Last spring I wrote a post titled My List of Current UFQ's.
I am very, very thrilled and pleased to say I've completed all 13 (the original list of ten and then the three I added) quilts that were listed on the spring post!! Whoo!! Happy Dance!! The idea was to progress them into the flimsy stage but several of them have been quilted and are completely finished. Here is an update on each of the 13 projects.
1. Nearly Insane - Completely Finished! I hand quilted this quilt. Here is a link to the Nearly Insane pattern if you are interested.
2. Pastor's Attic Quilt - The applique borders have been completed and the flimsy is finished! This quilt is in the hand quilting frame now and will be completed sometime in 2019.
3. Bricks & Stepping Stones - comforter top for the school auction my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished! - a Bonnie Hunter pattern
The children at school will knot this comforter.
This was a quick and simple pattern. I have plenty of rectangles left. I see more Bricks & Stepping Stones in my future.
4. King sized Boston Commons quilt for the school auction the Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished! Someone in Pennsylvania will hand quilt this quilt.
I really like how this turned out but now I want to make one for me but in blues and yellows, maybe in 2019?
5. Sweet Surrender - is a flimsy. Now waiting it's turn to be hand quilted.
6. Star Dance - Top is finished and also waiting to be hand quilted someday.
7. Baskets & 9-Patches - Completely Finished! Long arm quilted by Three Sisters Fabric, New Paris, Indiana.
A close up photo. I didn't use the original basket pattern that was used in the pattern.
8. Fat Quarter Challenge - Completely Finished! This was a
challenge with the Maple Leaf Quilt guild. Long arm quilted by Lori Null.
9. Wilfred & Cloves - Completely Finished!!
Long arm quilted by Lori Null, medallion was hand quilted by me. Completely finished!
10. Scrappy 9 Patch, formerly known as No Name 4-1/2"
finished 9 patch blocks - The 9 patches are pieced.
This is a project I started on my own without a pattern. I think she turned out very nice. The flimsy was gifted to a friend who'll add border fabric of her choice and then quilt it for one of her children.
11. Sisters Choice - Finished! This is a Bonnie Hunter
pattern. I pieced the 9-patches years ago and then started the actual blocks back in 2016.
12. Re-purposed 4 Patches - formerly known as Kitty Corner - I changed my mind and decided not to make the Kitty Korner pattern.
I used the 4 patches I had pieced for Kitty Korner and just made my own design.
13. Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern or maybe her Bargello pattern. As You can see, I decided to go with the Bargello pattern.
I really like how this quilt turned out and will be making more charity quilts with this pattern.
Don't worry about me, just because I finished all these projects I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing, I've already started another quilt because that's what quilters do. We enjoy the finish for the day and then onto the next one.
Linking to Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday
One of the many unfinished quilts I worked on this year was Wilfred & Cloves. (The pattern is found in Creating Heirlooms One Stitch at a Time by Carolyn Konig.) I progressed this UFQ into the flimsy stage in September.
I have so many quilt flimsys waiting to be hand quilted, I knew it would be several years until it would be Wilfred & Cloves turn in the quilting frame. I decided to have this quilt long arm quilted so off to Lori Null's she went.
My instructions for the quilting were to use a Baptist Fan pattern but have the lines of the fan be 3/4" apart and not to quilt the center applique. I think Lori thought I was crazy but she did what I asked.
This is a picture of the back of the quilt. I like it when the Baptist Fan design is done this way.
I picked up the quilt about 10 days ago and put it in my hooped quilting stand frame, then started hand quilting the center.
The center is now finished which means the quilt is completely finished!! He measures 93" x 102".
I stitched around all of the applique including the individual flower petals.
The background design is a hanging diamond design. The lines are 3/4" apart.
The binding is a flange binding, all in one piece. Sometime this winter I will give a tutorial on making and applying flange binding.
Wilfred & Cloves was started four years ago and you can read about it here.
My Wilfred & Cloves quilt is going to join the other quilts I've made to be gifted to one of the grandchildren some day. It is also going to be renamed but I don't know what yet. How does Brown Medallion sound?
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, HQAL, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Monday Making, Esther's Wednesday WOW!
I've finished the Wilfred & Cloves quilt!! This pattern is found in Creating Heirlooms, One Stitch at a Time by Carolyn Konig. Many of the quilts in Carolyn's book are reproduction of older quilts. There is no information about this quilt, if it is a reproduction or if she designed it herself.
The pieced border isn't what I had originally planned but I like it. It certainly brightens up all the brown. The quilt flimsy measures 93" by 102".
At the time of writing this post, I'm planning on having the pieced body of the quilt long arm quilted with the Baptist fan design and leaving the medallion unquilted. I'll quilt that by hand.
Wilfred & Cloves was the last project on my list of UFQ's but don't worry about me, I still have plenty of projects to work on. Right now I'm going to enjoy the satisfaction of a finish!
Here is a closer view of some of the fabrics I've used in the quilt.
I think there is one fabric with a light blue background.
Read my last post about Wilfred & Cloves to learn more.
Linking to Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap
In Shipshewana, Indiana, there is a fabric store called Lolly's Fabrics. When they have a yard or less of fabric on a bolt, they cut it into fat quarters. They have a unique way of displaying their fat quarters, they place them into a row boat which is called the boat. If you look at their website you'll see a picture of the boat heaped full of fat quarters. They have benches on the sides of the boat so you can sit and dig through the pile to locate whatever you are looking for.
When I was at a Dear Jane retreat many years ago, Lolly's had fat quarters from the boat priced at 50 cents apiece! That was a definite shopping experience for all the retreat participants. I don't remember if Lolly's refilled the boat 4 or 5 times but the fat quarter sale was one of the highlight of the retreat.
I also bought some of those fat quarters but I decided to select colors different from what I normally use. I looked for mustard yellows, sage greens, teals, pinks, reds and browns. I didn't have a project in mind at the time but I would have the fabrics whenever the time came.
I finally decided Wilfred & Cloves from Creating Heirlooms, One Stitch at a Time by Carolyn Konig was "the pattern". I appliqued the center the fall of 2014. During the 2017 Jane Stickle spring retreat, I pieced the blocks. Now, finally, in late summer/early fall 2018, I'm getting this quilt sewn together!
The pattern in the book is for a smaller project however I don't need little couch quilts, I want bed quilts so I made more blocks to increase the size.
You can see half of the blocks have brown edges and the half half have red. I wanted the red blocks on the outside of the center so there would be contrast with the brown borders but then the quilt is a square. I don't want a square quilt so I'm going to add a pieced border to the top and bottom of the quilt.
I have added the brown borders to the sides of the quilt and a shorter brown border to the top and bottom.
I had figured what the width of my pieced border would be but when I started the piecing, it wasn't turning out like I had imaged in my mind so rethinking and some unsewing happened. The brown border on the top and bottom will be trimmed to a more narrow size since the pieced border is going to be wider than I had originally planned. Hopefully the borders will be finished by next week and ready for display!
Linking to Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday
Several times, over the last months, I have mentioned my list of the 10 unfinished quilts (UFQ's) I'm trying to progress into the flimsy stage this year.
This is my list. I'm not necessarily finishing the quilts in this order but I have listed the finished flimsies first. Two of the completed flimsies were started from yardage this year. The rest were started before 2018. I just want to get them completed.
1. Nearly Insane - top is finished! and is in the hand quilting frame now. I blog about my quilting progress every Sunday on Kathy's Slow Stitching Sundays.
2. Pastor's Attic Quilt - The applique borders have been completed and the flimsy is finished! I need to get it marked so whenever the Nearly Insane quilting is finished, Pastor's Attic is ready for the hand quilting frame.
3. Bricks & Stepping Stones - comforter top for the school auction my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished! - a Bonnie Hunter pattern
The children at school will knot this comforter.
This was a quick and simple pattern. I have plenty of rectangles left. I see more Bricks & Stepping Stones in my future.
4. King sized Boston Commons quilt for the school auction the Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished!
Someone in Pennsylvania will hand quilt this quilt.
I really like how this turned out but now I want to make one for our bed but in blues and yellows, maybe in 2019?
5. Sweet Surrender - the center is completed. Just need to piece the outside border. I am not going to applique the border, I'll piece it. I'm tired of appliqueing this thing.
6. Star Dance - I'm appliqueing the borders now. My quilt is larger than the pattern.
I'm so glad winter is gone!
7. Baskets & 9-Patches - the center is completed and the baskets are being foundation paper pieced.
8. Fat Quarter Challenge - this is a challenge with the Maple Leaf Quilt guild. I will show you the finished project the end of June.
9. Wilfred & Cloves - Still waiting, the blocks are pieced, just need to get everything sewn together.
I last wrote about Wildred & Cloves in April, 2017.
10. No Name 4-1/2" finished 9 patch blocks - No Picture. Most of the 9 patches are pieced. This is a project I started on my own without a pattern. The idea is in my head. It will be lovely if it turns out like I hope.
There are still several more unfinished scrappy quilts. If I should actually be able to complete the above 10 quilts, I'll move onto these projects.
11. Sisters Choice - I made a mistake in sewing the star points and had to recalculate. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern or it was a Bonnie Hunter pattern, now it's mutated into something else!
12. Kitty Corner - I've made several quilts from this pattern years ago. I have leftovers from those quilts and just want to get the bits and pieces moved out of the tub. No picture. The pattern comes from the January/February 2000 issue of Fons & Porters Love of Quilting magazine, page 34.
13. Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern or maybe her Bargello pattern. No picture, this is the lowest priority of all the unfinished projects. Strips are sewn but need to be cut.
Linking to Let's Bee Social, Whatever Wednesday, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday, Show Off Saturday
I recently spent 5 days at the Jane Stickle Retreat held in Shipshewana, Indiana. As always, I had a wonderful time. Some people say "What happens at retreat, stays at retreat", but I haven't done anything I need to keep secret. I'm going to share my retreat time with you on a day by day diary basis. Be prepared for a lot of pictures.
Wednesday - The retreat officially starts at 3 pm when we are allowed into the conference room. See my sewing space for the next several days. See how nice and organized it is? Hmmm, maybe it isn't so organized.
I received my tulip quilt from Lori Null who long arm quilted her. For a great photo, I draped the quilt on the buggy in display on the west lobby.
Lori did a wonderful job with the quilting. I did select this feathered pattern for the large spaced area.
I wanted something similar for the border and she pulled this design, excellent choice.
She came up with her own design in the tulip blocks and in the chain squares.
She did a wonderful job and I am very please with her talent and skill on my quilt.
Would you like to see the back? I had purchased the floral fabric several years ago for a different quilt and never used it. It wasn't wide enough so I added this section of white fossil fern fabric which shows the quilting quite nicely.
Another view. She used red thread to quilt the tulips. You can see the thread on the white fabric but not in the busy flower fabric.
I spent the rest of my day attaching the binding by machine then turning and finishing by hand.
I know the new have to have tool are the little Clover clips. I think they look like they could easily be knocked off. I use these hair clips and have for years. They cost a lot less too, at least in the area I live in.
I also sewed a sleeve on the back. When I went to hang the quilt Sunday afternoon, the sleeve wasn't wide enough. I removed the hand stitching Sunday evening, sewed a strip onto it and will hand stitch the sleeve this evening.
Thursday - Starting around 5:30 am, I spent most of the day Thursday sewing the square blocks I need to surround the Wilfred & Cloves Medallion center. This is a pattern from Carolyn Konig's book Creating Heirlooms, One Stitch at a Time. These blocks are stacked several inches high.
Of course I'm making it larger than the quilt in the book, so I've made double the number of blocks. Sometime this summer I will lay them out and then move blocks around; sometime, not this week though.
Also on Thursday, Nancy Mast Troyer, an employee of Yoder Dept Store, came and gave us a demonstration on applying misty-fuse to fabric.
She also demonstrated using specialty rulers.
She used the misty fuse and rulers in making the Kaffe Clam Shell Quilt from the book Hearts and More by Sue Pelland Designs.
Nancy did not make her quilt with Kaffe fabrics, she used her stash of 30's fabrics.
I and several other friends intend to make this quilt. My friends spent most their time at the retreat prepping for their quilts. I didn't. I do prepping in the peace and quiet of my home. I don't know what fabrics I'll use. I'm hoping to make a practice clam shell crib quilt sometime this summer using the rulers and see if I like this technique before I jump into a large size quilt. If I don't like them, the rulers and book will be for sale at the resale table at the November retreat.
Friday - I spent Friday working on 3 charity crib quilts. I always stick some projects into my kit bag just in case I need something extra to work on. I had prepped these crib quilts last November and took them to the fall retreat as just in case projects but I had enough to keep me busy. I decided to sew them this spring.
The pattern is titled Go Baby! and is found in the January/February 2013 issue of Quiltmaker magazine.
That year Quiltmaker was taking a block from a quilt in each issue and enlarging the block to be used as a Big Block Baby Quilt. I thought this was an easy looking pattern and it is.
I'm an early riser, so I was sewing along, making good progress when the lights flickered then the electric went off. I turned off my machine, then the lights flickered again and the electric came back on.
I decided to go for breakfast. I didn't like this on and off bit. As I was eating, the lights flashed on and off several times. This was strange; this has never happened before at retreat.
After eating, I went back to the sewing room and was considering trying to sew again when the power again went off. This time it stayed off. Then an announcement was made. There had been an accident on State Road 20 west of State Road 5, a vehicle had crashed into a transformer pole. NIPSCO had to replace the pole, hook up downed lines and repair the transformer. All of Shipshewana and the surrounding area was without power.
I had planned on driving to Caroline's later in the afternoon but quickly changed my mind and went in the morning. They were not in the outage area. {I forgot to take my camera along but here is link to Rosemary's blog where she makes a visit to Caroline's.} I purchased a some fat quarters for future projects and a few for my Nearly Insane quilt.
When I returned to the Farmstead Inn, the power was still off. I had taken along some embroidery, you know, just in case, so I sat, embroidered and visited with friends. I didn't get many stitches stitched when the power came back on. By then it was noon and I resumed sewing on the crib quilts.
At retreat, we often have an Amish meal or some other kind of activity at the Carriage House. This is a business run by Elaine Jones and her family. They are Amish and I enjoy visiting her place. She invited the retreat participants to an appreciation open house on Friday afternoon. Refreshments were her wonderful, delicious cinnamon rolls and coffee.
One of the activity she provides is an old fashioned quilting. People can come and hand quilt at the old style sticks and stands frame. Everyone who quilts is allowed to put their name and phone number in a box for a drawing that is held at the end of the season. The prizes are one of the quilts that were quilted by the varying groups through the summer and fall.
She had several of the quilts to be quilted on display at the open house.
This quilt is in the frame and was standing on the sticks again the wall right now. There is a light colored border on the edge.
She said there was also a 4th quilt which was not yet pieced.
All of her quilts are made with solid fabrics, no prints.
She also has wall hanging for sale made by Amish women from her community. I asked permission before taking these photos.
Soon after I took this picture, the blue bargello was purchased and now resides in California.
I tried to get the pictures to be several across the page, but blogger and I are not agreeing how to do that. They will trail down the center of the page.
I loved this one, maybe I'll try it someday.
This one is my favorite. It looks a little dark here but the colors just glow.
These two were hanging on the west wall and the sun was shining in very bright which makes the colors look off.
This is a full sized quilt. A lot of the quilts use light gray instead of white.
The fabrics in this quilt are blues, not gray.
There were more wall quilts but they were in a different room. There was a group in there who eating and I didn't want to interrupt their meal.
Show & Tell is held Friday evening. I didn't take any pictures, Rosemary always does and here is a link to her smilebox pictures.
After show & tell, I finished the 3rd crib quilt which I forgot to take a picture of.
Saturday - Every month Amber of Gigi's Thimble and Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl have a Five Fat Quarter Fun project. Before I left home, I packed the January pattern, Cabin Fever, a bundle of fat quarters along with white background fabric I had on hand.
Because I hadn't done any prepping ahead of time, I cut my pieces early Friday morning. (I like early morning cutting, there are very few people in the sewing room up that early!)
I sewed during the day and had this top completed by 1:30 pm. This was a very good pattern, good directions and simple to make. I highly recommend it. However, there is 1 correction to the pattern. The directions say to mark all the 2 1/2" blocks with a diagonal line. You only need to mark 96 of the blocks with diagonal lines.
After I finished sewing this project, I cleaned and packed up my space. There were thunderstorms and heavy rains headed our way. I wanted to get my sewing things loaded into the car before the rain started.
Sunday - I had completed all the sewing projects I had brought so I pulled out the knitting needles and finished this dishcloth I had started at home.
I like using up leftover variegated yarn with a coordinating solid yarn.
I visited with my friends and finished it shortly before it was time for me to head home around 2 pm.
I hope you enjoyed my review of the retreat. I had a wonderful time and have many great memories. I really appreciate the great pictures Rosemary Youngs takes so I can link up to her blog and you can view what I miss.
Linking to - Show & Tell With Bambi, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict
