Dutchman's Puzzle Friday Finish

I'm so excited to finish this quilt.  In my opinion, it's one of my best quality quilts!  The block pattern is Dutchman's Puzzle.  I finished the quilt top in August, 2012.  I just didn't know how I wanted to longarm quilt it.  Finally it spoke to me.  I quilted it using a giant board from Circle Lord called Cosmos.  This is one of my favorite quilting patterns.  It does take longer to quilt, but boy is it worth it.

Dutchman's Puzzle block showing the Cosmos quilting detail.  I used a very bright green that matched the back of the quilt.

 

Here's another shot of the lovely quilting.  I LOVE this pattern!

 

What's behind the quilt?  Nosy chickens!

 

 

Okay... now I can show you the BACK of the quilt:

 

 

 

Okay... I just love my chickens...

This quilt is for sale in my Etsy Shop -- Orchardviewquilting!

Today's the last day to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  I am entering in the large quilt category.



I'm also happy to link up with Richard and Tanya Quilts for the Link-A-Finish FRIDAY.

 

WIP Wednesday 10.29.14

Wow, the last week of October already.  This year has flown by again!  The holidays will be here and gone before you know it.  I don't think I will make my goal of reducing my WIPS down to 19 as planned.  After Thanksgiving my quilting will be consumed with Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Grand Illusion.  But here's what happened this week:

I finished my Pat Sloan Globetrotting BOM mystery.  It's a very soft quilt.



I completed the top of Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt for 2013).  I am working on piecing the back.  Hopefully this will be finished before Thanksgiving before the 2014 one starts.



I'm working with orphan blocks and bits and pieces to make a pieced back for Celtic Solstice.  I joined the challenge at Jo's Country junction to finish my Celtic Solstice before the new Bonnie Hunter mystery begins this year on Black Friday.  Check out the other participants in the challenge on Jo's blog here.  I'm throwing all these orphan blocks together to make the back (plus more, more, more.)



The first block for the Sweet Simplicity BOM was released yesterday.  You have to be registered via e-mail at jacquelynnsteves.com to get the free block patterns.  I'm making it out of old shirtings and hoping for a cute six-block baby boy quilt.  #SewSweetSimplicity





My Little Letters are coming along.  You can find the free pattern for these letters here.

 

I also made a cute house block from the pattern from the November/December 2014 issue of Fons & Porter.  This is the quilt that is on the cover.  It's called Cabins at the Lake.  I thought my block would have been darker, I guess I just used dark brown for the ground, beige for the side and black for the roof.  It's still a cute block that I wanted to post.

 

 

 Inspired by the Fortune Teller Quilt in the book Sunday Morning Quilts, I made these four blocks.

 

 

My WIP count this week is 35 because I started the Sweet Simplicity BOM.  That one won't be done for over six months.  My WIP goal for New Years Day 2015 is 19.  Uh oh, I've got a ways to go!  I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

New Projects This Week

1.  Sweet Simplicity BOM

Pieces Still Need to be Cut & Sewn

1.  Underpants Project 

2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

4.  Picadilly Circle

5. ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

6.  MSBHQAL (Molli Sparkles Broken Herringbone Quilt Along)
7.  Spring Sampler Series at Cora's Quilts
8.  Gypsy Wife QA (recycling  Red/White Flower Basket Quilt into this project & duds.)
9.  Quilt Doodle Doodles Designs 2014 BOM
10.  Love Laugh Quilt Christmas Improv QA
11.  Classic Meets Modern BOM
12.  Mod Mod QA (turning this one into a baby quilt) 

13.  Super Mario QA

 

Blocks Still Need to be Made

1.  NY Beauty

2.  Orca Bay

3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler
4.  Red Frosty & Friends quilt #3
5.  Blue Frosty & Friends quilt #2
6.  Color coordinated hexagon quilt
7.  Gourmet Quilter Sampler
8.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt
9.  Amanda Murphy Designs (ugly fabric quilt) (Set as a Q2 Goal)
10.  Drunkard's Path Variation baby quilt
11.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt
12.  Blue Frosty & Friends quilt #1

Blocks are made but need to be sewn together (and/or some sashing)
1.  Block Swap Adventure Sampler (2011-2012)
2.  Block Lotto Dud (Orphan Block Quilt)
3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks (that I won)
4.  Split Stars (blocks won from Block Lotto; October, 2012)
5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)
6.  Tall Fly 

Quilts back needs to be made (tops are done)
1.  Blue blocks that I won (with butterfly fabric)
2.  Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2013)


Ready to longarm
1.

Quilted, needs binding
1.  Dutchman's Puzzle

 

Completed this week:
1.  Pat Sloan Globetrotting BOM

Sweet Simplicity BOM from Jacqelynnesteves.com

The first block for the Sweet Simplicity BOM was released today.  Since it was all Accuquilt ready, I made this block from old shirts.  I'll dress up the center of this block with some fancy longarm quilting.  #SewSweetSimplicity  I'm going for a six-block baby boy quilt.

 

Celtic Solstice Quilt Back

I'm still working on my Celtic Solstice quilt (Bonnie Hunter mystery 2013).  Because I'm on a fabric diet I am still trying not to buy fabrics.  I will be working from my stash to create a pieced back for this quilt. 

I pulled a bunch of orphan blocks from the orphan boxes.  Most of them are in the colors of my Celtic Solstice top (pinks, maroon, brown, grey, neutrals).  I also sewed all little bits and pieces of the little pieces that I had left from my Celtic Solstice mystery (a chevron here, a chevron there...)  I also have some great orphan blocks from the Block Lotto that I will be using.  This will be a true Bonnie Hunter quilt back!  I know it's going to take me a while to get all of these different sized blocks organized.  I need to start making them into blocks that are similar in size so that they can be put together.  That is my project for this week.  I'm still planning on getting this quilt completely done before Thanksgiving.

Wish me luck!  Here's a picture of the pile on my busy desk right now.  (I love that little broken dish block that I made with some of the maroon and neutral Celtic Solstice leftovers!)

I'm linking up with Jo at Jo's Country Junction for the Bonnie's UFO Challenge.

Oh, and here's a top of my king sized Celtic Solstice.

Scrap Saturday 10.25.14

I've been working on my Little Letters from in the colors for October for the RSC14.  You can find the free pattern for these letters here. Here's what I accomplished this month:

 

I also made a cute house block from the pattern from the November/December 2014 issue of Fons & Porter.  This is the quilt that is on the cover.  It's called Cabins at the Lake.  I thought my block would have been darker, I guess I just used dark brown for the ground, beige for the side and black for the roof.  It's still a cute block that I wanted to post.

 

 

 Inspired by the Fortune Teller Quilt in the book Sunday Morning Quilts, I made these four blocks.

 

 

 

I love these colors!  I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrapy: ScrapHappy blog. for the the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, 2014.

Friday Finish -- Pat Sloan's Globetrotting BOM Quilt

This week I finished my Mystery BOM quilt by Pat Sloan.  It is called Globetrotting.  Each block represents a different place.

 

Here's the detail of the quilting.  I used the Circle Lord Egyptian Eye template for it.  I love the modern look it gives the quilting.

 

Here's the pieced back.  It turned out better than I imagined when I had it on the floor.  I just grabbed colors that I thought would kinda match the front.  The binding is the little grey flowered print that you see in the block above.  I LOVE the binding!  The back was a nice stash buster.

 

I'm happy to link up with Richard and Tanya Quilts for the Link-A-Finish FRIDAY.

 

 

 

Celtic Solstice King Quilt Top Complete!!!

I am soooooo excited that my Celtic Solstice king-sized quilt top is complete!  My plan was to sew only two rows a week until it was done.  Tuesday night I pulled an all nighter and got everything together.  Then I added all the borders on Wednesday.  Whohoo!!!  I'm sooo excited.  Thank you, Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville Quips & Snips for such a gorgeous mystery quilt pattern.  The border is a little larger than the pattern.  This will give it a nice drape over our California King bed.

 

 

For some of the little pieces in this quilt I only had enough to make ONE triangle!  Many of the tiny scraps were given to me by a couple of friends or I acquired for pennies at garage sales.  Thanks to Accuquilt GO! Baby, the cutting of those scraps were accurate and made the little pieces useable.

 

Technically I think I have the blocks in the wrong place starting from the top row.  Since I finished it late I think the block with the pinwheel in the center of it was supposed to be first and then the block with the star...  I don't think in the grand scheme of things that it really matters with this beautiful design.  The border fabric is really darker.  The photo doesn't seem to show that way.

 

Later this week I will make a pieced back.  I think I will just use pieces of fabrics in pinks/browns/greys and a couple of left over blocks for the pieced back.  It is very important to me that I finish this quilt before Thanksgiving.  I will be able to start the Grand Illusion mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!  I'm soooo excited for this one to start!

 

I'm linking up with Leanne at she can quilt for Scraptastic Tuesday.

 

WIP Wednesday 10.22.14

I've made two more rows of progress on Celtic Solstice!  Only FOUR more rows to go!  Whew.  I LOVE these colors!!! 

Here's a pic of my friend's granddaughter being a model for the Olaf tutu outfit I made last week:



I made a Cleveland Browns tutu this week.



I got all of these churn dashes done during the Friday Night Sew In (FNSI)



I finished the longarm quilting on this quilt for a customer.





My WIP count this week is 35.  My WIP goal for New Years Day 2015 is 19.  Uh oh, I've got a ways to go!  I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

New Projects This Week

None

Pieces Still Need to be Cut & Sewn

1.  Underpants Project 

2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

4.  Picadilly Circle

5. ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

6.  MSBHQAL (Molli Sparkles Broken Herringbone Quilt Along)
7.  Spring Sampler Series at Cora's Quilts
8.  Gypsy Wife QA (recycling  Red/White Flower Basket Quilt into this project & duds.)
9.  Quilt Doodle Doodles Designs 2014 BOM
10.  Love Laugh Quilt Christmas Improv QA
11.  Classic Meets Modern BOM
12.  Mod Mod QA (turning this one into a baby quilt) 

13.  Super Mario QA

 

Blocks Still Need to be Made

1.  NY Beauty

2.  Orca Bay

3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler
4.  Red Frosty & Friends quilt #3
5.  Bonnie Hunter's 2013 Celtic Solstice Mystery
6.  Color coordinated hexagon quilt
7.  Gourmet Quilter Sampler
8.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt
9.  Amanda Murphy Designs (ugly fabric quilt) (Set as a Q2 Goal)
10.  Drunkard's Path Variation baby quilt
11.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt
12.  Blue Frosty & Friends quilt #1
13.  Blue Frosty & Friends quilt #2

Blocks are made but need to be sewn together (and/or some sashing)
1.  Block Swap Adventure Sampler (2011-2012)
2.  Block Lotto Dud (Orphan Block Quilt)
3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks (that I won)
4.  Split Stars (blocks won from Block Lotto; October, 2012)
5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)
6.  Tall Fly 

Quilts back needs to be made (tops are done)
1.  Blue blocks that I won (with butterfly fabric)


Ready to longarm
1.  Pat Sloan Globetrotting BOM (on the frame)

Quilted, needs binding
1.  Dutchman's Puzzle

 

Completed this week:
1.  Customer Honor's Quilt

TuTu Tuesday

Here's the Olaf tutu Halloween outfit that I made for my friend's granddaughter at church.  (She helped too.)  The little model makes it adorable!

Yesterday I spent all day making another tutu for the same friend.  I can't believe that this thing took over 7 hours to make...  I tried another method of gathering (zigzag over a cord) for this one.  It also is in tiers instead of one length.  It's very full!  The family loves the Cleveland Browns.  That is why this one is orange and brown.

 

I'll get a picture of this one on the model soon.

RSC14 & FNSI

Last night I worked on some churn dash blocks with the Friday Night Sew-In group.  My background colors fit nicely with the RSC14 for October.  Here's what I was able to accomplish:

This pattern is available from Jo's Country Junction blog.  It's called Scrumptious Butter Churn.  You can find the pattern here.  The blocks are 7.5". 

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrapy: ScrapHappy blog. for the the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, 2014.

 

 

I also linked up with Sugarlane Quilts for the Friday Night Sew In.

 

Custom Honors Quilt -- A Friday Finish 10.17.14

Here's a customer quilt that was on and off the frame this week.  It was made by two ladies in my local quilt guild.  Our guild is having an honor's dinner in which members of the service are being honored (and given quilts).  It should be a nice dinner.  This is the first time our guild has done this.  It may be a sold out crowd.  We have 26 honorees.

I finished the longarming on this quilt this week.

Here's the quilt on the frame.  It's a Fons & Porter's QOV pattern.

 

I did freehand stars and swirls on the border.  The customer requested freehand stars.

 

I did the Circle Lord Egyptian eye pattern in the open areas of the quilt around the center panel.

 

I am did freehand echoed feathers on the eagle and freehand echoed stripes on the flag stripes.

 

Whew.

 

I'm happy to link up with Richard and Tanya Quilts for the Link-A-Finish FRIDAY.

 

I'm also linking up with Janet at Simply Pieced for TGIFF.

 

Friday Night Sew In plans -- FNSI 10.17.14

It's time for the FNSI (Friday Night Sew In) at Sugarlane Quilts.  I'll be making little churn dashes for my Butter Churn and Dash (free pattern available at Jo's Country Junction. )  With this quilt I am using black/white/grey backgrounds and bright colors.  This nicely compliments what I am working on this month for the RSC14 (Rainbow Scrap Challenge).  Here's what I have so far.



I'm hoping to work with aqua and green.

Check out the others that will be sewing on Friday night!