OMG - Finally Finished!

It appears I've been on an unintended blogging break, not unlike many others this August.  Where did the month go??  Lots of produce coming into the kitchen every day, awaiting canning and freezing.  That and finishing up and organizing the ministry's donations for this weekend's auction have taken up the entire month.

All across quilty blogland folks post about reaching their OMG - one monthly goal.  I don't even know who started this, but it makes sense, set a goal at the beginning of the month and then actually achieve it.  And I finally did - this month - though there's still today and tomorrow to try to complete my second goal.  We'll soon see ...

Well over a year ago Jocelyn of Happy Cottage Quilter donated several tops along with fabric to back two of them to our little quilt ministry.  All but one had been previously completed and gifted to deserving folks, I think most of them went to families who had lost their homes in fires.  This last one, a sweet sampler top I saved to quilt over the summer, and tada, today it is officially finished, and going through its first wash/dry as I write.

Simply quilted with mostly easy flower and leaf motifs, enough to hold the layers together but still leaving the quilt soft and snuggly.  After its wash and fluff, it measures 49x62 inches, a nice throw size.

A favorite block, and my first attempt at Lori Kennedy's Wheat Braid motif in the vertical sashings.  A very fun motif to quilt, though mine don't (yet) look like Lori's examples!

I've set aside the last 4 months of this year to work on personal quilts after an 8 month marathon of donation finishes.  Still one more day after today to complete one last donation flimsy and set it aside for quilting next year.  That's my second OMG hopeful for this month!

Starshine - An August Finish!

It's another collaboration, fifteen Ohio Star blocks were donated to our Quilt Ministry, another member made a 16th block, sashed and bordered this lap or throw size quilt.  I pieced the back from some sweet vintage garden themed yardage in my stash, quilted and bound this one, again destined for the Labor Day weekend benefit auction.

The yard is again soaking wet from an early morning downpour, though I seem to have caught the few rays of sunshine we've had in some of the following indoor shots.  Here it is fresh from its spa treatment in the washer and dryer.

This quilt was 60x60 inches when I began quilting it, but after quilting, binding and a cold water rinse and drying on very low heat it's now barely 55-1/2 inches square.  That is probably the highest rate of shrinkage I've ever seen in one of my quilts, I'm guessing because of the matchstick quilting surrounding the stars.

The sashing and cornerstones Lois added between the Ohio Star blocks created a nice Shoofly block secondary pattern.

A close-up of the back shows the quilting a little better, and also shows the simple border quilting.

I drew most of the quilting designs freehand with a blue washout marker, and used one of my kleenex box circle templates to draw the curves in the border.  Nothing fancy but it gets the job done.

Needing to give my wrist a rest for a day or two before I get back to (hopefully) the last throw quilt for the auction.  Meanwhile there's a bit of play happening on the design wall as I discovered another grocery bag of Lois's scraps in one of our ministry totes yesterday.  Seven completed blocks and lots more strips cut.  Wondering why I never seem to get around to starting a new project from my own yardage totes, only scraps.  How does that happen anyway???

More soon!

P.S.  Yes, I'm aware of the 'humility block' in this finish!  Because I know most of you will see it right off!  It was discovered when we were sandwiching the quilt and we decided to just leave that little quirk right where it was!   Call it character.