Blogger's Quilt Festival - Georgia on My Mind

With all the quilts I make, there are actually not that many that are finished right now... So when the Blogger's Quilt festival rolled around, I didn't think I had anything to contribute. But then I thought of this one :-)

I made this quilt this past July, when my grandmother was hospitalized suddenly. I started the top and had it quilted and bound in less than 10 days.

That was fortuitous, because my grandmother passed away exactly one week after I gave it to her. I named it Georgia on My Mind, because she always will be :-)

It was made completely from stash, which helped the quick-ness of it. I quilted it with little sprounts on my home machine, and machine bound it, which also helped the quick-ness. :-)

Stats:
Georgia on My Mind
Finished 60x60
Pieced, quilted and bound with Aurifil 2024 on my Bernina 750QE.

An Update

I just wanted to let you guys know why I've been MIA... you remember the quilt I made for my grandmother, Georgia On My Mind?

Well, exactly one week after giving it to her, she passed away. This has been a pretty tough time for me, she and I were very close, and I'm even named after her. Since my Mom's passing last year, my grandmother had been fulfilling some of those 'maternal' voids for me. Having another loss so soon after losing my Mom has been really hard. It sucks, really. Your prayers are appreciated.

BUT. Sewing is my coping mechanism, and I've been doing some of that. I've started a new quilt out of my long-hoarded stash of Luxe in Bloom, so I'll share some of that later this week.

Georgia On My Mind

I finished it in time!

I started this quilt about a week ago, and quilted and bound it on Friday just in time to gift it on Saturday. In my trend of naming quilts after songs, this one is Georgia On My Mind. It's for my grandmother, who has been ill, and her first name is Georgia. So I thought it was appropriate :-)

(I lint rolled after I took this picture!)

For the back I used the block I messed up as well as a big block made of solids that I used in my grandfather's quilt. Yes, I am going to finish that one. I'm just at a quilting inspiration standstill.

I took this quilt outside to photograph for the first time, and I really like how that came out. The grass was a little dewy, and one of the pictures is sunny and the other darker because I didn't think to wait for the cloud to pass. Live and learn!

I free motion quilted it with little sprouts that go in alternating directions, and echo quilted the gray stars for interest. I had been thinking about how to quilt this, and then saw this post on Julie's blog that SAME DAY. Perfection!

I bound it in a Denyse Schmidt print that went with it perfectly. It finished at 60x60, and I used ~30 blue prints, I think 17 pink/red prints, and about 10 gray prints. They were almost all from stash, except some of the reds, because I don't work with red very often, and don't keep it stocked.

A Quick Finish!

I started this quilt late last week, and finished the top and basted it yesterday! I'm hoping to get it quilted today so it will be ready for gifting tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I actually cut the batting to size on the table, with the quilt and batting folded into quarters, instead of on the floor with them both spread out. SOOO much easier!!

I also basted on the table for the first time ever. There were a couple lumps that I had to get out, but I'll get the hand of it. So much more comfortable! I'm definitely doing this again, it's just not that often that I do quilts that are small enough!

So now this is what my design wall looks like. So much potential! I actually have something that I'd like to play with, but I'm so behind on both of my BOMs that I might try to be responsible for a hot second and catch up on those first.

Progress

I've made some progress on my newest endeavor... quite a lot actually, I only have 3 blocks left to go!

The other night I cut all my fabric and put the fabric for the blocks onto plates to keep them straight. I think it's funny - for a scrappy quilt, this seems pretty organized...

I know scrappy quilts are supposed to be really random and stuff, but I tend to pre-select the fabric for each block to make sure that the values and scales of fabrics are spread out evenly. (I did this with Long Strange Trip too) It's not rocket science, and I'm not super fastidious about it. But I did have a little bit of a time during Sunshine Daydream, when I was trying not to repeat the same prints in different colors in the same block. That didn't work out too well. I thought it would really bother me when the quilt was done, but it doesn't in the least. And I think that quilt is my favorite of all the ones I've made at this point!

SO... I sat down with some netflix on Sunday night and cranked out a few blocks.

16 to be exact. 

I did six the first night I started the quilt, just to get an idea of how it would look, so that means I only have three left! I'm stoked to get this quilt finished, it's going to be for my grandmother, who has been very ill recently.

I did some of my smallest piecing ever, the center block of this star is 1 1/2". So cute! (the measurements came out better this time!)

Signs of productivity!

Starting something new...

Man, my blogging has really slowed down lately! I promise I'm actually doing stuff, but I've definitely not been as productive as I'd like. BUT I have a finish to show you tomorrow!

Because of the recent finish, I started a new project last night. Well, I cut the fabric. And then realized that I had miscalculated and needed to buy more. So I started to start a new piece, anyway.

Red is so hard to photograph... any tips?


So after I cut all that, I decided to make a prototype block in a smaller size. Yeah. It was 4am. This block came out at 5 1/2" square. It was supposed to be 8 1/2" square.

At least the fabric I cut was right.