The Sugar Plum / Plum Pudding Quilt is Complete

At long last, The Sugar Plum / Plum Pudding quilt is finished!  

I love the colors -- It reminds me of the week between Christmas and New Years, leftover plum pudding.  The shine and glitter of the holidays has gone, and your left with the darker grays and bruise-y plums after the celebrations are done.

 It always reminded me of Harry Potter left at Hogworts over the holidays.

I must have run out of the 4-patch blocks, because there is a gray place holder towards the bottom.  Do you see it now?  That solution works with this pattern.

Pattern: Fuzzy Logic from Brenda Hennings Strip Therapy book

Fabric: Snow Berry Island Batik jelly roll

Dream Wool Batting

Quilted in a 2-inch grid that takes about 5 hours to complete, and 4-5 bobbins 

 

Detail of the diagonal grid quilting and the Snow Berry batiks.

Here are some previous posts about this quilt in progress:

Quilt Sandwiches

Sugar Plum Quilt Top is Complete!

Plans for The Snow Berry Quilt or Plum Dumplings over Winter Break

 

Heart of Winter Quilt Finished

Heart of Winter Quilt [wall hanging]

This was a pattern and kit that I bought at Going to Pieces Quilt Shop in Appleton, WI, last year.  I was enamored with some of the winter fabrics and bought extra for the Winter Blues [Starlight] Quilt.  I fell in love with those silvery, frosty trees. So many good winter memories!

It's quilted with a simple 2-inch grid on the diagonal with the walking foot.   This seems to be my go-to gitt'er done quilting design these days.  I started with the red heart square and tried to make the diagonal lines highlight that one especially, so it would pop out.  That seemed to work out well, though the quilting lines didn't quite line up right for some of the other squares. 

I altered the pattern [and kit] slightly to add this single cranberry red square.  The overall theme is chickadees -- which I absolutely love!  But I was also thinking about my mom having died earlier in the year, which made me think of cardinals -- another one of my favorite winter birds in WI.  

 

I've been attaching the quilt labels in one of the lower corners of the quilt, so that the seam lines mirror the binding and don't otherwise take away from the quilting on the front. 

I used to always use Hobbs 80/20 batting, but since I started using wool bats, I feel the need to include that info on the label so I know how to launder / care for it in future. 

Previous Posts on this Project:

Heart of Winter Quilt Top

Starlight Quilt II ( aka Winter Blues Take 2)

Bright Winter Blues II / Starlight Quilt Top

When I finished a similar quilt in January, and mailed it off to it's new home, I missed it.  So I made another one -- nearly the same.    This quilt top is now done.   It will get a wool batt--one I can sew through, rather than tying it. And I re-ordered the backing snowflake fabric too.  So my friend and I will have nearly identical twin Starlight Quilts.

I was short on the silver birch tree fabric for the borders, so I got something  reminiscent and filled in the top and bottom borders.   See how it shines?

Heart of Winter Quilt Top

Heart of Winter Quilt Top

Finished this quilt top over the weekend.  It was a kit at Going to Pieces Quilt Shop in Appleton last September I couldn't resist the chickadees, and the metallic fabrics.

 

 

Heart of Winter - detail 

I was thinking about also adding a red cardinal, as that is also an abiding sign of winter in Wisconsin.  I even found some bird fabric that included cardinals and other birds in spring.  But as I thought about it, I decided that I did not need to add an actual bird.  It would be enough to add a pop of color in this otherwise while, silver, gold and gray quilt.  So there it is ...  a single square simulating a cardinal in winter.

After my mom died last summer, someone at work gave me a meme about the sight of a cardinal being the spirit of the dearly departed. Yeah ok--I'll go along with that. 

 

The pattern is Eloquent by Jenice Belling.    The Quilt Shop made a few small changes, and I added the red square.

I bought a batt and backing fabric this weekend, so hopefully, I will have it done and ready to hang before winter is over!  Yes--destined to be a wall hanging.  I still need a plan as to WHAT to quilt on it. 

Bright Winter Blues Quilt Top is Done

 

Bright Winter Blues Quilt Top

Finished this quilt top.  I love it!  I'm calling it the Bright Winter Blues Quilt Top because it reminds me of those crystal clear blue skies you get in winter, sort of like this:

 

The Fabric is from a jelly roll called Blue Brilliance.  

Border fabric is a white with metallic highlights.  Very pretty, but does not photograph well.

This is the Fuzzy Logic  pattern from Strip Therapy) and the same pattern I used for the Copper Canyon/Autumn Copper Batik and Stained Glass Quilts.  It's a very satisfying quilt pattern. ;-)

I'm hoping to get it sandwiched this month, so I can start to tie it, and then quilting.  I want to be able to use this quilt for the coming winter.  ;-)

 

Previous posts about this quilt:

 Plans for the Brilliant Winter Blues Quilt

Plans for the Brilliant Blues Quilt

 Sneak Peak of the Brilliant Blues first blocks.

The metallic bits are not showing up in the photo.   Believe me-- It's prettier than it appears here.

Blue Brilliance Jelly Roll from Benartex.

When I opened it up, there were almost too many strips the same, and I had to add a few more blues to get enough variety with darks and lights.

 

First Snowfall by Hoffman.  It's subtle with just a little metallic.  

It made the blues pop nicely.  It reminds me of my Grappa and Gramma's 25th wedding anniversary when I was a kid. They had a lot of silver for their theme.

On my trek to Appleton a few weeks ago, we also stopped at The Courtney Woolen Mill to pick up a wool batt. The quilts we love tend to be the big fat comforter types that are tied, not quilted.  We pile them on the bed in winter--the wool batts.  I think this one will be a nice winter quilt -- with a little bling to brighten the darker days.  

 Still need to pick something for the borders and binding, but that can come later.

Phoebe's Flower Box Quilting Tutorial

by Jenny Doan at Missouri Star Quilting Company.

I think this is the same basic pattern for Fuzzy Logic (from Strip Therapy) or the same pattern I used for the Copper Canyon/Autumn Copper Batik and Stained Glass Quilts. It's a very satisfying quilt

Aidn's Quilt : His Own Corner of the Sky

Finished Aidin's quilt a few weeks ago, but I couldn't post about it until I gave it to him.  He surprised us a few days by appearing on our doorstep!  It was such short notice, I hadn't even taken all the photos of the quilt I had planned ...  like the label, and the light rays in the border ...

Aidin wrapped up in his new quilt, with Michele (me).

So many feels working on this one.  Aidin is like my own kid.  He and my son, Oliver have know each other their whole lives.  Sometimes they even act more like brothers than friends.  Aidin is a creative kid -- a Libra, like me, and emotional at times, too.  Very different from the ultra-logical and analytical Oliver.   I always felt like Aidin was my mini-me.   If we went out to a show, there was Aidin--attending all by himself.  Not kidding -- one night we went to see Mozart's Requiem (not exactly what a kid his age would be clamoring to see) performed at a local church in a part of town we don't usually frequent.  On the way, we saw a kid on his bike also headed for the show : None other than Aidin.  A kid so hungry for the Arts that he attends some of these shows all on his own.  We invited him to sit with us, and assured his parents that we'd make sure he got home afterwards.  So this parting is hard on me, too.

Aidin moved to a town about 2 hours away in January of this year.  He's been coming back to see us, and to spend time with Oliver every 3-4 weeks, or so.  

I almost didn't want to finish this quilt--because once I do finish it, and hand it over to him, will he come back to see us?  Or will that be the end of it?

Aidin picked the colors.  He wanted blues, purples, and silver.  (I had to ask him more about the silver ...  I think we settled on grays) with a vein of turquoise running through every block.  The pattern is Sophie's Windows, made by sewing strips together and  and cutting them in a brilliantly simple technique.  No triangles were harmed in the making of this quilt.

 

The center blocks are quilted with free-form whirlwind spirals full of energy -- like a storm.   He's had kind of a stormy childhood with troubles at home.  So our house was always kind of a refuge for him -- a port in the storm.  His "Storm Home."  [See Garrison Keillor's story by the same name ...]

For weeks, I wasn't sure what to quilt into the borders ...  and then it came to me.  The borders should be more settled than the stormy center blocks.  Blue birds down the sides  --  Blue birds come out after the storm.  Doesn't Bono sing that in a U2 song?     And rays of light along the top and bottom.



"See the bird with the leaf in her mouth.
After the flood, all the colors came out.
It was a beautiful day -- Don't let it get away."  --U2

Things get better ...  just stick with it, Kid!

While I was sewing the birds and the light rays and the binding one weekend, I kept thinking of that song from Pippin : Corner of the Sky.  Seems fitting for this kid in search of his place in the world.



"Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my Spirit can run free
Gotta find my corner of the sky."

When I was his age, I spent a lot of time at my friend Janna's house.  Her mom was a 2nd mom to me.  Their house was full of laughter, and good food, and warmth (My house had that, too, but no siblings to compete with).  Now I understand what that feels like from the 2nd Mother's side.

Secret messages written into the borders .... Sorry, I can't divulge that, or they wouldn't be secret, would they?  Saving that for Aidin alone.  ;-)

Our House Below (from Arrietty).  This was one of Aidin's favorite movies and favorite characters when he was younger.  He might not admit it now, but a 2nd Mother knows better.
Gol darnit -- even now this happy little song brings tears to my eyes, and I live there!

 The presentation : Aidin gets his quilt!

Deciphering the secret messages quilted into the borders.  

Unlike many kids his age, Aidin does know how to read cursive writing.  

 Ah!  Wrapped up in blue, calm and peaceful.

 Aidin and Oliver - like brothers.

 

If you've read this far in the post, you may want to watch the home video of Aidin getting his quilt.  This is what it's all about for a Quilter.  The Discovery aspect, the colors, the meanings--so many levels to a quilt.  And of course, the Love.  Count this under things I don't want to forget.  ;-)

And now a few closing thoughts from my old friend Glen Phillips with Renee Stahl :

You Were Meant To Be from renee stahl on Vimeo.

Sometimes we get to be guardian angels for each other.  

You were meant to be here, kid.  So glad we got to know you before you left town.

Don't forget us!  You are welcome here anytime. ;-)