So Many Dragons!

My husband and I had our flu shot and shingles vaccination a couple days ago and it hit us rather hard. Usually, I would lay around in front of the television, but this time I decided to go flop in front of my sewing machine and sew together one of the quilt "kits" I cut out last month. It's another Broken Bricks pattern. I had different options, but I decided to go for the easiest.

I was able to finish the quilt yesterday and then today I realized I had a quilt backing remnant that was almost exactly the size I needed so I went and put it on the long arm. 

I didn't have a plan when I loaded the quilt, but I realized very quickly that this quilt was almost exactly the right size to stitch out my Dragons Galore panel set. I was able to fit all 4 of them with very little size adjustment.

I was really scraping to come up with enough fabric for
the binding. There are quite a lot of seams. LOL

As usual, it's difficult to see the quilting. This is the pattern I stitched out on this quilt. I love it!

Dragon's Galore 4 panel set by Judy Lyon

I've already finished binding it. I'm sort of impressed, feeling as crummy as I did, that I went from a pile of scraps to a finished lap quilt in two days. LOL

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday.

Tuesday ToDo #49

I did get a lot finished this past week, though I didn't work on too much from my list. LOL

From my list, I finished assembling my second Unbeweavable lap quilt. This was a UFO that's been kicking around for more than a year so I'm glad to get that project tub emptied. I really like this pattern, I think I may need to make more of them as gifts.

I also finished my sorta-ugly Leader-Ender project. This one has been kicking around on my sewing table for several months. I have not been in a rush to finish it because I wasn't overly fond of it once I started sewing the pieces together. Somehow, it looked much better in my mind's eye when I was digging through the scrap bin to match that Navy blue border fabric. I finished assembling it and I've already quilted it with the One Song Needle Arts Blossoms Panto 1 pattern. Very likely this quilt will be donated to our local quilt guild's Comfort Quilts program.

I also finished quilting up the Groovy Garden Broken Bricks lap quilt. I quilted this one up with TK Quilting and Designs' Pretty Posies. This was actually a free pattern she included with her TKQ Sampler Designs and I really like it. Now that I've given her patterns a try, I'll need to poke around her website and see if there are any other sets I'd like to purchase. The little sashing was quilted with Tom's Sashing. It blended well with the Posie pantographs.

This was my original plan, it does not include the
little sashing pattern I added later.

Finally, from out of nowhere, I felt like quilting up my Eggplant Enchantress lap quilt. (The quilt pattern on this one is Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty from her Adventures with Leaders and Enders book.) I quilted it with a funky geometric design. I usually go in for floral pantographs, but my husband really liked it so I decided to stitch it up.

The pantographs on this one actually all came with my ProStitcher computer, but the block I used is available from the designer, Karlee's Border #43, though it came amended without the circles between the squares. And the border triangle is Chevron Three by Marie Eldridge. The sashing was Double Circle Continuous repeated until they filled the space.

Of course, now I have to bind all these quilts. Sigh. Not my favorite part, but it's much quicker now that I've started sewing them on entirely by machine.

So, with that, I update my ToDo list for next time:

• Work on more blue RSC blocks?
• Pillowcase for Kitty's Aged Elegance quilt 
• Finish binding the Groovy Garden lap quilt
• Finish binding the scrappy Broken Bricks quilt
• Finish binding the Eggplant Enchantress quilt
• Work on Jeff's insulated grocery shopping bag

I am linking up with Design Wall Monday, Monday Making and Tuesday ToDo.

September Goal Complete

My September One Monthly Goal is complete, at least as complete as I can get it right now.

Jeff finished quilting the Aged Elegance Quilt for his Aunt and I got it bound the following day.

I also quilted up a couple of the Broken Bricks quilts to send to California for gifts.

This one is not really up to my standard. I've been
calling it the ugliest quilt I've ever made. LOL
Likely, this one will get donated to Comfort Quilts.

It was rather improved once I finished the quilting.

I also finished quilting up the Graceful Moments scrappy lap quilt.

The last quilt that I'd hoped to finish in September, the medallion quilt made with Deco Elegance fabric, is going to be delayed for a couple of months. One of my favorite pantograph designers, Donna Kleinke from One Song Needle Arts, said she would work more on her Art Deco pantographs so I am going to set the quilt aside and wait to see what she releases in the next couple of months.

Jeff will be heading to California to visit in a couple of weeks so I still have a bit more time to finish quilting a couple more of my scrappy quilts. 

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts. Drop by if you'd like to see what everyone else has been working on.

Tuesday ToDo #48

 My list from last week:

• Work on more blue RSC blocks? ❌
• Pillowcase for Kitty's Aged Elegance quilt ❌
• Quilt up one of the Broken Bricks quilts for Jeff's trip (thank you gift) Nearly finished
• Start quilting the Deco Elegance quilt ❌
• Work on Jeff's insulated grocery shopping bag ❌
• Cut out more black pieces for another Unbeweavable quilt ✔️

I got started on quilting one of the Broken Bricks quilts, this was the one made with the Groovy Garden border fabrics. I am still trying to learn my longarm software so I planned it out again. What I've learned is I really need to learn how to deal with small sashings. When I make the design I think the border quilting will cover the sashing as well, but then I do the quilting and it really doesn't. The same happened here.

It's going to be another pretty back on this one.

This was the simple plan on this one. An edge-to-edge in the
center portion then a border pantograph around the outside.

The quilting is mostly finished but I've left it on the frame until I decide if I'm going to go over the narrow white sashing with another pattern.

I also got started on my Unbeweavable UFO project. When I cleaned up earlier this year I had thrown all the extra bits and fabrics into a project tub and I finally pulled it out. I actually had to arrange the whole quilt to see if I had everything. I did have to spend an hour or two disassembling pieces to recover one of the fabrics but it's now ready for sewing. I think I've also cut enough of the black triangles, but since they're so easy to cut out with my Cricut, I'm just going to sew what I have for now then cut more if I need them.

Lastly, I had a conversation with Donna Kleinke over at One Song Needle Arts. She is the one who made the pantographs that I want to use for my Deco Elegance Quilt. This one.

These pantographs are from her Art Deco line. If you look at her site, there is not a lot there. I actually made that triangle from the full block. I asked her if she would make some more pantographs in that style and she said she would. So now I have decided to delay quilting my Deco Elegance quilt until I see what she brings out later this year. My Aunt can wait a few more months for her quilt. LOL

So, here is my updated list:

• Work on more blue RSC blocks? 
• Pillowcase for Kitty's Aged Elegance quilt 
• Finish quilting and binding the Groovy Garden lap quilt
• Work on Jeff's insulated grocery shopping bag
• Work on the Unbeweavable lap quilt

Thanks to Linda for hosting the Tuesday ToDo link up. Drop by if you want to see what everybody else is working on.

Rhododendron Trail Lap Quilt Finished!

I have finished my second Rhododendron Trail quilt. When I rearranged the large quilt last spring, I ended up having quite a few leftover blocks. Now that I've finished this one, I have only one block left and that will go into my orphan block tub.

I've been having fun planning out the quilting in my ProStitcher software so once it's on the frame, I already know the plan. This was what I came up with. (These pantographs were purchased from One Song Needle Arts and are part of her Sweetheart Wildflowers set.)

I was initially concerned the stitching was too dense, but I was happy with the size once they were stitched out. I'm also super happy with the back. This is the first time I've used a solid fabric for the back and I just love how the stitching shows up so well. I definitely will need to do this more often.

There was one frustration with this process though; the thread I worked with was terrible!! I bought some So Fine mini mystery cone thread last month and they sent me 10 of the same boring color, called Digeridoo. Since it was a goldish-taupe color I figured it would work okay with this quilt, but OMG, the thread was HORRIBLE to work with. It literally was shredding on the machine. I had to rethread dozens of times. I was so tempted to abandon the thread but I couldn't bring myself to change the thread color partway through. It's no wonder Superior Threads discontinued it. Don't buy that thread; it may be cheap, but it's not worth it when it takes three times as long to finish a project because you have to keep rethreading and reprogramming your software to back up and restitch a section where the thread broke.

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making.

Tuesday ToDo #47

Last week's list was really small:

• Finish the Rhododendron Trail Flimsy.  ✔️
• Get started on my quilting plan for the Deco Elegance quilt.  ✔️

I blogged about the Rhododendron Trail Flimsy here. And I've already made the backing too so it's ready for quilting.

So far, I've come up with three different quilting plans for the Deco Elegance quilt but, to be honest, I don't really like any of them. The quilting is just so dense. I prefer something a little looser, so I will keep playing with sets. But, if I don't figure out something better by the end of the month, I will stitch out one of these so I can finish my One Monthly Goal.

These are mostly the Art Deco pantographs
from One Song NeedleArts.

These are mostly the Florentine pantographs
from One Song NeedleArts.

These are the Genevieve pantographs
from One Song NeedleArts.

Now that the weather has cooled down, and I can actually bear to spend more time upstairs sewing, I'm going to pick up some of my older, unfinished tasks and add them back to the list. This will be more of an ongoing to-do list rather than something I'm expecting to finish in the next week.

• Work on more blue RSC blocks?
• Pillowcase for Kitty's Aged Elegance quilt
• Quilt up one of the Broken Bricks quilts for Jeff's trip (thank you gift)
• Start quilting the Deco Elegance quilt
• Work on Jeff's insulated grocery shopping bag
• Cut out more black pieces for another Unbeweavable quilt

I'm linking up with Tuesday ToDo. Drop on by to see more great projects.

Sanctuary Flimsy

This one went together so quickly I didn't actually get a chance to post progress photos. The pattern name is Sanctuary by Kim Brackett, from her Scrap Basket Beauties book. Her design actually called for the darker diagonal "lines" to be continuous across the quilt, but I decided to change the orientation of half the blocks.

This one is a little too scrappy for me and I had intended to make the background using all pastel fabrics but looking at it now, I can see there are several that are too dark. Oh well. Now that my long arm is working again, I'll quilt this one up with a quick edge-to-edge and pass it on.

I'm linking up with

Design Wall Monday

Monday Making

Quilted Graceful Moments

I had fun quilting up the Graceful Moments lap quilt today. I finished this flimsy back in April from some scraps I'd been given.

The pantographs were purchased from One Song Needle Arts. I used a combo of two different sets: Cristofer's Dream and Evangeline where I combined triangles from each collection to make up the blocks.

I am really loving my ProStitcher Studio software. This morning, I spent a couple of hours trying out a few different pantographs and once I had a plan, I was able to quilt it up pretty quickly. 

To be honest, this little scrap quilt has exceeded my expectations. I'll get it bound in the next few days and then I'll be sending it with Jeff to California so it can be gifted to a family member.

Update: I found that photos of the quilting work better in low light, so perhaps these are better.

Rhododendron Trail Lap Quilt

My Rhododendron Trail lap quilt flimsy is finished! This uses up all the leftover pieces after finishing my queen-size quilt.

I obviously made a few minor changes. The original pattern only called for ½-inch wide sashing and I decided to make mine 1-inch wide. I reversed the position of the yellow and cream fabric on the border geese. Also, I decided to add an outer border so I wouldn't have to worry about those geese coming unsewed while I quilted it. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the aqua color fabric so I decided to bracket the geese in two burgundy borders. Now I just need to figure out what to use for a backing.

This was actually my second flimsy finished this week. I also finished the Eggplant Enchantress on Monday.

I am linking up with 

Needle and Thread Thursday

Brag About Your Beauties

Finished (or Not) Friday

TGI Finished Friday

Off the Wall Friday

Peacock Party