Star Surround Flimsie Finish

I kill myself.  Somehow, I was under the impression that Friday (yesterday) was the last day to get this finished.  I sewed like a mad woman, forsaking all household duties and responsibilities.  Finished the last stitch, ran outside and flung it over the deck railing for the photo shoot just as big fat rain drops started falling.  Snap....got it!  Made the deadline.  Back inside to the computer to post and take a last peep at the instructions.  Oh.  Never mind.  Here it is anyway.

The colors are pretty washed out in this picture, kind of a good thing considering how retina searingly bright it is in real life.  Lots of the fabrics read as solids too, though there are no solids in the quilt.  I like the block and enjoyed learning Melissa's technique for making flying geese.  Don't think I really care for blocks this large though.  Mine is 16 twenty four inch blocks and it's huge!  Now to find nine yards of backing fabric that I can buy and still keep food in the house.

Linking up to Melissa's blog for this portion of the QAL.  Thanks, Melissa!

Star Surround Blocks

Posting a quick picture of my Star Surround blocks this morning.  I decided late to join in on this quiltalong and had to rush selecting and cutting fabrics before heading out to spend a couple of weeks with my mama.  Here are my blocks laid out on her front porch.

Mama thinks my blocks are really pretty, especially the two pink and yellow ones on the top left.  She likes pastels.  I like that I'm using stuff thats been in my stash forever.  I think the blocks are prettier than the picture looks.  I enjoyed learning the method for making the no waste flying geese but have to admit I'm a little worried about how they'll fit with the star centers as they were definitely not perfect.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm home now with lots of clean up to do after leaving hubby unattended for two weeks!

Forgot to mention that I've linked up with Melissa at Happy Quilting...of course, since it's her quiltalong!  And Judy's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. And WIP Wednesday, while I'm at it!

Another Little One

Another Friday, another little finish!  I'm really happy to have this one done.  The fabric is a Sandy Gervais line that came out right about when I started quilting and I thought it was wonderful.  So I bought three charm packs, put them on a shelf and looked at them for four years.  For some reason I felt like I had to make a quilt with nothing but those three charm packs.  Guess I didn't get the concept of adding other fabrics.  Slow learner.  So this is it.  From a pattern by Moose on the Porch.  

The full-on shot.

Another drapey shot showing some of the backing.

And all folded up on the bed.  I love the binding and I'm loving using Sharon Schamber's binding with glue method.

Yes, that's a bare mattress.  The sheets are back on now.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday

Slow going here.  My main, or most active wip is still the behemoth log cabinish quilt that I'm hand quilting.

I'm enjoying the quilting even though the size and weight make it hard to maneuver on my lap.  A floor frame would help, but I don't want to sit at attention while I quilt.  This is my down time, slouchy, relaxing in front of the tv with hubby project.  The thread color I chose, a subtly variegated yellow to peachy orange, was only available locally in a DMC #5 floss and that's a little harder to needle than a #8, I think.  

So, that's it for now.  Linking to WIP Wednesday on a Thursday.
Oop!  I see I missed the linking deadline.  Oh well!

So, I was looking at the other WIP Wednesday offerings and came across another WIP linking opportunity, Esther's Blog, which I've never seen before and which looks wonderful so I'm linking there as it's still open.  Now, I'm off to spend hours clicking on all the gorgeous thumbnails there!

Small Finishes

I have a couple of small quilts to share today.  First a baby quilt finished in the spring.  Don't remember the fabric or quilt pattern name.  It was a fun, quick quilt.  Waiting for a home.

Here's the back.  This quilt was pieced while visiting my mama in a land faraway where there are no quilt shops.  So I got the backing and the batting at, dare I say it? Wally World!  The batting is bamboo which I liked a lot.  No complaints with the quality of either batting or backing. Like with anything, you just have to shop carefully, I guess.  

I quilted around all the little birds and flowers in the border print which was a pain in the patootie, but seemed to need doing.

And last, I finished the quilting on the foot warmer quilt I posted about last week.

Had a wonderful time handquilting. 

Here's a peek of the back.

So, I'm linking with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday at What a Hoot.  

Thanks so much for looking.  I'd love if you'd leave a comment!

WIP Wednesday - Piecing a Back

Most of yesterday was spent doing this...

piecing a backing for this...

Again, hard to get a good shot due to space and light, or the lack thereof.  Here is a closer crop.

This is a big quilt (84 x 102) that requires 9 1/2 yards of fabric for the backing.  I already had 8 1/2 yards of a hideously bright yellow  that never worked with anything and it finally occurred to me to turn it over and use the back side. Perfect!  A little searching turned up this bird panel

that I bordered and pieced in to make up the difference.  The yellows worked so well together and it looks really cute.  Isn't it fun when things work out that way?  You'll have to take my word on the cuteness since it's pinned  to the floor right now and covered with batting.  I'm taking a break to post this before going back and starting the dreaded pin basting.

My ambitious plan is to hand quilt this.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Thanks for looking.  

Night Storm - A Guy Quilt Finish

A guy quilt, possibly for one of my stepsons who seems to appreciate handmade.  The pattern is Night Storm by Jean Ann Wright taken directly from the Marcus website using the exact same fabrics by Laura Berringer. Obviously, there isn't an original bone in my body.  Here is the back.

Why didn't I place that strip off center or at least more off center than it is by accident?

I had a dreadful time quiting this on my new machine, complete with thread breakage, eyelashing and tension problems galore.  I finally finished it on my old Kenmore with the six inch throat.   No eyelashes, no thread breakage no little thread dots on the back.  Go figure.

That  being said, there are two good takeaways from this quilt experience. I basted it with Elmer's Washable School Glue.  No pins or fumes and the layers held together great despite all the manhandling involved in getting the thing quilted.  For more info on glue basting check out the Quilting Board.  If you aren't familiar with this site do give it a look.  It's a wealth of information and quilting encouragement.

Next the binding.

See how nice and sharp my corners are?  Okay, I guess binding should be the same width front and back, but one thing at a time.  I used Sharon Schamber's glue basting method and it was so easy;  fiddly and time consuming, but neat and precise with no pins or clips to get in the way. 

I'm going to link to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finish it up Friday and go finish burying the billions and billions of threads caused by all my stopping, starting and thread breaking.