Finished: Simply Solids quilt

I finally finished my oldest quilt that has been patiently sitting around for years.  It was part of a bee from 2013...less than 10 years old, I guess that's not too bad.

I really like parts of this quilt, and am just ok with other parts.  For a bee block, it worked really well!  I like the different greens and the different colors that came from it.

I like the large stripes on an angle, but it was a pain to actually make!  I didn't have enough blue fabric, there were weird angles, and it just wouldn't square up.

I'm also not in love with the quilting.  I did a double ribbon, and it's ok but not great.  I don't have enough control/practice on my midarm to keep the spacing right.

I also don't have a person to give this to.  I've realized it's a bit of a problem and am trying to not make quilts without someone in mind.  But I'll keep it around and hopefully the perfect person will show up.  Since it's solids and not a printed fabric, hopefully it won't go out of style.  Oh, I have some Kona colors for the binding: bonsai, kiwi, olive, honeydew, asparagus, and kelly.

Progress list

Well, it's been a while since I've done a progress update.  There are a few quilts that managed to get started and finished without getting on the list, but oh well.  Progress has slowed down a bit lately, but things are still moving.

1. Minecraft floors.  I finally started this one after having it on my list for quite a while.  It's now over half way done with the quilting.  I just ran out of thread.  Like with #2 on the list, I don't know where I got the large spool of thread.  I think it's Guterman silver, but I'll need to see if that matches and if I can get something larger than the tiny spools.  I really thought I'd have plenty of thread.

2. Scrap quilt. I found some similar grey thread to finish this up, but it hasn't gotten back on the quilter yet.

3. Green stripes.  Finished, Needs pictures

4. Fabric from Christmas.  I started an Irish chain with this fabric.  I just (as in two minutes ago) pulled this out of the closet to finish.  I think my plan had been to add a border around the edge.  When I started thinking about the logistics though, I decided that it was good as is.  It is plenty big enough for a throw quilt.  So...on to the quilter it'll go! 

5. Trying to fit in - left over triangles. The top was finished last night!

6. Scrap bee blocks 2017: All finished, just needs pictures.  Still.  Wow.  It still needed pictures with my last update.  I really need to get on taking finishing pictures.

7. Black scrap quilt.  This needs pictures.

8. Winter quilt.  Since the Irish chain top is finished, I realized this is the only one I have left for piecing!  I don't think I've ever had a problem of "what to create next?", but we'll see if it happens.

9. Temperature quilt.  I need to quilt this.  It's from 2017, so it's rather low on the priority list.

Well, I'm pretty happy with nine items on this list.  After some lists with 22 items it feels rather skimpy almost.

Finished: ombre HST

I finished this quilt a bit ago, but am having a hard time keeping up on the blog.  I still have a list of everything though, so I expect it'll happen eventually.  Anyway, here's the finished ombre HST.

I got the idea from The Flemings 9.  Shannon used an ombre fabric though, while I used a Kona charm pack + a few extra colors.  (They ended up being Baby Blue, Robin Egg, Bahama Blue, Azure, Capri, Jamaica, Peacock, Lagoon, Turquoise, Cyan, Oasis, Mediterranean, and Celestial.)  I tried to interweave them a bit so that the color segregation didn't stand out too clearly, but I think I only partially succeeded.  I didn't notice it as much in real life, but the picture shows it a bit more.

I quilted it with loops.  I'll admit, the baby, my step-nephew, had already been born by the time I got it on the quilter and I wanted the quilting to go quickly.  However, to make up for the easy quilting motif I changed thread colors as I went down the quilt.  It starts with a very light blue and ends up with a dark blue.

Finished: Dutch Windmill

I'm way behind in posting some finishes, but here's at least one of them!  This was for our friends' baby.  We still haven't met him yet, due to COVID and because it would take a significant road trip, but I got the quilt to them just as they came home from the hospital.

I originally found this design at From Bolt to Beauty.   She got the block, called Dutch Windmill, from Red Delicious Life.  The .pdf for paper piecing is available there.

 

 

I used my color scraps for the rotated squares, and it was fun to try and come up with contrasting fabrics that I had enough of and looked good together. :D   The Kona colors ended up being: honeydew, tarragon, teal blue, Bahama blue, sunny, highlight, school bus, carrot, rich red, riviera, water, kelly, chartreuse, blue, splash, tiger lily, flamingo, tomato, citrus, grellow, cinnamon, and coral.  Sand is the light neutral and the diamonds are emerald.

For quiltin, I did a jagged stipple in a varigatated green/blue/white thread.  I did a back and forth cross-hatch in the small neutral diamonds.  I decided to forgo any quilting on the other parts, somewhat because there were many fabric layers that were built up and partially because I didn't know what thread color(s) I wanted to use.

In the end, I loved how it turned out.  I know I say that most of the time, but it's often true!
 

Q3ish

Well, I had meant to post a Q2 update, but in all the COVID craziness it came and went.  So I'm posting this mid-year update, and hopefully by the time I finish it will still be mid-year. :)

1. Baby boy quilt (ZJN).  This is almost all pieced.  I have one more block, to put them all together, and then remove all the paper.  It's not going all that fast but it isn't going all that slowly either.

2. Scrap quilt. I worked on this quite a bit.  Then I ran out of grey thread don't know where I got the original cone.  Due to COVID shut-downs I couldn't go to the store to find a similar color so it's back in the bin.  I have finally gotten into a store, but couldn't find the same color.  So...I'm just using a similar color and hoping that it isn't all that noticeable.  Well, I'll do that once it gets back on the quilter.

3. Green stripes.  This is on the quilter.  I don't love how the quilting is turning out so I'm not working on it very quickly.

4. Fabric from Christmas.  I started an Irish chain with this fabric.  I need more white fabric (Kona).  It is finally back in stock, but I'm hoping a few more colors for other quilts will get back in stock before I make an order.  We'll see what happens.

5. Trying to fit in - left over triangles.  I got this started too, only to run out of Kona Ash and it is still out of stock.  Oh!  I just looked again and the extra wide is in stock.  I could use that instead.

Items that I haven't worked on for a while, but maybe this will be the quarter for them!

6. Scrap bee blocks 2017: All finished, just needs pictures.

7. Black scrap quilt.  This needs pictures, but the binding is on now.

8. Winter quilt.  I started this, but am just not feeling it.  I think it'll look neat when finished, but am having a hard time staying motivated.  I've been finishing up other items in the meantime, so it still all works out.

9. Temperature quilt.  I need to quilt this.  It's from 2017, so it's rather low on the priority list.

Things that don't count for the Finish-a-long but I want to remember them:
10. Jeweled floors
12. baby boy (JEM)

Meshing triangles: finished

I've been working on this quilt for quite a while.  It doesn't have a recipient in mind, so it kept getting put on the back burner.  (Actually, I periodically wonder if I could enter it in a show.)

I've called it Meshing Triangles because each color has it's own region, but those regions overlap with several other color regions.   (So, for example, if you look at the top you see the green and orange region.  But if you look two rows down you have an orange-yellow region and a green-purple region.)

I made it with scraps, so how much I actually had of a color needed to be factored in too.  Some of the Kona colors I used include: thistle, nautical, honeydew, lavender, mediterranean, holly, highlight, primrose, carrot, rich red, and medium grey.

I went "all out" on the quilting and did either an up/down or across in the color of the triangle.  So all the HSTs got two colors.  Most of the time I could keep one color always going the same direction, but there were a few places that it needed to switch.  The outside grey just got alternating directions and not the cross-hatch. 

It was a lot of ends to bury, but it was during a productive streak when I was getting all sorts of quilting goals accomplished.

Stash bee 2020 - Hive 1

I'm the Queen Bee for our hive this year, so that means that I got my blocks first!  I really love how this turned out, although I did a slightly poor job with the instructions.  The ladies sent me a 3 patch block, so the repeat didn't work out correctly.  I took several apart and resewed them so the lightning would work well.

I originally saw this quilt at Quilt Vine.  I'm trying to do one quilt of every color but had already done a green one (like the original).  I don't have many reds in my stash, so it was a great choice for a bee.

It's been done for a while and just waiting to have it's picture taken.

 

I used red thread in the red in the red parts to quilt a jagged stipple.  As normal, I bound it in sateen.