Blast From the Past FMQ Quilting

I was trying to decide whether or not I should custom quilt or use a pantograph on Blast From the Past. I decided to custom quilt. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to try different motifs. The three borders were easy to figure out. I quilt beadboard on the outer border. It's hard to see but it's a nice pattern to use. It makes the border nice and flat. I used swirls on the middle border and ribbon candy on the last border. 

Since each block is different, I have to decide what to do each time I encounter a new block. I did arcs and loops in the half square triangles.

I also search on line to see what other quilters are done with specific blocks. I love Natalia Bonner so I found her quilting on churn dash. I always love the look of straight lines. It's amazing how simple they are but always look so good.

I forgot how to make orange peels. I had to rip it out a few times before it came back to me! I'm glad I finally remembered.

This block has weird shapes in it. I'm trying to make it look like circles surrounding the middle square. The 9-patch is so small that I just quilted X's through them. I'm still not sure what to do with the middle yet. I'll figure it out! 

This is a fun project and great to be able to quilt some old motifs that I may have forgotten about. I'll post more pictures as I make more progress.

 

I Like Thursday #192

Welcome to I Like Thursday! I'm posting rather late today because my tutoring session is now scheduled for the morning. I could have posted last night but I was too busy watching the season finales for the Chicago shows. I couldn't tear myself away! LeeAnna is our hostess for all things Thursday. Please visit her at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more fun blogs. I saw this floral arrangement at HomeSense. I didn't buy it right away but I kept thinking about it. I went back a few weeks later and this one was the only one left. I snapped it up and put it on my foyer table. I love the color! It looks really good so I'm going to leave it there for awhile.

I had a busy weekend. My brother came home for his annual visit. My mother had a nice dinner for all of us. She made lasagna, chicken cutlets, eggplant parmesan and salad. I made my usual white cake that everyone likes. I felt really full after that dinner. That's my mom on the left. I think she was tired! My brother is on the right and my daughter is in the middle.

I made another pin cushion. I love using my leftover Tula Pink fabric. This is a quick project that I finished in an afternoon. I like having a few on hand so I can use them as gifts for my sewing friends. 

I've been looking for a nice knitting project for the yarn my daughter gave me at Christmas. It's bulky weight and not too much in yardage. I found this great mitten pattern. You can see where the thumb is going to go! Bulky yarn knits up so fast! Just what I like!

This week's prompt is where would you like to go on vacation? If money wasn't a consideration, I would love to travel to Europe and stay for a few months. I would love to explore each country and find my roots in Italy. I would love to see Paris, London, etc. Maybe someday!!

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Pride of the Forest Prep

I've been working on my applique project, Carrie Hall's Sampler Quilt. The next block is called Pride of the Forest. I'm getting all the pieces ready. I use the freezer paper method so it takes a little while to get everything ready for applique. This block will measure 25" square when finished. It's large and so are some of the pieces! The pieces are odd shaped and rather hard to baste. I hope to do a better job when I'm actually doing the applique. I tried to pick some different fabrics for this block. I hope they work!

This quilt also requires some piecing since the blocks are not all the same size. I made this little set of 9-patches and sewed it onto the piece where it belongs. I like these colors together. I was hoping for more of a modern look although the patterns are very traditional. I can't wait to see it all together!

I Like Thursday #191

 It's time for I Like Thursday. Every week, a bunch of us bloggers post happy and fun posts. Please visit LeeAnna over Not Afraid of Color to link up with more of these posts. I've already gifted one of my table toppers to my mother this past weekend for Mother's Day. I still have this one to mail off to a friend. I just wanted to show you my quilting. I did lots of arcs, straight lines and ribbon candy. I also quilted a grid in the center. This was fun to quilt and so fast due to it's size. I really like how it came out.

I went to my local quilt shop hoping to find a backing for the Blast From the Past Quilt. I thought this would be pretty for the back. The flowers are actually much smaller than they look like in this picture. It was on sale which was even better!

Tom Petty was always one of my favorites. My kids remember me playing his music growing up. I received this book for Mother's Day from my son. It's been updated and pictures added. His wife also added some new content. I can't wait to read it!

The prompt this week is whether or not you've met anyone famous. I haven't had any chance encounters with celebrities. However, I did go to Walker Stalker when it would take place in Boston. The actors from The Walking Dead were there to meet and greet. Some are famous but some are just known for their work in The Walking Dead. I did see Tyler James Williams there. He was killed off from the Walking Dead but he's well known for other roles including Abbott Elementary. These actors were so nice. You could get in line, talk to them and get your picture taken. That's about as close as I got to meeting someone famous!

Mexican Rose Done!

I finished Mexican Rose yesterday. It measures 20.5" square. This block wasn't as difficult as some of the other blocks. There isn't too much overlap and placement is easy. Once you iron diagonally, the placement is all made for you. Nice and easy!

 Here are all my blocks so far. I have 4 applique blocks left. I really love seeing them all together. I'm going to have research the different options when it comes to machine quilting around the applique blocks. I've seem some great quilting. I just need to find something I'm comfortable with. (And can actually do!)

I Like Thursday #190

It's time for I Like Thursday! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more bloggers posting about happy and uplifting topics. My daughter showed me this cookbook. She had to rush out and buy it. I think it's hilarious! It's all recipes that look like cats. You can tell my daughter is a cat lover. The author was on the Great British Bake Off. I hope these recipes taste as good as they look!

I've made some good progress on this Mexican Rose block. The flowers in the corners are slow and tedious but coming out good. Each corner flower also gets a blue center that are small and fast to applique.

When I went to the New England Expo, they had a collection of Alaska quilts on display. I ended up buying the pattern. It's so pretty. After reading the directions,  it looks like a very intense pattern. I plan on buying fabric for this pattern when I visit quilt shops. I'm in no hurry. It only uses 6 different fabrics. 

I felt so bad when I heard Gordon Lightfoot had passed away. I remember playing this song on the piano back in the 70's. I looked around and dug it out of my pile of old music. It was 95 cents back then! I tried playing it but I'm rather rusty. He's got some really low notes for the left hand. I had to actually look them up. The rest wasn't as hard.

This takes us to this week's prompt. What is your favorite musical style? I think mine would have to be classic rock. It's what I grew up listening to and sounds the best to me. When I was in college, I went to lots of concerts. I saw the Who, Yes, Boston, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young. My first concert was Joni Mitchell. That music is still my favorite. I can't stand rap. I hated disco when that first came out. My son is in a few bands and I like his music. He writes a lot of his own stuff. He likes classic rock too. He's seen Dead & Company quite a few times. I feel his gets his music talent from my side of the family. Don't tell my husband?!

 Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Mother's Day!!

Blast From the Past with Borders

I finished the Blast From the Past Mystery Quilt last week. It was sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting. I found it rather late so I worked on my own time table. They released 2-3 blocks per month. Finishing instructions were made available in April. When it was finished, it measured about 54" X 59". I usually like bigger quilts so I decided to add 3 borders.

After wandering aimlessly for awhile, I finally found these 3 fabrics at my local quilt shop. I wanted to use light colors to make a buffer between the actual quilt and that busy outer fabric. I loved that the outer fabric had all the colors found in the quilt. It's so pretty.

I wasn't sure how these fabrics would work. I added the first border and thought it looked fine.

The two borders looked good too but I'm glad I chose a darker fabric to finish up the quilt. The quilt now measures 69" X 73". That's a much better size for me. I have batting but I'm still looking for a backing fabric. I'll probably choose a pantograph since custom quilting would be so hard to see in this busy sampler. So many decisions!

 

I Like Thursday #189

It's time for I Like Thursday! Don't the weeks just fly by?? We bloggers post happy and uplifting posts weekly. Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more blogs. I just finished my Blast From the Past Mystery Sampler Quilt sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting. It's made up of 30 blocks that range in size from 6.5" to 12.5". I used my stash so I consider this a free quilt! I'm going to add a few borders since it only measures 55" X 59". I love the look of the blocks all sewn next to each other without sashing. It definitely has a more modern look to it.

Since I just showed you my latest quilt, I thought I'd share my first quilt with you. This quilt is over 30 years old. I used to work on it when my kids went to bed. I sewed the top on my husband's grandmother's sewing machine. It was a kit I bought from Keepsake Quilting. I hand quilted it although not very well! If you look closely, you'll see my hand quilting was on the larger size. I don't think it was too bad for my first every quilt project. I still display it. 

Can you believe our younger cat, Molly, just turned 9 years old?? She'll be considered a senior cat next year. We bought this cake hoping to get a picture of her next to it but it just didn't happen. We enjoyed the cake anyways. Any excuse for cake is fine with me!!

This week's prompt is whether we like to sing. When I was 10 years old, my parents bought me this beautiful piano. I used to go to school early so I could play the piano in the classroom. I was so thrilled to have my own piano in my house. My brother and I took lessons for years. We had recitals and actually played duets together. With all that playing, we always sang along! My brother was in a few musicals in high school. I never was so public with my singing. I would sing while I played the piano but I was very private about it. I'm not sure how great my voice is but it's just fun to sing when no one is around! The piano is in my house now. I don't play it as often but I love having it with me. 

Have a great weekend! I'm off to buy border fabric!

Mexican Rose

The Blast From the Past Quilt top is almost complete but I have been working on my applique too. My pieces are all ready to make the Mexican Rose block. I love that the corner flower is all one piece and not 5 petals. This will be so much easier and the spacing between petals will be perfect. Such a time saver! This block measure 20.5" square.

Here are all my blocks so far. I believe I have 4 applique blocks left to make after Mexican Rose. I also have pieced rectangular blocks to make that will take up space between some of the blocks that are different sizes.  I've been itching to start a knitting project but I'm trying to restrain myself. I'll never finish this quilt top if I start knitting! I need to control myself!