Celtic Solstice - Clue 2, all those pieces

After sewing six of the diagonal pieces together, four were OK, two were short. Aaaargh. So I sat down with my EQ7 program to work out a paper piecing template. Going to test drive the template today to see if I "did good". I already have my number one New Year's Resolution, become proficient with EQ7!

Celtic Solstice - Clue 2 - Cutting done

Wow, it takes a long time to cut all these pieces. 200 green rectangles, 200 neutral square and 200 yellow/gold squares. And I found some more neutrals in my stash and cut a few more. Thank goodness I decided to do the SMALL quilt. Now off to sew some test CHEVRONS.

Celtic Solstice Clue 2 - Greens

My greens and all 200 of the 2" x 3 1/2" rectangles cut. Upward and onward!

Clue one, First Tr-rec blocks

First 24 Tri-rec blocks, umpteen more to go. But I like to "test drive" my fabric choices before continuing. So far I like the colors a lot. Sure wish I had some good sunlight to show the richness of the colors.

Here are a couple of donation quilts that I completed last week. Both are scrappy using scraps and fabrics from my stash. The backing is flannel and the batting is rayon-bamboo/cotton machine quilted on my HQ Sweet Sixteen.

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt - Celtic Solstice

This quilt will be my second Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, the first one was Orca Bay. Of course I am changing up the colors to take advantage of pulling fabrics from my stash. Blues have been changed to deep purples, purple-browns and some darker purple/green/brown batiks. I have a lot of orange golds and greens in my stash. BUT, am so short on neutrals. I guess that tells me that I have to do some shopping for neutrals.

I have decided to use the paper piecing method to construct the Tri-Recs. Perhaps constructing this quilt will help me from losing my mind by losing my points. Thank you Bonnie for providing the PP templates.

My fabrics: a mix of batiks and prints, oh and fabric from bedsheets.If they are cotton, they are candidates!

Shelley's Bag

I do occasionally make things other than quilts. This is a handbag I made from drapery fabrics in June of 2011. The pattern is Shelley's Bag published by Sewphisti-Cat. I added extra pockets in the interior for my cell phone, pens, note pads, etc. The lining was from fabric stash.

Flannel Jelly Roll Race Lap Quilt

Flannel lap quilt made and finished December 2012. On a whim I had purchased a Moda flannel jelly roll. I did not know what to do with it at the time. I thought it would be excellent to use for a Jelly Roll Race quilt. The backing is a flannel sheet, batting is cotton. I free motion quilted this quilt with large stylized oak leaves.

Fabulous Felines for a Fabulous Daughter in Law

The title of this quilt says it all. It was made for my feline loving daughter in law because she and my son were always fighting over the couch quilt made for my son. The block centers are from a Laurel Burch Fabulous Felines panel and the block logs are from the coordinating fabrics. The backing is flannel, and the batting is cotton. It was a challenge to use the blocks from the panel because they were not true squares. So I decided to do a "wonky" log cabin style using the quilt as you go method. I outline quilted around the cat faces and stitched in the ditch the logs. FYI, the print strips in the borders were to cover some mistakes. That is Leroy in the picture, a quilt inspector in training. He loves cats!

Close up

Back of quilt

 Label made from one of the panel motifs. It covers an obvious error, to me, of the sashing strips not matching

Comfy Flannel Lap Quilt, Scrappy

The center of this lap quilt was a flannel thrift store find and already sewn together. The border fabrics are left over flannel scraps from previous quilt backings. The backing is made from left over flannel cut into 2 1/2 strips and sewn together using the Jelly Roll Race method. Batting is cotton. This quilt is free motion quilted. This quilt resides on the recliner.

Blue Diamonds Lap Quilt, Scrappy

 This is a 48" x 58" lap quilt made from left over 4.5" squares left over from previous projects. The backing is a thrift store sheet, batting is cotton.  The squares are set on point and then framed with 2 borders. The quilt is free motion quilted.

Dusky Grouse Quilt, aka Prairie Chicken. The pattern was designed by Nancy Harcourt of Prairie Queen Pattern Company. It is a "scrappy" quilt made completely from my fabric stash. The backing fabric is good Portuguese flannel sheets purchased from Goodwill. The batting is cotton. I used the Quilt As You Go method to construct the blocks. The quilting is Free Motion Quilting using my Singer 15-91, HQ Sweet Sixteen quilting machine and Elna 7300 Quilting Queen Pro. I relied on Leah Day's book, 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, for quilting inspiration.

This quilt ended up being 120"x108", an extra large queen sized as I added a plain black pillow tuck at the top because I did not want to make 5 more Grouse blocks. It was not a good day for outdoor pictures. And it was difficult to find a place to hang such a large quilt. The arbor in front of the green house was pressed into service.

 
                                         The Quilt Inspector approves of the quilt on the bed.

                                       
                                         Another close up of a quilted block. The quilting design
                                         in the body of the Grouse I designed myself by making
                                         a cardboard template and marking the flannel backing
                                         with a washable marker.                                        

                                          The back of the pillow tuck showing the quilting

Overall this is one of my favorite quilts to complete. The QAYG method was a challenge because it was the first time I had used it and I chose to use cornerstones in the sashings.

Magic Squares quilt top made with Batik fabrics for my son Kurt in March of 2011. It has since been quilted and sent to him. The pattern was designed by Helen Knott.