"April in Paris" - an August Finish!

"April in Paris" is finally a finished quilt!  The last binding stitch was put in over the weekend, and I immediately whisked it outside for a photo shoot.   It was a windy afternoon.

All these photos were taken before washing out the Crayola markers I used for tracing stencils and some freehand designs in the larger blocks.  I was pretty nervous about that first wash, partly because of the dark markers and also that bright claret used for the sashings.   A couple color-catchers in the pre-rinse came out bright blue-green, first thought to be from the markers, until I discovered the Printed Treasures label had been dyed the same blue-green. But no red bleed - whew!  After the pre-rinse in cold water I washed the quilt with a bit of laundry soap in cold water.  No bleed on anything except that label which seems to be permanently dyed.  It's the first time I've seen a Printed Treasures label take on dye like that.  Thinking now it must have been from the blue backing fabric, though that had been prewashed.  I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that the entire quilt didn't take on a blue hue.

The dog run finally has a purpose though it took a 3-step ladder to reach the line!

A bit closer

The back

My faithful photo shoot assistant, who was polite enough to not roll on the quilt!

And a finished quilt post deserves a shot by one of my favorite trees out back!

This quilt is based on a pattern by Tony Jacobson published in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting.  My version's finished size after washing is 76 inches square. The quilt crinkled up nicely after quilting and its bath, though the shrinkage was far more than I'd expected.  The flimsy measured 80 inches square and I'd hoped it would remain close to the 80 inches, but I'm very pleased otherwise with how it turned out.  This quilt is destined for the benefit auction on August 31.

This was my One Monthly Goal for August and I'll be linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts here.

Til next time, happy stitching!  I see canning in my near future.  Tomatoes still green but the plants are heavy with fruit, with any luck we will see a huge harvest, some for us and some for sharing.

One Monthly Goal - August Goal Setting

Already the summer months are nearing an end and with that brings the major garden harvest, and canning our favorite salsas, fresh tomatoes, tomato jam, and most especially tomato-basil pies for supper!

Also on August's agenda is completing April in Paris, my final donation quilt for this year's camp benefit auction.  This year's auction is on Aug. 31, so this quilt needs to be done and dusted by about the 28th of the month.

After what seemed an eternity of ditch quilting every single sashing seam, the FMQ is going reasonably well.  Here's what it looks like now.  (Can't post a picture of the full quilt on the floor as the dog is blowing his coat right now and it's impossible to keep up with the shedding even with daily sweeping and vacuuming!)

I'm using stencils for the FMQ work because of the time constraints and they're just plain easier for me to do than attempt an all-over FMQ design.  Hearts in the small squares and rectangles, and a fun dahlia stencil in the large squares.

The stencil I had is just a bit too small for the size of these blocks, so I'll need to go in and add a small filler design in each corner.  Thinking of a simple Trillium leaf design for each corner.  Sixteen blocks, eight starts and stops for each to fill in those corners - looks like 64 additional thread ends to bury.  Thankfully there are some old movies I wouldn't mind watching on TV some evening while that gets done!

So, this is my one monthly goal for August, to wrap up this project and get it delivered to the camp in time for the auction.  Joining the Goal-setting Linkup for August at Patty's Elm Street Quilts.

Til next time, happy quilting!

Vintage Pansies Quilt is a Finish!

At long last, the Vintage Pansies can be placed in the finish column, and ready for donation to the camp auction later this summer.  This was my One Monthly Goal for June.

The finished quilt measures 83 inches square, prior to washing.  I worked very hard to keep everything clean and free of floating dog hair while working on it in hopes of not having to wash it prior to the auction.

Close supervision during the entire photo shoot was apparently required.  The lint roller will be employed prior to donation to catch any stray bits of puppy hair and loose threads.

A close-up of the lovely vintage embroidered blocks purchased a few years ago from an online auction.

The back doesn't photograph well, but this is actually a little white on white floral patterned wide back.  Very soft, unlike many of the more coarsely woven wide backings available.  I wish I had bought more of this one.

Bound with the same black floral as the outermost border.

I'll be linking with Patty at Elm Street Quilts as soon as the One Monthly Goal June Finish post goes live near the end of the month.

I'll leave you with this vision of catitude, taken yesterday.  We finally decided on a name for this little vagabond, we're calling him Probie (Probationary Cat) which describes his current status.  His tenure will be dependent on whether he and our dog can learn to get along, especially in the house.  We're hoping for the best, they both make us laugh, and we all need all the laughter we can squeeze into our days!

A May Finish

Feeling just a wee bit ahead of the game with my One Monthly Goal finished so early in the month!  My goal was to finish this comfort quilt for a young boy in our area who is suffering complications from Lyme disease.  It has been delivered to him and hopefully he loves it as much as I loved making it for him.

The morning after the binding was stitched we awoke to a lovely hazy sunshine, sometimes perfect for outdoor photos.  So, even before my morning cuppa I whisked it outside for a few shots.

Sadly my lack of coffee must have had something to do with my shaky hands that morning as most of the outside shots turned out rather blurry.   And, the ground was wet from rain the previous evening so by the time we came back inside the quilt headed right for the washer and me for the coffee pot!

When the quilt was dry, we tried again, this time inside.

Quilting was mostly simple outlining of some of the major elements in each block, loopy meander around the solid block borders, and meandering of the large 10-inch outer border.

A couple close-ups:

And a look at the back - I love this print, reminds me so much of my own childhood back in the 50s when things like decoder rings, rocket ships, comic books and science kits were all the rage.

And with that, I'll wish you all a lovely weekend!  Linking with Wendy's Peacock Party.  I'll link with Patty at Elm Street Quilts when her One Monthly Goal linky party opens later this month.

An April Finish Ready for Fall

Somehow this quilt speaks to me of fall, maybe it's the caramel background of the outer borders, or more likely the deeper shades used in the baskets.  At any rate the last stitch in the binding happened around 9:00 a.m. this morning, quickly followed by a little camera session.  Warning - photo heavy post follows!

First a quick trip to the guest bed to check for any unsnipped thread ends, etc. and a rather uninspired first photo.

A few of my favorite baskets.

Sun is shining, wind is blowing, time for some outdoor photos. Ahh, the green-green grass of spring!

The quilt is from a pattern in Fons and Porter's Fat Quarter Friendly book.  Theirs was called French Country Strippy.

I ditch quilted the vertical seams and perimeter of the basket blocks on the Janome, and then hand quilted the remainder with Gutermann thread.  After washing it measures 96 x 78-1/2 inches.

The back, nothing fancy, just slabs of leftover fabric.

Completing this quilt was my One Monthly Goal for April, and I'm happily linking this finish with Patty at Elm Street Quilts as well as Wendy's Peacock Party.

In the photo that follows you can see a red bird feeder on the post in the background.  Until last week there was a suet finder attached to said post.  One evening between dusk and 11 p.m. we had an unseen large black visitor who pulled the post nearly all the way to the ground, took the split rail fence behind it apart, and then made off into the woods with the suet feeder.  This was after completely destroying another feeder in the front yard.

We're thinking it was a return visit from this culprit who also loves niger seed feeders set out for our summer goldfinch residents.

January OMG and a Bonus Finish

So happy to be able to say I've completed my January OMG plus a little bonus quilt!  First, the OMG project, a baby quilt for grandchild number 9, expected in February.

Simply machine quilted with walking foot and Jester's Hat FMQ motif

A lovely soft vintage gauzy Batik over plaid backing

And a little bonus quilt for the new baby, what I'm calling a 3-in-1 quilt.  Mom can use it for a travel changing mat, or a wall hanging, or let the little guy have it for a comfort "lovey."  Kindly ignore that renegade thread that I never noticed until after editing the photos ... sigh.

I absolutely adore this sweet little fox face!

The back

We ended up missing the baby shower last weekend, since we were in the midst of a major winter blast of snow and it was a 200 mile round trip drive.  We awoke the next morning to 12 inches of snow, dropping temperatures and biting winds.  For the next couple days it was minus 18 or 19 each morning and then along came a mid-week thaw accompanied first by sunshine and then heavy rains.
Yesterday, we awoke to this in our far back yard, a result of snow, ice, heavy rain and raging creek.

Some of these ice slabs are 12 inches thick

Someone is miffed because the creek is too treacherous to cross!

I'll be linking up with Patty's Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Finish for January and also joining Wendy's Peacock Party for the first time this week.

Happy weekend quilting, and thanks for visiting!  Til next time ..