Quilts on Moonrise Lane

You all know full well that I am still making 9-patch blocks with my 1.5-inch scraps. I estimated in the last post that I thought I could get at least 100 more out of the remaining bits. And I am halfway there. Since that post, I've made roughly 50 more blocks, and it looks like I will exceed my earlier estimate. I still have a lot of pieces left, so I will likely get more than the 100 I figured on.

In an attempt to keep some semblance of regular posting, I thought you might be interested in seeing the quilts that are staying here in Florida with us. We have two bedrooms each decked out with quilts, of course. 

In the master bedroom, I have the only true king-sized quilt I've made all the way to completion. It's a Thimbleberries pattern called Snowflakes, as I recall. I call my version Snowflakes at Dusk because of the gray tones used in the background fabrics. I know snowflakes don't really belong here in Florida, but the quilt is pretty, regardless of it's wintry name. 

An interesting additional note on Snowflakes at Dusk: it is the first one I pieced upon my retirement in 2009. I had no idea then that I would ever become a snowbird.

In the guest room, I have the more recently made Spring Dreams. Sharon and I did a sew-along in 2022 using this pattern. It is fitting, then, that the first guest we will have here in the Moonrise guest room is Sharon! Yes, a scheduled visit here this month had to be rearranged for next month. 

Don't you love how well the newly painted night stand matches the fabrics used in Spring Dreams? It was a total accident, but how nice to have it look as if it were planned. Sometimes plain dumb luck wins out.

I do have one additional quilt that resides here. It generally resides across the foot of our bed. I will retrieve a pic from the way-back files to show which one. We have some pretty cool nights here, so an extra layer of quilt is necessary.

Dreamy Stars is a quilt I made and quilted in May of 2020. Yes, you read that right - made AND quilted all in the same month. A first. I'd long wanted to use these two soft-colored fabrics together, and Ohio Stars are always a fave. Win-Win! 

I've intimated that all I've sewn are the 9-patches, but I have also made some home decor items. I will share all the details next time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fresh Off the Longarm

Believe it or not, I actually engaged myself in a pleasurable couple of days of longarm quilting. Yes. After many weeks of procrastinating making a backing for a quilt measuring 96" x 112", I finally overcame my aversion to "mathing out" the best way to accomplish it. Gah, quilt math!!! How I dislike this part of the quilting process.

Back in 2009-10, I was a brand new retiree concentrating on UFOs before starting something new. My first brand new start in retirement life was this quilt. It's a pattern by Thimbleberries; I will seek out the book and pattern to include in my next post. 

Just look at how big this quilt is on my queen-size bed. Absolutely engulfs it! Our bed in Florida is a king, so it is destined to live on Moonrise Court. *smile*

Terribly dark pic; taken in 2010.

My backing fabric, bought years ago for this very quilt, was ample at over 8.5 yards. I even remember  getting it at an end-of-bolt sale. You better believe I freed up a lot of space when I removed it from its storage drawer! 

I don't know what sort of force took over, but I somehow found my way clear to tackling the big geometry problem of making my quilt top and that backing fabric come together for an easy longarm installation.  

Because the quilt is so big, I had to load it with the short side along the roller bars; the length of the quilt is longer than the bars, making this the biggest quilt I've done on the Tin Lizzie. This was another reason for my hesitation in quilting it - so big!! I thought would take forever to quilt. Honestly, though, it went relatively fast.

Now, don't for a minute think that the free motion quilting is perfect because it most definitely is not! There are several places where my motions are jerky and quite a mess, but they only show up in the border, and I will ignore them. They will be hanging off the side of the bed; no one will be inspecting them.

I had plenty of backing from which to cut my binding, and have been steadily stitching on that these past couple off days. With only about a yard left to do, I plan to bring you a full-on view of this quilt in tomorrow's post.

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

November Wrap-Up

I won't let November get too distant in the rear view mirror without sharing my collage of highlights. With a 1-month-old granddaughter to delight us, the collage leans heavily in her direction.

TOP ROW: The pine tree quilt has begun but not gotten very far. This block and 3 others have been constructed, and I stopped. I am back in the pondering stage as I am not so sure I'm loving this excess of greens. Next we have Auntie Emma holding a very newborn Cate. And last, Grampa Kevin and I planted a tree at our house in honor of Cate.

MIDDLE ROW: I quilted a baby quilt and gifted it to nephew Donnie and his wife Elisa as they welcomed their third baby boy in August. Baby Cate is resting on a Granny-made quilt that I whipped up at the last minute just before her birth. Read about it here. And yes, that's another Baby Cate picture, this time with me.

BOTTOM ROW: My mother, fondly known to all the grandkids as Granny Jeannie, met Cate at our house when we hosted Thanksgiving. Mom has three new great-grandbabies this year. How special! Another adorable picture of Cate - she is definitely changing fast! And at the end of the month, I quickly quilted up this colorful quilt, which I've yet to blog about. (That's coming soon!)

We enjoy weekly visits with our daughter and granddaughter which has cut into my sewing time, for sure, but I do not mind in the least! A baby is only tiny like this for such a fleeting moment - I want to enjoy as much of her as possible.

Have no fear, though! I continue to stay busy in the quilting rooms. I am thrilled to report that I've quilted another quilt to get December off to a good solid start. That long arm machine is intimidating me less and less all the time.  To see the quilt I worked on yesterday, click here.

And here is a quilt I hope to load on next - Snowflakes At Dusk. It's a Thimbleberries pattern, and I recall it as the first quilt completed after retiring from teaching. Made in January 2010, it goes back quite a ways. It's a whopper! I will have to build my resolve and determination to do it.

I am off to Frankfort for a morning of socializing and stitching with the Frankfort Girls. It will be so nice catching up with all of them!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Could You Help Me, Please?

I need your help. I know first hand that quilters are some of the most giving of helpers, so I'm counting on you!

A Blog List is a list of blogs I follow regularly and should appear in the right-hand column (web version). Awhile back, and I can't even say when, my Blog List disappeared. I do not remember the last time I saw it, and when I realized it was gone, it surprised me because I didn't remove it intentionally.

I have recreated the list by using some of the most recent commenters and from my browser history. There are many more that I've lost.

And this is where I could use your help. If you have a blog you love to follow, send me a comment or some other form of a message, and I will get to work trying to rebuild my list.

Just to make sure a pretty quilt picture appears in today's more business-like post, how about having a look at an oldie. This is one of the first quilts I made after I retired. It might very well get sent off to be quilted in the very near future. The pattern is, what else, Thimbleberries. I enlarged it by one row in both directions, so this is quite a big quilt. Those plain setting squares seem to invite a pretty hand-quilted wreath or feather, but it is highly unlikely that I will get into that anytime soon. Long-arm is more likely.

Short and sweet for today, folks!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Snowflakes at Dusk

Ta-daaa!! I finished a quilt top!

Yep, you heard me. I did. I finished it. The Snowflake quilt top is complete!

I won't be earning any awards for overachieving or industriousness. Dragging out projects is a particular specialty of mine. I can procrastinate better than just about anyone around, but I did actually get my snowflake quilt top finished yesterday! An accomplishment!!

This is one GI-NORMOUS quilt!! It measures 96x114! It requires 8.5 yards for backing. I hope to buy that at Ben Franklin next week when they are having their 30% off sale. I looked over the selection today when I was there, and I found a couple fabrics that will work very nicely with my quilt.

This quilt is going to be especially memorable for me. It is the first quilt made in retirement. I began it at the very end of October '09 after several months of focusing entirely on finishing off several UFOs.  Eventually, though, one gets really tired of UFOs and I was so ready to start a new project!! This is it!

When I retired, I knew I would focus on making a lot of quilts. (Considering the enormity of my stash, it is pretty much a given!) I made a rule for myself: use as much of the existing stash as possible. It would be a challenge, but it was necessary, really. The rule wouldn't be steadfast, but I would try to adhere to it as much as possible.

So I decided on my pattern, Thimbleberries Patchwork Snowflake. I then had to make decisions on fabrics, a particularly fun part of the process. Instead of following the pattern's suggestion to make the snowflake blocks in a variety of fabrics, I opted to go for one really appealing paisley fabric. The neutral I chose to compliment it with was darker than the typical neutral. At this early stage of planning I also selected a different neutral to use for the alternate blocks. I was not entirely thrilled with it, but in keeping with my plan to use up the stash, I would be satisfied with it.

In an earlier post, I described the creative use of blue paisley. I was roughly a quarter yard short of what I needed, so I ended up sewing scraps together to get pieces large enough to use on the last 2 or 3 blocks. It slowed me down A LOT, but now that I'm past it, I am glad I stayed with the plan.

In the weeks I spent sewing the blocks, I came upon an end-of-the-bolt sale. This was the kind of situation that warrants breaking the rule to use from the stash. Lucky, lucky, lucky find: a bolt with enough for the alternate blocks as well as the backing. Well, after cutting the alternate blocks and the inner border, I discovered that I would be short 1 yard for backing. Oh, well, I've come this far, a suitable back will be found.

This close up shot of one block shows the 3 main fabrics more clearly. Because the neutrals are so dark, I've named this quilt "Snowflakes at Dusk." I have it scheduled to go to the longarm quilter next week.