Hey all…I finished Garlic Knots.  I’m so happy because that is another UFO off the list.  I think this makes 4 that are finished.  I started in July with 12 on the list.  I only finished one…and then I had a little talk with myself and have stepped up and kicked it in high gear to get some of these finished.

For those wondering,  this is a Bonnie Hunter quilt.  It’s a paid-for pattern that can be found on her blog.

I had a great time making the blocks.  They were really fun to make as the seams nestle so nicely together.  The layout though…ugh.  It was totally doable but it took a lot of time as the cross in the sashing has to be carefully laid out.  I did a little blog post about how I did it.  You can find that HERE.

When this pattern first came out I really liked it.  At the time I didn’t have many batik fabrics.  It just happened that a blog reader sent me a big bunch of her batik scraps.

They were all 2″ wide and that is exactly what this quilt needed.  I used her scraps to make this.  A BIG thank you to the blog reader who long ago sent them.

It was a windy day as I was trying to snap a few pictures.

AHH…Well, I guess you can see that I got my planters planted!  HA!

I really didn’t pick the colors for this one.  Whatever the blog reader sent is exactly what I used.  I did add a few background prints but other than that, it was scraps from that gifted bag.

I think the border really makes this quilt.  You will notice that the purple printed square in the border is the same fabric I used for the binding.

I made my quilt larger than the original. That made the border not work as written in the instructions.  If you want to make yours bigger, I suggest referring back to THIS BLOG POST, to read how I altered the border to still make it work.

It’s a fun quilt for sure.  I’m debating.  This one might be a donation quilt for a benefit.  I think it would earn pretty good money.

It’s hard to know what I want to do with it.

I’m so happy that is now out of my UFO pile and finished quilt.  This one plagued me as I didn’t want to do that sashing.  I don’t know why I fretted about it.  It really wasn’t hard…just time-consuming and I needed to find a method that worked for me to stay organized.

A blog reader wrote to me and was sure I had messed up on the pink and yellow block.  I really didn’t.  It was simply that the fabric this block was cut from went from a yellow color to a pink.  Then I used a pink for the center.  It was likely not the bet pairing but…oh well.  I did have enough time I could have changed it but opted not to.

If looking at the quilt as a whole, you don’t really notice it.

I’m so happy that I’ve had such a good time cranking out these UFOs.  People tell me just give your UFOs away if they bother you…the problem, I love all of my UFOs and I really want to finish them.  If I didn’t love them as I do, I would totally be tempted to give them away to a finisher…but, I’m keeping them and will continue to plug away on them.

The backing is a 100% cotton sheet paired with a batik print I found at the thrift store.  I put my extra blocks in the back.  That’s my typically plan to use them.

I used an eggshell-colored thread on the top and a blue thread for the backing.  The quilt was busy so I didn’t want to compete with the color and design so I just did a simple stipple.  It works!!

No Rosie picture this time around.  She was napping.  The girl needs her beauty sleep.  Next time I’ll grab one for sure.

I think with this one done…it’s four off of the UFO list.  Now that’s something to celebrate!!

You might remember that I’m trying to get real with my UFOs.  I am on a push to get 6 finished by the first of July.  That would be half of the UFOs I have if I could do it.  That would be awesome. It’s not that I’m against UFOs.  I just want some space back in my sewing room.  Eliminating the totes would give me more space!

So today’s finish started back in January of 2020….
A blog reader gave me a bunch of bonus triangles.  They were a bright printed fabric with a gray background.  I played around with them and ended up coming up with this block.  I was SUPER lucky that I was able to match the gray she had used with a gray that I had in my stash.

I loved the block.  It used up a ton of scraps…but then the projects stalled out.  I couldn’t come up with a layout that I loved.  Another problem…I only had 42 blocks.  It was an odd number…not enough for a bed quilt…too many for a baby quilt.  I know I could make a lap quilt but honestly, I’m not into lap quilts.  We’re all tall big people at my house and for us, we love a twin-sized quilt as a lap quilt.

So it continued to stall.

Then I got all excited about finishing my UFO projects and being these were already in blocks, it would be quicker to finish than some of my other projects…so…I made two baby quilts.  These are on the big size for baby quilts.  I really make more of a toddler quilt.  It’s not recommended that babies sleep with quilts until they are over the age of one so…I like to make bigger baby quilts.  When they are little babies they can use these for playmats and grow into them.

It was a dreary day when I took the pictures.  The grays ended up looking darker and more blue/gray.

I was working with the number of blocks that I had and wanted to use them all if possible…so I ended up with one quilt in a 5×5 setting and one in a 4×4 setting.

Here is the one in 5×5 setting… Continue reading →

Some of you might remember that I had a little meeting with myself in regards to my UFOs.  I wanted more finished.  I started the year with 12 on my list.  From there I finished one.

I now have three more into tops…and this one, Scrap Vortex is FINISHED.  I made a deal with myself.  No new starts until I have 6 of the UFOs on my list finished.  We’ll see how I do.

So without further ado…Here is Scrap Vortex.

This was a quilt along with Crazy Mom Quilts.  You can find out more info HERE about the quilt along.  (Scroll to the bottom of the page)

It’s not a fancy quilt…it’s totally a utilitarian quilt.  From the looks of the background of the grass and shrubs, it looks like autumn.  It’s not.  It was just another cold and drizzly day in Iowa.

I started this several years ago…long before Kelli had kids.  My friend Connie came to my house for a weekend retreat.  Kelli came too.  Kelli wanted to make scrap vortex in bright colors.  I had planned on making mine in bright colors too…but Kelli didn’t have any bright scraps so, what’s a mom to do?  I gave Kelli the bright scraps I had been saving so she could make hers.

I ended up making mine with my dark and reproduction fabric leftovers.

I tried to add a lot of yellow and gold to mine to brighten it up a bit.

I didn’t use a lot of neutral prints.  When I did, I tried to make them more of a medium print rather than a white print.

It still ended up pretty dark.  It’s okay.  It is after all meant to be a utilitarian quilt… Continue reading →