Quilting Cornucopia of Thanks

Looking at the pile of fabric I had left, and no desire to make another quilt with it, I decided to piece the backing. Originally it was to be 36 squares 16.6" each, but that got modified. The outer border (not shown) is rectangles, to make it 4" bigger all around. The pile of leftover fabric is now very small.

Decided to quilt it myself, the design shown will be on all 16 squares, still deciding on the sashing and border quilting.

Cornucopia of Thanks quilt top done

It is a top. After much angst, I put my big girl panties on and just did it. The borders are all pieced, just didn't have enough fabric (this was from my stash), or the design of the fabric made me piece it, the stripes and directional print. I wanted to do mitered corners, but would have had to piece even more than I did, so I revised the plan. First and third borders are not mitered at all. The middle striped border has corner blocks that were mitered and then pieced onto the stripe. They just were not long enough with two widths of fabric to miter without the corner blocks. Now I can move on to the next thing on my UFO list, not sure what that is yet, there are several contenders. This will probably go to my long-arm quilter since I already have a couple of tops to quilt once I get them basted. Maybe that should be next.

Craft therapy

Therapy, quilting or otherwise, gotta have it. Last night, or yesterday, or sometime, I was looking at my 2012 quilt goals. They are all to continue working on UFOs. Of course, what I have actually finished this year includes four new quilts, and I have just about got another top finished that I started this year. Right now, however, I have no desire to start a new quilt, but would like to finish some of the quilts I have started that have gotten sidetracked. I will be starting a new quilt in September when Barbara Brackman starts her new BOW, but until then will work on some of my favorite unfinished quilts. What I would like to start is a sweater. I started a swatch for a sweater while on vacation. It did not match the gauge required, and I am not sure how to get there. Yes, I could knit on a larger needle, but think then it will be too big, it isn’t that much smaller than it ought to be. Then there is the fear that it won’t fit. And the fact that I think the yarn is really boring (tan). It will go with lots of stuff, but I don’t want to knit it right now. And I really need to learn how to knit short rows for shaping a sweater before I start a sweater. But on Friday I got some beautiful yarn, Mushishi color 9, a luscious red, from Plymouth Yarn, after looking at the sample the store had for months, and got the pattern for the sample from Ravelry for Bono Kimono, which should be relatively straightforward to make. And since I have never knit a sweater, that would be a good thing. First I will get the borders on the Cornucopia of Thanks and get it to a long arm quilter. Unless I weaken to play with yarn…

Another Baby quilt done

This quilt might look familiar because I have made three similar quilts, all one block Lone Stars, all with the same frogs and iguanas fabric, but with some slight variations. I won't be making anymore of these, I finally am running out of the fabric I got at a children's manufacturer's clearance sale. The last two were made using Jan Krentz' big diamond ruler, boy does that make these quick. fabric is Jennifer Sampou's Rain Forest from I don't know when, the background is from 1996. Almost out of it too. I am thinking about a bag for delivering it and subsequent use out of the leftovers. This version is called "What Little Boys are Made of", ~39" x 48". Quilted with an echo pattern in the star, leaves in the background, and outlining the figures/leaves in the border.

Cornucopia of Thanks center done

Well, the center is done, now on to borders. I just wish I had more of the dark rust fabric. The first border is that, and it will be pieced, and I really like to use the lengthwise grain for borders since it stretches less. The final sashing was cut widthwise, and it is stretchy. Bah. Perhaps I will cut the next border just a bit small to compensate for the stretchiness.

Happy Fourth of July

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Loyal daughter block

Loyal Daughter was designed by Jennifer Chiaverini and published in the latest 100 blocks magazine by Quiltmaker. I used Inklingo to print most of the shapes needed for this block and then hand pieced it. Hand piecing a block when the stitching lines are printed on the fabric for you is fabulous! This will be one of the extra blocks for my Cornucopia of Thanks quilt.