Quilt of Valor

There is an organization called "Quilts of Valor."  The quilts are given to U.S. Veterans.  I have never made one, so when I found several Patriotic fat quarters for sale, I picked them up.

I used a pattern from the book Quilting the New Classics by Michele Muska, Mug Cox, Janneken Smucker.  I actually won this book when it was first published.  Sweet!  I wanted something quick and not feminine, since it is more likely to go to a man. 

 

I braved the snow to take this picture.  If I was extra conscientious and not so cold, I might have tried to walk in from the side to hang the quilt, leaving the snow nice and clean.  But I didn't.  :)

I quilted it with simple waves.  One interesting tidbit is that I had run out of fabric, and still needed to make a couple of blocks.  I had some dark navy fabric, but it was a little too dark.  So I turned it over and used the backside.  I also used that backward fabric for the binding.  :)

And for the backing I used some fabric I got on clearance plus some pajama pants I made for my husband years ago (when I was learning to sew).  He never used the PJs, so I cute them up and used them.  Such a bargain quilt!

This quilt is one of my Finish-A-Long Goals for this quarter.   

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

Scrappy Mystery Quilt

I couple of years ago I followed along online with Meadow Mist's Midnight Mystery Quilt Along.  A mystery quilt along works like this -- without knowing what the quilt will look like in the end, you are given the "ingredients" for the quilt (You will need 1 yard of Color A, 1/2 yard of Color B, etc.)  Then each week we received instructions on what to cut or sew from those fabrics.  At the end, you get a finished quilt.

Cheryl did a great job with the sew along -- it was fun to see how she would have us make a block, then cut it up and sew it back together in a different shape.  I enjoyed the anticipation of seeing what was going to come of it all.

Cheryl had shown us what fabrics she was using, along with a few different options.  Rather than go with those colors, I chose several orange, green, and grey fabrics from my stash. She also suggested how dark/light each fabric grouping.  But looking at the pictures of my quilt, it doesn't look like I had enough contrast between the grays and greens (lighter gray would have helped.)  In person I think the contrast is a little more distinct.

So for my first mystery quilt -- I enjoyed the process, but don't love the outcome.  I like it.  But would do things differently had I seen the pattern first.  So I've been a little hesitant to try it again.  I think I will try again sometime, I just might choose colors closer to what is suggested.

 

For the quilting I did a Lazy Eight pattern.  They are not very even, but in the end, they look okay.  It is a large quilt, so I'm just pleased I quilted it on my own!

For the backing I found some orange on clearance, then added a couple of pieces from my stash.

This is my first finish for my Finish-A-Long Q1 Goals.

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

2018 Finish-a-Long Goals Q1

Hooray for 2018!  It's always kind of exciting to start a new year.  I'm not much of a goal maker, actually -- I can't seem to follow up on them.  But I have been fairly successful with my quilting goals.  Probably because I love it!

So here are my goals -- 3 of which have been on my lists forever.  Eventually I'll get there.   
1. Mystery Quilt -- this has been on my list for a while.  It is big.  So I keep putting it off.  But this past month I'm a little closer -- I have the backing ready, and the batting cut out (I need to piece two pieces together.)  So I'm hopeful this one won't be on next quarter's list!

2.  Summer Sampler Quilt-a-Long -- I keep putting this off because I kind of want to hand quilt it, but I don't have a quilting frame.  So sometimes I think I'll just machine quilt it, but I'm still not sure!  I think I'll love this one when it's done though -- the background fabric is Shot Cotton, which is so soft.

3.  Sports Quilt - Top is pieced.  Trying to decide if I want to add borders to make it larger.

 

4.  Quilt of Valor -- I made this one on a whim a few months ago when I bought some patriotic prints on a good sale.  Not sure I love it.  But, it is pretty simple and I think will be liked by some manly, man out there.  :)

5.  Christmas 16 Patch - Need to piece together with sashing (or no sashing?)

6.  Ombre Quilt- I started this one a few years ago and didn't like it.  So, I have several blocks that I want to try and figure out how to change it.  Sorry, no picture!

7. Raindrops Quilt - I have several different sized blocks -- need to figure out how to put it all together. 

I am linking up the Finish-a-Long Q4 party at She Can Quilt.

BOM in Cotton + Steel

The other day at dinner, my 10-year-old said something about me "probably wanting to go to the Local Quilt Shop."  It totally cracked me up.  I let him know that if he'd like to sound really "in", he could call it the LQS.  :)  

Speaking of my LQS, this is the finished quilt from last year's Block of the Month club.  I've mentioned before that I've done this BOM club for several years now.  I've done:

1.  2012 Japanese Sampler
2.  2013 Cowboy Sampler
3.  2014 Solid Sampler
4.  2015 Neutrals Sampler
5.  2016 Red and White Sampler
6.  2017 Cotton and Steel Sampler (This one!)
7.  2018 Green Sampler 6 Inch Blocks (Started this one in September.)

 

This year we were given the choice to do our blocks in Cotton+Steel, a red/yellow sewing line, or civil war prints.  I chose Cotton+Steel because I really like some of the prints.  But as I discovered, I really don't like some of the prints too.  (The shop gives us a packet with the fabrics for each month's blocks.  You don't know what you're getting until you get it.) 

 

So as a result, I like the quilt okay, but don't love it.  Several of the prints have motifs that weren't really "my style" -- things like ladies gloves, purses, and animals.  But from a distance, it does look bright and fun.  I wasn't enthused enough to spend a lot of time quilting it, though.  So I quilted some really simple waves.  Then bound it with some striped navy.  The backing is a unique color -- kind of a pepto pinkish-purplish -- it matched perfectly well with some of those cotton and steel colors too.  Then I found a flowery print to go down the middle of the quilt.

 

I will be donating this quilt to charity and hope that someone out there loves it! 

Ha.  I just rushed to get this done before the Finish-A-Long deadline, only to just discover that it wasn't even on my list.  Oops.  I think I intended to put it on there, but must have spaced it.   

Unfortunately, this quilt is not my Finish-a-Long list for Quarter 4, 2017.

So I am not linking up to the Finish-A-Long party at She Can Quilt.  ;)