Wrap Up Report for September

Looking for this week's BOM's Away?  Link is here  ~~> 

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I'm telling you - these monthly lists are really working for me. For the most part the variety keeps me from croaking of over-exposure to any given monster project; the over-loading of items provides stimulation without overwhelming me since I know I purposefully list more than can happen; and the prioritizing keeps me from stepping away from the most important jobs for too long.

Thanks to the folks who host the parties that make this work!

 

Linking to:

UFOs - 

 

 

I did manage to quilt half of the wide bottom border of "Kelly's 1930s"!

 

 

Also, I not only attached the border of that Tangram quilt (renamed "Piñata Pizzazz"), but I figured out its quilting and got it all marked up, ready to go. And just now, everybody helped me pin-baste it.  :)  Well, as much as we could with "only" 1000 pins. . .   I'll have to fill many spaces in better once I've gone around the edge and then done the stabilizing lines and can harvest those pins!   [[Stocking Stuffers, Santa  ;D ]]

 

 

I did not do anything on "Quiet Rebellion", as I slung "Piñata Pizzazz" up to the top of the priority list for fast finishing so I can donate it for the Colorado flood relief.

 

 

 

WIPs/NewFOs -

 

I got as far as I wanted and a weee bit more on "25th, Baby!", and I finished "Flight Commander" so Scott could pin it up at work.

 

 

I made the berry set and got them partially sewn onto one plume section of "Whooo's Your Mama?" --- And then decided I really didn't like the way it looks. So I'll use hot-fix thingies instead, I think.

My fiddling for a quilting motif on my Dear Jane triangles is not yet successful. Really undecided about that, and I'm unsure how I want to approach the marking.

 

 

 

Oh! And it was not on the list, but I made a handful of birthday bash circles:

 

 



 

 

 

 

BOMs -

 

Full success in staying on schedule there. Kelly's double BOM set is so close to having all the components made!

 

 

 

COMMUNITY SEWING -  

 

I didn't just pin-baste that wheelchair quilt; I finished it altogether. 'Bout time!!

 

 

 

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So, that's how I did in September. Not bad at all. Some great forward motion on a nice variety, with 2 finishes.

 

 

 

September NewFO Report - Climbing Lanterns

Looking for this week's BOM's Away?  Link is here  ~~> 

Love Barbara's NewFO parties each month, and they're really helping me get these kits pulled out of stone-cold status and on their way to becoming quilts before my youngest is out of high school.  ;D  Lots of other fun projects emerging, so take a fun breakfast stroll through the other links.







This was a fun Fall-ish project to pull out of deep storage NETYs (Never Even Touched Yet) and get into the mix.

"Climbing Lanterns" is a kit I'd bought who-knows-when at whatever sale that snagged me. The pattern is by Marinda Stewart, and it uses the Laura Gunn "Lantern Bloom" fabric collection.

 

The quilt is a background of nice earthy colors patched together in 6 inch patches with a woody print appliqued over in a tree form.  It has a fun 3-D component, which is what those pieces in the first photo are for. You make a couple folds and straight-stitch those, do some gathering stitches, put in some fiber-fill puffing, and stitch them down onto the quilt hanging from the branches. That will be fun to do.  :)

I'm seeing if I can successfully adapt the back-basting method I use for hand applique to machine applique. So far so good. I drew out the tree on the back of the background. Laid the tree fabric front-side-down on the floor, then laid the background front-side-down on top of that and pinned it well. I put my machine on the largest stitch it will do, lowered the tension significantly, and with the pinned layers upside-down so I could see my pencil lines, I stitched over those. Got some thread bloopies from the super-loosened tension, but that won't matter one bit.

I cut about 1/4" away from the stitching, and with the quilt top-side-up in the machine, I'll be taking out those basting stitches a stretch at a time, turning under the edge, and real-stitching the edge down. Maybe with the teeny-tiny blanket stitch I favor, or maybe I'll try that "invisible" machine stitching I remember seeing something about online if I can find that again. 

Not sure yet if I'll attach the 3D lantern blooms before or after I do the quilting. But this is a really nice little quilt (a good small sofa size) in real life.


Here's my backing fabric that I got at the time (glad I did, as the collection is too old to find anymore):

This is the binding fabric that came in the kit. I'm not digging it for this quilt. I'm relishing a knife-edge finish, instead. But won't this fabric be a great addition to my small-yardages stash?  :D  

I don't think I'm going to store this project away just yet - I'll keep it out in case I ever have sewing moments available in October after doing my daily anniversary quilt sewing.  :)



Oh!!!!!   And I want to journal this:

HAHAHA!~! Nothing like Nature and a kiddo to break your snarky mood. A little walking after dropping the girls off at the school, and a gorgeous fox dashes across the road 20 feet ahead. Around the corner, as I'm passing a mom with a toddler in a stroller, *another* fox sprints full-out across us not 10 feet ahead, chased by a madly screaming magpie. The kid has the most astonished look I've ever seen on her face, and in that stuttering way they have, yells out:

"Dat kitty.... Dat doggy.... Dat kitty......... Dat Kitty-Doggie is in touble! Dat birdie will SPANK him!" lolol

BOMs Away - Sept 30 - Ruffled Roses

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.
  

  

It's the last BOMs Away of the month, and it's been a good one for me - everything's kept up to schedule with the completion of the third swag border for my Ruffled Roses:

 

 

 

The first one is already sewn to the quilt center:

(The colors are truer above)

 

 

 

 

I got a fair bit done on #4 as well, and then I still have the 4 cornerstones to stitch up

 

It'll be nice when I can finally move on to the next round of this quilt - probably for its December work!

  

It's going to be an incredible quilt to have one day, being made only on the one-day-per-month attention that it gets.   :D

 

Just to remind you what it will one day grow up to look like:

 

 

 

Have you worked on any of your BOMs or interval-work projects this past week?

 

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 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to 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.

A Finish and a Visitor (or two!!)

I'm almost finished with the marking I want on the flood relief quilt, and while I wait for the black batting to be delivered, I quilted up the latest wheelchair quilt that was already on my list for this month's community sewing.

 

It's a great gentleman's wheelchair quilt. I love its mannish colors and tried to stick with quilting that didn't get frilly on them. I also left some larger open areas than I usually do (letting the prints provide all the interest for those triangles).

That's because this sucker is made with double knit poly - that's right! It was a pre-sorted "kit" I'd taken home from a guild meeting. That fabric will be terrific, I'm certain for stain control and withstanding brutal washings at a nursing home, but boy, is it bulky and stiff for quilting on. The back is more of the tan poly double knit. I used poly batting as well, to help provide loft under that stuff. I am glad this fabric is out of fashion.  ;D

And we have a great week for visitors!!  We just picked up Sophie last night at the Denver airport. She's our new temporary daughter from Germany, and we look forward to spending the next few weeks with her. She and Marissa went off to school happily enough this morning, looking forward to buying Homecoming football and dance tickets at lunch for this weekend. We'll let her acclimate a little while to the altitude and then hopefully be able to catch a day when the road up to Pike's Peak is passable to take her up there. I hear there's a fun haunted house set up at the Mining Museum, too, so we'll have to go check that out, too.  (No pics of her online until I know for sure from her mother that this is OK.)

But our other visitor can be posted: 

Isn't he magnificent? He came with 3 protégées, each of those with 2 points - and they enjoyed a meal of the wild berries on our bushes before settling down for afternoon rests. How wonderful! I was really surprised that he stayed there for me to take his picture from the deck, at most 30 feet away from him.

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Linking up at

TGIFF is at Cherry Valley Designs this week

Link-a-Finish Friday

WIPs - Community Service detour, 25th Baby!, and Sporadic Circles

Thought I'd do a WIP post since it's been a while -

This project has snuck into the priority line. There's been a call for quilts for the Colorado flooding disaster relief. So instead of getting the border onto this UFO and setting it aside for attention again in a few weeks, I'll finish it up as soon as I can and drive it up to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, which is the drop-off point. They need lots of quilts for any bed size. This one is a queen.

I figured it's great for man interest with its strong geometric design and bold jewel tones. No flowers or pink.  ;D   I got a back patched together from stash, and just have to wait for black batting to arrive. They were all out at the local quilt store. Can't believe I walked in there and out without buying a new quilt kit - such GORGEOUS fall fabrics in there!!!

I'm in the process of playing with my acrylic overlays to figure out how I'll quilt it all. I'm aiming for a fun play of FMQ work, but I don't want it to be too heavy for soft draping or to take so long on my table top that the call for quilts ends before it's finished. 

I'll be marking a fair bit since this is so huge and I'm trying some motifs that are not yet worked into my hands' memories. I keep getting all kinds of super fun ideas for out-of-the-box quilting inspired by such as Margaret Gunn, Kay Bell, Judi Madsen, Kathy Schwartz, Jenny Pedigo, among many others - but those ideas are all more intense time-wise and density-wise for the demands of this need.

I suspect that in the end I'm going to have a really difficult time letting this one go! I love how that back turned out - it'll be a good two-for-one. But the need here in Colorado is great, and I'm very happy that in this busy thesis-time of mine, there is an appropriate UFO in an advanced-enough stage to participate.

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My anniversary quilt is still inching along. I put a quota for myself of making 2 footballs and attaching them each day, filling in other seams as they come up ready to be sewn.

I have three rows completed, left separated in three baby quilt sized chunks. I have no desire to work 9 long rows of attachments - or more than 1 long one, for that matter!  So I'll be putting this together in 9 chunks, then work those together in progressively larger sections until there's only one seam-line spanning 9 rings.

I do love this quilt more and more as it emerges, though I get sick of seeing it day in and day out.

So, until I pulled the flood quilt onto the priority spot, when I couldn't stomach pink anymore and had time for sewing after football duty - I would let myself make a circle from my birthday bash set. I think I have 12 now. There will be 42 altogether, and I just do whatever comes to mind at the time, making a line through one here, or a triangle frame around a frog face there. . .   It's a fun diversion. It'll be waiting for me again when I get the flood quilting finished.  :D

And one last photo - this wee young tree outside the orthodontist's office gets massive points for Fall Enthusiasm today!

 

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Linking up at

Anything Goes

Fabric Tuesday

Lee's WIP

Esther's WOW

BOMs Away - Sept 23 - Hello, Moon

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.
 

 

  

Today's BOM work was pure fun, doing the latest Hello, Moon block by April Mae:

 

 

 

 

This one just makes me grin. :D   Especially as my cousin lives in Roswell, New Mexico. She would love this!

 

This was finished so early, if it weren't Scott's birthday I'd get a bunch more setting work finished on Selvages. But being the day it is, I'd rather set my attention elsewhere.  ;D

 

Have you worked on any of your BOMs or interval-work projects this past week?

 

~*~*~*~*~

 Any projects broken into weekly or monthly units are welcome in addition to 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.

Finish Report! ~~ "Flight Commander"

I think my hubby was sorta excited to be able to take this to work!

 

Can't blame him - poor guy got moved into the most dismal hole-in-the-wall office. No windows, yucky lights, copier stuffed in there with them - at least he has to share it with a cool NCO, but that's two of them having to use a dreary cave.  Hope she'll like this, too. :)

I did have fun with it. It's not sleeved so Scott can put it up whichever way he likes best. (It's small enough to stick in with two silk pins.) Literally just grabbed green scraps and sewed them together helter-skelter, then added some steampunk propellers on top. I was envisioning a morphed two-way scene - propellers seen from the front, terrain seen from above, so there was the suggestion of 5 older planes flying over fields and woods.

My family saw two different "scenes," both strictly from above. Marissa sees parachutes floating down in formation, and Scott sees a USO-style fair out in the fields with patriotic tents. It rather tickles my fancy that this little throw-together so successfully provides interest.

I quilted each field area differently, for different crops/terrain. That part up there with a daisy print is supposed to be a hill rising away from a field, but I need to gain map-lining skills, I see (or whatever you want to call those elevation marks)!  And do you know how hard it is to purposefully make wonky pebble quilting for tree-tops?

I didn't do anything fancy for the back - just grabbed a piece of white polyester broadcloth lurking in the corner of my storage room.

I also just grabbed an old scrap of polyester batting. And man, does it do a terrific job of making the propellers pop against the denser quilting. No trapunto in there, just batting effect. I ran three "scribble" fmq lines around each propeller in gray thread taking up maybe 1/8 inch. Really helped pop them out.

 

This shot just in via email - This is the orientation that floats his boat.  ;D

 

"Flight Commander" is about 24 x 25", and while I sometimes wish I'd tweaked the "ground" piecing a little better, I'm really happy with how this turned out. And REALLY happy that Scott and his NCO can have a little perkiness in their office!  

 

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Linking up at

 

Fabric Tuesday

FMQ Friday

Nina Marie's Creative Space

 

TGIFF is at Missy Mac's this week

 

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!

 

Link-a-Finish Friday

BOMs Away - Sep 16 - Selvages & getting over myself

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.
 

 

Before I get into my BOM spot, I want to say please check out what Maria is doing with the Lost Quilt Come Home site. This is a venue for trying to get stolen and lost quilts returned to their rightful owners. Follow this link to her blog: Original Art Quilts by Maria Elkin

 
 

 

So, this week I pulled out Selvages, which has been tucked in a box waiting forever for a BOM week to open up. The blocks were all made, just needed to be assembled.

 

 

 

 

Oh. And waiting forever because the fabric that came with the kit to assemble it with - I. Didn't. Like.    At all.  I *did* really like a particular duo of fabrics in my stash for an Americana pop of color. But there was not enough of either. And have you ever tried to find just that particular shade of blue? Blue can be amazingly bratty to match. I mean - it's just blue, right??  ;D

 

Peeking at the left is the replacement duo,
the ones I'd really wanted are the main view.
You can just see that the replacement blue is a wee bit brighter.

 

I finally settled on a duo one time in a store after about a year's worth of shopping (and this is when I still actively shopped at least once a month). They weren't exactly what I was looking for, but they seemed to sort of work in about the way I'd imagined. Washed them, ironed them, got ready to cut all those setting triangles, and - I just didn't want to compromise. I wanted exactly what I wanted.

 

Well, that was a good two years ago. Today, when I opened its box, I had a major "Oooohhh, YEAH." moment.   But then I told me to Get Over Yourself already. Quit being such a spoiled brat and use these pieces. Besides - Finished trumps Perfect since it's not a multi-thousand-dollar show competitor. Seriously!

 

So I ironed the fabrics and cut out those setting triangles and border strips.

 

 

 

Used my Design Hall  (hehe - see what I did there?)   ;D

 

 

And two columns are assembled. My family wants to go out to a movie in a few minutes, so that's all the BOM sewing there's time for today. Hoping to get all the rest of this one's assembly finished next month.

 

And you know what?  I really like this fabric combo!

 

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Hope you've been able to work on your BOMs this week. It's so nice to move them along, even if it's just a wee bit!

 

~*~*~*~*~ 

 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.