WIPs Be Gone Week 9

A commission quilt - I know, I know - I wasn't suppose to do another for a while, but it just came up and fell into place.  This one is for the Bishop of our Diocese who is coming for the Episcopal visit to our church which happens every six years.

On my design wall momentarily:


Had a brainstorm Sunday. I  realized I could use the first baby quilt pattern I designed, add a couple of rows and I'd have my cross.  The pre-printed square was a Robert Kaufman that I've had for a while.
I tried a lot of pieces from my stash and then realized that I needed a spacer - a lot worked then.  But the one I chose had the same gold, blue, and light rust from the center of the panel so I went with that.
A close up of the top part of the cross.  I used the freezer paper trick again.  The letters look a lot bigger than they are (about 3/4" tall).  This quilt will measure 36 by 46 - lap quilt size.  I'm about 3/4's done with quilting the center.

 I think I started this quilt rather than deal with the piping - LOL.  And I searched all over to find the assembly instructions for the other wip.  I found them!

How are you doing on your wips?Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows a WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. Since I' m quilting I'm linking to Lizzie's Free Motion Mavericks and since I finished the top to Richard's Link a Finish and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?  This is going to be done by Saturday for sure. 
 Lots of eye candy there.



Some of This, Some of That

I made another B3 quilt  - I have to keep one month ahead of my guild members. That used up 1.5 yards. Then I made 6 blocks for a friend - that used up 1/3 yard. Then I donated 4 yards to next month's Corner Pay N Take at my guild for a grand total of 5.83 yards out of my stash. That brings my total YTD to 21.29 yards out.  Not bad for the end of Week 8.

For wip progress, I quilted my crane block:
Do you see the stitching at the outer 1/4" of the border.  I'm having the dickens of a time trying to decide how to add the piping as the piping I chose has a large edge to it and I can't place it right. I'm thinking of hand basting it in place using the line of stitching to guide me. Any suggestions??

Not sure you can see the quilting.  I top stitched the trees, around the inside of the cranes and the lines denoting the ground.





Here are the blocks I made and are now on my Design Wall:









I'm linking at Judy's Patchwork Times,  Esther's WOW,  and Lyn's BOMs Away.  Go check them out.

WIPs Be Gone Week 8

It is finished!  My Two Boms In One, that's what I'm calling it, is quilted and bound.  It's not the best photo - both DH and I were too busy and forgot to take one when the light was best. My using motifs from the fabric worked great for some ghost quilting, and filling in some of the white space.


I chose to do a facing instead of binding as I wanted as much of the final border to show. I would have preferred a 2" border, but I just didn't have enough to swing it. Any way I learned a new way to do a binding around a quilt.  Used mostly in art quilts, I'm happy with it as this quilt will be a wall hanging. One WIP totally done for 2015!

If you're wondering why I call it two boms in one, it's because I started the Just Take 2 BOM in 2011, but knew after just a few months I was not going to finish it.  Too much life in the way.  Then our Guild had a sampler BOM in 2014, and I continued making BOM blocks with the same background hoping they would mesh.  They did!

And for another finish - I finished another B3 Quilt. I'm designing a 30" quilt from one block for our Neonatal Community Service each month.  The pattern is free for personal use only.  You can find it on the right sidebar.


I decided to quilt a big B in the center block.  


How are you doing on your wips?  Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows your WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. Since I finished a flower I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it FridayLizzie's Free Motion Mavericks and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? Lots of eye candy there.



We have a Winner



Random Generator picked a winner!  I had to go to all the posts where I mentioned the giveaway and tally up how many entrants I had and then give them a number. Then to RG for a pick.  And my winner is Barbara Woods of Wont-to-bequilter . Congratulations, Barbara! I have sent you an email. Please send me your snail mail and I'll get the book out to you.

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway.  I tried to go to all the blogs represented by your entries.  It was fun and I saw some wonderful eye candy.  I plan on next year remembering to sign up for GYB early enough to be included in the official roster. Vicki did a wonderful job of helping bloggers grow their blog and meet each other in Net Land.
Find New BlogsVicki will have the link up all year, so there's plenty of time to meet new bloggers and share your blog with them.

WIPs Be Gone Week 7

Can you believe that? Week 7 of 2015! I can't.  I'm happy to report some progress was made - well at least a little bit on 3 wips.


Another flower for Wip #3. I wish I'd had more of the green to fussy cut those hexagons around the bunny(they're more green than they look).  It seemed appropriate to make him the center with those hearts around him.  Happy Valentine's Day, Saturday.

My cranes (wip #4) got another border around them. This block is now ready for some batting and quilting and then piping and the back.





Every day I try to quilt some on WTBQ #1.  The first two photos show the back with the fabric motifs and the ghost quilting from the front on the second two.  I'm also putting a flower in each of the centers of some of the 6" blocks.  Now to do the first border.  It will have quite a bit more ghost quiting to fill in the white spaces.  Please give me tips on how to take a photo showing the quilting on the back. As you can see from the one's I've posted - I hardly have a clue.

Lastly, and this isn't about quilting - lol - I've rediscovered frozen vegetables.  No more boiling for me! I saute onions, peppers, garlic, waterchestnuts - or whatever combo/accent I want to add to the frozen veggies  in a bit of oil or butter.  Then I add them to the pan and saute for about seven minutes on low.  They taste so good!  Below I tried corn, green peppers and onions.  It was a hit.  I tried chopped collard greens and waterchestnuts - another hit (I put a 1/2 tsp of sugar to counteract the slight bitter taste of these greens).  Then there is mixed vegetables with a bit of garlic and cilantro. Give it a try. Tell me of any other combos you come up with.

How are you doing on your wips?  Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows your WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. Since I finished a flower I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it FridayLizzie's Free Motion Mavericks and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? Lots of eye candy there.


This N That Week 6

First, the Grow Your Blog giveaway is still on - ends February 14th.  Go here to enter to win the book. 

Second, my stash report is not much to crow about - used only .02 yards for another block for my friend: 

I saw this Twinkle Star at Angela's SoScrappy blog and fell in love with it.  I'm putting together a Christmas quilt and I wanted to find a star and this is it! This one is 6 inches square when finished.

I also now have a photo of those three blocks I made last week.  I was trying to use up two fat quarters and was able to get three blocks out of them.  

I did donate some fabric to my Guild - another 1.5 yards out, so my new YTD total is 15.48 yards. Not bad for week 6.

Hope she can use them:
These are on my design wall.  The quilt that was there is being quilted.  I've finished the grid and SITD work.  Now I will start the FMQ.
Let me show you how I hope to fill in some of those larger spaces:
I wanted to use as motifs some of the elements of the background material. So before I cut up the last of the fabric for the last border, I photocopied the length of fabric.  Then on the front side, I matched up partial flowers and stems to fill out with ghost quilting - Linda of Linda's Landscapes heard of this technique in a Martha Ginn article, example seen here.  After finding some spaces and the motifs I wanted to add, I traced them on freezer paper and cut them out.  Because I abhor taking out those itty-bitty pieces  when I stitch over it, I cut apart my motifs whenever I can so that I am stitching around the motif than through the FP.
Here's one I've cut out and you can see the cuts.  I have to keep the paper in tack so that the pieces stay together.  Here it is ironed onto the quilt top.
The one on the bottom left needs to be cut out. The one on the top left doesn't have to be completely ironed down as half the flower is there to guide me.  Hmmm. Looks like I need to continue that stem in the center top.  Photos are so helpful as we make quilting design decisions.

I'm linking over at Judy's Patchwork Times,  Esther's WOW, Lyn's BOMs Away, and Lizzie's Free Motion Mavericks.  Go check them out.

Blessings as you start your new week.

WIPs Be Gone, Flower Finish & Sandwich

My least favorite step of quilting is the sandwiching. And yes, I've tried the spray (too messy) and the fusible (too fussy).  The pins work best for me, but oh my aching back!  I still have to do big ones on the carpet and I'm getting too old for that.  I really must research a good table to buy.  Where did you get yours?

Despite all my groaning, I did manage to cut 6 battings for some tops and sandwiched WIP #1. I used all of a roll for a king size quilt - 120 x120 for those six.  So glad the WTBQ pile came down.


My Two BOMs in One is ready to be quilted.  I'll start on that tomorrow morning.  And I picked out the next two wips I'll be working on.  I'm going to make a pillow cover out of that crane block (#4). The appliqued blocks (#5) are ready to be put together with sashing for my July wall hanging. And I finished another hexagon flower for WIP#3. Phew!

How are you doing on your WIP?  Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows your WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. Since I finished a flower I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? Lots of eye candy there.



Blessings, my friends.

Woo Hoo! My Wip has gone to the WTBQ Pile

WIP is gone! Now I didn't say finished, but the top is made and is waiting to be quilted.  I hope to get  to it soon because it has to be shown soon.  Maybe by Friday.  I just couldn't wait to show you.  I wished I had had a bit more of the background so that the last border could have been 1/2" wider, but it wasn't meant to be.

Off to pick another UFO I can make into a WIP. I'm linking to Esther's WoW. She has a beauty there. Go and visit.

PS: The GYB giveaway is still ongoing. You can read about it here.

This n That Week 5

 The Grow Your Blog Giveaway is still on.  So many blogs over there!  You still could win the book by going here. Gosh a whole month of 2015 gone?!  Where does the time go?  I used a half yard for that last border of my first WIP now a WTBQ top. Then in my frenzy used another 3 yards for those B3quilts. And lastly, I made three blocks for a friend to whom I'm sending orphan blocks. So my destashing was 4.08 yards for a YTD total of 13.96 yards.

My design wall has my WIP #1 back on it.  I've made three sides of that border. Hope to finish it up this week, but if life gets in the way, that's all right as long as I have some progress to report on Friday.  It's too dark for photos tonight, but if I get a chance in the coming days I'll show you some of those other B3quilts tops.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times.  See you there!
Another WIP I need to get finished.

SAHRR Round 5 and 6

  Ready to show rounds 5 and 6. Actually, the prompt for 5 was make 4 of something. So I chose four patch, and actually since that made my q...