hands 2 help - the september quilt

Yeah, yeah, yeah...these are out of order.  Part of it has to do with the quilting order.  Part of it is my excitement to share them...

This quilt all started about a year ago when a former coworker contacted me about having a baby shower for another former coworker.  Sort of a last-minute deal as far as quilting is concerned, but those of you who know me, know I like a challenge!  Thus, Chelsie's baby quilt was born.

In the process of making the quilt, there were some "lost corners"...

.

...the lower block parts had grey corners sewn in and I was left with some pieces that I just couldn't justify tossing.

They sat on my cutting table for a while, trying to give me the stink eye from under the other things I piled on top of them.

Then one day, I sewed them together like this and just kept going.

But I was sewing so furiously, I managed to take no photos until I got to this point!

I made the setting triangles too large on purpose.  And good thing because I got over-ambitious and trimmed some things before I should have.  It all worked out in the end and I had a top!

I also pieced a back and made up binding and then it went to the Rack of Shame.  For quite a while.  Though it was small and would go fast, there it sat.

Until a few weeks ago.  I was using up batting and had mostly small pieces left (except the one king-size batt still smooshed in a bag in the closet) and decided it was time to do this one.

I have a 26" longarm, so you can judge for yourself how small this actually is.  It may end up a dolly quilt for the donation site, but that would be okay, too.  Dolls need comfort too, right?!

I struggled to decide what to quilt and a friend suggested some motifs that, while doable, seemed like they might require a little more finesse and control than I possess on something this small.  To elaborate my dilemma, I sent her this photo:

But she did suggest a dot-to-dot style of quilting in the blocks.  I'm not sure I did what she had in mind, but I rather like how it turned out.  (And am fairly proud of myself at how good I am becoming at hitting the points I aim for!)

All free-hand, thankyouverymuch.  Nothing marked.  At all.

The loops in the setting triangles?  Let's not talk about those okay?  Let's just say those were a learning experience...

And then it was done!  The binding took very little time, as it is small, so there you have one more quilt from the stack to be donated.  One more to go - blog-wise.

In other quilty news, this week Sasquatch got his turn on the longarm...

Squatchin' - quilty style!

This took forever.  I changed threads for each color, each pass.  It was easier for me than going back.  I prefer to do it that way and I had to break thread anyways.  Some may prefer another method, but this worked for me.

After I trimmed it, Finn started testing it right away.

From the look on his face, he is either VERY pleased with himself, or this is passing the test well.

He also helped earlier in the process...

This was NOT a good idea, so I made sure he was cleared out of there before resuming quilting.  He doesn't stay in one place for long (unless sleeping), so it was just a matter of waiting him out.

The binding has been sewn down - the machine side - and awaits me to sit down and sew the other half.  This is for my dad and when I bought the pattern in January, I thought it would be for Christmas.  But it is so close to done and his birthday is in early July...hmmm...

Before the binding on this one gets a turn, I worked on the macaroon quilt binding.  Gabby helped.

And then pretended to sleep.

She was not sleeping.  I have a hole in my thumb from her claws proving that.

I did get the binding finished.  This quilt still needs a label, but I am hoping that this one will begin the journey to its new home later this week.  I just have to get that darn label made.  (Why is that the hardest part always?!)

In addition to hand-sewing, I've been working on more paws.  This last batch I divided "blue" into actual blue and turquoise.  Both have their challenges in terms of my stash, so it seemed a good choice to split them.

Blues were first:

And finally today, I did the turquoise:

Gabby, queen of the photobomb, rushed in, flopped, rolled over and then, as soon as the camera was put away, took off again.  She does not want you to take her photo on purpose.  But she is ALL about making sure she is in there.  Or maybe she is censoring some of my fabrics?  Whatever the case, as soon as I put my phone up, she left, but made sure to stay close enough that if I tried to take another photo without her, she would be there to fix that.

And also last week, since things are opening up again, I was able to visit my local quilt shop and pick up some fabric.  The black and white will be sashing for the Christmas blocks I started in March.  And the funky grey with olive-looking-things will be a back for the Bird Seeds quilt I've been slowly plugging away at for eons.

I think I am out of batting right now, so the next quilt on the longarm will have to wait until I find time to get some.  But the quilts with deadlines are all done, so I am happy with that.  I do want to move on to some fun quilts for me, but I can wait a bit until the rush to shop in-person dies down a little.  I'm not afraid of the virus (a degree in microbiology keeps me sane there!), just not interested in dealing with the rush of people and the paranoia of said people.  (I see enough of it at work...)

I hope you are all healthy and safe.  This past week I have been thinking a lot about recent events and am saddened at the actions of some and worried about others, but mostly am hopeful that we all will come away from this with a heightened awareness about those around us and a desire to be better people.

Happy quilting!

Katie