Quilt Finish

The last of the quilts for the grandchildren has been quilted, I really like how she has turned out. Her name is Scrappy Rainbow. The quilting was done on my home sewing machine with stitching in the ditch on the horizontal seams. Diagonal stitching completed the quilt and she finished at 60" x 75".

More of my mother's purple fabrics for the backing of the quilt and I used various fabrics for the binding.

This aren't the greatest photos, but how could I resist placing the quilt on the porch glider in the wonderful sunshine?

We have 7 grandchildren but I only made 6 quilts. The youngest is still sleeps in a crib and uses the quilt I made him before he was born. He doesn't need a new quilt, I made him a pillowcase so he won't feel left out.

In January I mentioned 2 UFQ's I wanted to finish. I have completed one of them. I had been undecided about the border I wanted for the Cherry Blossoms quilt. I had put her away until I decided on a border and this is what I came up with. Nothing fantastic but I feel it finishes the center better than just a 1" narrow border and a plain fabric border. The quilt measures 90" x 102" at this point. She will eventually be long-arm quilted but I don't know when.

The pattern is from Karen H's blog, Faeries & Fibres. It was a free pattern when I downloaded it but now there is a pattern charge. I made the quilt larger and added the pieced border.

Now it was time to get back to making some Nearly Insane blocks. I hadn't pieced any since December; it was fun to do paper-piecing again. I'm piecing a diagonal row at a time, starting at the top left corner. Row 2 has block 8 in it. This little 6" finished block has 150 pieces! I'm showing you a separate photo of her.

Several people have e-mailed me and told me about the Nearly Insane Quilts blog. She far more skilled and dexterous than I am. Those inside HST's are 1/2" finished! If I want my blocks to be accurate, then the blocks have to be paper-pieced, not regularly pieced.

The yellow sashing looks brighter than it actually is.

In the evenings I've been working on an old EPP crib quilt that has been in progress for several years. I only work on her when I don't have any applique prepped. 

The papers are 1" hexies. There are more rows coming.

The spring Jane Stickle quilt retreat starts on April 13th. I need to get prepping! 

Linking up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday
Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt
Esther's Wednesday WOW
My Quilt Infatuation
Crazy Mom Quilts
A Quilting Reader's Garden

Applique & Grandchildren Quilts

I've been sewing away since I've returned from Arizona and I have a lot to share with you.

Before I left for Tempe, I had pinned a Zippy-Strippy so she would be ready to quilt when I returned home. I had thought I would try to make all of these quilts from my stash but I took the easy way out and used a jelly-roll to make an easy Zippy-Strippy. As normal I did easy straightline quilting and stitch-in-the-ditch with my home machine. This quilt is for one of the granddaughters.

I pulled some fabric from my stash of mother's fabrics. Yes, I used some of mom's precious Jinny Beyer border print fabric for a quilt back! Let this be a lesson to you, this year's must have fabrics will be the next generations quilt back fabrics. Use those special fabrics now!

The 2nd Majestic Mountain quilt is also finished and will be delivered this week to the NY state grandson. Again, stitch in the ditch and straightline quilting. One of these days I will be brave and try something else, but for now I'm satisfied with easy. 

Fabric from mom's stash once again used for backing. I often wonder how she had planned to use the stripped fabric. I know I have a plan for all the fabric I have, I just need to get it sewn.

Last fall I sewed a lot of 4-patch blocks, I didn't really have a plan for them at that time. I pulled that box of blocks out this week and pieced this quilt top for the last of granddaughter quilts. I won't get her quilted before I leave but hopefully there will be time to get her layered and pinned so she is ready to quilt when I return to Indiana. I've named this quilt the Scrappy Rainbow quilt.

Just for fun, while I was piecing Scrappy Rainbow, I sewed 4-patches together and came up with 5 blocks containing 100 1" finished blocks. I guess I've started a postage stamp quilt. 

I've put this project on hold for now, I want to make more 4-patches so there is more variety in the quilt. The leftover fabrics from Sweet Surrender will look great in this quilt but I need to finish Sweet Surrender first.



The Sweet Surrender blocks that were on the WOF have been appliqued.

Blogger won't let me put these 3 blocks photos in a single row! 

Block 7 in the Pastor's Attic Quilt has been appliqued too. It is so easy to back-baste needle turn these larger pieces.

Yesterday (Saturday) the farmer was gone to an all day dairy meeting so I had the house (and the TV) to myself. I took quilting needle in hand and started quilting on my long neglected Fussy Cut Star wallhanging. It felt good to be quilting again. By milking time I had completed a substantial amount of quilting and I'm ready to roll. The quilting doesn't show except in the white diamonds. I'm actually using 4 different colors of quilting thread; white, cream, beige and black. I want the stars to be the focus of the quilt, not the quilting. It is going to be interesting to see what the back of the quilt looks like when she is completed.

I'm taking a short break from applique until I return from NY. So what do I work on in the evenings? I knit dishrags! I'll be taking this project along to work on while I'm on the train and during downtime in NY.

Linking to - 

A Quilting Reader's Garden
Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday
Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt
Quilt Story
Esther's Wednesday WOW