Flying X

 I borrowed Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia from Melissa to look through for a possible guild BOM.  Nancy Cabot's Flying X stood out, so I decided to make two blocks to check my math.  I based the color scheme on the chicken fabric of which I have no close up shot but is in the bottom right HST.

Two blocks made me realize that I didn't like my scrappy choices at the block intersections and it would make more sense to just make full hourglasses instead of flying geese units if this were in a quilt with the same blocks.  And, I had to check why the "no waste" flying geese had lots of room to trim.  (I failed to read "finished" and assumed unfinished size).  More units were made to check the math again and I decided that it had to be a usable size.  

Now I have the pieces for a 2.5 x 3 block layout (40x48" approximately if my math is better than it was yesterday).  I might have sewed parts of the top together tonight if my helper hadn't helped me layout pieces by walking over all of the ones already down to trade out squares.  I am debating leaving it on the floor tonight to see if I can put it together in the morning.  It will probably become a dance floor shortly after the helpers wake up.  Guess it is lucky that I'm not committed to the specific layout.  

Finished Fruitcake Strings

I conquered the fear of quilting with minky today and finished up the Fruitcake Strings quilt.  I pin basted every 2 inches.  My finger tips are slightly uncomfortable.  There is no noticeable shifting on the back.  It's quilted with just a larger meandering stitch all over while attempting to avoid the excessive pins.  

In contrast to the OK quilt, this took no time at all to quilt.  When I allowed the stitches to get too close together (or didn't move the quilt fast enough), the backing came through to the front.  I probably could have switched to an 80 needle instead of a 90, but just chose to try to make the quilt move at a consistent speed.  

Attaching the binding to the back was not as much fun and I should have pinned it first.  It was hard to hold the binding in line with the edge of the quilt.  I attach it to the back first and fold it to the front when I machine bind.  After machine binding, it was quickly claimed by both kids which means I need to make another minky backed quilt so I don't have to listen to arguing.  

And yay, both June sewing goals are completed.  Now I should figure out how to salvage the blue HST and make something with them.  Unfortunately, the nephew that still needs a quilt loves orange.  

Size: 56 x 64"

Fabric: Fruitcake by Basic Grey

Backing: Cuddle 3 Minky by Shannon (It's dark brown since I did not get a picture of it)

Binding: Hot Cocoa Grunge by Basic Grey

Quilted: by me in a large meandering stitch

OK quilted

Tracie and Heidi pieced the second quilt top for the OKMQG quilt drive for tornado victims.  Rather than piece the back, I chose to get some plain gray wide backing.  Instead, I spent some creative energy on the quilting of the top.

 The blue sashing made me want to use the wishbone design.  By using that, I figured I couldn't do an all over design for the rest of the quilt.

On the two white quilt blocks, I drew a block pattern (a star and diamonds) and then quilted it as though there was piecing.  Then I picked a design for just about every block.  Some are repetitious, some are not.  Dogwood, raindrops, cursive Y, clamshell, (semi) straight line, pebbles, swirls, paisley, diamonds, continuous curves and just wiggly lines.

And the back, before washing....

 Notes to self: the lines with the drops that I used on the right hand side below do not look so nifty on the back after washing.  And always charge the battery on the camera when someone says that the battery is low because that individual probably didn't put the effort in to finding the charger and charging it.

Doe a deer....

More "just in case" blocks for the quilt we are making for the OKMQG.  I think some of them will end up on the back, but it is better to have too many than not enough blocks.

Starting from the top row the blocks are: Broken sugar bowl, Churn Dash, wonky crosses, another block based on the one from 99 Modern Quilt Blocks, and Mosaic.

Broken Sugar Bowl happens to be my daughter's favorite block on the Summer Sampler quilt I made her.  I think the name sold her.  For the block based on the 99 MGB book, I used 5, 3.5, 3 and 2.5 inch squares this times instead of the 4.5" square.

And now, I think I should go tell my kids to stop singing Doe a Deer at the top of their lungs and go to sleep.

June bee block

 Susan requested Supernova blocks using the tutorial from Lee at Freshly Pieced.

She said she liked bright and scrappy quilts.  Hopefully this is bright enough.  It is a mix of Ta Dot, Pezzy Print, Nature Elements, Peacock Lane and a Riley Blake fabric I do not know.  I did have to unpick a few times to line up the corner pieces, but I managed to sew on a weeknight.  Yay!

Starburst 2 finished

     The second Starburst quilt was finished today.  I'm counting it as finished in time for the 3 goals I set for May.  The blue HST are still sitting in the box untrimmed, but I managed two out of three goals.  

    A close up shot of each block.

Pattern:  Starburst by Melissa Corry  (the 32" blocks)

Fabric: Moda Snow and Northcott Stonehenge Gold Leaf Metallic, Kaufman Flannel for the back

Size:  72" square

Quilted: by me in a fairly dense stipple

   After making this pattern twice, I'd still make it again.  Perhaps next time I should not quilt it on the same weekend I decided to "trim" the hedge in the backyard.  My shoulders and arms are a bit sore.  

Goals for June:

1.  Baste and quilt the Fruitcake Strings

2.  Beejeebers block for Susan

     Perhaps I'll keep it to 2 goals this month since I've not quilted with minky fabric before and I am not sure how long that will take me to get the hang of it.  Hope you are having a great day.  Happy June!

Crosses finished

Last weekend I finished up the Wonky cross group quilt for a co-worker.    After the four of us made blocks, Traci pieced the top and I finished the rest.  We used a variety of pinks and greens from my stash.  Most of them came up from a fat quarter bundle from Fabric Depot which did not specify what collection it was from.  I quilted it quickly with loops and would love to thank the binding fairy who helped with half of the binding.

The back is a combination of flannel scraps made into a cross just to make it large enough and be thematic with the front.  I pieced leftover batting too.  Amazingly enough, we didn't have to purchase anything new to make the quilt.  Yay!   It is about 48 x 42" but I forgot to measure before wrapping it up.