After returning from my retreat in the middle of April, I had crossed 4 projects off my list of 10 unfinished quilts to progress to the flimsy stage in 2018. I decided to spend the rest of April finishing smaller projects not on the big list. This is what has been completed so far.
Regatta was pieced last January and I'm finally getting the quilting accomplished. The quilting design was an easy decision, horizontal lines. Regatta measures 56" by 70". I don't know how my Regatta size compares to the other finished Regattas.
For backing of Regatta, I used a sheet top. I've seen other people do this on other blogs and decided this was the project for me to try this. I was very careful when I pinned the top to the backing because the sheet has light stripes. I think I did a good job, those lines and the quilting look straight.
Regatta Leftovers Quilt is quilted too. I quilted straight line quilting but left an inch space in between several half inch rows. I thought this made a little more interest than entirely quilting the whole quilt in half inch lines. This quilt was made from the pieces cut off while piecing Regatta. Leftovers measures 46" by 55".
For backing I used some Friends & Neighbors fabric that I purchased on clearance from Connecting Threads.
I tried various places outside around the house trying to get cute pictures. Here are a few more.
Both these quilts are rather odd sizes but they'll do for charity quilts for children. I haven't decided which charity they'll be donated to. I like to let the charity quilts accumulate through the year and then donate them the end of November/first of December.
Linking to Let's Bee Social, Whatever Wednesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Free Motion Mavericks, Show Off Saturday, Slice of Pi
The focus this week has been on adding the borders to Nearly Insane. The first narrow blue border measured 1" finished and the zigzag border is 3" finished. The outside border was cut at 5 1/2". She is 86" square.
It was very windy outside and I had trouble getting a good picture of the flimsy.
And then the wind really picked up.
And then, even windier!
So I gave up and laid the top on our bed and took a boring picture.
Normally when I add an outside border, I cut the fabric the length of fabric but I couldn't with this fabric because it was directional.
First I had to find the repeat which was 6". I opened up the fabric and cut 6" strips across using this flower as my reference point. The pencil is pointing at the flower.
Sorry the photo is blurry but this is a close up photo! And yes, this was a posed picture, I just noticed I have the ruler backwards.
I used a white Sewline pencil to mark the strips for my repeat seam.
I cut a 1/4" seam allowance, put the 2 pieces together and sewed them.
In this picture the seam looks obvious but if you stand back, you don't see the pieced strip.
I sewed the borders to the body, making sure the vine was on the end.
This is one of the mitered corners. You don't notice the miter because the vine was on both ends and it blends in.
I pieced the first block for Nearly Insane on January 11, 2016. I kept track of the number of pieces in each block. The pieces in the blocks total 4687 and there are 564 pieces in the zigzag border for a total of 5251 pieces. I didn't figure how many pieces with the sashing included, maybe I will sometime but not today.
* * * * Update * * * * I have been asked by several commentators if I am going to hand quilt Nearly Insane. The answer is, yes, of course I am going to hand quilt her. Nothing against quilting on machines but it would cost me a fortune to have Insane custom quilted the way I want her quilted. And I can't stand the thought of overall quilting on this quilt. It will take me some time to get her in the frame. Hopefully that will happen in another week.
I had told you I would show you the other retreat projects later. I've finally got them photographed and here they are.
Over New Years weekend, I pieced a Regatta Quilt. This was through a sew-along-at-your-own-pace with Roseanne and Peg. I haven't quilted my Regatta yet. There were a lot of leftovers from Regatta. I wanted to piece those leftovers and then quilt them both at the same time. This is my version using those leftover fabrics. All that is left of the original jelly roll is 13 - 2-1/2" squares.
I'm not sure when I will get Regatta and Leftovers quilted, they'll just have to wait their turn.
Last fall at the Jane Stickle Retreat, I made rail fence blocks with a jellyroll. I cut yardage for the red fabric. After I had sewn quite a few strips together, I remembered I had planned to cut the red into 1 1/2" strips not 2 1/2" strips. Oh well, I certainly wasn't going to take those strips apart so I sewed the rest of them that way.
This winter I cut them apart into squares and then sewed them together at the guild retreat.
I need to add borders, piece a backing and sew the binding. This is a donation quilt and will become a knotted comforter at the MCC Comforter Bash in November.
Linking to Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Let's Bee Social, UFO Challenge, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday, Show Off Saturday
Roseanne and Peggy had a sew-along yesterday with the Regatta pattern. The sew-along was announced November 10th and the date set for New Years Day, 2018. What a wonderful way to celebrate the start of a new year.
I've used a jelly roll I bought at Calico Point. They sell both regular jelly rolls and rolls they cut themselves. Since jelly roll is a copyrighted term, Calico Point calls the rolls they cut a Calico Whirl.
The roll I selected has blue and blue/gray fabrics, the white strips are cut from my bolt of Bella Snow.
I started sewing the strips on Saturday and finished the flimsy today. I really like the colors. I'm normally a symmetrical person but decided to the arrange the values asymmetrically.
I usually take pictures on the clothesline but I just checked the weather channel to see what the temperature is; 2 degrees, wind chill factor -16 degrees. Sorry, no way am I going to take a picture outside.
This was a fun, simple pattern to sew. I will definitely use this pattern again.
Linking to Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday
