Three More Finishes

The year is rapidly drawing to a close, and with these last days comes all the hustle and bustle of holiday parties and gatherings. It’s been a great year, and we are so grateful for our family and friends, old and new, in person and online. 

This week saw a lot of snow and cold here in the Salt Lake Valley. The old (huge) furniture store behind our end of the neighborhood block is being torn down, and it has been fascinating to see the workers out there with their excavators, front-end loaders, trucks and dumpsters as they knock and tear down the buildings, portion by portion. It’s been going on for about four weeks and has moved ever closer to our property line and wall. I expect the final building wall that parallels our backyard wall will come down next week. And probably by next spring the site work and building of the new townhouses will commence. Change is good! I think. . . . 

I have three finishes to share with you today. I really didn’t spend much time in the studio this week. One quilt was already done from the week before, but I had to finish quilting and binding its twin this week before showing you both at the same time. The third one was already basted, so just needed to be quilted and bound. Let’s take a look.

These “twin” quilts were originally one quilt top that was sent to me by Jo from Jo’s Country Junction. It measured 54x72” and as such was too big for Quilts for kids. So I unpicked the center seam line, giving me two quilts that measured 36x54” each.  I added a 4” brown border to the sides of both tops to bring them up to 44x54”. 

One was quilted with a basic stipple and the other with loops. The backing for both was this aqua floral wide-back piece I purchased just for these little quilts. 

The second quilt is pretty much the same. The quilting is mostly just visible in the borders.

With those done and dusted, I decided to quilt the quilt top made of the Antique Tile blocks I made this year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I took photos in my studio and living room in hopes they’d look OK, but then couldn’t decide which I liked better. So I included both! I used up a number of minty-colored 2.5” strips for the binding, an ombre strip, and anything similar I could find. 

This quilt took me a couple afternoon sessions to quilt in vertical serpentine stitch with a walking foot on my domestic Bernina. The backing was a lovely pale green sheet. The quilt finished at 58.5” x 70”.

I’m keeping this one to add to my gifting pile! 

In the next week, I hope to baste, quilt and finish another personal quilt, my second Zip (Zipper) quilt. I’ll also have a quick count and roundup of my Fall Finishing Frenzy quilts as well as some of my favorite makes from the year. 

Last night, Cousin Kim and I attended a surprise birthday party for my friend Ruby. She was truly surprised. It was so great to meet (more of) her family and friends. We had a blast.

This evening we’ll be celebrating Christmas Eve at my son Ryan and daughter-in-law Kim’s house. I have a few little gifts to wrap, and Bruce will be making his “family famous” guacamole dip. We’re really looking forward to it. Christmas Day itself will be spent quietly at home, listening to The Nutcracker on vinyl and talking with far-flung family members on the phone. I’ll make my Hungarian Goulash (a recipe passed down from my father), and there may even be some sewing while James Taylor and Andrea Boccelli serenade! 

Have a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever you celebrate. Stay safe and healthy, friends!