Several Small Finishes

Good Morning Everyone,

Boy, last Sunday when I started going through my piles to hang things on my new rack, I sure discovered quite a few unquilted tops!

 

I would like to say that that was motivation enough for me to do some finishing, but of course it wasn't.  What did motivated me was that I had begun this one

 

 

with the express purpose of donating it to the spouses' club I belong to for a door prize for our upcoming gardening-themed luncheon.  That luncheon is...    today!

 

If you look carefully at the photo from Sunday, you can see this quilt hanging there on the left, and if you could look really closely, you would see that the flowers are still just pinned in place and not even appliqued!

 

 

Obviously, I needed to get to work!  I layered it and quilted it, then appliqued on the flowers, so that I didn't have to worry about quilting over the applique--I'm pleased with how it came out.  Next I cut and sewed on the binding.  Then I turned my attention back to the other projects on the rack. 

 

I joined the Temecula Quilt Co's monthly mini program this year.  So far I had pieced the January and February projects.  I was contemplating hand-quilting them, as the demos were, but since they were still hanging around, I decided it may be best to just machine quilt them.  If I was going to do them, I may as well piece the March project first, so I did, and then I layered them all and quilted them.

 

I'm loving these mini projects!  You get a small kit for them and it is so much fun to have something to do on those days when you don't feel like doing something else, you don't feel like "thinking" about something, etc.  I just pull out the kit and do some cutting and sewing and in an hour or two, there is a pieced top!

 

 

This pinwheel was the January project.  I love the red and tan "rogue" blocks.  It makes it look so "make-do."  I don't think I've ever bound something in muslin before, but that was what was provided, so I did so.  I really like how it looks, too.

 

 

This log cabin was February's kit.  I quilted it with a variegated pink/red thread that I had.  There wasn't much of it and I was afraid it would run out before I was finished, so I quilted really fast!  Ha ha, do you ever do that?  When your thread is running out, especially while hand sewing, do you go faster, seeming to race it to the end, hoping you will get there before it runs out?  Luckily, there seemed to me more thread than I thought and so I had plenty.

 

 

And finally, this green project was the March monthly mini.  I love how it looks like shamrocks for St. Patty's day, and yet, they aren't, so it could be out all year.  This is the only one that I have "meddled with."  They provided 5 fabrics for the blocks, and I used them.  When I began to lay them out while consulting the photo provided, I noticed that the shop sample had used a sixth fabric.  I attempted an arrangement with the five fabrics, but couldn't manage to find a good layout without having the same fabrics touching.  Yikes!  I couldn't have that!  I looked into my stash and found another of these green prints and so made a few more.  Much better! 

 

Yesterday morning, all four of the quilts had the binding attached and I took them to my bee and spent that time hand sewing the binding down.  I had time to wash and dry them and they came out with their crinkly goodness and then I called the door-prize coordinator to let her know I had one!  I don't like to commit if I'm not sure I can follow-through!

 

 

 

It was fun AND feels great to have all these finished!

 

Have a great day!

JoAnne