BOMs Away - Allietare

(Yes, you're in the right place for BOMs Away)

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, if you're in the U.S. We had a good time - didn't take the pictures we should have done, but enjoyed the terrific snow all weekend. 

I couldn't go sledding with Heather and Patrick, as my flexor's not strong enough yet to climb back up the hill. But I enjoying hanging out on the knoll with them. It's just so pretty outside when it's like this!

It's that time of year when Bonnie Hunter does her annual mystery quilt-along. This season it's "Allietare!", inspired by Italy. I had almost all the fabrics in my stash already, so I'm joining in again. 

I did change my colors a little bit. I'm using the mustards/golds in the neutrals spot, and the teal-ish spread in place of the mustards/golds. I sewed sheets as a leader-ender for some 3D twist panels I'm constructing right now.

Lots of HSTs to make for Clue 1. I always use the paper method for a lot of HSTs. It's the fastest way out there to make a whole slew of them. This quilt-along is free until she takes it down in February or so. 

Go HERE for Bonnie's "Allietare!" mystery details and to find specifics of sizes and numbers of units. Also, she has a fantastic system for working with scraps or jellyrolls that is different from my approach and makes non-paper-piecing HST work much nicer than simple cutting and sewing. I'm linking my bit of work so far up with her current Linky, here: Allietare Part 1 Link-Up

Not much sewing time yet, as we ate our feast on Friday and had to make an airport run today. But I'll finish getting these cut out early tomorrow so I'll have something to do while I sit F O R E V E R at the DMV. It'll give other waiting folks a conversation point as I pull the papers off. :)   Yeah, yeah - I know: Pretty dumb of me to leave it until the last day of the month to get the car stickers updated. It'll take no less than 2 hours, probably closer to 3.

I did not work on any "regularly scheduled" BOMs.

And I love this pic of Marissa and Navarre enjoying some cozy time nearby right now.  :)

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How about you? - Did you work on BOMs this past week or so? 

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away - Late Edition

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 the post.

I'm sorry I completely forgot about posting for BOMs Away the other night. It was a strange week for our family. Thursday morning, I was pin-basting "Plums in November" between 20-minute-spaced stirrings of my simmering oat groats. The timer rang, I planted my hand on the floor to get up (a cumbersome process with a half-healed hip flexor), and the next thing I knew, my brain was saying, "Whaat the hell?" while coming to with a nasty-painful jaw/neck/head, and a hand coming away from my neck with fresh and half-congealed blood on it. It's all been assigned to not having eaten yet, being dehydrated, and fainting. In the fall, I landed squarely on the wings of a fairy lamp in the window sill, which effected a strong upper cut to the jaw accompanied with a good stabbing there. I had to spend the entire day at the ER while they made sure I hadn't had a heart attack to cause the fainting (because I had zero memory of any light-headedness), and to do stitches on the gaping wound. 

Isn't is lucky that I wasn't working on a white-based quilt? Non of the blood stains is findable on this.  :)   And it amuses me that the broken fairy wings that knocked me out are color-coordinated.

Always the competitive one, my sister over in Idaho had almost the same experience on Sunday morning!!  She fainted in the shower, fell, and knocked herself out with a blow to the back of the head on the counter. So she got to spend the entire day at the ER checking for heart attack and brain bleeding with the concussion she got. No stitches, though.  :)

It was so bizarre that this happened to both of us in a couple days' span. Neither one of us has been in the ER more than one other time, years and years and years ago. We don't have any similar health issues or blood work clues. Just weird~!

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So anyway, I didn't feel like working on Wind in the Whiskers with all that going on. Did you guys work on your BOMs?  

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away - Americana QAL, Family, & Cadets

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 the post.

The back of my mind has been on France all weekend. My heart grieves with them and applauds their bravery and actions. I feel impatience with those here who belittle the outpouring of solidarity with Parisians because other attacks don't receive as much media attention. I think a lot of factors made the difference between what is publicly shown for France here in the U.S. as compared to such attacks as that on Beirut. It's not at all that people don't care about Beirut. It's more that the majority of us here have a connection to Paris that isn't there with Beirut. Paris is visited by many of us, our Statue of Liberty comes from France, and despite our countries' quibblings over the years, the fact remains that France was our first ally. Paris, like London, is dear to the heart of many Americans, and so we identify strongly with them when they experience tragedies. My heart grieves also for Beirut and other places that are in turmoil - every person deserves to live in peace, and it is seriously messed up that there is so much oppression and terrorism right now. This sweet frog photo is my Facebook profile that I use sometimes when I want to say to everyone: "Take care of each other when the storms are falling." Yes, I dressed it up to express support for Paris - and no, I won't feel ashamed of doing so.  And I say to you fine folks out there: Let's each find something kind to do for those around us every day this weekend. Something a little out of our ordinary mode. It doesn't have to be big at all - just spread some positivity and give someone a smile to help counter-balance the hardship that's around us.

On my home front, things have been good this weekend, if somewhat subdued.

I got about half of the work done on this month's row of the DOD Americana BOM. 

I really love my 12" rotating mat for a bit of paper-piecing
prep and trimming in front of a movie.

Monday edit:  I finished the blocks this morning. :)

It's been a really fun weekend of family "stuff"!  Friday evening Marissa and I drove into Denver to meet up with my sister for a leisurely dinner together, since she was there from out of state for a professional convention.  

(Go, Nicole! - she had to do a presentation on her own after expecting it to be a collaboration, and did more than just fine!)  Heather and Patrick were able to join us, too!  (WOW-WOW, does this mom **love** having her grad school being an hour away instead of 1200 miles!)

Nicole and I
#sisters

Yesterday we had our first "family date" with a second Air Force cadet that was added to our sponsor list. He's a fantastic young man, and I'm looking forward to learning about football from him as he's one of the freshmen players for the Academy. Dinner and a Bond movie was the perfect night for us all.

And today was a terrific quiet family day at the house, enjoying each other, a little bit of lazy movie-watching, and some cooking. As well as that bit of BOM work on the side. I love my peeps!!

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How did things go at your end? - Did you do any work on BOMs this last week or so? 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Few of My Favorite Things - Trunk Show Linky

This is a fun Blogworld quilt show, hosted by Soma at Whims & Fancies. I am spotlighting my top three favorite quilts that I've finished entirely on my own, with bonus favorites tagged onto the bottom that I had quilted by professionals.

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"25th, Baby!"  

This one took me just over a full calendar year of my top attention priority to construct and quilt. I made it to celebrate our 25th anniversary, which was in August 2014. I finished it in October of that year.

Cutting:  39:10

Piecing:  122:15
Pin-basting:  7:30

Quilting-
  Stitch in Ditch:  22:05
  Detail Work:  103:45
  Arcs:  10:00

Attaching Binding:  6:10 (includes hand cutting the edge and zig-zagging for stability)
Finish Work (cleaning papers off, tying & tucking ends):  62:05

Handstitching Binding down:  18:35

It is a huge king size quilt, finishing at 98 x 110 inches, and it was all quilted on my table-top domestic Sapphire 875Q.

It has monogram and commemorative quilting in the central rings

For more details, you can see its finish report post HERE.

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"Semper Fi - Combass"  

This was made this year in honor of my son-in-law's acheivement in graduating from the Marine Corps basic training. NOT an easy thing AT ALL!  

Finished this past August, this was an original design and as with all my work, was quilted on the desktop Sapphire 875Q. 

I used trapunto on the central medallion and touches of metallic gold thread here and there. 

I'm sure the end result with the perfect Marine Corps feel is just as key to my absolute love of this quilt as is the pride and love I feel for our Marine.

If you're interested in more details, its finish report is HERE. 

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"Run, Kitty, Run"  

This is the first quilt I made with "serious" free-motion quilting throughout. It is my first happy feather work, too. 

Finished in July of 2013, this was made as a special thank you for a friend whose personal journey to fitness profoundly affected me (she lost over 150 pounds through changing her diet and running). Her example got me off my tush and into a much healthier lifestyle. I don't doubt that it actually saved my life.

Those are 85% reductions of her favorite running shoe's footprint!

And she was famous for encouraging everyone to just do whatever they could to get healthier by saying: "Every Step Counts!" So I quilted that on each corner with a heart for the fourth. Who cares if you can't actually run or do long mileage? Seriously - every step you take is more than the old you sitting all day at a desk or sofa did!

If you're interested in more details, its finish report is HERE. 

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Favorites that were quilted by professionals:


(These are listed in order of finish, and clicking on their name will link to their detailed finish reports.)

"Sailing with the Flying Needles", quilted for me by Patty Butcher, and finished August 2011. 

I adore the embellishments I put on this and the fun design I came up with for the block-of-the-month sailboats that I got from our guild's drawing the summer before. 









I even love its applique-sailboat label!














"Amaretto Cottage", a huge king size quilted by Margaret Solomon Gunn, was finished in March 2013. 



It frequently graces our bed, and I just LOVE the way she brought very nice organic order to the varied block-of-the-month pieces.




"Wild Rose Cottage", a queen size quilted by Kathy Schwartz, was finished in April 2013. 

I just adore how cheery and homey this block of the month turned out, and it looks fabulous hanging over our grand piano when it's having a turn.

"Dragonfly Party 1" -and- "Dragonfly Party 2", quilted by Kay Bell and Judi Madsen, these twins have a very special story, and are each works of art! I finished them in July 2013. 
The quilters were given carte blanch to do whatever they wanted, and it's beautiful to see the effects they achieved. These have cool appliqued labels, too, and their colors are far nicer than this photo shows. But it's an awesome shot at the Air Force Academy! 

You really want to follow the link to see the details of what Kay and Judi quilted.


Kay:



Judi:



Me:  :)





"Heather Bear!" was made to celebrate our daughter's graduation from college, and was quilted by someone local because I ran out of time. 



Finished in May 2014, it is made from their school colors. (It took a year of occassional shopping to find a great border fabric that was not ostensibly Christmas!) Its back incorporates favorite photos from those years and giant bear claws for their mascot.




I hope you enjoyed my little "trunk show." Check out the link-up for some really great eye candy from other quilters!

Trunk Full of Quilts 2015

BOMs Away - Boards and Borders

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 the post.

Yesterday I was working all day at our regional tournament for Taekwondo, and even competing a tiny bit. I'm on the crutch because my hip flexor tweaked itself 3 days ago and was still refusing to hold my weight. It was a little "interesting" getting into a legal position, and I only placed one board since I had to start and maintain a tight crouch (translation: hardly any power availabe). But I succeeded in not DQ'ing, so that was happiness (and that's my broken board on the mat).

Here's what it really would have been like! This is Kavin, a dojang-mate about a year ahead of us, and schoolmate of our youngest. He went right after me, and it was fun seeing him do this successfully.

Well, mine would have gone like that mostly. . . Kavin resoundingly smashed 7 boards, and I would have tried only 3.  ;D

All that meant that today I just wanted a lazy day of doing nothing with the family. So the only BOM work I got done was about 1/4 of the binding stitching on Kelly's quilt. 

I'm eager to get this one taken off the longterm UFO list!!

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How did things go at your end? - Did you do any work on BOMs this last week or so? 

Desire to Inspire Project 8 - Those Adorable Selvages Quilt-as-you-go Hot Pad Tutorial

Quilt-as-you-go Selvage Hotpads

7.5 x 7.5 inches

fabrics: "Miss Kitty's Colors" by Marie Cole for Henry Glass plus unknown white

Insul-Bright batting

Here it is, finally - the end of my "Miss Kitty's Colors" spree! This is such a fun collection from start to finish, including the selvages. I mean, Seriously! Who can see such adorable selvages and not have to do something with them? 

These wonky quilt-as-you-go hot pads are super easy. I chain-pieced three of them from step to step, so pictures are varied as to which pad is featured during the process.

You will need:

• background fabric for the front (I started with a 5 inch square)
• a scrap to fit a 3.5 inch square
• fusible material to fit a 3.5 inch square
• selvages for the wonky play - I cut mine at 2 to 2.5 inch widths (you can use regular scraps, see below)
• backing fabric (I started with a 9 inch square that I could trim down later)
• thermal batting like Insul-Bright
• some binding

For the center kitty faces, I simply used the guttings from my Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty applique prep. Here's the image for that again. The originals were printed out as a 4 x 4 inch square, but this project's faces are at the 3.5 inch square size. Just resize the jpeg before printing it if you want the same ratio.

You can right-click to save this image to work with.

There is ZERO sewing on this hot pad before the quilting stage. In fact, the only prep work is to fuse the kitty face into the center of your background fabric.

Layer your backing, some thermal batting, and your kitty face. Pin or spray baste.

First stitch your kitty face down. Once again, I just used my machine's blanket stitch setting.

It works just fine to stitch and quilt at the same time. Just don't speed sew here, and lessen the pressure of your presser foot. See: Just fine on the back:

Now take a selvage and lay it down at whatever angle floats your boat, right side up. Top stitch this down close to the selvage edge. 

Fold the selvage onto its face so you can trim away the excess backing fabric from your seam

Layer another selvage, angled along another side, and top stitch that one down. Make sure you overshoot the end of the first one's stitching line.

Now look at the back. The first stitching line could very well shoot beyond the intersection of the second one, as I had here by about an inch. 

You'll have a much nicer hot pad if you just flick those out with your seam ripper and tuck those tails. (Pull on that bobbin thread end, and the front thread will come through, giving you an easier flick area to work in. See the holes below, where I'd unstitched that line and then knotted the threads?)

Go back to the front and fold that second piece over so you can trim away the excess fabric under it. 

Just continue these steps until you've filled all the sides. 

On one of my pads, the fourth selvage left me short of full coverage. I grabbed a normal scrap to give it one more pass. And here's where you can see the difference in construction from the selvages.

This time, lay your scrap FACE DOWN over the previous fabric, so that it will flip over onto the area you need to cover. Don't just lay it down where you want it to be. 

Stitch a 1/4 inch seam from the scrap's raw edge. 

Flip you fabric over to where it needs be, and press it down. There you go!

Almost finished. Time to square these babies up to the size you want. 7.5 inches is a handy hot pad size. It's also helpful to run a zigzag stitching around the edges to keep things from flapping around during your final step.

Now you're ready to bind these babies. 

And put a hanging loop on it if you want. 

I used a decorative trim that was on my desk, because I intend to hang mine on my mini wall. It's occurring to me now that it's not the best trim for actual use, because the heat may melt it. . .  Ah, well. Better choice to be made next time!  ;D

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Take a look at the other projects I worked up from the "Miss Kitty's Colors" collection. If you might be interested in taking on the Henry Glass challenge, their information is included here. Don't let it intimidate you - I am just a normal private quilter, and I also had a much longer deadline than the usual 3 weeks, so I went a little crazy with my work.  :)   

#1 - "Love from Above for Emma" - original design
#2 - Jaycee's messenger bag
#3 - "Kitty Titty Power" with ruler tip 
#4 - Miss Kitty Winter Receiver
#5 - Travel packing bags
#6 - "Kitty Shuffle" - original with tutorial
#7 - "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty" - original with tutorial
#8 - Selvages - with tutorial  (you are here)

This is one of my Q4 Finish Along pieces (My goal post link)

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I'll be linking up at:

Fabric Tuesday

Let's Bee Social

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!

Link-a-Finish Friday

TGIFF, which is at Quokka Quilts this week

 (main site here)