Finished!!

Yesterday I sewed the binding onto the front of Rhapsody in Blue, Elaine will add a label then finish the binding with hand sewing.

Here is the quilt displayed on the carpet in the basement.

The left bottom side.

And the right bottom side.

Then I took some pictures of the quilt on our bed.

A side view.

A close up of the center. I tried to find a stencil showing this curvy triangle design. I couldn't find it on the Stencil Company website. I have this design in a couple sizes, the one stencil says #W1004W, Overall C.L. Design, 1996 Sten Source Intl. When I typed in the information, it took me to this website.  I have no idea where or when I bought the stencils, apparently before the turn of the century?

The quilting started on Rhapsody August 20, 2025 so quilting took a little less than 11 months. Slightly over 1000 yards of thread were using in the quilting. The finished size is 115" square. 

Elaine did all of the applique. The center applique is from the Lady Jane pattern which was designed by Nancy Rink, the applique border is a variation of the design. We did not buy any of the blue fabrics, we used what we had in our stashes, guess that makes Rhapsody a 'scrap' quilt. We did buy a whole bolt of the gray background fabric. There is background fabric left, I see a gray background quilt happening in my future.

The batting is a Hobbs Tuscany 100% wool batting which I probably bought at Connecting Thread during a batting sale. I don't use wool batting except when I hand quilt 'special' quilts. For quilting thread I use YLI hand quilting thread, it costs more but it's a quality thread. If you are going to go through the labor of hand quilting, don't use a cheap thread. Years ago I used Coats & Clark hand quilting thread but the thread they manufacture now isn't anything like it used to be. I've had trouble with it fraying and tearing.

The backing fabric is a white floral wide backing that I purchased at Calico Point. I like white on the backside of quilts, it shows the stitching.

I'll take another picture when Elaine has the binding finished but that won't be until fall. I'll keep the quilt here until October. This quilt will be donated to the 2027 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale, it's finished a year ahead of time!

I'm taking a blogcation until August. July has been an extremely busy month and it's just going to get even busier, the blog has to take a backseat.

The only time I used my sewing machine last week was to attach the binding. I'm enjoying time with family, especially the grandchildren. I've been restocking the freezer and hopefully the black raspberries I picked in June will be finally be made into jelly. No black raspberry jam here, the farmer does not like seedy jam so jelly it is. I'm enjoying the flowers while they're blooming, I'll have plenty of time for sewing and handwork in the winter.

I'll be back in August, happy stitching everyone!

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

Carolina Lily

 I haven't posted about about my Carolina Lily quilt since April but they have't been out of mind. I had planned to make 100 lily blocks but then I thought perhaps I should decide how I want to arrange them before piecing more blocks.

Originally I had thought I would arrange them like Sue did in her From Small Things, episode 11 video. Many of you commented that the green stems overshadowed the red lilies in that arrangement. The more I looked at Sue's quilt, the more I agreed with you so that arrangement is not happening.

The blocks finish at 6", on point they measure 8.5" across. I'm going to use an on point arrangement. There will be sashing and yellow cornerstones between the blocks. With this arrangement I will need 80 blocks, 50 blocks have been completed.

I'm going to use yellow cornerstones because red or green would blend in with the blocks. An one inch yellow square will add some nice contrast but won't overwhelm.

In June, 30 more stems were pieced using 8 different green fabrics. In this picture the stems are sorted by the fabrics. On the side, beside the stems, are the triangles for the bottoms of the lily sections. There are three lily sections for each stem.  Beside the one stem I just put some small leftover pieces. 

The lily sections will probably be pieced in August, July is very busy.

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

Rhapsody in Blue

The quilting is finished on the applique border in the bottom half of Rhapsody in Blue. Don't you just love this texture?

Here is the applique border. I just connected a bottom square to the top square with a straight line. The lines are spaced 1.5" apart. This applique is a variation of the Lady Jane center.

Here is the center applique. This applique is the center applique of the Lady Jane quilt. We have permission from Nancy Rink to use her design in this quilt.

Here is a close up of a corner of the applique border. The lines are diagonal to the bottom line. That pin is there because I didn't notice that there was a loop in the thread. When I roll this side backup toward the center, I'll stop and remove that loop. I try to watch for those but I don't always catch them until I've knotted off.

I was at Grandma's Pantry last week but forgot to take a picture of the quilt garden. Sorry 😞, but I will share this cute picture with you. I've noticed something has been munching my hostas so I've been spraying deer/rabbit spray on them. Here are the culprits, who can be upset at these cuties?

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

Quarter Square Triangle Quilt

I sewed the leftover layer cake squares into a Quarter Square Triangle flimsy after I finished the Totally Tulips flimsy. I had originally planned to quilt this flimsy myself but then decided not to, I'm tired of machine quilting.

I took the flimsy to Dana Stalter for quilting and selected a dragonfly design. Normally I like quilting to be closer together but since these blocks are larger, they could handle a larger design. The blocks were set in a trip around the world design. It's not very obvious but Dana noticed and mentioned it to me when I picked up the finished quilt.

The quilting was done with light green thread.

I used the same backing fabric as the Designer Mystery quilt. I think this is a springy quilt and the green backing looks springy to me.

The finished quilt is 58" by 73". I could not have quilted a cute design like this, it would have been stitched in the ditch which would have been adequate but not cute. Now it's finished and ready to be gifted when needed.

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

Rhapsody in Blue

 The quilting through the center of the quilt is finished!

Here are pictures from left to right.

For some reason I turned the regular overhead lights and led lights off, I can see the quilting so much better, now I'm showing you. This is the right side of the quilt. I love those feathers!

You can easily see where the quilting in the background of the applique border has been quilted. I'm definitely doing the right thing by quilting the background, it doesn't look baggy anymore.

I don't know if I'll have both sides of the applique border finished by next Sunday. Hopefully the bottom half will be finished.

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

This 'N That

 Today's post is about random quilting projects that aren't large enough to merit their own post.

Year ago I discovered Thangles and pieced a LOT of 2" finished HST's. I made a crib quilt with part of them then the rest have resided in a box for years. 

Since the Stonefield blocks have been removed, the HST blocks were arranged and rearranged on the display wall several times. 

This is the final arrangement, the squares will probably hang on the wall for months until I start sewing the squares together. There are 20 blocks horizontally and vertically which is 400 squares. I'll piece them in 4 sections, 100 squares to a section. 

There are still a LOT of blocks in the box so there will probably be another crib quilt someday.

There was a bag of blue strips leftover from the pineapple quilt I pieced in 2024. What do you do with leftover 1.5" blue strips? You start piecing log cabin blocks, 144 of them.

The individual blocks are all pieced, bagged and stored away until this winter, then they will be sewn together. There are still a lot of strips left, I think they'll be sewn into 9-patches. You can never have too many 3" finished blue & white 9 patches on hand.

I pieced potato chip blocks for the latest block drive for Many Hands, Many Hearts. All the details are available on that blog post.

I pieced 16 of the yellow/purple blocks . . .

And 31 orange/blue blocks.

And pillowcases have been pieced. One set was a surprise gift for a friend, which have been gifted but I forgot to take a picture. The red and black pillowcase was a graduation gift for a great-nephew, of course in school colors. I used a pillowcase kit from Calico Point for this pillowcase. They will give you a free pattern if you need one or, like me, you can't locate the pattern you already have! 

Our grandson decided he wanted to make a pillowcase for himself, he did a pretty good job. He likes cats so he selected a cat fabric.

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

So Close!

I am so to a finish! In some of the places, depending on how far I reached in from the top section, I was able to link up with the quilting from the top section. 💥 I'm not finished yet but another week should finish the center of the quilt. However I do need to unroll and stitch the background of the applique border.

Here are the pictures from left to the right. The pictures show the entire part of the quilt so you can see where the quilting connects to the top section. You can also see where more quilting is needed.

Left side outside border, there are two feathers that need to be quilted. See the V on the left side of the background quilting? That marks the center of the quilt.

There are two rows of quilting needed in this patchwork section.

The blue leaf with the pin is not quilted. It was just too far for me to quilt those curves. I'll quilt it after I roll.

Again there are two rows that need diagonal quilting.

The center applique, the one flower in the center that curves to the right is not quilted yet. Some directions just stitch easier which probably makes no sense to most of you but a hand quilter understands.

The center flower is rather large and the blue was too large of a space to not be quilted. I added some curves to give the illusion of petals.

I had looked at my Lady Jane quilt to see how I quilted that flower. Adding the curved lines is how I did. Now I'm trying to remember if I added the curved lines on the corner flowers? I'll have to add that quilting if I didn't for continuity.

Another section of patchwork. This time there are three rows that need quilting.

Border applique, the flower with the pin is not quilted and I need to quilt the background lines in the top flowers already quilted.

More patchwork, again three rows need diagonal quilting.

And the outside right outside border. I had reached in farther when I quilted the top section so the quilting is finished on this border!

It is such a feeling of accomplishment when you connect the quilted sections! But I am not finished yet, I need to keep quilting in the evenings.

Just a reminder, I did not do the applique on this quilt. My friend Elaine did the applique, she is one of the ladies who taught me how to applique.

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