Flimsy is done!

 

 

My Celtic Solstice flimsy is done! I'm mostly done with the backing, so I hope to get it to my favorite long-armer, Michele Mayton, sometime this week to get it quilted. It will be a pieced back using some fabric I had in my stash and some leftovers from the top.

 

I've said before I used only stash for this quilt, but I did have to get something for the outer teal border. Nothing I had was just "right."

 

I really love this quilt and the design. Thanks, Bonnie Hunter, for all you do for your fans!

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday. Check out the quilty inspiration!

 



I've assembled the blocks

    In playing in EQ7, I decided to go with a 5 by 7 layout and a quilt that measures 60.5 by 78.5, a generous throw size.

Some of the blocks

 

   I got the file from the Inklingo blog post about layouts and changed the colors to mimic mine. I managed the blocks and now I'm thinking about the borders. I love everything about Bonnie's design, but I have the irrepressible urge to "make it my own," so I'm playing in EQ7.

    I’ve played a little on the computer and I’m undecided.

    Borders are my least favorite part of putting a quilt top together. I just don’t like wrestling with big pieces of fabric. That’s probably why I love Bonnie’s designs so much.
    I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday. Check out the eye candy!

Loving the Solstice!

   


My first nine Celtic Solstice blocks

    I've assembled the first 9 blocks of my version of Celtic Solstice and I couldn't be happier with my color choices.
    There's always that little bit of unease when you change colors from the designer. I thought I could keep the values the same and it would be OK.
     But, since you don't know what the quilt is going to look like, it's still a bit of a crap shoot. I think I won!
    I noticed today while reading the Facebook posts, that I've pressed my 54-40 or Fight blocks wrong. I can fix that on the other blocks, but I'm not going to change the ones I've already done. I've learned a lot on this project and I'll post about that next week.
    This design is a winner. Of all the posts I've seen on FB, they're all wonderful!
    I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday and Bonnie's Link-up. Check out the creativity!

   

A look back

    I had a pretty good quilting year in 2013. Going in, I wanted to improve my Free Motion Quilting, and I glad to say I made headway on that goal. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m closer than I was.
    According to my records, I finished 16 projects. Most were older UFOs that I used as practice for my FMQ. I’ve seen other bloggers make collages of their quilts, so I tried it:

From left, top to bottom: Stack of Leaves, Carpenter's Star, Ellie's Paper Dolls, Christmas Diamonds, Asian Kisses, Big Zig, Gabe's Quilt, Scrappy Trips in Blue, Butterfly Whirpool, Texas Braid and Sophie's Butterfly Challenge.

    This is just some of them from this year, but I haven’t been consistent about taking pictures of all my completed quilts, so you’ll have to trust me that there were five more finishes. (Three were charity quilts for the Mansfield Millennium Quilters and I don’t remember why I didn’t get pix of the other two.)
     So, what about this year? Currently I’m working on Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice Mystery. She revealed a knockout design on Jan. 1 and I have all the pieces and parts done as of this afternoon. I will probably start assembling some of the blocks tomorrow. I’m pondering a design decision on the other set and I won’t make a decision on that until this weekend.
    I chose to make half the number of units required for the king-sized quilt, so I’ll have layout decisions to make too, although I love the quilt so much I may go ahead and make the larger option. Another decision I don’t need to make immediately.
    More on my plans for the New Year in my next post. . .