Friday, January 1, 2016

Thirty-Six & Stars Scrapalooza

Having finished off Celtic Solstice and Cathedral Stars this week, the quilting mojo was still flowing, so I loaded up Thirty Six that had been waiting on the to-do pile for a few years, having been started back in July, 2011.

The Feather-Me pantograph was used in order to give this quilt a feminine touch, using Aurifil thread, as always :)

Bobbin thread ran out just shy of finishing, but I had had my fill last night, so everything was shut down for a relaxing evening in front of the TV with the family, counting down to the New Year. (although, I drifted off around 11:00)....

This morning, the quilting was finished up, resulting in a complete size of about 66" square.

Feather Me pantograph

THEN, with the time hovering right around noon, I figured why NOT load up yet another quilt!?!?!?
The Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014 found myself and Kevin the Quilter teaming up to create some complementary blocks;  my version resulted in Stars Scrapalooza, inspired heavily by Bonnie's Wonky Star block.
Both Kevin and I pieced up two each of our blocks, with the plan of keeping one and sharing the other with each other.  Kevin's design is still "Top Secret" -- I so excited to see what he comes up with.

My design incorporated some scrappy wonky stars as the cornerstones in my sashing units, continuing the overall theme of wonky stars.  Kevin's blocks are AMAZINGLY done, using a crumb-technique for much of his blocks!
"Fascination" pantograph by Lorien Quilting
I took this opportunity to test out a new quilting pantograph that had been set aside after a panto-mania I went through a year or so ago.  

A few hours of quilting later, another (almost) finish is added to the pile.  A soft knit backing was used, and it behaved quite nicely; I had been worried it would stretch a bit too much. 

The pantograph is quite 'linear' looking, but it quilted up quickly, didn't use a heavy amount of thread, and is QUITE forgiving.   The quilt measures 51" x 71" -- a GREAT size for a throw snuggler or for a little girl to enjoy on her bed.  I'm really quite pleased with the fun brightness!

Wrapping up four quilting tasks this week, ONE of them being a 110x110 King size, is definitely leaving me feeling quite accomplished.  My back isn't even that sore :D

So NOW.........
in the event that Bonnie's latest Allietare mystery reveal knocked me off my seat from yet ANOTHER show stopper design.....
... maybe I could pull some fabrics from the shelves... to just percolate for awhile while a sand-n-sea inspiration unfolds...

8 comments:

scraphappy said...

Woohoo for you!! Quilting mojo is awesome.

Katie Z. said...

I'm so glad you were able to tackle more quilts! I love the colors you are ruminating over for your BH quilt. I didn't join in this year with too much to do, but I do love your colors!

Deb A said...

Wow! You don't ever do anything halfway - it's all in! Congrats on so many quilting finishes. Looks like you will have all of January to snuggle down with binding. Your fabrics are beautiful - reminds me of the ocean and the beach.

Barb in Mi said...

Wow on your quilting mojo! They look fabulous!
Quick question: how do you get these pantographs done with your Juki? Do you have to turn the quilt at some point? I always run out of throat space when doing anything bigger than a 4 inch panto. Thanks so much.

The Joyful Quilter said...

You've pulled some lovely fabrics for Allietare! You really started 2016 off with a bang. Best wishes for continued quilting success!

gayle said...

Wow and woohoo! Look at you go! That's an amazing stack of quilts.
And now for the fun of binding - feet up, relaxed, binge-watching some good old TV or movies... Enjoy!

Andee said...

Love how that mojo waxes and wanes (morphs into gardening mojo, crocheting mojo, etc.). Great finishes and too cool that you and Kevin swapped blocks. He has been holding out on me, lol! Stay warm there and GO PACK GO! Now back to the game!

tonyamay said...

I see that you have a Juki, is that on a Gracie Frame? I'm about to get a Gracie frame and was curious as to the size of the throat the sewing machine would perform best at?