Thursday, July 9, 2020

A Round-Up of Finishes

As I may have mentioned, I didn't make that many new quilts while I was on hiatus from blogging this past year, but I did finish up a few.  I'll show you those today.  And in a future post, I'll bring you up to speed on the couple of new quilts I've made since then.

Back in January 2019, I had gotten this small quilt to the flimsy stage.  I'm calling it Get Happy, because the hubs thought the colors and shapes were reminiscent of the Partridge Family television show intro from the 1970s.  Since it has a little bluebird (of happiness?) on the top, I thought why not.  So Get Happy it is.

I did some wavy quilting in the mostly white horizontal strips using one of the decorative stitches on the Brother.  Then I did a dense meander in the black areas...with black thread...which had me straining to see where I was going and where I had been with the quilting.  Had to take my glasses off and get real up close and personal with what was happening under the needle.  I am pleased to report no facial features were harmed in the process.  What a relief, because I would hate to have had to change the name of the quilt (Get Stitches just doesn't sound as nice)!

For the bluebird, I practiced doodling on paper a way to quilt the bird with a continuous stitch from eyeball to tail feather to wing.  It worked out pretty much like I'd planned, although not on the first attempt.  But that's why they make seam rippers. 

By the time I got to the leaves (or petals), my previously doodled idea for those went out the window and I did a more straightforward kind of thing in pastel multicolored thread and called it a day.

Late last fall, I finished up this plaid lattice quilt top with a simple meander.  

The top is from thrifted plaid shirts, and I pieced the backing out of a couple other fabrics I'd found on previous thrifting adventures.  It turned out pretty cozy.  I gifted it to a friend who was moving away. 


I've also gotten a couple of quilts back from my longarm quilter in the past few months. 

In February of this year, I finished up the Carolina Chain quilt and gifted it to my niece Krystal.  (My plan is to give each of my nieces and nephews a quilt, and I have several more to go.)

Last month, I got the Blooming String Baskets quilt back.  I put the binding on it right away so this one's officially done, too. 


Not sure if I will gift this one or keep it.  I'm leaning towards the latter, but we'll see.  I really like it!

I think that about brings things up to speed with the flimsies finished since 2019.  I've got one more quilt top at the longarmer, the Friendship 360 which began as a quilt-along in 2016.  I'm looking forward to getting that one wrapped up as well, hopefully soon!

8 comments:

Lesley Gilbert said...

Some great finishes - I love the scrappy plaid lattice quilt :)

Connie W. said...

Congratulations on the finishes! Each is wonderful but the Get Happy quilt captured me. I participate with a large group of volunteers known as Team Durr for Comfort Quilts. Our projects primarily are donated to the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House. Please let me know if you are willing to share your quilt information with us. We emphasize making cheerful, colorful quilts generally of about 40 to 42 inches square. In my opinion, Get Happy fills the need.
Thanks in advance, Connie W.
c_s_wolfe@yahoo.com

The Joyful Quilter said...

Welcome back and what a wonderful selection of completed quilts!!

QuiltGranma said...

Welcome back! I hope you got those quilts labeled too. They all seem so happy!

Paulette said...

Hi Connie. I emailed you directly, but I'm also replying here for anyone else who may be interested. The quilt is from a book called Simply Strings by Rana Heredia. It's called "Hope for Tomorrow" in the book. I also used another pattern in it as a basis for the string baskets quilt, although I changed it up a bit. It's a good book and I hope you can still find it. Hope that helps!

Paulette said...

Thank you! I needed the reminder about labeling them. I've been really inconsistent about that but am going to do better!

Sandra Walker said...

Banana on Get Stitches! Seriously, I have done that very thing:glasses off, nose mere inches off the quilt...and whacked myself in the forehead with the takeup lever! What a gorgeous quilt! The other larger ones are such a veritable rainbow of colour and design! A feast for the eyes. Yes I’d be keeping the baskets one!

Barb N said...

Oh, I really like all your quilts, maybe the plaid one especially! Lots of work in that basket quilt - you should keep it for yourself!