Thursday, March 13, 2025

First Quarter Check-In

Interweave is finished! I forgot to list it on my First Quarter Goal List. It has sat by my chair to be hand quilted since early January so I somehow overlooked it. But it is completed now, hand quilted, labeled, and finished! 


And another surprise is this is my first finish to report this year! (I've been so focused on the t-shirt quilt) My Interweave is a large throw size, measuring 69" x 79" and I used up: 6 yards of prints + 1/2 yard for binding + 5 yards for the backing = 11.5 yards of stash. 


I really loved making this quilt. I started it in 2022 and it hung in the closet waiting to be quilted all this time. The pattern is by Karen Griska and it was a fun and easy project of sewing into strip sets of varying widths. Those sets, when sewn together, make it easy because their different widths make no seams to match. The overall look is similar to Bonnie Hunter's Bitcoin. Well, kind of, but it was fun, nonetheless.

 

I pieced together some large scrap pieces of batting and stretched the whole sandwich on the kitchen floor to pin baste one evening. Slow progress is still progress and makes for a finished quilt eventually. 

And because it has been hand quilted, it is so soft and cuddly! Machine quilting can be beautiful, and I wouldn't get as many quilt tops finished into quilts without its help, but nothing compares to a soft hand quilted quilt. ♥

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While I am here, I should report what else is going on in the sewing room and by the chair side. 

My darling grand daughter's t-shirt quilt is close to a complete finish. Just two more sides to stitch down the binding and then add the label. I am thrilled this quilt is nearly done. Hopefully by this weekend. It was heavy on my mind, stressing over getting it done in time for graduation, and just not familiar with the process.  I will post a story soon when it is completed.

My Hidden Log Cabin quilt has come back from the long arm quilters so once the t-shirt quilt's binding is done, I will attack this for a finish also. Aiming for having it done by March 31.

I recently joined a quilt guild and am so excited to be a part of this group! Such talented ladies!! Show and tell, challenges, workshops, yearly show, so much to keep up with. 

When I joined I was given a quarter yard of fabric for a challenge project. I have to use some of this fabric somewhere within my project. Hmm, my first thought was something using hexagons, but scratched that thinking it would take too long. The deadline is in May and it is approaching fast.  

Kwandi quilts have always intrigued me so I thought that would be a fairly quick project. Um, no! It has not been. It is harder than it looks because you must arrange the pieces just so in order to catch them with your stitching as you're going around the quilt top. Plus it is done in large stitches which is hard because my brain has been trained to make my stitches small. 

So everything about this quilt has been a challenge but I am making headway to get it done in time. Stay tuned for the end result. This was my original fabric pull. The center fabric with dress forms in the center is the feature fabric I must use.


 

And I must get busy on my On Ringo Lake soon. I want to display it at the quilt show in May. So it looks like I have a lot of hand work on my to-do list. Maybe this is a good time to take the machines in for a tune up! 

Happy stitching! And happy gardening. Things are beginning to wake up, including the bees, but that is not good news.