Carolina Lily

Carolina Lily is making slow progress. I thought I had figured out the setting for my quilt and needed 30 more Lily blocks. The 30 stems were pieced in June then the red Lily pieces were prepped in July. It's October and I'm very pleased to announce that those 30 blocks are finally pieced! 

I'm not sure if those orangey red lilies fit in with the rest of the blocks. I'll decide for sure after all the blocks are pieced.

The plan was to set the blocks on the diagonal with 8 blocks across with 10 blocks down. Unfortunately I didn't figure blocks for the spaces in between, I need 70 more blocks!

Sometime this month I'll prep the stems, maybe that will be my  project at the November retreat. This winter I'll work on those lily blocks.

This is a setback but the quilt won't be finished if I don't piece all the blocks.

In July I received an email from Rhonda with pictures of the Carolina Lily she made in 2020. Isn't it lovely!

She reduced the size of her blocks, they're 3" finished and the finished quilt is 20" by 24", that is so tiny! She received an Honorable Mention at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in 2020 & Grand Champion at the Hendricks County (Indiana) Fair the same year. Way to go Rhonda!

The pattern is designed by Cindy Edgerton, I purchased the pattern from Etsy last winter. The pattern has the blocks finishing at 6" which are the size of my blocks.

I plan to put  sashing in between the blocks. I like the pieced red and green border, I'm not sure if I'm going to piece that border or do something different. I need to get all the blocks pieced first!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, I Quilted This!, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Quilting Elegant Garden, Over Halfway Quilted!

The center row of Elegant Garden is quilted! Here are the last two blocks in that row.

And the last block.

After I finished this block, I moved my chair over to the pineapple block and finished quilting it. The stitching doesn't show very well but the large section of fabric is secured now.

Here is a closeup of the quilting. My quilting lines on the pineaple line up with the background rows, it was just easier to  mark it like that.

I don't know why I didn't quilt it like this to begin with. The stitching on the gold fabric shows since this is an extra large photo.

After I finished quilting the center row, I unpinned the sides and the end and moved the quilt down slightly so the top border fits into the frame. 

You can see part of the border quilting in the above picture. It will take me a week or two to finish the border, it's very boring because you can't really see the stencil design. The design does show on the backside of the quilt so you'll see the design when the quilting is completed.

I used the same pink fabric as a border on another quilt, that quilt is going to have straight line quilting. There is no sense in using an interesting design when you can't see the quilting!

Elegant Garden is designed by Edtyta Sitar Laundry Basket Quilts.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Quilting Elegant Garden

I'm quilting the middle row of Elegant Garden starting with the pineapple block. 

I may come back and stitch more on this pineapple, this is a rather large space to leave blank.

Quilting around all the leaves and flowers on this block took awhile.

The center block in this quilt is a pieced star.

I've stitched in the pink fabric but it's hard to see. The chalk marking on the black star still shows. I'll take a damp cloth and wipe it to remove the chalk sometime.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar, Laundry Basket Quilts.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Quilting Elegant Garden

This was a busy week so I only completed two Elegant Garden blocks. It takes time to stitch around all the leaves!

I like all of this block except for the flower. I wish now I would have just come up with my own design. I had tried to improve the block by adding the embroidery but it's a disapointment. Oh well.

This block ticks all the squares but it took me several days to get it quilted.

I did not stitch around the yellow circles, too many thicknesses of fabric under it.

I was in Wakarusa last week. The downtown flower garden has been completely cleaned up and tilled. Those red dahlias were a disappointment, they just weren't colorful. Hopefully next year's flowers will be more vibrant.

Then I stopped at Grandma's Pantry, their flowerbed was alive with color! The begonias and dusty Miller plants were bright and cheerful with color. I couldn't tell if they mums were planted or if they had pots sitting in the center. They look nice which ever way they are. 

I don't know how long they'll leave their plants in the bed, maybe until it freezes?

Here is another picture of Elegant Garden. Row two is completed and I rolled the quilt stick. I quilted the seamline between the two rows then rolled again. Row three is the center row, I've started quilting the pineapple block.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar, Laundry Basket Quilts.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Two Comforters

This week I sewed the bindings on two comforters from church. Comforters are normally donated to comforters for MCC but if they don't meet MCC specifications, they are donated to a local agency for distribution. Just to be clear, I did NOT piece these comforters.

These comforter tops are pieced by various people then given to church who knot them. I'm one of several people who finish the bindings. I use the self binding method listed in the top right corner of my blog.

Sometimes these tops aren't the prettiest but I thought the first comforter looks very nice.

This simple patch work is an easy to make top.

This second comforter is too busy for my taste but because it is flannel, it will be warm and cozy. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts 

Quilting Elegant Garden

Three more blocks have been quilted on Elegant Garden. The pictures are from the right side going toward the left side.

These blocks are from the second row of Elegant Garden.

I'm enjoying quilting these blocks, it's nice to see them all again.

It seems like the quilting is going fast but then this is a small quilt, 60" compared to the king sized quilt I had been quilting over the winter.

There are two more blocks in this row then I'll be starting the quilting on the center row. Maybe I'll have all the quilting finished in time to take along to my November retreat and display at show & tell.

All the fabrics in this quilt came from the civil war fabric tub, none were purchased, I guess you could say this is a scrap quilt?

I'm glad to see that Blogger has corrected whatever their problem was with updating. Have a great week with lots of stitching time!

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Framed Squares, the Other Baby Quilt

 The second baby quilt is now quilted, the binding attached and the quilt washed. The finished quilt measures 46.5" which is rather strange because it has the same number of blocks all cut the same size as the Berenstein Bear quilt and that one finished at 47.5.

For this baby quilt I used fabrics left from the Twinkle quilt. For some reason the fabrics in the Twinkle picture have a yellow tint. This baby quilt has the correct shades color.  

I used the same quilting as the Berenstein Bear quilt. I had made way too much binding for the Twinkle quilt which was used to finish this quilt.

The backing is this dotted fabric which I had on hand. 

I'm pleased with both quilts, hopefully they will receive a lot of use for the babies.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts