Red Sky at Morning

 O. K. . . .   I decided to do something totally different from my usual quilting.  Normally, I'm someone who loves exact instructions and detailed patterns, but for Project Quilting 14.2, I decided to use tiny slivers of fabric backed with fusible web to create Red Sky at Morning.   Thank goodness, it's only 14 x 11 because cutting those slivers to cover that small size took forever!  

 

Orb

 

Orb--One orb from Pamela Goecke Dinndorf's "Orbs" quilt featured in Quiltmania, Issue 147

When I opened this issue of the magazine, I loved the "Orbs" quilt and began with the largest orb.  I made an orb to use for this challenge, which gave me an excellent opportunity to try out background colors for my orbs,  review the steps for doing an inset circle, and test possible quilting for the final quilt once I have completed the top.  My submission measures  20 1/4" x 17.5".  

On my design wall are the orbs that I have completed thus far.

 

Crazy Beauty

Here it is--Crazy Beauty--my latest finish.  It has been complete for awhile—well, almost complete--but I am now finally posting pics.  I call it Crazy Beauty because the blocks are the New York Beauty pattern, courtesy of lenzula.de. , but I was crazy for trying to make a quilt featuring these blocks.  I found the paper pieced patterns several years ago (2017?) on Ula’s website.  The border was inspired by a similar quilt which Little Island Quilts made featuring this border.   My friend Gail suggested the arrangement of the blocks.   I machine quilted the quilt and finished using the first scalloped binding that I have done.  Each quilt presents its own challenges and teaches me something new, whether it’s something about sewing or piecing or color choices.  I’m happy to have this one finished.

Medallion Quilt

Well, I decided to participate in Emily's medallion quilt along over at Em's Scrapbag.  First, I had to make a center medallion, and I remembered that I loved the blocks designed by a quilter who blogs at betukbandi.  Her quilt, "Round the Year," is lovely, and since I enjoy paper piecing, I chose Block 10 but omitted the circles.  The "Round the Year" quilt features blocks which are appliqued to the background, but I doubt that anything that I applique would hold up 😀, so I chose to inset this center medallion into the background using the instructions given on her blog.

Here's the finished circle.

Hmmmm. . . .  I think the background is disproportionally large, but it must be 24.5" square.  What to do?  What to do?  In looking around on Pinterest, I saw a quilt with squares interspersed with background fabric, so here's what I'm aiming for before I put on the first border that Emily has designed. 

Nothing is cut or sewn yet because I will need to do the math to figure out how many squares to include and the size of  the background piece between the squares.  Some squares may even need to be left out.  I will add those 1.5" squares and trim the medallion to 24.5" Then I'll be ready to add Emily's first border which she has posted.  Thanks, Emily, for creating this medallion quilt along!

Rhombesque Rainbow

A Rainbow Scrap Challenge finish!  This was my 2016 RSC quilt, and I finally finished it earlier this summer.  It is Kathy Doughty's "Soul Searching" pattern from her book Making Quilts, but I call mine Rhombesque Rainbow, which is a better title than Diamond-Shaped Blocks in the Colors of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I quilted the diamond shapes in straight lines using my walking foot, and inspired by Quilting Jetgirl's circuit board motif, I quilted the neutral background diamonds in a circuit board motif.  That, at least, was my intention; however, my "circuit board" ended up looking like a maze for a fruit fly.  When machine quilting, I always begin quilting too small, so then the machine quilting takes forever, but I practiced my machine quilting, used a lot of scraps, and finished a quilt.  All good. . . . 

Thanks, Angela, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge motivation each month.  I always look forward to the Saturday posts which bring colorful projects from all around the world.

On Ringo Lake

January 13, 2018







OK!  My first Bonnie Hunter mystery--On Ringo Lake!  Nope, I haven't finished yet, and the reveal happened weeks ago, but that's how I quilt--s-l-o-w-l-y.  It has been a fun process though, and I have learned how to achieve better accuracy in piecing with Bonnie's tips. Now, I watch where I place the ruler.  There's another great tip from her--I think I first heard it in a Quilt Cam video--but I was reminded again in this clue. 




I'm not confident in my color choices, but I'm listening again to Bonnie and choosing fabrics in a lot of different ranges.  I began with my scraps, which is what initially brought me into trying this quilt.  I had several aqua/turquoise fabrics that I wanted to use, as well as several pieces of melon/salmon fabric that needed to be gone from my stash.  There were also chocolate brown fabrics to use.  When I realized how much of the fabric I had, I decided to jump in.  Since then, I have bought several fat quarters of all three colors to complete each clue--well, to work toward completing each clue. 


Never before have I cut fabric for an entire quilt without making blocks along the way to see whether I liked the block enough to pursue a finish.  What I have learned is that there are advantages and disadvantages to cutting all the pieces first.  An advantage is, I think, that I will save time when I begin to assemble the blocks.  They will be cut, and I can sit and sew.  Another advantage with this mystery is that I have been able to see alternative arrangements in Bonnie's link, so if I like an alternative better, I can  piece my block like the alternative.  A disadvantage is that if I hadn't liked the final quilt, I would have cut up a lot of fabric just to assemble a quilt fail.  Fortunately, that isn't the case, and I might add that doing a mystery quilt involves taking that risk. 


 Clues 1 and 2 complete and Clue 3 started

The 99K with a string of Clue 3 pieces 

Since these pictures, I've made more progress with ORL, but it will be awhile before I finish.  Can't wait to see how the completed quilt looks--

 

Teach Us to Number Our Days

In November 2015, Audrey of Quilty Folk issued a challenge to make one circle for each day of the year—Quilty 365.  I began on November 5, 2015, and immediately got behind.  I would get caught up, then fall behind again.  Finally, I finished the top in August.  Making the backing, quilting, and binding remained.  This week—TA DAH--I finished completely.  I’m so glad that it’s finished. 

I’m of a certain age, and I realize that my days are not infinite.  This quilt serves as a reminder to me to savor each moment, appreciate each day.  It also reminds me to count my blessings.  Thanks, Audrey, for a wonderful challenge.