A Totally Finished Pumpkin Quilt

In a total surprise to myself, I have a holiday quilt finished in the season it will be needed! I am not known for being timely, so this is a noteworthy accomplishment. *smiles*

The last quilt I did was the baby quilt for nephew Will's little boy. I knew that I needed to clean, oil, change the needle, and whatever other general maintenance one does on a long arm. I am getting better at knowing what to do.

Then I loaded this small quilt, Harvest Pumpkins, that I made with the Frankfort girls back in June. This loading business is another area in which I am growing more confident. I only had to load, remove, and reload this time. On previous quilts, I have repeated that loading process many, many times. 

Quilting went as well as expected. I think some early stitching is less than stellar, but overall I am happy enough with the results.

I have an entire bolt of that beige polka dot fabric in 108" width. I use it as often as possible for backings. 

For binding, I considered using the cut-away edges of the backing. But I sorta' like the variety in the cheddar options, too. What would you have used?

I went with the cheddars. These are fat quarters, so I have lots of seams in the bindings. But it went on easily enough with the diagonal seams that I have been using lately.  I stitched binding yesterday while we Frankfort Girls met at Becky's house. Click here to see a post of some of the other Harvest Pumpkin quilts.

And here are a few random shots of the binding all stitched on and FINISHED! I just can't believe it's done.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Lots O' Pumpkins!

Those Frankfort Girls sure do keep a quilter on her toes! At the beginning of the month we - well, most of us - met for 3 days of sewing at Terry's house. We'd agreed earlier that we would all work on the same quilt - Harvest Pumpkins from the newly released book, County Seat Quilts. Click here for details on this mini-camp. 

Yesterday, we had our regular bi-weekly Friday morning get-together and some of these gals had quilted theirs, and were stitching the binding! Whoa! Mine still hangs from my design wall where I put it after doing my borders.

I thought I would share a little Harvest Pumpkin progress report/update. As the rest of us finish ours, I am sure I will do additional updates. Everyone's interpretation of this quilt looks so different! I marvel at how fabric and color choices can completely change a quilt's looks. This effect has always fascinated me. Maybe that is why I never tire of making some blocks over and over - all will look completely different with each new fabric/color treatment.

Back to pumpkins. Here is our first look at some finishes.

Jan has bragging rights on a total finish. Hers is completely quilted and bound; ready for fall displaying. 

Terry will be a close second place; she has quilted hers and was stitching binding while we visited yesterday. She wanted us to study hers closely to see if we could find the mistake. She didn't see it until after the quilting, so it is a permanent boo-boo.

Ever the industrious gal, Terry had extra bits cut for more stars, so she whipped up this table runner, has quilted it, too, and only needs to stitch down the binding. Way to go!!

Becky has her quilt finished to the flimsy stage. She intentionally made her borders narrower than the 5" that the pattern called for. Design choices! They are as varied as the quilters. 

Fun! We sure do have a lot of fun when we are together, and we help one another continue to grow as quilters. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Finish For Fall

Maybe you noticed that I was mostly absent from blogging last week. Today you get to see what was taking my focus away from writing and sharing.

Some time back I mentioned that I would be attending a mini quilt camp at Terry's on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. All the Frankfort Girls were coming (we mostly made it at least a day or two), and we were making the quilt you see above.

My fabrics were shared in this post, and below is the background fabric - from my stash, of course.

 

So for three days, making this was our focus, and I am pleased to have a fall quilt waaaay early for the season. So very unlike me! The quilt is called Harvest Pumpkins, from the book County Seat Quilts by Julie Hendricksen and Vickie Gerike.

By the end of the second day, I had all my stars made. It sure is a satisfying sight to see this stack of beauties. Can you believe that when stems are added these stars actually end up looking like pumpkins?

The block-making was the detailed work of the quilt. Making all those flying geese, then making all those HSTs, then putting the units together to make the stars. The last day was easy - putting the pumpkin stems on, then sewing all the rows together and finally, the borders. It finishes at 45.5" x 53".

This is a quilt that I would never have made without the encouragement of the Frankfort Girls. I don't have a lot of seasonal quilts, and making a supply of them has not been a particular goal. Even so, I am glad to have this one, and believe it or not, I might even try to quilt it before fall arrives. Whoa.

So here at home this week, I am playing catch-up with some of the household chores that went neglected last week. I cleaned lots of windows yesterday, did some food prep, and stared at two bar stools that I want to paint. Gotta' make this week productive!

Happy Quilting, Friends!