Ooooh!
Update: Original Finish-A-Long post is *here.*
Debbie of A Quilter’s Table hosted a Polaroids swap last summer, and although I put together the top fairly quickly, I didn’t send it to the quilter’s because I wanted to do the quilting. Finally I wised up and took it over to Kathy. Smart move, because now it’s finished and not still hanging on its hanger in the closet.
But it’s all done now! Dave and I snuck out yesterday morning in our jammies to grab the few rays of sun that morning, he holding up the quilt for me. Thanks, hon. (We always have cloudy mornings until mid-summer.)
When I put this up on Instagram, some folks said they wanted to see some details shots of the little blocks. I think of this quilt as kind of a travel, a memory book quilt, with all its little snapshots of different things.
So when I found this circle design, my quilter agreed to quilt it for me; it reminds me of wheels on a car, going round and round for a summer trip.
It was fun to use some old novelties in my stash, like the block that has “2000” on it–from all those turn of the century quilts we were doing thirteen years ago — when we thought all the computers in the whole world were going to crash.
This one’s kind of like an album block. Krista and I hatched up Project Gingham last year after I found a bunch of ginghams at a garage sale. She made this block for me and signed her name. It’s a treasure. How do you make these little blocks? Diagram *on this post.*
I found this stripe-y fabric at a little quilt shop not too far from my house, and it turned out to be perfect. The Polaroids are bordered in Quilter’s Linen in bright green and blue. Tutorial on how to make this quilt *here.*
The backing is a Marimekko print that looks like a grassy field.
And here’s the label. I love the quote from Eudora Welty, a great Southern writer: “A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.” Amen, Eudora. Well said.
This is #110 of 200 lifetime quilts.
This is where I was Wednesday morning, after listening to hours and hours of a new audio book: Beautiful Ruins. My mother’s still reading listening to it, so I’ll withhold my review until later. But the really good thing about audio books is that when they are playing on your desktop computer in the same room as the sewing machine, a lot gets sewn, like a quilt top for our new-to-our-family adopted grandson Chris. This is my Sashless Quilt, with the tutorial found *here.*
Full length shot on our front porch, with hands belonging to my tall husband Dave.
This isn’t a complicated quilt, it sews up quickly, and I love using favorites from my stash like the bicycle fabric. I’d been saving that for a long time and this was the perfect use because my son (Chris’ Dad) loves bike riding, owns a bunch of them and takes all his sons out on bike rides.
I started cutting this on Monday, sewed Tuesday and Wednesday morning, quilted Thursday, did the binding on Friday. Hey! I felt like Rita from Red Pepper Quilts, only I’m not listing it in my ETSY shop. (I don’t even have an ETSY shop.)
The “label.” Sometimes with quilts I know will be washed and washed, I don’t mess with a formal label, but simply write directly on the quilt with a Micron Pen.
Glamour shot, reclining on the sofa. I did the basic quilting: stitch in the ditch. I’d played with the idea of doing echo-quilting alongside the seams, but in the end changed my mind.
I gave it to Chris as they arrived on Saturday evening to celebrate my husband’s birthday. Chris’ younger brother Andrew used it first.
Later on, after dinner and all the adults talked, Chris nabbed it and settled into a movie. Or was it a game? I can see that at the dimensions of 46″ x 57″ he will soon outgrow the quilt, but I didn’t want it too big–it’s a “welcome to the family” quilt, like what his brothers received when they were newborns.
Chris seems to like it–I’m so glad!
It’s Quilt #109 on my 200 Quilts list.
Starting another sashless quilt, based on what I did in the Sunshine and Shadow Quilt Tutorial. But this one’s for my newest grandson Chris, adopted into our family this past December. Chris is eleven, so a “baby” quilt just won’t do, but every grandchild has a quilt from me, and soon he will too.
In pieces, on the pin wall. Having a pin wall is a real luxury, I think. Short of a stiff breeze, all the pieces stick there until I’m ready to sew it together (tomorrow).
The rows are marked. My Spring Break is half over and I still have a few things to get done, as Robert Frost noted: “And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
Another late WIP post, but if you get a chance, head back over to Lee’s Freshly Pieced blog and see what unfinished projects others are working on, plus the beautiful blocks that Lee’s crafting.
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 