Halloween Quilt Finish

She finished, washed and ready to ship to my daughter.  It took a bit longer than expected but there's still plenty of time for them to enjoy the quilt before Halloween.  

I love how it looks like I took the time to do some fussy cutting on some of the fabrics, like in the cornerstones.  It was just pure luck.

This quilt is for cuddling and warmth so the quilting was kept to the bare minimum.  A simple stitch in the ditch around the stars, blocks and borders.  Free motion in the star blocks.

For the final border a large crosshatching.  It took a little extra time to pre-mark each line but it was worth the extra time.  The big black and white polka dot border topped off with the black gingham binding is my favorite part of the entire quilt.

But I learned a valuable lesson with the cheap Joann Fabric black gingham.  It's a little stiffer than quilt shop quality gingham.  Not a problem, if I had pieced the binding with a 45 degree seam instead of a straight seam.  Lesson learned when I hit the first bulky seam.  I think this is the first time I've seen a needle break into three pieces.  After this I sewed the remaining seams by hand cranking the needle through the seams and squinting to protect my eyes from any sharp flying objects.

The backing plan was supposed to be scrappy Halloween prints.  As you can see plans change when your wanting a quick finish.  A quick dig in the stash and I found a wide white backing perfect for knocking a couple hours off the finish time. 

Now to get her and the others boxed up and on their way to Kentucky.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Almost a Quilt Top

 Hello Quilty Friends!  This week has flown by faster than a witch on Halloween.  My plan was to have this quilt finished and shipped by today.

Yesterday evening I managed to piece the bottom two rows together before calling it a day.  As I stood back and looked at the layout before putting them together I realized I really didn't care for the sashing or cornerstones.  Word of warning...striped sashing is hard on the eyes and makes me a little dizzy.

I think the cornerstones would have looked better had I used the colorful prints instead of the black prints.  But this granny is running behind and doesn't feel like bending over or squatting in order to test my theory.  What if I don't like it?  More bending and squatting.  And seriously, would the grandkids really care about the color of the cornerstones?  Probably not. 

The new plan "Quilt till you wilt" and have this girl on the quilting frame by this evening and finished by Sunday evening so it can be shipped next week.  That means three full days in the studio, maybe some scary Halloween-ish movies to set the mood.

I also need to decide if I want to ship on Monday or make a few small items with the scraps. Maybe a pillow, table runner, or pot holders.  Or should I just wait and use these scraps up next year?  There's still plenty of time before Halloween.  We'll see how I feel after the quilt is finished.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Nimble Thimbles Quilt Show and FREE PATTERN

 Nimble Thimbles is a small quilt guild in Franklin, Indiana, my hometown.  This past weekend was their annual quilt show.  There were many vintage/antique quilts as well as new.  

The first quilt I saw was one I knew and loved because I've been wanting to make it for years.  It's called Budding Beauty, it's a FREE pattern and can be found here.

Next was a vintage Grandmother's Flower Garden.

Look at these tiny hexies and hand quilting!

Another impressive vintage quilt with one inch finished squares.

Just look at all this scrappy goodness. 

The Courthouse Steps quilt was folded and displayed on a quilt ladder.  I'm not sure just how big this quilt is but it doesn't matter because the width of the finished pieces is a quarter inch.  Impressive no matter how large the quilt.

The rest of the in this post are the new quilts that caught my eye.

Of course you can't go to a quilt show without buying something.  I'll share my small purchases later this week.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Another Halloween Quilt From Scraps

Hey Quilty Friends!  What do quilters do when they don't want to store or save scrap fabrics?  The answer is simple, make another quilt from the scraps.  In order to make another quilt from the Halloween prints I needed to pull more Halloween-ish fabrics for the borders and binding.

I can see how this could become a scrap quilt rabbit hole because there will be more scraps produced from the fabrics I pulled for the borders and binding in the picture above.  On my cutting table is a basket of white background fabric scraps, they will be worked it into the new scrap quilt.

And let's not forget the mountain of black scraps from the background of the five Lone Star Quilts made over the last year.  A little of  the solid black will be used in this quilt.  

The cutting for this quilt is finished and there's still scraps!  

They may be used to make a scrappy quilt backing or table runner.

The last three Halloween quilts and pillows were bound with this black striped fabric.  I'll be using it for the sashing in the current quilt. The black squares will be the cornerstones.

Here's the plan but things can change, especially the sashing.  I may turn the stripes vertical, it all depends on how hard it is to cut them horizontal.  I love the look of them horizontal but we all know how fabrics can get wonky when printed and ironed.

Right now it's pedal to the metal time!  I'd like to have this girl finished in a week or less.  

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

 

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