Forest Friends Top Done

I got the Forest Friends top done today!

Despite all the problems I had with my block sizes, I'm happy with how this top turned out.  It was a lot of work!  I think my niece is really going to like it.  I though I had bought the perfect backing for it, but it turns out I didn't buy enough of it.  Piecing a back will be my next challenge, but I'm giving myself a break for now and working on something else.  My borders are wider than the pattern calls for, and this quilt measures 63"x78".

Stash Report:                                                                                                                      

Used this week: 4 yards ( Forest Friends)

Used YTD: 29.75 yards

Added this week: 4 yards  (backing) 

Added YTD: 41.0 yards

Net:  +11.25 yards

Design Wall Monday

I haven't been participating in design wall Monday for many weeks because the same old quilt has been on the wall.  Here is Elyse's graduation quilt, Sew Fresh Quilts' Forest Friends.

I still have to do the sashing between the four big sections and then the border, but I'm hoping the worst is over!

These blocks are not paper pieced, but I wish they were.  My accuracy would have been a lot better than it was using the stitch and flip (or as others call it stitch and hope) technique.  Even being off tiny amounts makes a big difference in 8 1/2" blocks.  I had to make some little coping strips to bring my animal blocks up to the right size.  Look under the squirrel to see one.

This is the hardest of the Sew Fresh Quilts that I've ever made, and I know I won't make this one again!  There are some others of hers that I will attempt, but those blocks are bigger.    

As soon as I got this quilt off my design wall, I put up Scrappy Mountains Majesty, made with dress shirts. 

 This is a good palate cleanser after Forest Friends!

I also got sucked into mask making, though I tried to stay out of it.  We had boxes of masks here that my husband got when my white blood cell count dropped so low last year.  We have been giving these masks away,  over 200 of them, so I didn't think I needed to make any.  But my son specifically asked for masks he could wash, so I made him some.  Now I need to figure out how to send them without going to the post office.  I am social distancing as much as I can.

Linking up:  https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2020/04/design-wall-monday-april-27-2020.html

Week 15, PoD Block

Hedwig is the block of the week.  The color is way off in this picture.  The background is less blue, and the actual color of the book is dark teal. 

One Nation

I continue to work on One Nation, but not daily.  The key for me is to start working on it before 8 p.m.  If I try to start later than that, my eyes are too tired to focus.  Here's a picture of where I started:

And where I am now:

I'm hoping to finish these two rows by next check in.

To see what the rest of the group is stitching:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Sherrie

Pumpkin Season

Most of my UFOs are big, complicated projects which will take me many days to complete.  The Pattern Basket's Pumpkin Season is a small, easy project that I had cut out from scraps last fall and put away for some reason.  I still need to get the final border fabric, but the inside is done. 

I'm thinking about adding a button eye after it is quilted.  This will be a wall hanging or table topper.

Week 14, PoD Block

I made a tiny mistake in the Deathly Hallows block, but I'm not fixing it.  By the time it gets quilted, I don't think anyone but me will know it is there. 

North Star

I wanted to use up some of the green fabric left over from my nephew's wedding quilt.  I combined the greens with a blue, green and purple batik jelly roll.  North Star is a Missouri Star pattern, but mine is 4 x 6 blocks instead of 6 x 6 because I ran out of the light green fabric.    I also left off the border that the pattern calls for.    I've had it cut out since last fall and am just now getting it sewn up. 

 I am not entirely happy with this quilt.  To begin with, I don't really like the color combination.  I am glad to find this out now because I've been planning a quilt in similar colors in my head.  Time to rethink that!  My workmanship is not my best.  There are a bunch of stitch and flip corner triangles in this quilt, which is not my favorite technique.

North Star is not a pattern with nice nesting intersections.  You could make it that way, but it would require a whole lot of forethought when pressing.  I wasn't willing to put forth the effort, so a lot of my intersections are bulky, and my points are far from perfect.  I just wanted to get it  finished.

I will probably donate this top and get it out of my life!  It is a good size for a charity quilt, and I think the colors work well for a boy.  It is  43 1/2" x 64".


I've also been working on my Wild and Goosey blocks.  So far I have 60.

I need about 200 before I can start thinking of a layout.  I like to make these over a long period of time because I get a wider variety of scraps that way.

Stash Report:                                                                                                                      

Used this week: 2 yards (North Star)

Used YTD: 25.75 yards

Added this week: 0 yards  

Added YTD: 37.0 yards

Net:  +11.25 yards