Twist and Turn Center

I finished the center of my Twist and Turn quilt.  It took me days to get the horizontal seams done, but I'm very pleased with it.  Especially happy that all my fabrics but one were $6.99 a yard!  Quilting on a budget is very possible.  You just need to be flexible in what you are going to make, check the sale racks first, and don't get hung up on the 'perfect' fabric.  There are many perfect fabrics out there! 

 When I walked into that store, all I had in mind was buying fabric to make a graduation quilt for my nephew.  I was pulling blue fabric from the sale rack when I came across a safari print.  This nephew had been on a trip to Africa with 2 of my brothers-in-law.  The went camping in nature reserves and slept in tents that were on top of their four wheel drive vehicles so that the animals couldn't get at them while they slept.  They had a hard time finding gasoline, got their trucks stuck in mud up to the axles and had to dig themselves out a couple of times.  This was not the kind of vacation where the guides did all the work, but he experience gave my nephew something to write about in his college essays. 

Here is my inspiration fabric:

I will use the animal fabric as a border.  I bought all that was left on the bolt, but I'm still going to have to piece the border.  Here is the center:

The borders should be on by the end of the week.

Twist and Turn More Progress

Yesterday was a snow day.  The shop was closed, and I spent the afternoon sewing.  I'm working on Dan's graduation quilt, which is a twist and turn bargello quilt.  If you have never made one of these quilts, you might think that sewing the rows together would be the fast part.  Wrong!  At least not for me.  I nest and pin each of my seams.

I want all of my corners to match.  Some quilters might be able to do this without pinning.  I just know that my rows always look better when I pin.

I am almost half way done with sewing the horizontal rows.  The rows on the left are mostly done; the rows on the right are not. Look how much this quilt shrinks in width when it is sewn together.

If I had another 2 snow days, I could finish it!


Stash Report:
Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 54.5 yards 
Added this week: 6 yards ( $2 fat quarters, 1 yard border and binding for T&T Quilt)
Added year to date: 89.125 yards
Net Added:  34.625 yards

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2018/03/finished-or-not-friday-linky-party.html

Row by Row Quilted and Bound

My Row by Row quilt was a long time in the making.  I made the rows and got it sewn together back in August of 2015.  Then it languished in my closet for a while.  I finally gave it to my quilter, Denise Zapf who worked her magic.  Here is Row by Row Mashup, quilted and bound.

I still want to add button eyes to the fish and crabs.  

It is hard to see the quilting on the back because the print is so swirly, but it shows up in the light colored fabrics on the front.

This quilt is 60"x 80", and I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.


If you are interested in where the rows came from, I documented them in this post.:
https://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2015/08/row-by-row-mashup.html


Stash Report:
Used this week: 4.5 ( Row by Row backing and binding)
Used year to date: 54.5 yards 
Added this week: 2.75 ( tuffet fabric)
Added year to date: 83.125 yards
Net Added:  28.625 yards

Linking up:http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-hat-for-friend.html

Twist and Turn Progress

I have all the strips made for my Twist and Turn Bargello quilt. 

The hard (interesting) part is finished, and I'm ready for someone else to come and sew the 38 seams for me. There will have to be a lot of pinning to match all the corners.   If I do 5 of the seams a day, it will take 8 days to get the center done. 

Linking up: https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2018/03/lets-bee-social-219.html

Double Sided Quilt

I posted several weeks ago about my shop challenge quilt.
 http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-shop-challenge.html

This week I got it bound and the dimensional block appliqued on the back.

I asked my longarmer, Vicki Johnson, to use a pattern that looked like water since I consider the fish side to be the  front.  

 I know some people don't like pantographs over applique, but I wanted to make sure everything was sewn down well.  This was my first and perhaps only attempt at needle turn applique.

This quilt is 49"x 59".


Stash Report:
Used this week: 5.5 (double sided quilt)
Used year to date: 50.0 yards 
Added this week: 6 ( floral OBW fabric)
Added year to date: 73.875 yards
Net Added:  23.875 yards

Linking up:
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2018/03/i-built-log-cabin.html

Twist and Turn

I worked at getting this OBW done enough that I could take it off the design wall without mixing up the pieces.  It is all sewn in rows now.

I needed to get it off  of the design wall, so I could get the next graduation quilt done.  This is a Twist and Turn Bargello quilt.  It has taken me most of the week to get it cut and to this point.  I would advise you to not start one of these unless you have a design wall, bed or floor where you can lay it out undisturbed while you work on it.  I have made several errors already even though I tried to be very careful and keep everything labeled.

It is important that every other row have the seam allowances pressed in opposite directions so that they will nest across the quilt.  I have chosen to follow the directions and work on all the odd rows first.  If I ever make a quilt like this again, I will not wait to press the strip sets all at once.  I had several hours of pressing to do, and it wasn't fun!

Linking up:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/string-challenge-and-more-5/

Summer Stars At Fawn Lake, Clue 2

I finished trimming the quarter square triangles for Charlotte Hawk's latest mystery,  Summer Stars at Fawn Lake.  There are 96 of these little guys:

 I wasn't a fan of the construction method used because the edges are on the bias.  Most of mine measure 2 1/2"  as they are supposed to.  I am going to have to make the others work, but I can hide a lot of flaws in a quarter inch seam!

I'm also working on a bargello quilt and hope to have something interesting to show next week.  Right now it is just a bunch of 2 1/2 inch strips.