Tuesday To Do #31: A Finished Top and a Bonus Quilt Finish

Hello and welcome to another round of
Tuesday To Do where we get motivated by joining
 Texas Quilt Gal's link-up, make our lists and then
get things done!

It's a gorgeous fall morning out there.  Whenever the
windows are open, I'm motivated to clean house,
But I'm also motivated to clean up the garden, and
I'm more motivated to play golf.  And to sew!
Fall is a crazy busy time around here but it's all so
enjoyable when the weather is so nice! 
If last week is an indicator of how I'll manage to
get it all done, then I think I'll be okay!

Last week's list

1) Keep working on Snow Day


DONE!
With just a few blocks completed last Tuesday, I took this
and ran with it.  Once the main portion was done, I went
for big and added a 5" border bringing it up to 76 x 89.
It's always good to make the best use of 90" batting!
(Just a side note there, I scored a great deal on my usual
brand of white batting; I added in a roll of the natural
as well and now I'm stocked up for a good long time.)


Speaking of being stocked up, my stash provided a
fantastic backing.  I'm not sure how well it shows in 
this pic but it goes wonderfully.


I also have the binding ready so it won't be
long before this one joins the others in my shop.

2) Start pulling fabrics for Why Knot?
I tried twice to pull fabrics for this but for some reason,
I just wasn't feeling it--which is crazy because I was so
excited to do it!  But I've learned that I can't force these
things so I switched gears and I've started on another
fall quilt that I'll share here in a bit.  Hopefully, I can
figure a good "feel" for those knots very soon though
because fall is already off and running!

3) Make four pillows (8") from embroidery projects
A request from a friend and a surprise for her
daughter so no pics can be posted for now.
Not done:  I have a lots of time to do this but
I'd still like to finish it asap.

4) Finish those pics and listings.
DONE!
I apologize if you've had enough of these but because
I finally got the full pics of my last three finishes, I'm
doing one last quick run through of them all.  Below
are just a few of what I used on my listings.


This first one is WP Stars IV.


I struggled with the right lighting on both WP full-quilt
 pics but the true tan color shows in the rest of the pics.


Stars and ribbons quilting design.


Next up is the bigger of the two, WP Stars III.


I love using my son's extra hat for a prop but here it was
doing double-duty and holding the quilt down in the wind.


A back view.


...and another close up of the quilting design.


And now for Once in a Blue Pumpkin!


The flowers are a bit distracting from the quilt but
it still makes for a pretty pic so I went with it.


I love how the quilt design shows on this one!

At this point, I was already feeling great about my week
but when I was trying hard to pull fabric for the garlic
knots, I came across what I guess I should call a UFO.


Some of you will remember this top from last fall,
Hudson Valley Palisades.
I have a lot of favorites but I really think this one is
easily in the top 3, maybe even 1?
The original pattern was in reds and whites but I worked
hard to turn it into one that showed all the glorious
colors we see on highway up to West Point in the fall.
So you can imagine how upset I was when I realized,
very late into the quilting, that there was something
all wrong with my old machine.


Randomly, all over the back of my quilt.


I'd already had some serious issues sewing my
granddaughter's quilt and this was the last straw.
Right here I decided I was done with that machine.
I would be getting a new one--one I could depend on!


Meanwhile, I had a whole quilt that had these issues
spotted all over the back.   There was no way I could
sell what I thought was going to be my best listing yet.
Outside of ripping the entire thing out, I couldn't think
 of a way to fix it so I finally shoved it into my closet.
It was too painful to look at it.

Last week I was thinking I should just bind it off and
keep it for myself so when I came across it on a few
days ago, I did exactly that.  A bonus finish!
In the end, I got a new long arm and sewing studio,
and I get to keep my favorite quilt so I guess things
didn't turn out all bad.
(And I just realized I didn't get a finish pic so we'll
have to re-visit that next week, along with a few
other things I didn't get time to snap pics of!)

I think it turned out to be a great week overall.
I also slipped in two rounds of golf, performed the
very thorough fall coop clean-up and started
tackling the garden fall clean-up as well.

Looking ahead:

1) Quilt and finish Snow Day

2) Finish cutting out latest fall quilt.


This one is going to be very scrappy.  The pattern
calls for 3 charm packs but I dug into my scraps
and stash and have these cut out so far.
(Black = points; ivory = background and backing)


I might need to audition some of these as I go but
I cut out quite a few extra so I should be taking off
on this one today.

3) Keep thinking on Garlic Knots

I hope to come back again with lots of progress.
Until then, happy quilting!

Comments

as I do little machine quilting I have a question that might be dumb but I'm asking anyway. When the stitching on the back is how you show it - if you wash the quilt and dry it well the stitching that is bad possibly pull out and have the quilt come apart? or does it just stay that way just not looking the way you want it to?
Linda said…
That backing really is perfect for Snow Day! Where do you buy your batting? Great photography! I think my favorite is Once in a Blue Pumpkin, although I love the quilt with the quilting issues too - so glad that worked out for you. ;)
Thank you for joining us at To Do Tuesday!
Snow Day is looking so pretty, and I really love the blue pumpkin quilt! I hope your West Point quilts sell well - there have got to be parents who will just love those. The new project looks like a fun one, too!
grammajudyb said…
I am so glad to see Once in a Blue Pumpkin all done! So so gorgeous. And you're right, the backing is perfect for Snow Day. I'm sure Why Know will come together too. It just needs to simmer a bit!
piecefulwendy said…
What a great backing for Snow Days, and I love the backing on Once in a Blue Pumpkin (I might need that pattern; I love your quilt!). Nice photos of the WP quilts, too. Glad you kept that last one for yourself, it's so pretty!
Carolyn said…
I love all the finishes, but there is something about those blue pumpkins that I’m really liking. Good job on getting your Hudson Valley quilt bound and ready to use in spite of the quilting issues. I have one here I did on my old machine that also has some issues, and I think I may get it out and take another look at it.
I love all but especially the Churn Dash quilt! BTW - Did you know Bloglovin is belly up? I have had to switch to going to Follow.it and Feedly and enter URLs in order to get notifications of new posts. This is in case you see a decrease in people commenting! Hugs
Kathryn T said…
Sheer eye candy quilting here for sure. Just love your Snow Day and your quilting on the West Point Stars gorgeous. Love your Once in a Blue Pumpkin. Nice score on the batting too, good to be stocked up.
Sharon Kwilter said…
Those are all beautiful finishes, but I especially like the snow day. Congrats on such a good week.
Vicki in MN said…
I really like the fall one! Work, work, work for both of us, LOL, all fun work of course!
Sharon - IN said…
It is so frustrating when you see the bad stitching on the back of a quilt. How exciting that you could purchase a new longarm! Your fall themed quilts are all so lovely! Actually all your quilts are, but I'm pulled to the Fall ones!
A whole new longarm?! I want to hear more about it! Undefinable thread problems are the pits. I love your blue pumpkins and your WP Stars!!!