Finishing Frenzy Resumes in Earnest!

We had so much snow this week! YAY! I even got the opportunity to go out myself and enjoy some good old fashioned exercise by shoveling the front walkway and the sidewalks. It felt so good to MOVE that I also brushed off the snow-laden bushes so branches wouldn’t break. One of my neighbors was walking by, and we had a chance to chat and catch up, something that happens all too infrequently here in the winter months. Bruce is recovered from his RSV too, so we’re planning a Barnes & Noble date this afternoon.

My sewing goals this week were to pin baste and quilt as many small kids quilts as possible, and I actually finished five quilts and have three more pin basted. 

Let’s start with the scrappy quilt I gave you a sneak peak of last week. The purpose of this little number was to use up some of my black and white (or white and black, or even just gray) 2.5” strips. I’ve been trying to whittle down my black, brown and gray scraps in keeping with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s suggestion to use dark neutrals during the last couple months of the year. To add a little punch to the quilt, I cut some solid brights (also from scraps), in squares of 2.5, 4.5, and 6.5”. 

I think it turned out kinda cute. It’s quilted with a simple stipple and finished at 39.5x46”. The backing used two dark and bright remnants from previous backings.

The following four quilts were not made by me, but were sent to me by Jo Kramer of Jo’s Country Junction to finish. I’m one of the finishers for her Community Quilts program. Once completed, I donate them, with all my other kid quilts, to the Salt Lake chapter of Quilts for Kids.

First up is this Winnie the Pooh panel. The quilters from Cresco, Iowa made this top by adding two borders to the panel. They made all the other tops below, too. 

It’s quilted with loops and swirls and finished at 38x47.5”. The backing was a piece sent to me by Jo. 

The next quilt is yellow elephants (yellophants?) and scraps. It finished at 39.5x43”.

I’m ashamed to admit that I initially left off the Cresco Quilters on these labels. I did go back with a fine-tip marker after these pictures were taken to add them in. I always want to give credit where it’s due. No more pre-filling out labels!

The third quilt of this bunch is a sweet and simple patchwork of birds and florals. 

It finished at 35x37”.  Both this quilt and the last one used an old blue sheet I’ve had around for awhile. I was so happy to move this and so many other remnants out this week!

The final quilt is this little blue bubbly bathtime number, finishing at 39.5x43”. 

So there you have it! For the coming week, we have no outside plans until near the weekend - parties and Christmas and such. So, I hope to finish those three basted quilts (2 donation quilts and one personal) and baste one more personal quilt. That will conclude my Finishing Frenzy for this year. I’ll do a final count of quilts finished in November and December next week.

My Bernina “Bernadette” will go in for her annual spa treatment on December 26. For the final week of the year, I’ll use “Bob” , my Brother backup machine. I’ll be able to use him to quilt my final personal quilt and assemble Frankenbatts from the year’s batting scraps. I can also keep busy cutting and assembling quilt kits for Quilts for Kids.

There is also this project, which I haven’t shown on the blog before; twenty blocks donated to QFK, which were given to me to make into a quilt or two. About a third of the blocks were only partially assembled, so I had to finish them and correct correct mistakes in two others. After I took this picture, I divided the blocks into two groups. I had to make one more look-alike block in similar fabrics from stash so the resulting two quilts will have 12 and 9 blocks respectively. That will be a January project. 

Stay safe and healthy, friends. I hope you’re having a lovely Holiday Season. See you back here next Saturday!