BOMs Away - Journey's End (A Beginning)

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

I have been working myself too much the past three weeks and needed some serious down time today. So all I did in the BOM realm was to cut the neutrals out for my Journey's End kit. 

It's a project that is divided into 6 "intervals" of work. I saw the quilt from this kit when I went to the quilt shop for some backing, and something about the particular color saturation in the repro-style fabrics, combined with the super-cool pieced border called to me.

It will look like this:

Call me crazy for bringing it home - but I know I won't regret it.

How is BOM work going at your place?

~*~*~

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

BOMs Away Late Edition - Finish Report - Heather's Hot Air Balloon Baby Quilt

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

I apologize for being so late with this week's link-up! Taxes. Big changes in the nature of our personal income last year, as well as a new business. Need I say more?

I didn't do any BOM work last weekend, either, as I was helping my daughter finish the baby quilt she was making. Zipped Dolly's quilt off the frame Saturday and got Heather going with her first longarm job. She's fearless, so I knew she'd be pretty much fine.

And she was. This finished at 38 x 50 inches. She liked the idea of doing the kaleidoscope blocks to evoke the hot air balloons that visit our area in the springtime and go with the fabric they were cut from.

It even has a minky background for the blocks, but that didn't deter her! It was chosen to make a sky-like field around the blocks and to tone the brightness down a wee bit for the baby. Plus be super awesome for tactile interest. We have extra kaleidoscope blocks that we'll put with a different background to let them pop. Sometime in the future.  :)

Heather stitched-in-the-ditch around each kaleidoscope "balloon" before adding a couple free-hand circles inside each one.

Then she wanted meandering zig-zags between the rows and clouds in the spaces of the 3-block rows.

Backing was the fabric the blocks were cut from, supplemented with minky.

We did a flanged binging using both fabrics, with the minky on the outside. When I do a minky binding, I just cut each fabric 1/8 inch wider than I normally do. Works like a charm to accomodate the plushness.

And it's in the hands of the new mama, Heather's preceptor, with lots of repeated "I want one, too!" from the coworkers.  :)

I'll be linking:
Whoop! Whoop! at Sarah's 
TGIFF Thank Goodness It's Finished Fridays at Izzy's this week
Let's Bee Social at Lorna's
WIP Link-Up at Brook's
Free Motion Mavericks at Muv's

How is BOM work going at your place?

~*~*~

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

BOMs Away - A Little Wind, a Gaggle of Balloons, a Tiny Bite

My Elm Street Quilts Postchard Exchange Hop Post preceeds this one, HERE.

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

My BOM time was mostly spent helping Heather with the project below this, but I did manage to trace, fuse, and cut out all the non-kitten pieces for the left half of the lower row for Wind in the Whiskers. Just one more block to make pieces for, then I can get this BOM top fully assembled!

         

These 25 kaleidoscope blocks took up most of the time, though. We're making a baby quilt together for her preceptor. I had a few yards of hot air balloon fabric, so we thought we'd use this technique to make some blocks that should look like hot air balloons from the top. We couldn't find a background piece we liked in my stash, so I'll go shopping with these after the repair person comes and goes today, and the backing will be the fabric these were cut from. 

Don't they look great?! When I was cutting the wedges out, I remember thinking the fabric didn't seem to yield as much variety as it would be nice to see. But once you start sewing them, the differences really stand out! We'll only use part of these, so there will be others for fun in the future.

On the hand stitching front, I'm almost finished with the applique on the first nutcracker. He should be ready for a share next week. But first I need to make the teeth units. I made some units of lines I could print out and start the process of paper piecing strips that can be sliced and supplemented to get the 12 units for the whole set. I don't want to fuss with all this more than once. Each tooth is almost 1/8 inch, or about 1.5 mm. Except for the outer ones, I'm working with 1/2" strips. Yes, it's a little tricky.

How is BOM work going at your place?

~*~*~

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.