Quilts Galore

I worked on so many quilts in late July, all of August and the first half of September. 

No time to blog...I didn't even read many blogs,

A big project needed to be finished by September 22nd and it is finished and washed...ready to be gifted to a friend of my husband.  

My husband has never requested I make a quilt for someone...

so when he made a request in July...

I  hopped right to it. 

Since retiring as a pilot from FedEx, my husband jumped into another intense flying job, working for a high-end fishing lodge in remote western Alaska. He flies a De Havilland Beaver on floats, getting guests to special fishing locations on remote rivers. He is gone all summer, late May through September 22nd. There are three other pilots who work at the lodge to fly the lodge's two other Beavers and one Cessna 206...all on floats.

That's my hubby above working at his summer gig. 

Warning...

I  am going to wander off into more "plane" talk.

My husband...for many years...wanted to fly a DeHavilland Beaver on floats.

 It is a coveted plane for traveling around remote Alaska locations. It is a tough plane to purchase...hard to find a good one since they were built in the 1950s and they cost about a million dollars...really! 

Small planes are the backbone of Alaska's transportation options. Flying is such a popular pursuit that there is a line of Alaska batik fabrics that have float planes and small planes.

I had some of this fabric in my stash I purchased last summer and was saving for a quilt for my husband. It got me started. I knew I needed a simple pattern so looked through one of my Fabric Cafe books and found a pattern I liked, "Roman Holiday," from the book, Quick as a Wink 3-Yard Quilts. 

I took that design and did a mockup in EQ8 to the size requested.

EQ8 Version

I ran outside one day when there was a brief sunny moment to take a photo of the finished quilt...no binding on it yet.

I used an edge to edge design form Christy Dillon called Ocean Waves.

After I got it bound and washed I took one last photo of it the quilt I am calling, Tikchik Narrows.

It is 91 x91-inches.

The next quilt finished recently was a simple baby quilt for my daughter-in-law's new nephew. 

 My granddaughters helped pick out the fabric so I wanted to get it done right away.

A simple panel with border fabrics. The line of fabric is called Big Kitties.

I forgot to take photos so I asked the new mom to get some for me.

I used another edge to edge design, this time from Totally Quilted called, "Salty."

I had a major boo boo...I didn't save the quilting design before starting to stitch and I manipulated it quite a bit. I stitched the first row and then bumped the computer screen which caused me to lose the design!!! So frustrating. It took me at least an hour to recreate the design to match the first line of quilting I had done.

I stumbled upon the cutest minky fabric to back the quilt at a local quilt shop. 

Next, I pulled a quilt top from my aging stack of tops and got it on the frame for quilting.

I made this quilt top in 2019 when I was attending the Breakfast Club monthly. We all started with the same pattern and all the variations were so fun to see. The pattern is, "Butterfly Patch," from Lella Boutique. I created my own scrappy background with batiks in my stash.

I also picked different block pattern to make up the butterfly body. 

I quilted with, Calypso Edge to Edge Curls by Christy Dillon.

And one more quilt finished! 

This one was the second-to-last quilt I did on my previous longarm that did not have a digital option...

so all custom quilting. 

The backing is a cuddle fabric which the grandkids love. I've started doing my bindings by machine...no  more hand stitching especially on quilts with cuddle backing.

I had a retreat the last week of July and the second week of September. Between the two retreats I finished a fun top made with fat quarters in a blue and white colorway...apparently my favorite colorway looking at my stash of finished tops.

 The Pattern is, "Playa Del Sol," designed my Nancy Rink.

 I bought it as a download on Connecting Threads. 

A second quilt top I finished at the first July retreat is this grouping of wildlife batik fabrics...I had a few fat quarters I never knew what to do with and finally saw this simple, FREE pattern...also on Connecting Threads. It is Windowpane Patchwork. I made mine larger by adding two rows. 

I am calling this one, "Walk on the Wild Side."

It will be a nice throw quilt at  60 x 76-inches

I just had to start another red, white and blue quilt in July. I worked on this at home. I have all the blocks made...it might be a while before I get the blocks all sewn together.

This is another Scott Flanagan pattern and these are batiks he designed for Banyan Fabrics, "Celebrating 250 Years." The pattern was in the Spring 2021 issue of Quilter's World. It is called, "Stretched Stars Sampler." I love the aqua color Scott added to the fabric line. 

I also touched up one final quilt top. I had it sitting on a shelf for years because I wanted to add at least one more row. It is another top from when I was going to Breakfast Club once a month. It is from 2011...yipes. It is the pattern, "Mint Chocolate," from the book, "Cozy Modern Quilts," by Kim Shaefer. 

It was a jelly roll project. I pulled some strips and fat quarters to come up with another row. I am calling my version, "Green Tea," which was the name of the Bali Pop I used.

 It measures 54 1/2 x 64 3/4-inches.

I do have a black bear photo...another one that visited my neighbor in July. 

The bears have mostly been down at the river...not too many sightings in the neighborhood.

Fall is here. 

Winter is predicted to be extremely mild...hmmm. 

That usually means more ice than snow. 

Not so good. 

Good for quilting I suppose.