February Finishes! First Friday!

By George! A little incentive & focus does work wonders!  I got busy and finished a couple of things this First week of February and since it's Friday, it's time to share!

Perky Paulette at Sweet P and I are back today,, sharing what we've accomplished this week.  The two have become Four, with the addition of Just Judy & Paulette's Friend, Claire, whose Finish can be seen Here.

Up First For me is "Housewarming" which was designed by Bread & Butter Quilts of Quilt House in Gardnerville, NV for their inclusion in the Best of Quilt Sampler Magazine issue published in 2007.

 You've seen it here before, but not completely Finished, as in Bound and Labeled!
Counting backward, it's hard to believe that it's already been as many years as it has since we discovered the original quilt hanging in it's place of honor, at Quilt House the first time we traveled through Gardnerville, in September 2011.  We were on our way to visit our daughter during her Veterinary Internship in Sacramento.  My husband was so enamored with the original quilt hanging from the ceiling, that I'm pretty sure he was oblivious to the growing pile of fabric and patterns that I had the ladies ringing up for me!

It was knowing how much my husband loves this quilt that got me through to the finish line!  This poor quilt has been the victim of several mishaps on it's way to becoming my husbands "not such a big surprise" birthday present earlier this week.  Most recently, during our September trip to California, I sat with my Maecee & our newest Grandpuppy, Harrison, and began sewing the binding down.

About the time I was rounding the second corner, my heart sank, my stomach did a flip-flop and I realized that, with the stars I had incorporated into the design, it was going to look really "off", so back into the bag it went, so I could deal with it at home.  It stayed in the bag, in time out, as punishment for all its nonsense and naughtiness til about a week ago.  I pulled it back out, took every stitch out of the binding, laid it out on the cutting table and cautiously went to work, praying over my precious little stars, with my biggest ruler and sharpest rotary blade.  I went all the way around, re-trimming, but in the end, removed very little.  I pressed the binding, sewed it on again, adjusting the length.  Pressed again, & laid it out to inspect the corners.  Sigh of relief!  It all looked uniform!  Every evening, hubby would come home and ask what fun, cute projects I'd worked on that day to receive only a vague answer...because more often than not, Housewarming had just dashed back into the sewing room to hide!  As planned, I put the very last knot, into the very last stitch of the binding, on his birthday, this past Monday.

 

For me this quilt documents a very important but bittersweet time of transition in our lives.  A child left our midst and remains in California, but led us to new treasured friends and adventures we would not have otherwise had.  It marks a time when we became just the two of us again, for better or worse.

 

 This is Homecomings heavily pieced back from scraps of previous quilt tops and quilt backs that held special meaning for my husband.  Remember the Barn Quilt made for our Veterinarian Daughter?

This piecing frenzy I went on garnered a text from my dear quilter, something to the effect of , "Geez!  You pieced the crap out of this back!  It could be a Top!"

It's all okay though, I sorta crossed my fingers and promised not to do it again and she laughed.

 

 I asked for masculine quilting but other than that, had no idea where to go with it.  Bless her heart, she read my mind, even though there was nothing in it!  How can you not love these sprays of pinecones?

And some sprays of simple leaves alongside some McTavishing!

Here's my original contribution to the pattern.  I wasn't wild about the little L brackets in each corner and thought that bringing that giant star from the center out into a small star in each corner was more befitting this quilt.  They became a favorite element for my husband and my quilter.

While I'm not a big fan of squiggly lines for filler, I do love the simplicity of the little leaves in the star points and I'm not sweating the little stuff.

I have to say, I'm also blessed to have developed a rapport with my quilter that has allowed me to verbalize if there's something I'm not wild about.  During the process she texted tons of pictures and when one element REALLY bugged me, she was so great about removing it and working with me to come up with a better motif.

 

Now, do you think that was enough Finishing for this First week of February?

No, that was just Monday, and I was inspired.

 

This little Pinterest find is very on point regarding this next Finish!

 

The Great I Am!

 

I just put the last stitches into the binding of this little wallhanging about an hour ago!

It's been quilted, folded on the shelf and needing to be bound for a couple of years...at least!

 
I took what was intended to be a soft book for kids and carefully trimmed the pictures down, framed them with coordinates, trimmed them down so they'd dance their little wonky dance back and forth and set them together with sashing inspired by "Vanilla Stars", a Pattern Basket design. 

  These comical critters by designer, Leanne Anderson of The Whole Country Caboodle, make me smile.  The intent of this quilt is to appeal to the smallest critter lovers in our family and share the Christmas Story in a fashion that works for little people with short attention spans.

 The only issue I have with this story is in the last block which, to me, indicates a little confusion.
"Hello, My Name is Gertrude, I am the Gander.  It's my job to end this so you'll never have to Wonder"

well HELLLLLLO...I wondering!

See! I CAN make a solid single fabric quilt back!

Just don't expect it to happen often!

In this case, this cute animal toss print just speaks to me and I wanted a large field of it to continue to enjoy!

Too Cute!

 

And There You Have It!  There has been some other sewing going on, in an effort to clear some space on my design wall, so hopefully it will happen before our Fabulous February Finish time comes to an end!

 

Before I sign off, I wanted to share an ice sculpture photo from our trip to McCall last weekend that I neglected to share in my previous post.

 

"Meet George Jetson,

His Boy Elroy,

Daughter Judy.

Jane, His Wife!"

I'm so glad they let Rosie & Astro come along for the ride! 

Where would they be without them?

 

Well Folks!  That's it for this Friday!

 

I hope you're able to Fit some Finishing time into your schedule too!  If you wish to join us on this adventure, just hop on in!  You wouldn't believe how old some of the Finishes that need to be completed around here are!

I'm Finding that I have motivation and inspiration to Finally give some of them their due Finish and stop Feeling guilty about them this month!

 

~Nancie Anne