Nearing a UFO Finish

At last, it looks like I am going to be able to finish that June UFO that has been nagging me. After much gnashing of teeth and brain-draining effort, I think I am ready to put this into its final step - the last border.

My previous update on this medallion quilt dealt with how to arrange those 4-patch blocks around the quilt. In the picture below you see the dark squares arranged to surround the center. A characteristic of medallion quilts is to keep surrounding the center motif; believe me, I have studied a lot of them over the last several months. Some are quite involved - very finely detailed in many surrounding borders. I opted for a much simplified version, and even still, I have been at time flummoxed about making it all fit together.

Next will be to add corner triangles and then I do believe I am ready to put a non-pieced, final border on this and call it a finished flimsy. I have expended far too much effort at bringing this to completion and I am ready to move on. You  know, it's done when I say it's done, right? *grin*

The current dimension is roughly 56.5" square. I will add a wide floral border cut at 8.5", so that's another 17 inches to add. Ideally, then, if my calculations are correct, I will have a finished flimsy coming in at 73.5 inches square.

The photo above shows the border I will use. I have yardage of 3 fabrics - a red, a neutral and this floral. The floral gives it a lot of zing, I think. The red or neutral will become the backing. Below is a closer look at the border alongside the quilt.

The three yardage fabrics to choose from.

And just look at all the bits that are going to be left over. Gracious! I will have to revisit my Minick and Simpson collection someday, for surely there is another quilt in here somewhere! I've got plenty to work with.

Linking up today with Monday Making. 

Happy Monday, and Happy Quilting, Friends!

Further Considerations for Flag Day Farm Medallion

The mental work I am doing on this quilt is most definitely taxing my brain. If only I could figure out a way to photograph all this mental work! The actual sitting-down-at-the-machine-and-sewing work is easy after all this thinking business.

More coffee, please!

So, my first post mentioned that because I really like stars and churn dashes, that I would probably make one row of each. Well, that idea has been tossed. I am interested in finishing this quilt top this month, not next year! Both stars and churns take a good bit of piecing, and I just don't want to devote that kind of time to finishing this UFO.

Here is my solution for the stars. Once I determined that my panel would be on point, I found a way in which I could get by with just 4 stars - one in each corner triangle around the panel. I went to Thimbleberries for a star pattern I knew I could make fast - the star I've made a gazillion of - from the pattern Christmas Confetti.

I took all the parts down and lined the design wall with a yard of the blue floral - this is what I will cut into triangles for the corners. I sewed together one strip of flying geese  -  and I did have to use 11 to get them to fit on the side. (Earlier I thought 10 would be enough.) Then I placed a star in the corner. This will be how I will square up the quilt. 

In this second photo, I have added back another row of flying geese (not stitched together) and another star, just to see the effect. Then I cropped off the bottom in the general vicinity of the square portion that will result when all is done.

What comes next? I will sew together the rest of the flying geese strips. Then I have to return to some mental work. I don't know what my next row around will be. I will be sure to share when I know what I'm doing!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

June's UFO

Month number 6 of the little challenge I'm working on with a few of my quilting buddies looks to be the toughest one yet. We drew #2 out of the hat and on my list that is "finish Flag Day Farm."

Now if any of you are long-time quilters and follow the lovely fabric lines issued by Minick and Simpson, you will recognize the name Flag Day Farm. They released this line of fabric in 2008 or 2009. I do not know precisely when, but I did search the Minick and Simpson blog to learn that they debuted it at the Houston Market in '08. I don't really follow the timeline on how fabrics are made available, so maybe it wasn't actually in stores until '09.

But I digress...

As for my acquiring the bandanna panel, which you see above, I saw it displayed at a quilt show here in Ohio. From the very beginning I knew I would like it to be the center of a medallion quilt. The panel lived on my design wall for a very long time as I dreamed about all the potential possibilities.

Then the reality of the creating such a quilt set in - math. Ugh. I would have to figure out how to get blocks to surround this panel and each subsequent row around. Fitting everything just right, getting all the measurements to work out  - this would not be a task I would accomplish easily.

I did, however, collect fabrics for those surrounding rows - a much easier task.

I pulled out the tub earlier this week. Most of the contents are various fabrics by Minick and Simpson, with a few possible exceptions. I doubt I have any other fabric from the Flag Day Farm line, but since all their lines work so well together, I know I will be fine with this assortment.

Down on the bottom I found some half-yard cuts and a pack of mini-charms, which had been opened and I'd even sewn a few of them into 4-patch blocks. A start!

This morning, I've sketched a potential layout. I was particularly curious about separating each row around by narrow strips. I added that into the drawing above. Then I drew 3 outer rows without separating. From the way it looks on paper, I believe I will be included strips to separate each section.

Then I sketched just a bit longer to visualize some of the blocks I am considering. I know at least one surround will be of churn dashes - I just love that block. I already have some 4-patch blocks made, so I sketched a few of those in a row. Then I played around with HSTs and stars. I feel pretty confident that I must have a row of stars.

Can you see now why I say this will be the biggest of my UFO challenges so far? What a lot of brain work will be going into this.

I have considered an alternative plan which takes far fewer brain cells. Use all my M&S fabrics, make a bunch of 4-inch blocks. and then just start pinning them around the panel on the design wall and see how it all shakes out. Fewer brain cells might just be the better way.

I mentioned above that I knew almost from the start that I wanted to use the panel as the center of a medallion quilt. Interestingly, as I searched the Minick and Simpson blog for details about the fabric, I came across this post that relates to the bandanna panel. The pictures they show are of pillows and the red is used. Nice to see. I do not remember seeing a red one at the time I bought my blue one.

I am making this my OMG - One Monthly Goal - and will be linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the extra incentive, which I am definitely going to need.

Have a great Friday!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Planning Future Projects

Last week I made a concerted effort to clean up my sewing room. Whew!! It had been way too long since last I'd put any real effort into putting things straight. New project tubs were purchased, as were larger tubs to hold the new fabric I'd recently bought. I'll post a couple of pics later this week of my clean space.
What I really want to talk about today is the wonderfully freeing feeling a clean room gives me! My gracious! It's like I finally can think and breathe in there! Just one evening in my neat and tidy space and I was pulling fabrics and sketching patterns and planning big (and small) projects!

1. I've decided which Schnibbles I will make for the May "your choice" parade. Selected the fabric, too!

2. About a year ago I bought a 20" square panel from Flag Day Farm. It's been hanging on my design wall, waiting to be made into something. I've had the notion that I'd do a medallion quilt with it, but it took a clean room to get a really good idea for proceeding. That is what I tried sketching out. I fear this little endeavor will require a fair amount of mathematics --horrors! -- but I think I can work it out.

I listed 4 or 5 simple, standard blocks that I like when I admire quilts. Square-in-a-square, pinwheel, Ohio Star, flying geese, 4-patch (or 9-patch). I think I will just use these favorites as I add border after border around this medallion. The math comes in when figuring out the measurements that will insure that the edges of my border match with the center medallion.

3. I really want to make a Kaffe Fassett quilt - he's got 2 beauties in 2 different books that are primarily blue. I will make one of them - haven't yet decided which it will be.

Yep, there will be some doggone pretty creations coming out of this clean sewing room in the next few days and weeks!