Actually finished a quilt!

School starting is almost here and I am trying to get some more quilts finished before then!  This year I redecorated my dining room and it's mostly aqua/teal, gray, and taupe.  Instead of a wallhanging I bought a large clock, but still have a shelf with a quilt rack on it for a quilt.  I did make a new tablerunner and then decided this quilt would fit in there nicely.  I saw a similar quilt at the Moscow, ID quilt show a couple years ago and found a FQ packet at a booth and whipped up this top right away.  The pattern is Cotton Candy Dots by Amalie Scott Designs with added dots.  Of course then I stashed the top in my cupboard unquilted for a couple years.  It worked well for what I wanted and the coral is a nice accent color.  I NEVER thought I would have orange in my house!  But I tell myself it's not really orange!

narrow framing strip before a scrappy binding

This is the quilt kit I bought with my gift certificate winnings at the LQS where I turned in my winning Row by Row quilt.  Sugar Plum Christmas by Bunny Hill designs.  I just need to get going on it!

For my birthday last month I got this new chest.  I put the ironing table I made on top of it.  It's the perfect height!  I had seen the chest in Boise in May and didn't bring it home as I was with my mom and driving her car.  I looked all over up here and in Spokane and didn't find anything I liked better so my sister picked this up for me and brought it to McCall to give to me.  I wrote her a check, yep, I usually buy my own presents!  I haven't filled all the drawers yet, but I will!  They are great for some of my crafty items like ribbons, zippers, embellishments, etc.

I took a walk in our woods behind the house this morning and was trying out the camera on my new phone.  I am having difficulty taking straight pictures of quilts, so I thought I would try something outside!  I have been dealing with plantar fasciitis for a couple months so it hasn't been a great summer for walking and it's also been way too hot!  Hopefully I am on the mend now.

Row by Row Finished and Other Happenings!

I have had a lot of things going on, which is the story of my life.  We had our family here and had another family wedding and then we kept our 5 year old grandson for an additional week.  I took him home (six hour drive) and went shopping with my daughters and sister.  It's convenient that both my daughters and both sisters live in the same metro area!  We were shopping for baby quilt fabrics for my younger daughters twins due Dec. 5th.  They are a boy and a girl!  This is what we ended up with. The boy fabrics will blue to orange and the girl the yellow to purple, so four fabrics are the same and the gray is the background.  I have plenty of white and black in my stash so they aren't in the picture! The staff at Quilt Expressions in Garden City, ID was very patient and we took over a table in the back laying out fabrics for over an hour!

 I did finish my Row by Row On the Go for 2017!  I was the first one to my local quilt shop (third year in a row) and this quilt uses 16 rows!  I made a lot of thread changes while custom quilting this quilt.  I's HUGE, 94 X 105.  I received a nice gift certificate and I will show what I bought later.  For scrappy I guess it turned out okay!

I took a picture on a piece of equipment in front of our old barn.

 As I was taking the picture I had to quickly grab the quilt as my husband went by in a combine cutting lentils!  You can see the dust stuck on the combine!

 Laying in my yard.

 A few of the rows.

My finished 16" pillow cover for a swap on Instagram.  I have not yet received mine.  I should have put the pillow form inside for the pic!

 Many pieced backing for the Row by Row.  I did not want scraps leftover!!!

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.  Check them out for other great quilts!

Making Progress

I have not totally finished anything in the last week, but I have been sewing!  I mentioned in my last post about a contest to guess the number of quilts in my linen closet and instead of picking a quilt out of there for Chelsea, I found a top in my stash and quilted it.  Chelsea said she liked outdoor things, but also purple and teal and bright colors.  Years ago (more than 10, less than 20!) my guild had a block exchange where you picked the pattern and could provide fabrics and other members made blocks.  I chose a tree, but not in your typical greens, I chose turquoise.  I call it Blue Spruce.  I had the top together, but it was in my massive pile of unquilted tops.  I found some flannels for the backing in my stash (I will get a photo of those for my next post).  I have it quilted, and the binding stitched on, it just needs stitched down.   The interesting thing is that Chelsea's great grandmother was in my quilt guild for many, many years and recently passed away at age 95.  She made a block in this quilt!

I have been a charter member of a local quilt guild since 1993.  The guild has changed and lost a lot of members due to various reasons and they also moved the meetings to daytime.  I cannot attend with my work schedule except for two months out of the year.  Over the years we have done several quilt shows and I have been involved in several of the fundraiser quilts.  

A few years ago as a challenge we were each given a piece of fabric and asked to make something outdoor themed for a raffle quilt.  We didn't have a lot of members and didn't get a large amount of blocks back and the blocks have sat for a few years.  I made the larger center block with my challenge fabric.  This year the members made some 18" finished log cabin blocks  to try to extend the size of the quilt.  The idea was that the quilt could be finished and given to the recipient of a Habitat for Humanity house.  

I was asked to assemble the quilt as putting together odd size blocks is one of my specialties and I have given guild programs on this.  I played with the blocks for a while and finally came up with this arrangement.  I had to make 5 more log cabin blocks and adjust some others.  I am very finicky and blocks should measure the correct size at each step of the process as you are making log cabins and they didn't.  I square mine up after each round.  The quilt top now measures 90 X 108 and the last I heard the group was going to have it machine quilted and then raffle it off afterall and donate the proceeds.

Clearwater Quilters Opportunity quilt top assembled by me

closeup of my block based on a book I can't find right now!

There were 4 leftover disappearing 4 patch blocks and one applique block that didn't work in the quilt.  I made 6 more disappearing 4 patch blocks and assembled this top.  It is 38 X 48 and  might be used on the back or as a quilt for a care center resident.

I have been spending most of my time working on the row by row quilt.  I have 11 rows done and plan to do 5 more.  I actually went to all 16 of these shops!  I am making this quilt queen size.  This is not the arrangement I will use and it will have sashing.  I have more one more vertical row and the others are horizontal.  This is my third year and next year slap me if I decide to do this.  The instructions are generally quite awful and to support the shops I purchased kits and I was short fabric on more than one.  I do have another bright  row that I hope will offset the one bright one.  There was one that was all pastels and I redid it.

pastel row that doesn't fit in the row by row quilt

Fancy Fox is the pattern my daughter brought me in April to tell me she was pregnant and that was the pattern for her baby quilt.  I have not yet purchased fabrics, I will go visit in a couple weeks and do that, but for her I get to make two quilts, yes twins!!!!!!!   The fabrics pictured are for a quilted pillow cover swap on instagram.  I am making a small version of the Fancy Foxes with these fabrics.

Linking up for design wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Row by Row and Shop Hop

Last week I turned in my 2016 Row by Row quilt to Material Girls Quilting, Etc. I received my gifts and got lots of oohs and aahs from customers and other quilters there for an open sew day.  The quilt is on the  Idaho Row Experience Facebook page.

Finished 2016 Row by Row Quilt

The shops I visited were all in northern Idaho except one across the border in Washington.  I purchased all the shop kits to support the shops and while making the rows I cut up the leftovers into 2 1/2" squares with the intent of doing a scrappy border on the sides to make it a bit wider.  Stupidly I did not have the sashing done yet and hung the borders up beside the rows and thought YUCK!!!  So I found a fabric in my stash and used it and then thought how dull.  So I pinned the pieced borders over the top and thought yes.  I was talking to a friend in CO at the time and kept walking by my design wall.  I ended up taking out the green border as you can see above but had to cut down the scrappy border a bit to fit because I didn't want to redo the top and bottom borders!

with green border

with pieced border pinned on top

This past weekend we had the Crazy 8 shop hop in Idaho and Washington.  I went with 4 friends and had a great time.  I bought quite a few odds and ends including Terial Magic.  I had never heard of it, but I'm anxious to try it.  I also bought a Trolley Needle Thread Controller.  I hadn't seen one of those either.  I just have to get used to using it!  

I am making a giant tree skirt and chose these fabrics.  I need to add a red, I'm not sure why I didn't think of that, but I need a garnet red since Idaho produces garnets and I have been to a garnet mine.  The tree skirt will be representing Idaho.  I have a plan, just have to get going on it!

I also bought a bag pattern and these fabrics.  These are my all time favorite colors, so rich and deep.

I also decided to do the Magic of Christmas sew along from Lisa Bongean.  I had this leaf fabric in my stash for YEARS!  I found a couple Fairy Frost blues and they looked great and on the shop hop I purchased the silver and lavender Fairy Frost fabrics and made the first block.  I am thinking I will just use blue as the accent, perhaps a star setting, but I will see how this progresses.

Magic of Christmas sew along

Magic of Christmas block 1

Check out Patchwork Times for other great projects.

Farm Girl Vintage and Row by Row

I finished my Farm Girl Vintage quilt that I am gifting to my granddaughter Nicole.  Nicole turned 2 on May 7th.  My daughter was raised here on the farm and wants her kids to have the farm experience when they come to visit.  Nicole loves horses so I used a panel and horse fabric for the backing.  We will be making a pillowcase together.  They are arriving today and will stay for a few days.  It's hard when they are so far away!

Farm Girl Vintage

Full view Farm Girl Vintage

backing

Rows from three shops in Idaho

I also made three rows for the row by row project.  I have another one in the works.  I'm hoping to be able to collect prizes on it, but won't have much time to sew for a few days with the grandkids here!

Finished Top and Vacation

June has been crazier than usual!  I had a busy last couple weeks of school, getting out June 9th and that weekend we had some company.  We spent a wonderful week in Hawaii and I got to one quilt shop on Big Island, Quilt Passions.  On Oahu, we had several activities planned and didn't take the time to go find a quilt shop.  I played in the ocean instead!

Sunset on our last night in Hawaii

Fish fabric as a remembrance of our wonderful snorkeling cruise

Floral print for a backing

I also bought a pattern and their last year's row because I thought it was cute. I was too early for this year's Row by Row.

Monday I got out an OLD UFO, from 2004/2005.  I knew it was in colors that would be perfect for a wedding gift.  The BOM was Lewis/Clark Bicentennial and there were fabrics made for this.  Since Lewis and Clark are HUGE in this area (they traveled through here and built their canoes across from my mom's house) I bought it back then and had apparently made the first 11 blocks pictured below.

The directions for completing the quilt were awful or non-existent.  I might not have printed them all at the time. I searched the internet high and low but couldn't find a completed quilt.  I have had a busy week sewing this top together.  I made the final two sampler blocks, the alternate star log cabin blocks, and then had to figure out borders.  I drafted one and cut all the pieces and it wouldn't work!  I have no clue what happened, but I ended up using all the pieces I had cut and just doing improv piecing for borders.  I needed to make it longer to be queen size and the lights are the only fabrics I had enough of left.  I had a plain brown in my stash I supplemented.  I will be doing a scrappy binding after I get it quilted.  I have it basted now and will start quilting this afternoon with an all over design.  Did I mention the wedding is this coming Saturday?

Lewis and Clark BOM

I didn't get my daughter Lisa's quilt finished before I left for Hawaii but it's mostly quilted!  My daughter Amy's is basted and next up for quilting after these two!

Lisa's brick and leaf quilt

Linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

This post title is deceptive as I don't have a single thing on my design wall!  I don't know if that is good or bad.  I have a vast amount of projects cut and ready to go to my retreat Wednesday.  I don't usually go for 4 nights, usually just 3, so that is an extra day of sewing.  Next week I plan to show more projects!

First this week is my finished Row by Row Experience quilt.  I custom quilted it, letting each row speak to me.  I am not great at taking photos so I don't have quilting closeups.  I had two local quilt shops to pick from, awesome for a town of 3,000 people!  I chose to go in to Material Girls.  They were so delighted to have me there!

Idaho Travels with a little help from Washington and Oregon

For prizes they had a pack of 25 FQ's but said I could trade it in for what I wanted.  I looked around and one owner said how about this, do you like this?  It was this gorgeous quilt kit for Northern Cardinals using Winter Song fabrics by Holly Taylor.  I had seen the kit, but didn't purchase it and was thrilled to trade in for it, even though the value was way more, they didn't care.  Since I used their row they said I also got a gift certificate or any book I wanted.  I picked Here Comes Winter, it has a lot of cute, fun, little projects.

Northern Cardinal Kit by Holly Taylor - mine is cut and ready to sew at retreat!

book I received as a prize

The rows I used were from:  Material Girls - Orofino, ID, Stitches and Petals - Moscow, ID, Homegrown Quilts - Grangeville, ID, Cattle Country Quilts - Joseph, OR, Grammy G's - Palouse, WA, Quilt Treasures - Grangeville, ID, Rather Be's - Pomeroy, WA, Huckleberry Patches - McCall, ID, Wild Hare (split in two pieces) - Orofino, ID, Becky's Fabrics - Lewiston, ID and Palouse River Quilts - Colfax, WA.  It was fun going to all the different shops and I purchased all the kits to support the stores, even though I change a few fabrics here and there.  I pieced the back out of leftover chunks of fabric along with some yardage of flannel I had.

My friend Tamra sent me a pinterest link to an iron caddy.  I own one made by the organizer of a retreat I went to in Leavenworth, WA a few years ago.  I found instructions online here and made this caddy.  It unfolds to be an ironing mat.  I will be mailing it off as a surprise!

When I was at Cattle Country Quilts in Oregon in June I found this bag pattern, the Barbados Bag by Pink Sand Beach Designs.  I loved that is was tall enough for my Kindle and had outside pockets, one zippered on the front and one not and on the back there are two pockets as well as two pockets inside.  I made the bag this weekend and love it.  I still need to "move in" to it.  I ordered a new travel wallet that should arrive tomorrow.  I am hoping to keep my purse more organized!  I had to go rummage in my late MIL's sewing room looking for zippers.  The one on top is turquoise!

linking to Patchwork Times