Finishing Farm Fresh Jubilee quilt

 

This one is SO CLOSE, but not quite finished.  Finally I'll have a twin-sized quilt that is actually long enough to be tucked in at the foot of the bed.  I am continually making quilts that seem to all wind up around 60 x 80....nice for an extra layer on the twin bed, but not long enough to tuck.  Atleast they DO make wonderful nap quilts for the couch or recliner.

I'll tell you where the inspiration for this one came from.   I was perusing an Annie's catalog earlier this month when I spotted a quilt that I really liked.  It looked easy enough to graph for myself, and I knew that I had fabrics that would work, so I set to drawing it out for myself. Here is one block....(pardon the wall quilt that it is pinned onto.)

 Kudos to the actual pattern designer, Jocelyn Ueng for It's Sew Emma .  A kit, called Farm Fresh Jubilee, is available from Annie's Craft Store catalog, and I much prefer HER colors.  But I just had to try to use up this Anna Marie Horner layer cake that I had purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  And I had been hoarding the blue, turquoise, and green batik fat quarters , awaiting inspiration for just the right quilt.

Well, they're 20 inch blocks, and I got it pieced, and then realized that, with borders added, I had managed to make a top that measured 90+ inches long !  I thought that it was going to be longer than my quilt frame boards would accommodate for basting.  I cleared away all the furniture that I could from my living room and managed to achieve a space just big enough to be able to barely walk around the frame while thread-basting the three layers. 

Then, while trying to decide on a quilting design to use with my machine, I started looking differently at a border stencil that consists of three concentric wavy lines.  I have it in 3 sizes for three different widths of borders.  But I quilted up a sample, using the medium sized template, 4 1/2",  where I used it repeatedly for the length of the sample, and I LOVED the results.

So........the next day, I spent the WHOLE AFTERNOON drawing those wavy lines across the width of the top, for the whole LENGTH of the top !

It then took me 2 daily sessions......with breaks........to quilt the entire quilt.  AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER !  

I used a polyester batting, also purchased from one of MSQC's daily deals, and a 108-inch fabric from Fabric.com.  All I have left to do is label and bind this quilt, and wait for those cooler Autumn nights where I can snuggle and smile !

EDIT....UPDATE....

This quilt IS FINISHED, as of August 2, 2022.  Twin-size, finishing approximately 67 x 86 inches, after laundering, (quite a bit of shrinkage, but I had not prewashed the fabrics. ).  Cotton fabrics, polyester batting from Missouri Star Quilt Company, 90 x 108. Begun approximately July 11, 2022.

 

My first grandchild graduated high-school

 I was blessed to have Zoe come and get me and drive me back up to her house, 2 hours away, the day before her graduation so that I could attend it with the rest of the family. 

Tears threatened as I thought of how proud James would have been to be there and see this momentous day.  

What a precious beautiful young lady this girl has become.  I pray for all the best for her.

                                       3 generations of Brewer girls

                Wait !  HE"S the YOUNGER sibling !

Rain !

 Oh, heavenly Father, we celebrate you today as you bring rain to our parched land !  

 

Thank you

 for the blessings of this week,

 for hearing and answering our prayers, 

for your mercy that you extend to us, 

and for the forgiveness that you give to us at the cost of your son's precious blood !

And I personally thank you, dear LORD, for these 3 precious grandchildren who are quickly growing OUT OF childhood. Please protect them and guide them on their new adventures, and may they put you first in every decision.

FINISH--Baby quilt --WHEELS ON THE BUS

 I can't remember the name of this block.  I saw someone on youtube demo it, I think, and I quickly made a block, which I proceeded to pin up onto my sewing room wall. 

 As time went on, I'd see it, like it, and decide to make another.  When I had 3, I decided that my orphan block box was already too full and I needed to actually use these blocks.

So I made another 6  blocks, sashed them with a fabric that I was NEVER going to use, and before I knew it I had a baby quilt top.

I backed it with the same fabric that I had used for the sashing, batted it with polyester batting, and hand-quilted it........very enjoyable, I must say.

FINISH (QUILT) for early June.......it's NOT a RUG ! "Plus Diagonal"

Original design

 When I posted a photo of the top of this quilt when I first finished piecing it, a friend later commented that she loved my rug that she saw a photo of !   That was on Facebook where I didn't take the time to explain what it was.     No........although it would make a luscious rug....believe me, I've walked across it a few times while straightening it out for photos.....it is a twin-size topper quilt.  It lacks a few inches being long enough to tuck at the end of the bed, but it will definitely serve to provide an extra layer of warmth on cold nights !

Finishing (before laundering, which I have yet to do) at approximately 63 inches by 81 inches, I used 5 1/2 inch binding strips in solid navy fabric, to give it a wide binding resembling the edge of a blanket. I really like the look.  Although I sewed the binding down to the back side by hand, I took the time to also go around it once, in the ditch from the front side, by machine, just to make sure the edging was more durable.  I hope for the quilt to be used, either by myself or by someone to whom I gift it.

The purple that you see is an extra mattress lying beneath the top one.  So you can see that the end of the quilt just comes over the edge of an average twin mattress, but isn't long enough to tuck.   But the sides are nice and generously long.

I wanted to get a nice close-up shot of the fabric that makes up the background.  From Walmart, it's like a map of the world.......partial, that is.

This backing fabric was sold on Fabric.com, and was 56 or so inches wide.  Thankfully, I had just the right solid color to match the print for the strip down the middle.

In this photo, you can see a bit of the quilting.  The plus blocks were all quilted in the ditch, including around the little green squares on some of the blocks.  Then I did a large meander in all of the background, finally getting  my Jazz 2 to cooperate for some free-motion quilting.

FINISH for May 2022--Walmart Christmas Roll lap quilt

 Measuring 44 x 47 inches after laundering.

        

                                                              Before laundering.

Quilt-top finish "Making My Point"

 Just dropping in for a minute to document the finishing of my latest quilt top, "Making My Point". 

 This started out to be a  medium-sized lap quilt, with plus blocks in scraps with all neutral backgrounds.  First change made was the addition of the snowball corners in just a few places.  Then, after liking the looks of that, I decided that the quilt would grow quite a bit with minimal effort if I set that part on-point.  Of course, that was after falling in love with the compass/globe-view fabric at Walmart.  

 After placing that on the design wall, I thought that the corners looked too empty, so I dug out 3 orphan 'cross' blocks that I had which I thought fit the color scheme fairly well.  Just had to make one more !

Rather than piece them into the corners, I decided to applique them into place, and I made up a few small blocks to fill in some more space. 

Finishing with a square quilt kept bothering me when I knew that I had just enough leftover navy to make it atleast big enough to cover the top of a twin-sized bed.  So I divided what I had into fourths, pieced top and bottom border strips, and added them to make what I hope is the final finish of this top.

 

Now onto the search for a backing solution !!!!!!!!!! 

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Thread-basting in my living room on my old 1 x 2 frame pieces and legs.

Finished with a 62"wide piece of fabric and a solid teal from my stash.

 Just big enough for him to take on deployments.

FINISHED QUILT, and in progress photos....PaddyWhack, (Renamed, "Old Made New Again") (St. Patrick's Day quilt top finish)

 Not a finished quilt, but a top that was finished piecing on March 17, 2022.  

  Today, I pieced a backing for PaddyWhack. You can see through it here, to the quilt top hanging behind it.

That's a very pale green and white stripe with two pieced rows of scraps.

  All of these fabrics were ones that I had on hand, many of them, most in fact, have been in my stash for YEARS.  I decided to see if they were worth holding onto.  And I do think they were.  I really like the mellow look of these colors together.....a nice rest from all the brights that I normally use.

UPDATE--FINISH :

 I finished the quilting on this one around April 15th, and didn't post the finish photos.  Here they are.  I love it, and use it as an extra layer on cool nights, and covering my legs while doing my Bible reading on cool mornings.

 Polyester batting for a change, and all hand-quilted.  

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How I love this young man !

Today, March 18th, is also a very special day, in that it is my middle grandchild's 16th birthday (happy birthday, T.J. !),

 

 

Orphan-Blocks Baby Quilt-AN ADVENTURE IN QUILTING

Once upon a time, a quilter was feeling very much overwhelmed by her growing bin of strips/strings ; so she set about one day to string piece a big star block.   Well, she was quite happy with the star points that she had come up with, and decided to look in her orphan-block shoe-box to see what kind of leftover she might use for the star's center.  Coming across these two Dresden plate blocks, she decided to combine them, one on top of the other, and THEN applique them onto a center.  

Having gone a bit bonkers from digging around in what seems to be an endless array of fabric choices, she somehow made the crazy choice of a very busy Walmart limes fabric of which she had purchased TWO one-yard packets.  

Thinking (or maybe NOT thinking too well by that point), she decided.......why not just keep digging in  this overstuffed sewing room and see what else has been lying dormant for too long ???  "Well, lookee there", she exclaimed, ...."a basket with a mess of plus blocks and another mess of squares on point.  I don't see that going forward anytime soon, so let's see what they'd look like surrounding that center star. "

(Probably should have known it was time for bed when she thought, "hey, that looks pretty rad ! ")

But, the next morning came and she still liked it, so away she went !  

Now, just about this same time, this ol' gal stumbled across (while innocently surfing the SHOPPING FOR QUILTERS section of the worldwide web), a low shank ruler foot with template, and a SET of circle ruler/templates for ruler quilting !  "Hey, now" she thought,  "I'd like to try that method on my pretty new Jazz 2 sewing machine, since free-motion quilting alone hasn't gone too well so far this decade."  So she placed quite an expensive/frightening order, and set about to piece a back for this little quilt...made of cuddly FLANNEL, no less ! 

Rulers being delivered just about the time she finished thread-basting this little quilty, she just knew that she had to give it a go...........BUT SHE WAS INTIMIDATED, now wasn't she ?????????  Yep.  What if she couldn't do it........what if she messed up !   Those tiny stitches of FMQ are not the easiest thing in the world to remove !!!!!!!!

Still, she thought, "I've made an investment in the rulers, and hardly  ANY investment in this quilt top.......when will I have a better opportunity than this ??????"

Giving herself some time (for her nerves to settle) she messed around first just quilting some basic lines on and around the piecing. But when nothing was left but the big open triangles and squares, she knew that it was NOW OR NEVER !

"Hmmmm.......this fan-quilting template's not too bad !  Oops, veered away from the template there.......oh shucks, where's that seam ripper....grrrrr.   Okay, here we go, .....we can do this......ah, THAT'S BETTER !  Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this....wait, wait......get a better grip....there, you're back on course.  One triangle, two,  three......FOUR ! ........I DID IT !!!!!  "Before you know it, she'd found a use for the second, basic ruler, for quilting in the squares, and not long afterwards, she had a finished quilt............and gained a new .......well, she wouldn't quite call it 'skill' yet, but she had HOPE ! 

She had learned to use what she had,.......( and what she had splurged on while shopping lately), conquer her fear, and plunge on forward, knowing that tomorrow is another day, and there's still A HECK OF A LOT OF FABRIC LEFT IN THAT ROOM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Size of quilt top before laundering, approximately 44 x 48 inches.  Shrank after a wash and dry to 39 3/4 x 46 inches.  

All quilters' 100% cottons for top, cotton flannels for back, Pellon All Natural Cotton Batting, Cotton Essentials quilting thread.

Machine-pieced on Jazz 2 and JukiTL2010Q sewing machines, thread-basted in frame, quilted on Jazz 2 sewing machine.