WIP - Scoot 2 almost there

Black - check. Green - check.  Time for white and meandering - 

Almost finished with this twin's quilting! Then just some quick lane lines by hand and the binding.  :D

2012 Christmas Quilt Show - Scoot, Santa!

I love these virtual quilt shows! Thank you to Michele at Quilting Tutorials for hosting the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show.

The link-up is open until Nov. 30, so if you have a Christmas or Winter quilt to share, why not join in?  :D



 I'm super excited that I finished "Scoot, Santa!" in time to share it.

Making this quilt was a special treat from pre-conception to finish. It was a naughty thing to do, because I'm supposed to be strictly working on UFOs. But I was shopping on Etsy one day for a sweater for our Siamese and when I saw the Santa on scooter fabric, I just about died. You see, everything "scooter" makes me think of my aunt with a big smile. So there was no way I could pass up that yard of fabric, and this became my November NewFO.

So, I gave myself hard-fast rules:  1. It *had* to be sewn into a quilt in time for this year's Christmas; 2. I had to use *only* other fabrics from my stash; 3. I must break a quilting rule - if I was going to be naughty, I needed to get my "rebel" on in full!

Two weeks ago I came up with a concept, and had a most successful dig through the stash.  The execution went off without much of a hitch - I just had a momentary pause when I saw my original road strips laid out and hated how overpowering they were. After sleeping on it, I realized I just needed to trim back the yellow. I couldn't bear to let go of the roads - Santa needed them. Plus, the shape was reminiscent of Santa's buckle.

The broken rule? You see how I put the background greens on the diagonal? Well, I didn't feel like piecing strips to make them long enough, and I sure didn't feel like cutting wide strips on the bias, so I cut them long-wise on grain and sewed them so that the edges of the quilt were all bias. This would really upset some of my older-generation quilt mentors, as it poses several potential problems - stretching as the quilt is pulled on, warping as you're working on it. . .  But I figured it was a smaller lap quilt, so I'd give it a whirl. This is only 48" x 54".

Because of all that bias, I used a ton of pins to baste it - spacing within 3 inches.

For the most part, I did horizontal lines about an inch apart, using my walking foot. Between all those pins, the good amount of quilting, and a heavier-than-usual backing of fine-wale corduroy, I had no problems at all with rippling, and it is very sturdy! 3 strands of gray floss worked perfectly for the hand-quilted  lane lines.

*Love* that backing. It's a gorgeous claret red. Nice and heavy/comfy for a New England or Colorado-mountain home.

The Santas were placed so that their scooters were on the level of the roads, and I did a simple free-motion meander with loops and snowflakes (yes, it was a tad challenging with that corduroy).

And I even had the perfect gold-on-black fabric for the binding~!  I succeeded in all three rules - everything I needed for this project came from stash - all support fabrics, the backing, the batting, and even all the threads.

The best part of all: There was enough of everything to make a twin so we can keep one here in Colorado~! I only needed to splice some batting together.  :D

So now that you've let me share my "Scoot, Santa" before it flies away to its new home, why not go on over to the Christmas Quilt Show and take a look at the many other wonderful projects people are sharing?  :D

~*~*~*~

I'm also linking this up as my finish report for this week's Friday and this month's NewFO:

Thanks to these great hosts for superb inspirational link-ups! You should check these places out for more cool projects folks have finished. :D

* Link A Finish Friday at Richard's *

BOMs Away - 26 Nov 12 - Next!

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

I'm betting I'm not the only one who didn't do much at all with BOMs this week. I had a gift quilt to finish up, and then there was the whole Thanksgiving feast thing and girls home from college to enjoy. :D

But I did get out the box for the next BOM to get my attention. This one is an old Marti Mitchell Patchwork Party from 2010, and I have the finishing kit for this configuration:

The 12 blocks are sewn already; I just need to do the central cottage. I did rework it a little, because I want to applique it for a softer look than the pieced version. 

And that's all I did.  I'm linking this up with Leah's UFO Sunday to celebrate the impending flimsy finish of yet another long-term project. :)


~*~*~*~*~

 What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. :D

Another Finish Up!! - A Sister's Heart - Heather (and the trio)

This is so fun! A string of finishes every Friday   :D

This is Heather with her "Sisters' Hearts" - bound and snipped just in time for her to get home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday. 

Devon's "Sisters' Hearts" was actually finished long ago, when they were quilted back in March. But she took it to her dorm before I got a snapshot of her with it to record the finish. 

Hers has a fun racing stripe because I didn't have enough red to make it one color.

(The hearts are rag-style, with fuzzy flannel edges after getting washed.)

You saw Marissa's last week, but here she is again for continuity's sake:

All three of these quilt tops were made last winter break by the whole family. They're the same size, at 62" x 86". The inner background fabrics are the same for all three, with different colored hearts, stop-borders, and outer borders. Oh, and coordinating minky backs. 

Dad carefully cut out the borders long-wise. I sewed strips of three together, appliqued the hearts on, and added the borders. The girls laid out and stitched the center fields (although Marissa swears she didn't do this), and they wove their hearts. 


Patty Butcher did the marvelous quilting on her longarm, choosing a different panto for each one as she thought best fit the quilt's personality. She did a fantastic job interrupting the pantos for each heart and doing the custom criss-crossing for those. 

As you saw least week, Marissa's got this one with white thread:

Heather's got this one with the stylized clovers in green thread:

Devon's got this one in red thread (the colored threads look AWESOME on the fronts): 

We are all quite in love with these very fun, super-snuggly quilts. I keep finding them all over the house.

Yes, even on the roof!!  ;D

WIP'n Santa

::snicker::  Couldn't resist that post title.  Probably got up way too early.

Time to quilt!

I use a ton of pins when I domestic-quilt with a heavy backing such as Minky, fleece, or - in this case - corduroy.  I find my preferred 4-inch spread to be too loose, allowing too much give and resulting in unwanted pulls on the top between rows of stitching. 2.5 - 3 inches seems to solve that problem for me. First time I've done a corduroy back, so we'll see if that's still sufficient!  Spray basting would never stand up to the weight of this on a sofa-cuddler size.

I had designed this on paper and in EQ to call to mind a road that Santa was scooting on superimposed by a big chunk of the novelty fabric.  After constructing the oblique background, I laid the squares and "roads" out to find the slice points to insert the strips. . .  and I hated the overpowering effect of the roads. 

So I took them out from one top and let them sit overnight. (To my hubby's consternation, who wanted to shoot pool before bed.)

And the next morning, the un-stripped one was boringly bare and missing the whole concept of the road for the Santa on each square. Staring at them side-by-side some more, I wondered if there was just too much yellow. So I trimmed those way down, and that solved the entire problem. 

Such a huge improvement from a tiny adjustment. Design amazes me sometimes.  :D

Oh, I almost forgot - I have some patterns I'd like to give away. They're on This Post. If you'd be interested in any of them, leave a comment there. 

Thank you to Lee and this week's host for facilitating this motivational link-up!

BOMs Away - 19 Nov 2012 - Once Upon a Star Flimsy!!

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

Yeah!!  Look!  :D   Once Upon a Star is finally a full-fledged flimsy and transferred from the BOM list to the quilting-needed list!!

One problem - look at this spot! I'm not sure how to get it out. I carefully washed with dish soap, but it must be ironed in there.  

Any ideas? I thought I might dilute a little bleach and gently swab at it with a Q-tip, then rinse it carefully and fanatically.  But I decided I'd wait and see if any of you have much better ideas. Then I can address the edge that's lifted up despite the super-careful washing.

~*~*~

And if you haven't seen them already, take a glance at my most recent post and let me know if you'd like any of those patterns I'm giving to new homes.  :)

~*~*~*~*~

What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. :D

A Finish! A Finish! (and some giveaway patterns) - Sisters' Hearts - Marissa

Too fun, getting this string of finishes squared away.

This week's is Marissa's "Sisters' Hearts"

Back last Christmas vacation, when everyone was home from their various schools, the entire family pieced these. There are 3 altogether - one for each sister, with slight variations. Next week, when everyone is home once again, we'll get a group photo op.  :D


Backed with minkee, they are lusciously snuggly and show off Patty's quilting very nicely.

~~>(Giveaway patterns below these buttons)<~~

Thanks to these great hosts for superb inspirational link-ups! You should check these places out for more cool projects folks have finished. :D

*
Link A Finish Friday at Richard's
*



And now for those giveaway patterns!

My unpacking found these patterns that I bought years ago, and I will never do them. So, to pass along the blogger love that was showered on me with giveaways I received during our move (which are in the next box to be unpacked!), I'm offering these to anyone who wants them. 

Oakland, Nauvoo, Manti,
San Diego, St. George

No conditions at all. Just leave a comment here letting me know which one or ones you are interested in. And if you're commenting but don't want any patterns, just say that too - LOL!  (Sorry, I can't reach "anonymous" or "no reply" commenters).  Yes, I'll ship international.  :D  I'll keep this giveaway open until Sunday the 25th. 

WIP Wed - 14 Nov 2012 - Let's Get Santa Scooting!

I'm busy at work on the patchwork border for my Once Upon a Star project. 

^ Those are going around this:

And I've started a brand new project!!!  I am so very ready for something NEW! And this is totally new, not from my UFO list.

It's qualified, though. I'm on a serious mission to sew up the 400 Gazillion projects I already have, so I have a strong rule about buying anything outside of what is needed for current projects. But somebody had this totally cool Santa scooter fabric at their Etsy shop when I was purchasing a sweater for our freezing cat, and there's a very special reason why it had to get to our house. So I bought it under strict conditions. The rules: It MUST become its destiny this Christmas; It MUST be used ONLY with existing stash; and the project MUST break a quilting "rule."

So I mulled over a design and then combed through my holiday tub. The black and just a smidge of gold will frame off the scooter fabric and make some other design elements. 

These greens will create a rule-breaking background. The burgundy-red is actually a fine-wale corduroy for the back. Not exactly rule-breaking, but unusual and warm. No way I'd use it if I were going to free-motion quilt this project. But I'm planning simple organic lines with a walking foot for almost all of it, so it should be OK. The metallic gold-gridded black will be used for the binding.

The whole thing on paper is rather reminiscent of Santa's belt and buckle somehow. Just wait 'til you see it in a week.

SOOOOO antsy to get this sewn up!!  :D


Thank you to Lee and this week's host for facilitating this motivational link-up!