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Thursday, February 28, 2019

TGIFF - Finish Report! "Ruffled Roses" - my best UFO ever, and February OMG

Hello!  Welcome to this week's Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday hosting!


This is where you can link up your finishes that you're excited/relieved/proud about! Show us your finished quilt, or complicated quilt top, or even a full set of intricate blocks that took you forever to do!

We appreciate your including a link to this event in the post that you're sharing, and when you link up, don't forget to use the URL for your particular post page, not the general URL for your blog/photo set.  :)



I am super excited to share my finished UFO, "Ruffled Roses," by Sue Garman, as it has been in the works for quite a long time. (I will edit this for a full-face shot of the quilt as soon as weather permits me to get it outside with holder-uppers.)



This was the 2011 Block of the Month quilt at The Quilt Show. I purchased their kit, because the spring colors appealed to me during my winter shopping. It started out that fall as a very long-term project in my hand applique tote. In February 2013, it went onto my BOM work rotation and the piecing got monthly attention, until the top was finished in February 2015. 



At that point, it was hung in the Quilt Top Closet until whichever time came first: My turn with a master longarmer, or I got my own longarm and felt ready to work on this. I'm really glad the line was too long to beat out my acquisiton, because quilting this up for my first 2019 UFO was supremely satisfying.  It took just under 87 intense hours. I needed a good 2 week break completely away from it after that, but yesterday I got the binding attached and all stitched down, keeping its track record of significant stages culminating in Februaries. For some reason, that quite tickles me.

By the way, this is my February 2019 project for the Elm Street Quilts OMG challenge!  
And I'm so excited about this finish, I'm linking up at Show Off Saturday, and Tish's UFO Busting, as well.


This is my best quilt that I've made so far. And I admit that I'm quite sad that it's leaving me. Last year, I promised my mother-in-law her choice of quilt tops in the closet to quilt up for her, and she chose this one. At least I know it's going to a great home where it 
won't be abused.  :)   


Most of the quilting comes from my own ideas, but the curved crosshatches and feather work encircling the baskets was a study of the work in those borders that Lisa Sipes did in 2012 on this Ruffled Roses




For the rest of the work, I knew I wanted to put a good bit of McTavishing on this quilt - for the applique background in the center, corner, and swag border areas, as well as for the basket backgrounds. 



I knew I wanted to try out some pumpkin seed work, which fit into the on-point round.



I knew I wanted to quilt feathers and roses that mimed the applique roses in the big central setting triangles that had so much untouched yellow. I actually quilted curved crosshatching in the first corner to reflect the curved cross hatching in the outer white border of the quilt, but it didn't look as great in the design as I wanted it to (with the nearby straight diagonals of the trellis round), so I spent almost 2 hours picking it out so I could switch to this straight crosshatching!



I had to think about what I wanted to do in the green border with the big purple dots - wanted something to tie those dots in a little better, so I tried this paisley-and-roses approach in a thicker variegated thread. I wasn't sure what I was going to think of the contrasting thread (pinks, purples, etc.) - but I love the effect!!  Particularly once I put in the figure-8s in the thin bands along either side. 



Roses got quilted into the outer piano-key colored border, as well, with meandering leaves filling in the rest. I had pressed all those seams open, so ditch work in each "key" wasn't an option. I really love the roses and vines, anyway, better than I probably would have liked the SID effect on this particular quilt.



I started marking roses into the trellis border, but they didn't completely float my boat, so I put some daisies in, instead. 



I needed something to tame down the big dark purple hearts in four of the applique blocks, so I came up with some detail work that I kind of reflected in the open hearts in the swag border corners. I also put some motifs with hearts or flowers in some of the large basket areas that needed "something" to break up their expanses. 



There are a lot of quilting themes on this quilt, but I tried to keep it cohesive by having each theme reflected somewhere. Some things were more successful than others, but overall, it came out wonderful!

The last border for me to figure out was the swags. I didn't know how I was going to quilt them until after everything else was done, including their McTavish background. I drew tons of ideas out on my overlay sheets, tried and picked out a couple, and finally stumbled on feathers for the top green and a sort of ruffle-miming approach for the bottom green. That one made me happy.




This was all done with double batting - Hobbs Premium Washable Wool on top of Hobbs Heirloom 80/20. I used all kinds of threads in about eight different colors - mostly So Fine and Monopoly, with that Superior Rainbow thread thrown in. Usually I change the bobbin color out to match the top thread, but with the double batt and the mostly-pastels threads on top, I kept with my white SuperBob prewound bobbins the entire way through. They worked wonderfully for all the top threads. Went through 28 bobbins on this baby. And that's a thin thread! Can't imagine how many MagnaGlides it would have used. . . 



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So, now it's your turn!  Link up with a finish you would like to share, and enjoy a few moments browsing what others are celebrating! 

TGIFF Link-Up for February 28, 2019:


Inlinkz Link Party

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

WIP Wednesday - Ruffled Roses

Nothing like leaving my OMG until the last of the month to finally finish it up! 



The quilting was so intense over several weeks, though, that I had to take a rest from it. Getting some movie time today while I stitch up the binding!

This has been in the works since 2011 - can't wait to show my "Ruffled Roses" (a Sue Garman pattern, this one was the kit from The Quilt Show's BOM program). 


I'm greatful for these linkups that provide great motivation to focus on particular projects! Linking at Esther's WOW, Susan's Midweek Makers, and Brook's WIP link.

Gotta get a move on here, so I can put this up for this week's Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday posting! If you have a finish to share this week, I'll have the host spot and we'd love to see what you accomplished!



Sunday, February 24, 2019

BOMs Away Monday - From the Heart



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 really enjoy working on these Valentine blocks - perfect for some evening stitching in the month of February.  :)  

I finished block 4 for my From the Heart quilt:



And to let you know, Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday will be hosted here this coming Friday. So, If you're close to finishing a quilt or complicated top, or if you just need to snap some pics and do a write-up, come back on Friday and share your finish!


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Let's get back to you! Have you done any BOM work this week?


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.


Inlinkz Link Party

Sunday, February 17, 2019

BOMs Away - Journey's End



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.)

Woohoo!!  I just finished putting this BOM top together:


This is the Kim Diehl pattern "Journey's End" that I started last April.


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How is your BOM work going right now?


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.


Inlinkz Link Party

Sunday, February 10, 2019

BOMs Away - From the Heart



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.)

Isn't this the perfect BOM to be working on at my hand stitching this month? 



I finished the third block this week (the vase of flowers) and have started on the birdhouse. :)

These make me happy.


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How is your BOM work going right now?


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.


Inlinkz Link Party

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

One Monthly Goal - February - Ruffled Roses



My OMG for February is to finish up my Ruffled Roses quilt, including label and hanging sleeve! 

I just took it off my longarm. It sure did lend itself to some amazing custom quilting.





As I have time, I will focus on getting Journey's End fully assembled, my Dear Jane all marked for quilting, Gems in the Daisies quilted for Uncle Don, the binding on Daisy Days, block 4 of From the Heart stitched, and the fabrics in the feathered star kit washed.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

BOMs Away - Journey's End



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.)

Apparently, it's a big football day here in the U.S.  ;D  

Doesn't mean anything to me, though. I've been perfectly happy spending the weekend with another old BOM that I pulled back out. 

I sewed the sashes and assembled the center of my Journey's End - 


I used the cornerstone blocks for the border as leader-enders for that, and they're almost finished - 


Then I spent a couple hours cutting up scraps from all the different fabrics for the 504 pieces of the border patchwork - (Sure was nice to fold up all those leftover fabric pieces draped on that back chair and that box, and put them away with my reproduction stash.)


There is a ton of piecing in the border, but it makes the whole quilt:


 I actually got about 1/3 of them put together, but I didn't take a pic, and now I don't feel like going back downstairs. The barometer plunged today, and it's messing with my Lupus. Time to go lay down and read if I don't straight up nap.

Maybe I can get this guy to snuggle with me.  :)


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How is your BOM work going right now?

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.