Friday, July 26, 2019

Throwback Thursday (on Friday) / Beauties Pageant 42

It’s been just me and my little guy here at home this week, and the relative quiet has afforded me time at my sewing machine. The goal with every project I’ve picked up, however, has been to clean up the joint.... I pieced piles of fabric into backs so I could get them on hangers. I made franken batting so I could put my smaller Janome, which has a zigzag stitch, back in the closet. I basted quilts so I could fold them up and get them out of the way.

It’s been productive in a I’m-less-likely-to-trip-over-something kind of way and not in a this-would-make-a-great-picture kind of way, so I found myself looking over projects from the past five summers to remind myself that tackling these little tasks will eventually result in a finish (or 14).

For example, in July 2014, I was making these sweet pouches. See that dark blue fabric on the middle pouch? I am still trying to use up that yardage, five years later, in this quilt and this quilt.


In July 2015, I finished a Social Tote, by Carolyn Friedlander. I remember that making experience very differently than the post indicates. It is a brilliant pattern but a pain to sew. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve given away the pattern since coming to my senses.


Three years ago, in July 2016, I finished piecing the top for my Park Bench Quilt. Man, I love that quilt. (I’m not sure how easy it is to find the Park Bench pattern book. I know my local quilt shop has a few copies if you need one.)


Two Julys ago I was working on my Ode to Art Gallery Quilt. The corresponding post is worth a read. It talks about why I think that quilt, in all its scrappiness, works and explores Tara Faughan’s idea of bridge colors.


And just last July I made my first hexagon pillow, which prompted me to make another pillow and then another and then a Market Tote, all adorned with hexies.


What have you been doing at your sewing machine this week? The rest of us would love to hear! If you have a finish from your blog or Instagram feed to share—a completed block or flimsy counts in my book—please add it to this week’s linky. : )

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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
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Friday, July 19, 2019

I’m All Smiles / Beauties Pageant 41


My 47XY+21 quilt is having a pretty awesome summer. First off, it is traveling more than I am. Last month, it was displayed at the Vermont Quilt Festival, where it won a ribbon.

There was all sorts of confusion over on Instagram when a guild friend delivered that news because I hadn’t received any official word from the festival itself, but it’s legit: Based on the average scores of the three judges, 47XY+21 earned a first-place ribbon.

And then, as you can see in the above picture, the same quilt was printed in the pages of the Well Said issue of Curated Quilts. If you haven’t checked out the issue yet, I recommend it. My project is in very good company.

If you’re wondering what this quilt is all about, it’s an abstract rendering of my younger son’s chromosomes. Unlike you and me, my little guy has an extra chromosome on the 21st pair, which is another way of saying he has Down syndrome. For more on my journey parenting this child, check out my original post here. : )

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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
Follow on Bloglovin

Thursday, July 18, 2019

2019 Finish-A-Long: Q3 Goals

The fabulous hosts of this year’s Finish-A-Long are at it again, encouraging us quilters to set some goals for the upcoming quarter.

My list of WIPs is getting longer by the day. Here are the ones that I will admit to starting in the past few months and that I hope to finish by the October 9 deadline ...

Little Farmer Quilt

This baby quilt is my priority right now. The top is almost finished—so just basting, quilting, and binding to go. (Do you like my use of “just” there, as if basting, quilting, and binding happen in a day or two?) Update: The finished quilt is posted here!



Lapsize Ship’s Ladder Quilt

I have no recollection of buying a bundle of Denyse Schmidt’s New Bedford line, but one has been aging in my stash for a few years now. I finally started cutting into it, to make a lapsize Ship’s Ladder Quilt, which Denyse designed for the collection.



Baby Ship’s Ladder Quilt

Do I know a baby who needs a quilt? No, but I am determined to bust through my New Bedford bundle, and that lapsize one won’t cut it. A second Ship’s Ladder Quilt, sized for a little person, should polish it off.



Granny Squares

I shared my granny square blocks earlier this month. Right now, I have 11 blocks done. That means I have 19 more blocks—or 779 2.5-inch squares—more to go.



Rainbow Strip-and-Flip #1

My first-ever strip-and-flip project is pieced and waiting to be quilted. The plan is to free-motion quilt it. (Say a little prayer for me on that front.)



Rainbow Strip-and-Flip #2

This project looks suspiciously like the one above, right? I hope to sew this heap of fabric into an identical strip-and-flip quilt.



Garden Plots in Nightfall

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... You’ve seen this quilt before on my FAL lists, which is maddening because the top was 90 percent completed back in November.


You know there are other WIPs here at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters, and it would take a minor act of God for me to finish the seven listed here, let alone entertain the notion of finishing the others. Regardless of the success or failure I am setting myself up for(!), thank you, in advance, for accompanying me on the journey!

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Friday, July 12, 2019

Pageant Highlight Reel / Beauties Pageant 40

Quilty friends, welcome to another Beauties Pageant. Instead of confessing to starting yet another project (and let’s face it—I have done exactly that since I last posted), I thought we’d look back at highlights from the past few months of pageants.

One of my favorite finishes of late is the Footnote Quilt that Chris, of Chris Knits Sews, made. The pattern achieves the same effect as the Dutch Windmill Quilt I sewed with my guild a few years ago. I love that Chris used prints, though, which soften the subtle curves of the overall quilt ...


And then there’s this flying geese wall quilt from Gretchen, of Gretchen’s Little Corner. The modern tone of this project isn’t her usual MO, but—wow!—it’s well executed. The pieced flanged binding, in particular, is brilliant.


I have a weakness for Christmas quilts, so Alison’s Christmas Churns Quilt has been on my radar since she posted the corresponding tutorial on Moda Bake Shop. Head to her blog, Little Bunny Quilts, for more information and a link to the tutorial while there’s plenty of time before the holidays to make one for yourself. ; )


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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
Follow on Bloglovin

Friday, July 5, 2019

Serial Project Starter / Beauties Pageant 39


I cannot stop starting new projects. I have nine in various stages of completion on my sewing table right now, and that didn’t dissuade me yesterday from compiling a new fabric pull for yet another quilt. I usually max out about 5 or 6 works in process. It’s been weirdly masochistic to see how many I can embark on without losing my wits about me and shoving it all into the closet.

Case in point: these lovely granny square blocks. I’m making them because I have the fabric (some of it already cut into the requisite 2.5-inch size) and, well, because I want to. There are 41 squares in each block and more than 1,200 in the lapsize quilt I have planned. My scrap pile had better look visibly smaller once I remove that number of 2.5-inch squares from it.

I have yet to trim up these beauties, but we’re still in the middle of Cain Renovation 2019 and I can’t find my square ruler (or my washi tape or my lens cap—but don’t tell my husband because it’s really his lens cap!). Who knew that erecting a wall and renovating a kitchen would wreck havoc on every corner of our home?


The triumph here, aside from busting through scraps, is that I’m nesting seams instead of pressing open and pinning. And—look!—the results are pretty good ...


I am dreadfully behind in responding to emails and clicking through to pageant participants, but I hope you’ll share your recent finishes nonetheless!

Linking up to Oh Scrap! and Main Crush Monday ...

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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
Follow on Bloglovin