TheNext Project...

... is this.

My friend's mother made this little lap-size quilt for her great niece. She wanted something simple so I helped her figure out a simple 5 inch square layout and then figured the yardage. My friend took her to Joann's to pick out the fabrics. I cut the squares and border pieces. She sewed the squares and border. She did not use 1/4 inch seam allowance. She did not use the same size seam throughout so this quilt is a little wonky. I am sure the great niece will not care, she is 7 months old.

The top is quilting cottons in yellows, greens, blues and red ( the red shows pink, I could not get the colors to adjust). The back is Minkee - a bright fuchsia pink. The binding is a medium mottled blue flannel.

The quilting is almost half finished, then I do the binding. I hope to have this finished and delivered by the end of the week.

I worked a little more on the Christmas paper piecing. I think I will be putting this away for awhile since I have other projects that have deadlines.

I think I need a border of some sort between the center block and the trees,but I am not sure what. I will think about that when I pull it out again.

Quilter's Exchange Blocks

I am trying to organize my Pinterest Boards and I don't think I have posted all of the blocks that I have made so far so here goes.
We are all using Johnny Around the Corner as the frame and our own 6 inch blocks in the center. I chose Dancing Shoofly.

 

January

 

February

The block on the right is mine.

The block on the left is call Crystal. The maker has since changed her block 

as she found this one too difficult and time consuming to make. 

 

March

 

 

April

 

 

May

 

June

 

July

 

 

August

 

 

September

 

October

 

 

 November

 

We decided to skip December since our meeting day fell on Christmas Eve,

so this is the for the January exchange.

There are 16 of us participating so we are nearing the end; only 3 more to go.

 

Paper Piecing

I like to paper piece. I hate to throw away the little scraps I end up with from projects, especially batiks. Paper piecing, especially small blocks, works well to use those small scraps.
I have been printing out these paper piecing blocks from Block of the Day. Here is a link to today's block. You have to sign up. Every day a link to a new block is emailed. You have until the end of the month to print the block. I have been printing them for just over a year now and some of the blocks are repeats. I am slowly piecing them.

 I am making another angel for the upper left and will fill in with the dark blue 'sky'.

There is a block for Mary and Joseph. I may not end up using them because I think they are in the manger with Baby Jesus. :)
There are more cabin and tree blocks.
There are more ornament blocks.
There is a block for a snowman and a candle.

Right now I am thinking the manger as the center with angels above and Mary and Joseph under. Then some sort of border. Then the cabins and trees as a border around the center. Then another border, then the ornaments around. I am not sure the ornaments fit in but we will see.

Or, maybe the ornaments and Santa need to be a separate project.

I am also working on the Pat Sloan 182-Day Solstice Challenge which you can find here.
The challenge is on block 2.
Here are mine so far. I am using Civil War fabric scraps from my stash.

On the right is Block 1 - Churn Dash.
On the left is Block 2 - Day Into Night.

On My Wall

Visit Judy's page here to see what other quilters are working on.

I am working on this t-shirt quilt.

It's another big one - close to100 inches all around. I need to sew on the top and bottom borders then it is ready to quilt.

My goal this year is to finish up UFOs. I have a lot. I stopped counting because I found that to be depressing. I seem to always put other people's projects before my own. Right now I have this T-shirt quilt, 2 more T-shirt quilts to make and quilt, a top that needs quilted, and a retirement quilt to construct and quilt. The retirement quilt has been in the works for a while, but I was waiting for everyone to send me their blocks. While I was waiting I pushed the other projects in front of it. Now I have all the blocks I can proceed with figuring out a layout.

I got interested in Pinterest a few years ago. I started out with a few boards. As I added more and more pins I created more boards trying to keep things organized, especially the quilt ones. I now have 81 boards. The biggest board has 105 pins. It is food pins and I have started new food boards so I can better organize them so I can better find what I am looking for. I know that may not be a lot, compared to some boards I have seen, but I find it easier to find pins if there are not a lot of pins on a board.

Last year I started a board for things I want to try soon - 2016 Pins to Try. Last night I went through and deleted pins I was no longer interested in, moved some to specific boards and what was left went into a new board - 2017 Pins to Try. I then deleted the 2016 Board. Some of the pins are multiples of an idea, some are techniques I want to try, some would make great gifts. There are currently 58 pins on that board. Right now if I tried one a week I would have them finished by this time next year. I know I will add more, but I think that is a good goal. And, it sounds doable, until I remember I go back to work on Jan. 2 and all my energy gets zapped by the end of the day. But, then there is summer break and I have more free time. Until I agree to do another project for someone. But, I am getting better at saying no. I have been telling people I am not taking any more projects until summer 2018 and then I refer them to another quilty person I know. I figure if they don't want to wait that long, it's ok.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family and that you have a great New Year!

Nothing To Do

Because I have nothing else to do (hysterical laughing) I have made this...

...from Pat Sloan - One Hundred Eighty-Two Day Solstice Challenge.

I have a small stash (it fits in a box so it is small, right?) of Civil War fabrics from the Civil War Sampler. The blocks are done, but put away while I worked on THE QUILT.

And, this quilt, Old Crow.

I seemed to pick up fat quarters whenever I saw one I liked. Now I need to use them up.
I think this project will be a good way to use them up.

Done and Delivered

This quilt has been delivered to the owner. He seemed very happy with it. He said his wife will love it.

Then, he told me they are moving. They will still be in the area, will still have the animals. And, the barn looks a lot like this one. They won't have the orchard, though.

I am very happy to be finished with this project. I enjoyed working on it...most of the time. Searching for just the right fabrics and patterns. Putting it all together was like working a puzzle. Machine quilting it was a challenge on my frame. I have a Mega Quilter with a 9" throat and I knew I would be lucky to not have turn it, but I did get lucky. I hand quilted the details of the barn. The animals have button eyes.

I did not have enough of the fabric I planned to use for the fence. But when searching for it on-line I found something that I like even better. I wanted to use the same blue for the binding that I used for the hourglass blocks on the sides so I ordered more. I did have enough. I realized two things as I was loading it on the frame - 1)he batting I had was not wide enough and I didn't want to piece the batting. 2) I didn't have enough of the thread I wanted to use for quilting.  Time lost while I waited for those to be delivered.

I grew tired of working on it, but loved it when it was finished. I was kind of sad to see it go, but I hope his wife and family love it.

He has promised me a picture of his family with the quilt.

Design Wall Monday

 

Nothing on my wall...

... but I did put the final stitch in this quilt today.

These pictures are when it was on the frame being quilted.

And, after quilting.

There is another row of hens on the other side of the quilt with a nest of eggs in the bottom nest.

There is a sun star at the top right corner that doesn't show in the picture.

Also, under the fence where the pigs 

are is a row of green and gold 'fields'. 

It is made in the same manner as 

the 'sky' at the top.

It's big. It more than covers my king-size bed. I have no place in my home big enough to get a full picture of it.

My plan had been to take it to school and ask the the secretary's two sons to hold it so I could get a better picture. Problem with that plan is that school has been cancelled yesterday, and again tomorrow, because of poor road conditions. It is so cold in my part of the country that salting the roads is ineffective. The roads are basically skating rinks.

I don't want to wait too much longer to let the guy know his quilt is finished, so hopefully I can get decent pictures on Wednesday.

While working on this quilt I discovered that I most likely did not have enough of the fabric I planned to use for the binding so I ordered more. And, oh wait, I don't have enough thread either!

While I was waiting for those items to shipped I quilted this little quilt for one of my quilt friends.

 She made it as a block of the month at a local quilt shop that is now closed. The fabrics are much prettier than this picture shows.

And, I made some bowl buddies.

This one is for a co-worker who is a Cubs fan and her daughter attends the University of Illinois. Cubs fabric was a little hard to find. I finally found some from an on-line shop but it sold out before they processed my order. Then I found it quite by accident in the local Wal-Mart, so I got 2 yards. And, it is wider than 45 inches.

 These are for a co-worker to give as gifts. She has fleece blankets in these colors that she is giving as part of the gift.

In the midst of all of this, my mother-in-law left this world. I am at peace with this. She was not the person she was before her fall/broken hip/stroke 3 years ago. Her suffering had increased the last few months so I am certain she is now pain free and enjoying being reunited with her friends and family who were waiting for her in heaven.

I have always said that sewing/quilting and knitting are my therapy. I even more thankful now to be able to do those things.