Floral Triangles is Finished!

Floral Triangles is completely, 100% finished! The oldest posts for this quilt were posted in January 2016 but I know there have to be older ones somewhere. I appliqued these triangles at the same time as the Pastor's Attic blocks, alternately between the two projects.

The pattern I used for Floral Triangles is Sweet Surrender designed by Sue Cody, this pattern is no longer available for purchase. I changed the name because I didn't like the name Sweet Surrender: my quilt, my name.

A Hobbs wool batting was used as the batting while Floral Triangles was hand quilted using a variety of threads. For stitching in the ditch around the applique, I used YLI hand quilting thread. Cotton Sulky #12 threads were used for the borders and the diamond background. 

I love how the borders look, I am so glad I didn't take the time to applique the borders. I like this so much better than the applique border from the pattern.

I often keep track of the yards of thread used when I hand quilt but I didn't this time. There were so many different threads, I wasn't up to the challenge of keeping track. However I can say with certainly, there is more than 400 yards of the thread used for quilting the diamonds. I finished the first spool of thread when I was quilting row 5. That spool held 400 yards of thread. For a rough estimate I'd say there is over 700 yards of the varying threads, especially since I stitched in the ditch around all the applique.

Floral Triangles was put into the quilting frame last August but I really didn't get going with the quilting until October. There is a lot of outside work in the summer/fall to keep me occupied.

After all these years of making quilts, I'm still amazed how quilting brings the quilt to life.

There was a slight breeze outside but the quilt is heavy enough it didn't blow much.

Floral Triangles measures 90" by 103" but I think I will wash her to remove the light pencil marks used for marking, sometime. She'll probably shrink some.

The back looks pretty interesting too.

Some day this quilt will be gifted to one of my grandchildren but not yet!

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

Floral Triangles Quilting Finished!!

This my version of the Sweet Surrender quilt (pattern no longer available) which I have renamed Floral Triangles simply because I didn't like the name Sweet Surrender.

The backing has not been trimmed so of course no binding. This isn't a complete 100% finish but so very very close.

I love how the quilting looks, the texture is lovely.

This is the first quilt I've quilted with colored thread and it is gorgeous. For the floral border and the diamonds, I used #12 Sulky thread. Regular white YLI quilting thread was used to stitch in the ditch around the applique.

The Hobbs wool batt puffs so nicely, I just want to gently rub my hands over the surface.

The back looks nice too. I had purchased this backing several years ago, saving it for just the right quilt. It was perfect for Floral Triangles, you can see the quilting and the texture too.

Here are more pictures . . .

Spring is slowly appearing in northern Indiana. The crocuses are blooming.

Don't they just make you smile?

These are the very first blooms of my daffodils. Most aren't this far along.

The bleeding hearts are emerging too. These will be blooming in a month!

The sticks sticking out of the plant are a Russian sage plant that  started growing in the bleeding heart. 

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

Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi,  Bella, Daisy and Connie

Not Quite Finished

The border of Floral Triangles was not completely finished this week but I did make progress.

The first narrowed pieced border and the larger floral quilted border are finished.

This week I'll get the rest of the border finished.

Sorry this photo is a little dark. When I tuned the overhead light on, you couldn't see the quilting. 

A close up of the right corner.

The center of the quilted row.

See how the diagonal lines change direction?

I should have a finish to show you next Sunday but I'm sure the binding won't be attached.

Like many of you, I'm brushing off my bread baking skills. I actually baked bread three times this week! I've been sharing with our son and his family who live in another house here on the farm.

This is a loaf of sourdough bread cooling. We had some for lunch Saturday along with home made soup from the crockpot. It looks picture perfect and tasted great too!

The other two batches of bread were baked in regular loaf pans. One was a recipe I've used for 40 years that's a family favorite. The other recipe was new to me, Egg Bread from Kristens blog, The Frugal Girl. It was delicious! The grandsons liked it too.

I want to mention that for some reason when I make a comment on some people's blogs, my comment disappears into that vast void of internet nothingness. It has happened on both WordPress and Blogger. I don't know why, that's one of life's mysteries. So sorry!

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

Starting the Last Border

The center of Floral Triangles is finished! 

I could reach the straight red narrow border so I stitched in the ditch on both sides of it.

Here are the applique blocks.

Right side half triangle.

Left side half triangle

Left side border.

I've rolled. I can't reach all the way from the right side to the scrappy border on the left.

I will quilt this border in 3 passes.

First I'll quilt the right side scrappy border and stitch in the ditch on both sides.

I'll roll then quilt the center section with the flower/leaf stenciling.

For the final pass, I'll finish the left patchwork and stitch in the ditch along the narrow rows.

I don't know if I'll be able to quilt the whole border in a week or not. 

You'll find out next Sunday!

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

Slow Hand Quilting

Floral Triangles was rolled this week!

I was working on this triangle block last week.

Left side border.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the whole row before I rolled.

I've quilted the right side border and ready to start the right side half triangle. 

Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi,  Bella, Daisy and Connie

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

Redwork Embroidering & Hand Quilting

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing and embroidery is relaxing so I combined the two. Here are the blocks I embroidered while I was in Phoenix. 

These embroideries were designed by Gail Pan and were selected from two of her books, Christmas Patchwork Loves Embroidery and Simply Christmas No. 3.

Since I've been home, I haven't touched my embroidery needle, I've been quilting. I'm too close to finishing Floral Triangles to spend time embroidering.

This was the block I was quilting when I left in February, since then I've completed the rest of the row.

Another block.

These yoyo flowers are so cute! I wonder how they'll hold up over the years?

Left side border.

This row is quilted, time to roll!

Starting the quilting on the top row which is the last row! Right side border.

Right side half triangle.

And a whole triangle.

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