This little improv piece has been waiting to be finished for over 10 years. I decided it might be a quick one to finish....and then as I was basting it I realized there would be a lot of decisions. Do I leave the edges crooked, should I put binding or a facing, and what type of quilting did I want to do on it. I went ahead and basted it anyway.
I knew I needed to ditch quilt along the seams before I would do any other quilting so I got all of that done last night. Now I have to make all of those decisions. If you have been a reader for awhile you might remember I asked "which way is up?" on this one and asked for votes in April 2016. The majority of the votes went to #2. See that post here.
I finished the quilting of the tumbler flannel quilt but I couldn't make a decision on binding last night. Hopefully the right piece will pop up in the box today and say "cut me".
I got a lot more volunteer trees cut yesterday. Even though the humidity is down it is still hot out in the sun. Each day the temperature is going to be a little warmer so I need to get my yard work done in the morning. Afternoon and evening will be sewing time.
The end of the month is near and I haven't finished anything yet this month. I finally tackled the piecing of the back for this quilt. I had 3 pieces of flannel that all sewn together were the right size. I got the back loaded and the batting and top are just laying on it, not attached yet.
I got four more pairs of fabric cut for the Hunter Star. After I cut the next four I will decide which two fabrics will make each block.
It was starting to cool a little and the humidity was dropping yesterday afternoon so I carried all of my fallen and cut branches to the front of the driveway. I started cutting volunteer trees but have more of them to do. The zinnias are blooming now and it looks like they will mostly be hot pink. I'm still hoping for a few more colors from the ones that haven't bloomed yet.
Tomatoes are slowly ripening.....inside. I'm picking them and bringing them in the minute I see the tiniest bit of color changing. The squirrels are picking 2-3 a day and taking one bite and leaving them. I'm happy now that I planted 8 plants in that raised bed. If I had only planted 4 I probably wouldn't have gotten many to eat between the squirrels and the fact that this has not been an ideal summer for the tomato plants. They did much better 2 years ago. Last year they started out strong and then fizzled.
I loaded the quilt on the longarm in the morning. I quilted it late afternoon. I love the backing fabric.
I used a grayed lavender thread which shows up a little on the darkest fabrics.
It also shows up a little on the lightest fabrics but on all of the rest I could hardly see it. That made it hard to see where I had already quilted. I used a large meander and 80/20 Hobbs batting.
This is the fabric brand of most of the fabrics.
I used the leftover backing fabric for the binding and finished it by machine.
The backing fabric is used in the front of the quilt too. It finished at 59.5" x 77". I will use it in my living room. I just love the Australian fabric prints.
I wanted to finish quilting this quilt yesterday and I think I am done. When you use clear monofilament it is sometimes hard to tell. I quilted the plain navy parts after I took this photo. I will check it over this morning and trim it and look for a binding and a hanging sleeve fabric.
I invested in 3 new perennials this year. I look at them every year but don't buy them. I decided this summer it was time to add something new to the back garden. I can see I have a little more Creeping Charlie to clean up there. Coreopsis on the left, the Hosta was already there, then a Shasta Daisy and a compact Bee Balm. Behind it is a big plant of Rudbeckia in its third year. The humidity wasn't too bad in the late afternoon but it was hot.
Two table toppers finally got quilted yesterday. I used the clear polyester monofilament thread since it was still on my machine. I will look for a fabric that is in each of them for the bindings.
I will have company sewing today so I may work on my farm girl blocks again. My other "maybe" project is to start sorting my batiks into colorwash candidates and non-colorwash types. This will make it a lot easier to cut the next batch of kits.
I couldn't ignore it any longer.....it wasn't going to quilt itself. I spent the morning on errands yesterday, the early afternoon planting more pots and then it started raining so I couldn't get any photos of them. Last night I finally quilted this colorwash. It just needed one width of fabric for the back.
I finished quilting it at 10 p.m. and started taking out the basting threads. I used clear polyester monofilament thread this time for the ditch quilting from top to bottom on every seam. I use thread to match the backing fabric in the bobbin. Today I will trim it and choose a binding.
I had a fun day shopping with my youngest granddaughter (20) yesterday. Then we came back to my house and I helped her cut out a project. On Tuesday I loaded this quilt on my longarm and last night I quilted it.
I just did an all over free motion loopy design on it.
I trimmed it and then I cut the binding from the same gold print that I used on the back. I had to add a strip to make it wide enough so I used the leftover brown with butterflies from another quilt. I wanted to finish 2 more quilts this month but I may have to settle for just this one. I'll see how today goes and whether I can get another backing pieced.
FYI: If you ask me a question in a comment and you don't get an email back from me it is because you are a NO REPLY. I have an email link on my right side bar. You can contact me that way if you really want an answer........and I'm happy to answer questions....if I could only get back to you.
I didn't plan to finish a quilt yesterday. Mid afternoon I decided to load this flannel tumbler quilt on the frame. Next thing I knew I was quilting it.
I used a medium brown thread on top and bottom and it really blended in well. In fact it blended so well I couldn't always tell where I had already quilted. I used a large meander and Warm and Natural batting. I decided the flannel needed a batting with scrim in it for the quilt to keep its shape with hard use.
I used one width of the darker piece of flannel on the back and a half width left over from another flannel quilt added to make the backing wide enough. The quilt is 61" x 82.5". The binding is one of the flannel plaids used in the the tumblers.
