Friday Free Day

I am so lucky to have today, Friday, off from school.  It is the end of the semester and a day for teachers to complete grades.  I have my new schedules for next semester, Monday. Should be interesting?

I needed a day to relax and had hoped to sew with my quilting buddy, but she left for warmer climates. Hope she has a good trip! And after dealing with a sick grandson last night, I am tired, too. I felt so bad for my little buddy. His mom took him to a clinic last night.

So I need to get stuff done. Three projects are in pieces around me.

And the reveal for a weekend's worth of work:

1st: this is the finish of the row by row on the Christmas quilt.  My contribution is the row on the right comprised o 3 blocks.



2nd:  Here is the totally appliqued top ready to be quilted.  4 months work of applique for the leaves, flowers and berries. I have a callous on my finger tip to show for it. 2 pictures one from top and the other from the bottom. Hooray! Hooray.  I added the borders and did the last applique to connect the vine to each corner and finish the flower there.







More strips for my 30s quilt  I spent many hours just one strip at a time. It is getting closer.


Changed to blue for my RSC project.
 I had fallen in love with this quilt from Scrap Box Quilts by Kat Scribner which she finished early last year. She revealed a few of  the rows being assembled using the hatchet block



So I played around with my strips and then made a 6 and a half inch block using Kona black and white. Having a ruler that size really helped for the trim purposes.


I have at least a dozen completed and have decided to do a twin sized quilt and a baby quilt to donate.



Then I found out that my mom has pneumonia.  I feel so badly for her. She has no pep and lives so far away.  I had been planning these mug rugs for her and quickly finished them up to put them in the mail on Monday.  One for her, and one for my step dad.








Lastly, a birthday celebration in the family. We gathered to have a turkey dinner and chocolate cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream frosting. The turkey was because I had 2 in the freezer and it is her favorite.



Notice the boys had to help open the presents, blow out the candles and say cheese just right so the pictures do not look cute.  But we had so much fun together.  Family is the best.

Applique and strips

I spent every evening this weekend and all the football games yesterday appliqueing these beauties.  . I started the 2nd set of borders during Thanksgiving weekend. I had completed all the vines and leaves and berries on these and only had the flowers to do: 12 flowers each with a center.  I now only  have 4 left to complete .

 Woot Woot!

 Then I need to attach them and connect the vines to the corners from the other set.  I am hoping to get this to the quilters this week. It is looking fantastic.

This is the quilt laid out without the borders attached and only the 2 short sides are have applique around them. It is a wonderful Kim Diehl pattern which I started last January as a sew along.  

Here are closeups of some applique sections. 

For my lovely 30s strips I now have a pile of 30 assembled lengths. Much better!  Now I can't work on it until I get more 30s which a friend has agreed to contribute.

Christmas Row by row

I am a part of a row by row group in my guild  The part I like is that using someone else's ideas and fabrics makes you think outside your box.  It challenges you to try new techniques and pushes my creativity to find just the right idea and color combination for them.

This round  I have a relatively easy assignment.  Here is a photo taken from the internet to show more of what the quilt will be. There is a pattern names Felicity by Kate Spain online.

.  So I hope to finish this on the weekend.

Here is what I was given

:The fabrics are a bundle of Victoria Findley Wolfe's Christmas line. And 2 rows have already been assembled.


Here are the 2 blocks I have made:







Now I just need to put the row together.

The connecting "chains" were already made by the owner and creator.

We have been, cold, cold, cold this week hovering in the teens temperature wise. High of 25 yesterday for the whole week.  I just want to get home after work and an errand or two and sit under a blanket or even two.   Ugh.  So chilling to the bone.  I did not even want to do handwork.

The end of the semester is next week and some of the kids are just goofy. A short 4 day week of school coming up.  That means a day to SEW!

a BIG FINISH!

So excited. Oh, my Gosh!  I can tell you what February weekend I started this years ago;  I just can't tell you the year.  Several years later, it was take to retreat and the setting was planned. And then last summer I found all the lost pieces, and put it all together, in June even.  It was the sent out for specialty quilting and picked up in late July.  And it sat.

So new year, new goals, and a new FINISH.  y

It is about 0 outside, so no photos there. Plus our pretty snow melted.

Close up of the Dresden blocks made from some 80ish Thimbleberries fabrics I was going for as many as I could. It is a stash quilt except for the back. The pattern was an Edyta Sitar single pattern with two templates for the Dresden block. The pointy fingers were actually dimensional, but I didn't know how it would quilt, so I appliqued them down.


Here is the quilting in the bordering blocks:  ( going with a sunflower theme)



And here is some traditional feathering:



And lastly a back and front show.  The backing was an extra wide Kim Diehl.
You can't really see the quilting it is so busy.



I just need a label and rod pocket for entering out quilt show in March.

Dresden spin

UFOing away.

I am catching something. Ugh the stuffy nose and scratchy throat are getting to me.  I can't talk very well, but it doesn't hurt.

So last night I did not go to have dinner with the grandkids. My spouse took my food to them. But then the babysitter was already feeding them.  Anyway, a couple hours of free time to myself after ingesting some soup and hot water to drink.

I cut out my sashings for my Meadow Mist Mystery.  Yeah! It is hard to do because it is an extra wide fabric and there are 4 layers.

I cut out my binding for my Dresden Spin. I had already decided to do a scrappy navy edge and had purchased a pack of fat quarters for it. They were sitting on the cutting table ALL FALL.  And then I even attached it to the quilt.  I am SOOO excited to get it to this last stage!  Now for a couple evenings of hand sewing,  and maybe even a label. The quilting is gorgeous.


Here is a sneak-peek of the front side.




Here is the binding work.

2018 is starting off on the best foot.  It feels good to get things moving forward.



Oh, I am starting a new project.  Yes?



There is a quick strip quilt : /Regatta Quilt Sew Along.
And I have a jelly roll just waiting to be sewn for a donation quilt.  Now I just have to get the backing and solid in between.   No deadlines, no pressure.  Straight sewing.

Birthday number 2

I have to show my sewing first.  Here is the paper pieced block for my guild. It is 7 inches. I love the colors. The tan is such a great fabric. Each person will add their own batik inside the Bear Paw. It should be great when put together, as always.

Then I am making progress on my strings. I am cutting my second batch already. And I used the inch and a quarter strings from the hearts.  I hope I don't  have to buy more fabric.

But I am making progress

These will go in between rows of these 6 inch beauties:

And for the birthday boy!  Here he is opening presents with his mom.  He was born 2 months premature due to issues with mom's pregnancy at a mere 2 pounds 15 ounces.  He is still thin ( as was his dad and he wasn't premature.) But he is active running like crazy chasing big brother and jabbering away.  Hard to believe it was just 2 years ago.

Happy 2nd birthday Jensen!  Such  a cutie...

We had the boys for an overnight prior to Sunday dinner...lots of trucks, trains, and blocks to play with Grandpa.

Here is big brother, Jude in a newly found hiding  place.

First finish of the year

I spent the evening last night under blankets, notice the plural.  My husband and I ate pizza and watched a movie.  No way was I going out in that cold again.  I had hoped to see my girls' basketball team play at home against a local team. ( They are state ranked again this year.)  

So I had sewn the binding on this table runner and it needed the hand sewing on the back.  It did take the duration of the movie. This was a panel that all I had to do was sew the 3 pieces together. Easy peasy. I did machine quilt it with a clear thread on the top. The back and binding are coordinating fabrics all from Patrick Lose which I purchased from Shabby Fabrics on sale. Love the bright vivid colors.

First Christmas present done for next year. Hooray!

Next up: Here are the 30s fabrics that I am cutting into strips one night last week. Underneath is my rotating cutting board. It has ball bearings that make it so easy to turn and a ledge to keep the cutting board on it. 

This is what I am going to do as a block of the month. Jo's Country Junction is having a BOM link up on Saturdays.  Here 

I am subdividing the different blocks into monthly projects and hope to get it done by midsummer to assemble and finish it then. I have wanted to have a Christmas quilt and have neglected doing it as I make projects for others, instead. 

I received the pattern booklet in the mail this week, but left it in my computer bag at work where I opened it. It is one of the latest Kansas Troubles's patterns. And of course, I have a bag of fabrics from her lines to pull from and hopefully not buy more fabric. I do think I will need a background, maybe. 

Happy New Year

As my Christmas vacation draws to a close, I am refreshed, refocused and ready for the New Year. And I hope you are, too!






It has been relaxing to sleep in and I have had a mental countdown of all the days to see just how much I can still accomplish.  But time passes and now is the last day.

I find I am a little abstract random. And sometimes, I bounce from project to project. ( More than I would like to admit.)  I have made progress in cleaning up my cutting table and  my seasonal decoration corner of the basement.  Which is AMAZING!  And I need to make several trips to Goodwill to fulfill some of  the de-cluttering. The first one is already packed.

At the same time, I have been working on 4 quilting projects the last several days:  I have the Patrick Lose table runner progressing well for my daughter in law. Very cute Santa with nice bright Christmas colors and aqua, and will match her dining table.




All that is needed, now, is the trimming and  binding which is a beautiful red.


I have cut out many strips for my 30s log cabin hearts. ( Jo's Country Junction challenge to keep me going on strings)

 The heart block is 6 inches finished and 40 of them were assembled in 2016

The long columns are 10 blocks long. I am going to sew strips of 30s to go in between them to make it big enough for a full size bed.The additional blocks and the columns were assembled this past summer.

This will be for my mom. She still has the first quilt I made for her in the 1980s  It is faded and needs replacing. She was born in the 1930s and had a baby quilt with solid pink and green 30s fabrics.
So I think it is fitting.



I have completed my Stash Bee blocks for January!  Hooray. I like to make 2 to send.
The blocks at this point are 13 1/2 inches.





And I have spent many evenings on the applique to my Kim Diehl log cabin. It is so close to completion; only berries and flowers left to sew on the last 2 borders.







This is prior to any applique work for these longer outside borders..  I have progressed a great deal. I did use Roxanne's Glue baste it to hold it down. It has worked like a charm.

Oh and something else I started: I made the decision to repaint our vanity in the upstairs bathroom which has been white since we moved in some 19 years ago.  I spent an afternoon sorting and emptying all the cupboards and drawers. Then thoroughly washed and scrubbed not only the cabinet, but the doors and moldings of the bathroom. And my dear, dear husband has been kindly doing the priming and painting.  Next step is to paint and miter the new moldings to frame the mirror.

Now for the laundry, cooking, and normal weekend chores.