Monday, February 3, 2025

Blues and Backs

In this between PQ challenge week I’ve been plugging away at a few must-be-done projects. I haven’t sold any mug cosies for a little while and then in short order, I sold two, so I needed to replenish my stock of three lol.

I use mine every single day, twice a day: once in the morning over my cup of coffee, and then in the afternoon over my cup of tea! It really does help keep the drink warmer a little longer. The hats and teacups one that just sold had turquoise lining and trim; I always thought it was a perfect fabric for a mug cosy. This one has a hot pink and red checked lining and a piece of Hello Tokyo Robert Kaufmann fabric for binding that was a perfect match. The soft coral butterflies on blue is also the second one I've made in this pretty fabric and when it sells that's it, because you can only get two from a FQ. The link for these is here.

I sold a bright blue makeup bag this week so whipped up another as a leader/ender project, and then finished it and the ombré navy/cream one. I'd cut it out and sewed the shell while I was making Winter Blues, thinking I may have two PQ projects to show for that challenge. More photos in the listing. Both bags are quilted with Sulky rayon, a variegated blues one for the bright blue bag and a twist for the navy/cream bag. Their threads are gorgeous, and were the main threads I quilted all my quilts with when I quilted everything on my DSM which was up until 2013 when I got Avril.


While I was making the backing for the Jasper quilt, I made a blue (mainly royal blues) scrappy churn dash. Blue is the February RSC colour. It took almost as long to find an appropriate blue 5" centre as it did to make the strips and crumbs slabs! The HSTs are a little too same-same for my liking in this one but it was that or have them going horizontal and vertical and that bugged me more, so... here we are.

And, what I'm just tickled about is the backing I've made for my cousin's quilt! I originally bought the red fall leaves fabric with 150 Canadian Women in mind (I think I'd bought four yards about six years (pre-Covid) ago at Joann's. One of the days I was in the Quilt Backings Vault hunting for a back for who knows what quilt, I saw it and thought, *that will be the backing for the bear quilt. It's got a Canadian feel right?!

Perfect mountain scenes for a Jasper quilt

I could've done the entire back with it. However. On my pile of fabrics I'd pulled to use in the quilt, was this Moda Fabrics panel. I bought this either on a guild bus trip or else on a camping trip when we'd occasionally (insert often) make a pitstop at a local quilt shop in the town near or on the way to our various campsites. I had the idea to turn it into a quilt for the camper.

I'm sure there's one or two of you out there who has a piece or two in your stash like this no? It got pulled and set on the pile of potential fabrics to use somewhere perhaps in this quilt because of the theme, as you can clearly see. Remember the several little hits of serendipity as I worked on her quilt? Well here's another. The name of this panel is... 
I can't make this stuff up!

Anyhow some figuring and refiguring ensued. I was going to have the stripe running across the quilt but then turned it sideways just to see... and preferred it this way, though sadly, either from being wound on the bolt wrong, or printed skew-wiff, the stripe isn't on grain and so it has a bit of a lean. I think once it's quilted and bound, and even now, your eye 'fixes' it, and, hey, it's going to be on laps, on couches with the front right side up most of the time right?!

I used the two biggest squares on the panel and a pretty circular one of the Aurora Borealis in the centre, then a smaller one of leaves on the left to balance out the label on the right. The perfect rich purple and red fabrics? Bought at the quilt shop at the same time of course. Part of me was going, yikes, putting these beautiful (expensive) fabrics on the back of a quilt? The bigger part of me was saying, yep, use them; they've sat for 15 years, time to grow up and into a real quilt! (back)

Onwards now to PQ 16.3. (and hopefully squish in my SAHRR this week too!)

5 comments:

  1. Oh goodness, that is another amazing serendipitous moment for your cousin's quilt. I'm pondering what to do for PQ16.3 and look forward to seeing what you are inspired to make this week!

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  2. As Wanda Hanson says she'd rather see her fabric go in a quilt than her estate sale. Use the good stuff, even if it's on the back. And yes, another bit of serendipity. It was meant to be.
    Pat

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  3. Yup .... 15 yrs later ... time to use it! Not that I've never done the same. :) I was really bad where I wouldn't cut into a piece of fabric, just because I didn't need most of it for a project. Finally got over that, and decided, it's sitting there and will keep sitting there if I don't use some of it. Your Summer Nights and Northern Lights leaf border would make for a nice centrepiece on a table runner, then trimmed up to get it wide enough.

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  4. Your cousins quilt sounds fascinating and the blue block looks great, especially that centre. Take care & hugs.

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  5. You've been busy! Love that backing. I've started using panels on my backings, I have some that are 10 or more years old. I just don't sew with them, so I'm probably not going to use them anywhere else.

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