No. 8 Breanna's Quilt Finished

It's not award winning, but it's finished and it is kind of cute.

It finished up at about 59 by 77 inches.

The back is cozy flannel.

And the label. 

Whew.... That Was a Challenge

Two and a half days spent mostly basting and I have these four to show for it, Breanna's, Kerri's, my purple paintbox and my Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  Wow was that Sunrise Sunset a challenge.  The wool batting seems to have made it heavier and harder to baste than my Iowa Christmas or my brother's Fourth of July quilts, which were also large queen sized quilts.  I hope that it isn't too much of a challenge to quilt on my Juki.  The plan from here is to finish Breanna's and Kerri's quilts and then to work on the bags for Marcy and Mackenzie.   I'm hoping to finish them and then to hopefully have time to finish the other two before the July visitors come.  Kerri and her 4 little ones will be coming and Nathan, Marcy and their little one will be here.  Vince and I are hoping that it can work out for all of us to go to Camp Blanding while they are here, that'll be fun. 

Updated Collage

And yet another version of my 16 patch leader enders collage.  The original was Mackenzie's baby quilt, monkeys and all, the second was a quilt for my cousin Michelle, then Tina's thank you quilt.  The second row, Alex's moving out of Grandma's house quilt, Jill's quilt, and last Mackenzie's big girl quilt for when she gets a twin sized bed.  She'll be three in December and is moving to Germany for three years in late summer. 

Another July Quilt

Another step off the chosen path.  I had given my niece a quilt that I had made for my mother when she passed away but hadn't made one for her.  Hopefully, she'll like this one.

Lately, it seems that most of my quilts end up in the purple family.

Today, I'll finish the backs for Breanna and Kerri's quilts and then put them away to probably be basted on Wednesday.  I hope to have them finished by the end of the week, at least Breanna's, and Kerri's almost finished.  Then on to the bags for Marcy and Mackenzie. 

And Yet, Another Deviation

The colors aren't showing up too well here, the border is actually a very pretty soft pink, but not this soft.  Breanna is supposed to be coming home with her dad this trip and so I thought I'd better get a quilt ready for her.  I started this top yesterday and finished it today (I also cut enough strips for 2 more quilts).  This should finish at about 62" x 80", so should be good if Robert, my son, gets her a Japanese Pallet bed like he and the other kids have.  My finish it up by July goals are this quilt (to finish by the end of next week, a Strip Twist quilt for Kerri (I gave her my mother's quilt when she passed away, and have made quilts for all her kids, but haven't made one for Kerri) and the bags for Marcy and Mackenzie.  Then on to finish my two quilts, the Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay) and my lavender Paintbox quilt.

Kerri's Little Girls Quilts

Logann, Maisyn and Kolbie with their mother at their big brother's HS graduation.

Now I have 7 quilts done for this year so I've caught up and exceeded my goal of one a month by a little.  These are about 57 by 76 so should be good for a long time.  No cold ears or toes.  The first one is Kolbie's, the middle Logann's and the last Maisyn's.

And the backs.  Logann's, Kolbie's and Maisyn's.

Tender Index Finger

My great granddaughter and three of my great nieces could be here at the same time in July.  I made Mackenzie a new bigger quilt and I decided that my little nieces could have outgrown the quilts that I made for them, too.   I had three strippie quilts done in girlie colors and they had backs made but Mackenzie's quilt has a fleece back so is very cozy.  I couldn't really get enthused about doing more fleece quilt backs, but I think that flannel is also cozy so I went to Joann's and these are what I came up with.  Now they are basted and ready to be quilted.  The next problem is I still have those three backs.  I have an accuquilt go and a 2 1/2 inch strip die and it is kind of fun to do strips three at a time, so, I think that I will do 3 more strippie tops and use the backs.  I have a couple of people in mind for them and it would be nice to have a quilt in reserve for emergency gifting.  I seem to keep making projects for myself, but hopefully I will get to my other two ready to be basted  projects, my Orca Bay (Sunrise Sunset) and my paintbox quilt soon.  Meanwhile, my tender index finger can have a few days rest from basting while I get these finished and put away for gifting in July.   I know that the strippie quilts aren't popular with many quilters, but I guess for me this will be the year of the strippie since it looks like I'll be making six of them.  I'm still working toward quality over quantity, but it always seems like there is someone needing a quilt, lol. 

What Did Blogger Do?

Last night I went on my blog and 3 months had disappeared completely.  Luckily it was still on Google Reader so I copied and pasted most of it back;   Has anything like that happened before, and is there a more dependable blog than blogger?  I've had my blog about 3 years and mostly I've been happy.  How can you complain too much about free, but when big chunks disappear it's kind of scary.  There's nothing earth shattering to lose, but it is a diary of sorts and I'd hate to lose it all.  
Candace

Jill's Quilt

Number 4 for the year is finished now.  I had an awful time at first with thread breaking, I was using Aurifil on the orange cone in the bobbin, which is what I almost always do and this time I was using Aurifil on the green cone for the top.  Bad!  It broke and broke, I rethreaded and rethreaded, it broke some more and I changed the needle, broke rethreaded, broke rethreaded, broke changed the bobbin.  That's a synopsis, it was more than that, about every few inches.  Finally I changed the top thread to a cone of King Tut and it was like Buttah (Old SNL skit there).  The quilting is not pretty, but it's done.  I guess my machine just didn't like that particular cone, I'm almost sure that I've used it for FMQ'ing before.  Red Rock Threads says it's the right weight "  40wt Mako Cotton The traditional choice for quilting is 40 weight cotton thread. 40 weight is also the most popular weight for machine embroidery."  I still love Aurifil, but that cone will be for piecing.

At least I didn't cut the bottom off this label, but it ended up more at the top than the bottom of the quilt, which is not what I like.  I guess that I did it upside down to the fabric.  Oh well, they get them for free, lol.

I use these 16 patch blocks to death.  These plus the quilt in the previous post for Mackenzie (who is the child in this picture by the way) started out as leader enders.

It's no longer closet clutter and will probably be given away in the next few days.  My husband asked the lady I made this for what her favorite colors are when we were at church one Sunday.  She was wearing purple and black at the time.  She said purples and blacks and jewel tones.  I think this is in the ballpark.

Mackenzie's Big Girl Quilt

It's a little bright but I think she'll like it.  She'll be 3 in December.

The back is fleece so it's very soft.  My thread seemed to break more often and it is rather heavy, so I don't know if I'll do anymore in fleece, there is also a batting of 80-20.  It's definitely too heavy to be a drag around quilt.

I messed up quite a bit on the label, originally Dora had legs and there were two more rows of words.   The most important ones are there though. PS  I'm starting to catch up with my goal of at least one finish a month.  This is three and I have another basted and ready to go.  It's for my visiting teacher from church.  That'll get me up to April and then I have the 3 strip quilts ready to baste for my 3 little nieces.  My second paintbox quilt and my Orca Bay ( Sunrise Sunset) will wait for last.  I think that pretty soon I'll be ahead of my goal.  (Then I can start new ones)