Five Shadows

How about that! Sometimes I just surprise myself! I finished the Facets Quilt-Along with Christa Quilts on time!

I completed all 8 steps of the quilt along including gathering fabrics, improv piecing, cutting the improv sections into triangles, piecing top, basting – I spray basted, straight line quilting, FMQ, and binding – I used a flange binding. Christa put each participants name in a drawing for each step they complete. I was a lucky winner of one of her bonus prizes – a jelly roll from her online shop! Thanks Christa, for a great QAL! This was the second QAL of Christa’s that I have played along in. She is having another QAL starting up soon.

Last summer my daughter designed a quilt for her new king size bed. We shopped for fabrics, selecting teals, grays, and yellow in various prints. She pieced the top, and I offered to quilt it for her.

When I got her top, back and batting from her, I thought, “what have I gotten myself into!?” It was way larger than anything I have attempted to quilt on my home sewing machine. A friend who owns a longarm offered the use of her machine to do the straight line quilting my daughter requested. I think it turned pretty well! I had it all quilted and bound for her to pick up while visiting for Easter. She loves it! Phew! It does look pretty nice in her bedroom!

I’m behind on Leah Day’s BOM I signed up for this year. I really want to improve my FMQ and thought her BOM sounded like something I could keep up with, having only one block per month to piece, mark, baste, and quilt.

Above is February’s block. I finished the quilting today. NOT keeping up, am I?

March’s block. I pieced it yesterday, but my fabric markers are running out of ink and pencil is out of refills, so I didn’t get it marked. I’ll have to grab a new pen or refill for the pencil Friday while at the local quilt shop.

April’s block! All pieced – which is this week’s assignment, so I’m kind of on schedule, kind of?? ha ha!

Are you particapating in any Block of the Months or Quilt Along programs this year? I’d love to hear about them!

How did I do on last’s week To-Do List?

1. Finish the Facets quilt!  ✔︎ Yes yes yes! I’m so very pleased with it!
2. Start on Bargello quilt. ✔︎ Started organizing the strips today! I recalculated, and glad I did! I’m aiming for a king size bargello!
3. Procrastinate even more on the MQBP March block, but go ahead and purchase the April block.  ✗  Ha Ha! I didn’t procrastinate! I pieced 2 blocks, and quilted Feb block!  ✔︎ And I did purchase and piece the April block! All caught up for this week!

To-Do List for this week:

1. Bargello quilt has to be on the top of the list.
2. Meeting a customer who wants a signature quilt and hobo bag.

I’m linking up to Linky Tuesday , To-Do Tuesday and UFO Link Up!  Have a good week!

I started off February by making this month’s block in Leah Day’s Machine Quilting Block Party, Mystery Quilt Block #2.

For the star points, I used the Lazy Girl No-Math Ruler technique. I’m using scraps from my stash for this BOM. I love the orange Grunge in the corners, which was leftover from another project. There might not be enough left to show up in another block. I’m challenging myself to NOT buy fabric for this quilt along, other than white for the background.  I’ll be replenishing whites from the LQS at their next sale. I’m amazingly low right now on whites and creams.

Below is January’s Block pieced and quilted.

Leah’s Machine Quilting Block Party uses a Quilt-As-You-Go Technique. I have only made one quilt in this style, and Leah’s technique for joining the blocks is different from what I learned years ago. I’m looking forward to learning her process this year.

Next are the two blocks I made for January’s One Block Wonders BOM.

I have cut enough pieces to make a small quilt, but only got 2 blocks made. They will have to go into the WIP pile!

Next are the fabrics I will be using to piece the improv part of Christa Watson’s Facets Quilt Along.

I had leftover Batiks from another project, and since they are scraps, I thought they would be perfect for improv piecing.

Next up are T-shirts prepped with Pellon fusible interfacing (P44F) and squared up at 16 1/2″.

Using 16 shirts, I’m placing them in a 4 x 4 configuration. I need to shop for fabric for the sashing, corner stones, border, backing & binding. I’m waiting for the LQS sale that starts Feb 8th.

How about you? Are you trying any new-to-you techniques this year? I’d love to hear about them!

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List?

1. GOT to get to the January One Block Wonders, deadline Friday! ✔️Got 2 blocks made, and enough pieces cut for a quilt top.
2. Finish FMQ Machine Quilting Block Party January Block ✔️ I’m pretty happy with how this block turned out!
3. Prep those t-shirts! ✔️ The least fun part in the process of making a t-shirt quilt!

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Start a new customer quilt, it’s a Bargello with appliqué. King size!
2. Start piecing the improv fabric for the Facets quilt.

I’m linking to Linky Tuesday and To-Do Tuesday.

As posted earlier, I’m trying my hand at several Quilt-Alongs and Block of the Months this year.

Here is my January block for One Block Wonders hosted by Upstairs Hobby Room.

I love this design! I cut out pieces to make a small quilt top, but alas, life kind of got in the way and I only stitched up one block. Guess it will be added to my Works In Progress (WIP) pile. If I don’t get to it in my free time, it will go with me on my quilting club days.

And here is the first block all pieced and quilted for Leah Day’s Machine Quilting Block Party.

Leah is teaching a Quilt-As-You-Go technique, so I’m looking forward to learning how she joins the already quilted blocks.  I used Superior Threads King Tut 40 weight, variegated yellow, color 985 for the top thread. And Aurifil 50 weight, yellow, color 1135 for the bobbin thread. My skills need to improve in the Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), but the threads and tension worked beautifully in my Janome.