Summer Solstice Finish

Finally, this beautiful quilt is done. Completely done. I started it in the Quilt along with Melissa at Happy Quilting. I kept up with all the piecing and then used a quilt as you go method to quilt each of the 40 inch blocks. I joined them together and then the project stalled for a bit.

This past week I began pushing forward again to finish this. It is such a large quilt! I quilted the sections where the blocks joined together. Then I had to quilt the border strips and attach them. Then backing, more quilting to anchor the backing and bind.

The backing is Rhoda Ruth in a 108 inch width. I love being able to use one big piece like that.

          It's kind of like having two quilts in one.

 The whole time as I was sewing the backing on I kept thinking what would I use for binding? I didn't want grey, I wanted it to show. I didn't buy enough of the backing, but that would have been great.

 Then I looked over at the shelf of fabrics and this was right on top! I loved it. It has lots of the colors in the quilt and the bit of green. But then I thought maybe not. I finally gave in and just went for it.

      And I think it looks good from both sides. I love a good stripe for binding.

This is one big quilt. but I truly love the way it turned out. Many thanks to Melissa for a great quilt along. Not done by the end of summer, but finished before the Winter Solstice! Talk to you soon.

Summer Solstice-All Together

This is the next phase of the Simmer Solstice QAL. Where we put all the blocks together. For me, that meant only 4 blocks. 4 very large blocks. Each block is 40 inches square to make a queen size quilt for my bed.

This is one of the blocks. I love the size because it helps to show off the Mendocino prints that I love so very much.

 Next I laid it out on the bed to see how I liked it with the sashing, as in this picture.

 Or maybe without the sashing as in this picture. After discussing it with my husband and getting my daughter's opinion, I decided without.

Omalley's opinion is that either way, it will be a cozy quilt to sleep both on and under. So, yay!

 So, the assignment was to sew all the blocks together. My problem with that was, I wanted to quilt each block separately, and then attach them to one another. I couldn't see fighting all that fabric to quilt it on my Bernina. I had a specific quilting motif in mind.

 So I decided to do it my way and see if I could still meet the deadline. And the answer is yes!

 I love the secondary design that putting the blocks side by side gives this quilt. I quilted it in Aurifil 40 weight thread in a hot pink color.

 It's a little hard to see here, both indoor and outdoor shots, but it looks great against the grey background.

 I am pretty happy with it. I am planning to take the sashing strips and put a grey border all the way around the quilt and quilt it with waves, cause, you know, mermaids and fish?

 The points meet up pretty well and now I have to decide on a back. I am thinking of buying some extra wide backing fabric. I love how easy that makes a large quilt to finish.

 I will still have a bit of wrestling to do with this baby. I need to quilt the centers of all those squares still. I am thinking on how I want to do it.

 When it's done, I will be back to show off the final pictures to you. The parade of finished quilts may come before I get done, but if so, I'm okay with that. This baby is so close, I know I will go on to finish it.

Thanks for reading to the end. Thanks to Melissa for a great quilt along. I have loved every minute.
Talk to you soon.

Summer Solstice Progress

The Summer Solstice QAL is progressing quite nicely from here. I still have one week to go and only one block left to assemble and it's almost finished!

 These are the 40 inch blocks. I am making 4 of them to make a queen size quilt for my bed. I love that they are so big and show the prints so well. I have never done big blocks before.

This one is on the design wall still. Partially assembled, but it will be finished by the end of the day, I'm sure. So glad I joined Melissa at Happy Quilting for this.

Summer Sunday

I have a couple of finishes today and an update on the Summer Solstice QAL I am participating in. First, the finishes.

 This is a wedding gift for some friends that I couldn't show until I was finally able to deliver it to them. I know it is hard to see, but it is a tree, stitched on Kona snow. I added the butterflies because my friend loves butterflies.

 I went back over the white stitching with a light grey to enhance it a bit and added this sweet little heart to the trunk of the tree.

 I love the blue butterflies. I didn't have any kind of fabric to make them more iridescent.

 Needless to say it was very well received, so I am pretty happy about it too.

 Then I had another secret project. After my sister's quilt went missing, I decided to make version 2.0 in a mini to give to my other sister. These are all the tiny leaves I cut out for it.

And this is the finished top hanging on my design wall. I have since quilted it and gifted it, but apparently I forgot to take any more pictures of it. It is roughly 38 inches square.

 These are the pictures of my Drunkards path blocks for the Quilt Along. I am so happy I am making the 40 inch square blocks. I can't imagine how much longer it would have taken me to finish.

 Plus, these are bigger and I suspect the curves easier to sew together. I did one practice block and then tackled the rest over two days after work. I starte a week late on this installation due to vacation.

 But I am all caught up and looking forward to beginning the assembly of the blocks. This is going to be a great quilt I think. Talk to you soon.

Friday Stuff

Not a catchy title, I know, but that's all I got today. I have spent the week noodling around in my sewing room. Jumping from thing to thing and not finishing any projects at all. And I don't feel a bit guilty. Here is what I have done:

 Fiddling around with feathers. One of the projects I am doing for my middle daughter. I always wanted to try my hand at these and now I am. I'm going to try a few more in other colorways.

Then there's this. A Geranium dress for Miss N in Sarah Jane's classic Children at Play. I have wanted to make a dress out of this since it first came out. And now I have.

 Then I started playing around with a few fabrics in a Plus quilt. I have wanted to try this one before and now I have. Dark blue...?

or light blue...? Or...

 Both!! And a border of the dark blue. Just took one day to do, but no real plan in mind and this is how it ended up.

 There are some really cute fabric prints in here. Love the little tiger kitties.

And last, but not least, my HSTs for the Summer Solstice QAL. I have them all sewn up and am trimming away on them. One third done, two thirds to go. Hope to have them all done by the end of the afternoon. So, How has your week been?

Summer Solstice QAL Progress

Chugging right along in the QAL by Melissa of Happy Quilting. This week's assignment was flying geese blocks. Here are mine:

 I am making 4 of the 40 inch blocks for a queen sized quilt for my bed. I had some Mendocino fabrics and found a few complimentary colors in my stash. I am so excited about this quilt.

You should take a look at Melissa's method for making the flying geese blocks. So easy and NO Wasted fabric. Zero. Can't wait for the next installment next week.

Summer Solstice

I'm loving the long days since the solstice last week. I am using the time to cut my fabrics for Melissa's Summer Solstice QAL. I just finished it up yesterday. I am so excited to see this one come together.

 Here are all my prints cut and labeled. I love how organized this whole process is.

 And here are my solids for the background. That was a lot of cutting, let me tell you. Over 6 yards of fabric to cut. I am making a queen size.

 And this is the whole stack. Fun to see where we start on a project isn't it? Next week, we sew!

And with that done, I am back to quilting my Heart Quilt #quiltsforpulse. I should have this sweet quilt finished today. I am so pleased with it. Have a lovely summer day. Talk to you soon.