Dear Prudence, First Finish of 2022

Dear Prudence was a sew-along, based on an antique, offered by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts in September, 2021.  I fell in love with the original, mostly for the copper-bronze-brown fabrics, and decided to sew along.  The original had pink background and pink border fabrics.  When I finished my quilt the pink border was just too much pink for me.  I changed it out for a brown and am satisfied with it. 

After washing and drying, the quilt finishes at about 18" x 22".  I know everyone calls quilts this size and smaller miniature quilts, or maybe even doll quilts, but the word that comes to my mind is quiltlet.  The suffix -let indicates a diminutive.  (Think piglet, booklet, owlet, droplet, etc.)  The word quiltlet works for me (and I like it better than the word miniature or it's abbreviation, mini).

I used the same fabric for the border on the front and 4/5 of the backing.  In real life it's a medium, tawny-bronze color.  The two photos below are closer to the real-life colors.  Photos taken in different lighting can sure make us wonder what the "real" colors of quilts are! 

I used a single layer of soft flannel for batting.  Because it had been laundered I doubted there would be much shrinkage.  I was pleasantly surprised to see all the crinkly goodness when I pulled it out of the dryer. 

I thought how wonderful that flannel would be for a large quilt, cuddly for sure, but I'm not sure how warm it would be.  But the quiltlet is cuddly and pliable, always one of my goals for the quilts I make.

Finishing this quilt was my One Monthly Goal for February.  I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal February Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.  Thanks so much for organizing and hosting this link-up, Patty.  Click through to see others' amazing finishes for this month!

I thought about linking to Wendy's end-of-the-month mini link-up at The Constant Quilter but since I know I won't be consistent in making quiltlets regularly, I should probably just enjoy the small quilts her other participants make.  You can visit her blog on the last day of each month to find links to their quilts.

Edited to add:  I let Wendy know I finished this quilt this month and she added me to her list of others.  You can read her post and see the names of others who made miniature quilts this month here.  Thanks, Wendy!

I hope your days and year are going great.  We have weather that's typical of early spring but I'm hoping for one or two good, heavy snows--snowstorms, really!--before spring pushes its way past winter, but I think spring is going to be pushier than usual this year and deprive us of a little winter.  What did that groundhog say?

--Nancy.

One Monthly Goal: Attaching a Border

I don't have a great photo of Dear Prudence, not even a photo of the whole quilt after I finished the quilting.  Which may be a good thing because this little quilt is far out of kilter.  The edges narrowed at the top and bowed out on the sides.  

I finished the quilting toward the end of last year and think I'm finally feeling clear-headed enough to cut and sew binding.  That shouldn't be too hard, right?  There are only about 88" to sew.

So that's my One Monthly Goal for February.  I'm linking to February One Monthly Goal Link-up at Elm Street Quilts (and just under the deadline, too!).  Follow the link to see the goals others have set.

And now, just for the cuteness factor, a photo that always--always--makes me smile.

Even if she weren't my granddaughter her smile would bring a smile to my face.  What joy!  This is Sophia, at 8 months, on Christmas Day, 2021.  

I hope you're finding joy in your life!
--Nancy.

Using a Little Hoop for Slow Sunday Stitching

If I can I'll add stitches to Dear Prudence today.  I'm using a little 10" hoop. 

I chose olive green thread and am quilting simple outline stitches.  Since the batting is a piece of flannel and because it won't be heavily used, I don't think it needs a lot of quilting.  After I layered it and searched for a needle I began to think that the flannel was going to be too hard to quilt.  I kept trying out different needles and realized that the right needle makes all the difference!

I hope you have a good Sabbath, whatever you're doing.

--Nancy.

Dear Prudence, Pin-Basted - One Monthly Goal Finish

This is my version of Pam Buda's Quilt Archaeology sew-along quilt, Dear Prudence.  And I'm barely in time to post my One Monthly Goal for November.  (You never know what a month will bring that will delay a goal.)  I just finished making the backing, layering, and pin-basting it tonight.  But, it's done!

In the photo above the brown at the bottom captured the color of the fabric I used better than in the photo below.  I'm satisfied with the colors I chose even though I know the grey border is really close in shade to the brown.  I think they will be fine together.

I'm looking forward to quilting this though I don't know when I'll get started, though I'm still undecided about how to quilt it.  Since it's small maybe I can handle this now, while sciatica is preventing me from doing other things.  We'll see.

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal November Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Patty.

--Nancy.

Oh, Ugh!

It's just too much pink!  I cannot keep this border.  Okay, granted, it may look fine in the photo, but in person--ugh. 

What happened between seeing the quilt below, the original quilt for Pam Buda's Dear Prudence sew-along, and making the quilt above.  What did my eyes not see?  Maybe I focused on those tiny Birds in the Air blocks made in those awesome colors?  I don't know, but somehow I missed the mark--the likeability mark for my own eyes.

Of course the border is already sewn on.  I'm grateful it's a small quilt and won't take too long to unstitch.

Now I'm auditioning fabrics.  The four fabrics around around the edges in the two photos below are the ones I'm considering.  They were options for the blocks that I didn't think were close enough to the fabrics in the original quilt to use.

The fabrics on right and left are reproductions; the other two are not but I thought the colors worked well.  Below is a different view that shows the fabrics better.  It would be good if I could manage at least a hint of contrast between the inner and outer borders.

It is a sad fact that I have impaired vision when it comes to imagining what fabrics will look like in a finished quilt, or anything else for that matter.  Somehow my brain doesn't register the full effect until I see the finished product.  Thank goodness we live in a brick house!

I hope whatever you're sewing or quilting or otherwise working on is going great!

I'm linking this post to
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and
> Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.

Border Questions

Let me tell you, there is nothing like a quilt made from blocks with many small pieces to let you know how you're managing your quarter-inch seams!  A block with 97 pieces has a lot of room for error.  

I'm still considering an applique border of oak leaves and acorns for this quilt and thinking about how to do the border.  I have a question for you with experience.  Is it better to applique the border before sewing it to the quilt or better to sew the border to the quilt and then applique the pieces?  I know it would be easier to handle just a strip of fabric when appliqueing but isn't there a good chance of stretching it out of shape?  What say you dear quilters?  What are your experiences?

I have another question about a border for this little quilt which will finish at about 18" x 23".

I have a fat quarter of fabric which is definitely large enough to cut the border, but it's not long enough, going with the grain, without piecing.  Because it's a small quilt will it work to cut the fabric cross-grain for the border?  I know cross-grain stretches.  I would never do that for a large quilt but I thought maybe I could get by with it for this little one.  Does anyone have experience with cross-grain borders on small quilts??  Thanks so much!

Whether or not I have to sew strips to make borders, I think I'm still on track to get this little quilt layered and pin-basted by the end of the month.

I hope you're having a good week.

--Nancy.

Making Dear Prudence, A Little Quilt

Wendy the Constant Quilter hosts a monthly miniature quilt link-up at the end of every month.  Such beautiful quilts the ladies make!  I love the mini quilts and have made a few but always wonder what to do with them. Then, early in October, Rogue Quilter Janet (who is one of the queens of miniature quilts) extended a challenge in conjunction with Wendy's mini link-up:  use a bag of leftover scraps and make a miniature quilt from them.  She offered a few of her bags to readers who were already participating in the monthly mini link-up.  I admired several of her color combinations in the bags but said I just didn't see myself making miniature quilts (because, of course, what would I do with them?).  Janet may read this post and chuckle.

And then, when I saw Pam Buda's new sew-along for a miniature quilt she calls Dear Prudence I caved.   (Thank you for the sew-along, Pam.)  Her inspiration quilt had 18 tiny birds in the air blocks.  I fell in love with the colors of the birds on that little quilt.  I have a small collection of fabrics in the gold-to-copper-to-bronze-to-green-to-brown color range.  Pam use pinks and blues from her fabric line for her beautiful quilt.  My version uses the original colors as much as I was able to see and copy them.  Except I didn't have enough of any double pink.  I also didn't have the pattern.  My only clue to size was that the tiny birds, unfinished, were 1½" square.

My quilt top is together except for the two borders.  I still need to trim around the edges because I wasn't sure how big to make the side-setting and corner triangles.  Oversize is better, I thought.

I'll try to find fabric for the narrow inner border that has the coppery/green tones from the fabric in the blocks, perhaps a plaid.  I've already chosen the fabric for the outer border.  You can see it on the right in the photo below.

I think the pink is an unusual choice to go with the rest of the fabrics but because I was copying an old quilt I went with it. 

I forgot how dense little quilts can become.  The seams in the tiny half-square-triangle blocks almost cover the triangles on the back. 

Finishing this top (trimming edges and adding two borders), plus choosing backing, deciding whether to use batting/flannel between, and basting are my One Monthly Goal this month. 

I'm linking this post to
> November One Monthly Goal Linkup at Elm Street Quilts.
> Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Off the Wall Friday at Nina's blog
Thanks for hosting, ladies!

--Nancy.