Day at Loon Lake Quilt is Complete!

 

Day at Loon Lake Quilt

 

Complete with the label in the lower right corner.  This style of label is easily readable by flipping up the corner.

 

 

On the label, I made note of the wool batting -- in case anyone int he future thinks they want to wash it. 

I have to say that I was really impressed with this Quilter's Dream Wool Batt.  I am looking forward to working with it again - on a bed quilt.

 

The pattern is by Nancy Davis Murty for Bee Creative Studios. 

This quilt has been at least 15 years in the making, so the pattern will be hard to find.

Here's a close-up of each block (for the record):

 

Quilting from the back side.

Other posts about this quilt:

Quilting Deep Water on the Loon Lake Quilt (2022)

Quilting the Elements: Air and Water (2022)

Next Steps on The Loon Lake Quilt (2022)

A Few Small Repairs on the Loon Lake Quilt: Replacing the Misfit Log (2021)

Day at Loon Lake Quilt Top is Complete! (2020)

Day at the Lake Quilt is coming along -Top Third is Done - Turtle and Perch Blocks Done (2020)

Progress on The Loon Lake Quilt (2017)

Thread Painting at Lake Lucerne Quilt Camp 2016 : Part 2 (2016)

Progress on Day at Loon Lake Quilt (2016)

Resurrection of Day at Loon Lake Quilt (2016)

Hollyhocks Around the Barn Quilt is Complete!

Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Square Dance Quilt

Here it is--at long last.  This one has been sitting in the to be finished pile for at least 12 years now.  

I finally finished the last bit of free-motion quilting in the bits around the flowers.  I've been wondering what to fill it with, and finally went with one of my go-to fillers: Hearts and Vines.

Here are all the threads I used on the topside for quilting.

I'm not at all sure what I had planned for binding, so I pulled a leftover from The Farmer's Wife project.

 

Another detail shot of the quilting on the front side, flowers, vines and borders.

 

 

More quilting from the back side. 

 

 

Here it is in the washing machine.  How did the machine know this was the center of the quilt?

Now that it's been washed, I LOVE the texture the free-motion quilting adds. No--it's not perfect, as done by a computer, or pantographs.  It has a hand-drawn feel to it--more like doodling or sketching.  That is much more my style.   

The pattern is Hollyhocks Around the Barn from The Buggy Barn.

The batting is Hobbs 80/20 Cotton batting.  I love it because it makes a new quilt look old and antique after the first wash.  

The label.  

I did something different this time with the label.  I took a square of fabric, and folded it along the diagonal, and wrote in the text with a sharpie (heat set with a hot iron).  Then I tucked the triangle into a corner and bound the raw edges with the binding.  This worked out so well!  Now that the binding is finished -- so is the label!  

This is in the lower right-hand corner, so when it is hanging, you can flip up the corner and read the label. 

Previous Posts on this quilt:

Hollyhocks Around the Barn (2008)

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn Quilt - Step One - Have a Plan

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Step Two - Egg & Carton 

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Step 3 Leaves

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Step 4 The Flowers and Step 5 Revisiting the Barn Rails

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn Step 6: Chicken Wire Borders

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Step 3 Leaves

 

Quilting the leaves on Hollyhocks Around the Barn Quilt.

All week, I've been thinking about how to quilt the leaves on this quilt.    This morning, I scrolled through Pinterest looking at freemotion quilting patterns for leaves.  Nothing seemed quite right for the hexagon shape representing leaves.  Nothing worked until I got out paper and pencil and started doodling ...

 

And then it came ...  so I drew it on a scrappy quilt sandwich and stitched it out.

Yes!  This will work, and it's easy to stitch out, too!

 

I know: It's not really anything like actual Hollyhock leaves.  These are more like plantains, but they are leafy!

 

 

 Here it is on the longer leaves.  Same but different.

 

There are a couple of oddball filler leaves that are a different shape.  I'll have to figure out what to do with them, but not today .... 

Next week, it's the flowers. Who-hooh!

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn - Step Two - Egg & Carton

I started stay-stitching the edges of the barn wood rails.  I thought it would be a good idea to stitch-in-the-ditch.  It took me a few rounds to realize I should just outline the edges of the rails instead: Let the thread show! 

 

Now that the quilt is reasonably "stable with some stitching and the pin-basting, it's time to measure and mark out the egg and carton pattern along  the barn rails.

I'm using a fancy quilt ruler, but you could just as easily use a plate or other round object.  I am using taylor's chalk to mark the lines to be sewn.  It brushes off easily enough and will wash out.  

If I have the fancy quilting ruler, why not use that and just stitch along those hard edges?  Well -- It was with this very ruler that I essentially ruined one of my previous sewing machines, quilting with rulers, when the free-motion foot hopped up over the edge and (I think) threw off the timing or something.  I use that machine for parts now, and have not tried to quilt with rulers since then.  Sigh!  It seemed like a good idea at the time ...

 

Stitching the the rails.

After some trial and error with using a regular sewing foot and trying to follow the chalk marks, I realized it was just too much turning and twisting to get the quilt to line up to be under the foot.  So eventually, I switched to the freemotion foot that was more forgiving of how I maneuvered the quilt under the needle.   

 

All done with Step 2. 

Now it's onto stitching the leaves and flowers.

 Snow Man down the street.  Did I mention that I love winter?

Quilt Blocks - Sonia's Windows (Again)

Ma's quilt blocks ...
My mom asked me to finish a King-size quilt for her.  Slow but steady progress.  Here are some of the blocks in a possible layout.

If it looks familiar, it;s the same Sonia's Windows quilt block, technique, and overall colors that I used for Aidin's Quilt here.  My mom liked it so much that she started one for herself.  She was able to make about half the blocks for her king-size quilt, then due to health reasons, asked me to finish it for her. 

Would be nice to have this all finished in time for their 50th Wedding Anniversary!  Today is their 49th wedding anniversary.  ;-)

Next steps :
Trim up the blocks
Choose fabric for sashing (light blue) and optional cornerstones (tree green?)
Sew it all together
Re-assess and add borders to bring it up to size

Another Day on the Tin Lizzie : Blue Picnic Quilt

Last Saturday, I rented time on the Tin Lizzie at It's Sew Rite. I was able to quilt up the Blue Picnic Quilt in about 2-1/2 hours. It's a full-size quilt as for a double bed. I had a panto in mind, but decided that my good ol' Bubbles pattern would work just as well. It went surprisingly fast -- this pattern just flows over the quilt top, without all those starts and stops.



My husband even stopped in to see the operation, so now he knows what I'm talking about when I say long-arm. He also has a better idea of how much space it takes up, and that it's better NOT in our house.


Here's the back side where the bubbles are more evident. I used Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batting.

I'll put up a full photo when I get the binding on, which could be several months from now. The batting will crinkle up and look nice and antiqued after I wash it, too. Stay tuned!

To June W.

I was the lucky winner of this quilt made by June Wiechman. She donated it to The Healthy Heart Day event at my hospital on Valentine's Day.

"Thank you for the time and materials and effort you put into this quilt, June. I'm a quilter, too--and I know it doesn't happen overnight!"

It's an old-timey quilt, fabric tied with yarns--just like my Gramma Matucheski used to make. A nice prize to win for attending a Heart Health Event.