Design Wall Monday 1 -26 - 2015

I decided not to work on all of my goals this week -- I got into making backings so I didn't think it was a bad thing since I generally hate to make backing.  

First, I finished the backing for my red and black heart quilt -- I finished the top in June. (Wait, that was 6 months ago!)  I split the black and white fabric in half and put a strip of the red down the middle. The backing is half loaded on Ruthie.  I use the "water spray" method of getting wrinkles out of a quilt top or backing.  So, I have one end clamped and the other end floating loose while I heavily spray it with water.  When I get upstairs later it will be ready to finish loading.  I need to do a bit of planning to decide on what quilting is going where.  I'm going to place hearts on each of the big hearts.  Then I'll need to decide what to do in the rest of the spaces.  I'll keep you posted.  I also opened the batting package I was planning on using to let it fluff up a bit.  All set to get going on this later today. 

I've learned that if I want to be successful with pieced borders I need to draw out the designs on graph paper.  I should be able to do simple ones in my head but it always messes up when I don't draw it out. The next quilt up is the red /white and blue/white pinwheels.  I don't have any larger pieces to use as a backing.  And I ignored my number one rule about making lap quilts and the like -- don't make it any wider than one fabric wide.  So, most of my charity quilts are only 40" wide. This one is definitely bigger.  I am not always thrilled with pieced backings but I decided I would try to make a 9 patch using fat quarters.  I picked 12 fat quarters in case I needed more fabric.  Then I made sure they were about 18" x 21. I auditioned them on my design wall.  Hey, they looked pretty good so I started sewing them together.  I'll finish them this week and then try to get this quilt on Ruthie also.  

I like the idea of a finish or two this month.  And both of these tops are UFOs.  (Of course, once Dec 31 passes I count everything I am working on as a UFO. Maybe that is why I have so many UFOs.) And the best thing about my possible finishes?  I haven't bought any fabric this month.  I have no intention of buying any until Feb 1 -- Super Bowl Sunday.  Unfortunately the red, white and blue pinwheel quilt is made from blocks sent to me by FCQ Equilters so that won't be busting a lot of my fabric. But the backing is definitely from stash.  I found that I need to be a little neater as I am pulling fat quarters out of my baskets and box tops.  Sigh.  I had just gotten those fat quarters straightened up too.  

Here's a donation quilt I just finished for Dorothy.  I used a new edge 2 edge design called Whootie Hoot.  Very cute and shows up nicely on this 3 yards, 3 quilts design called Super Sized 9 Patch by Anita Grossman Solomon.  I've made several quilts using this great pattern.  This is the last of the three Dorothy made.  You can pick up the pattern by clicking on the above link. It's a great pattern for donation quilts. I used "Pumpkin Spice" Essential Pro thread from Connecting Threads. Someone will really like this one. 

Here's how I did on my goals this week. 

Week of January 19, 2015

Sew borders on Wild Dog top Postponed 

Sew first border on Mystery of Powhatan√ and second ones are ready to be pinned on

Make backing for heart quilt√

Load and begin quilting heart quilt√ loaded but no quilting yet

Week of January 26, 2015

Start and complete quilting on black and red heart quilt

Finish making backing for the red, white and blue pinwheel quilt

Sew the first border on the Wild Dog Top

Finish Mystery of Powhatan borders 

I'm linking up with Patchwork Times.

Happy Quilting All!