Focus 2, Bound

This quilt certainly needs a better name than Focus 2, but it's the second Focus quilt I've done.  I'm really happy with my color choices for this quilt.  It is a challenge to find fabric with big, non-directional prints that will both compliment the other two fabrics and make distinct HSTs so that the pattern shows up.

Denise Zapf of Quilting Mojo did the longarming in record time.  I let her chose the pantograph because I'm always happy with her choices.  It is hard to see on the front, but on the back, the quilting looks like big leaves from a banana plant.

I love that banana backing! It is part of Tula Pink's new Monkey Wrench line.  

This quilt is for my SIL Jill who had a knee replacement on Monday.  Just need to print a label and get it in the mail.

Stash Report:                                                                                                             

Used this week:  4.75 yards ( Focus 2 backing  and binding)

Used year to date: 121.875  yards

Added this week:  2.25 (backing for Thanksgiving runners and pillow)

Added year to date: 121.625 yards

Net Used: 0.25 yards

Binding

My OMG for October was to finish binding 2 quilts. Good thing I made this a goal, or it probably wouldn't have happened.  As it was, I didn't even prepare the binding until the 20th.  The first quilt I finished was for my nephew Zach for  graduation. He won't be receiving this until next June.

Vicki Johnson of Threads that Bind Us did the quilting.  I'm very happy with the pantograph she chose.

If I had had more navy blue fabric, I would have used navy for the binding.  I had the green left over from the quilt construction, though, so that's what I used.  The back of the quilt is the same as the quilt I made for Will.  Will and Zach are both cross country runners.

I got Summer Stars on Fawn Lake bound yesterday.  I think this is a quilt that looks better from far away than up close.  A lot of the fabrics ugly or oddballs.  Denise Zapf of Quilting Mojo did the longarming on this one.  She chose the pantograph, which is a loopy, feathery pattern.  I think the quilting is the best part of this quilt!

I had planned to use this fabric on the back since it was on sale at the shop, but by the time I got around to buying it, there wasn't enough left for the backing.  

I ended up piecing the back.

  This quilt was one a Charlotte Hawke mystery from 2017.  It is not my favorite quilt because of my color choices, but I wanted to use up scraps, and I did that.  My sister said she likes it, so it is probably hers.  I am still trying to decide if I'm going to do Charlotte's mystery this year.  The cutting directions are already out, and I certainly have the scraps for it.  I just don't know about the time.

Linking up:  https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2019/10/one-monthly-goal-october-finish-link-up.html

 Stash Report:

Used this week:  7.75 (Sedona border, FH backing/binding, SSOFL binding)

Used year to date: 117.125 yards

Added this week:  6.25 yards ( sale FQs, turkey fabric)

Added year to date: 119.375 yards

Net Added: 2.25  yards

Linking up:

Design Wall Monday

Falling Stars is still on my design wall, but I have 5 rows together.  It is coming along slowly.  Sewing blocks together is the part of quilting I dislike the most.  Even binding is better than sewing rows together!

To give myself a break from Falling Stars, I pulled out an old kit, Bram Bones.  I bought this kit from a LQS about 2 years ago, but the only part of the kit I've used so far is the horse (precut and fused) and one of the batiks.  I didn't like the yellowish fabric they chose for the background, and when I changed the background to gray, the rest of the colors didn't look right.  I used brighter colors than the dull brownish oranges in the kit.  The rest of the fabric from the kit will get dumped in my batik bin, which is still full despite all the batik quilts I've made in the past year. Bram Bones will be a wall hanging in time for Halloween next year.  

I spent most of the morning cleaning up my sewing room.  It had gotten so bad, it was hard to walk across the floor.  I have too many bins of scraps and not enough room to store them all.  I'm going to try to make more scrap quilts next year and whittle the piles down.  

Linking up:  https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2019/10/design-wall-monday-october-21-2019.html

Framing

I picked up 2 framed cross stitched projects today.  One of them was a Mill Hill kit that I started last spring when the quilt shop was slow.

 This little kit took me a surprisingly long time to do, probably a combination of the subtle shading (which doesn't show up in the picture), the solid background and the black beads interspersed with the cross stitches in the pumpkin (they don't show up well in the picture either).  I'm just glad this one is done!  My framer showed me different mats for the pumpkin, but we agreed that a simple treatment looked best.

The next one is a Round Robin that I estimate is 14 years old.

I am glad to have this one framed because I want to preserve it, but I don't really have a place in my house for it.  I don't do a lot of seasonal decorating other than Halloween.  I may give this to someone for Christmas.  My husband said he liked it. I asked him if that meant I should keep it or could I  give it away, and he said that he knew there was a right answer to that question and walked away without giving his opinion.

Design Wall Monday: Still Falling Stars

The same old quilt, Falling Stars is on my design wall, but today I get to report that all the blocks are done.  I just need to sew them together.

I also started working on a turkey pillow called Gobble It Up by Kristina Brinkerhoff of Center Street Quilts.  I found the pattern in the fall issue of Quilts & More.  I'm using all scraps from Witch's Night Out, except for the light brown.  I have a lot more done on him, but his feathers are still on the ironing board waiting to be pressed.

I am not sure how I'm going to get the pillowtop quilted since my walking food disappeared almost 2 years ago.  I had it with me at a class and know it came home with me.  I remember seeing it.  I suspect it has fallen into one of my many scrap bins and gotten buried in it.  The walking foot is for a Bernina machine that is over 25 years old and cost me about $130 when I bought it.  I don't want to have to spend that kind of money on a foot I rarely use.  It seems silly to get one of my longarmers to quilt an 18" pillowtop, but it would be less expensive to do that than to  buy another walking foot.  

Linking up:https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2019/10/design-wall-monday-october-7-2019.html

One Monthly Goal, October

I know you are supposed to chose ONE goal for OMG, so my goal is to finish all my binding, which right now is 2 quilt's worth.

Fish Hope came back from the longarmer sometime in July.  Two months later, it still needs a binding.

I don't even know how long Summer Stars on Fawn Lake has been waiting to be bound. I finished the top in February.

Neither one of these quilts should take that long to bind, since I'm going to do them both by machine, but I'm afraid if I don't publicly commit, they might never get finished.

Linking Up: https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2019/10/one-monthly-goal-october-link-up.html