Yay!! Got my second UFO of three finished up this week. Completing these three quilts is on my list of 2015 goals. Going well so far. I’m very glad to be done quilting this one. It didn’t take long either. I don’t know what the deal is. I think I get bored about 1/2 way through the quilting process. It looks great though. It was a bit narrow so I added a green border to each long side for width.
To quilt it I free motioned large, loopy flowers all over the top. They reminded me of the flowers girls would draw in the margins of the notebook when you are supposed to be taking notes in junior high but your mind is wandering. Anyway, I mean I’m pretty sure I saw the other girls doing this…..
Oddly enough, the flowers also brought to mind a weird memory of this PE teacher I had when I was probably 8 or 9 years old (so we are talking 1968 or 1969 here – hippy days). I went to a parochial school through 8th grade. Mostly we had nuns for teachers and usually the classroom teacher/nun was also your PE teacher. But for a while, we had a young woman that as our PE teacher. I bet she wasn’t more than 21 or 22 and I thought she was SOOO cool. For one thing, she wasn’t a nun and she was young. (To me, the nuns seemed old no matter their age since I couldn’t see their hair.) For another, her name was, get this…. Flower!! Looking back, I’m guessing that wasn’t her legal name but that was what we called her. Shocking, right? It sure was to me. Ahh… the 1960’s.
I also quilted flowers along the gray borders. Once I got to the green, I switched to a medium sized leaf. Kind of wish I had switched to green thread when I quilted that portion. Oh well. I also attached the binding by machine on both front and back sides. Not sure I like that as well but I gave it a try.
In my on-going resolve to upcycle, I used a duvet cover for the backing. I found it at a thrift store for $7.00 and it is huge. I will easily back a couple a quilts with it. One side of the duvet cover is a green stripe and the other is a green floral print. I had the green binding sitting in my stash so this quilt is all scrappy and used a good portion of my stash. The only piece I purchased directly for this project is the gray print that I sashed the blocks with. Not too shabby.
Trying to start the new year out right with better scrap management habits. (Wow, “scrap management” sounds so quilty-dorky!) But really. When I trimmed the excess off around the perimeter of the quilt I actually trimmed the scrap into usable pieces. This is definitely a first for me. Three inch and 2 inch strips plus a stack charm squares!! It hardly took any extra time and it’s done.
Not exactly sure what I will work on next. I want to do some piecing. I need a break from quilting for a while. I have some blocks that have been sitting around for a while. I don’t love them, know what I mean? I think I am going to create a quilt to donate to a fundraiser at my daughter’s middle school.
The lighting on this picture is horrible. (I took it at night with my phone.) I think I will set the blocks on point and sash them with black. I have a cute black and white print for the backing and maybe I can find a jewel toned batik to use for a border and binding. Hopefully that will jazz this up a bit.
Linking to Freemotion at the River, Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Links to these amazing ladies are found at the top of the page under Link Ups.
Will also be linking this post to A Lovely Year of Finishes as this completes my January goal. Hurray for that – three days before month end.
Your loopy flowers are so fun. And way to go using that duvet cover on the back. I really like the print.
(And true confession: I still doodle flowers when I’m talking on the phone.)
Thanks Janine! I really like that back as well. The print is so pretty and it is already sort of soft since the fabric has been used. I’m happy with it. I bet your flower doodles make good practice for FMQ. Do you quilt your pieces or send them out? Glad you stopped by. 🙂
So far the doodling hasn’t transferred spectacularly to my FMQ, but I’m trying. I do quilt my own quilts.
FMQ seems to take forever to become adept at. Each quilt seems to look a little better though and I do think the doodling helps a little. I drew these silly flowers all over the newspaper before I started quilting them.
Beautiful quilt and those big flowers are so neat and look perfect on it!
Thanks Connie. The flowers improved as I quilted! The first section isn’t great but as I went on they did improve. Guess that’s what it’s all about, right?
I love the loopy flowers. My freemotion tends to get small and tight – it’s good to see a large free-hand design that looks great.
I actually have to work at it to get my FMQ to stay large and more relaxed. For this I took a sharpie and drew all over some newspaper to kind of get the feel of it before I started. That seemed to help. Often my designs get small and tight as well. Thanks for coming by!
Wow, you’ve been productive! I love how the 25-patch quilt turned out! So bright and happy! And those black/white/colorful center blocks will be lovely set on point. Looking good!
For some reason I never doodled flowers, I always doodled words or letters, which generally got me in more trouble!
Have a great day!
You must have been an academic from the get go if you were doodling words….. 🙂
Take care Mari!
I love your quilt. So colorful. Its a good way to use scraps. Thanks for a great idea
You’re very welcome. 🙂 I loved doihg the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at “superscrappy.com” and decided to do it again this year. Great way to work through the scraps! Thanks for stopping over.
Bernie
This is a great finish! Love those loopy flowers.
Thanks Kymberly, for your kind words.
Take care, Bernie
Love your scrappy finish! And I love the little story about your PE teacher named Flower. Isn’t it funny how random things can spark memories?
Exactly… Especially when I am doing the sometimes mind numbing task of FMQ, I will think of all sorts of things. Conversely, at the grocery store, I cannot remember two of the five items I was shopping for!! What is that all about? Thanks for stopping by!