St Pat's quilting

 I had my quilt guild last week and the pattern for the Block of the Month was a shamrock.  You can easily find it as a free one on Bernina here.  It is on a 10 1/2 inch square background.

It was fun to use up  lots of green scraps.  I showed it to my daughter and she liked it.  So I made a door hanger for her and a second one for my mom at the nursing home.  I even had some shamrock fabric for the back of both.  I did enlarge it from 1 1/2 blocks to 2 inch cut blocks to make it bigger.  It measures 17 inches across. 

Winter Quilt Show part 2

 Here are a few more quilts I enjoyed at the Winter Quilt Show February 3.

So many little triangles!  Oh my!

such fun quilting and design

A modern feel that might be good for a gift to make

Very cool bias made strips in a Celtic design.

Wonderful design by Sarah Fielke

And yes, I did get a few new projects at the show.  There was so much inspiration, plus we went to a fabric shop near by.

Here are my new starts.   

I borrowed the Dear Jane quilt book from a friend this summer and saw a pastel version at a quilt store.

The blocks are both pieced and applique.

These are 4 1/2 inch finished blocks.  I need to redo the gold one. 

I saw this line of tiny muted pastel checks called toolbox something?  and knew that they worked for the project I wanted to complete.

And lastly I saw this cute little cross stitch pattern. I had to have it. 

Snowmen everywhere

 Last January I started Merry Merry Snowmen by Ann Sutton of Bunny Hill which was a 9 block pattern.  I did it with a friend and we met weekly  to sew together and share fabrics most French General. All the snowmen were appliqued in wool by hand.  And all the other details were appliqued in cotton by machine in a blanket stitch. 

I finished the top and the back in October and sent it off to be longarmed. And I collected it in January. 

There have been countless hours attaching the binding and the rod pocket.  And then all the eyes needed buttons and other small details.  

Lastly I have been quilting the large applique designs. 

AND for the big finish:  Hooray for me!!!!!!!  

Completed size 62 by 66   (Photo a little yellowy )

First Quilt Show of the Season

 Yesterday I had the great pleasure of going to a quilt show in the Washington County Fairgrounds of Wisconsin.  It was a little windy blowing the coldness, but so worth it! I always love the inspiration and seeing all the quilters come out of the woodwork to get inspired. So many goodies to shop as well. 

The quilts also were just so amazing as well. 

Size of these houses were just SOOOO small. Love  the arrangement and all the colors. 

This one just blew me away with the amazing free piecing and lovely small detail quilting and this just shows that the back is ALSO pieced.  Oh, my!

Such amazing work and completed on a 1917 treadle machine.  

Be still my heart. A first place in this category

Close up of the next quilt made by a mother daughter team.  The needlework on the wool was exquisite. 

And this was the Best of Show  

I have been spending my evenings putting on button eyes  and coal French knots for my snowmen. 

It is almost done. 

Finish it Up!

I have been very successful finishing quilts this year.  Yards and yards of bindings, as will as all those other kinds of finishing details.  ( And I haven't even started any new things other than the Valentines for my Mom and sister.  This despite the goals I had set for the beginning of the new year.) 

I found this linky party online on Instagram.  And as it represents what I am already doing, it is so easy to be a part of it and to continue my finishing roll. 

Tiffany of Village Bound Quilts is organizing and running this and has several sponsors for prizes. 

 Check it out here:  Finish it Up link

Here is my latest finish: 

The binding and rod pocket are all attached. 

Here is a close up of the 6 inch blocks and feathers in the round.

And the free motion feathers in the border.

Lastly, the stitching from the back.  

Hooray for me!

Hand stitching

 Still working on my UFOs.

I have happily finished the wool matt. It was a round robin where several of us designed a matt for ourselves including some ideas and wools. And we passed them all on to the next person on our list each month. 6 people total.  Such creative touches and designs were made by each person. 

I enjoyed  making the center and then 2 of the hearts. I love checking Pinterest for different ideas. So many to choose from!

And for a smile, I am including a photo of my daughter's cat sitting on my quilts as we take care of the cat while she is on vacation somewhere warm. 

A new month: a new finish

 I AM SO EXCITED!  I have an almost finished  project that I have been working on for many years. It has had several spurts and lots of sputters. 

I have this pattern from a very old book from Primitive Gatherings when it was at different location.  They had 3 seasonal books Christmas, Spring and my favorite fall.   I have actually made at least 3 different patterns from this book and some of them multiples of the same project.  Copyright 2009.

 I love fall: the colors, the leaves, and the feel of the golden sun.  Oh, caramel apples and apple cider are awesome, too. 

The first hurdle was piecing these tiny half square triangles. I made a variety of fall colors. I don't even know what technique I used. Remember this is long before triangle paper. 

The next step was to assemble the trees.   Another delay. Long break of time when I couldn't even find the book and got a copy of the pattern from the store at its previous location. And then I needed to assemble the setting triangles,  with the border of more half square triangles.  Again not an easy task.  

And as I was looking through my stash of book, lo and behold the book was found. The difference is not having a flat spine, Then I added the setting triangles and borders on a retreat and I was so happy. 

Little trees October 2022

I started quilting in the ditch which was easy with invisible thread.  And I decided to free motion feather the outer border.  I  ran out of thread.   Ughhh.  Alas, a different day, another stab at the feathers.  If you are willing to attempt them, there are several videos on YouTube. Free motion feathers 4 ways ,  Angela Walters instruction: More free motion feathers with suggestions I watched them over and over. And I also drew them on paper page after page to get the muscle memory and that helped tremendously. 

So I asked for advice on what to do in the the setting triangles and squares.  It was suggested to do the feathers in the round/ circle. I spent lots of time researching and practicing. Here is a site I really felt helped a lot: Feathers in a wreath

And yesterday,  I spent all of this afternoon getting it accomplished.  Several frogged attempts and remarking.  But DONE! 

Then I trimmed the outer edges and attached the binding and rod pocket.  Now for the final hand stitching.

I can't tell you how this has sat beside me for months, waiting to be finished. It is such a joy to have the hard work out of the way. 

I really don't know how many years this has been hanging around, and luckily I did keep the pieces and the main fabrics together.