Organizing Backings and Quilts To Be Quilted

I actually did this organization 21-23 January, but am just getting around to blogging about it.  I dug out all my ready to be quilted tops and made sure I had fabric to back and bind them all and put one on the frame to quilt.  All the rest are waiting their turn under my quilt frame in a nice pile on the right.  I have quite a few queen size quilt batts I purchased for half price under the frame on the left.  I save my batting scraps in the baskets and any that might be big enough to be used without piecing have labels with dimensions on them.  The colourful interlocking tiles on the floor make it comfortable underfoot when standing and quilting.

Any fabric I have purchased in large quantities for backings because it was a good sale is neatly folded in the bottom left hand shelf and is labeled with the yardage.

LARGE QUILTS TO BE QUILTED

1.  Double Hour Glass Quilt 70" x 70".  On the Frame.  The backing fabric was already pieced so it seemed meant to be.

Here you can see the border piano key quilting and the start of some geometric quilting in the background fabric that I have been doing.

I made scrappy binding and have the label already made.














2.  My sister's "pink" quilt.  I was able to buy more of the fabric I had only used for the flower centres to add to what I had to make the backing.  The binding is made and two corner triangles are made which will also serve as labels.

 

3.  On Ringo Lake 86" x 100".  Binding strips are cut.  Backing will be pieced together from the three peachy/pinky fabrics shown.

4.  Basket Quilt 81" x 90".

This will be a picnic quilt.  I have two colours of the same floral which I will piece for the backing.  In order to get enough of the floral fabric with the black background, I had to cut the binding single fold instead of my normal double fold.



5.  Fat Quarter Shop Quilt Along Red and Green Quilt 60" x 66".

The green floral binding is cut and the multi coloured dot fabric is for the backing.  I really like the backing fabric.











BABY QUILTS TO BE QUILTED

1.  Ballerina Baby Quilt 44" x 44"

The fabric for this quilt was given to me by my MIL one Christmas.  Ainsley was too old for it at the time but I made a quilt and have been waiting for a reason to finish it.  I have had the flannel backing fabric and binding made and waiting as well.  If someone I know has a baby girl, all I have to do is quilt it.  Here is a picture of the whole quilt I designed from the fat quarter bundle of fabric.

2.  Zigzag Baby Quilt 41" x 57"

This was made out of some left over fabric more or less just to see how to make a zigzag quilt.  I have some blue fleece which could be used to back and self-bind it and it would make a great comfort quilt.

3.  Double Wedding Ring Sampler Quilt 39" x 39".  Before I made my daughter's Double Wedding Ring Quilt, I made four blocks to "test" it.  I think the dotted fabric coordinates quite well.











Here is a picture of the whole quilt.

ODDS AND ENDS TO BE QUILTED

 1.  Christmas Wall Hanging 42" x 36"
I made this a few years ago and would like to finish it.

2.  Christmas Table Runner 54" x 14"
I made this out of really old fabric more as a test than something to keep.  Will have to decide if it is really even worth quilting.

I can use the light fabric with the deer heads as backing for both and the wreath stripe as binding for both.  Here's a picture of both the wall hanging and the table runner.

You can see some of my Dear Jane blocks peeking out from behind them.

3.  Sewing Notion Table Runner 16" x 40"
This was made a long time ago.  I do plan to quilt it.  The binding is the same sewing notion fabric as the border and I have a navy blue piece of broadcloth for the backing.  I think it would look nice on top of the treadle sewing machine when the cabinet is closed. 

4.  Shamrock and Watermelon double-sided Table Topper 21" square.  I haven't finished these because they are so hideous.  The Shamrock was made out of scrappy greens and is ok.  The Watermelon pinwheel is rather a fail.  I have thought it might be worth embroidering or appliqueing some watermelon seeds on it to see if that would make it look better.  This is another item that I will have to decide if it is even worth finishing.  If it's finished, would anyone want to even use it.....  I do have binding made from one of the green fabrics.

So this is the end of my list.  In summary, I have 5 large quilts to be quilted.  One of which is in progress and as soon as it's done I will get the next one on the frame immediately.  I have 3 baby quilts to be quilted and no babies for them so they are low priority although I could finish the zigzag one to donate as a comfort quilt.  I have 4 Odds and Ends and 2 of them are questionable if they should even be finished.  So I am very pleased that I really only have 4 large quilts, 1 baby quilt and 2 small items to be quilted.  I'm not as far behind as I thought!

Touch Base Tuesday, More Planning than Sewing Today

Tomorrow I am going on a road trip with a couple of my Dear Jane group to purchase fabric at Avonport.  So this morning I spent time going through fabric to find all the suitable ROY G BIV rainbow fabrics I have for my Dear Jane Quilt so I will know what gaps I need to fill in. I'm very short of greens which really isn't a surprise.  I hope the quilt will look as good as my crayoned colour scheme!

I was also playing with the fabric combinations I have for my daughter and son-in-law-to-be's wedding quilt.  I had purchased a very light grey fabric for the background, but Ainsley would prefer a white tone on tone so will be on the look out for that as well.  The grey will be easily used somewhere else. I think I have enough of the main fabric.  The pattern is for 48 blocks, but I need to make 100, so a little over double the fabric requirements.  Once I have the background, I can start making blocks.

In the background of the above picture, you can see the Double Hour Glass Quilt I made in September that is all ironed and ready to go on the frame for quilting.

Bonnie Hunter's on Ringo Lake Mystery Quilt's last link up started yesterday and goes until Sunday, so I am going to see how much of that quilt I can get done before the deadline.  I made five more blocks today which gives me 26 done and 24 to go.  What's taking so much time is my flying geese units came out a little oversize so I am having to trim them all before I can sew the pieces together.

I also checked and so far I only have 23 blocks made for Bonnie Hunter's Leader and Ender Quilt.  I think the next one comes out in the summer so I will have to get a few more made.  I would like it to be a good sized comfort quilt, twin bed size would be nice.

And on the weekend Ainsley picked the fabric she wants for an apron.  So these are the projects I'm currently working on and dreaming about.  I say that because I woke up in the middle of the night making Dear Jane blocks in my sleep.  Making that second block yesterday after supper must have carried over into my dreams!

Pictou Lodge Retreat September 2017

The Mayflower's Quilters' Guild has a three day quilt retreat at Pictou Lodge every second year.  I believe this year was the 30th year, although it was only the 3rd time I have attended.  I decided I wanted to work on a Double Hour Glass Quilt based on a tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew.  She used 2.25" strips she cut herself, but I used 2.5" strips from a Jelly Roll as well as background strips I cut myself.  I was able to get nine triangles from each strip set so was able to make two "matching" blocks and one block with four different sections.

Here is the tutorial:  http://cluckclucksew.com/2009/09/tutorial-double-hourglass-blocks-easy.html

The Jelly Roll I used was Bright Sun by Sherri & Chelsi by moda. This is my first time using a Jelly Roll.

I tried using up almost every block I had sewn and came up with the following layout:

I didn't really like it so tried rearranging the yellow center blocks but still wasn't satisfied:

Several other people gave me some advice and I was convinced by one person  to try it with the blocks on point and by another to not try and use every block and I came up with this much improved layout:

I was able to get it fully pieced into a top including the triangular background edge pieces before the retreat was over.  It is now in the to be quilted pile and I also have twenty-six leftover Double Hourglass blocks I did not use which are available for another project.  Funny how one project breeds another one!