A Fortunate Granny Finish!

Fortunate Granny is finally finished! I begun these blocks last August, the top in October, and finally got around to quilting this month.

I incorporated the extra 2.5″ squares left over from making the blocks into the back.

I’m really proud of the quilting on this one. This is the first time I’ve quilted a quilt entirely in a pattern other than FMQ stipple, and the flowers came out really nicely. The quilt is bound with more of the backing fabric.

The color difference between the whites (Bella for the blocks, Kona for the sashing) isn’t as noticeable in person; it doesn’t bother me much in any case.

I feel like I’ve been on Beast Mode with finishing quilts lately. Let’s see if the momentum carries further! Fortunate Granny is my May goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes and one of my Q2 Finish Along goals. Hooray!

Fortunate Granny
Size: 53.5″ x 65″
Fabric: Good Fortune by Kate Spain, Kona White, Bella White
Tutorials used: Granny Square Quilt Block from Blue Elephant Stitches, Setting Triangles for Granny Squares from Traceyjay Quilts

Many WIPs on Wednesday

This week has been about finishing some projects, starting others, and thinking about long-term projects.

I finished quilting Fortunate Granny and got it bound. I’m hoping my husband will help me wrangle a couple finished shots tonight – look for a FO post soon!

The spinning urge hit me this week, so I grabbed this Friends in Fiber braid I got at VT Sheep and Wool last fall and got to work. It is 6 oz of BFL, which I split evenly and am spinning the two halves on two bobbins. The plan is to ply them back together to get a 2-ply barber pole yarn. I love braids that have a lot of complimentary colors!

I also started matching fabrics and cut into my Fox Field Craftsy workshop kit.

I adore the colors in Tula Pink’s latest collection, Fox Field, and the log cabin diamond pattern is exactly what I want to sew. I’m going to try to stretch the fabric to make top and bottom log cabin setting triangles instead of the plain cream print in the pattern. We’ll see if that works out according to plan.

The only WIP I don’t have in process right now is a knitty WIP. I frogged the handspun socks out of fear that I’d run out of yarn. The yarn really wants to be armwarmers, anyway!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Fortunate Granny Top

Over the weekend, I finished all the granny square blocks for my Fortunate Granny quilt and last night, I sewed them all together!

Right now, the top has 4 x 5 9.25″ blocks with 2.5″ sashing between them. If my math is correct, its dimensions are about 41″ x 51″ which isn’t quite large enough. I’m going to add a border of some sort – either 6-7″ of plain white, or use the remaining 2.5″ charm squares around the edges. Or use the remaining 2.5″ squares for the back, perhaps similar to the back of Kate Conklin’s Gathered In quilt.

If you’d like to make your own granny squares, these tutorials from Blue Elephant Stitches, Coopcrafts, and Traceyjay Quilts were really useful to me. I made the blocks out of Kate Spain’s Good Fortune charm squares, which really grew on me while making this. The white background and sashing is mostly Kona White, with a few blocks made from leftover Moda Bella White from Cuzco Crossing. All in all, love! I feel like I have a lot of momentum with this one and I’m excited about finishing the back and getting it quilted.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced! What are you working on this week?

More Fortunate Granny

Woosh! Quick drive-by WIP Wednesday post to show off some more Fortunate Granny squares! I sewed up five more and trimmed them all down to 9 1/4″ square.

I think the very top square is my favorite so far.

And woosh! Just like that, I’m off to class. Happy Wednesday!

Two More Grannies

Most of my WIP energy is going into unpictured knitting these days, but here are two more granny squares!

I’m starting to get into a rhythm with sewing these and they come together quickly. This post is also coming together quickly; I’m taking an online Beginner CRA course (hello, getting on a career ladder!) and tonight’s class starts in 10 minutes. I’m trying out taking class at home, because home is where there’s yoga pants and ice cream in the freezer and a bed to climb into as soon as class ends.

Quick WIP Wednesday post linked up with Freshly Pieced!

Blue Socks and Granny Squares

My blue squiddy socks (Rav link with details) are done! Hooray! I took pictures last night and promptly folded them up and stuck them in my sock drawer – no soaking and blocking needed for this girl! (Recognizing, of course, that soaking and blocking drastically improves the appearance of knitting, but as these are just for me, I’ll block them after I wear them.)

I finished them the other night, while watching Elvis in Blue Hawaii on channel 25.2 or something. We got a new digital antenna that picks up all these random channels – we have maybe six versions of PBS – and a classic movie channel is one of them. I also started a pair of socks for a friend with this yarn:

She bought it in Philadelphia years ago, knit a toe, stuck it in her yarn basket for a while, gave it to me, I raveled the toe and skeined the yarn, and then it sat in my stash until now. She forgot what it is, so I have no idea what the fiber content is, but it is nice and a little bit more hefty than a normal sock yarn. She picked out the pattern Porthos by Caoua Coffee and I have about three inches of the cuff done – it goes really quickly!

In addition to that, I got the itch to sew a bit last night and threw together two Granny Square Blocks! I cut all the 2.5″ squares from two Kate Spain Good Fortune charm packs and organized them into blocks when I cut the fabric for Cuzco Crossing.

The outer white squares are leftover charm squares from the Cuzco Crossing quilt, quartered. I plan to use them until they run out and then make the rest with setting triangles. I’ll sash the blocks in more white and the back will have a patchwork strip of leftover squares running down the middle.

I have a zillion other things I want to make this fall. I need a new pair of mittens, a friend needs more fingerless gloves, I want to make Christmas stockings for C and I (and maybe a couple of extras for down the road for kiddos), and I need need need to finish quilting and binding Cuzco Crossing. I’m so close on that one! In the distant future, there’s a Weekender bag, a Lizzy House Constellations triangle quilt, and maybe a scrappy Tennessee Waltz. I love having a to do list; even if I don’t get it all done, planning and figuring out what to make is part of the fun!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced