Last Finish of the year, and the 2014 NewFO Challenge

In a recent post I mentioned a 1950s era quilt top I'd found that had "issues" to put it mildly.  Originally 7 inches longer on one side than the other, it was also pieced together with triangle squares of varying sizes with little regard for matching corners, and with a large machine basting stitch.  Definitely not something I wanted to spend much time on yet it also didn't want to be thrown in the pile of things heading out to the local St. Vincent de Paul store either.

The original top.   Photo was taken on a sunny day, the top looks nice and clean, but it was not, and the natural muslin triangles had age spots and small stains.
I ended up taking off the three rows of triangle squares on the right and added a wide dark brown border to make it a useable size.   Trying to stabilize the large machine stitched seams, I decided that an overall FMQ meander quilting was the best way to proceed.   I had an old Mountain Mist 100% cotton batting, probably from the 1960s or perhaps even earlier.  It had the paper wrapper with some vintage patterns printed on the reverse.  So, meandering we did through the first week or so of December, then the edges were trimmed and the plain brown binding was stitched down, and the finished quilt measured about 58 x 84 inches.
I've heard the praises of the "Biz Bucket" for soaking out stains and age spots on vintage linens, so after the binding was stitched, the quilt went into the bathtub filled with hot water and about 1/2 cup of powdered Biz and nearly the same amount of original Dawn liquid dish soap.   The water turned a grungy shade of brown, which I should have photographed, but forgot to do before draining the tub some eight hours later.   After soaking all day, the quilt was rinsed in the tub several times, excess water squeezed out and then into the washer for an additional cold water rinse and spin.  After that it went through another delicate cycle in the washer with a small amount of liquid Biz and several more rinse and spin cycles, then into the dryer on the low heat setting.  The quilt shrunk up nicely and now measures about 53 x 78 inches, a good size for the back of the couch or a small grandchild's bed or an outside picnic when they come for a visit.  Here's the finished quilt in all its clean and crinkly glory.

So, that's my last finish for the year.  The other two quilts currently underway are weeks away from the hand quilting being completed, plus we just embarked on a remodel of the small bathroom in our house, and the next couple of weeks will be spent with spackling, paint cans and wallpaper!  Funny how that works - you update one item in a room, in this case changing out the flooring from carpeting to a more practical vinyl, and the rest of the room suddenly looks way shabbier than it did originally, and you know you can't just continue to ignore the obvious.
Thinking of the new year ahead, Barbara over at Cat Patches is again hosting her annual NewFO Challenge.  And this new year will be one of many challenges on the horizon with DH's anticipated retirement and a few other major life changes on the horizon.  Though I fell short this year and had to r-e-a-l-l-y stretch to have a NewFo every month this year (and there are still none on the horizon for this month), I do want to participate again next year, so I'll throw my name into the hat once again with the following:
1.  The Strippy Basket Quilt I didn't quite manage to start this year, inspired from an older Fons & Porter Fat Quarter Friendly Book pattern.

2.  I'd also like to make at least one baby quilt each month to donate to our local hospital's Layette Project that provides new parents who are in need with a complete layette when they take their newborns home.
3.  Earlier this year I acquired several vintage 1980s era Ohio Mennonite quilt tops through an online seller friend who specializes in antique and vintage quilts and tops.  The tops range in size from 28x28 inch wall hanging through king size.  A couple are pieced and the others are mostly from vintage applique and embroidery kits.  This lady did impeccable needle turn applique and gorgeous embroidery and was a prolific quiltmaker.
I think it's safe to say that I'll begin hand quilting this wall hanging in 2014:

4.  I'm anticipating I'll need to begin (and maybe complete) another wedding quilt this year.  And maybe another grandbaby quilt - just sayin ...
I may be getting ahead of myself here, so I'll quit while I'm ahead and head off to find the links for Barbara's 2014 NewFO Challenge and see what everyone anticipates for the new year!

Finish!! (and a long time a'coming)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of throwing my newly finished 16-year-old albatross queen size quilt into the washer and dryer in hopes of removing the various markings and abundance of kitty fur clinging to the top.  Happily, all of the marks and (most of) the kitty fur are gone.  I've got to warn you, after 16 years in the making, this post is going to be photo-heavy!    So, here we go, first photo was taken right after I finished stitching down the binding, before throwing it in the washer. 

And now, the "after"

A very exciting shot of the back - and a rippled back it is, though not as noticeable now that it has had time in the washer and dryer.

My first attempt at needle-turn hand applique

And some of the individual blocks.  This quilt is titled "Biblical Blocks" and is from a book of the same name by Rosemary Makhan, published in 1993.  

I won't bore you with all my tribulations in putting this quilt together, let's just say I love my rotary cutter after having cut all these little pieces individually from templates!  The needle-turn appliqued border took over a year of evenings, and the hand quilting, probably another 2+ years!  And there were other "must-do" quilts that had to take precedence along the way.   But now it's finished and hanging on the quilt rack in our room awaiting a night cool enough to toss it on the bed.  Of course actually putting it on the bed means more kitty fur ... lots more kitty fur ... and so it goes!

Tropical Sunrise - Finished just in time for Bloggers Quilt Festival!

So happy to report that Tropical Sunrise is finished!  The last of the binding was stitched down on Monday morning just prior to our quilt guild meeting, where it made its debut entrance into the world of the finished quilt.  I'm so very happy, both to have this finally completed, and also because I'm liking the way it turned out.  We've had off and on showery weather the past few days, and since I don't have anyplace to hang it outside that will accommodate its size, these photos were all taken indoors under various lighting conditions.

I machine pieced this approximately two years ago on my Singer 201A Centennial machine, and began quilting it approximately 2 1/2 months ago.   All quilting was done on my Janome Horizon, using Aurifil 50 wt. thread throughout.  For the ditch quilting I used black (color 2692) on the top.  All free motion quilting was done with a wonderful variegated yellow/gold (color 4150) as the top thread, and for the bobbin thread I chose color 2370 which blended with the back for both ditch and free motion quilting.

 I really loved how the variegated gold Aurifil 4150 played with all of the batiks, blending into the background of some and providing gorgeous contrast on others.  This is fast becoming one of my favorite go-to colors for machine quilting!

For the free motion ferns I lightly sketched in a few guide points for the stem with a Sewline ceramic lead pencil, and then quilted all the fronds freehand, trying to keep them organic in nature.

Here is a closer view of  a primary block:

And a secondary block:

And shown here on a queen size bed - sorry the lighting is not good in this room.

Stats for this quilt include:
     Pattern Source:  The Premier Fall Issue of Quilt Sampler Magazine (2004)
     Pattern Designer:  Jill Petit of Jillybean's Pride, Oakville, Ontario
     Finished size:  87-1/2 x 112 inches
     Machine pieced and machine quilted by me on my domestic sewing machines

I would love to make a smaller throw size version of this quilt sometime in the future, and may just have enough batik scraps to make one approximately 60x60 inches in size, perfect for our couch.

So happy to have this major finish to enter in the Spring 2013 Bloggers Quilt Festival in the  Home Machine Quilted category.    You can see all the quilts entered in this category by clicking here.   There are many more categories in the Festival that you can access by checking out the main Festival post here or clicking on the Festival button in the right sidebar above.  Enjoy the Festival!

This quilt is #9 in the Home Machine Quilted Category.

NewFO Projects - March Edition

I can see right now that the pace of NewFo's actually being completed is going to go by the wayside if this warm spring weather continues!  It's time for planting, weeding, pruning, and generally being outside every gorgeous minute we can!

I did manage to bring one NewFO to completion yesterday, this little baby quilt that will go in the donation pile at the upcoming Piecemakers guild meeting.

I had the urge to quilt feathers since it had been a couple months since I last practiced them.   A lot of fun, though it is amazing how a lack of practice slows one's progression around the borders!  I definitely need to keep working on making the continuous design more smooth.  Quilting was done with Aurifil 50 wt. white thread throughout and I pieced the batting from my stash of light-weight poly.  Here are a couple close up shots and one of the back, which I love as much as the front of this quilt!  The backing is a vintage print on a very fine fabric.  Very delicate and perfect for a little baby girl.  Luckily there are at least three more yards of this fabric in my stash for future projects!

Another sort-of NewFO for the year is the Tropical Sunrise quilt.  I actually had the top and back pieced nearly two years ago, but getting it out again this month and starting the FMQ it almost seems like a new project.  It's coming along slowly but surely.  A few issues with quilting the left-hand sides of the feather fronds.  I'm almost sure it's operator rather than machine problems, something about the reverse movement of the hands is causing the top thread to shred, most annoying.  Changing needles and rethreading the machine has not changed anything, and I'm able to quilt the other side totally without issues, so I'm pretty sure the problem is self-inflicted.  Anyway, here is the most recent photo of that project.

So, that's about it for March.  I'll be linking up with Smitty this month at the Cat Patches Linky Party, so head on over and check out all the other "March MewFO"  projects by clicking here.

Wishing everyone a beautiful Resurrection Sunday!

A tiny finish

Not very much has been accomplished this week as I've been under the weather with a head cold.  But I did manage to finish up this little doll quilt yesterday.  The quilt began with the cast-off triangle scraps from the snowball blocks of the Easter baby donation quilt posted in January's NewFOs.

The HST's finishing at one inch were then stitched into pinwheel blocks.  There were enough for 18 little blocks that I decided to arrange into a little strippy style quilt.  After auditioning several sashing/border fabrics, this bright yellow from the scrap bin really begged to jazz things up, and the chocolate brown binding to wrap around everything seemed like just the ticket for this springtime/Easter theme.   It pretty much screams chocolate covered peeps, wouldn't you say?!

Here is the back, from a piece of vintage fabric in my stash.  The quilt was made entirely from small bits and pieces left over from some previous projects and inherited stash.

The quilt finished at 11 x 15-1/2 inches, and was pieced on my Singer 301A.  The Janome Horizon was used to stitch in the ditch around the pinwheel blocks and the simple free motion stitching in the sashing and borders. 

Since being introduced to Aurifil thread during SewCalGal's Free Motion Quilt Challenge last year, I've found myself increasingly using it almost exclusively, especially the 50 weight.  I really like it, and it works beautifully in all my vintage machines that I've tried it thus far, as well as the new Janome.  I even used it for my first machine applique project last month, and it was great.  I've also experimented some with the 40 and 28 weights, and recently heard that the 28 weight is great for hand quilting.  Will be trying it for handquilting my next little project.  (By the way, I have no affiliation with Aurifil other than spending quite a few of my retirement dollars in the last year adding to my thread color stash!)

This little quilt will soon be on its way to our 3 year old granddaughter, so she'll have a little something special while big brother opens his birthday presents later this month.

January Roundup - NewFO Challenge

 

On January 1, my plan was to start one project this month, that being the baby quilt made from January's block of the month for our local quilt guild. This one is actually finished and ready to donate at our next guild meeting!

Then, one of the projects on my actual NewFO list for the year is a little angel quilt for a young Mom of an Angel.  I got as far as appliqueing the angel (inspired by a larger hanging created by Ulla of UllasQuiltWorld) and stalled right there, lettering is next plus some borders, a bit of  embroidery, quilting, binding, etc.  Progress to date on NewFO #2:

All those little leftover triangles cut from the corners of NewFO #1's snowball blocks became HST squares finishing at 1 inch.  Hopefully this little pile will soon become an Easter doll quilt for one of the granddaughters.  NewFO #3 as of yesterday:

Then out of the blue, Lori of Humble Quilts launched a quiltalong a couple weeks ago, and I could not resist trying my hand at this little vintage reproduction doll quilt.  NewFO #4 status:  pieced, hand quilted, bound and completed as of noon today - yeah!   This one was great fun, and satisfying to actually complete a hand quilted project in days rather than years!

A great start to the year, although I'm sure things will slow down considerably once I begin FMQ on stepdaughter's wedding quilt.

Linking up with Barbara at Cat Patches for the January NewFO Challenge, and looking forward to seeing how everyone else spent their January quilting hours.

A New Year, A New Finish

This little baby quilt began life as a 'block of the month' for the local quilt guild I recently joined.  I figured since I was already so far behind with this year's blocks, I would just take each month's block beginning with January and turn it into a baby quilt for the local hospital's Layette Project which our guild supports.  The January block was a snowball/nine-patch combination.

Using scraps from my stash and a portion of two charm packs picked up from the Traveling Stash box, this little quilt for a special Easter baby was completed over the weekend, my first NewFO for the year.

I machine quilted this using simple meandering loop and flower and leaf motifs learned during the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge sponsored by SewCalGal, using Aurifil 50 wt. cotton in both top and bobbin.  The back is another piece from my stash featuring lots of little ladybugs and tiny flowers.  Binding fabric is a light mottled batik with hints of most of the colors found in the quilt.

After cutting off all those triangles from the snowball blocks I just couldn't bear to throw them in the trash, so I'm thinking this little pile will become a doll quilt, in due time.  These little HST squares will finish at 1 inch.

Thinking babies this week ... my first baby was born 37 years ago today!  So hard to believe that many years have gone by ...