finished: tule mountains quilt

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finished quilts, tule, tule mountains quilt

Observations that are going to take the place of a real post:

1) It’s easy to look like you’re finishing a whole bunch of stuff when you’re a blog slacker (slacking as in reading and posting). Ta-da! All the finishes! When really, I’m just not getting it together to post real WIP posts (which I invariably find more interesting to read, even if they are harder to write).

2) I’m a lazy quilt namer. This thing is in a box on the way to Texas right now–a gift for a dear friend–and I didn’t even think about naming it until I sat down to lazy-blog it. Ta-da! Fabric line + pattern = name!

3) I have the best, most helpful husband, who helped me photograph this quilt with NO complaining, even as the wind tried to grab the quilt right out of his hands. Marry a good person, quilters, one who doesn’t gripe about fabric expenditures or goofy quilt photo shoots. Bonus points for tallness.

4) Free-motion quilting really does get easier and more fun the more you do it. Things that help: Aurifil, and the correct FMQ foot. Finally I threw away my broken FMQ foot and questioned whether the $60 replacement my dealer sold me was correct, bought a generic FMQ foot for $14 on Amazon, and now quilting is going awesome. I’d never heard “try a different FMQ foot” in the list of FMQ troubleshooting advice you always hear, so here it is: try a different FMQ foot if you’re struggling with skipped stitches and thread breakage. Worst case is you’re out $14.

5) The most fun projects are the ones that possess you. In the middle of all kinds of deadline-chore-gift sewing, I HAD to make the blocks for this quilt using the tutorial Molli Sparkles posted. Had to. Immediately. Five in a day. I had to put the project down to finish all my obligation sewing, but then the blocks went easily and quickly once I was able to turn back to the project. The fabric? A stack of Leah Duncan’s latest line for Art Gallery Fabrics, Tule. (Had to get it used so I can have an excuse to buy Meadow in February.)

6) and the last: Back a quilt in Art Gallery Fabric, at least once before you die. The feel is like the crispest, softest, most-expensive luxury bedding you’ve ever felt. (Peg of Sew Fresh Fabrics, who sold me this backing, says it’s “like buttah.”) (AGF should make sheets. I’d spend a fortune.) And it crinkles perfectly in the wash. Amazing stuff.

this quilt is about 56” x 66”: a good throw size.

finished: snowy stars align quilt

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finished quilts, snowy stars align quilt

the smallest one was Madeline.

She was not afraid of mice–

She loved winter, snow, and ice.

I’m amazed what picture books I can recite in part or in whole these days, but the classic Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans, will always be one of my favorites. I can recite it from beginning to end, without faltering, and these past two winters the line “She loved winter, snow, and ice” runs through my head on repeat. When I found out November was my month as a Grace Circle do. Good stitches quilter, I knew I wanted to do something freezy-cold wintery.

I made this quilt as my first do. Good Stitches quilt; you can find my original post about this quilt here. The block design is by Sarah of Stitching and Bacon (isn’t she smart?!) and can be found here. (Thanks to Sarah for letting us use your block!) (And thanks also to the Grace Circle ladies, who all sew with a PERFECT .25” seam. You gals are totally amazing, let’s make a bunch more quilts together.)

Happily we got a bit of snow–but not too much–the week after I finished this quilt and we were able to zip out and get a few photos. I backed this small quilt (about 52” x 52”) in a charcoal-gray minky and quilted loose, wonky loops across it. I did use Warm and Natural as a batting this time with the minky and it made for a really heavy, drapey, lovely wintery quilt.

Yes, I pin basted the minky. Yes, I agree it is a pain to stick the pins through the poly fabric but it really truly does work just fine!

This quilt is packed up and ready to be shipped this week to My Very Own Blanket, an organization that provides throw sized quilts to kids in foster care. I know the colors make it boy-appropriate but really? I’m hoping a little girl who loves blue–or, winter, snow, and ice–chooses this one.