OMG Success and Weekly Goals

YES! (I'm shouting this!)  I finished my OMG for February with one day left.  Kind of close to the wire but I've finished it.  And I really like it.  As I say when Pat asks where the quilt is going "It's living here for a while."

I pieced the back because I just don't buy fabric in big hunks.  I did find a 3 yard piece of orange leaves but that wasn't going to be big enough.  I had a few plus blocks left over so I decided I would make a few more and put them in the middle of the backing.  I didn't get around to finishing the backing until Saturday afternoon.  That's important because on Wednesday last week I was paying attention as I was looking at Bonnie Hunter's quilts -- front and back.  She often pieces her backs from extra blocks or old left over blocks.  But I noticed she didn't split a bigger piece of fabric and put blocks in the middle.  LIGHTBULB moment for me.  It would be hard to get the quilt top lined up in the middle of the backing.  

My way of dealing with it was to attach the blocks to the wof.  I had an extra wof piece that I realized would be perfect to split down the middle and sew end to end to give me another piece to make the backing wide enough.  I did mess around a little bit while trying to place the top to the backing on the long arm.  I would have preferred a bit more orange on the right side but, yep, it takes a bit more fussing than I wanted to do at the time. 

Here's a close up of the quilting. 

I bought a new design specifically for this quilt as I wanted to enhance the fall look of it.  I used Maple Sugar by Apricot Moon.  I used So Fine thread on the top in soft orange.  I chose to use a different thread in the bobbin.  It was Essential Pro, Pumpkin by Connecting Threads.  I used some of the Pellon 80/20 cotton/poly batting that I bought on Friday. I even got a label made and inserted between the binding and the back of the quilt.  DONE. 

Tomorrow I plan to bind the doggy Alphabet Challenge quilt.  I'll have two finishes for this month along with a couple of pillowcases.  It should be a good month for fabric usage. 

Since I skipped the goals on Monday, here's a look at my goals from last week. Wednesday may be a good day to list them.  At least I might get into the habit of doing two (or more) blogs a week. 

February 19, 2018

Prep for + attend Bonnie Hunter’s Jamestown Landing class (Whoop! Whoop!) √

Attend Bonnie’s lecture √

Attend Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show √

Finish hand sewing on Alphabet Challenge almost done!

Put borders on Taps Quilt Need to figure out outer border – not enough fabric

Make 3 pillowcases 2 are done

And here's what I'm working on for this week. 

February 28, 2018

Finish quilting Plus Quilt and bind it

Finish embroidery and bind Alphabet Challenge

Work on Jamestown Landing

Design Outside border of Taps Quilt

Make a pillowcase or two

Work on T Shirt quilt

After I get the next binding on the rest of the goals should be easily reached. Plus, I have NOTHING going on this week for the most part.  I'm going to be reading, sewing and surfing the web.  (Ok, I'll probably continue to seek genealogy info -- I'm looking for info on my Great grandmother on my dad's side.  They lived in Montana -- Anaconda and Butte at various times.  Anyone have any hints on how to find out more from Montana? I'm using Ancestory for the time being.) 

I'm linking up with To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wips on Wednesday and Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal Finish.   I'll have to come back to link up one of these. (Hopefully I'll actually remember to do it!  Yep I did!) 

That's it for me today.  I think I'll do a little surfing now. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie