Finished quilting a quilt for the Guild, a charity quilt

Yesturday, I finished the label for my Christmas pineapple blossom quilt and today I am back to tacking down the binding, by hand.  Rather than show you boring pictures if that, I thought I would share this finish from a couple of weeks ago.

This is a quilt, a member of the Halton Hill Quilting Guild made and I quilted it.  It's colourful and will cheer up anyone who is lucky enough to receive it.  The colours are a bit brighter than what you see in the pictures.  The blocks are basically the same with four blocks of yellow, four of green, four of blue and four of red, sewn together in a strip and attached to each other.

The strips are not always in the same placement and each colour has different fabrics.  A true scrappy quilt.  This will help clear out some of the scraps.  Once the blocks were made, the blocks were sashed with a black fabric with grey polka-dots.

If you look closely in the picture above, I flipped the backing up, so you could see the cute backing they provided for the quilt.  My daughter and I love the cheerfulness of the backing.  It matches well with the rainbow of colours on the front.

This next picture is of one block, so you could see the individual squares that make up the block.  If memory serves me, the squares finished at 2 1/2". 

Here is a closer look at the individual units that make up the blocks.  You can see the quilting a bit better.

I enjoyed quilting this quilt.  The patterns I used are becoming second nature to me.  It's just a simple design, but looks lovely on small squares.

January's BOM by Whirls n Swirls are done

Last week I joined a BOM by Whirls n Swirls to practice and expand on my quilting skills.  I bunch of people will be in this group, in a different forum than Facebook.  The BOM pays more attention to the quilting options than to making the blocks themselves.

I figure I am ok to write about the blocks themselves, however the quilting part will be for the forum only.  As I said in my previous post, I have decided to do all three options.  Now that I have them made, I can practice quilting each of them differently.

This fist block is for the traditional way of quilting, with traditional designs and motifs.

This second block will represent my modern style of quilting designs.

And lastly, this third option is to be the free hand style of quilting.

I have viewed the videos produced by Tracey Russell of Whirls n Swirls, and I have been practicing the different styles on paper.  I am ready and really wanting to start quilting them, but this weekend was already packed with all sorts of things.  I should be able to work on it next weekend.  The next BOM will be posted and I will have them to make too.

Saturday, I made some more samples, from newer patterns in different scales, I loaded the Xmas pineapple blossom quilt on the longarm to quilt, as this needs to be finished prior to February 1st.  This quilt is part of the UFO challenge I joined, with American Patchwork & Quilting.  I have only three days left to get this quilt done.

I now have the quilting done.  It only took me the good part of the afternoon/evening until 2:00 am this morning................and lack of sufficient sleep has made it slow going today. 

Today, I trimmed the quilt, made some bias striped binding and sewed it on by machine, to the top.  Now I am in the process of tacking down the binding by hand, to the backside.  So far, I managed to get almost one side done.  Handwork takes a while, though I have my label just about done, so there is still a chance I will make the deadline.  Three sides of binding on a queen sized quilt and two lines on the label, all to be done by hand.......may still make it.  Optimism and positive thinking will help my determination!

More progress on my Xmas pineapple blossom

Here you have it!!!  I finished the top of my Xmas pineapple blossom quilt.  This is the #12 for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO challenge.  

I started off the month with only a hand full of blocks and really set my mind to the task of meeting the goal.  This has got to be the fastest quilt top I've made.  This is a version of Bonnie Hunter's pineapple blossom quilt that she has, as a free pattern on her blog.

I changed mine up a bit, as I needed to use up smaller scraps and I wanted to use up stuff that was of various sizes of strips and chunks.  So, I drafted up a block on paper, to paper piece mine.  The strips finish at 1" and the blocks finish at 7 1/2" square, as the middle square is 1 1/2" instead of 1" like the strips.  In my layout I also added sashing with cornerstones.

This next picture is a close up of a corner.  I decided to use a red peek-a-boo border for this quilt too, just like my Canadian Northwind quilt.  Everything I had in Christmas fabric went into this, so long as it was not considered a neutral.

Here is a closer view of a portion of the centre.  If you enlarge the picture, you will see all the variety that there is in this one.  This was definitely a good user of scraps.

Now I am hoping to have time this weekend to quilt it.  Time is running out to finish this quilt for this month.  In the meantime, I am working on the label, in hopes of having it done to put on while I bind it.

I am so glad I joined this challenge.  I challenge myself all the time, but it is much better when you have a bunch of people doing it together and rooting each other on.  Take care, and don't forget to have fun while doing it.

Great meeting of the Longarm Quilter's group

Yesturday, Sunday was our monthly meeting of the South-Central Ontario Stitchers group.  It was another great meeting.  Comradery amongst the group is good with everyone eager to learn and meet others in the same field.  Quilting can be isolating, as it is generally done alone, but getting together with likeminded people is nice.

Tracey from Whirls n Swirls had a short demo to teach us how to add more backing fabric to the quilt that is already loaded, without removing the quilt from the longarm machine.  This would have been great for me, last week, when I got to the bottom of my quilt and noticed I had the border still to quilt, but had run out of backing fabric.

After the meeting, I decided that I was going to join the 3 Way Block Sampler Quilt, that Tracey is offering to expand on our longarm quilting skills. 

This is the information (see above).  This is all I can show you, so if you want more information on this or want to join, go to Whirls n Swirls' website for the details.  This is an online class, so anyone can join, and for those that do not have a longarm, with the right foot you can do the quilting on your domestic machine too.  That is where I first learned to quilt, and yes you can use rulers with your domestic machine too.

Basically, Tracey is going to provide us with a block pattern each month, and she is going to give us three different ways to quilt that block.  Her categories are traditional, modern, and free hand.

Well............guess what?  

The insane person that I am, has decided to do all three.  Surprise, surprise!!  Not really.

Above is my first selection of fabrics.  These will be for the traditional option.  The first picture below will be my fabrics for the modern option.

Lastly, this next group will be for the free hand option.  All three of my choices are completely different. I've decided that if I was going to do this, it had to be from my stash.  So far so good.

I am looking forward to working on these.  There is always more to learn.  For me it is learning the different motions used for the longarm versus how I have always done it in the past, which was on my domestic machine.  I have come a long way since I got my longarm last year and continue to practice and learn.

Stay tuned for the monthly updates.

Progress on my Xmas pineapple blossom quilt

I have been disconnected from electronics and getting so much done.  You know, it is so easy to get sucked into what is going on in other people's lives on Facebook, blogger, Pinterest and everywhere else, that before you know it, a few hours has gone by.

I instead, replaced the electronics time with productivity on my sewing machine.  I got all the remaining blocks done.  It took me a few days, but I enjoyed making these blocks and admiring the variations, that the time spent was painless.

The next day, after I completed all the blocks, I was running on excitement energy.  I started putting the rows together.  Here are the bottom four rows.  Now only six more to go.  I needed to get some of this done, as I needed to have something to bring, when I went looking for a border.

That was last Sunday.  I am still deciding to be disconnected from the electronics.  I have only one and a halve weeks before this quilt needs to be done.  I will show you another post soon of what I did this past week. 

The American Patchwork & Quilting challenge is so far keeping me motivated.  I went on the Facebook group today, to see how things were going.  So many people across the country are involved and showing their work.  Soooooo much progress and encouragement from everyone participating.  There are some lovely quilts and projects.

Finished the Canadian Northwind quilt

I finished, just in time to end the year of 2017.  This is my red and white quilt to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday.  The only thing that was left was the binding, which I finished recently.  I waited until I was at my mom's place to take the pictures.  She has more space to spread out the quilt.

What do you think?  I like it.  I especially like all the various shades of red.  This has got to be the fastest quilt, of this size, that I have started and completed, in only one year.

Above is a picture of one of the corners, turned back over the backing.  I really like the texture the quilting gives the quilt and I also really like the striped binding on a diagonal.

This is a picture of the backing.  The pantograph is of maple leaves and swirls.  Fitting for my Canadian quilt.  The design is called Maple Syrup from Willow Leaf Studio.  It's pretty and from what I heard, it's also a popular pattern.

The top is done

This will be just a short post, as I already wrote one for today, this morning.  I realized that I didn't celebrate my Canadian Northwind quilt top finish.

Just before Christmas I finished the top on my Canadian Northwind quilt.  I was determined to finish this quilt before the end of the year.  This quilt celebrates Canada's 150th birthday.  I did it.  Here is a picture of the top.

  

I love the variety of the red and white fabrics on this quilt.  They add so much interest and stop the quilt from looking flat.

I finished quilting it too, but I don't have the pictures of the finished quilt yet.  I was waiting until I got the binding on and done.  Well....that was last week.  The weather hasn't been that good, so the quality of the lighting would not show off the quilt to it's best advantage.

I will get the pictures as soon as I get a chance.  In the meantime, I will keep plugging away on my Christmas pineapple blossom quilt.

Progress on Xmas/solstice star quilt & Xmas pineapple blossom quilt

In around Christmas time, I had the Xmas/solstice star quilt on the design wall.  I was making progress on it.  I have all the units for the second alternating blocks done and have 10 out of the 41 blocks sewn together.

The design is starting to take shape.  The lightness of these blocks, against the darkness of the first set of blocks, creates an optical illusion.  When I get more done, this quilt will look like It is made of circles throughout.  The best part, is that there is not one curved piece, in the whole quilt.

  

During my Christmas break I decided to join the American Patchwork & Quilt UFO Challenge.  That ended the progress on this quilt.  Which is ok for now.  This quilt is on my challenge list, so it will come back out to play, sometime this year, and hopefully get done.

For the challenge, I have my list of 12 quilts.  They announced the number for January as being 12.  So, on my list, the number 12 is my Xmas pineapple blossom quilt.  It's funny how it turns out to still be a Christmas quilt, however that is where the similarities end.  No soft curves, this quilt is all about straight lines and a grid marching across the quilt.

On December 31st I wrote a post that speaks about this challenge and where I started with this quilt.  Check it out, if you want all the details.  The picture above is the progress I made on it since, to the beginning of the week.  I like how this one is now also taking shape.

I have still many quilts on my list to do and I like all of them.  I get so excited when I take each of them out to work on.  Each quilt that goes on the design wall is my favourite!

For this past week, I have been determined to finish this quilt, this month.  I calculated that I need to do two blocks per day, at least to have a chance of getting it done.  Well, I am so motivated, that I disconnected myself from electronics and sewed, sewed, sewed.  I am getting there!!!

Stay tuned.  The push is on!  I take a challenge very seriously, can you tell..... LOL.

My daughter has over taken my quilting room

This weekend, Saturday, while I was quilting downstairs, quilting on my longarm for the guild, my daughter decided to take over my quilt studio upstairs.  She is at the final stages of finishing her top of Fair and Square, a design by Bonnie Hunter.

She is working on her border.  All of my pieces got put aside on my table and her pieces came out to play.  She is making a piano border for her version of Bonnie's quilt.  She has all her long parts and short parts teamed up with the white tips.  All of these pieces are also sewn together in sets of four.

Sunday, I decided to let her continue sewing, while I grabbed some handwork to work on.  I have a lot of binding and labels to do.  I am hoping to get my Canadian Northwind quilt binded in time for the guild meeting.

While I was binding, she was putting the first border on, the small black strip that separates the colourful scraps of the centre from the colourful scrap border.  

It was a nice relaxing day, sharing company, with my daughter in my studio, for a bit.  My four legged daughter too!  Here she decided to plop herself right on top of the quilt I was trying to bind.

One week into the month and seeing progress

As part of the American Patchwork & Quilt UFO Challenge, this was my #12.  Those who are participating wrote up a list from 1-12, and the admin for this Facebook group pick a number from 1-12 at the beginning of each month.  For the month of January they selected 12.

We are one week into the challenge and I thought I would share my progress.  This quilt will have a total of 80 blocks.  I started with 20 blocks and now during the week I made 15 more.  That makes 35 blocks done (44%). Yay for me!

I can see the pattern starting.  I am getting excited.  This quilt is a Christmas quilt, using all Christmas fabrics.  Even though Christmas is over for the past year, I am not tired of seeing these fabrics, like I though I might.  They are really just colour to me.

I am hoping everyone who is participating is doing well with their own #12 UFO.  Let's keep the momentum going!

Finished quilting the crazy rainbow blocks NICU quilt

One of my finishes for 2017 that only needed binding, is now done.  This quilt was so fun to do.  I really want to make another.  

These blocks were made using my smallest of scraps, referred to as crumbs.  I colour sorted my crumbs. Blue, green, red, pink and orange/yellow combined.  I made the blocks the size of my foundations, which measured 6 1/2" square.  Once the foundations were covered with scraps, I trimmed the blocks and cut them into quarters, and added sashing and borders.  Can't get easier than that.

I think it's pretty.  I love the rainbow of colours against the white.  The colourful stripes on the binding really offset the blocks nicely.

This is the back of the quilt.  I used this quilt to practice doing swirls.  I am getting better each time I practice.  I am still working on getting round circles and pointy points.  I'm getting there.

Here is a closeup of the blocks.  Look at all those small pieces.  These blocks only measure 2 1/2" square, so that makes for small crumbs.  Most of the blocks have about seven pieces in them, but one of them, I know I counted nine.  Nine pieces in a 2 1/2" square....that's small. LOL.