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.

"Minky Stripes" for Camp Hobe, Hands-2-Help 2017

Many of us have participated in this year's Hands-2-Help Charity Quilt Challenge that Sarah has coordinated over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

I was happy to have a super soft and perky kit on hand that would be fantastic for the Camp Hobe drive - soft minky stripes in the right size to comfort a young person fighting cancer. 

This was my first strip minky quilt, and fortunately others ahead of me had shared the importance of using spray adhesive as you go along. I can't imagine doing this without it. I don't normally use the spray, as the propellant uses carcinogenic chemicals, and I have an autoimmune disorder, so I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. Also - those rounded corners are a must if you're going to bind it.  :)  The minky strip just flows so easily around them, rather than struggling with corner folds. Also, you only need a single layer rather than the doubled-over binding that I normally use.

I just LOVE all the different textures that minky comes in! Don't you?

Thanks for organizing this event, Sarah! 

And all you sponsors are AWESOME! 

It's been washed and completely dried, so I'm off to the post office now. :D

BOMs Away Monday, and H2H 2017 - Minky String Quilt for Camp Hobe

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Monday!

Do you ever start Block-of-the-Months and then not finish them? 

Or maybe you just like doing a lot of them?

This is where you can share what you're doing on a BOM or anything you work on at given intervals. 

Show us what you accomplished in the past week or so!

(Linky at the bottom.)

Knowing full well that I'm not going to work on BOM stuff on Easter Sunday, and probably won't take the time away from family fun to make a post, I'm combining this week's linky with my progress report for my H2H community service quilt:

This is the minky row quilt I chose from my deep storage of untouched kits to make for Camp Hobe. Kids and cancer - who needs a super-soft, bright-and-cheery, can't-stop-petting-it quilt more than they do? 

It's 45 x 60, and all it needs is its binding. This was my first minky row quilt. Notes to self for when I make the animal minky for Scott:

• Yep. Good thing I "listened" and got some spray basting glue to adhere the stripes down as they're sewn on, because there's no way this would work nicely without it. Coordinate the next one with a medicine day since I can't leave this strategy out.
• While the center-out construction strategy makes for faster prep time between sewing sessions, I would prefer to start at the top and work down.
• I'd like to control the rows a little more - chalk a line when adding them.
• My walking foot doesn't play nice with Minky - the treads snag on it like it does on silk.
• So, use this foot with 4.0 stitch length, foot pressure reduced to 1.0, ball-90 needle on the Sapphire.

P.S. I would also like to make a minky quilt like this one day (photo links to source):

Saw it at: Sewciety

~*~*~

How about you? Did you do any BOM work this week? I didn't. I was busy chilling out this Easter Saturday morning and enjoying a cute visit from our friendly neighborhood Easter bunny.

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.

:)

Minky tip

How funny - I recently started quilting with Minky, having a very good and then a frustrating experience, related directly to the quality of the minky fabrics.


The minky we'd got at JoAnn fabrics a couple years ago - frustrating and inferior in quality and feel to that which I used in "Hugs and Kisses from Above." I won't use it again, even in charity quilts.


Yesterday my post related to that experience, and this morning I have an email announcing a sale at the place where the Real Minky (the good stuff) came from.  I'm sure there are other sources of this good minky - so check your local quilt shops, too.  


But just in case anyone's considering trying the minky that I used last month - the kind that made my college-bound daughter say, "I want to be a baby, too!" - here is the link for that delectable Real Minky:

http://www.minkydelight.com/

The particular minky we LOVED was found through this thumbnail pathway: 

Minky Solids > Minky Smooth Fabrics.

Have a good day!