Moving along- quilts and quilting

      Another comfort quilt went out the door last week- Flaneur that was given to me by Quiltdiva Julie to finish. The woman who I gave it to is fighting blindness in one eye and can do nothing for 4 months while surgery heals. And then she has to do the other eye. This wasn't how she planned to spend her recent retirement.

After washing and folding ready to bag

     Finally, I quilted a quilt that I made in a guild workshop years ago. It is called Borneo Lights. It is good for a large scale print. I did not arrange it like the pattern, but tried to make a grouping that made more sense to me. I used Glide Military Gold for the top and Glide 60 Military Gold for the bobbin. I love Glide thread because it is good and made in the USA. Order some soon as the price is going up real soon.
     I wanted it to be a veteran quilt. I was able to finish the whole thing except for the bag. I have someone in mind for it, I will try to coordinate the hand off.

Letting the quilts fly away

      The RWB Dakota Inspired (mystery A12) quilt by Alycia has been finished for a while, but not quilted. Recently, a man in my cardiac rehab group, who is a retired Navy lieutenant, has had a hard stretch of health issues. I thought this quilt would be perfect for him. Glide Military Gold on the top, and Glide 60 Military Gold in the bobbin. I quilted it and found an orphan block for the bag. I was able to hand it off to him and he was thrilled with the RWB. I received a beautiful thank you note. Prayers for his healing.

RWB with star finished

       A couple of weeks ago I finished quilting a RWB quilt made with a winter mystery held by Alycia. I changed the center to make it more of a star from what she designed. Yikes, I sewed it in December 2019 .Finally, I quilted it and bound it and now it is ready for a recipient.

Alycia's Mystery A12 Finished

      I have been MIA in posting blogs because I just haven't been able to write them. I take the photos, keep sewing, and read everyone else's but can't write mine. I have been super fatigued since my second shot in early March and my mental energy is not right.
     Alycia held the A12 mystery quilt recently and I finished my top. The last step was to put the side triangle alongside the churndash blocks. When I tried the dark blue, the quilt looked drab to me. I tried string piecing the squares to be cut into triangles, but I used reds and blues and it looked awful. I tried again using a variety of blues and it worked- I love the quilt now. I pieced the strings diagonally on newsprint, trimmed and then cut them into the triangles. I added about 1/2" extra and it made piecing the triangles easier. I staystitched all around because so much is on the bias or tiny pieces. Have to find a back now. Thanks, Alycia for another great pattern. If you read her blog, stop in and give her a word of encouragement as she just lost her mom.

Solid blue or mixed red and blue did not do it for me

RWB Chevron quilted

     This quilt top has been done for a long time. I used a wide back for it to make it easier to get going. It is a Missouri Star pattern using a layer cake that was donated to me. I had to wash the layer cake due to basement funk smell from the donor. I set the squares outside on a sheet to dry and came back 15 minutes later to find them blown all over my backyard and front. I had to retrieve squares from under bushes and all over. It was kind of funny.
     Finally, it was loaded and I quilted a different pattern every white area, but straight lines on the print fabric. I used Glide Military Gold top and bottom. Used stripe fabric for the binding. It actually was very fun to quilt. 
     I am saving it for a veteran quilt donation. It isn't washed yet and I am sure the quilting will look even better then.

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A RWB finish

     Slowly I am finishing quilts. I spent January going through all my lists and charts, updating and analyzing. Conclusion: I need to double down and get some tops quilted. I need to finish piecing unfinished tops. I made a small list of first quilts to do. I also have a list of quilts I want to do in my Tracking three ring notebook.
     The RWB bricks has been pieced for a long time. It is smaller than QOV asks, so it will have to be given a different way. They changed the size since I started it. I liked quilting it because I could keep a constant with the star in the the white, and use different patterns in the stripes. I hand guided the stars, they are not perfect, but I like their character. I used Military Gold Glide on the top, PremoSoft Sky Blue bobbin. I love stripe fabric bindings.

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Detail

Getting Back

     Sometimes it seems like everything derails me from getting my thoughts and photos on this blog. Recently, birth of my grandson kind of slowed everything down and disrupted any normal routine. I tried to help out going to visit and get my daughter some sleep. He is one month old today. I am going to pick through some photos and see what I can reconstruct.
    First, I did finish one quilt- a Red White Blue one for our local VA hospital.

Detail of quilting- a light blue Glide

 

Red White Blue Lightning

     I made this string quilt a while ago, but it has been sitting on a hanger waiting to be quilted. My grandson asked me for a quilt for his uncle Greg who is a veteran and coming to a Veteran Day Assembly at his grade school. Ethan chose this one and I quilted it in sort of a no nonsense, not fussy patterns. 
     The backing needed piecing because I wanted to stay with the RWB theme. I tried a bunch of layouts on my kitchen floor and sewed it up. I could not get any glamour shots because of the weather, so I will try for one outside when it improves. Sorry for the blurry front.

RWB exploding sqares version I lost track

     The RWB exploding squares that I trimmed on vacation were laid out, then sewn, then two borders were added to make it big enough. Guild members had cut a kit for this, but I was unsatisfied with the fabric chosen for the last round, so I dug around to find some other prints instead of the solid white. Then there was not enough for the red border, so I changed that also. Anyways it is all sewn together and I bet the backing is not big enough for my long arm. I took a photo in the shade and in the sun where it was windy. I have made I don't know how many of these exploding squares. This one used 4 patch orphan blocks for the first square.

Layout

Sewn

In sun

In shade

Retreat means finishes

     I was able to finish some projects and start some new ones at our guild retreat. The Red, white and blue zig zag quilt was sewn, the Katie's quilt (MSQC pattern), and a tote bag for my daughter. I am debating about a border for Katie's quilt and have to find some big decorative buttons for my daughter's bag.

Inside lining with pocket

Second RWB mystery quilt

     I finished the piecing of the second mystery quilt by Alycia. When I looked at the done large blocks, a simple cornerstone in the sashing corners, as shown in the pattern did not seem to play off all the triangles, so I added a triangle on each edge of the sashing. I did not sew a square diagonally and flip it, but cut the triangles using the easy angle ruler. 
    The borders, as shown in the pattern are wide and have some big flying geese in them. When I looked at the quilt on the wall, it seemed like it could use narrower borders, so I played off the idea of threes- like the rail and the nine patches, and used two more strips. I carried the triangle star points out into the border. I think it gave the quilt an all together look, much like the first RWB mystery that I did. I do not know how I am going to quilt it. I usually don't make a quilt with all the same blocks, so this was an exercise for me.
     The light blue is a mottled fabric which I think gives the blocks some shimmer. 

RWB Mystery Quilt quilted

     I had finished the RWB mystery quilt, Stars a Waving, from Alicia a while back, but was able to long arm quilt it recently. It was free during the mystery, but now is available through Craftsy. It had lots of negative space and I tried to quilt it sensibly elaborating on the big spaces. In the blue around the star blocks, I recreated the stars in thread. The two red bands I used the same square pattern. For the white bands, I did three different designs to differentiate and add some interest in such a big white area. I used Glide thread on top and Omni in the bobbin. 
     I had bought the Craftsy class Wild Quilting when there was a $19.99 special and was able to use some of what I learned in the white bands. I do wish I was not as wobbly in quilting, but am trying to improve. I am not a computer, so there is variation in the stitching. I tried using  ruler on the diagonal lines, but I have difficulty with it. I still need to bind it. I am thinking red.

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