Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Tag Archives: finish it up friday


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Two Finishes

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This week I finished the purple and gray floral throw quilt.  It is 54″ x 72″.

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It’s made with 9″ blocks to show off those luscious florals, and I’m very happy with the way the quilting turned out.

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I want it for myself, but I can’t keep them all.

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Last week I finished this bright baby quilt, but the weather just warmed enough to let me get pictures of it.

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I’m very happy with this, front and back.  It measures 36″ x 45″.

Both of these quilts are listed in my Etsy shop.

I’m linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Friday Finish: This one will go to a veteran!

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Here is the blue and green quilt I made completely from stash to replace the first one that I started at the New Years Day Sew In.  Finally gave up on the weather and took these pictures inside, so they are what they are.

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This was Judy’s Quilt of Valor design, but I had a little trouble cutting.  I was a bit feverish one evening and cut all the 2 1/2″ inch bars for the center blocks at 2″, creating some cussing and  a “design opportunity”.  I got out my strings to pull coordinates, and I think it does add interest.

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I quilted between all the blocks, and 1/4″ inside all the frames.  In the centers, I alternated between using straight lines and a design of four leaves.  The leaves do echo some of the fabrics, but I think I just made them because I can, and it seemed too easy to use straight lines everywhere.  Next time I think I will follow my instincts.  Alternating vertical and horizontal lines would have looked great.  This is fine, though.

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I also used straight lines in the border triangles, and stippled over the print background.  It all took awhile, but it finished with a lot of texture, and I like it.

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What did you finish this week?

I’m linking up with Finish It Up Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Finish It Up Friday 1/18/13

WinterWinter Nine Patch

Love it!  I finished my Winter Nine Patch today in time to wash and photograph it on this cold be sunny day.

winter flakesThis quilt is best seen in person, because the fancy quilted snowflakes probably don’t show well in the pictures.  In  person, though, they are a subtle frosting all over the quilt.  The term “surface embellishment” comes to my mind with these.  No beads or buttons or spangles, just slightly shiny, etherial snowflakes.

Winter flakes 2I quilted this by stitching in all the ditches on the front with Superior’s Bottom Line thread.  This gave me a nice, stable, flat, square quilt.

Winter back
Then I flipped it over and quilted from the back.  I quilted the large batiked snowflakes of the backing fabric, and added smaller ones in the gaps between.  I used Bottom Line in the top, and a very heavy, shiny, white rayon thread for the bobbin work.  I think it is YLI, but the bottom cap and label are missing, so I’ll never be sure.  The thickness is similar to Superior’s Razzle Dazzle.  I got very lucky in sewing with this.  I left my top tension alone (4), and loosened the bobbin a half turn, and my first sample was perfect.  I wasn’t really sewing with the rayon, I was just letting it ride on the surface while I caught it with the top thread.  Even with the top-stitch needle, this thread was way too heavy to ever really form stitches with.  That’s okay, it showed more this way.

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The batik snowflakes were harder to quilt than I had guessed.  They were irregular and unsymmetrical.  To do it over, I would use a marker to trace better patterns over top of the prints.  Instead, I improvised and “improved” them as I went along.  I am happy.

Winter chair

You know what I’ll be snuggling under on this wintery evening!

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Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at Celtic Thistle Stitches.


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Finish It Up Friday 1/4/13

Does it count if I just finished the top of the quilt?  I hope so.  One of my January goals can now be checked off.

IMG_1402This is the Quilt of Valor top I was supposed to piece on New Years Day, and it only took me four days to do.  I have excuses, but you probably don’t want to hear them.  It’s based on Judy’s design, but much simpler.  I had all the six inch squares of Alexander Henry (and other) firefighting prints, scraps from my pillowcases.  I was impatient about the small borders, and had two yards of this large scale flag print, so the border is also six inches (finished).  Simple, but bright, and I think the quilting will add interest.

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I was surprised by how poorly the flag print photographed (indoors).  I guess the gold in it reflects a lot of light.  If my studio had an extra foot of space, I could have perhaps photographed it from an angle or something, but that is just not happening.  The quilt top is 62″ x 82″.

How are you coming on your goals?

I’m linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Baby Quilt Finished

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I finished up the baby quilt yesterday, and it’s all washed and dried and crinkly.  This looks different from other baby quilts I’ve made, but I like it.

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It’s bright and bold and energetic, and I think it will be perfect for a little boy.  I bound it with rayon blanket binding for the touchable edges.  This finish doesn’t seem to sell well for me, but I almost always use it on gifts, because I know the babies like it.  This is made completely from stash.

Wills backThe backing is one piece of pale blue and white cloud fabric.

Will back 2I like this stained glass look where the sun brings the other colors through it.

Wills detailThe piecing and cutting were very quick, perhaps three hours.  The quilting, however, took around six hours.  There’s lots of it, in the ditches and through the block centers.  I used Superior Bottom Line in a pale blue on top and bottom.

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The finished size is 36″ x 48″.  I always consider that the binding will take about 2″ off of each side of the design, so I usually add borders.  I didn’t this time, because I thought it was okay to cut off the edges of these Disappearing Four Patch blocks, and I think it works.

I’m linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.