A Green Quilt for Granddaughter - OMG for April

In between gardening and life, I finally managed to finish this quilt for my granddaughter, who turned 18 on April 27! We will see her on Saturday, so I will try to get a picture of her with the quilt and update this post. I'm barely squeaking this in for the April One Monthly Goal!

Her current favorite color is forest green, and I found some suitable greens in my stash plus another fabric from Hobby Lobby to make this lap-sized quilt. After doubting my fabric choices, I actually like the way it turned out. The pattern is Yellow Brick Road, a paper pattern I purchased in 2012. As usual my improper pattern reading caused a few delays (via my seam ripper), but in spite of that I enjoyed making this pattern.

I barely had enough of the main backing fabric by Crazy Mom Quilts (Amanda Jean Nyberg). I had a few blocks left over from the front, so I trimmed four of them to 6-inch squares and pieced them in. My husband suggested the darker grey Grunge for the binding.

I quilted this quilt differently (for me) in a 6" wide cross hatch pattern. It is probably the least dense quilting I've done, and I like the casual look of it. I thought about doing more quilting on it but decided not to worry about my batting separating, since mine has a quilting distance of 8-10 inches.

Quilt Details:
Pattern: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs
Finished size:
52" x 70"

Fabrics:
Grunge by Basic Grey in Christmas Green, Jade Cream, Grey Paper, and Grey Couture
Elizabeth's Dowry by Marcus Fabrics with Karen Styles in Grid Green and Gold with Green
Doglandia Unleashed on Green by Peter Horjus for Blend Fabrics
Lancaster Green Cows by Whistler Studios for Windham
Yellow with green print Elizabeth's Dowry by Marcus Fabrics
Gold print from my stash, no label

Backing (main fabric):
Emma and Myrtle Bedsheets in Butter by Amanda Jean Nyberg for Connecting Threads

Binding:
Grunge by Basic Grey in Grey Couture

Thread:
So Fine #50 Genoa Gray by Superior Threads (piecing)
So Fine #50 Sage Green by Superior Threads (quilting)

I'm linking to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal linkup for April.

Hand Pieced QAL Mini Quilt Finish

My hand pieced quilt is finished! Whew! A big thank-you goes to Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin at Simple.Handmade.Everyday for hosting this event. Their tutorials were so thorough and helpful, and I appreciate their kindness and dedication to teaching the timeless craft of hand piecing. I enjoyed being in the QAL with so many other participants and saw many beautiful blocks during this process. Most mentioned how relaxing it was to hand piece. For me it was not that relaxing - LOL! I think I'll save my close handwork for cross stitching and crochet. 😉

Hand piecing has been a pretty intense project for me. After working on the first block, I was about to quit because my hands and neck were sore! I persevered and got my hand sewing muscles on board. The blocks were increasingly complicated, and I learned to sew through seams, not over them. Over time my hand stitching became a little more consistent.

Simple sashing and borders seemed appropriate for these traditional blocks. I was going to add cornerstones in the teal, but I decided to just use that color in the binding instead.

Hand quilting seemed daunting, but I took inspiration from Janine Marie at Quilts from the Little House, who has mad quilting skills and did a fascinating series of posts of her hand-quilting career. So I plunged right in. It took several nights in front of the TV, but I finally finished. I sandwiched the quilt with regular batting, and after consulting with Patty, I realized I should have used thin batting, because for me it made small stitches impossible. So my quilting has a few big, irregular hand stitches - hah! However, as my my Mom used to say, "it'll never be seen from a galloping horse!"

Detail of my grandmother's quilt

I am including a photo of a detail of one of the quilts my dear Granny Mitchell made. Look at that beautiful design she quilted! Her stitches were tiny and evenly spaced. After learning how to make a quilt by hand, I cannot fathom how she had time to make the many quilts that my family still enjoys today!

This little quilt will reside in the guest bedroom with the Scandi throw pillow I made with the same colors.

Quilt details:
9 blocks hand pieced and hand quilted

Finished size:
22" x 22"

Fabrics used:
Desert Bloom Mesa Ivory Plus by Sherri & Chelsi for Moda
Floral Scatter in Teal, Bouquet in Red, and Floral Scroll in Brown, from Bloom Collection by Makower UK
Orange solid from my stash

Background: Off white background from my stash

Binding: Turquoise - Linen Texture Collection by Makower UK

This post is linked to Patty's Hand Pieced QAL Grand Prize Linkup. Click on the link to see many beautiful versions of this quilt!

Hands2Help Comfort Quilt April Progress

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is hosting her annual challenge for comfort quilts. This year there are five charities from which to choose, and I have chosen to send my quilt to Bernie at Needle and Foot, who collects quilts for Mercy Quilts.

I made a quilt last year for Mercy Quilts, blogged about here. Bernie has mentioned a need for quilts for males, so I had to really look deep into my stash for male-ish fabrics but finally found a few blues, lime-y greens, and grays that will work.

I will probably use this Yellow Brick Road pattern that I purchased in 2012. I used it for the first time this past week for my granddaughter's green quilt. I think I've mentioned that pattern reading is my downfall, and this pattern is no exception! It is a popular, well written pattern that is easy to follow for most, but I've had to use my seam ripper several times because I didn't read the pattern thoroughly. But now I have familiarity with the pattern, so I should be able to breeze through it (fingers crossed!)

The next progress post will be May 5 with the goal for a finish on May 19. Check out Sarah's linkup here for more quilts in progress!

2019 Q2 Finish-Along Goals

My goals for Q2 2019 FAL are ambitious! If I finish the five items on my list, I will be Superwoman, but if I only finish the first one, I will call that a success. Sarah at Cedar Fork Stitches hosts the Finish-Along, and you can find details by clicking the button on the sidebar. You can still join in! Read on for my list.

1. If I complete no other goals this quarter, the one thing I will do is make a quilt for granddaughter #1, who has requested a quilt in shades of green (blogged about here), and finish in time for her 18th birthday in late April. I've decided on an old favorite pattern - Yellow Brick Road!

2. I finished the quilt top for the Meadowland QAL on Instagram and need to sandwich it with a backing and quilt it. This will reside on our living room sofa. I will blog details in a later post.

3. Quilt the Eternally Yours quilt blogged about here.

4. Piece the Craftsman quilt I blogged about here, for my husband; all the pieces are cut!

5. I've joined three quilt-alongs: Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict's 2019 Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge with a quilt to be completed by May 15; the 2019 Pantone Quilt Challenge with a quilt featuring Pantone's 2019 Color of the Year "Living Coral" and a deadline of June 14, and Sandra at MMM Quilt's Beothuk Star QAL with a finished quilt by June 15. Click on the appropriate buttons in my sidebar for more details about these quilt-alongs.

I'm considering combining the Pantone Quilt Challenge (see fabrics on the right) with the Beothuk Star QAL (Sandra's pattern on the left)!

How I pictured our retirement. Umm, not happening. ;)

This post is linked to Sarah's 2019 Q2 FAL linkup.

Countdown to Christmas SAL March Blocks

Here are three more blocks for a Christmas quilt before Christmas! I have nine blocks so far by participating in Mama Spark's Countdown to Christmas Sew-Along. The blocks are from the Moda Bake-Shop website, and you can find them by going here. I am choosing blocks that appeal to me rather than doing each block listed. This month I chose Festival, Special Gift, and Christmas Logs. I am picking my blocks from the posts listed under Countdown to Christmas for December 2018 and am enjoying making a different block each time.

Festival

Special Gift

Christmas Logs

I made a mistake by not thoroughly reading the instructions for Christmas Logs. The directions are to trim the logs after each round, and I did not see those instructions! So this block finished at a full 3 inches larger than the other blocks. I will either use it as part of the backing, or it will become a pillow!

I'm linking this post to MamaSpark's Countdown to Christmas SAL.

One Monthly Goal for April - A Green Quilt

My goal this month is a carry-over from March. I did not start the "green" quilt for my granddaughter's 18th birthday, and now I have about 20 days to complete it. It is usually procrastination that makes me drag my feet, but this time I wasn't in love with the green fabric choices in my stash. I'll do a patchwork featuring the darker forest greens my granddaughter likes with some neutral blocks in between. I am still undecided about a pattern. Everyone in my family seems to love simple patchwork quilts, so that is probably what I will do.

I am linking to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal for April, hosted by Patty.

Little Bear Quilt For Grandson

Future grandson's baby quilt

This is my first time joining in Sarah's 2019 Finish-Along, and the time really zoomed by! These were my initial goals (blog post here):

• Baby quilt for our grandson (projected birth date early May), blogged about here
• Pattern test for Eternally Yours pattern by Julie at Running Stitch Quilts, blogged about here
• Quilt in shades of green for our granddaughter's 18th birthday in April
• Craftsman quilt for my husband

Eternally Yours quilt flimsy

Although I did complete the first two goals, the baby quilt is the only fully completed project to post for the Finish-Along, and you can read about that finish here. The Eternally Yours pattern test was completed, technically qualifying for a finish, but I want to quilt it and add it along with my two other uncompleted goals to proposed finishes for Quarter #2. Hope that makes sense!

This post is linked to Sarah's 2019 Q1 Finish-Along linkup.

A Galloping Horse (and a Giveaway!)

Today Bernie of Needle and Foot is hosting a giveaway, celebrating (yes!) our mistakes and epic fails. There are prizes to be had: a fat quarter bundle from Art Gallery, PDF patterns from Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts and Leanne at Devoted Quilter, a $30 gift certificate to Bernie's Etsy Shop, and a book from C&T Publishing! I wanted part of the fun, so I contributed two packs of Grunge mini charms. For a chance to win one of these fun prizes, click HERE to go to Bernie's post and leave a comment about your funniest goof. The event closes on Friday, April 5th and winners drawn and announced on Saturday, April 6th.

The galloping horse? My favorite credo in quilting is something my Mom used to say, "It will never be noticed from a galloping horse." It is so true, and I laugh every time I think about her saying this! However much I try to remember this, glaring errors do perturb me, so I correct as much as I can and forget the rest. Have a look at two recent ones in the photos below:

Corrected!

Log Cabin block is too big

How serendipitous that the same day after hearing about this event, I made two goofs! If you look at the two photos above you will see that in the first one I mis-positioned half square triangle corner pieces - a result of not paying attention. Second photo shows corrected block. In the third photo, I failed to follow instructions and created a log cabin block 3 inches larger than the other 12.5" inch blocks. My biggest downfall in quilting with a pattern is deciphering and following the instructions. The directions for the log cabin block were to trim to a certain measurement after every round was added. Did I even see that part? Um, no, because I didn't read the instructions all the way through before I started. That mistake is destined to become a pillow!

Click on the photo for a chance to win these Grunge Hits the Spot and
Grunge Seeing Stars mini charms and other prizes!