Design Wall Monday

To see what other quilters are up to go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

I've been a little busy.

My son got word that his kitchen cabinets are in the final stage of the building process and will be ready to install soon. So I made a trip to his house to get the kitchen ceiling and walls painted. I got there on Monday and got the ceiling painted. I let my mom know what I was up to and my parents came over the next day so she could help with the walls. She is very good at painting trim. While she did that I rolled the walls.

We made a good team and were finished by lunchtime. Son is very happy with the results.

Here he is with his dog, Pokie.

I did some sewing last week, too.

I got the RSC block for October pieced.

This is the last color - light, bright green. This is not a good photo, sorry. The remaining tasks for the year are to catch up, if needed, and assemble. I have ten blocks so I will be making two more.

I have 56 blocks pieced for the SBC 2021. I need 7 more.

 I have fewer light-colored blocks but have nothing in my stash that will work so this project is on hold until I get some. And, that is one reason why I have UFOs!

I got Rainbow Rails pieced.

It has been added to the ever-growing pile of tops waiting to be quilted. There are seven in that pile now.

I got the center of  Fun with 4 pieced.

Now to cut and add the borders.

I have laid out the blocks from the Quilter's Exchange of 2017-18.

We used Winter Village by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. As you can see I made mine a little more colorful.

And, finally, I am adding a border to the Cubs side of the futon cover. I cut the squares too small.

After this, I can quilt both sides and start the assembly process.

I think my next new project will be Dinner Plate Dahlia, a Quiltworx pattern. Husband insisted we order it.

Look at those beautiful batiks!

Sometimes I think the cutting and organizing of the Quiltworx patterns take as long as the sewing, but the instructions are so good and keep things so well organized that it makes them a joy to work on.

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!

Design Wall October 18, 2021

To see what other quilters have on their design walls go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I had an interesting week - a planned visit with my son and parents one day to celebrate Son's birthday, and a couple of unexpected visits with out-of-state family on two different days. 

In between all that I pulled the blocks out for the Rainbow Rails quilt. 

I have all the sashing strips sewn between the blocks. Now I need to cut and sew the strips between the rows. My design wall isn't big enough to get them all up there so a row and half are on the floor.

I continue to work on the Disappearing Rail Fence quilt. 

I pieced 88 blocks before I ran out of cut pieces. I think I will stop there. You can see in my notes that I had planned to make 99 blocks for a quilt measuring 72 x 88 inches. I think an 8 x 10 layout measuring 64 x 80 will be just fine. (I really, really don't want to cut any more fabric. I just want to be done with this quilt.)

I work on this quilt mainly during phone conversations with my son. I have one more row to piece, then that row and another to sew onto the rest and it will be a top.

My goal at this time is to get my started projects to completed tops.

However, I do have a couple of projects that need to be complete finishes as they will be needed as gifts soon.

One of those projects is a futon cover for my SIL's new husband. He is a Packers fan and a Cubs fan. I am piecing big squares - Packers for one side, Cubs for the other.

Before going to visit my son I quickly got the Packers fabrics pieced so I could see if it would fit the futon cushion.

I measured well; it fit perfectly.

I appliqued a baseball block for the Cubs side. It's not this yellow in real life.

I started laying out blocks. I only had enough of the lighter Cubs print to cut two blocks and one of them I had to piece a strip on the bottom to make it long enough. I can't find that print anywhere. I have ordered another print with baseballs and ball bats to see if I like it. We'll see. These will be quilted with a muslin backing before sewn together into a cover with a zipper on one end for easy removal for washing.

Sew, back to finishing the Disappearing Rail fence top.

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!

Just keep sewing...

 To see what other quilters are working on go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I just keep sewing.

I got another quilt on the frame, quilted and bound.

This one is all scraps and stash. The batting is pieced. The binding is made from strips from the 2- 1/2 inch drawer, including some leftover bindings from other quilts. The backing is a wide back that had been in my stash for a while.

Then I did the same thing with another one.

The top is scraps from my stash. I purchased the backing just for this quilt. I used the backing fabric for the binding. 

I haven't made any more Icicle Stars but I did find something that may work for the border.

I was looking for something with lots of color on a black background. I was hoping to find something more 'bold', but this one has lots of color. Your thoughts?

I like to keep a project in the cutting stage handy to work on during phone calls with Son. The calls usually last a while, which is fine, but I like to have something to do while talking to him. Sewing with the machine seems to be too loud so cutting fabric works well. I got this project all cut and wanted to see what a block looked like sewn together. Well, they went together so quickly that I just kept sewing and now have half the blocks pieced.

This is made with white Kona I keep on hand and an ombre jellyroll. Rainbow Rails is a free pattern on the APQS Blog website. You can find it here.

Here are a few more pictures of the Endangered Species quilts.

I have had a little wildlife activity at my house this week, some welcomed, some not so much.

First, the welcomed activity is that I am seeing Hummingbirds again. Not often and usually only in the early morning.

I have decided that I must be in the flight path of the migration route since I don't see them much at all except in spring and about this time of year.

Another welcomed sight...

Monarch butterflies and beautiful Sunflowers.

The not so welcomed little critter is this squirrel. Oh, it looks so innocent here. It was a hot day and Squirrel just leisurely strolled up the ramp railing and sprawled out.

After a bit Squirrel stood up, turned around, and sprawled out again. After a while, he strolled down the ramp to my flower boxes. At that point, I went out and scared it off. Around here squirrels are a little destructive. Squirrel must have come back at some point to test out the flowers.

You may notice in the pictures of the Hummingbird above that there is a walnut tree growing in amongst the Rudbeckia, There are walnut trees growing all over my flowerbeds and lawn. I find walnuts buried in all my flower pots. Last night one (maybe this one) launched itself at the window where I was sitting inside and clung to the screen before falling to the ground! I don't think it likes me. D*&n Squirrels!

And, the Cicadas...

At first, I thought this one was a discarded shell, but then it moved.

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!