Some Friday Finishes

I may not have been blogging much, but that doesn't mean I haven't been quilting! 

November's Jelly Roll Party at Ruth's Stitchery features not one, but three easy strip quilts. All three are included in one pattern, "Strip it Three Ways II" by Nancy Rink Designs. The three quilts in this pattern are named "Earth," "Wind," and "Fire." (Hmm, sounds like a rock group I remember!)

When I started the sample for this class, I thought I would make only one of the three quilts. The first one I made is called "Earth." It's made with Robert Kaufman's Kona New Dark Palette roll up. The background is Michael Miller's cotton couture in the color "Earth." (I got a kick out of using that fabric for the "Earth" quilt. Note: the actual fabric is more of a brown color than it looks on the computer screen.)

Friend and long-armer Denise, of Pickle Dish Quilting, quilted this one with my favorite figure-8s design. We like Omni thread from Superior for quilting -- it comes in so many colors, and slides through the long arm machine like a hot knife through butter!

So "Earth" went together so fast, I decided to whip up "Fire."  I had two Wilmington Jewels "Wanted . . . Red or Alive" strip sets left over from making a 12th birthday quilt for my great-nephew. The strip set has red, orange, yellow, grey, and black strips -- so I selected only the bright colors, plus a few batik scraps. I used Northcott's Artisan Shimmer in grey with silver metallic dots for the background -- I think it looks like smoke.

Denise quilted this one with a "flame" pattern using a unique variegated thread from Superior called "Lava."

Fair warning: there are corrections for this pattern at Nancy Rink Designs.

The third, and last quilt in the collection is "Wind." Because my blog co-editor is a US Navy Sailor, I thought more of "water" than wind. The jelly roll I used is "Hearty Good Wishes" by Janet Clare for Moda, along with some scraps from her "Nocturne" collection. The background is also from "Nocturne."

Click on the photo so you can see the cool, wavy quilting design Denise's daughter, Kristina used for this one. Isn't it perfect?

So, choose one or all three! 


From the desk of your

November UFO Parade

How is this possible? It's November? And I didn't write a blog post for the entire MONTH of October?

It's not that I didn't make any quilts -- and I enjoyed some serious stash enhancement! I will try to get some posts up in November, but no promises!

In the meanwhile, the November UFO number is:

#8

Some 52 Quilts followers are keeping up with their finishes for 2016. Look at this beauty from Susan-in-Australia:

As it's summer "down under," Susan's bright, summery colors will be perfect for a table topper! Here's what she wrote me about this beauty:

I started this in October 2013.  I was doing a "bargello" project with a group of ladies and wisely chose a smaller project - initially it was to be a runner for our outside table - but since then we have changed the table and what I had already started was then too wide to use on the table, so this will now sit on the servery between the kitchen and outside area.  I plan to make some placemats to match - but just in strips I think.   Enough bargello for now!

I understand, Susan -- my bargello for Jelly Roll Party last year will be my last -- for awhile at least! Read the whole story on Susan's blog, Susan's Sewing Space.

I love this modern quilt from Martha-in-Idaho. It's called "Sergeant's Stripes," from my favorite Boise shop, Quilt Expressions:

And look! She made a tuffet! Isn't it the cutest? So far, I've managed to resist this fad -- but Martha's tuffet might push me over the edge.

Mary J has some good advice for all of us -- finish those class projects! I'm sure I'm not the only quilter who starts a project in class, then lets it languish for months (even years).

Here are Mary J's placemats from a class she took with Karen Combs.  

Karen specializes on "quilts of illusion." See more of her designs here.  

Look closely at Donna's photo of the chenille table runner and placemats she made for a friend. The table runner reads "Home Sweet MotorHome!" So cute!

Sandi has two finishes to share this month -- as always, her quilt names begin with "K," 

First up, "Kloggs." 

First is Kloggs that I've made for my sister.  Both of us wanted something new for our king size beds so I decided to please her first.  Kloggs used warm colored fabrics and black.  Much of the fabrics were in my stash.  I added in a bit of the yellows and swapped out Lori Smith's suggested browns for black.  I enjoyed how the borders were made as blocks.  Here is the link on the day I finished http://kwiltnkats.blogspot.com/2016/10/sunday-stash-report-october-16-2016.html.  It is not a very good photo as it was difficult to get back far enough in my sewing room to capture the entire quilt.

Love it, Sandi -- that's a LOT of HSTs!

And second, Karduus:

Second finish is Karduus.  I saw this design by Karen Montgomery a very long time ago and knew I wanted to make it.  At the time I decided not to purchase the Tonga fabrics.  Frankly I forgot all about the project until I saw it again at Kerry's.  Kerry was quilting it for one of her clients who had made it with the Tonga batiks.  My interest was tweaked once again to make one of my own.  I looked high and low for the Tonga fabrics that I decided I wanted now, but couldn't locate them.  Instead I used a variety of cream batiks and most of the colored fabrics from my stash.  I purchased only a few coral FQs to bring in the desert color way.  Karduus was hard to photograph; I just couldn't get a picture showing the softness of the beautiful batiks.  Here is Karduus's finish http://kwiltnkats.blogspot.com/2016/10/sunday-stash-report-october-30-2016.html

Incredible work, everyone! Next month, I'll make a count of all the UFOs we've finished this year!

From the desk of your