'll be posting my project for the 30 Quilt Block in 30 Days Blog Hop so I hope you'll check it out. (you can see it here)

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

A Finally Finished: Postcards from Sweden

My Postcard from Sweden quilt is finally finished so I'm happy to post since it seems that finally finishes have been few and far between for me this year. I know the linky party hosted by Sandra of mmm! Quilts isn't until next week (April 18th) but I wanted to post about it today for several reasons but mainly because it is a big finish for me.

Hubby and I took advantage of the glorious sunshine today to take photos at the walking path by the neighborhood playground and it would have been perfect if Windy didn't decide to tag along.

So far in 2018, I have participated or am participating in five QAL and I'm pretty proud that I have stayed on schedule with them despite having a few squirrels and one blogger (clue: she's hosting the Postcard QAL) distracting me.  I have to say my participating in the Postcard from Sweden QAL was erratically consistent, I was either early starting with the sewing of the HSTS, really behind in sewing the rows together due to a visit to the Granddaughter and then finally pushing to getting the top and the quilting done (an extra week was added to the schedule) during the past few days only to be early.  

The making of the Postcard quilt was made possible by:

• my stash of Kaffe Fassett shot cottons which have been waiting patiently for the right project to use them
• my Sizzie die-cutter--thank you 4-1/2" HST die
• my having a supply of 5" cardboard squares to make color cards and them little white labels to help keep the HSTs in order.  I only made one HST wrong but when you think about it, would anyone had noticed
• my big display board to make sure the HSTs were positioned right

The machine quilting was a breeze; I did squiggly quilting lines, just like the original quilt, in a lilac thread.  Needless to say but this quilt is so squishy soft.

As for the backing and the binding, it had to be Kaffe Fassett fabric and it had to be from my stash so despite not having a lot of Kaffe yardage in my stash, I had this purple somewhat paisley print which had most of the colors in the top.  As for the stripe binding, it was not my first choice, I was going to mix two fat quarters of other stripes since I didn't have enough of one but wasn't really sold on using them. I decided to check in my binding drawer to see if there was any Kaffe fabric in there and lo and behold there was yardage of the pretty multi-stripe.  (The rule of my binding drawer is that right after a top is made, I set aside the binding fabric in the drawer which then is not to be used for any other project.  I cannot remember which quilt top  I set aside this stripe fabric for and I'm hoping that I didn't need all of it.)

I just had to include another photo of my Postcard from Sweden Quilt because I love it so much.  My quilt measures 48" x 60" and it just the perfect size to cover the legs especially for the road trips which we will be taking one next week to Myrtle Beach.  This quilt is so soft thanks to the Kaffe fabrics and the colors just make my heart sing.  I will say my quilt is not as bright as the original Postcard from Sweden quilt. I used whatever Kaffe fabric came closest to the ones specified from the original quilt based on what I saw online and even though I don't know if they were on the mark I just love the combinations.  As I mentioned before, would anyone notice if my colors are off.  

And lastly, two more things:

If you read my last Throwback Thursday post, hosted by guess who, Sandra of mmm! Quilts, (you can read about it here where I recounted my memory of receiving a gift of a doll pattern from Amy Butler which may have been prompted by the outfit I was wearing, here are the lime green socks I mentioned.  After I posted, I remember that I still had the socks, maybe a little faded, and I pressed them for the photo--are they not cute and the wearer deserving of a free pattern.  They're now hanging in my studio and maybe one day I'll make a really big doll so she can wear them or I'll save them for Micah who I think will have big feet like me since at one-year old, she's at the 99 percentile for height.

And speaking of Micah, here is a photo taken by her Godfather, Chad, of Kamerad Arts, reminding me of how long I've been her  Grandmother. Thanks for all of her birthday wishes which were posted. BTW, see what I mean about her having big feet; at least she has a smile to go with them.  Hee, Hee, I should be receiving a message from her mother soon.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  MMM Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

Miss Behaving or Misbehaving in March

It was a pretty good week of sewing for me: something I needed to do, I done did; I'm current with two QAL projects, I got to DREAMi! and still found some time and a way to start on two more projects.

The table topper for Micah's First Birthday party is on the way to be ready for the big celebration at the end of month.  The theme of her party will be Bees and I found the sweetest fabric by Timeless Treasures "You are My Sunshine."  The topper measures 27" x 39" and I just used a simple nine-patch pattern to showcase the fabrics and also because I didn't want to put in too time on something which may be on the receiving end of some party spills and crumbs.

My March blocks for the Classic Meet Modern Block of the Month Quilt Along hosted by My Quilt Infatuation are finished.  This month's blocks were the 10" Propeller block (left) and two 6" Sawtooth blocks and sewed together very easy.

All of the half-square triangles have been cut, sewn and arranged for the Postcards from Sweden from MMM quilts.  Since I used my stash of Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons with some Peppered Cottons, my quilt doesn't look at bright as some of the other Postcard quilts so I may be calling mine Postcards from Kaffe.  We have two weeks to sew the rows together and I'm hoping Sandra will change it to three weeks since we'll be spending some time with the darling granddaughter at the end of the month.

This is my DREAMi! project which is  another quilt from Christa Watson's Piece and Quilt from Precut book, Dot 'N Dash which I happen upon quite innocently (wink).  I was putting away some fabric and came upon the wonderful Robert Kaufmann's Quilters Linen in a color I call Steel Teal which I forgot I had bought less than six months ago.  I knew it would work well with some 2-1/2" strips I already had cut in shades of grays, teals, pinks, etc. to make the Dot 'N Dash quilt.  Since Sandra is the host for both the Postcards from Sweden QAL and the monthly DREAMi linky party, it's going to be pretty okay if I take a little time away from the Postcard Quilt to spend a little time working on the Dot 'N Dash quilt, right Sandra?

In my never-ending quest to carve out more sewing time during the day, I thought a new portable sewing machine, a Juki HZL 70HW-A to use either in the dining room or kitchen would help.  I already own a Janome Gold which is a sweet little machine but the only drawback is that it does not have a needle up and down feature which I kick myself for not wanting to spend the extra $100 for it.  I sew in my studio which is in the basement or lower level of my house and too often I am drawn to the laptop which is sitting on the kitchen desk and I find myself spending way too much time on Social Media, Blogs, computer games, etc. which could be better spent on sewing.  I thought maybe having a sewing machine upstairs would distract me from the computer.  Also, since there are the TV shows I want to watch in the evenings, I also can also sew then as long as I have Closed Caption on. Really, it's not because the sewing machine is noisy, it's just that Hubby likes to play his guitar while watching TV.

I'm thinking my idea is working out quite well.  Since the arrival of the new Juki, I sewed sixty-four 8"x 12" strip blocks made from 2-1/2" strips of Kaffe Fassett stripes and shot cottons which have been waiting to be made for awhile so I'm considering it to be an unidentified UFO project.  And yes, I'm still spending more time with Kaffe and am pretty sure this is going to be my last project for the year using his fabrics, maybe.

And I sewed a mega strip for a future Staggered Strips and Squares quilt using low volume fabrics with some black and white Cotton + Steel fabrics. Once the strip sets and blocks are cut, I can finish sewing the top upstairs.  

I think my Juki Jr. and kitchen table sewing is just what I needed to get more of my projects done.  And as for my Janome Gold, I'll be saving it for Micah, she doesn't need to know about the wonders of needle up and down until later. Hopefully, whatever March Mode I'm on, either Miss Behaving by staying on task or Misbehaving where the fun is, it continues.  I'm happy with doing both.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  MMM Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

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Mostly Manor Sweet Sixteenpatch Quilt

It's the first day of Fall and we're experiencing 90 degrees weather for the next few days, so it'll still feel like Summer which I can't decide if that's a good thing. At least, my Mostly Manor Sweet Sixteenpatch Quilt has some pretty Fall colors to set the mood for the cooler days ahead.  I made this quilt top well over a year ago and it was on my 2017 Project List to finally finished it.  I decided this past August that I had too many other projects I needed to get done and that this quilt, plus four other tops, will be sent to my Longarm Quilter, Jan.

When I first received my Mostly Manor (designed by Victoria Findley Wolfe) Layer Cake of 10" squares, I noticed that the orange floral print reminded me of a Kaffe Fassett print and thought these squares would look nice with the Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and the Pepper Cory solids I had in my stash. And the perfect and easy pattern for using prints and solids would be a sixteen patch, a really big sixteen patch that I could use my die-cutter. 

I paired up a solid with one of the prints and some of them complemented the prints so nicely while some of the pairings were in contrast with each other.  Since I needed eight 4.5" squares for each sixteen patch, I was limited to using layer cake squares which had duplicates and thankfully there were enough for me to make the sixteen blocks.

Here are the Sweet Sixteen Stats:

Quilt Size:                  64" Square

Number of Blocks:     Sixteen

Quick Block Size:      16" Finished Squares comprising of sixteen 4.5" cut patches

If I were to have quilted my Sweet Sixteenpatch quilt, I would have done my usual straight line quilting but thought this quilt would look nice with some swirly quilting to break up the straight lines of the blocks.  I glad I decided to send it to Jan because  I loved how she quilted it with a flowery scroll using a variegated thread.  Whenever I purchased a fat quarter bundle or another precut, I always make sure I order yardage for binding at the same time (big lesson learned when I didn't do this), so the quit is bound with the wonderful red and pink diagonal stripe from the Mostly Manor fabric line.

Since the shape of the quilt was determined by how many blocks I could make with the layer cake and unless the quilt is for a baby or for a wallhanging, I do not like making square quilts.  I was resigned to thinking that this quilt would make a nice picnic quilt but am having second thoughts now on whether I should keep this quilt in the car.  The shot cotton really makes this quilt so nice and soft and I'm sure it'll get even softer once it is washed. I usually don't mention the backings on my quilt because not very often I use the same fabric line as the quilt top unless it happens to be on sale, otherwise I just use something from the backing stash of great sale fabric.  With this in mind, I used a traditional gold print, that's been sitting around for a long time, thinking this quilt was going to be laying on the ground.  It looks fine but like I say what goes on behind my quilts is only for my eyes. I'm just not creative when it comes to backing.

Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side is once again hosting the Fall Edition of the Bloggers Quilt Festival and this is a wonderful opportunity to view and be inspired by the many quilts which have already been linked.  This is the first time I'm participating and you are allowed to enter two quilts.  I've already entered my Flutterby quilt which was finished earlier this year (you can read about it here) and I will now be entering my Sweet Sixteenpatch quilt.  I'm thinking viewers of my two quilts will see that I do like making quilts if I can use my die-cutter.  Be sure to visit Amy's blog, by clicking on this link, and plan on visiting for awhile because I am sure you will be inspired and will meet new bloggers.  The Bloggers Quilt Festival is running from September 18th through the 25th and you will want to make several visits because there is so much to see and read.

Linking up with:
Amy's Creative Side Bloggers Quilt Festival 2017 Fall Edition
My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday

Crazy Mom Quilts: Finish It Up Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict:  Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?
Busy Hands Quilts:  Finish Or Not Friday