A summer finish!

Unfortunately for me - not an UFO.  But - zowie - what a stashbuster!! 

Presenting Shhh, it's Low Volume!  It's 64 x 82 which is one of my favorite size quilts. Good for couch quilts; twin size beds; and a good size to throw across the bottom of our kingsize bed to keep toes warm! It is based on the Swedish "Mini Plus" tutorial found but considerably bigger!  Mini-Plus link

I had gone a little crazy ... errr, I'd been collecting 'word' fabrics the last few years.  I was totally out of control - and I was saving them for 'something special'.  Yep, those beauties were simply stuffed into a bin and then a bin plus a box, and a bag!!!

I felt so-o good using them!!  I did go alittle crazy because I decided I wanted to show it at the Newport Quilt Show THIS coming weekend.  Every 3 or 4 years I swear I will never enter a quilt that isn't completely done!!  This was an off year!! LOL!  I did make myself finish the top by the deadline (they needed measurements!) and had just under a month to finish the quilting!  What could go wrong???

Well, there was a semi-unexpected visit from my son, his wife and their family:  Mr D (6 yr old); Mr K (4 yr old); and Miss E (3 weeks!!!) Yep, you read that right!  A Newborn debuting on the coast!  It took me days to get ready, child proofing on so many levels!  You can see the visit pictures in the prior post.  They were here, nothing was done then, who had the time or the energy??  Then, there were several days after the visit just sitting in the quiet with a cool drink!!! LOL!

Back to work.  I was, of course, making this up as I went!  Designing the DSM walking foot quilting using my favorite Crayola Markers!  And although the quilt is set in row, every other row is offset.  I had to connect up the columns through the sashing.

But TaDa! It was done a few days before it needed to be mailed, I bound it, I sewed on the sleeve, threw it in the wash AND the marker didn't come out! So I skipped the guild meeting and rewashed it several times.  What finally made it less noticeable was Oxy-Clean.  But it did fade it out at the same time.

Now I have to confess that the Crayola markers were not washable.  I have made this mistake before without consequences. These might have been old markers - they were hidden in a drawer for goodness knows how long!  And I raided my friends' stashes for more low volume fabrics. Some of them were not washed.  The marks that didn't come out were washed out some places but not others.  Sigh!

My friend asked me what I learned after this ... she thought it should be not to use Crayola Washable Markers, but one time out of a decade???  We decided I would test it before using them again.  And we'll see if I follow through! or even remember my vow!!

I do hate to send off quilts that are right off the machines.  I don't feel that they 'know their way home'.  I was pretty relieved when it arrived in Newport.  I leave Thursday for the show ... and am fighting a summer cold.  Crap!  I had plans for this week!!!

I have a problem.  I seem to cut, make half the number of blocks that I need OR double the number I need.  What's disturbing about this is that I figure it out in a notebook!!!  So I have 40ish extra pluses.

Our Mod Squad challenge this month was "Magic Three" so I picked 3 of the blocks and  pieced this together.  I'm not 'done' with low volume and this was a fun mini trial.  I had some number fabric that had a six and a five but not together.  I had to find the leftover fabric ... not as easy as you'd think!  But I wanted a '65' on this project.  I celebrate my 65th birthday next week!

 

This month at Mod Squad we had a 'play date'!  We went to the studio of one of our members and made silk handkerchiefs.  What fun! We dyed; stamped, embossed, painted ... dangerous knowledge for people with long lists of UFOs!

Miss P (10 yr old DGD) made us icons!  Presenting Beach Nana and Papa!

I think I'm holding my phone!