BOMs Away - Label Time

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 love having good labels on my quilts, but I'm not so great at making them promptly. . . 

So I spent this week's BOM time catching four of them up, since I need to take Ruffled Roses over to Scott's mom tomorrow.

I like having a lot of information on my labels - quilt's name, date(s) and places(s) of working on it, name of designer if I didn't make it up myself, the person it's intended for, etc. I also really love to applique elements from the front on it, and/or doing backing or framing with scraps from the quilt's construction.

Sure, a thief could rip off the label, but they'd find that I also perma-ink my name and construction dates right onto the quilt underneath it. Plus, I document my quilts a lot, so I can always prove ownership (or fraud, if someone entered my quilt in a show as their own).

One of the labels did double duty as a patch over a couple of rips. I love the way it turned out, looking like it's in a school of fish with the quilted fish showing on the back.

This quilt was finished a good 18 months ago, must be, but I'm that lazy with label making if it's not being gifted right away. I'm super happy those rips happened on one of our family's quilts, and not a customer quilt. 

I had just bought a new power protection box for my longarm, and this quilt was on the frame when I first used it. The first time I turned it on, then turned on my longarm, the machine FREAKED out and super-blitzed a bunch of spastic stitching, which ended up breaking the needle and punching through the quilt. (Now I know I have to let the box power up a good 6-8 seconds before turning the machine on.) 

The back got the worst of it, by far. This label solves the issue of covering the messy darning stitches. On the front, I'm about to sit down and broidery perse a little 1" fishy from one of the prints used in the quilt top over the single hole on that side.

. . . And there it is - cutely mended in a way that fits right in.  :)

:)

~*~*~

Did you get any BOM work finished lately?

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.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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. . . 

~*~*~

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

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.

BOMs Away - Star Crazy is a Full-Fledged Flimsy!

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.)

Hi!  Check it out!!  I was able to double down this weekend, thanks to Scott taking on all the household/cooking tasks, and I got my Star Crazy BOM fully assembled!

Doesn't she love that snow backdrop? I thought all the quilt's white fabric would wash it out a lot today, but its brights make everything play perfectly in our snowland.

This is a Sue Garman pattern, and was the 2010 BOM for The Quilt Show. It is 82.5 inches square. This actually was the kit they sold for it, too, so I didn't make any fabric choices. I didn't start working on it until January 2015, and it has been periodically on and off my work table for four years.

Soooooo many borders!!!
When I started yesterday, the center portion was together
 with the first small HST round and two of the 6" star border sides were attached.
My back is rather grumbly after the 22 border seams
(and assembling the almost-200 HSTs into the outer small triangle borders)
that I sewed this weekend.

It's funny, because this has been a total Sue Garman month in my quilting world - completely unplanned. My Ruffled Roses has been coming along very nicely on the longarm. My lastest finish there was the green border. I'd originally planned to leave the small flanking borders alone, but I could see they needed something for that round to look its best and showcase the puff in the paisley/flower strip.

I'm really happy with the overall look of the moderately-open loop-de-loops. They flattened those thin strips perfectly and gave more definition to the puff of the center lane with its less dense quilting. It was a little frumpy before I did the loops alongside it. I may or may not do anything in the 1/2-inch blue strips - will figure that out last of all.

(And of course, I was working the last Nutcracker of Sue's "Classic Nutcrackers" for the first two or three weeks of the months, so every one of my work areas had her designs in it. Kinda fun. I miss her being with us.) I'm breaking from that project with a little Valentine stitching before I get back to the 12 nutcrackers to do their embroidery bits.

~*~*~

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.

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away Monday - Family Time

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.)

We just got home from a quick trip up to Nebraska for a family memorial for Scott's uncle.

I wish we'd taken more photos, but we were all more than a little distracted by the ice storm that made things very difficult for everybody, particularly the elder members of the family. Still, it was good to gather together. I met several of his cousins that I hadn't seen before and caught up with a few I hadn't seen for decades.

Scott's sister, niece, and grand-nieces were there with us and his parents

And I look forward, every time we go there, to reconnecting with his mother's cousin. Don is one of my heroes - he has always fought his daunting medical challenges with grace and determination, and has nothing but kindness to pour on everyone around him. 

And Scott's grand-nieces are always adorable to be around.

For at least a little quilting eye candy, it has been a week since I shifted the balance of my time to be 6 hours of quilting work to 2 hours of remodeling work per day. This is the current quilt on my frame, which is the top that my mother-in-law had chosen last year for me to quilt up for her (she got her pick out of my closet of 40-something tops).

This patter is "Ruffled Roses" by Sue Garman

And I had Don choose a top while we were visiting, so when the frame is clear I'll be loading this one to quilt up for him:

~*~*~

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.

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMS Away - The Last Nutcracker

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.)

Oh my goodness, you guys! I'm sorry I forgot to post yesterday! And I even had BOM work to share. . . (go figure!!)

Here's my block 12 nutcracker, The Elf, from Sue Garman's Classic Nutcrackers pattern:

He's a little intimidating, isn't he? I wouldn't go sneaking into his gift factory! The funny thing is that something about the hair color and the cast of the eyebrows and jaw really calls to mind the expression one of our favorite Taekwondo instructors gets on his face when you royally mess up. More than one family member blurted that out. Ha! (I get it fairly often)

This is late, because I got distracted by the gorgeous 12-13" snowfall we had all day Friday/Saturday morning. 

Before our first shoveling spree

Before my second shoveling spree - 
(Yes, we still have the last of Christmas to put away!)

Lots of shoveling went on all weekend, around enjoying the doe herd that visited our bird feeders. 10 in all, four in this shot:

Part of the large doe herd that likes to visit our bird feeders
and berry bushes.

All that snow made the Springtime cheeriness of my Ruffled Roses really call out to me, so I got that loaded up at the longarm and started in on the stabilizing Saturday night. My car can't do our hill when it's snowed/iced up that much, and Scott had to work, anyway, so I went back and forth all day Sunday between the longarm and the fireplace wall. Totally forgot to put up this post!

Just this much left to stabilize on the 90" queen top. It's a slow process on medallion
type quilts, getting all the frameworks nice and squared up.
Looking forward to more easy-going work of finishing the outlining
and getting into the decorative free-motion "stuff." :)

I know our Australian friends are having a crazy heat wave, so hopefully sharing some of our weather pics can help cool you off, at least mentally! Hang in there!

~*~*~

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.

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away - Kelly's "Strolling the Block"

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.

Oh! I'm sorry I didn't get this posted last night, everybody. I've been really distracted the last few days - I found out I have cancer, and we're in the middle of diagnostics to find out to what extent and try to identify the specific type. It seems I have to be unique (or rebellious, take your pick!) even in this - not only did I get a non-Hodgkins lymphoma in the skin, but it's one they've never seen. The pathology lab in Washington, D.C. even thanked the regional lab from out here for sending such an interesting specimen and expressed gratitude for sharing future findings. . .   ::sigh::  Hopefully, it's in the family of lymphomas that responds super well to treatment! I have a bilateral bone marrow biopsy on Thursday, and then a full-body PET scan on Monday when whatever they put in me Thursday has had a chance to get cleared out  Make that: Tomorrow is my scan, now, because Tricare got blasted by 5 different doctors, 3 nurses, a hospital admin, and 3 different offices' desk jockeys for dragging their feet on authorizing my care. (Military people may be able to relate to the insanity of getting things authorized sometimes!)  
There's a gentleman at our Taekwondo dojang who's just finished treatment for throat cancer (successfully, as it shows so far!!), and he's my new personal mentor. I find that the Taekwondo community is every bit as sharing and supportive as quilters and church congregations can be, so I'm very fortunate in both the social and physical benefits of having started that activity almost a year ago! Thank goodness for the extra level of baseline health from which to kick cancer out!  

Back to BOMs Away  :)

Being First Sunday, yesterday I pulled out Kelly's "Strolling the Block."  

I got all the orange peel work put in for one row's sashing and quilted one of the blocks before I got a call from Katie to see if I could come pick up the Taekwondo trailer from a city event so she and the men that had been working could go to Superbowl parties. LOL!!!   I didn't mind, as they knew I wouldn't. I don't do football, and my clueless gaping outside of class when they talk of such things was a no-brainer.  ;D

~*~*~*~

Did you enjoy Superbowl Sunday? And have you worked on any of your BOMs lately?

BOMs Away - Ruffled Roses & Grand Illusion

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.

Woohoo!!!!  

Today Navarre helped me lay out all the piano key swag blocks that I've made over the months for the final piecing of Ruffled Roses.

He was quite helpful!

And after a lot of time working up the floater borders and tiptoeing on eggshells with the iron (felt like it, anyway, working with those pressed-open piano keys!), 

the final round IS ON!

Now all that's left to do is hand stitching the last of the "berries" onto the floater border. And I've already got those made.  :D

Oh - and during the week I finished all the pieces for Grand Illusion. Here's the whole set of 2's:

~*~*~*~

Have you worked on your BOMs lately?