Focused on Finishing

 This week, I'm focused on finishing some quilts! 

That's a good thing!!

As usual, there are deadlines involved -- what would we do without those?!?

I just wandered back through my posts to figure out when I pieced Jessie's Fierce Feathered Star.  I was part of her test team before she released the pattern late in 2016.

You can read my post about it HERE.

It was a great make -- I love the size of it -- 36" square!!

Recently, when a birding friend announced her retirement, I dove into my stash of quilt tops to see if I had anything that might be a good gift for her -- there it was!!  

The bird house print is so delightful -- especially since the birds in it are "true to life".

For some reason, that is very important to me?!?

And better yet, the backing and the binding were ready to go.

Layer and quilt!! 

I chose to do a Baptist Fan quilting design -- since I figured out how to travel through this design with hardly any threads to tie off,  it has been a regular "go-to" quilting solution for me!!

You can visit my post complete with diagrams about how to travel through the motifs HERE.

Since writing that post, I've discovered the Westalee Ruler Foot Echo Guide Disks which make it even easier -- I wrote about using those HERE.

I lost one of my machine quilting gloves this fall -- sure hope it's not stitched to the back of something?  So in a pinch, I grabbed a pair of my lightweight outdoor gloves.

Well, gloves are gloves . . . . . right???

Looks a bit odd, but my arthritic hands love being snuggly warm in them.

The only drawback is that all the stray threads and trimmings cling to them.

I trimmed the finished quilt up yesterday!!

Do you pitch your trimmings or keep them?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I have this predisposition to hoard bits "just in case" but as the era of "downsizing" looms in my future, I'm working to loosen up and let go.

I did keep some of this wad but only for the purpose of tying up downed tree branches and garden trimming for the trash man.

As I finish writing this, the quilt is drying on the rack in the basement.

We had our first snow of the season last night, so it's photo session on the laundry lines has a very pretty backdrop.

Now I'm focused on finishing up a few charity quilts for holiday give aways and my annual sock knitting frenzy is under way.  I've moved my knitting chair to the back windows of the house so I can enjoy this crew who have been flocking to my feeders for the past two weeks -- pine siskins!!

They are a more northern finch that is not common here every year -- the strippy ones in this picture (upper right and lower left birds) co-feeding with the local plainer goldfinches.

Very exciting even though they are burning through finch mix like power vacuums!!

If you are looking for the Fierce Feathered Star pattern, it's a PDF download which you can buy the designer, HERE.  It includes both the 36" star that I made and a 20" star!

Jessie at Threaded Quilting Studio

This finish brings me halfway to my fourth quarter goals for the 2018 Finish Along!!

Yea!!

Mary

Fierce Feathered Star Flimsy

 A couple weeks ago, I shared my experience testing Jesse from Threaded Quilting's new large feathered star block pattern -- this block is 36" square before any borders are added!  There is also a 20" star included in the pattern and Jesse just posted her second finish using this pattern.

Mine has been staring at me from the design wall waiting for a flimsy finish and with my group's deadline for finished quilts for holiday donations drawing closer, it was time to get stitching.

To elongate the piece, I made flying geese for a top and bottom border.  Happily the measurement of my outer edges was 39" -- so a 3" by 6" (finished) goose unit would be just right.  I used Marti Michell's Flying Geese Ruler to cut my pieces.

I'm going to pause here to make an observation about students who cut triangles with templates versus making oversized HST units and trimming them down to size. The students who use templates generally gets better results overall because they have had to learn to stitch a consistent 1/4" seam so everything fits together.  Those who rely on trimming often don't seem to develop the same accuracy when stitching because they are always correcting with the trimming and that's fine up to a point, but when they get to the aspects of piecing a quilt top where trimming is no longer an option, I often see them struggle to maintain the accuracy they want to achieve.

Just saying . . . .

I spent a couple pleasant hours in my studio piecing and listening to a book, One Wild Bird at a Time by Bernd Heinrich.  It was published this spring and the author shares interesting observations about a variety of American bird species -- right up this bird nerd's alley!!

The pineapple block is my current "leader and ender" vehicle -- only 2 more blocks to go!!

I'm always pleased with the uniformity of my goose units when I use Marti's tool.

That means I don't chop off any tips or points!

Since the number of units needed was an odd number, I added a blue rectangle in the center of each border.  This is also a good strategy when you need to "adjust" sizes to compensate for math issues.

  I could also have made all the geese go in one direction.

Another light border and I was ready for the outer borders using more of the focal print that was the basis of the color scheme.

Here are the stats for my quilt. 

The center block is 36" square. 

I floated the star by adding a 2" (cut) border around all four sides.

The flying geese are 3" by 6" (finished).

There are floating borders above and below the geese borders -- cut 2" again.

The final border is cut 5 1/2".  I cut the side borders along the lengthwise grain of the fabric and the top and bottom borders along the crosswise grain to keep the bird houses upright.

Finished size is 48" by 64",

Next week, my charity quilt making friends will layer it up for quilting.

If you read THIS POST about how much I love to layer quilts, you would have been impressed, yesterday as the group met, I actually spent the entire 2 1/2 hours layering quilts?!? 

I was impressed!

I made my Mom's apple cake and took it along -- figured we could use some comfort food!

It's easy to make and it was well known in her social circles -- we served it after her memorial service and it was so much fun to hear people remark "it's Ruth's apple cake" over and over.

No picture because it was gone before I thought about sharing the recipe.

So here it is!

Apple Cake

Peel and slice/chop up 2 to 3 (tart) apples.

Grease and flour a 9" by 13" baking pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (I use 335 degrees in my convection oven)

Beat together 1 1/3 cup sugar and 3 large eggs.

Add 7/8 cup (7 oz.) cooking (canola or corn) oil

Stir in 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir 2 cups sliced apples and 1 cup chopped nuts (I like pecans) into the batter.

Spread batter in baking pan -- I sprinkle some cinnamon sugar over the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

You could also sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar after it cools.

Another variation is a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top a piece of cake with a drizzle of caramel sauce!!

Yum!!

Blessing to everyone for a restful weekend full of smiles and stitching!!

Mary