WIPs on a Wednesday

In keeping with my penchant for list-making at the start of each new year (and we all know September qualifies!), I've been trying to clear a few WIPs out of my sewing studio.  The first two are embroidered samplers I finished aeons ago.  They're half of a series of four seasonal samplers.  "Spring" and "Summer" have been finished for a few years; when I remember, I hang them out in my front garden in good weather.  However, "Autumn" and "Winter" have languished on the UFO pile -- till now.  As of today, they have been sandwiched, quilted and bound -- except for the hand-sewing, and that will take place before the end of the day!  (Alas, I don't remember who designed these, and am if I still have the patterns, they are well tucked away somewhere.)

This post, in itself, is being made as I take a bit of a break before I go back to this project:

Charity Baby

It's a simple nine-patch alternating with solid blocks on which I've traced part of a stencil design for quilting.  The blue and white prints (both flannel) were given to me by someone who knows I can find a home for wayward fabric.  :-)  I bought the pink to match a wee bit of pink that shows up in the white print.  If you look closely at the top of the photo, you can see the whimsical flannel print that makes up the back.  There are no sashes or borders on this little quilt; it will be hung on the 'Charity Tree' at church and given away to some sweet little one in the Lacombe area.

Now that these projects are nearing completion, I have one more lap quilt to do -- the flannel star quilt -- "Sunrise, Sunset" that I worked on last summer -- also for the Charity Tree.  I've pieced the back and simply have to take some time when I have a good-sized space in which to lay it out to prep for quilting.  I did the baby quilt with spray baste for the first time -- on the recommendation of Ann Petersen in her "Quilting Big Quilts on a Small Machine" class on Craftsy.com -- and I must say, it works wonderfully!!  I've long used it for small pieces (art sized) but not on bed quilts.  With Ann's assurance it washes out, and knowing these quilts will be washed after quilting (if nothing else, to get the quilt design markings -- in water-soluble pen -- out!), I'm going to do this more often, as appropriate.

Back to the studio...but before I go, I'm linking this to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network!