connie's quilt (and all the usual things)

Do any of you remember waaaay back in 2018 when I made an impulse purchase at a quilt shop on the way to a vacation destination?

Okay, maybe in reading the blog post from back then it wasn't ENTIRELY an impulse purchase, but it definitely was not entirely planned either.

It continued on with me to my vacation, but didn't get worked on.  (I had a few other projects going that week!)  And then it sat around a while.  No idea why.

Then in 2021 I started my "sticks" project and in April, I pulled "quilt from a kit" and this was the only kit I had.  (But this kit was the reason that stick existed.)  Time to open it up and see what's going on!

I vaguely remember I may have had to go searching for the pattern, as it didn't come with the kit, but my blog post about starting to make this quilt indicates it had been emailed to me.  Hmmm...whatever.  If you want to make it, the pattern is free from Jedi Craft Girl, called Cabin Fever.

It went together quickly (referencing this blog post from June 2021) and then it sat around.  I wasn't sure what to do with it.  While I had bought it to help me break out of my traditional quilt background color use, now what?  So it went to the Rack of Shame.

The green-ish color of the background isn't true here, but probably best captured in the photo above with the sewing machine.  It's an odd color to be sure.

I was reminded of it last year when the hubby asked for a quilt for his coworker, Jude, for her retirement.  It did not make the cut for her, which is fine.  That just means it was meant for another purpose.

Last week, it told me where it was going.

My assistant manager at work has been sharing tidbits about his mom, Connie, who was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago needing a blood transfusion.  The first week or so was a lot of tests and confusion, as it wasn't easily determined what was going on.  Then the test for leukemia happened.  We all hoped for the best, but it came back that this was the underlying reason for all the problems.  He hasn't shared a lot with me, as we're both busy and work just isn't the place for that, but I knew it was weighing on his mind.  He mentioned that she couldn't seem to get warm up at the hospital, and though it took a few days to click, when it did, I knew.

I ran out last Thursday to my local quilt shop to get a back.

Finn is helping model the fabric, though mostly you can just see the wrong side of it here.  The greenish background proved a little difficult to match, but with the help of an employee (and friend from guild), this was found and I deemed it perfect.

I pieced it right away, knowing I needed to get this done sooner rather than later.  While she has made it through her chemo, tests are pending to see if it worked or if she needs another round.  Also, it would be nice if she could use it at the hospital to keep warm!

Friday morning, I jumped out of bed, knowing this needed to be my (nearly) first priority.

I chose a light mint green thread I had on hand that seemed to blend best with both the back and the front (a choice I would kick myself for later as the sun started to shine in my face through all those windows!) and opted for an all-over pattern versus something more custom.  While I'm guiding it entirely by hand, something that doesn't require too many stops and starts goes faster.

It took about four hours, all told, from prepping the longarm, loading and then quilting.  The machine is still having issues with breaking thread, but I limped it through and the motif I chose has lots of pause points that make ripping out stitches not a huge task to get back to a good point to bury threads and start again.

The binding had been made with the top, as it was part of the kit, so Saturday I did all the binding - machine and hand sewn parts.  Sunday I made the label and checked the schedule at work.  He would be there to close and while the weather is gorgeous (which means the store will be busier), I headed in anyways and managed to catch him in the back room, away from the needy customers.  I knew it had to be quick (needy customers are why we're there!), but that's okay.  He was appreciative and asked me if I knitted that myself.  Well...I did make it, but not by knitting!  Silly boy!  His mom will get it tomorrow afternoon, so I'll have to report back with the final result next week.

The quilt?  You're going to get two photos - one that shows the quilting better (in the sun) and one that shows the colors sorta better (in the shade).

These are off opposite ends of my porch and I am NOT going to complain about the sun!  We've had a long, dreary winter and I'm happy for the sunshine.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Cabin Fever by Jedi Craft Girl

Size: 53" x 67"

Pieced and quilted by me

Now on to the other usual things.

The stitch book is coming along still.  I got carried away reading last night and didn't get my day of stitching done, which would have finished the page, but I at least have the six previous days to share!

Day 74

Day 75, end of page 15

Day 76

Day 77 - this is where I realized I'd created a monster.  As you see the final page, you'll realize my little bit of stitching would be covered up my future parts so I had to keep stitching.  Ugh!

Day 78 - OMG DONE STITCHING!

Day 79 - see what I mean?  Had I been thinking, I would have done the stitching going the other way or something.  I have plans for what else is going into this page, but I'll make you wait till next week to see what it is!

Step five for the Two Colour Quilt Along Mystery was released on Thursday and I promptly made those units.

I think there are still a couple more days you can sign up for this quilt along and get the pattern free.  But this week she will release the step that shows block assembly, and at that point, it's no longer a freebie.  The instructions, as expected, are awesome and I can't wait to see what this is going to be.  (I'm leaning towards stars, but that's because I know she loves them!)

And lastly on the things I actually did this week, after I finished the quilt for Connie, I was still in a good frame of mind to fight with the longarm, so...

Friends All Around went on the longarm next!  I used the same quilt motif because it was going okay on the last quilt, so why mess with it?  (Also, I didn't want to try to echo the piecing pattern, so something overall was perfect.)

This quilt has also been bound, but just needs a label.  I plan to get that taken care of later today so I can take this quilt to work with me tomorrow, as it goes to a coworker's daughter who had a baby a few weeks ago.  I'll be posting more about this next week...I think!

On the things I didn't do list:

Bramble Blooms - ideas still percolating, but this week got away from me, what with two quilts being longarmed and all!

Cat hammocks - I have a few fabrics left still, but I should be making more of an effort to get to them to just get that shelf cleared up so Lily can stop pulling everything off of it.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - it's yellow and I'll get there!

Time to go swap the banana bread in the oven for some brownies.  (Banana bread is going to work, so I decided to make some turtle brownies for the hubby to keep him from complaining too much.  We won't eat a whole loaf of banana bread before it goes moldy.  He'll eat an 8x8 pan of brownies in no time, so they're safe!)

Happy quilting!

Katie