Quilt a day #29 and a giveaway!

The giveaway is at the bottom! This morning I finished binding the two latest quilts for the Downy Quilts for Kids project. I had a girl here for 4-H sewing this afternoon and decided to tackle my linen closet. First is the photo of all three of the Quilts for Kids I made, one I showed a couple days ago. The other two have different backings, but other than that the same fabric. I am mailing them off tomorrow.I started pulling quilts out of my linen closet and had this mound and still bunches on the shelves as indicated by these two pics. Now the almost finished closet! I need to refold sheets and pillowcases on the shelf above (there are actually two shelves up, the top has REALLY old blankets and pillows and stuff. I have quilts categorized by Fall, Christmas, Valentines, patriotic, mini, large quilts, and small quilts in several piles.

Now the giveaway! Guess how many quilted items are on these shelves! Post a comment or if you don't have a google account send me an e-mail to jlhuffman@cpcinternet.com . I will draw a winner Saturday if I remember! Remember I like to make minis so the piles could be deceiving!

Quilt a day #28

This morning I dug into that bin of strips I showed yesterday and sorted them into paper bags by type. I think I can make string quilts for forever! I do have one grouping of purple, that one will be for me! This afternoon I ran to Lewiston with Doug, first time I have ever been to town and not needed to go to a store! I was able to get the two baby quilts I pieced yesterday quilted and just have to stitch down the bindings so I will show them tomorrow.

These are two round robins I did. The first one was my center and others added the other borders around it. I love blue and white as you can tell from the second photo. It was a row robin and my original row is the second one from the bottom. One over achiever of the group did the applique in the center depicting the scene on blue willow dishes. It's fabulous! I happen to have two blue willow plates. I have these two quilts in my dining room. The row robin is draped over a chair.

Quilt a day #27 and a mess!

Some unexpected things happened today but at least I looked at the linen closet I need to reorganize. I also got out my box of strips and I'm contemplating making string quilts for charity.

I did finish a baby quilt this morning and pieced two more baby quilts so I have made some quilting progress. I sent for a kit from the Downy company and it was all precut and and very easy to sew. They send the backing also. This is the finished baby quilt. It's got square corners really!Here is a picture of my overflowing strips box. I think I can make a couple quilts out of it! This is a VERY embarrassing picture! This is my walk-in linen closet in it's current state. It started at Christmas (those quilts are on the bottom of the heap) and for some odd reason it's just exploded. I will take an after picture when I get it done this week.

Quilt a day #26

I thought I would finish another baby quilt tonight, but I need to stitch down the binding by machine so you will see it tomorrow. I have a couple more minis to share, the first one is deceptive because it's pretty small about 13" finished.
This one is larger and has much bigger pieces! I think I gifted it to someone, but I don't know who! It may in my collection upstairs, which is a total mess at the moment. I "might" take a picture of my linen closet before I start in on refolding and reorganing my quilts. That is one of my goals for my vacation this week.

Quilt a day #25

It was another busy day. I went to a baby shower this afternoon and Tuesday I had decided to make a quilt for this shower. I started it that night by prewashing fabric. I finished the quilt Thursday and that is today's quilt to show. That baby's colors were light blue and brown and I just used the Warm Wishes pattern. It is super quick and easy.

Quilt a day will be back

I had done well posting pictures until yesterday! I was busy machine quilting until 10 PM and had turned off my computer and forgotten to post. I had to head out early for a quilt show in Kennewick, WA and it was a long, but very, very fun day. I'm too tired to post a quilt photo tonight but I will make up for them this weekend!

Barb Sherrill was the featured quilter. She does fascinating work, very contemporary.

Quilt a day #24

My husband borrowed my laptop today and that was tough on me! LOL I was able to check my mail on his desktop, so I wasn't in total withdrawal!

I have to go to one conference in the morning and then I'm on vacation until April 5th! Quilting here I come!

This quilt is one I made a few years ago for a friend. She had wanted to make one when Pat Sloan did a swap on her list (my friend was a moderator on Pat's yahoo group) but Vicki was undergoing cancer treatment. I made this quilt and sent it to her and she was thrilled to pieces. Unfortunately Vicki lost her battle and I hope someone in her family is enjoying her quilt. Vicki did want me to have her Featherweight and her sister knew that and contacted me after her passing. I just had to pay shipping of $25 and I got it! Her sister threw in a bunch of projects and fabric of Vicki's also. I wish I had a closeup of this quilt!

Quitl a day #23

I had to run to Lewiston today for more blood work and misc. stuff. I have spent the evening cleaning my sewing room in preparation for the start of 4-H sewing and quilting starting up. I have 4 sewers that I know of, three of them first year.

These photos are old small but they are Sunbonnet Sue quilts I made my girls in the very early 90's. They are hand appliqued and hand quilted. Amy liked pink (still does) and Lisa liked purple.

Quilt a day #22

Today was just the usual stuff, work, chores around the house, etc. I am mailing off three tops to the American Hero project tomorrow so those are today's photos.

The first one was a New Year's mystery on one of my yahoo groups. I finally got the borders on it Sunday, although it was pieced on New Year's weekend!The next one I started quite a while ago. I purchased a box of precut plaid strips in various widths at a UFO auction for $5. They were intended for a pineapple quilt, but I just made a string pieced quilt out of them. There are enough strips for another one. I finished the quilt top this past week and got the borders on.The last one is a packet of charm squares my friend Tamra sent me. They finish at 6" and I sewed them together randomly along with a few more squares I had to cut to make the top big enough. I like the effect of this quilt with the browns added.

Quilt a day #21

I was actually going to show a couple tops I finished pressing the borders on today, but I haven't gotten them photographed yet. So hopefully tomorrow! This quilt I made several years ago for my friend Deb. I love the graphics of this quilt. It will now be residing with Deb's sister, she fell in love with it.

Post #100 and Quilt a Day #20

I realized this is post #100, finally! I don't have any cute ideas for a giveaway at this moment, I've been too busy with other things. I will have to think on this one!

My guild tied more quilts today, but didn't have as many people show up today and I had to leave and go do some 4-H judging for awhile. I think for the two days 8 quilts were tied so that was pretty good.

This quilt is called Star Struck and is a Jackie Robinson design. I didn't purchase the kit, but rather my own fabrics in similar colors because I love purple and green together. I don't like green on it's own but teamed with purple it's fabulous! It's very dimensional and weighs a lot and Sally Howard of Seattle did an awesome job on the quilting quilt a few years ago. I just didn't think I could handle the weight in my home machine and it's a very large quilt. It was fun, but time consuming to construct!

Quilt a day #19

8 of us in my quilt guild showed up to tie quilts today. We finished 4 and have another one partly done. We will be going back tomorrow. We are getting quite a large store of quilts on hand for Helping Hands, which is good. We really don't want to have to give them out because that means something has happened that requires them.

I am showing a couple of wallhangings that I made for my late friend Deb today. The first one is a mini that I altered from a Foundation Piecer magazine and the other one was a challenge we did with each other. She sent me fabrics and this is what I made. I can't remember where the pattern was.

Quilt a Day #18

I still haven't gotten all the borders on the American Hero quilts yet. I've been playing games and cooking with Lisa and Brad home. For the next two days I will be tying quilts with my quilt guild for charity in honor of National Quilting Day Saturday.

Here are two wallhangings that I made before November 2002. I think I must have been on a big photography session then. The hummingbird was a stained glass pattern and I really enjoyed making it. I sold it last year. Someone asked if I happened to have a hummingbird wallhanging on hand and I did and she was willing to pay for it. The second wallhanging was one I struggled with in the technique and it was made so long ago that I dislike the fabrics now. I love purple irises though!

Quilt a day #17

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wore my green and white polka dot socks to work today, forgetting I was also going to the Dr. in Moscow afterwards! Oh well, it was fun! My boss gave us all dill pickles this morning for something green. She couldn't find green frosted cookies at the store! Most students at school love dill pickles, except the two kindergartners.

Today's offerings of quilts are just random photos again. I saw the pattern for this first quilt in a magazine a long time ago. I was just starting into the liking yellow phase. If you look closely you will see a mistake, something I didn't notice until it was completely done. My weekly hand quilting group quilted this one, so I know it's older than 7 years old, we disbanded then. There were only three of us left and I was working.
I saw this quilt in a magazine also. I made it in about two days, working intently. It's called Winter Rose. I had the border fabric and desperately wanted to use it. It's machine quilted and machine appliqued and is a large wallhanging.

Quilt a day #16

I can hardly stay awake but I remembered to post a photo! We watched National Treasure II tonight and I tried to hand quilt on an antique quilt but I had to pay attention to the movie!

Here are a couple of Pat Sloan wallhangings I did a few years ago. The first one is Katie's Summer Day and the second one is Katie's Tulips. I gifted Katie's Summer Day to my friend Cynthia, but I have Katie's Tulips. I was inspried by the border print.

quilt a day #15

I have been sewing on an American Hero string quilt today and decided to post more mini quilt photos. The first one is about 13" X 16" and was a pattern I picked up several years ago at a quilt show. I started it and then set it aside because I got confused on the pattern but then finally just changed it to suit myself.The next one is one that didn't start with a plan. I just started sewing batik strips together and sliced then and this is what I came up with. It's about 16 X 20 and I gifted in a Christmas stocking exchange on an internet group.The last one is done with Buggy Barn In the Pink fabrics. I can't stand the color brown or dull colors normally, but I was attracted to this grouping of fabrics and got some FQ's. I made log cabin blocks and they are hard to see but I appliqued some random leaves on the light color. It's 22" square I think!Lisa and Brad are here on spring break and they helped their dad move a "new" combine home today. It was a 7 hour round trip as combines don't go that fast!

Quilt a day #14

I decided to post some miniature quilt photos today. This trip around the world is one I made on Mother's Day sometime in the late 90's. Doug took the kids away for several hours as my present and I got the whole thing made and quilted. The squares finish at 1".
I have no idea what year I made this but it was in the late 90's. I made three of them, gave two as gifts and kept one for myself. It is hand quilted. Without running up two flights of stairs my estimate of size is 12" X 15".
This quilt was made in 2002. I saw the quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting and decided to make it but in a smaller scale. The church dash blocks finish at 2.25". I love the color combination of this one and I used to not like yellow at all! The flowers are fused on and I just stitched them down as the quilting. The quilt is 20" square.

Quilt a day #13

Today was boring housework and playing games with the kids. Tonight I decided to make an American Hero quilt out of some 6.5" charm squares and had to cut more fabrics to have enough squares. Now the squares have to go up on the design wall to distribute the colors.

The first quilt is one that was in Foundation Piecer magazine as a series. It took quite awhile but it was worth it! I usually take this one to put on my bed at quilt camps (even the ones that provide bedding because I never have enough blankets). I made this in 2003 and it's machine quilted.
The next one is a wallhanging I made in the late 90's. Well I started in the late 90's and finished it in 2001! I was going to make some more blocks and just never did so I finished it as a wallhanging.

quilt a day #12

My trunk show at my guild went very well last night. I think it would be fun to present it to other groups sometime. Today was a busy, but fun day. I went to my small art group and it's always fun to see everything. We have a variety of artists in there, I'm kind of on the outside looking in most of the time, but it's still very fun!

My daughter Lisa had great news today. She was one of a few accepted in Georgia Tech's master's degree program in prosthetics and orthotics. It's going to be a long way from Idaho this fall and lasts for two years and the thought of her being in Atlanta is kind of scary!

Many years ago McCall's magazine ran a series (they have run several of them since) in this Grandmother's Country Album quilt designed by Robert Callaham. I made the quilt in the colors pictured, although they weren't my normal working style. Everyone has to branch out sometime! It is machine quilted.The other quilt was made in the early 90's sometime, and is called Blockbuster Baskets. It very definitely has the calico look! It's based on the book Blockbuster Quilts by Margaret Miller published in 1991. I hand quilted it and it's about 56" square.

quilt a day #11

I'm trying to get this done early today since I have a guild meeting tonight. I think I got carried away on gathering up quilts for my trunk show. I had to take several out. I have two suitcases and a quilt carry bag to take. I figure it will be good practice just in case I ever get invited anywhere to show quilts!

We celebrated pi day today, since we won't be at school Sunday. Lisa and Brad will be on college spring break next week and Lisa asked if we had the ingredients for pie, since Sunday is pi day. Yes, I have math geeks for family members!

This first quilt is one I got a kit for at our local quilt show several years ago. I had made up the top and had it, but it's not really me. My brother desperately wanted a new quilt and even though I didn't have their name that year I gave it to him at Christmas anyway, a year early! It took pressure off to make something the next year!The next quilt is one I gave to my other brother and SIL. I did have their name that same year and SIL wanted a red/white/blue quilt star quilt, in the darker tones. Oh I just figured out the year I made these two, it was 2006.This is one of three Laura in Redwork wallhangings I made and gave them as gifts. I had hoped to get one back on my friend's recent passing (my friend made me say which quilts I had made that I wanted back), but I didn't get it. That's fine, I still have the pattern!

quilt a day #10

I changed the picture on the previous post to the finished quilt instead of the quilt top for the 4-H fundraiser and I found the year was 2006 that I made that quilt. I thought I was posting the finished quilt the first time!

A busy day with work, dentist, yet another blood draw and major grocery shopping.

This quilt was one I had totally forgotten about and I forgot how much I loved it. I donated it to the 4-H program in 2005. Fortunately we were able to stop doing raffles after the next year, because I was really donating a lot and had a hard time saying no! I am a huge believer in volunteering and I still do lead 4-H sewing and quilting projects.I have no clue when I made this delectable mountain quilt, possibly around 2002. It's not a great photo, it was taken at a quilt show. Sally Howard in Seattle machine quilted it for me and did a fabulous job. I had seen it in an old issue of Quilting Today magazine.

quilt a day #9

What a busy day! I subbed for my boss this afternoon and then raced off to a special, early school board meeting. I didn't really want to go that bad, but decided to be community minded and endured sitting on hard bleacher seats to watch the chairman of the school board not get his way so that was fun! I made two quilt blocks for my guild's charity project this evening but didn't take a picture.

The first picture from my files is a quilt from the book Four Seasons in Flannel, but I made it in regular cotton and donated it as a fundraiser for our county 4-H program several years ago. The person that won it was so thrilled and called me to tell me she was re-decorating a room in her house for the quilt! It's queen size and completely machine done.
This quilt is one I saw as a BOM many, many years ago called Old Glory. I ordered the BOM and caused a SUI (shopping under the influence) on my Washington State Quilters group. It took years but I hand apliqued the quilt and then machine quilted it. It's a large wallhanging/throw size.

8 days in a row!

I am proud of myself for posting this many days in a row!

We went out to Mexican food tonight, it had been a long time and I am thrilled to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Here are a couple pictures from my files. I made the New York Beauty quilt in 1996. I used over 60 fabrics. It's a Karen Stone paper pieced design and I just couldn't bring myself to do the pieced border she had in the pattern.The other quilt is more recent and it's behind the picture of me on my blog. I took a class from Helene Knott several years ago and this is her pattern of Multnomah Falls. I got engaged there in 1983 so it's special to my husband and I. I gave this wallhanging to him as a Christmas gift. I just haven't checked the back to see what year I made it!

Pansies

It was another busy day here. So much for my afternoon of quilting! I wasn't able to be home. I did get a bit more done outside this morning.

I just have one quilt to show today. I was remaking my bed yesterday and this is one of four quilts that is on it. I took it into my daughters room to take a photo. I made this in 2003-2004, testing a pattern for a friend. I used the fusible interfacing for the appliques and machine blind stitched them own. I found a great pansy fabric for sashing and border to coordinate.
It's back to work tomorrow, then a very busy week ahead! I was inspired by my blog and for the guild program this week I am doing a trunk show of my quilts! We have a lot of members who didn't know me "way back when". I am a charter member of the quilt guild formed in 1993.

Following a theme of color

I did some yardwork today in the beautiful weather we had and my husband and son were out in the fields working. Farming season has begun! I also did some machine quilting, but I'm not ready to show that yet.

Apparently in the mid 90's I was following color theme. I showed one of my favorite quilts yesterday and here are two more in those colors. This kaleidoscope was also based on a quilt I saw in Quilter's Newsletter. I just made mine a lot smaller! I don't recall if I paper pieced it or sewing all those odd angles. I know I had a ruler so who knows! It's hand quilted and made in 1993.
This was a free pattern by Marti Michell before she started all her templates. It came with a magazine renewal or a calendar. I changed the pattern since I didn't like a couple of the designs in the original. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted in a cross hatch pattern and made in 1995. A photo of this quilt appeared in a magazine special called Applique Quilts in 2003 with the pattern designer credited correctly. There was a little write up about me and another of my quilts as well. That will be shown at a later date.