Quiltville Mystery and Design Wall Monday

My design wall is pretty blah.  I still have the wool quilt on there.  So much for my goal of finishing it by the end of the year!

I am all caught up on the Quiltville mystery!

 This is a quilt top I made at a retreat in November.  I used a jelly roll pack and finally got borders added.  I used a pattern in the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott.

 I bought the kit for this quilt about six years ago.   It is called Snow Day and was a Moda Layer Cake project by Kansas Troubles.  These are NOT my normal colors!  I finally pieced it at the November retreat and fused on the snowflakes.  I will be stitching them at the same time as quilting and then adding a few buttons.  I finally got the borders added to it also!

I am linking up to Quiltville Mystery Monday and Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Quiltville Mystery

I am doing the Bonnie Hunter mystery on Quiltville this year.  I did Easy Street two years ago, still not quilted, but the top is done.

Bonnie's quilts are typically scrappy, but I decided to just use yardage.  I bought a light green for a background and a black with polka dots for the black, but everything else was from my stash.  I had 3 yellows to choose from and finally settled on this one.

 I don't have all the units sewn together since I just started this project Sunday night but here are some of my first units.   I am linking up to the quiltville page here.

We had a busy Thanksgiving week with our daughter Amy, her husband Nate and their two kids here for the week.  Our daughter Lisa and husband Kevin arrived Wednesday.  We hosted dinner for 34 people, with WAY too much food!  Everyone brings several courses.  Here are pictures of the grandkids before they left Saturday.

Jared - 3

Nicole - 6 months

Design Wall Monday - new quilt tops

I have accomplished things lately, but haven't posted for awhile.  I am posting pics of two quilt tops finished recently.  One had been on my design wall for quite some time and finally I just started sewing the leftover pieces from the two black/brown/gray quilts tops I made this year.  I added a touch of blue for a spark and I really like that.

This one is the second dresden plate quilt from the same set of blocks I made this year.  I hand appliqued the dresden's in place.  I think I like the 30's without green and I hadn't realized that before.







I went to The Washington State Guild quilt show this past weekend.  I saw lots of great quilts and was totally enamored with Fire Island Hosta by Judy Niemeyer.  I had seen pics of the quilts before but seeing one in person...  I bought the pattern and I'm dreaming of fabrics. 

Design Table Monday

I have been busy canning and juicing grapes.  Takes a lot of time away from quilting on my days off work but it's worth it throughout the year!  I have lots of canned tomatoes now, I made a lot of salsa last year and have plenty left.

I did finish the borders on my Crown of Thorns, I need to get that photo taken, but I don't have the space at the moment.  The same two projects are on my design wall and I have an extra table set up for basting.

We are going to a wedding in less than two weeks and I decided to give the couple a quilt I already had the top ready for.  They will be living in a small pole barn and I thought this quilt would fit the bill.  Even though some of the blocks were made by friends, I am just not a scrappy quilt person and with over 250 quilts in the house I thought I could part with one!  This is a pattern from Quiltville called Sister's Choice.

When I pin baste for machine quilting on my Pfaff Grand Quilter, I lay the backing out on a banquet style table (the heavy brown ones) and clamp the backing to the table.  I then lay out the batting and quilt top, over that and baste the center, then move it over the table to do the rest.  This quilt is just full size, but I have a six foot table end to end with another table and it gave me room to get the quilt laid out lengthwise.  After the quilt is moved to one side or the other I just clamp on top to hold it in place.

Hooking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

September is Flying By!

Wow, I do not know where this month has gone and I haven't posted a thing!  I was so busy going back to work on Sept. 2nd, the fair and getting ready for and going to a quilt retreat I didn't blog.  I didn't have anything to show really.  Now I do! 

I was trying to come up with a retreat project and found a Judy Niemeyer pattern called The Crown of Thorns in my stash from 2004.  I had almost all the fabrics, just bought two lights.  I had it all cut and I spent the entire retreat sewing on this quilt top!  I need to cut more strips for the border.  It is very definitely my colors!  It finishes at 70 X 70.

 The retreat in McCall, ID was sponsored by Quilt Taffy .  It was a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed my friend Valerie flying in from Colorado.  I took my featherweight for her to use, I honestly have never used it!  I bought this grouping of fat 1/8's.  I don't normally buy a grouping with the same prints just in different colors, but the modernness and graphics really grabbed me.  On an outing to Huckleberry Patches quilt shop I found a pattern to use with them.  That will be a surprise for later. 

 This is not a great pic, but this is the queen size quilt I made for Lisa and Kevin's wedding.  I finally finished it and they took it home a couple weeks ago.  The background is dark brown and the outer rings are hand appliqued to the background.  I was changing the pattern from curved edges to straight and this is all I could come up with to do.

Linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday, August UFO #31 and it's September!

I so can't believe I forgot to post to my blog yesterday, after being so good about posting every day in August except the power outage day.  I was so gung ho on machine quilting (I will show that quilt later in the week) that it slipped my mind.

My design wall has not changed from the last two weeks, but my design floor has changed.  I will be going to a retreat in mid September and was trying to decide on projects and I have had the Crown of Thorns pattern for 10 years.  I pulled all the batiks from my stash except for a couple light ones.  Gee, the pattern was in my colors, imagine that!  Now to get the pieces all precut before I go and have our county fair and going back to work for the school year in between!

My last UFO of the day for August is at the bottom, a row robin top.  It was from my guild several years ago and I didn't end up with enough rows so I made some checkerboards to fill in.   I will have to decide what I'm going to do for September.  I am actually getting low on showing UFO's after showing 31 of them!! Linking up to Design Wall Monday.

Row Robin top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August UFO #30

Today I did the dreaded house cleaning and got a queen size quilt pin basted and started quilting.  It's going well.  I wound 10 bobbins to start with, it will be interesting to see how many I actually use! 

Today's UFO is one I keep forgetting about.  It's a Block of the Month kit I inherited from my friend Vicki several years ago.  I forgot that I even had gotten three rows done!  I tried to take a picture of the pattern picture, but it's shiny paper.  This one isn't super high on my finish list, but hopefully next year!

August UFO #29

Today was shopping day.  Friday of Labor Day weekend is not the best time to shop but I survived.

This UFO is a HUGE stack of odd blocks.  Some were from swaps, some were samples, some were given to me, some I didn't use in block robins, just a big mountain of blocks that I haven't begun to count.  Someday I will sort them out and I know I even have more blocks elsewhere.  I can make a "Thimbleberries" type quilt, an animal quilt, a jar quilt, etc.  Lots and lots and lots of blocks!

August UFO #28

It's almost the end of the month and I am still coming up with UFO's in my collection to post!  This morning I canned green beans, it figures the garden is producing well and it's time to go back to work.  I had meetings this week and school starts Tuesday.

This UFO was from an internet group swap, but not as old as some of mine!  We swapped the scrappy blocks and I chose to set it with the Twist and Turn method.  This is one scrap quilt that actually made a dent in my scraps!  I set up another table for basting today so I threw the quilt over it for the picture.

 

August UFO #27

Yesterday I showed a red and white quilt and today is another one!  Yes, I have two of them needing quilting when my husband didn't think red and white looked like me!  This was from a birthday yahoo group, I picked the pattern, they made blocks. 









When I was in Wenatchee last weekend we went to the Farmer's Market.  I bought some wonderful sweet corn and at the huge indoor facility they have I found this awesome wood basket.  It's out of a Noble Fir tree burl.  I love it!

August UFO #26

Several years ago I took an unfinished red and white lonestar quilt from my mother-in-law's sewing room and finished it for her for Christmas.  She had Alzheimer's and was no longer sewing.  My husband Doug walked into my sewing room when it was on my design wall and said "That doesn't look like you".  He knew what I was planning on doing for his mom, but hadn't seen it.  I wondered why it didn't that look like me and he said it's red and white.  Well....  I was in a group that was making blocks for each other so I had them make red and white blocks and I have this top.  Of course I haven't quilted it... 

Design Wall Monday and August UFO #25

My design wall hasn't changed since last Monday and you can see that post here.
However I have added a few more stitches to the borders of the wool quilt.  I am linking up to Judy L.'s design wall Monday here.

My UFO of the day is an unusual quilt in the sense of fabric choice.  I bought the fabric from the former Lura's quilt shop in Orofino in the 90's.  At some point I made a 4 patch stack and whack out of the fabric and sashed it with fabrics on hand.  Now what to do with a foodie quilt?  I am not sure.  I could use it as a picnic quilt, although that happens infrequently.  A friend gave me some french fry fabric and I had some candy bar fabric so those will be used on the back.

block closeup

Last week I went to visit a friend and her husband in Wenatchee, WA.  It's a 5 hour drive each way.  Friday we went to Chelan, WA, a place I had never been.  This is a picture of the lake and from the winery where we had lunch, which is the other picture.  We went to the quilt shop there, it's cute and a nice variety of fabrics.

August UFO #24

I'm gearing up for back to school meetings this week, we actually start back with students Sept. 2.  We have done a big clea nout of a lot of areas in our little school over the summer.  Two classrooms, a gym and a former apartment, now storage makes up the whole building!  Oh and a small kitchen.  I still have a bit of organizing left for my kindergarten and first graders.

This is... you guessed it... another old UFO top.  I was in a LOT of round robins/block robins/block robins, even vest robins for a few years, more than 25 of them.  We kept the U.S. mail hopping back then!  This was a block robin and yes, I need to quilt it, like so many other tops in my collection!  I love basket blocks and will need to get this done... someday!

August UFO #23

As I mentioned previously I got involved in swaps on the internet and made a lot of friends.  I became particularly close to two women who both passed away and whom I acquired things from.  Vicki from SC was heavily involved in the Pat Sloan internet group and Debi from WA was a fan as well.  I did make several of the Pat's designs and was involved in several swaps and she also designed several fabric lines.  Through Vicki and Deb I seemed to have acquired a lot of Pat's fabric.  Honestly some of it really wasn't my color choices but I had a HUGE bin of it so a few years ago there were postings on You Tube about the "10 minute block".  Next thing I knew I was cutting fabric and made a queen size top.  I don't find it super attractive and have no clue why I made it so the top sits in my cupboard!  Be careful, if you say you like it you will probably end up with it!

August UFO #22

I did not make this top.  A few years ago my guild had a UFO auction.  I took a couple things, but came home with more than I went there with!  It was fun though.  The rest of the fabrics were included in the bag so I have to decide what to do.  It's a large wallhanging size right now.  I could just quilt it and bind it with one of the darker colors.  Decisions, decisions!

August UFO #21

Excuse all the wrinkles on the blocks and quilt tops I have been posting this month.  I haven't taken time to press any of them!  This is an interesting quilt top.  I first started on the internet in 1997 and in 1998 and 1999 I was in a lot of swaps.  This was a black and white swap and I just couldn't decide what to do with the blocks.  I am not even sure when I set this together but it wasn't too many years ago.  I was going to do a colored sashing but then decided to just sew the blocks together and use it as a pieced back for another quilt.  That didn't work out so now I have kind of a busy top.  Should I take it apart and put sashing?  Should I leave it?  I'm just not sure.

August UFO #20

I have a huge mess in my sewing room.  Huge.  I had just gotten it cleaned up and all I was trying to do was make a tiny little mug rug for a swap that was 6" X 10" finished.  I have fabric everywhere and in the process I got out some swap blocks from years ago.  A lot of these belonged to my friend Deb and I have already made two quilt tops out of the same type of blocks and I posted them recently.  Some are duplicates so I put those on top of the other ones.  These were from the Washington State Internet Quilters group over the course of a few years.  Counting the duplicates there are 87 blocks.  This will be interesting to see what I decide to do with them! They are 9" finished.

The two mug rugs are from a swap on Quilting Gallery.  Summertime Memories was the theme and mine were mailed off to a recipient in Australia.  She will be sending me two mug rugs as well. 

 

August UFO #19

Today I went to Cottonwood, ID to judge the 4-H sewing projects for the Idaho County Fair.  It's always a challenge, but fun as I have been a 4-H leader for 20 years.  I plan on retiring this year though after I get my 20 year award in Clearwater County, ID.  As a side note in 2012 my mom's family received designation as an Idaho Century Family with a combined 227 years of service.  We were near the top in the state.  I am the one that did the application and the only current person in the family involved in 4-H.  The award started with my grandparents, went through my mom and her siblings and their children. 

Today's UFO has been seen before here.  It was the Bonnie Hunter (quiltville.com) mystery from 2012.  I skipped 2013, but I'm considering doing it again if she posts one again late this year.

My floor isn't large enough for this quilt without moving my treadmill out of the way!

Design Wall Monday, August UFO #18

My design wall hasn't changed too much in the last couple weeks.  I decided to add some blue into the brown/gray/black scraps and I love it!  I need to sew some groupings together, I think it will be easier to work in the longer strips.

I have done some stitching on the Folk Art Album borders.

On the floor is my 18th UFO of the month.  I must have really started a LOT of projects in the early 00's!!!  This is  a stack and whack in my favorite colors.  I'm not sure why I stopped at adding the corner triangles and borders.  The fabric was with it!  Another project to finish....











I planted coleus in one of my deck planters this year and it's done well.  I read about wintering over or over wintering, depending on where you look, so I think I will try that this year. 

August UFO #17

Today I worked on cleaning out jars I brought home yesterday.  Doug dug trenches in the garden for me to dump the stuff in and the last load is in the dishwasher.  Lots and lots of jars!  The quarts are going to my mom for the senior citizen fundraisers they do of soup mix in a jar.

I have slacking in having time to sew lately.  Have I mentioned the mess I have made pulling out these UFO's to photograph for this blog?  Tomorrow I must clean!

This is yet another old UFO.  I think it's from 2000 or 2001.  I started this as a raffle quilt but obviously didn't finish.  I was shocked when I pulled it out.  I had no idea it was circular at this point and I do have the border units pieced.  It's a matter of adding pieces to make it have straight edges.  According to the picture I am also posting, finished it would be 92 X 92.  I hope I have enough of the black to actually make it rectangular, longer than 92.  I do love the colors and I adore batiks!  I guess I had good taste back then!

August UFO #16

This morning my cousin contacted me and said she was at her parents home working on cleaning it out.  Her dad passed away several years ago and her mom (my mom's sister) passed away 3 years ago.  My cousin has been working on this project whenever she could get there, but lives a few hours away.  They have decided to sell and really need to get everything out and her sister lives further away and was able to come for the weekend.  I was available to drive up (45 minutes away) and went to get canning jars.  My car is stuffed to the gills with canning jars (some have food in which I will be dumping).  The funniest find of the day was a small box I pulled off the top shelf of the pantry.  I opened it and there was wedding cake!  Very petrified wedding cake.  Their parents were married 64 years ago and there was a wonderful love letter their dad wrote to their mom.

My aunt had several quilting projects in progress which I have agreed to finish for her grandkids.  Aunt Helen was a Home Ec teacher for many, many years.

This UFO is Winter Wonderland and apparently I did some blocks with fabric on the back of the block and some not.  I have another one almost done and really need to press this and figure out where I'm at.

August UFO #15

I pulled yet another old sampler top out of my stack of things needing quilted.  Years ago I was in an internet group called Quilt Circle and you could pick a specific block or in my case I sent the floral print and said make whatever 12" block you wanted.  I used three fabrics in the sashing and this is a large twin size. 

August UFO #14

Today I made a Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Coconut Zucchini Bread.  Wow is it good.  Doug doesn't eat such things so I have the whole loaf to myself, like I really need that!  It's negating all my FitBit steps!  I made him a batch of prune dumplings he can eat instead.

Today's UFO is another oldie (do we see a theme here???).  I was in the Pat Sloan yahoo group over 10 years ago and thought I liked the fabrics because friends did.  This was a row robin and the rows are gorgeous and so well done and I love the border I added.  It's just too tan for my usual tastes.  I will quilt it (we have heard that before too!) and then decide what to do with it.  It was getting too long and skinny so I bit the bullet and did not add the swag border on the top.  I am normally someone who likes balanced designs.

August UFO #13

Today is my father-in-law's 91st birthday.  We will be having cake and ice cream this weekend.  He had a rough year, but is home and staying alone and doing better now.  I should have taken a picture of him today!

I have forgotten how much I like these blocks.  It was a monthly Block of the Month that we made in our own fabrics a few years ago.  I had a layout plan in the box with it but I think it will be too busy.  I have a pile of the leftover fabrics so I will be auditioning sashings.

August UFO #12

Today was catchup day on house stuff after being gone for a few days.  I picked green beans and got them snapped so I can can them tomorrow.  I sure do wish I had a/c in the house, this has been a very hot summer.  Hopefully with the storm it cools off a bit overnight. 

Today's UFO is another oldie.  For several years my guild had a block draw.  Someone's name was drawn and the next month they presented a pattern and fabric if they chose and other guild members made blocks.  I am not a fan of green and decided on teal trees.  I found this pattern somewhere, no idea where now and it had an alternate block I decided against.  I provided the turquoise fabrics and some purple.  I got a variety of backgrounds which was wonderful.  It's been pieced as a top for many years.  Someday I will get them all quilted!  Then again who knows, maybe not!

August UFO #11

I have been gone for a few days.  I flew to Seattle to help my daughter Lisa and her husband move to Boise.  I drove Lisa's car and although it wasn't the most gorgeous scenery, at least I got to see parts of Washington and Oregon I hadn't seen before!  We arrived in Boise Saturday in time for them to sign their lease and I got to spend a couple days with my sisters.  Lisa started her new job today and Kevin, his parents and my sister Lori and I had the truck unloaded before noon.

This UFO is just a block that is OLD!  It was a BOM I purchased online about 12 years ago but the setting fabrics were not what was pictured.  I have decided to machine applique the blocks and just set them however I want to.

August UFO #10

This is a throw size double wedding ring using QuiltSmart interfacing product.  The fabrics were purchased by my friend Deb to make a quilt for a family member and she ended up trading me for a quilt I already had made.  I had this in a bin for a few years and finally sewed it together at a retreat in April 2013.  Someday I will quilt this one too!  I can't say I loved using the interfacing method but it became MUCH easier when I borrowed a pair of hemostats.  The tubes turned so much easier.  Hemostats are now on my quilt camp supply list!  The rings are blind stitch appliqued on the background.

August UFO #9

This was a block robin from quite a few years ago.  I did a LOT of internet swapping in the late 90's and early 00's and I mean a LOT!  That is whey I have so many unfinished projects I think!  I sent a few fabrics and said I wanted Christmas theme blocks.  I love the challenge of putting together odd size blocks but I ran out of the red between the blocks and had to really work hard to figure out the borders.  I finally found a red that was similar colored.

August UFO #8

This was a row robin that actually belonged to my late friend Vicki in SC.  After she passed away her sister sent me a couple of boxes of unfinished projects and a featherweight!  I made a row in this quilt and others from around the country did as well.  I set it together and put it in my collection of tops.  I love the cheery colors.