Frolic Top Complete

I finished the top of Frolic today!  I'm very happy to have this one behind me.  It was a lot of sewing!  I do like the way it turned out, though.

The pieced borders didn't go on easily, and they seemed stretchy to me.  I hope my longarmer doesn't have any problems with them.  I added the blue border to control the stretch and so that I don't lose  my points when I bind it.

Stash Report:

Used this week: 6.5 yards (Frolic top)

Used YTD: 11.625 yards

Added this week: 4.5 yards (Blues for OBW)

Added YTD: 10.5 yards

Net:  -1.125  yards

Week 3, PoD Block

This week's block is the one with the test tube.

I wish I had chosen fabric with more contrast for the tube.  I am learning that I need a lot of contrast for the items to show up well on this background.  It isn't bad enough to redo, but I need to keep this in mind as I move forward.

Design Wall Monday, Frolic and OBW

This quilt is still on my design wall in the same state it was last week.

I had good intentions of getting it all sewn together and off my design wall, so I could use the space for Frolic, but that didn't happen.

Instead, I used the floor and got the center of Frolic done.  

It took days and days for me to get it to this state.  I worked on it a couple of hours every day. I pinned every intersection and pressed as I went along.  It was in danger of becoming a UFO.  Now that the center is done, I should be able to get the border on this week.  

I still like my color combination. Some years my mystery color combinations are downright ugly!  I try to use colors that I have a lot of, not the colors Bonnie uses.

Linking up:  https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2020/01/design-wall-monday-january-27-2020.html

Easy Does It Bag

I took a class today with a friend of mine.  I am not much of a bag maker and neither is she, but we both managed to finish our Easy Does It Bags.

The fabric was already pre-quilted in our kits.  

I like the double zipper.

The inside seams are all covered with bias binding; mine is not perfect, but good enough!

This may be a gift for my niece for Christmas.  I drew her name again, and she already has a quilt.

The best thing to come out of this class was that I finally found my walking foot!  It has been missing for over 2 years. It was hiding a pocket in my travel sewing machine case.  I'm very happy to have it back!

Linking up: https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2020/01/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-fun-week.html

Week 2, PoD Block

Here's my Project of Doom block for the week.  I like my crystal ball fabric.   I'm less than in love with my purple background.  Hoping it will grow on me!

Design Wall Monday, Blue OBW & Frolic

I have two quilts competing for space on my design wall.  I need to get the blue quilt put together and off the wall, so I will have room for Frolic.  Frolic is going to be set on point, and I know I will make a lot of mistakes unless it is totally laid out before the final sewing.  I also  have 2 small projects on the wall that I am not currently working on.  They are just there so I don't loose them in the chaos of my sewing room.

I'm really happy this year with  the colors I chose for the mystery quilt.  It was just luck that my light yellow happened to be a constant that will frame all the stars.  It was also luck that I chose gray, a color that doesn't compete with the rest of the block, and that the gray ended up being a kind of background.   I decided early on not to do all the matching sets for each block.  It was more organizing than I felt was necessary for a scrap quilt mystery.  I like my mismatched stars the way they are.  I have 17 more whole blocks to make plus the pieced side triangles and corners.  It's a lot of sewing!

Linking up:  https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2020/01/design-wall-monday-january-20-2020.html

Frolic, Clue 8

I made my flying geese this week.  The dog ears still need to be trimmed.

I also got my units separated into set As and Bs.

Clue 9 comes out tomorrow.  I hope we will start putting the actual blocks together! 

Project of Doom, Take 4

I almost can't believe I'm making another Project of Doom quilt, but here I go again.  This time I'm using a brighter background, which is going to make it look like a little girl's quilt even though there are no little girls in our family right now.  I am planning to make one block a week, which should be doable as long as I don't add any embroidered titles to my books.

Here are my first 3 PoD quilts:

Here is the first block of PoD4:

Coincidentally,  Jennifer is hosting a Year of Doom, celebrating the tenth anniversary of this pattern.   http://www.fandominstitches.com/2020/01/coming-on-fandom-in-stitches.html

If you have ever wanted to make a PoD quilt, jump in!  Don't let the paper piecing scare you. There are lots of tutorials online to help you.  I taught myself how to do it.  Just start with an easy block.  Jennifer has rated her blocks between one (easy) and five (harder) broomsticks to give you an idea of difficulty.

Design Wall Monday, Blue OBW

I bought 7 of these panels this past summer, intending to make a OBW quilt.  It is very gray out here, so my pictures are a little dark.

Here is the first draft:

There are a few things I want  to change, but I think the planning is mostly done.  This design went together a lot easier than the other OBWs I've made.  I'm not  sure if it is the fabric, or if it is just practice.  

Linking up:  https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2020/01/design-wall-monday-january-13-2020.html

Belated Thanksgiving Table Runners

Unlike a lot of quilters, I don't make very many table runners or place mats.  We just don't use them. Our kitchen table has a wood-look Formica top, and doesn't need the protection of mats.  I use the kitchen table during  the day for my computer, reading the paper and doing crossword puzzles.  I don't want something else on the table that needs to be washed.  When my table isn't cluttered, I want it bare and totally clean.  Our dining room table is almost always covered with table pads and topped with my cutting mats, no need for a runner there!

But when I went on a shop hop with some quilting buddies this summer, I found the most beautiful fall floral fabric.  I bought  2 or 2 1/2 yards of this fabric and made 3 quick table toppers.  I watched several online tutorials and came up with these runners. My goal was to get them done for Thanksgiving, but my hospital stay prevented me from getting them to the longarmer in time.  I hope I remember to pull them out next Thanksgiving!

These are made with 60 degree triangles.  I am a OBW maker, so it made me a little nuts not to stack the fabric to get the kaleidoscope effect, but that would have left me with a lot of waste.  I also asked my longarmer for a quick meander for the quilting.  Two of the runners I bound by machine.  They aren't perfect by any means.  I had a hard time with the angles because they weren't 90 degrees.The third runner I bound by hand, hoping I would do a better job, but it really didn't make a difference.  I need more practice!

  

Used this week: 4.0 yards (table runners)

Used YTD: 5.125 yards

Added this week: 3 yards (borders and binding for fall quilt)

Added YTD: 6 yards

Net:  +0.875  yards

OMG, Twilter Round Robin Borders

I took my quilt top to the quilt shop, auditioned many fabrics and got many opinions.  Here's what I came up with:

I think the quilt needed the inner light border.  Just adding  dark outer  border made it much too dark.  This quilt top is 72"x72".  I have begun to have piles of unquilted tops again.  I haven't worked since August, and I prefer to use money I earn myself on longarming.  This afternoon I am going in to work for the first time in 5 months.  It will be a short shift, but  I hope I remember what I'm supposed to do!

I can't wait to show my round robin group the completed top!

Used this week: 1.125 yards

Used YTD: 1.125 yards

Added this week: 3 yards (borders and binding Twilters RR)

Added YTD: 3 yards 

Net:  +1.875 yards

Linking up:https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/01/one-monthly-goal-january-finish-link-up.html

Frolic, Clue 7

 The next set of instructions for the mystery were very verbose, and I probably missed something.  I have a bunch of HSTs left over, so I'm sure I've got more sewing to do.   Here is my clue 7:

I'll get my counting errors figured out when we start putting the quilt together.  I have lots of pieces, so I hope that is soon!

Frolic, Clue 6

I got my flying geese made, but they are not as accurate as usual. When I cut the big triangles a few weeks ago like Bonnie said to do, I was hoping they would not be turned into flying geese.  I like to use Eleanor Burns method for flying geese, and I wouldn't have cut them had I known better. But the big triangles were already cut, so I used Bonnie's method.  I got them all done this way, but some of them are more off kilter than I like.

I fear there will be more of these off kilter flying geese in my future since I have a pile of gray quarter square triangles already cut too.

I decided in the beginning that I was not going to take the time to use matching units in the blocks.  My quilt is going to have scrappy, not matchy blocks.

Frolic, Clue 5

I just finished trimming my HSTs.

On to the flying geese and Clue 6!

One Monthly Goal, January

My goal for this month is to finish a quilt top that has been hanging around here in this state for at least four years.  This is my twilter round robin quilt, started in 2014:

I made just the center block of this quilt and sent it off to my round robin group. 

 Each of five quilters this went to added another round to the quilt.    My instructions were to use neutrals only, no fabric on the color wheel.  A couple of the participants used a blue/gray that I would not have chosen for this quilt, but it turned out ok colorwise.  I like neutral quilts, but I find them tedious to work on.  

I appreciate all the work these ladies put into my quilt, but I have been at a loss to decide what to do for a final border.  There are a lot of seams on the outsides, and right now this quilt isn't really big enough to be useful.  It has been on my design wall for several weeks, waiting for inspiration to strike.  I may just add a dark brown border and call it done!

Linking up:https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/01/one-monthly-goal-january-link-up.html