Two Christmas Quilt Finishes!

In my last post I showed that I was quilting on my Snippets quilt.  I finished it last week.  I did pretty simple quilting, straight lines until the border where I did feather and curly q quilting.

Snippets by Cottonway pattern

 The striped binding was a great finish I thought!

 Closeup showing some of the Jingle fabrics, along with others from my stash.

 After I finished that quilt I was still in the Christmas mode so I quilted my One Block Wonder.  I LOVE this quilt!  It is not huge.  I just quilted a simple, quick allover design with a pale gray thread. The fabric is a Hoffman Spectrum digital print called Poinsettia.  I loved it so much I ordered more of the fabric off ebay, I couldn't find it anywhere else!  Then I was at a quilt shop an hour away Friday and found enough left on the bolt to make another one so I bought that too!

One Block Wonder

 I added a lime flange and red binding to finish it off.

 Closeup of some of the blocks.

 Next up is my Bonnie Hunter Easy Street mystery quilt.  I really am trying to finish UFO's!

I finally received my pillow cover from the Quilted Pillow Cover swap on Instagram. I sent the Red Fox Faces pillow I had posted earlier to my recipient.  She was supposed to send to another person and that person was supposed to send to me.  This was all secret at the time.  Anyway the third person had not posted updates and would not respond to emails and the hostess had my recipient send to me instead.  We had filled out forms stating color preferences, styles, etc.  The funny thing I had commented on Instagram that I thought this was too busy when she first posted fabrics and I thought it wasn't that cute, not knowing I was going to get it!   But, wow!  She turned it into an artistic creation!  The quilting is impeccable and it has amazing detail!  I am so impressed and thrilled to receive it!  I am just glad she had been told to wait and not sent it to the person who flaked out!   

School started last week and it was tiring!  I also spent two days this weekend refinishing my front and back decks.  I usually hire it done, but couldn't find anyone.  When we built our house the composite decking was just coming out and we went with the cedar.  It's great except for having to refinish it occasionally!  I'm glad that is done before winter sets in.  

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll quilts, check out all the inspiration from other bloggers!

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

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!

Favorite Quilt Tops of 2013

These are my two favorite tops finished in 2013, neither of them quilted yet!  I started off 2013 by finishing a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt called Easy Street.  I love the colors!  I started it after Thanksgiving 2012 and it was a finished top in January 2013.  I am not a green fan but I do love this quilt!  It's huge! 

 I ended the year finishing a log cabin quilt from a book by Judy Martin.  I started sewing it at a retreat at Palouse Divide Lodge in November and finished the top in December, 5,206 pieces.  It's 94 X 94.