Quilty Pleasures: Scrappy Trip Around the World

Many of us love to start quilts. The thrill of making something new, with different fabric,  and learning new techniques certainly gets me going. I'm gung ho all the way, up to a point.

Finishing in a timely manner is another matter, altogether. I am a paralyzed perfectionist, so finishing means I must accept any mistakes, real or imagined, if  the task is complete. So there it sits.

That's why there are about 15 neatly stowed away project boxes illustrating this petrified perfectionism. But I'm working on it.

This photo was taken a little over a year ago, when I had almost all the blocks complete.

Other, more juicy projects intervened, so it isn't until this month that I finally finished my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt. It's from a Bonnie Hunter tutorial.

I have to say it was quite the stash buster, but of course there's always more where that came from.

It's queen sized, with enough to cover the pillows and to have a ten inch drop off the sides.

The batting is bamboo, something I haven't chosen before. The quilting was done by Michael Siewert at ThreadBear, my local quilt shop in Las Vegas, New Mexico. If you don't live nearby, you can mail your quilt to them and they do an excellent job. I chose a widely spaced, loopy design because I didn't want the quilt to be too heavy.

The backing is 108 inches wide, by Kaufman.

The binding is scrappy and machine stitched because it's going to be used a lot. I used this tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew. In a perfect world, the stitching is unobtrusive on the front, and I am still working on that.

So even if it's not perfect, it's done and I love it and it's on the bed.

Quilty Pleasures and Ranch Life: A Scrappy Trip With Thistles

It's been a while since I posted anything quilty because, well, I've been busy! But I've been working (somewhat) steadily on Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World blocks whilst binge watching this season's Orphan Black. I restarted my unfinished scrappy trip quilt thanks to Diana.

Diana, a Girl Scout, has been working on her Gold Project and sent out a call for Scrappy Trips blocks. She wants to make 16 quilts (actually, it's going to be more than that) and gift them to kids who have aged out of the foster care system. The Chicken River Modern Quilters and another group of quilters at ThreadBear, my local quilt shop, spent some time making blocks to send to Diana. All this scrappy tripping inspired me to find a box of blocks already completed and finish this baby up!

Only four blocks remaining for a queen sized quilt. Then it's time for assembly.

So what's been making me so busy? Thistles! Scottish Thistles! We've been out and about on the ranch chopping these invasive, noxious, non-native weeds. Actually, Tom chops.

These thistles are biennials, which means they live for two years, first as a rosette baby and the next year as a flowering nuisance that can reseed itself many times over. They will take over a whole area and although cattle might eat the babies, they will not eat the mature ones, crowding out anything nutritious growing there.  So Tom is chopping both, trying to dig up the rosette babies, roots and all and chopping down the ticking time bombs which are the thistles in their flower stage.

Here's what the flowering Scottish thistles look like:

We've been chopping for a couple weeks now and it's touch and go as to whether we will get them all before they start reseeding.

My job is to gather up the chopped down flower thistles and toss them into the Ranger.

Here are my grabbers because those suckers are evil! I bought them years ago to collect leaves and then for pine needles. Tom suggested using them for the thistles which was a wizard idea.

 We both wear snake chaps because there have been too many close encounters with rattlesnakes to take chances.

 Using the grabbers and sometimes the garden fork for big piles, I throw them into the Ranger and dump them where there will be a big bonfire when they dry out. (Why do I have a sneaking hunch that even though they will be burned, we will find a thistle forest next spring?)

So far we've collected seven loads of these nasty fellers (Scotland's national flower). As I drove this load back to the dumping area, I spotted so many more growing in our field.

And so it goes. (thanks, kurt)

Quilty Pleasures Saturday: Tula Pink, City Planner

Last year our local modern quilt group, The Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild, decided to make a quilt together that we would sell or raffle. The proceeds would pay a quilt teacher to come to Las Vegas, New Mexico, our headquarters.

So we decided to make blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, and went to town on the project. Although there were hiccups with some of the blocks, we ended up with enough to make a double/queen-sized quilt . There were several layout options at the back of the book, and we decided on City Planner because its background would serve to unify the very scrappy blocks. The background and binding make the blocks look like they are floating. Very cool.

In a few days I will post another shot, a little closer and with details so you can see the quilting and binding, which are absolutely perfect choices.

It still needs a hanging sleeve and label and we will be good to go.

Many thanks to all the members of the Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild who sewed blocks, chose the background and binding, and assembled the whole shebang.