Friday, April 4, 2014

TGIFF: Jelly Roll Friday

I love this quilt! I had so much fun asking for input on the layout, and apparently lots of Ruth's Stitchery customers love it too.

It's the first Friday of the month, and that means it's Jelly Roll Party day! Today's quilt has been hanging above the register at Ruth's, and I can't wait to get my hands on it again.


The pattern is "Yummy" by Jaybird quilts.


Back in February, I asked for your input on which layout to use. I settled on the one with "columns of colors," because I think it shows off the variations in the Kate Spain "daydream" collection best.

Here is a close up of the quilting, by Susan Santisteven of Modern Prairie Quilting. I told her I wanted it "just like the photo," and isn't it perfect? She even changed thread color for the sashing:


I adore the "Denyse Schmidt figure 8" pattern, and I'll definitely be asking Susan to quilt another modern quilt for me!

Linking up to "can I get a whoop whoop" at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.



As well as Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday, this week at Quokka Quilts.


And also Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilt:

LAFF - Richard and Tanya Quilts

Tomorrow is the Pueblo Quilt Expo, I'll be shopping for some goodies to share next Saturday Stash!


From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Day-After-April Fools Day Joke

Just so you know I'm not making this up, here is a photo of the DH holding a ruler in our 8" of new snow this morning.



I know we need the moisture, but this is ridiculous!

Here is the "My Year in Temperatures" scarf. It's getting to where you can see the temperature trends -- no pinks in March.

Here's a close-up of the March rows. More greens and yellows toward the end of the month.


Yarn Report

 I wasn't kidding, either, when I reported that I scored big at The  Loopy Ewe yarn shop on my way to Cheyenne last weekend. (BTW, if you see something you like, they do online and phone orders.)

I know I can get Cascade 220 Superwash at Table Rock Llamas, but I needed this bright green to match my Sephora nail polish.


This is Gobelin from Biscotte & Cie. Yes, is's 100% superwash merino -- the color is Poisson Tang. Literally, it means "tang fish," but I'm sure it means something else. Maybe a follower who speaks French can help?



This is DK weight, from Skein Yarn in Australia. This is a new company to me, so even though the yarn is lighter weight than I would usually use for Hats for Sailors, I wanted to try it. Again, 100% superwash merino.


Can't go wrong with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I wanted an unusual-for-me color, and isn't this mint green sumptuous?


I've used a lot of Madelinetosh DK weight, but this is worsted weight Tosh Vintage. The color is called "Stargazing." Reminds me of friend Mary and me looking up at the stars from outside her cabin in Colorado -- until she mentioned the mountain lion she had seen earlier in the week. We stargazed from inside after that.



This pretty is from another new-to-me company, Fable Fibers in Charlotte NC. One of my Knitter Buddies now lives in Charlotte, I think -- right Diana B? Hmm, maybe a personal shopper in the works? 


I'm a long-time Blue Moon Fiber Arts fan, but haven't used much of their yarn since I stopped knitting socks. I didn't realize their "Socks that Rock" heavyweight is "almost" worsted weight. This colorway is called "Frosty," and the hank has 350 yards. That's enough for three hats!


With our April snow, it's a perfect day to curl up and knit Hats for Sailors. Go here for the detes, and I hope you will consider knitting a hat for a sailor, too!

From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

12 in 2014: March Challenge Parade

Ha! I didn't do the "numbered" UFO quilt, but I finished two BOM quilts in March!

In case you don't follow 52 Quilts on Facebook, or if you missed the post, the challenge number for April is:


There are so many great "finishes" this month, I'll save my own until TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finally Finished) Friday.

The first finish for March came in when the month was little more than half over! Kerry sent a photo of her Star Fusion quilt, started at Road to California in January.  I love the colors, Kerry! Kerry blogged about this quilt here at Kerry's Quilting.


Sue came in right behind Kerry with this cute set of placemats and a table runner in "Marmalade" from Bonnie & Camille. The background really sets of the soft colors in this collection, Sue! Take a look at Sue's Quilty Bits & Bobs here for the whole story.


I always look forward to seeing what "K" name Sandi comes up with each month. Here is "Konstituent." I know a group of high school rodeo club members who would just love this one! Sandi blogs at KwiltnKats, take a look here for more info on this fun kwilt.


One of our newest "finishers," Katie, is going great guns with her UFO finishes this year. She says she will donate this cute baby quilt -- I have to show you more than one photo, it's so cute!


Clearly, Katie has caught my addiction to striped binding. Isn't this little "PS I Love You" label adorable?


Jackie also made a quilt to donate. It's a 'Match the pairs' quilt and will be donated to Project Linus.


Lyn finished a long-time UFO this month. I want you to go to her blog, What a Hoot, because she has a great method of keeping projects organized. Plus she has wonderful gratuitous cat photos!

She reports "Holiday Tidings" has been a UFO since 2008. Congratulation on this finish, Lyn!


I love what Joy says about her finish:
Here is this month's UFO. It isn't grand or big, but it is finished and made entirely by hand. My family was on vacation in the summer of 2011 with my parents. I watched my Mom spend her downtime working on a hand project, while I had nothing to work on. So when she needed to run to the local quilt shop, I jumped at the chance. I bought a charm pack, thread, and a pack of needles. I started making this little table runner, but never finished it. So I packed it up for this week's vacation, and finished it.
So right, Joy! Finished is better than big! I think it's so sweet.


Betsy makes me laugh out loud with the name of her March UFO. Remember the Y2K quilts we all started in 1999? Well, here is "YsoLate." This one isn't using all 2000 of the charm squares that I collected from various people via an AOL quilt forum. but it uses some of them....finally.


Wow, I think we should all give a bow to Mary for this finish! Mary says, "This top made from Judy Niemeyer's wonderful Amazon Star pattern is finally ready to send to the quilter after 2 years of work!  Judy's patterns are awesome both in their beauty and in their number of pieces per quilt ;-)  This one is king size."


Wow. Just. Wow. I hope you'll send another photo when it's been quilted, I'd love to see what your quilter does with this beauty, Mary!

Noela gets extra credit this month for not only finishing her UFO at quilt retreat, but attaching a label as well!


Irene has had a hard winter, so I hope everyone will send good thoughts her way. Here is what she says about this quilt:
I did finish a quilt this month, although it was not officially my March UFO. My father has been in the hospital most of the past two months, after breaking his hip. I decided to make one of my lap quilts, since the rehab places are often too cold for him. He is a postcard collector/seller and I found this postcard fabric in my stash, so the hard work was done for me - deciding what style to make!

Donna has two finishes to share this month. The first is so appropriate, as it may officially be "Spring," but the weather didn't get the memo!


And she has such a sweet story behind this quilt. 
While cleaning and organizing my sewing space I found a whole pattern cut out for a copy of a lap quilt I had made my Aunt Mary Anne when she went into a nursing home. Not sure why I had another one already cut out but her quilt was not found amongst her possessions when she passed.  I finished it this month so that I can remember her although that happens almost daily since she asked that I get her Pfaff when she could no longer use it.


And remember Donna's "Streaks of Winter Sunshine" flannel quilt from last month's UFO Parade? She reports she tied it and has been sleeping under it "nice and toasty!"

Carol Anne finished this lovely hand applique'd and hand quilted wall hanging. I so admire those who do hand work like this!


Every time I see one of these quilts finished, I want to drop everything and go work on mine! Here is Debra's "Celtic Sunset." It was Bonnie Hunter's 2013 Mystery Quilt -- as Debra says, who would have thought blue, orange, green and yellow would result in such a gorgeous quilt? Congratulations on a big finish, Debra!



Gill calls her March finish "a salvage operation." I so admire you, Gill, because I think this project would have wound up in the "recycle for cat beds" bin if it had been mine!

Here is Gill's story:
Here is my Number 4 finish - Christmas cushions and table cloth. This was meant to be a Christmas quilt and it has been on the back burner for a while after getting bogged down in fussy cutting, over estimating how much fabric I had available and cutting strips too wide etc. Coming back to it was especially hard as it was cut and started at a different experience level - so now I realise why it could not come together: as the accuracy of cutting was so poor, but due to the design it was impossible to recut very much because I would lose half the pictures! So some unpicking and rejigging followed and now it is salvaged as cushions and a table cloth!
And here is her "save."


Those pillows look so perfect on your leather couch, Gill. Good save!

Nancy H. not only got caught up with her finishes this month, I think she's ahead! Nancy sent in three finishes this month!

First, here is a speedy start-to-finish quilt for a foster daughter. Go to Nancy's blog, My Love of Fabric, to read the touching story behind this quilt. Be sure to notice her husband bound this quilt! 


Here is her February UFO #6:


And her March UFO. Look closely at the block in this quilt, it look easy but to me it looks easy to confuse the fabric layout! Nancy says she did more than a bit of ripping and re-sewing on this one!


And here's a last-minute entry, this one from Elisa at Yarn Tails. She tells us "I bought the fabric for this quilted bag almost a year ago, during my first ever Quilt Run. And then it languished until the UFO challenge. So happy to have it done!"

Very cute, Elisa, and you know a knitter can't have too many bags!


Oops, one more at the last minute! This from Heather, details on her blog here.



Giveaways

TWO giveaways for the parade this month. If you remember, I offered my April UFO kit to someone who wanted to finish it.


It includes the pattern, templates, and 30s repro fabrics for the pieced blocks. I have to laugh at the comments, they were about evenly divided into "I want it" and "I'd never finish it, either!"

It was a little tricky to get the RNG to choose someone who wants the kit. But the second try resulted in a winner who really wants the kit -- Diane, who wrote:


Diane, I don't have an email address for you, so please email me at AuntMarti at 52Quilts dot com with your postal address and I'll send "Old Fashioned Charm" to you right away!

There were 20 (!) finished UFOs this month. And the RNG chose Kerry! I'm so pleased, because Kerry has been a long-time finisher but is a first-time winner! I have some lovely Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids I think you'll like, Kerry!

Congratulations, finishers! Remember, you can join the UFO challenge at any time, go to this post to see how -- hoping to see your finish here next month!



From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Monday, March 31, 2014

March BOMs Away

For some reason, I've caught the "finish it up" bug! Yippee! I'm putting together some of those BOM quilts for which I've had all the blocks made for ages.

Yesterday I finished the 2010 Patchwork Party quilt. It's going to Cornelia on Wednesday to be quilted, so I'll save a photo for next Finally It's Finished Friday.

Today I put together the 2013 Marti Michell BOM. It was the first time I used the "long skinny sashing stars" templates, and I admit, I had a bit of a time figuring it out. But once I did, I love the results! This may be my go-to layout for sampler quilts from now on!


Two more borders and this one will go to the quilter!

I love the 2013 Patchwork Party BOM -- mostly because all the pieces come ready-cut! If you notice a slight darkening on the edges of the blocks, not to worry. The pieces are laser-cut, and that dark line is where the laser burned the edges. But the dark part will be in the seam allowance, so it won't show when the blocks are put together.

Clockwise from upper left, the blocks are from Fabric Essentials, Stitchin' Heaven, and The Quilt Place.


The finishing kit I chose uses directions from Sharyn Craig. I took a class from her several years ago, so I know her finishing directions will be great. Rumor has it there are still block kits available, so go to Patchwork Party quick if you like these blocks!

Here are the blocks I've completed for "5 is Fabulous," a Wednesday Block Party at Ruth's Stitchery.


Again, clockwise from upper left, the blocks are: Cottage Mosaic, Ramblin' Around, Mixed Quartet, and Lookout Point. BTW, if you're making this quilt, be sure on "Lookout Point" that you arrange your pieces like the photo, not the drawing. Otherwise the center pinwheel isn't right -- ask me how I know that!

The wind is whistling so hard in Colorado today that is is blowing open the doggie door! I'm hibernating in my sewing room to avoid being blown to Kansas!





From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Block a Day: Day 11

How is your Block a Day project coming along? Today you should be making the 11th block!

I'm making my BaD blocks as my "leaders and enders" this weekend. Bonnie Hunter coined the term "Leaders and Enders" for this method.

Many quilters sew onto a scrap of fabric at the end of a row of chain piecing. I've heard it called a "peanut" or the "two quilts at once" method. Rather than just cutting your thread, or sewing onto a scrap of fabric, keep a stack of quilt squares next to your machine and stitch two together at the end of each seam on your main quilt. It's amazing how fast a "block a day" is made using Bonnie's clever idea!

In fact, Bonnie has several books that celebrate her method. Here is my favorite:


If your LQS doesn't stock Bonnie's books, you can order a copy here.

I'm keeping up with my daily blocks, here are the 11 I've finished so far:


Not the best photo, the blocks are hanging on the very corner of my design wall. I marked my calendar so I know how many I should have done in increments of 10 -- April 8th is the day for the 20th block.

I can't wait to see what everyone makes BaD!


From the desk of your auntmartisignature