Finishes Times Four

 It's been a busy week around here! I finished the quilt for the scooter rally, which will be raffled off along with some other items and 100% of the raffle money will go to our local food pantry. 

 I also finished the baby boy quilt I needed.

I used the pattern Easy Street from Easy Peasy 3-Yard Quilts as a jumping off point. I don't know about you, but rare is the time I follow a pattern exactly. This pattern called for 1 yard each of three different fabrics, but I wanted to use five fabrics. I also changed the borders. Also, the pattern called for strip piecing, but I was using directional prints so I changed the cutting and assembly directions. They were easy changes to make, and I enjoyed making the quilt so much, I ordered several more 3 yard quilt books.

This is the back of that quilt. I really have a love/hate relationship with minky. I love the way it feels, and how it shows off the quilting, but it creates so much drag when I'm FMQ that my arm hates it and starts hurting as soon as I start quilting. I always start off thinking, "This would be a great quilt to back with minky". Then when I'm quilting and my arm is hurting I think, "Why did I do this to myself again?". When it's finished and I see a lovely result I think, "Worth it". I'll never use minky as my main backing option, but for some quilts, it's still an option.

Speaking of minky, I had minky scraps from a couple other projects, and I made doll quilts for this baby boy's older sisters. I didn't want the girls jealous that their brother got a softer backing than they did, (And I did NOT use minky on their baby quilts) so I pieced the minky scraps to back their doll quilts. 

The shades of purple aren't the same, and I used different quilting patterns so maybe the girls will be able to tell whose doll quilt is whose. The quilt on the left has some scrappier pinwheels too. 

My next quilt to quilt is another baby quilt that I basted before our Amtrak adventure. That baby is due soon, so that's why it's next in line. It's backed with minky too, one of the purples that I used on one of the doll quilts. 

I have a lot of family stuff coming up, as well as all the preparations for the scooter rally. At least all the sewing projects for that are done. I know I'll be able to finish that last baby quilt without a problem, but I still haven't sewn any of the Christmas pajama pants. I also have a three other quilts I'd love to finish this calendar year. It's not the end of the world if I don't, I just really want them off my to do list. I can only do what I can do, so we'll see. 

On a very happy note, I thought my Singer 201 which is my favorite machine to piece on, was having major issues and needed repair. I finally figured out the machine is fine, and the problem was my surge suppressor power cord! I bought a new cord and all is fine in the sewing room again!