Sunday, June 9, 2019

June is for finishes



Hello, hello! I'm back in the blogging saddle and ready to share what I've been working on lately. Seems like I got into a mode where I've been batching things together. I sewed up a ton of blocks, then a bunch of tops, then a passel of backings, and a melange of binding strips. I quilted all the pieces one after the other and stacked them up. And this week I am finally, FINALLY! binding them.

At each stage, there was always an excuse to not take photos. "Eh, a pile of blocks isn't very interesting." "This flimsy is so wrinkled, I'll have to wait until we have enough power to run the iron before I take a pic." "Five backings pieced, three to go! Woo hoo, I'm on a roll! No time to stop now!" Or I took the photos, but they were so bad that there was no motivation to write a post featuring dark, blurry pics. It's been a wet, windy spring which makes taking photos outside a festival of quilts blowing around annoyingly. Overcast days mean the inside of the boat has been dark. Yada yada yada.

But as you can see from the top photo, we are in the calm, beautiful waters of the Erie Canal and I'm ready to share!



Today's finish is this lap quilt for a special young man. He is the older brother of my goddaughter, and you've never met a sweeter, smarter or more handsome guy. He's taking the exams to become a Professional Engineer and this quilt will be a gift to celebrate that major accomplishment.



The entire family loves to camp, and the quilt is made from really fun camping themed fabrics. I supplemented the camping fabrics with outdoorsy ones like denim, burlap, and plaid. Well, not REAL denim and burlap chunks, but quilting cottons that look just like them. The basic stitching is tons of light/dark HSTs and the setting is called Depression Blocks. I have no idea where the name came from, because I was quite jolly while making them.



This fabric with s'mores and blue enamel coffee pots is so fun! And yes, those are chicken feet in the red triangle. It was the right shade of red and I hope it brings a chuckle when it is discovered.



I quilted a couple of different motifs: a four-lobed shape in the small dark diamonds, wishbones in the dark larger diamonds, and stippling in all the light areas. All that fancy quilting almost invisible in the busy fabrics, though, so an overall design would have be fine.



The binding is a navy blue with gold stars. It goes nicely with some sprinkled starlight triangles. Seeing the beauty of the night sky is a huge part of the appeal of camping! Unlike the "climbing out of the freezing cold tent at 3am to go pee" part.



The back used up some coordinating fabrics that were either too fun to chop up, or had too much mixed light/dark values to work in the HSTs.



The text along the line of trailers says, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" So that what I named the quilt. Are We There Yet will be winging its way to California soon.


Quilt in the Wild bonus photo! You may remember the baby quilt called Butterfly Strands I made for friends. They sent me this sweet photo of their beautiful baby girl on the quilt, and it's just the best thing ever. I just love seeing quilts in use, don't you?

I have more finishes to share next week, so I'll see you again soon!

19 comments:

  1. sounds like you have been quite busy with your foot to the pedal. I love progress shots so would be quite happy with those pictures too! So great to see a quilt being 'used'... very cute....
    Happy binding....
    Hugz

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  2. Great to see you blogging again louise . Like yourself I actually have a pile of quilts on my ironing board (?) I could blog in various stages of finish . I could also do my actual ironing . I love the camping quilt . I used a similar backing on the first quilt I made . It made me quite nostalgic for that green check

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  3. You’ve been super bust while waiting for nicer weather! Your young man will be delighted with his quilt! I just love it when I get pictures of the quilts I’ve gifted in use. Especially with such precious models! Enjoy your day, Louise!

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  4. Sounds like you have been busy! Love seeing the baby quilt being used!

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  5. I checked your blog the other day because I thought that maybe I had missed your posts. I'm glad you are back. We seem to be all fading in and out and blogging less these days. We've had the rainy windy,grey weather here as well so I know how difficult it has been to take the pics The quilting on your quilt looks great...I had to look really close to see it, and the light dark 1/2 square triangle pattern is very effective on the quilt.

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  6. Great finish on the camping quilt! Love all the details you included. It would be fun to spend time hearing his response to some of the things you included. Glad you are back to blogging.

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  7. Knew you'd be busy. Great job on the quilt for the young man, Lovely colours and I agree the blocks are fun to make. And baby quilts, just love them.

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  8. Well, the thread has been flyin' in your little boat! Love the camping quilt. The 3am comment made me chuckle, as I recall being in the Boundary Waters camping with our kids when they were little. About 11 pm when it was pitch black outside -- Mom, I need to go! I'm looking at John and saying -- I'm not going up to the biffy at this time of night, you take them!". Hahaha. Good memories. I think your camping quilt will be fun for all to look at and find the little fun peeks. And seeing the baby on the quilt is priceless, yes? It's always so rewarding to see those photos!

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  9. The Erie Canal?! I want to know more about that! Your camping quilt is so much fun! I really like Depression blocks, too, so would love to know how they got their name. No matter what, it will be the perfect gift for that young man!

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  10. You will soon have to go shopping some more to replenish your supply;) Love your HST quilt, great contrast between the dark and lights lets the pattern stand out. Glad you were able to get to calmer waters so we would hear from you!!

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  11. Wow. Sounds like you've been quite productive. The camping themed quilt is quite nice and surely will be appreciated and well loved. I laughed at your list of reasons for no photos and can certainly relate. Enjoy your travels.

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  12. Yay! SO glad to get your post in my inbox this am! I have meant to ask if all was okay, but I assumed from your comments you were head down/ass up sewing or busy with cruising to various places...You're not too far from me!! Love this camping-themed quilt; spent many a happy (and many a sodden) time camping with my family when the girls were young. Lovely quilting, and YES! on the seeing our quilts in use! :-)

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  13. It's a fun name for a great quilt. I love that you had so much camping/outdoors fabrics to make it. The setting is very effective, and the blocks not depressing at all! :) And yes, I love to see quilts in the wild being used. I hope the sun is shining a bit more frequently now. We also ha d a very dreary wet spring and I am loving the sunshine this week, finally!

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  14. I didn’t realize you were so far north still! I love the depression block quilt! HSTs are winners ar that size for showing off fun prints like you used. He will get a hoot out of it!

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  15. Good to see you back Louise!! I see you have been busy as ever and what a glorious view of your surroundings, I'm pretty envious.

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  16. Louise, you sure have been quilting like a busy bee! Love all the fun prints in your quilt. And the baby quilt in the wild is adorbs!

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  17. Yay for finishes!! The camping quilt will be like an "I Spy" adventure. :) I really like the design you used on this one. You always choose the perfect things for your projects. Beautiful baby!

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  18. Wonderful finishes and how great to get the picture of the gifted quilt with the baby! I am glad you are back blogging, must mean things are more normal...

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  19. This was a fun post! Yes, seeing the works of our hands in actual use is always so edifying. Thanks for sharing the baby pic!

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I'll reply as soon as I can.