Heart Throb - The Quilt

When I finished the FMQ work on Heart Throb and turned it over, I found I'd come a bit too close to the bottom edge of the backing fabric . . . thank goodness I made it!

Quilt waiting for its binding.

Quilted using my liberated double orange peels and Glide thread in Shadow.

Late afternoon photo of the finished quilt hanging on the dining room wall - just in time for February's 

Once again, simple quilts can be so very effective -- note to self:  remember that nugget of wisdom next time I start over-pondering.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."

Coco Chanel

Heart Throb (the Flimsy) and Ruth Begins

Heart Throb is now a flimsy.  

27" wide x 45" long 

Once quilted, HT will hang on our dining room wall next month.

(made with Flirt charm squares by Moda)

I promised myself that once Heart Throb's top was webbed, I could start on one of my waiting projects.

You can see Ruth's introductory post HERE.  

And what I had forgotten was that, in addition to being the name of DH's maternal grandmother, my maternal great grandfather's sister was named Ruth Lena -- which makes this quilt's name Ruth even more appropriate.

It was wonderful having the strips already cut, sorted, and paired - I could open the project box and just start sewing.

Here are the first six blocks on the design wall.

These are the rest of the strip sets sewn, ready for their first pressing.

When the final sub sets are cut, there's a small piece leftover.  The width varies depending on the particular set of strips since some are longer than others.  

I'm saving those to create a colorful insert strip for the backing.

This photo shows the form I use to keep track of my notes for each project.  

Finally, here's the link to the Maggie Pearl free download.

* * *

Most of the area schools are still closed due to lingering ice and, for many areas the extremely low water pressure caused by too many broken water mains/pipes.  

LM's school is open but the children have to bring their own lunches and bottled water since the Memphis water system has a boil water advisory in place.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."

Coco Chanel

Studio Time - Part 1

Audrey over at Quilty Folk is proposing an informal quilt along - you can read about it near the end of this post.

She suggested we start digging in our stash for older fabrics to use.  I went with the colors in her fabric pull (shown near the end of that post) since I so admire her quilts and I didn't want to re-invent a color palette that might not have worked as well as hers.  

I decided it was time to move the three remaining seasonal dining room wall quilts forward (I was tired of them lurking about the studio).

January's Gnomeville is now ready for pin basting - that's the backing you see around the edges.

The runner pieced with Gnomeville's extra parts now has backing (upper - aged Moda diagonal stripe) and binding fabric (lower - more recent Art Gallery diagonal stripe) chosen and cut to size.

I've hung this project in the closet for now (sans batting) since it is not on my get-it-done-soon priority list.

Then I completely changed my plan for February's Heart Throb.  

Instead of using a panel, I went with these charm squares from a Moda line named Flirt (lots of hearts and love language text).  

Since this photo was taken, the squares were taken down and clipped and are now ready to web together into a top.

For March's Smaragdine, I cut the sixty alternate squares (KF's Moss Rose) and have paired/pinned so I can leader-ender the pairs as I work on the next few Dumpster Diving 12 blocks.

The Brandon Mably Chips yardage under the blocks will be used for backing and I went ahead and cut the binding strips while the Moss Rose yardage was out.

No more serious pondering for these three - only a need to sit and sew (or quilt).

* * *

I'll be back in a day or so with Part 2 to share the progress on my various paper-based projects.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do."

Steve Jobs

Here, There, and Coming Soon

The backing for Coddiwomple has been pieced and pressed.

I used the same fabric for binding.  

I debated on a border but decided "no" since I love the top just the way it is.

This pin basted panel has been quilted and finished meaning Autumn Ridge is ready to hang on the dining room wall come October first.  

(finished photos later)

Heart Throb, a wall quilt for February is noodle-rolled and ready for pin basting.

(also a panel, it won't take long once the opportunity to sit and FMQ presents itself)

And then there is January.

I had cut a LOT of grayed neutrals into 2.5" strips to make a couple of comfort quilts that didn't happen.

The strips have been reclaimed and will be used to make a new January kitchen table quilt named Brumous.

(more on that in another post)

The rest of the strips will be used to make January's dining room wall quilt.

Some of you may remember my quilt named Comfortable that inspired Jo of Jo's Country Junction to make her Brick House quilt (see this post).  I'm going with a variation of Comfortable's process to make Gnomeville.

Why gnomes?  Scroll through this post and you'll see how this all fits together.

Gnomeville's segments have been cut and pinned - ready for leader ender action.

My quilt ladder had to be temporarily moved from its spot in our home office.

It now resides between Max's tables and my pressing table.  I like seeing it there so it may not go back to the office.

And since Little Man is with us until mid-month, I have his Gone Dotty quilt on my design wall.

I've made the binding (left) and hung the laundered backing fabric (to be pieced and pressed once I know how large the top finishes). 

Border strips were cut per Little Man's previous instructions. 

As time permits while he's here we'll work on this so he can, hopefully, take it home with him.

Needless to say you may not hear as much from me for a couple of weeks.

(this silly photo was taken during his first 'dress uniform day' as a first grader)

Quiltdivajulie

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"That's what it takes to get what you want.  Not big scary leaps once a year.  It takes small, but irritating moves every single day."

Mel Robbins