Sunday, February 25, 2018

Row Along Finish & Clementine Blocks 2


I finished my Bee In My Bonnet Row Along Quilt. This was my OMG for February. It was a UFO from July 2013. 
I finally took the plunge and decided on my borders--a thinner version of the outer pieced border on Lori Holt's design. I made mine a finished three inch instead of six inches. Mine is 58 x 72 inches!
 The backstory on this quilt is I started it soon after I started blogging in 2013. I had gotten frustrated with a lack of modern quilting in my local area and I turned to the internet and blogs to inspire me. I discovered Lori Holt's Bee In My Bonnet blog. At that time this was a still available on her blog as a series of tutorials. I competed all of the rows in a couple of weeks and organized all of my scraps by color--the modern scrappy style has become my favorite.
 Then, I hit a wall and could not make a decision about borders. It languished in a plastic tub for several years. I even taught a BOM class for this quilt in 2016, but did not finish my own.
I did buy a turquoise fabric with the borders in mind and I picked up a red fabric for the backing.
 I love the red backing even though it was not a smart choice. The first time I washed it with four Color Catchers and they came out very pink. The red backing seemed to have bled along the quilting where the label was located. I washed it again with more Color Catchers and the pink on the Color Catchers was lighter, but the bleeding remained.
I ended up soaking the quilt in a very hot bubble bath of half a cup of Dawn Clear Dish Soap for over 12 hours.  It seemed to do the trick and I washed it again with several Color Catchers and they came out white. Success-into the dryer it went!
Here is an up close of my label and the quilting. I struggled with how to quilt it. I wish I could afford to have my quilts professionally quilted, but that is not in my budget and long arming it myself is usually not very successful. I decided to embrace the motto- Done Is Better Than Perfect and quilt it horizontally with my Pfaff's large wavy stitch an inch apart. Since the focus is on the blocks themselves, I think the quilting actually works really well. 
I may even get my Bee Happy Appliqué Quilt prepped to quilt it this way. What do you think? This one needs to be finished too. #ufoslayer
I have also been keeping up with the Clementine Quilt Along--here are my Blocks for February. This quilt is going to be spectacular! You can find the block directions here and don't forget this is a fundraiser for St. Jude!

I am still working on binding for my friend and that will be my Slow Sunday Stitching





26 comments:

  1. Your quilts are charming and beautiful!! I love all the color and the variety of blocks in each quilt and the personal touches that you add. I can't wait to see the appliqued top turn into a finished quilt. Thanks for sharing your art!

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  2. Your quilt is gorgeous! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.

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  3. Congratulations on your finish! It is a fantastic quilt. Very sorry to hear about the trouble that red caused you. I had a very similar problem this winter with my Galaxy of Stars and soaking in hot water with Dawn completely stopped the bleeding and ridded me of the excess dye.

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  4. That turned out just great, Tanya! I really like the quilting - simple is perfect for it.

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  5. Great job on the quilting! I like that wavy stitch on my sewing machine too. Your quilts are fun and colourful!

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  6. You got your pictures taken :)
    I just started my Bee Happy....yours looks great!!!

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  7. Sometimes simple quilting is the perfect choice to let the work of the piecing shine.Yay, for persevering, including with the dye issue.

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  8. What a fabulous finish! Well done... it was waiting for the perfect time to become a quilt!

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  9. I think you did a fabulous job on your Bee quilt...it's gorgeous, Tanya!!

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  10. I love those wavy lines, it gives the quilt such great texture! And I really love the border you've chosen for the quilt, it frames it so nicely. Red always is a culprit for me too. I ruined a quilt label, once using red backing. I'll have to remember blue Dawn soap. Congrats on your finish!

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  11. Your wavy lines look great on this quilt--doesn't distract from all the fun piecing! It will work nicely for your applique quilt too. Congrats on an awesome finish!

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  12. You pick the right quilting pattern. It allows the blocks to be the Stars! I'm glad you got the bleeding issue resolved. You never know about those Reds

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  13. You are the UFO slayer!!! I'm green with envy! Both quilts are just gorgeous!

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  14. I think the quilting on your row quilt is great. Not every quilt calls for heirloom style quilting. Good job. Love your Bee Happy quilt too. So cheerful!

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  15. What a gorgeous quilt! Love the bee on the back. My Dad grew up in Montrose!

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  16. A quilt well worth finishing! Every quilters nightmare of bleeding fabric. Reds and purples have always scared me and I've learned to wash the heck out of them first!

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  17. Great finish and well worth doing. Shame about the red bleeding but well done finding a way to deal with it. I will remember that in the future with reds. I think your quilting looks great as it is. I like it!

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  18. Hi Tanya, what a lovely colourful quilt!

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  19. It looks wonderful as does the quilting on it! congrats on this finish! I am glad to hear the red bleed was finally resolved!

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  20. So wonderfully bright and cheerful! Congratulations on a wonderful, if long awaited, finish.

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  21. Yes!! Yay for UFO finish! I always loved this quilt, and yours is very nice. Great border on it - the thinnier size works perfectly. And the wave-stitch quilting was a superb choice for it. I do think it would be terrific as well on Bee Happy.

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  22. YESS, you are the UFO Slayer!! I remember that Bee In My Bonnet quilt -- yours looks fantastic! I am so glad the sudsy Dawn soak worked for you. I used the same method on my Jingle BOM blocks when I discovered the red fabrics were bleeding. I called it Spa Bloodbath because the soapy water in the dishpan was as dark as chicken blood. Do you like that visual? You're welcome! :-)

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  23. Okay I did not know about the Dawn soak. Good to know snd glad your post is linked for quick reference. Thank you for shari g at TUesday ARchives under our Quilt care theme,

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  24. Boy, those reds just give us all fits!! Good save!

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