Kassia's Quilt is finished

When my daughter Sharon asked me to make a quilt for her sons' half-sister, I was happy to do it.  Kassia is a great girl and in addition to my grandson, she has 3 brothers.  She's surrounded by boys!

Sharon says that every time Kassia visits her home, she wraps herself in a quilt.  Of course, since I'm a quilter, there are plenty of quilts, but Sharon wanted her to have one of her own.

This is my 8th finish this year.

Started on May 3, 2020

Finished on July 25, 2020

Measures 48.5" x 57"

 

May your bobbins always be full,

Pale Geese Heading North, quilt is finished

This quilt was made entirely of scraps; mainly the scraps from another quilt.  I made it with someone special in mind, as a surprise.  The recipient is a wonderful young woman, my cousins' granddaughter.  No one who would leak the secret reads the blog, so it's just between us bloggers, for now.

I love all the quilts I make, and this one is no exception.  Janiel and I decided on Dyed Natural for the thread and Simple Feathers for the quilting.  I think it's perfect.  I used pale yellow (Kona) for the binding.

This is the super scrappy back!  The quilt measures 63" x 63".

May your bobbins always be full,

A Lighter Shade of Pale, Carrie's quilt is finished

This is from an email from my daughter, Carrie, who lives in North Carolina, that started this quilt:

"I've been thinking about a quilt and I think I want to go with non-colors. For example one dark charcoal gray fabric on the back; on the front have a quilted pattern of whites and off-whites, maybe pale, pale, pale pinks and yellows, too. Then have the stitching in a white thread so it would be subtle on the front, but dramatic on the back. Maybe in a floral pattern. What do you think?"

What I thought was, "This is do-able" and I set out to make Carrie her quilt of Non-Colors.  You can read about the process, here.

The quilt is very difficult to photograph, especially in sunshine.  I waited until our patio was shaded to get these photos.

This is the back of the quilt.  The quilt is twin size and measures 64.25" x 82".  We used Eggshell thread and the pantograph is called Star Flower Swirls.  My long arm quilter is Janiel Miller.  I'll get this shipped to Carrie, tomorrow.

May your bobbins always be full,

Pale Geese, Heading North.

I've been busy, I just haven't been posting.  When I finished Carrie's quilt I had lots of leftover 4" squares and some HSTs, too.  I decided to make a different design with these, and I set about designing a layout.  I ended up needing more 4" squares, so I cut those and started stitching.  I used the same methodology as last time, stitching one 6 x 6 square at a time.  Man is that easier, with this type of design.

The quilt top measures 62" x 62".

A couple of close-ups, to show the "geese".

And a view from the back, so you can see some of our California sunshine.  Next, I'll be piecing the quilt back.

May your bobbins always be full,

A Lighter Shade of Pale

I've been making steady progress on Carrie's quilt top.  Today I assembled the bottom half and assembled  the whole top.  I held the quilt top while Bob was the photographer, we usually do it the other way around, but he has a sore foot today, and I didn't want him climbing.

I think "A Lighter Shade of Pale" is a good name for this beauty, a take off on Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale".  The quilt top measures 64 x 80.5".

May your bobbins always be full,

Progress Report

Carrie's quilt top is half done.  I'm really loving this pattern.

I think all the low-volume prints are working out great.

I started out trying to get some shots that showed out beautiful blue sky.  The sky looked great but the quilt looked unacceptable; so we moved to the other side of the yard, in the shade.

May your bobbins always be full,

One Quarter Together

It's a very blustery day, today.  When I took my walk, I had to dodge the tumbleweeds.  I have the top quarter of Carrie's quilt stitched together.  I'm very please with how it's going.  I pinned it to the wall hanging on the front door, took some photos then rotated one, so you can see the it from the top, instead of sideways.

May your bobbins always be full,

Carrie's Quilt

I've spent the last two days creating HSTs and truing them up, then cutting 4" squares.  If nothing goes wrong, I'll start piecing the quilt top, tomorrow.  I've come up with a plan; I'm going to sew them together in sections, instead of rows.  I think that will be much more manageable.

May your bobbins always be full,

I'm churning and dashing

I have three grandchildren, all great young people.  I've been quilting just over 3 years, and all of them have received quilts as gifts.  Two of them have asked for a custom or additional quilt, and I delivered, of course.  The other one, has never asked for anything extra.  So, I figured it's his turn, and I'm making him a quilt, a Churn Dash Quilt.

Recently I  purchased some FQs from Pink Chalk Fabrics, the World Tour line and coordinating solids.  I paired those with some fabric I won over a year ago.

Both lines are from Parson Gray and they go together beautifully.  Today, I made four blocks; I need 35, so I'll be working on this for a while.

What are you working on this weekend?

May your bobbins always be full,

The Very Busy Scrappy Quilt Top and Back

I sewed the completed blocks together.  As you can see I went for the "diamond effect".

I'm really happy with the way all my scraps went together in this quilt.  I asked Bob what he thought, and he reported that it was very busy.  He's right about that.

By doing all the diamonds and butterflies, I ended up with still more HSTs!  I used them on the quilt back.

This is a shot of our lovely sky, right now.  We're suppose to get some rain tonight and for the next two days.

May your bobbins always be full,

Ever Evolving

These are the original blocks, made from the leftover HSTs from the Autumn Leaf Quilt Top

I decided to make them larger and added some low-volume fabrics to the edges.

Then I added some more scraps to the points.

More low volume fabric to the edges, and I think I'm finished.

I'm sure finished, as far as the wind is concerned!

I had considered adding more scrap triangles to this stage; it'd produce a diamond pattern where four blocks are joined together.  I think about it overnight.  What's your opinion?  Diamonds or no diamonds?

May your bobbins always be full,

Making Progress

I've sewn all the 120 leftover HSTs, into 7 11" blocks.  I had 8 leftover and decided to on a diamond block for them and edged them in the "Day at the Zoo - Cream Bark from Camelot Cottons", that I used in the Autumn Leaf Quilt Top.  I really like these blocks, but I'm going to keep working on them and hopefully come up with a lovely quilt.

May your bobbins always be full,