A Bright Finish and Quiltmaker Scrap Squad

Last week I showed the start of a very bright quilt top.  I was able to finish the piecing this weekend and I'm happy to share a photo!  I love how this turned out and seem to have drastically overcut the strips so I can play with more of them.  I was making a throw size pattern called Fair and Square into a queen size and kept cutting without planning ahead! My sister will be the recipient of this quilt eventually.  Sorry for the crooked photo.  

My year with the Quiltmaker Scrap Squad has come to a close.  This past year has been such a rewarding experience, using a provided pattern and making it scrappy.  For the last quilt we were allowed to choose any quilt Quiltmaker had published.  That was a hard decision, but one kept calling me, Vintage Sunburst.  This was the original photo:

Here is my version that I named Pie in the Night Sky.

Pie in the NIght Sky

In front of our old barn

I will be doing a complete Scrap Squad recap of my quilts later in the week so be sure and check back!

I am working on finishing the top of the Quiltmaker Bitty Blocks that were a year long monthly row quilt on their blog last year.  I decided to take my quilt apart and make the sashing a bit narrower.  I still have to get the last two rows down.  Here is the photo before I started taking it apart.  I have shown it before.  It was going to be too long and skinny.

Linking up with Main Crush Monday and Patchwork Times.

Quilt Camp Progress

I had a wonderful quilt camp (aka retreat) at Palouse Divide Lodge.  I didn't get any pictures taken this time, it was pretty rainy and there was a lot of slushy snow to walk to the top of the mountain.  It was a great group of women and the food was wonderful.  I was pretty intent on piecing my Fire Island Hosta and it turned out very well I think!  I think my colors are more intense than this but it was hard to get them adjusted correctly.  It is 100 X 100, bigger than my design wall, hence the bend at the bottom!

queen size Fire Island Hosta

I took my Pfaff Grand Quilter with me to machine quilt the top mentioned in my last post, but didn't have the urge to do that after wrestling this huge top while finishing the piecing.

My sisters went to quilt shops for me last summer and neither of them quilt.  It was pretty funny when they came to visit and brought all the goodies they accumulated for me!  One sister bought a quilt pattern she loved at Quilt Expressions in Boise called Fair and Square.  She told me when I made the quilt, entered it in the fair and won ribbons and couldn't find room in my closet for it, she would take it off my hands.  I took that as a challenge to make her a new quilt!  It seems a bit wild but it really grabbed a lot of attention at quilt camp!  Black sashing will go between the blocks and there will be 20 blocks altogether for a queen size quilt.

Fair and Square, first six blocks

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Main Crush Monday.

Prepping for Quilt Camp

I get to go on a quilt retreat this coming week, 4 nights!  I am very excited to hang out with friends and quilt.  My hip is getting back to normal after two months of therapy (we still don't know why it went wacky, but oh well), and that will help my comfort level of being able to bend and walk!

For my main project I decided to take my Fire Island Hosta quilt I started last year.  I LOVE this quilt.  I had the center sections done and this weekend I cut the outer two paper pieced borders and have this part assembled.  It will end up being 100 X 100 when it's finished.




I have a large sewing room and the adage of filling more space if you have it is true.  I am not the neatest person when it comes to my fabric. I think I need a little chaos to create.  However my cupboards of unquilted tops were a bit out of control. Several had fallen out while looking for something else.  I took a before picture and an after picture. The tops on the left side have backings with them.  Altogether there are 42 tops there.  Then I remembered two tops that were in a bag I took to guild for show and tell!  YIKES 44 unquilted tops!!!  

A friend who sang at my wedding 32 years ago saw the pictures on Facebook and picked out two quilts she wanted to buy.  This is one and I have it basted and ready to take to quilt camp and will machine quilt it there.  I do all my quilting on a Pfaff Grand Quilter.  This top is 54 X 78 and was made in about 2000.  I was involved in the Pat Sloan yahoo group and had a couple friends that were very "country".  We did a row robin exchange.  The backgrounds are all Buggy Barn Fabrics and there are several Pat Sloan fabrics in this quilt.  I really am not a "tan" person so I am glad this will find a new home!

I have another quilt cut out using Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I am almost finished with the hand applique on my Folk Art Sampler wool applique wallhanging.  I will be taking that along to machine quilt too. I think I will be busy and probably won't finish everything!

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Main Crush Monday.

A Few Finishes

I have managed to finish 4 projects out of six so far on the 2016 Finish a Long that I shared in this post.  First, my Scrap Squad quilt is finished, photographed and the blog post will be done today for Quiltmaker.  I can't wait to share the quilt with all of you!

I then picked three small quilts to quilt and bind.  I am getting back into the mode of machine quilting and it feels great!  I am also working on a secret gift for a friend's birthday.  I had to deal with getting all my tax stuff together for our CPA last week.  The joys of being self employed farmers and dealing with the estate of my FIL!  

I am thrilled to have this Dragonfly wallhanging finished and hanging!  It was all hand appliqued in the car or on trips.

Hand Appliqued Dragonfly wallhanging for my guest bath

quilting closeup

Leaders and Enders project for a donation quilt, quilted in the ditch

Fairy Frost leftovers - donation wheelchair quilt for care center

quilting closeup

 My friend Robin in Washington sent me these beautiful vintage Grandmother's Flower garden blocks. She also sent some precut hexagons and extra fabrics!  I sewed the row together on the left and I will sew the next row and then try to hook the two rows together.  The blocks are beautifully done, but they have a super tiny seam allowance.  It will be a great quilt when it's finished and I'm excited to own these blocks!

I am linking up with Patchwork Times and Main Crush Monday!

Quilt Winners!

I was supposed to draw for the winners of my blog giveaway Friday but came down with a horrendous virus the night before.  I am finally upright. So because I was delayed and have so many quilts, I drew 3 winners!  I took names from blog comments, Facebook comments and private emails and then ran a random number generator.

The winners are:  Billie Brown Lee (who happens to be my neighbor!), she will get the Row Robin
Judi Shipley will receive Chop Suey and Jan from http://thecolorfulfabriholic.blogspot.com/ will receive Canyon Dance.

Thank you to everyone who entered and made wonderful comments!  This was fun.

10 Year Blogoversary and Giveaway!

I can't believe it's been ten years since I started blogging!  It's been haphazard at best, but I enjoy sharing my quilts with others.  I spend so much time quilting it's hard to squeeze in the blog posts!  

Before I get to the giveaway (keep scrolling, I am giving away a quilt!), I will show my design table.  I can't show the project, but the pile of pieces in my last blog post is now 49 sashing units with 24 pieces in each unit. I look forward to being able to share the quilt after it posts on Quiltmaker's blog, but first it has to get finished!  Check out Patchwork Times for other Design Wall projects.

Now onto the giveaway!  The first photo is my linen closet.  I think I have a few quilts.  Believe it or not, I just refolded them all on New Year's Day.  There is everything from tiny miniatures to a couple king size quilts in there, lots of wallhangings too.  Yes, there are quilts sitting on the floor!  I have given away many, many, many quilts and I guess I am a quilting fanatic!  Really me?  I have about at least 35 on display in my house right now too.

SOOOOO.... I picked some quilts that I can part with and the random number selected from everyone who leaves a comment on my blog will get to pick which one they want!  Or you can tell me a type of quilt you are looking for and I might find it in my stash.  I have very few earthy colored quilts though!  Leave a comment about which quilt is your favorite and you MUST include your email address or have your profile linked to an email.  I know I have a few friends who won't be able to comment so contact me some other way (FB, email, etc.) and I can assign you a number!  

None of these are huge bed quilts, but are nice extra quilts to have on hand or cuddle with!

#1 Chop Suey - batiks 75 X 100

#2 Gemstones - Fairy Frost 68 X 88

#3 Deb's Oriental Garden - Asian fabrics with gold metallic 60 X 80

#4 Row Robin - 66 X 93 flannel backing

#5 18 X 21 Art piece - panel, heavily machine quilted and embellished with yarn and beads.  Hanging sleeve.

#6 Canyon Dance 51 X 69.  Thin batting, but very cuddly couch quilt.  Crooked photo!

#7 Old Glory 51 X 62.  Hand appliqued and has a hanging sleeve for a wallhanging

I tried to put in a variety for everyone, Enjoy!  I will draw the winner Friday, January 22nd, 2016!

Finish-a-Long

I decided to join in the 2016 Finish-a-Long.  For the first quarter I am listing six projects as my goals.  I hope to do a few more than this, but things come up and change my schedule.  Excuse the unpressed pieces, my tops cupboards are CRAMMED with tops waiting to be quilted and I didn't take time to press them.

First and foremost I need to finish my Quiltmaker Scrap Squad quilt by mid February.  I can't share what the pattern is until it's posted on their blog.  All I can say is the paper piecing is intense!  I love to paper piece, but somehow misjudged how long this would actually take.

parts of Scrap Squad quilt

 This project is so close to being ready to quilt.  I have just a few flowers on the border to hand stitch.  The DJB stands for Debra Jean Bepple, my good friend who passed away in 2010.  She had purchased the BOM but couldn't get it going so I inherited it.  I will do closeups when it's quilted.

This is a scrappy Fairy Frost leftovers baby quilt.  I think I will add one more border and then quilt it.  The scraps are from Gemstones shown in this post.

 Super scrappy 2" squares used as a leader/ender project made up this project.  It will also be donated.

This wallhanging was hand appliqued and will go in my main floor bathroom when it's completed.  The pattern was gifted to me and I used an earth colored batik for the applique.

I still have two months worth of blocks to add to this top, but I need to take all the rows apart and narrow the sashings.  It's just too long and skinny.  I totally mis measured and need to remove some length.  This is the Itty Bitty blocks project from Quiltmaker's blog in 2015.

There it is, six projects to finish before March 31st!  I am looking forward to getting some UFO's done!

It's a New Year!

December was a pretty unproductive month quilt wise.  I did a lot of projects for school, getting crafts and parent gifts organized, worked on a couple gifts that I didn't finish and one I forgot to take a picture of!  Our daughters and husbands were here for several days along with my two amazing grandkids!  We hosted a couple dinners and had a good time even with getting sick.  I dislike winter time cold season! We did see the new Star Wars movie.  I still like the original three movies the best.

I did have the privilege of quilting this quilt for a friend.  I had fun with it.  It was so pretty and fun to work with.     

This past weekend I finished assembling the top for my Turning Twenty Seeing Stars quilt.   It's hard to see but I used a tiny black pindot on white for the background and I love it!  These are mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  It will go into my vast collection of tops to be quilted.  

Seeing Stars

One of the goals I had during my Christmas break was to go through all my quilt tops and list them.  That didn't happen but they aren't going anywhere.  I do have a goal of quilting 30 of them this year.  That is a very lofty goal, but I am at the stage I want them done!  I have a couple graduation quilts to make, a quilt for my daughter, and some charity projects I want to do as well.  I did give up on even cutting into the Quiltville mystery this year, so the fabrics went back into my stash. I think it works best for me to do my original plan of every other year when I am not hosting Christmas!

I started on my last project for the Quiltmaker Scrap Squad.  I am really liking it and can't wait to show you next month!  

Stay tuned, my 10 year blogoversary is coming up Jan. 18th with a giveaway involved!  Views from upstairs bedrooms.



Linking to Patchwork Times.

Quilting Fun

I went to quilt retreat a couple weeks ago and had a great time with 28 other women.  We don't have cell service there so I left my phone off and didn't take another camera and didn't get to capture some of the gorgeous tops made.  It is always very inspiring.  This time I worked on a pattern called Snippets by Colorway.  I had purchased the "Jingle" line of fabric in July and in September found a pattern that worked and added some odds and ends of other lines that coordinated.  This is a new queen size quilt top for Christmas and although I got tired of making triangles I love it!  It's so bright and fun with the aqua added to traditional colors.  It really does lay flat, but I had it folded and didn't take time to press it.

Snippets

I have been participating in a BOM from Turning Twenty called Seeing Stars for a few months.  I am caught up on the blocks.  Every other week you make one identical 12" and one 6" block.  I had signed up for the free BOM and have managed to print off the patterns on time!

Seeing Stars

I was caught up on my 1930 Farmer's Wife quilt blocks until they announced two new ones today!  I'm loving how bright and fun these six inch blocks are.  

1930 Farmer's Wife

 I bit the bullet, I wasn't going to... but Quiltville's new mystery colors are awesome!  They are far from my normal, but I love them and decided to go for it.  I need a bit more background, but I am loving the colors.  I even got the color cards, just because I was actually in a Lowe's shortly after the colors were released.  The closest Lowe's is 3 hours away and I forgot to put the cards in the pic.

I did some machine quilting I will show after the recipient receives it! 

Check out Patchwork Times.

It's Monday

I have good intentions to post more during the week, but I don't get to it!

I finally put borders on a couple quilt tops I have had hanging around.  I mentioned this quilt and showed it without a border in this post.

Northern Cardinals

I showed this quilt in progress in August.  It was intended as a charity quilt, but I'm no longer involved in the organization I was going to donate it to.  It is queen sized and I will eventually quilt it, then decide what to do with it.  I was going for a more masculine type quilt.

I got caught up on my Quiltmaker Itty Bitty blocks through October.  I realized that I messed up on the sashing when I went back and looked at my notes. The quilt is getting so long and I have two more months to add on.  I meant to cut the sashing strips at 1.5", instead they finish at 1.5".  YIKES!  I will have to do some fancy work on the sides to widen the quilt.  November's block was announced today on the Quilty Pleasures blog.

Quiltmaker Itty Bitty Blocks

 I had leftover strips from making a quilt featured on this post.  I put them together into a throw size quilt top.  I have no idea what I will do with this one either as my couches are definitely not in this color way!  Gray, aqua and coral are popular right now, but I'm not redecorating.  I just love the gray print I put with the stirps.

 Check out other blogs at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

Time sure flies!  I forgot to post my Scrap Squad quilt.  Click the link and you will see my blog post about the process of making it. There is a lot of piecing in this quilt but I love the purple!  I named it Violets.

I have been working on many small projects, trying to tidy up some leftover blocks and pieces for doll quilts for charity.  I got borders on my Christmas quilt, cut out more Itty Bitty blocks and started plotting for a quilt retreat in November.  I went to a quilt show Oct. 17th in Spokane, WA.  It was awesome and very inspiring.  I hope to do a blog post on that soon.    

These are two doll quilt tops I made from pieces of Scrap Squad projects.  The green and white one is from a trial of adding green squares into the above quilt.  The one on the right is from leftover Fairy Frost fabrics from my Gemstones quilt I showed in this post.  Now if I could learn to take straight photos...  

doll quilt tops for charity

We went on a road trip to Utah last week.  1300 miles and 2 nights at our daughter's in Boise and 2 nights at our daughter's in Utah (and visiting our amazing grandkids in Utah) was a quick but fun trip.  I had started this project quite some time ago and at the Spokane quilt show I found the Pacific Rim Quilts booth.  It reminded me of this quilt and I went to a friend's to sew one afternoon and took this project.  It is now completely appliqued since my husband did most of the driving on our trip.  I can't wait to quilt it... someday...

Dragonflies

In July I was in McCall, ID and purchased some lovely fabric from the Jingle line at Huckleberry Patches quilt shop.  I love the aqua and red!  I was there in September and bought background and border along with a pattern I found pictured below.  I added a couple pieces from the Daysail line in the stash too.

Snippets pattern I found that fit the fabrics perfectly!  I love the classic look of this, although I may get tired of triangles!  It will be a perfect retreat project in November.

 

Check out Patchwork Times for more great projects!

Design Wall Monday

Last week I finished quilting and binding my next quilt for the Quiltmaker Scrap Squad.  My post should go live on Friday and then I will be able to share what I made out of the purple strips from the last post!

My daughter and her husband visited over the weekend so we spent time trying to introduce their dog to our two dogs (not very successfully) but fortunately our dogs are mostly outside and hers is mostly inside!  I didn't get any quilting done but we had a lot of fun playing games.

Today I got caught up on the 1930's Farmers Wife Quilt blocks.  Well, actually I made all six of them that have been assigned via Gnome Angel's website.  This is not my normal style of fabric, but I think they are fun.

On my design wall I put up some leader/ender blocks I have been working on for a few weeks.  I am using batik scraps to make a charity quilt.  It will be bigger, but it's fun to see what the quilt will look like.  I will have to decide on sashing.

I am also machine quilting a project I can't show yet!

Check out what other's are working on at Patchwork Times.