Two more finishes

So far this year I have finished 24 projects, 7 of them were start to finish (mostly baby quilts).  The rest were UFO's I finished, mostly machine quilting.  I also made 10 quilt tops for my friend's shop.

The first project I finished this weekend is an OLD, OLD UFO and it's UGLY in my opinion.  It is a 4 patch stack and whack with junk food fabric.  I purchased the fabric in about 1998 and made the blocks.  It eventually got set together but I am so not a fan of green!  I used fabrics I had on hand for sashing and borders.  I posted a picture of it on Facebook and my son-in-law likes it so it will go to him!  I just did a large stipple with variegated thread.

I finished this quilt this weekend as well.  It was a mystery quilt kit I did last year.  I was so excited it was a mystery with Kaffe fabrics and was honestly a bit disappointed in it. I do love the background light blue polka dot though!  I loved it so much I bought an additional 5 yards and I am using it in a Kaffe scrap quilt leader/ender project.  The quilt measures about 83" square and I didn't have enough fabrics to add to it at the time.

 I did very simple quilting and machine binding. 

I am linking up with Design Wall Monday.

Retreat Weekend

I went to a retreat that started last Wednesday for four nights.  It was a new to me retreat and the retreat was held at a hotel.  I had a lot of fun, there were 23 of us, including the quilt shop owner that sponsored the retreat.  She was very generous with gift bags and set up a small shop for us.  Her husband and kids provided dinners for us.

I was able to sew up 84 4 patch blocks for a couple of kids quilts and still need to cut them apart for a disappearing 4 patch, but my main project was my Baltimore Spring project I showed a block of in my last post.  It was intense, but I got all the blocks cut and fused. Some of those pieces are SOOOO small!  I was able to tape the pieces to a wall to watch the project grow.  I have been debating what to do next. I think I will go ahead and assemble the blocks, add the borders (yes a fusible applique one) and then thread paint with a thin layer of batting and then add another think batting layer and a backing and quilt the open areas.  That is my plan at least!  This is not the final layout, it looks too heavy on top, so I will do some rearranging.

Baltimore Spring BOM all fused

Before the retreat the quilt shop owner had a mystery quilt pattern and and quilters had a chance to participate.  She picked fabrics and had them in a bag based on their color preferences.  I did not participate but enjoyed seeing the wide variety of finished quilts from the same pattern!

The previous weekend I got the this quilt top out and added the prairie point border and the final border.  I had pieced it quite some time ago at a retreat.  It was a kit I bought many years ago from Starr Fabrics.  It is a small throw size.  I also have a kit for a queen size version!  It is fun to sew up and I like the mottled effect.

I also pin basted this quilt top to ready it for quilting.  I had gotten word that my friend Kathy had passed away unexpectedly and she and I were co-moderators on a yahoo group for twenty years called Washington State Internet Quilters.  The list owner Melissa is a dear friend and the three of us "ran" the list.  As Facebook and other social media took over the group had dwindled in recent years, but many friendships were formed from this group.  They had many sew ins, retreats, swaps, round robins, etc.  These blocks were from one of the swaps, and in memory of Kathy I got out this quilt top and readied it for quilting.  I have another one as well and still more blocks to be made into quilts!

I think I am going to be busy for awhile!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday and Monday Making.

Grand Illusion Mystery Finished!

I finished the top to Quiltville's Grand Illusion Mystery!  I chose to not go scrappy with this quilt and I also wanted to enlarge it a bit to be rectangular.  I somehow had extra pink and blue half squares so I incorporated those into expanding a top and bottom border.  I love the graphics of this quilt.  I coudln't get away from adding purple somewhere, it's in the polka dot black print!

I'm linking up to Quiltville Mystery Monday and Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Quiltville Mystery and Design Wall Monday

My design wall is pretty blah.  I still have the wool quilt on there.  So much for my goal of finishing it by the end of the year!

I am all caught up on the Quiltville mystery!

 This is a quilt top I made at a retreat in November.  I used a jelly roll pack and finally got borders added.  I used a pattern in the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott.

 I bought the kit for this quilt about six years ago.   It is called Snow Day and was a Moda Layer Cake project by Kansas Troubles.  These are NOT my normal colors!  I finally pieced it at the November retreat and fused on the snowflakes.  I will be stitching them at the same time as quilting and then adding a few buttons.  I finally got the borders added to it also!

I am linking up to Quiltville Mystery Monday and Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Quilt a day #33

Easter dinner was nice today with mom here. We had a lot of food! I cut out a new quilt tonight to take to retreat to piece. Thankfully I did a test block. The pattern was in an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine and it's one Deb thought I should make and had sent me fabrics for it years ago, all fossil ferns. I had collected the rest I needed, 21 colors plus background. I knew from previous experience that somehow I don't piece grandmother's fan blocks well and this was no exception! I got the template adjusted.

This was a mystery quilt from Cindy a couple years ago. The pattern is at her site. It's probably on my blog, I just didn't go backwards. I took this photo hanging at my guild's show last summer. I love the quilting I did on it, but I doubt it will show up!