Stay-at-Home Round Robin

 Finally finished, a UFO I can cross off my list. This was started as a stay-at-home round robin in 2020. It was built around an orphan block that didn't come out as I had hoped, but it certainly works as the center here. 

When we found out we were moving to AZ, work on the top was put on hold. It was pieced to the second striped border and the red triangle strips were assembled but not attached. I pulled the UFO out and finished the top at retreat last spring. 

Also last spring, I pieced a back for it, inspired by Kelly Young's book Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, which was featured in her book launch blog hop.

It wasn't quilted in time for the blog hop; other things came up. Recently I got it layered and basted, and found time to quilt it. It's been ages since I quilted something on my Bernina. It finally cooled off enough here that I felt like wrangling a quilt as one does with domestic machine quilting. This is all stitch-in-the-ditch, nothing fancy.

I'm still struggling to get good photos. Too much wind, always. And either full sun or deep shade. The dappled shade under my palo verde trees is about the best I can manage today. Other than the difficulty with photos, I have no complaints about the sun and the beautiful weather here now that the heat has finally broken. 

This quilt finished about 53" square and it will go to the local family services agency. It was fun to make but I don't need it, so it can go to a teen or tween who needs a quilty hug.

Link ups this week: 
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 10/30
My Quilt Infatuation 11/2
Alycia Quilts  11/3
Confessions of a Fabric Addict  11/3
Wendy's Quilts and More  11/3

A Baby Quilt in Teal

 I just found out that my niece's baby boy is due in less than three weeks. Yikes, I thought I had more time! The baby's room is decorated in teal and white, so I pulled everything in my stash that might work with teal. Lots of aqua and turquoise, a couple of teal prints, a pretty print with turquoise, yellow, and soft green in it, and a few accent colors. 

In order to make this quickly, I'm doing a layout of half-hexies. It will be simple to sew together; the fabrics will do all the work.

Above is the first layout, just slapping the blocks up on the wall. Obviously it needs some tweaking to assort the colors and values better. 

Swap fabrics, take photo, study photo, decide something else needs to be changed, repeat. Every time I move something, something else looks wrong. It took nine attempts to get to the layout below, the layout I ended up with. Enough tweaking, it's as good as it's going to get. 

Here's a close up of the fabrics:

The final size will be about 39 x 45", small enough to fit on one WOF for the back. I have enough of the swirl print (thanks, Cherie!) for the back, and plenty of turquoise options for binding. 

I'll kit it up, take it to retreat next week, and get the top pieced. Hopefully I can get it finished around the time the baby is born.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Santa's Elves

The push is on to get PCQ's Christmas Quilts for Hospice quilted. A lot of progress has been made in the last couple of weeks, but there's still work to do. Just a reminder, these lap quilts are for Hospice patients who never have visitors and don't get holiday gifts.

Three Wednesdays ago Edna had time booked on the long arm, and I was her helper. We quilted two hospice quilts that were loaded side-by-side. Then the following week I had time booked and she was my helper, and we cranked out another two hospice quilts. 

I forgot to take photos of the first two. These are the second two. I've since bound and labeled them.

Then the Community Service committee held an evening work session this week. Some people were piecing tops; some were quilting on their domestic machines; I bound one; and then I helped Jackie quilt four more. 

These are small lap quilts, measuring 42 to 44" square. Jackie is our backing guru, and she found info on diagonal seamed backing, which saved us an enormous amount of yardage and stretched what we have to cover the approximately 50 quilts we're making. 

Here Amy is prepping her backing to layer, baste, and quilt on her domestic machine.

This top has a nice masculine vibe, and the green plaid is perfect for its backing. There's enough yardage of the plaid to make a back using the diagonal seam method. 

Ruth quilted this one on her domestic machine. We all liked how the red thread and diagonal quilting made red Xs in the sashing. You can't see it, but this one has a cute blue snowman backing.

While we worked hard during the event, we also socialized and enjoyed pizza for dinner. 

Jackie's plan was to quilt four of these small quilts. She seamed the four backings together and loaded the giant back on the long arm as one big piece. It was almost as big as a king size quilt. 

I had finished binding one quilt and there were no more ready to be bound yet so I helped Jackie with the quilting. With two quilts loaded side by side, each of us could do one and take a break while the other person was quilting the other. 

Jackie does beautiful loops, smooth, round, and even. I can only meander, but I can do it well. Hers is on the left, mine is on the right. It took three passes. 

Here the first two tops are done and we're ready to roll; you can see where the four backings are joined. 

The second two quilts were loaded and we quilted them in the same way. 

We all made good progress at our work night. We have 40 quilts completely finished so far, and tonight's will bring us up to 50. We think a few club members may still have tops or quilts that they're working on at home. 

The plan is to present them to Hospice of the Valley at our November meeting. A guest from Hospice will be there to tell our club about what they do, and at that time our community service chair plans to have all the quilts made so far and all the people who helped make them stand up and show them off. Then she'll finish collecting them and take them to the hospice's location at the end of November. Her dining room is absolutely inundated with quilts - I wish I had a photo! 

So, 40 or more Hospice quilts are now completely finished, and several more are still in work. Santa's elves have been very, very busy! 

Link Ups: Alycia Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Road Trip Blocks

I've been making blocks for Road Trip off and on all summer as I've had time. There are quite a few now so I put them up on the wall to start arranging them and see what else I need. 

As is, there's areas that need a little breathing room, and of course some gaps to fill. 

I finally found more of the khaki grid fabric I've been searching for, and I bought the last yard of it from an Etsy seller. I hope it's the right thing when I get it. 

                                          

I'll use it for filler in the gaps between blocks, or if that doesn't look right, for HSTs to fill in those gaps. I like that it reads a little darker than the cream net print used in many of the blocks after I realized I was running out of the khaki grid. 

If I keep the current layout, I need four more 9" blocks, two more 12" blocks, and a few 6" Broken Dishes blocks for filler. The Broken Dishes blocks will probably include the khaki grid fabric. 

There are a few blocks I don't like so after I get the new ones made, I'll re-evaluate them and maybe replace them. And continue to move stuff around. 

As is, this layout would finish at 84" square. I have a 78" quilt hanging in my foyer and I'd like to replace it with this one, which has to be at least the same size because of the nail holes in the wall for the hanging rod. 

I welcome any comments you might have about the layout. What do I need to change so it doesn't look like just a bunch of blocks? 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  and Finished or Not at Alycia Quilts