April and Q-2 2015 Goals

Slated for my April finish with A Lovely Year of Finishes will be the Tweet Camping Quilt.  It will be in May's quilt show and I need to get this one quilted to be totally finished.  

The white sections are quilted with circles.  Initially thought of naming this stacked and packed since that's the first order of business when going camping.  Those pebbles reminded me of Styrofoam peanuts.

The blue outside border is quilted with a meandered square and rectangle shapes.  

Only the Brown strips and bird fabric and those tippy inside boxes left to quilt.

Looking for ideas on how best to quilt this fabric.....Any ideas would really be appreciated! 

HELP!!!!

First up though is to finish the March's 40 Diamond quilt.
Today I will conquer 7 more colored sections.         Promise.


As for the Q2 challenge my selections are:

Tweet camping Quilt, pictured above

Mater Strip Quilt Top finished (hopefully quilted too!)

Top made of the BQ Woodland Fairies

Finish Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet, this month!

60 degree bird table runner

Irish Patch-a-bilities wall hanging

Wool Heart candle mat

Summertime table runner for sofa table
Cut out Fox Quilt

Magic Eyes Bag

Fourth of July Pillow

A Patriotic Wall hanging

Quilt show entries, First one- "Tweet Camping"

Thank goodness our local quilt show isn't a judged show, otherwise most of my entries would have been shown to the door.  And no, I am not kidding!   Our show has many ribbons that people can win and people with all kinds of areas, expertise and backgrounds are asked to pick their favorite.  Of course some picks are spectacularly done quilts, well deserving of their awards while some others are nice quilts, but not as great as some that are just as well deserving IMHO.    The show kept taking my breath away with the many and varietied quilts shown.   I also would be remiss not to  mention that a good friend, Michele won a well deserved ribbon for her New York Beauty Quilt entry (Talk about Gorgeous!!!) and my granddaughter won a ribbon for her first Doll Quilt. 

Well done Michele, McKenna and fellow members of CVQG of NY!

 

I did the bare minimum for quilting because I procrastinated way too long.  

When I registered them in June, I figured they  would be done for the show.   

I had 5, Yep,  I said 5 UFOS that I entered. 

I figured that by committing them to be there, I'd get them done.  ROTFLOL!!!!

 

But I swear

I will never,

EVER!

I mean NEVER EVER!!  do this to myself again!!!

 

So this post will share the parts about

 

"Tweet Camping"

 

This quilt came to be  because I found this Bird fabric at my LQS and fell in Love with it.   The pattern design was inspired by a connecting threads kit I saw in their catolog but the dimensions wouldn't work because it was a baby quilt and the much smaller blocks wouldn't play well with this fabric so  I played with lots of math to make my own.  With the pattern, I really like the fact that all of those rectangles were being stacked and packed so to speak (a much needed choir when it comes to camping) so it seemed a perfect fit especially with the wobbliness of those stacks tottering.  Shopping my stash first,  then shopping for  a few more batiks to throw in for good measure gives this quilt a bit of color and punch.  I find projects made from different fabric lines is very appealing.  Quickly,  I even envisioned having shipping peanuts (circular shaped packing protectors) quilted in the white background areas with much more quilting done for the boxes, sashings and borders. So off it went.

 

 

 

What I was able to get done was quilt a "linking squares" meander  in the outside blue borders 

with the "peanut packing" for the white areas. 

Running out of time, I had to leave the rest of the quilting for when I have more time after the show. 

Thankfully it hung well enough at the show not to be too huge of an embarrassment.   A vanilla cream, minkee dot was used for this back which makes it a very cuddly and drapable quilt.  

 

 

Close up shots of the quilting in the border, white spacings while I was auditioning bindings.  

Quilting was done with a Universal needle without any problems

using the minkee dot backing, as for the threads, many were used. 

 

In the borders a Superior Lava Thread called KuKui Nut (soft browns) was used for the top and bobbin.

In the white background a Superior's Kimono white silk(color 373) for the top and

 Superior's White Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I'm thinking of dong a back and forth motion in the sashings and perhaps cross haches in the stacked boxes but am unsure what to do in the bird focal fabric.  Any and all ideas or suggestions are welcome.  What would you do? 

 

 

 

 

I love having piping or flanges on many of my projects, but elected not to on this one and just finished it simply by using the striped fabric that went with this fabric line called  "Love Lives Here" by P. Carter Carpin by P&B textiles.    I love this bird print and it fit the bill nicely for the For the Birds hop I participated in earlier this year.  Another tidbit to share is how a different label was made for it.  I folded 2 blocks with some sashing from that row I took off the quilt since it was really too long before borders and turned them into a label.  If there is any damage in the years to come, that label can help with many of the fabrics contained within.  Also a strip of the selvage from that fabric line was used too as to document more of the information and who wouldn't like the motto "love lives here".

Here's how it looks:

 

 

 

To the left of those stacked blocks is the date, quilt name, place done and maker's name documented centered with more brown and blue fabrics.
 This is the largest label I've ever made, it's huge 14"x 12".

 

 Finally I'll share a shot of "Herman" the weeping cedar bush near the pool deck, showing Tweet Camping in the backyard where love lives here.

Tweet Camping
88" x 88"
 

I'll share more of the quilts that were entered by me bit by bit. Sorry this was photo heavy but I wanted documentation for  future reference.  First item on my agenda this week will be to quilt the sashings on this quilt and read the book The Saving Graces which our club meets on Wednesday to discuss.  I totally slid on my reading while focusing on getting ready for the show.  Enjoy your Holiday. 

Jane    8^)

I think I can, I think I can...

All of the items that were listed this past last Monday are checked off my to do list and have been moved onto the to DONES list!  LOL 

Batik Reprieve aka: 40 Diamonds - DONE!
Tweet Camping otherwise known here as stacked and packed - DONE!

Next on my radar will be:

1. Quilt the Jack in the Pulpit wall hanging- getting to this next! 
2. Bind  the Jack in the Pulpit (I may stitch the binding by machine on the back and then turn and topstitch the edge down by the machine as well.  Will ponder my timeline for this while quilting it though I do want to hand stitch the binding on the upcoming Radiant Star project that's next though it's 102" x102" square so it'll be time consuming and that clock seems to be ticking faster!
3. Quilt Adirondack Radiant Star- Tonight hopefully I can start that after getting practice on the Jack and the Pulpit.  I did get this  ironed and layered on Friday yippee skippee!
4. Make 3 sleeves that will be pinned on the larger quilts in time for turn in on Friday evening.  Ican only hope I don't have to finish stitching it in the parking lot!

That leaves these 1-2 projects to get done this week by Thursday.  I think I can......

 

I'll be back to share some photos of these beauties.  Sorry the weather is so drab to grab a shot of them now not to mention the mist in the air.   

 

Jane       8~)

Plodding along and some friends think I'm nuts!

The list of four tasks were pretty much completed by this past weekend. 

With DH's Batik Reprieve aka his 40 Diamonds Quilt,  (one for each year of marriage) I am on my fourth side handstitching the binding onto the back.  What a bugger it is to stitch through that minkee backing.  Found a new trick about stitching on Minkee, so do you want to know what I figured out?  Use Joan Shay's petal play Appli-bond needle.  It works much easier than a traditional quilting and sewing needle.  I even made a bright green piping by machine to edge this quilt and it seems perfect.  With the quilting I did an echo stitch on all the sashings & cornerstones and then outlined stitched the diamond shapes by turning back the edges on those "on point diamonds" just like you do for a cathedral window effect, thus 20 shaped diamonds and 20 stitched diamonds making the 40 Diamonds that's also now in it's  name.  Crafty aren't I?  lol    The only bits I need to do on this project after handstitching the binding is to make the label and then attach muslin sleeves for the show that will be held on the weekend of October 12th and 13th.  Piece of cake!  Those muslin sleeves will be pinned on and not permanent after I finsih using them for all the machine quilting.  This finished at 103" x 85", a very nice size.

The Dragonfly Carnival is totally done and I love it.

Ripped out one of the horiontal rows on the Tweet Camping quilt and was able to get all the borders on her.  Also  got it layered this morning and used another pieced minkee backing for this one too.  I just love the fliudity of a quilt made with the minkee backing.  SO cuddly and has a nice weight and drape.  Tomorrow I'll  start machine quilting it.  I plan on doing circles in the white background areas, for the blue borders- a meander of right angles and I am still pondering what to quilt in the bird fabric (may just do a worm-y meander in that part) and finally for the dark brown sashing perhaps a 1/4" echo stitch or a swishing back and forth design flowing along those frames.   The boxes I'll be leaving alone at this point.  I may do a stitch in the ditch quilting for that area.   This will finish at an 88"  x 88" in size, perfect for the camper's master bedroom.

For this next week my list of four are:

1. Totally finish DH's  40 Diamond/ Batik Reprieve quilt.
2. Quilt the Tweet Camping Quilt and Pipe? / bind it by machine- hand stitching to finish next weekend.
3. Make the Jack in the Pulpit wallhanging.  I think this will end up becoming a pillow to compliment the Adirondack (Radiant) Star Quilt that I still need to finish for this show too.  I'll be making this in a more slip shod manner and tear it apart after the show.  AM thinking of doing a pillowcase method for the edges and then a quick quilting with water soluble thread to just  call it done since I filled out the registration form saying it wouldbe a wall hanging not a pillow.   
4. Wash and iron the backing for the Adirondack Star and perhaps get it layered by Friday, yup, that's only 4 days away.    This will need to be totally done in one week's time after that.  I was thinkin gof trying to trapunto some assymetrical diamond in the second border on two corners and the opposing two corners traputo a pomegranite vine but then I won't be able to totally quilt it before the show.  I just may continue on this way and save much of the feathering and stippling for afterwards since it's not a judged show.  Time will tell on this one.

I am pushing and will be getting these all done with one day to spare.  Uh humm...That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!!!  Thank goodness we have a hot tub to soothe my aches and pains in my neck and shoulder areas.  I swear while hand stitching I can do about 3- 5 stitches then I have to rest my arms with the pins and needles from my pinched spinal cord and arm and feet nerves bothering me.  After resting for 4-5 minutes then I can resume and do another 4-5 stitches.    On and on, sew on and sew forth...... but I will prevail and it will be done.  Amen and Alleluia.

Stay well and have fun creating,

Jane