Sunday, February 9, 2020

Project Quilting 11.3 Smooches

With all that is going on in my life right now, I cannot believe I did complete this challenge, and in plenty of time, and that it grew a fair bit bigger than originally planned! Seems to be a theme this year...
Presenting Smooches:

my entry for the 'Put a Heart On It' challenge for Project Quilting at Persimon Dreams.



One of the many things going on in the background, IRL, as they say, is getting ready to release a new pattern, Grace.
It has been tested, and is currently in tech editing mode with Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl. She has done her first edit, but I need to implement all her suggestions, and then have one more read-through before the big release. She's very good, and very quick! We had no Internet for nearly 24 hours Friday/Saturday, hence the delay on my end. That, and PQ11.3! So what does Grace have to do with Smooches? I decided to use and follow my instructions for the 12" hearts in my pattern, and make a quick either baby quilt or sit-upon quilt for teaching yoga. Some of these shots you've seen if you follow me on Instagram.

I wanted to use older stash and new; I love mixing traditional with modern quilts, and older with newer fabrics!
Some are ahem, rather ancient, but so beautiful, (and now just a couple small pieces are left).
Others are newer, like this chunk left from La Vie en Rose, Brianne's quilt.
It gave me the name of the quilt.

Another Benartex designer, Eleanor Burns, still going strong. This is more ancient, no vintage stash. 😄 I fell in love with her when I saw her on Alex Anderson's Simply Quilts, as a guest, and she would whip the discarded chunk or strip of fabric over her shoulder onto the floor with a, "Get rid of that!" Her strip-piecing and ingenious construction of blocks and layering of a quilt top to make it manageable for quilting on a DSM changed my quilting life.
I laid the nine blocks I'd planned for the quilt top on our bed

because Vigil is still pinned in place on the design wall, keeping it crease-free, and...
Bella hair free.

It seemed a bit small, just 36" square. So I thought, hmm, I can offset the rows to make it a bit longer, add some narrow sashing... That could work. And then, as so often happens to me, the quilt started whispering, and it said, this would be a super quilt for the Windsor Sexual Assault Centre, for one of your Hands2Help quilts. I could just see a young woman or girl, or yes! a young boy or man wrapped in hearts of love and healing. Pink, and hearts, and love and compassion are for all. So, meh, I thought, the blocks go together in a jiffy; I'll make three more.

But then it was wider than tall, and that's just not so good. At this point, I thought, well, what about an alternate arrangement? I played a bit with flipping around blocks as you see, also tried doing columns of 4, then 3, then 2 then 1, but I already had made 12 blocks and that required only 10. Then I liked the every other row alternating direction, and figured I could add a border to the top and bottom if necessary, and poof! the top was done. The sun even came out for a bit for the flimsy shot.

It got loaded onto the Avril the longarm early Saturday morning.
I did a favourite flower meander, with more favourite hearts of a few kinds meander and loops. I had the perfect shade of a muted fuchsia of Aurifil.
Avril and I just flowed. The Bottom line in a greyish green is in the bobbin. I cannot say enough good about Superior Threads, top and bottom. And uh, Aurifil is quite fine on the top too!

By early afternoon, even with a couple of breaks for breakfast, dog-walking, and lunch, it was done and trimmed. More IRL stuff happened (yup renovation stuff), but after supper I was able to get the binding on.

I need to do more of these quick makes!! I had to undo the binding a bit to put in my label, sigh, but at least it was before I'd top-stitched it to the front! You can catch a glimpse of my 'signature' my initials in the corner of the quilt mirror image ha.

The backing is pieced from leftover front pieces and other stash and scraps. The one in the above photo is a much-loved one that my 1989 kitchen was all decked out in. Chair cushions, small wallhanging quilts, tea cosy, etc. etc.
Sun again today! What snow we got won't last methinks. Sorry for tree branch shadows, but our yard and neighbours' yard have lots of huge trees.

I want to make another for myself for a Heart Month/Valentine's Day quilt. Dayna wants one too. So there may be more of these in my future. As I said, Smooches is headed to the Windsor Sexual Assault Centre. It's the first of a couple or more Hands2Help quilts that I make, specifying that they go to a young girl and one to a young boy, who should never ever have to be there in the first place.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Original design
Size: 51.5" x 51.5"
Fabric: various from stash and scraps
Backing: various from stash and scraps
Batting: Fairfield 80/20 Cotton Polyester
Quilted: on Avril my Avanté; 54 147 stitches
Threads: pieced with Gütermann on my Bernina; quilted with Aurifil 50 wt, The Bottom Line in the bobbin.



If you'd like to see some other 'made in one week' makes for this challenge, or if you'd like to hop on in to it, click the graphic below which takes you to Kim's site, and this current 11.3 challenge.

Linking up

18 comments:

  1. Wow, it really did just keep speaking to you, Sandra. Looks great and I'm sure it will mean so much to the recipient. <3

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  2. What a great quilt! I often find myself making quilts larger than intended...sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident (math can be hard...), but they always find a home. And I remember my mom watching Eleanor Burns when she had her own show. I couldn't remember her name, but her tone of voice led me to call her Mrs. Annoying Lady. While her techniques are sound and her flinging of scraps was entertaining, as a preteen, that voice...ugh! But it didn't stop me from eventually learning to quilt and embrace some of her patterns and techniques.

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  3. Another awesome quilt, Sandra! Sometimes the best things happen when pressure is applied and the sand is about to run out of the timer, doesn't it? It's great to use up some elderly scraps and merge them with new friendly ones. I love this!

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  4. Another great finish Sandra, and perfect for where it is going. I’m all for a scrappy back, it looks much more interesting than a plain one, just my going.

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  5. A lovely quilt going to a great cause! This quilt owned you from start to finish, the bigger size will be better for it's future owner. I have a piece of smoochies.

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  6. You know I love this quilt as I saw it on IG and commented. I think we were participating in parallel play as I'm sure the aurifil thread you used (2455?) is the one I used on my small project quilting effort. Thanks for explaining your "quick thinking" for making it bigger.

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  7. I love this. I just couldn’t get my heart in a simple heart quilt, but you sure exceeded that!

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  8. Congrats on the finish. Fun all the way around!

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  9. Hi Sandra! Smooches is just a fabulous finish. I love hearing about the whole design process - nine is not enough when twelve are better. I can see why Dayna wants one - your non-quilt-loving daughter, right? And one for yourself - check and check. Eleanor Burns - yes, she is still going strong and I used to LOVE to watch her on PBS. Her son would join her now and then - we started quilting with EB. The tossing of the scraps over her shoulder is just classic! If only. I never tried doing that as I knew exactly who would be stooping to pick them up later, but it was very tempting. I know the WSAC will certainly love receiving this beauty, as will the final recipient. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  10. You can never give just one smooch, right? That's why this quilt just kept growing, I think :-) It's a great one, Sandra. Grace is lovely as well, and I'm sure it is delightful to work with Yvonne. She does such precise patterns, so I assume her tech work is the same. Another great finish!

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  11. I love that you poured your heart into making this the perfect quilt for your charity <3

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  12. Smooches was a fast finish that turned out bigger than expected, but every bit as wonderful as Grace, even though not nearly as complex! And you already have one of your H2H quilts completed? Incredible!

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  13. Forgive my gushy spieling hearts..but Oh my heart, Oh Your Heart...Sandra, you've created such a beautiful, Heartfelt quilt! Truly beautiful and amazing. And reminds me of the gorgeous mini quilt/mat you made that we love..it is on our table, as always, and I'm looking at it right now.

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  14. Spectacular! I’ll check out that link! Thx!

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  15. What a great finish for a very good cause!

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  16. Hi Sandra, that a great finish for Project Quilting. Congrats!

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  17. You're killing me! Quit showing these beautiful Smooches quilts - I really want to make one myself but no time! Thanks for being part of Hands2Help 2020!

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