Finished Quilt!

I finished quilting and binding my Blue Hawaiian quilt.  I LOVE it!  I did a lot of swirly quilting and the weather has turned to be much nicer and went into our pasture and field for pictures.  My husband was able to get into the field today finally!  Yay for sunshine!

I am thrilled to have this quilt finished.  The original pattern is Rhubarb Pie by Madison Cottage Designs.

In the 1960's daffodil bulbs were put into the pasture and over the years they have spread.

If you look close you can see one of my dogs in the upper left!  

Our winter wheat made it through our long winter.  This wheat variety is named Huffman UI/WSU after my late son.

quilting closeup.  I used a turquoise Superior brand thread.

I have a quilt retreat coming up so of course I had to cut a new project!  I am making Wizard's Chess.    I still need to cut the solid black and solid white.

I have done some knitting, 4 dish rags!  No picture since I gave them away already!

I am linking up with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making.  Check them out for great inspiration!

Machine Quilting and Prep

I spent the week, after work, machine quilting a quilt for a friend.  Three years ago she asked me to machine quilt a quilt she was making for her son and his soon to be wife.  Her son had been one of my son's best friends and I had planned to make a wedding quilt but instead purchased gifts as to not detract from his mom's gift.  Jeffrey and Macaela recently had a baby girl and I gave them a baby quilt at the shower and they were thrilled to receive it.  It took Susan quite a while, but she proudly finished the quilt top and brought it to me.  I tried to take a picture of the quilting on the backing but it didn't show.  I did free motion whirligig quilting in each block and a loopy swirl in the sashing (it was added for length).  Susan will bind it. It's a bit busy, but cool at the same time!  It was way to rainy to take pics outside.

This weekend I got out my Blue Hawaiian quilt.  I originally posted it in May 2017.  I had lots of leftover blocks and decided to enlarge the quilt.  Then I still had leftovers and pieced a backing as I am refusing to buy backing fabric when I have so much fabric at home!  The pattern is called Rhubarb Pie by Madison Cottage desgins.

This was the quilt to top as it was in May 2017.  63 blocks

Enlarged quilt top and the borders were changed to be uniform on the sides.  88 blocks

I had leftover bits and pieces so I pieced a back.

Now I need to baste and quilt it!  I wanted something cheery during our dreary April weather!  Farming is behind, the fields have way too much water.

Joining in with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making.

Easter, quilts and kids!

I thought I would share an Easter quilt I have had for years.  I used to do a lot of round robins, row robins, block robins, etc.  This is one I made the center for and was delighted with what I got back!  I should have steamed out the fold in the center.

center block closeup

I finished quilting this Washington State Internet yahoo group quilt.  I collected the blocks 13-18 years ago and have had the top in my stash for YEARS!  I custom quilted each block and bound it in black.

I was trying to show the blocks on the top row, but wasn't successful!  It was nice enough weather to go out in my back pasture for photos.

Last year I cut up a bunch of earthy batik strips and some sashing.  The pattern is in one of my Jelly Roll quilt books.  I was at a retreat last April and one woman ran out of projects!  Unheard of for me, I always bring way too much!  I handed her this packet and she sewed up a bunch of blocks.  Last week I sewed up a bunch more and got the top assembled this weekend.  Now it will go into my to be quilted pile and will eventually be donated.

My oldest daughter and two kids were here during spring break this past week.  Nicole will be 4 in May and discovered her mom and aunt's Barbies.  She had a field day!  They had so many growing up and LOTS of accessories.  Some of the things have gone by the wayside (like the Barbie car and beds) and a few more went away when I was cleaning things up, but wow, she spent HOURS and HOURS playing with them and has quite the imagination.  She was wearing her princess costume!

 I didn't seem to get any pictures of Jared by himself!  He is 6 1/2 and was with my husband continually!  He loves being Grandpa's shadow on the farm!

 The twins weren't here visiting, but here are a couple pictures.  They are almost 4 1/2 months old now!  Finn and Remy!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making.

Not a lot of progress

The last few weeks have been filled with many things, including a horrible cold virus that really zapped me.  Lots of other things going on.  I am almost quilting a large quilt, but just didn't get a chance to finish!  My daughter and grandkids are here visiting and that takes priority.  I am eeking out a few minutes with the kids playing here in the sewing room.

My biggest finish was getting the borders on my Baltimore Spring quilt.  I still haven't gotten to the stitching stage, I hope to soon.  I do have some other quilting commitments coming up, so we shall see!

When I took the quilts to school for 100 day in my previous post, our volunteer music teacher was there.  This is a small wallhanging from hand dyed fabrics and the leaves are raw edge.  It's not my favorite and she asked if I would donate it to a benefit auction for a neighbor's 4 year old great granddaughter.  I was happy to.  The little girl was born with a rare medical condition and they are seeing treatment in Boston.  I included a closeup of the quilting.  This is about 24 X 30. 

Instagram is having a quiltfest for the month of March, but again, way too many commitments to participate fully.  I  was able to post a pic on miniature quilts day though!  I wish I had laid a ruler for comparison!  It was about 24 X 27 or so, I can't remember now!  I made these a few years ago.  I used to make a lot of mini quilts!  The top two are traditionally pieces and the bottom 2 are paper pieces and they are small!

 I got out my Farmer's Wife blocks to see how many I had. I laid a piece of black fabric on the floor and I think that is what I will use on my scrappy batik quilt when I get all the rest of the blocks made some year!  Actually I have been challenged to finish it this year.  I started this many years ago.

 More recently I started the 1930's Farmers Wife.  Still not sure why as I have way too many sampler quilts and they aren't my favorite!  They are brighter and I will be using white.  I have a lot more to make!

Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with quilting and blogging.  I will post pics of my grandkids in another post!

Check out Design Wall Monday!

100 days of school and a prize!

Our school district has been on a 4 day school week for several years.  We go to school about 150 days a year and today we hit our 100th day this school year.  We have 24 students in grades K-6.  Everyone participates in the 100 day event and they bring 100 of something to show.  For several years I brought 100 cookies.  Last year I brought 100 squares of fabric.

This year I brought 100 quilts!  I used to make a lot of miniatures and wallhangings and for the essence of weight I took mostly that size, but threw in a few larger ones.  They filled 4 large garbage bags I could barely lift!  I had lots of helpers spreading them out in the gym (with clean hands and in stocking feet!).  The students were all very impressed and got to pick their favorite ones and explain why and then fold them up for me.  It was a good lesson in art and design.  The first pic is of the stacks in my hallway and the other pics were by the head teacher, trying to minimize faces of students showing!

 I forgot to show the name tag I made for the retreat I went to last weekend.

The background is made up of bits of thread saved from the floor.  A friend also saves all her thread ends and gives them to me.  I went through a postcard making phase with them.  I free motioned my name (going over it a few times) and then covered the whole thing with tulle and did some stitching, punched a hole and added a flower and sewed on the ribbon.  I received the top prize of 8 fat quarters and the three judges really liked my recycling!  Below are the FQ's I received from Quilt Treasures, the retreat sponsor.

Retreat Weekend

I went to a retreat that started last Wednesday for four nights.  It was a new to me retreat and the retreat was held at a hotel.  I had a lot of fun, there were 23 of us, including the quilt shop owner that sponsored the retreat.  She was very generous with gift bags and set up a small shop for us.  Her husband and kids provided dinners for us.

I was able to sew up 84 4 patch blocks for a couple of kids quilts and still need to cut them apart for a disappearing 4 patch, but my main project was my Baltimore Spring project I showed a block of in my last post.  It was intense, but I got all the blocks cut and fused. Some of those pieces are SOOOO small!  I was able to tape the pieces to a wall to watch the project grow.  I have been debating what to do next. I think I will go ahead and assemble the blocks, add the borders (yes a fusible applique one) and then thread paint with a thin layer of batting and then add another think batting layer and a backing and quilt the open areas.  That is my plan at least!  This is not the final layout, it looks too heavy on top, so I will do some rearranging.

Baltimore Spring BOM all fused

Before the retreat the quilt shop owner had a mystery quilt pattern and and quilters had a chance to participate.  She picked fabrics and had them in a bag based on their color preferences.  I did not participate but enjoyed seeing the wide variety of finished quilts from the same pattern!

The previous weekend I got the this quilt top out and added the prairie point border and the final border.  I had pieced it quite some time ago at a retreat.  It was a kit I bought many years ago from Starr Fabrics.  It is a small throw size.  I also have a kit for a queen size version!  It is fun to sew up and I like the mottled effect.

I also pin basted this quilt top to ready it for quilting.  I had gotten word that my friend Kathy had passed away unexpectedly and she and I were co-moderators on a yahoo group for twenty years called Washington State Internet Quilters.  The list owner Melissa is a dear friend and the three of us "ran" the list.  As Facebook and other social media took over the group had dwindled in recent years, but many friendships were formed from this group.  They had many sew ins, retreats, swaps, round robins, etc.  These blocks were from one of the swaps, and in memory of Kathy I got out this quilt top and readied it for quilting.  I have another one as well and still more blocks to be made into quilts!

I think I am going to be busy for awhile!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday and Monday Making.

Very Productive Weekend

I had a wonderful four day weekend.  I didn't feel like battling snow to go shopping so I stayed in my quilt zone.  We did watch movies so I could do hand stitching on bindings.  Today I finished two more projects and made a block for another project.  It was on my list!

This baby quilt is busy and not my style.  Years ago (7 or 8) I was at a quilt show and bought this froggie print kit.  When I made it I didn't have anything to do with it so I set it aside.  I still need to find a home for it, but it's quilted and bound and off my to do list!

I am in a small group and a couple years ago we did a group project.  The background is a hand dyed piece of fabric from a friend.  I hand wrote the words and everything else was added by six other people.    Someone embroidered over my words, someone added beads, someone did machine stitching, etc.  I wasn't sure where to go with it and finally decided to do minimal quilting and bind it.  It even has a label.

A couple years ago I fell in love with the quilt Baltimore Spring in the Keepsake Quilting catalog.  It was a spendy BOM, but the pieces are laser cut.  I decided to test a block to see if it's doable at a retreat and yes it is as long as I have my pressing area right beside me!  I stood at my pressing table for two hours to do this block!  I still need to add stitching and that is going to be tricky because some of the pieces are SMALL!!!  The block finishes at 12".

 Officially I have finished 14 projects so far this year!  I am down to 101 UFO's!!!

Five More UFO's Bite the Dust!

Although I still don't have my list typed up, I have it written on paper, I have knocked off five UFO's this weekend!  Admittedly I picked some easy ones, but hey they are done and not in my piles anymore!  We had snow this weekend so it was a great time to hide out and quilt.  The first photo was taken Saturday and that night we had massive wind and it knocked the snow off the trees.  The second picture is a walk in our woods behind the house Sunday.  It's hard to tell, but the snow was about a foot deep out in the open. 

I finished quilting and bound Tutti Fruiti.  It measures 60 X 72.  It was in a McCall's magazine and I used Moda Basic Grey Grunge and Compositions fabrics.

Tutti Fruiti

Here is a closeup.  I LOVE the background fabrics! I free motion outline stitched around the pinwheels and black squares, and the rest is a simple stipple for texture.

I finished three tablerunners.  A few years ago a local quilt shop was really into the 60 degree border print tablerunners.  I made these two out of one length of print, but the orange was pretty intense.  I put them away.  Now they are done!  One will be donated to the senior center fundraising efforts.  The make a bunch of gift baskets every year and raffle them.  The center one was a charm pack and a poinsettia print.  My prints were just really busy, and I set it aside.  Now I like it and it's finished!

 I started this tote bag 8 years ago.  I got bored sewing on raw edge strips and the size was odd so I set it aside.  I finished it in about 30 minutes!  I had the straps made, but not sewn on, and then I just had to sew up the sides.  I was supposed to add a pocket, but I am using it as a quilt carry bag.  It's done!

Not quilt related, but I work in a two room school (although we call it a one room as all the students do have a desk in one room).  I pull the Kindergarten and First Grade students out and we sit around in a table in our second room with the library and play center.  We have a half size gym.  Normally the students bring their lunch every day, but once a month parents cook a hot lunch in our tiny kitchen.  For Valentine's Day the students invited guests and they did the decorating with supplies belonging to a couple of parents.  We practice manners and dress up.

the door to the kitchen is in the corner.  Doors to the hallway are on the right out of view.

the door to the PE equipment storage room is in the far corner.  Doors to the hallway are on the left.

 Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Main Crush Monday and Monday Making.

Bitty Blocks Finished

This weekend we threw an 80th birthday party for my mom.  She only wanted family and thought it was just going to be my husband, myself, my two brothers and their spouses and my niece and her two kids.  My sisters drove six hours to surprise her.  It was fun that we were able to pull that off!

I am excited I was able bind my Bitty Blocks from Quiltmaker's blog quilt while watching the Olympics yesterday.  I am normally someone who "listens" to TV so having to actually watch is tricky!  I should have gotten a picture of my quilting.  I did a free motion allover design, having fun making swirls and suns and fun elements.

I pin basted another top for quilting this week!  It only measures 60 X 72.

 Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making.

Finally, another finish

The end of January became very busy with my daughter and her husband and the twins arriving for several days.  The twins are 2 1/2 months are just beginning to smile and are up over 11 lbs. now!  Remy is on the left and Finn is on the right.

I did manage to finish one quilt yesterday.  I posted a picture of the blocks in an earlier post.  They were sent to me when my son Brad passed away 4 1/2 years ago at the age of 22.  It was a very difficult time as who would have thought his heart would stop in his sleep for no known reason.  This blue/purple batik won the audition contest.  It's quilted and bound although I don't have a label yet.  I wrote on the back who made each block, but I missed six of them so they are unknown.  It was the right time to finish this.

This quilt top was made from the Quiltmaker blog a few years ago, from a monthly segment called Bitty blocks.  I am ready to quilt it!  Moving another UFO to the finished pile this week I hope!  You can barely see the border, but I will be doing a colorful binding.

pin basted and ready for quilting

Linking up with Design Wall Monday. (on Tuesday)