Emma's New Quilt Delivered

The specially designed quilt for DD Emma was delivered and spread on her bed Saturday. If you are looking for a colorful, lively quilt, this is not the place to search. Emma's request was for a minimalist-style quilt in monochromatic tones. 

If you have followed along for awhile, you already know to look for the large single block in this quilt. Here at my house, I'd always placed in the upper left corner, but when we put it on Emma's bed, she wanted it in the bottom right corner. See if you can locate it.

It's slightly more visible in this second shot. Notice how nicely the two tones of Grunge fabric work in this monochromatic design. And the quilting shows up nicely, too.

The Ohio Star shows a bit more clearly when one zooms in on it. Emma wanted it to be subtle and she assured me that the quilt suits perfectly - just as she had hoped. Whew! I sure am glad about that. It appears that Schmoopy approves, too.

I have worked mostly on Lunch Box Social in the last day or so, but I may shift to yet another activity today - loading a quilt onto the longarm machine and doing some quilting. Gah! It's the getting started that is so hard! Once I get going, I am supremely happy and feeling confident. 

I need a good swift kick to the posterior.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Another Finish! And Working Through My List

The past week proved about as productive as any week could in my sewing room. BOOM! I nailed a couple of biggies on the 2021 Goals List. 

The two red check marks are the newest completions on this list. I shared #5 previously - it is now called Cobalt Stars, as you will see by clicking here.

Getting to add that check to #8 is a real satisfying finish, let me tell you. Long arming what is basically a plain piece of fabric was not a task I particularly relished. But gosh, I did it, and with relative ease, I might add. 

Before I add all the details on Emma's Quilt, I will explain the other markings on my list. The purple x's are previously finished projects. The green arrows are the next areas of focus for me. I will be sharing  progress on them  in upcoming posts.

Now, for Emma's Quilt. My original thought was that I would quilt it on Friday-Saturday, and bind it on Sunday. However, I found some latent energy somewhere, and finished the whole quilt, binding and all, on Saturday night. Whoa! I have to say I am exceedingly pleased with the finish, too.

 

See what I mean about quilting a whole-cloth-type quilt? A discerning eye will see the one faint block up there near that pillow. The fabric is not dirty; rather I've used Basic Grey's Grunge fabric for the look Emma wanted. Both the background and the star are in Grunge.

The star deserves a close up. One simply cannot go wrong with an Ohio Star in a quilt, and this big guy looks quite classy in grunge.

Just about all the quilts I've had on the long arm lately have this beige dot backing; I bought a whole bolt of it, and at 108" wide it is an obvious go-to. I like how it also works just perfectly as binding.

This quilt will go to Emma next weekend, if all goes as planned. We are working out details for a girls' day, so this will be included during that time together.

Now what will this new week bring? I can't possibly hope to have two finishes on the goals list, but I can begin work on some of those green arrows.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Locked And Loaded

I think that phrase locked and loaded has referenced a lot of things other than quilting, but by gosh, I have finally loaded this quilt top onto the long-arm, and I am locked in for a finish.

The quilt in question is the special request quilt from DD Emma last Christmas. She wanted a quilt to serve as her bedspread, and preferred that it be entirely neutral. After a few months of back-and-forth on designs and fabric options, we came up with the quilt I made back in August. Here's a post explaining the fabric and the single block.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally loaded the top onto the longarm. Yeah, you all know what a pro I am at procrastinating, so the fact that the top has been waiting since the end of August should surprise no one.

Because there are no quilt blocks to use for gauging my stitching and meandering, quilting this offers me a bit of a challenge. Yes, I have some imperfections, but the earlier quilts I've done have given me ample practice, so I feel as though this will turn out fine. I am taking my time ensuring that I am meandering evenly.

This last picture shows that I am approaching the single Ohio Star in the upper left corner of the quilt. Or the bottom right corner, depending on how she puts it on her bed. I am about half done, at this point, I'm guessing. 

Back to it! I want to have this off the long arm today, and ready to bind tomorrow! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Making Emma's Neutral Quilt

 Don't worry! I am still around! Just been busy doing other things besides sewing and blogging!

I had book club on Tuesday, which is not an overly lengthy meeting, yet when one hasn't read the book we are supposed to be discussing, then one must read-read-read! I spent a significant part of Sunday and Monday listening to Last Bus To Wisdom by Ivan Doig. It was a wonderful book! So very satisfying. Delightful. At 480 pages, though, it was a marathon session of listening.

I normally listen to books while I sew, but this particular week I listened while I cleaned and cooked for the other big event on my  calendar - Frienzies. I was scheduled Wednesday to serve the ladies brunch. I have an uncanny way of never being ready on time, but I really worked at it, and did mostly okay.

The menu consisted of quiche, muffins, fruit salad, and assorted appetizers. I think everything turned out okay.

Thursday, with the book read, meeting attended, and brunch served, I sewed. And gosh, did I get a lot done! 

I made the flimsy for Emma's neutral quilt! It looks pretty darn good, too!

Do you see the star in this quilt? You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it. In the upper left quadrant, a very neutral Ohio star is stitched in. The fabric used it Grunge, so that accounts for what looks like discoloration. It is not, I assure you!

 Here's the star. I tried really hard to get the points to match up. I think I did okay. It satisfies me, for sure!

I am such a visual learner, I just have to share a couple of examples of this visual learning in action.

First, I could not decide how to place the star. With the plan to make a quilt measuring roughly 80"x95", I drew up this diagram. Then, to transfer from paper to actual bed quilt, I went to the extreme of pulling out a quilt top which was close to the preferred size, laid it out on the bed, and played around with placing the quilt block.

Strange to look at, for sure. But I did get my visual!!

Emma is thrilled with it. She is now looking at quilt pictures to find a picture with the kind of quilting she wants on it. I hope she selects quilting that I feel comfortable doing! 

I did more sewing than this, but I will save the other stuff for a future post. I am off to stitch this morning with the Frankfort Girls!

Happy Quilting, Friends!