Posies and Plaid

Throwback Thursday

This little lap quilt is another treasure from my Alaska days. The girls and I spent a wonderful year there while my soldier did an unaccompanied tour in Korea. Between hubby being gone and the bitter cold winter, I had lots of time on my hands, most of which I spent quilting and sewing.

My 5 favorite things about this quilt are:

1. The plaid shirting – a freebie I picked up at a fabric exchange. Oh, and that pink floral…I wish I’d bought a whole bolt of it. It goes with everything.
2. Accuquilt friendliness factor – I cut every piece with my Accuquilt Go.
3. Color scheme – The pinks and greens are delicious…like ice cream sherbet.
4. Quick, easy piecing – This would be a great beginner pattern. It went together very quickly, but it still looks great.
5. Beautiful quilting – My go-to long-arm quilter in Alaska, Mary Lou Frahm of Honeybee Quilting did a fabulous job, don’t you agree?

At about  57″ square, this quilt is the perfect size for the beach, or curling up on the couch. I think it would make a great baby quilt too. I might have to make a few more. 🙂

Mahalo, y’all, for stopping by.

Five Years Later…

So… I offered to make a memory quilt for a dear friend using her father’s old t-shirts. And I did. But it took me FIVE years to complete. I have felt horrible about it for the last 4.5 years.

In the normal course of things, I’m a slow finisher, but this was ridiculous. I encountered several setbacks including a crazy work schedule, an overseas move, and technical issues with the quilt itself, but finally, it’s done.

In accordance with my goal of finishing a UFO a month, this was my April 2016 project. Don’t judge me, but I actually ran into May with it. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up eventually. Maybe.

One of the first problems I had was the machine quilting. I set my stitch length too short and that combined with a high-loft batting caused me to put a small hole in the green shirt. (Sorry, Carrie.) Discouraged, I set it aside for a few months until I ran across an article about hand quilting with Perle Cotton embroidery thread. I used DMC size #8 in a variegated blue and am quite pleased with the results, despite some sore fingers.

I used flannel on the back so it’s super-cozy. However, I wasn’t thrilled with the back of the quilt because A) I didn’t do a great job of getting the wrinkles out when I spray basted, and B) my stitching is not very pretty on the backside. Lessons learned.

 

On the plus side, my friend FINALLY has her quilt and I can mark another UFO complete. Yay!

Churn Dash Aflutter

Throwback Thursday

I made this quilt in 2011 while living in Willow, Alaska. I had given myself a challenge to make a quilt entirely from fabrics I had on hand, and I managed to do that with everything but the backing and binding.

I started with the butterfly fabric. I wanted to use large-ish pieces to showcase the beautiful colors and pattern. I only had enough for 10 blocks, so I alternated my showcase blocks with one of my favorite traditional blocks, the churn dash.

I consider this more of a utility quilt. It’s small – a lap quilt – and the fabrics aren’t ones I would have bought to use together, but I don’t know… I kind of like it anyway. I used flannel for the backing so it’s super-cozy.

Wondrously talented Mary Lou Frahm of Honeybee Quilting quilted it for me. I love the allover butterfly pattern she used. If you’re in Alaska and need a good long-arm quilter, you can find her here.

I did not use my Accuquilt on this project, but they’ve since come out with a churn dash die, so I’ll probably make another one soon. I do love that block so I think I can justify the cost.

Mahalo y’all, for stopping by.