Be My Neighbor

This post is dedicated to my Be My Neighbor quilt.  I did finish it over a week ago during the Quiltathon at Patchwork Times.  I finally got some pictures, but it's so hard to get a full size picture when I can't take it outside!  I'm afraid it would get too wet with the snow.  I also couldn't get it to show the true brightness of the fabrics.

Be My Neighbor on the design that is only 7' high

Be My Neighbor on the basement floor

Be My Neighbor on a queen bed

I quilted wavy lines horizontally from edge to edge.  It was fun and added the texture I wanted.

Wavy line quilting

backing

I used a stripe binding and applied it completely by machine, sewing it on the back and flipping it to the front and edge stitching.

I am entering the quilt into the contest on the Bear Creek Be My Neighbor site. scroll down to the bottom so you can see the details of the contest.

OMG and Two more finished tops!

I am joining in the One Monthly Goal challenge this month.  My goal to finish will be my Be My Neighbor quilt picture farther than down in this post!  This quilt is also my Main Crush Monday quilt.

We had a great Christmas and I have been on vacation from work.  The roads were not pleasant driving to Boise, but we had a great time with our daughters, their husbands, our two grandkids, and many other family members, too numerous to list!  It was a great time and we had decent roads coming home.  It's a six hour drive normally.

After we got home I started sewing.  I assembled my Tula Pink City Sampler, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks quilt top.  These blocks are 6" finished.  I avoided lining blocks up with the setting I chose!

City Sampler - 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

block closeups

I only had 7 of the Moda Be My Neighbor blocks done and the 16th one was released just before Christmas.  I worked for a couple days sewing the rest of the blocks and then a couple days assembling the quilt top and figured out the border, along with making a pieced backing.  I used cut offs from the triangle piecing to make a border and sized them all to 2 1/2" unfinished.  I had designed a border, but realized I didn't have enough of the white fabric so I cut up a bunch of the fabrics and made a random piano key border. 

Be My Neighbor top - queen sized

another view, my design wall isn't tall enough!

The quilt top is now queen sized and will go in my daughter's room. When she was six she wanted a house quilt.  She went through my stash and picked fabrics and I made a quilt, even hand quilting it!  The quilt is worn out!  She is my bright colors lover so I thought the Be My Neighbor quilt would be a great one to have on her bed here when she comes to visit.

Lisa's house quilt circa 1994

bright house block with sidewalk

rotten chimney fabric and my hand quilting

top of the quilt - completely shredded!

The backing I pieced for Be My Neighobr is VERY bright, there is one piece that sticks out a sore thumb, but I can honestly say I made a dent in a box of fabric!  Some of these fabrics have been in my stash for years and years!  Now to get the quilt quilted before the end of January to enter into the viewer's choice contest!  These pictures don't do the colors justice!  This will be my OMG - or One Monthly Goal.

pieced backing

another view pieced backing

In the windows of some of the Be My Neighbor blocks I used cat fabric. Lisa loved cats growing up and made a Chinese Coin quilt of all cat fabrics.  She tied it as a 4-H project.  

cat fabric in the window closeup

pieced borders closeup

Lisa's Chinese Coins cat quilt

closeup on the quilt showing the same fabric I used in the windows

My husband and I have made a tradition of going on a New Year's Day walk.  The snow was pretty deep and hard to maneuver.  We have snow shoes but I haven't the slightest idea how to use them so we waded through the snow.  Our dogs were thrilled to go, but the snow was a bit deep!

Leia - will be 2 in Feb.

Kanobi - age 11 1/2

picture in the front of our house a couple days ago at sunset -
farm machinery implements waiting for spring!

I am linking up to Patchwork Times, MCM and OMG.

More blocks

Life is so busy!  I am sure I said the same thing last week!  I did make the next block in the Be My Neighbor sew along and I am up to date on the 100 blocks 100 days Modern City Sampler sew along.  I also volunteered to be an angel and made a mini for a recipient in the Teal Mini Swap to support Ovarian Cancer research. I showed the one I received and one I sent in my last post. That's basically all I have gotten done  Someday I really am going to learn how to take straight photos!

I tried something new to me on the binding of this mini.  I have done flange accents many times and generally I sew my bindings down by hand.  However for this mini I cut a 1 1/4" strip of teal and a 1 1/2" strip of pale green and sewed then together and pressed in half leaving the green larger.  Then I sewed it on from the back and machine sewed the binding down on the front in the seam between the green and teal stripe.  Corners were tricky, but it's a method I will try again.

Dresden Teal Mini 18" square

Be My Neighbor sew along

68 blocks done!  only 32 to go!

This is a kit I bought at the Spokane quilt show last weekend.  It's so cute and two friends bought the same one.  It came with snowflake buttons.  I will work on it at a quilt retreat in a couple weeks.

Check out what others are working on at Patchwork Times.

Bunches of blocks

Life is busier than usual it seems!  My works hours have been extended again and it's been 30 years since I worked full time!

I am up to date on my Modern City Sampler blocks on a sew along on Instagram.  I have 62 out of 100 done!

Sorry for this crooked photo, but the top row is sewn together and not put on my design wall straight!  This is the sew along Moda's Be My Neighbor.  I love the brights and some of them have been in my collection a long time.  The blocks are huge, the big house on the bottom row is an 18" block.

Another sew along I am doing is Lisa Bongean's Magic of Christmas.  I am behind as we have already been given up through pattern 11.  These are Fairy Frost fabrics with a print in the middle I have had for years.  It will be sashing and borders.

I was able to get these blocks done this past weekend on a mini retreat with a friend in Spokane.  The big quilt show was this past weekend and we stayed at a hotel for three nights.  We met up with several friends and had a great time at the show and at a quilt shop the next day.  

Linking up with Patchwork Times.