Noah's Ark is in the Frame

 I had originally planned for blue Stars Around the Garden to be the next quilt into the hand quilting frame but the applique is going slow. I do have the stems appliqued on all four corners but no photo to show you.

A year ago I bought a Noah's Ark panel for a crib quilt and added simple borders to make it larger. I had thought I would quilt it on my sewing machine when I was machine quilting last summer but decided not to. I want to use a variety of colored thread, it just wasn't worth the hassle. My machine quilting consists of very simple quilting.

It's in the hand quilting frame ready to start. After taking this picture I noticed I hadn't trimmed the batting off the bottom edge. (I've done that now. I save all the little bits and pieces of batting and stick it in a bag. When the bag is full, I donate to a shop that resells the batting for stuffing.)

I don't use a large backing like some hand quilters so but on this quilt it's even less. I had a perfect fabric fort he back and didn't want to have to make it larger so I trimmed the quilt flimsy down a little. I have approximately 1" of backing on each size. I wouldn't do this with a large quilt but it will work fine for a small project.

I don't cut my batting to size but trim it as I roll. There is nothing more frustrating to have cut your batting then have it be too small! Been there, done that.

I will be using #12 weight Sulky thread for quilting thread. The outside border is going to be quilted with the variegated  gray that I have used in several other projects.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away

Scrappy Easy Breezy Blocks

Since I am using odd and ends of yellow fabrics already in the 8" easy breezy blocks, I pulled grays and blacks from the 2-1/2" strip box and added them to the yellows. I ended up with 13 blocks.

This individual blocks is one of my favorites, I've always loved the border print fabric. You can use every kind of fabric in this quilt.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday.

3030 Blocks

 The 3030 blocks are caught up except for the one that was just released. I haven't made the alternate blocks because they're directional, I will wait and see how Gay sets the blocks. If I like the way they look, I'll make them, if not I'll come up with my own alternate blocks.

I am piecing two blocks from each pattern, five of the blocks are duplicates from earlier blocks.

The 3030 quilt is a BOW from Sentimental Stitches.

Linking to Peacock Party, Put Your Foot  Down, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting

Even More 3030 Blocks

 I'm slowly getting caught up on the blocks for the 3030 quilt. In the center of the quilt is a lovely applique medallion. I am slow at hand applique and I've decided not to add the center medallion, I can piece the blocks much faster than I can applique. This decision means I'm going to need more blocks. I've started making double blocks of each block, unless it calls for multiple blocks already. As of now, I am still planning on making the individual applique blocks but that plan may change too.

These are the most recent completed blocks. I've never pieced a card trick block before. It was very easy using the foundation paper pieceing method.

I've been binge watching the Great British Baking Show while I'm sewing. The programs put me in the mood to bake, fortunately without Paul Hollywood to critique my results.

First are 4 loaves of whole wheat sour dough bread. My bread recipe is based on this recipe from King Arthur but of course I've made some changes to my recipe and also made a larger quantity. This is a soft bread with sourdough starter as an ingredient. 

I also made two loaves of pumpkin quick bread and a new recipe called orange yogurt quick bread. Both recipes are from the Best of Country Breads published by Reiman Publications in 2000. I cut open the orange yogurt bread first since it was a new recipe. It was delicious! My glaze didn't drizzle very well but that's fine with my family, the grandsons don't care.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Clever Chameleon, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday

Vintage Boston Commons Finished

 My vintage Boston Commons quilt is completely finished. The binding and label are on. The best news is the red/pink bleeds washed out. I first blogged about this quilt in the July 12th post this summer, three months of quilting are reasonable.

Remember, I bought this quilt top for $20 off the resale table at the retreat. I can't wait until the next retreat to show everyone about this bargain. If you are wondering about the little blue dot, I wrote about it in this post.

I took a bunch of pictures of the back of the quilt inside the house, you can see more detail.

I had some solid turquoise fabric which worked perfectly for the binding.

One of the corners was really short, it curved in. I tried to straighten it a little by cutting my binding 3" wide. The binding on the back of the quilt is 3/8" while on the front it is 1". This covered a lot of the uneven edge of the quilt and it really helped this spot.

Across the center the quilt measures 71-1/2" by 72-1/2" but when I fold it, the corners don't match.

This white center sashing was the section that was puckered the worst.

For now the quilt is draped over the Grace quilting frame, I love looking at the texture. 

I need to replace the cloth leaders on the quilting frame with real ticking. The fabric I had on there isn't ticking and I have a problem with it pulling out of the rod. Ticking is a heavier  fabric and should be more stable.

I had hoped blue Stars in the Garden would be the next quilt in the frame but it will take me awhile to applique those borders. A crib quilt will be next in the frame.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away

Yellow Circles of Squares

 Two yellow circle of squares blocks have been pieced.

The softer yellow squares would have been completely lost using the circle fabric for background so I dug around and found this lovely blue and white fabric for background.

Each block measures 12-1/2". Here is a link to the circle of squares pattern.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday

More 3030 Blocks

More 3030 blocks have been pieced. The 3030 quilt is a BOW from Sentimental Stitches.

I'm piecing my 3030 blocks using the foundation paper piecing patterns Gay has included with the pattern instructions. You can use whichever method you prefer, paper piecing or regular piecing.

I prefer paper piecing because I know the points aren't going to get cut off. Some people think you waste fabric paper piecing. Yes, some fabric is wasted but I have plenty of fabric. I'd rather have the block be perfect the first time, as long as I get the correct fabrics in the block.

This isn't a good project to learn to paper piece with. For some easy beginner foundation paper piecing patterns, check out this link or this link or maybe this link. Just google free foundation paper piecing patterns and a whole list will appear.

Earlier this week I took some time to take pictures of the trees around the house and down the driveway. It's supposed to rain soon and the leaves will start to drop. Enjoy the colors!

Linking to Peacock Party, Put Your Foot  Down, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting