Some of This; Some of That

Destashing - 2 yds for an envelope quilt,  1 yd for a backing, .25 yd for a crumb block and its backing (I can't show yet as it's part of a swap), 2.33 yds of flannel for a rag quilt, 3 yds for fat quarter games, .06 yd for my twinkle star block, .12 yd for some book marks, and 1 yd for the St. Anne's quilt top for a 9.76 yds used:

This was another scrap bag quilts - all scraps except border. That's a floral I was given years ago, and it seemed just right to me to use as a border. Measures 36" square. I used the last of a cute cat print I got long time ago. Here's a close up:

My new YTD total is  56.27 yds destashed out of the 68 yards I need at this time to meet my year-end goal. I'm packing for my trip to Missouri.  What does a quilter put into one suitcase to work on for three days at a retreat?  I'm use to taking everything but the kitchen sink when I go to local ones - lol. 

I"m linking to Finish it Up Friday, Sunday Stash, Let's Make Baby Quilts, and Oh Scrap!
I'll try to figure out how to post via my cellphone.  Have a great week.

Another Friday Finish

We were unable to have our Guild's regular, fabulously fun Christmas meeting on the last month of 2017 as the hall was not available, so we had it this month as our Christmas in July Potluck. The Board asked that we bring what we were going to show last December. Here's what I would have brought ( well actually I only had the blocks made)  - a table runner.

Nothing fancy - I was learning to make those tree blocks. First one was a dud (small one in runner), but that one helped me to get the rest right. Ready for Christmas decorating.  I also had all the blocks done for two Christmas quilts. I got them into tops for the meeting, but alas, family kept me from attending. I'm sure there was a lot of Christmas cheer shared.  Our guild has a blog and photos will be posted soon of the gathering. I'll get to see what treasures were brought in then. In the meantime you might like to browse the album from previous months of quilty goodness. Go on by.

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday, Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Oh, Scrap!

Friday Finish

Sort of because it is a block - but what a block - applique without a pattern.  I'm doing the Sweet Land of Liberty with Humble Quilts.  The block is called for Lady Liberty.  We have to make our own pattern, so in looking around in the internet I found this lady on another SLOL  (You'll have to scroll down), and I liked it. Couldn't find who made it. The quilt was posted at Sweet P Quilts and Creations of a quilt she saw at quilt store.

She measures 8 1/2" by 14 1/2" and is the first block of the second row of this quilt. If you want to see the one in the original pattern go here.

I'm linking to Finish it Up Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, and several others. You can see them under my tab More.  Blessings on this Friday of the Octave of Easter!

Friday Finish

It's quilted.  My RSC block for January is actually 30" square. I'm donating it to the NICU ward at our county hospital.  I bound it with the blue in the center. It's already given to the charity coordinator of our guild. Alas, I forgot to take a photo of the bound and finished quilt.

For this preemie quilt I did freezer paper work, tape work, FMQ, used a walking foot, and a Hera marker. The thread was a blue So Fine #50 by Superior Threads.


This is my alternate to ruler work at times.  With my FMQ foot I stitched a triangle.  Then did straight lines inside the triangle - again with my FMQ foot.  I drew one straight line with the Hera marker to keep me aligned.  You can see it in the photo with tape.






Well, they're straighter than they would have been - lol.  Go here to see the posts where Karen of Faeries and Fibres showed us how to do these. I used the Hera marker to draw the lines on the white squares. I found that when trying to follow a Hera line one has to look ahead of the foot to see the line.

I'm linking to Finish it Up Friday, Let's Make Baby Quilts, Finished or Not Fridays, Free Motion Mavericks, Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Scrap Happy Saturday.  Enjoy them - I sure do.

Last week's winner of the fat quarter was Chris in Canada.  Congrats, Chris.  I'll be sending you an email.  This week it's another fat quarter for a linker or commentator. Link party button below. Would love to see or read about what you are working on.  Ends midnight, Thursday.

One NICU Top Finished

Here's my first completed top from that bag of scraps I showed you in the last post.  This is my 6th enlargement of a Nearly Insane block.  Mine is 30" finished.  The Nearly Insane one finishes at 5".  I fussy cut the sheep for the 16 patch. It's a bit dark but I think some Mom will want it for her little boy in the NICU.

I then went on to finish the units for Bonnie's Part 2.  I made my flying geese with the No Waste Method of Patchpieces.

I like this method as I don't have a lot of fabric in the colorway Bonnie chose for the mystery, and this method uses a lot less fabric for making flying geese.  Here's all I had left after making my 50 units.

While I was making them, I did a few more log cabins as leaders and enders. I now have 24 blocks finished and 6 more started.

Lastly, I've been promising my DH a pie, so I finally got a frozen peach filling from the freezer and made a crust, and baked this beauty.  My mom gave me a bunch of peaches back in June.  They were so sweet I didn't put any sugar in the filling.

YUM!

I'm  linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday, Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Myra's Finished Or Not Fridays , and Jennifer's Wednesday Wait Loss. Do go by and see all the lovely postings. Blessings.

Finished Top

I finished that scrap baby top.  All the centers were left overs from other baby quilts made this year.  In the end, I left the letters the way I first had them.  Since the other quilts like it were well received, I decided to go with that setting.  Most of the solids were from a bag of scrappy strips a friend gave me.  Thank you, Deanna!

It's lighter than it looks. Apparently early morning light doesn't give one good photos either. Sighhh.

I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday, Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Myra's Finished Or Not Fridays , Jennifer's Wednesday Wait Loss, and Michelle's Let's Make Baby Quilts .  Do go by and see all the lovely postings.

Quilted, Bound and Finished

My mod baby quilt is quilted, bound and finished.

It measures 32" square and will be for the NICU unit at our regional hospital. I'd seen the pattern online and thought to try it.  It's a easy and quick pattern.

After quilting the last baby quilt flat with all the FMQ, decided to do just squiggly lines on this one. It'll do.  For speed I like to bring the backing from the back forward to make a quick and easy binding.  Always a bit stressful time for me as the way I'd done it before, I've nipped the back fabric.  Argh!

On the quilt before my mod one, I laid the sandwich right side up and flat on the cutting table once it was quilted.

Then I folded the backing all the way down, out of the way, so that I can trim off the excess batting. The problem was I couldn't see if the back was too close to the cut line due to my quilting.  Before I got any further, I happened to see a quilter online  (so sorry I forgot who posted this) who put the backing side up and folded the backing down then laid the ruler on the sandwich.

This showed me clearly if my quilting was too close to the edge of the backing. I took out a few quilt stitches and thus had a clear line to cut.

Once I'd trimmed off the excess batting, I turned it over and trimmed the back to bring it forward, fold and press ready to stitch it down as the binding. Phew - no more stress!  I now have done two quilts that way and feel a lot better about the process.

What are you up to?  I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday, Muv's Free Motion Mavericks, Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, and Myra's Finished Or Not Fridays.  Do go by and see all the lovely postings.

Quilted, Bound and Shown.

Commission quilt is done.
       Quilted, bound, and shown to recipient:

It's a t-shirt quilt. That's why it was so hard to guess the quilting motif.  Some of these fronts of the garments have a lot of paint on them, so all I could do was go around the designs.

Measures 55" by 59". Quilted on my domestic Juki. Still have to clip some threads. My mom put the top together and then handed it over to me to quilt.  It's quite heavy, and was more so, when I had all the pins on it while I quilted.  It's for my DD - a student adviser at UC Riverside for the past 19 years.  Besides guiding 460+ students a year the above is what she has been up to at work on the side of course. 

Back to Hexie Weekend

Here for the Grow Your Blog party and Giveaway that ends Feb 15th? Please go here.   Welcome!

Was able to get back to my hexie flowers.  I finished the one with the Liberty fabric and that completed a set of three.

That makes 12 flowers made!  Have a ways to go, but I'm enjoying the process. Won't you share your hexie project with Billie and I?  Doesn't have to be a work in progress.  Could be one you finished a while ago or plan to start as soon as the time's right. Linky below. Closes Monday, midnight. 

I also finished my heart quilt top.  I made this for our Guild's challenge to make a featuring hearts.  I chose to make mine be a Veterans quilt. It measures the required 36" by 45" to make it a lap quilt or for a wheelchair.

I think you can see why I call it Purple Hearts Surround.

I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday and Richard & Tanya's Link a Finish Friday. 

Hexie Weekend and more.

Lots to share with you, but first, Help!  Look at this black and white copy of a hexie piece.  Is it my imagination or what? The hexies seem to blend together. Is it the that they are the same value?  If you agree with me, what should I do about it?  It's already sewn.  I was thinking maybe outlining each flower with dark green embroidery thread in a blanket stitch to make them stand out. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.  And here's what it looks like in color.  My eye may be deceiving me or the camera  emphasized the flowers. ??  Just not happy with it in real life. This piece was given to me by a friend who knows I love hexies.  They are one inch hexies.

 As to my other hexie projects, I have done a bit, but not ready to show. I'd love to see your project, hexie or not.  Linky below.`

Next I have finished my first UFO for 2014 - completely done. This top was put together in 1997. It's about 35" square and is my first charity quilt for the year, too.

 I free motion quilted the border of this one.  I learned a lot about using a motif that goes out from the corners and doesn't meet together in the side.  One has to measure and space in order to align with the center of the quilt. I didn't realize that until I had already begun FMQ. Hopefully, the baby won't mind.

 Here's a close up of my flowers.

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom's Finish it up Fridays, Richard's Link a Finish Friday, and Leah's FMQ Project.
Oh, and a giveaway starts Saturday, so come on back then for a chance at a $25 certificate from FQS on my Grow your Blog post.  See you then!

Finish on Hexie Weekend

Well, I started another Hexie project - don't really know what you call this shape -Karen calls it flower petal - I think.  It has 5 sides, but they're not equal, so I guess it's a polygon.  It's block 1 of Karen's Soupçon Mystery QAL.

I'm learning to fussy cut. I had a beautiful orange print, but I couldn't find a segment that I liked in the template I made from Karen's pdf of hexagons on her site.  Then I found the piece above. I've gotten two made so far.  I'm also trying Karen's paperless method of making the pieces. Three more to make.

Would love to see your hexie project, old, new or ongoing!  Linky below. It ends Monday evening.


Didn't get any farther with my other flowers because of the above and also I had to finish a top for our St. Anne's meeting yesterday.  I was handed a bag of fabric - a donated ufo from someone in the parish.  There was some flannel yardage and all these strips.  Here's the back - each square is 16".

I loved this fabric especially the red with the gold leaves and the tiny flower!  Here is the front:

My part is finished with this project.  It went to another member to clip and wash.  We'll deliver it next month.  Do you have a finish?  I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday and Richard's Link a Finish.

FMQ Finish

I'm happy to report I've finished quilting my first charity quilt for 2014.

This was a UFO from 1997 that I dredged out of the closet and giving to St. Anne's. This would be finished but I found the fabric I want to use for the binding runs.  Sooooo....

The back is flannel and it was a dream to quilt.

I did the flowers by FMQ and you can see I had a sizing issue.

The border pattern is a Mary Covey continuous line pattern.  It took me a while to figure out how to use it.  Once I realized the flowers had to meet in the middle of the borders, I could get started.  Generally, I'm happy with it and glad of the chance to practice my FMQ.  I'm linking at Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday and Leah's FMQ Project linky.

A Finish it Up Friday Finish with hexies and FMQ

Went Christmas shopping today.  Sigh - didn't find any of the advertised items I went to get.  Should have gone at 7 AM this morning, but it was too cold!  So back now, rested and here's my finish for this week that I showed you the beginnings of earlier:

 

It's a starry night panel from Northcott. I bought a kit from 1000 Bolts. It came with everything.  This photo is the truest one to the color of the fabric.

 

It's hanging over our fireplace.  This will be our tree this year.

 

I FMQued around the tree part and then meandered on the rest of the panel.  You can see the puffy parts in this view created by those meanders.  And the lights are on.  I like how the crystals sparkle.

Actually when the lights are on, the above is what it really looks like.  The lights are too bright! Actually you see even less of the fabric than you see here.  I'm thinking of looking for a more dim set of lights or adding crystals or rhinestones where the lights are.

 

Another finish (though small) is the next Hexie flower.  Got the first row done.

 

 

It's sitting on the rag rug I showed you on Monday.  Have three rows done!

 

How are you doing on your hexie project.  Would sure like to see it or any other eye candy.  Linky below.





I'm linking to Crazy Mom's Finish it Up Friday, Leah's FMQ project. Do visit!

A Finish of Sorts = FMQ!

It came to me yesterday what a lot of prep there is to getting a  top ready for quilting.  You ready the top and back making sure they are squared up (sort of), then you get the batting, find your pins and see if your basting space is clear to use.  I usually use the carpet in my guest bedroom, but I'm getting less agile at getting down on the floor to do this.  My dining table's edge is not conducive to  using for sandwiching using clips, and I didn't want to use tape. So after tea and a cookie or two, I had a eureka moment:

Out from long storage from my sewing clothes day, I pulled out my cardboard cutting board!

Partially opened it on my kitchen table and it was more than enough for this quilt top.

I laid out the three layers and started to pin the back to the board.  This cutting board is constructed of two pieces with an air space in between.  If I push the pins into the space, I anchor the quilt and don't scratch my table.  I pin a top edge and a side edge.  Then I start pinning the opposites by pulling the backing lightly taut as I pin. each of the remaining sides.  Then I pin baste the top to the two other layers.  Once that's done, and I check the back for no wrinkles, I make a small sandwich and check my machine settings and which thread to use for the quilting.

Phew! Ready at last. I'm off to quilt as soon as I finish the post.  I'm linking to Leah's FMQ Project and Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday because this quilt will be finished by the end of the day.

Finish it Up Friday Finish FMQued

I did finish my Christmas Candle quiltlet.  Measured 12" square.

 

Got stolen twice so I guess they liked it.  Wish I had quilted it a bit more nearer to the candle.

 

Here's what the back looks like.  I'll show you what I got next week.

I'm linking to Crazy Mom's Finish it Up Friday and Leah's FMQ Project.  See you there.

A FMQ Finish

Busy entertaining, but here's the latest charity quilt I finished earlier in the week.  It's all done  - free motion quilted and bound.

 

I FMQed around the circles and the inner squares in the sashing rows.  This pattern went together quickly.  I was trying to use up some of the many strips of solids that were given to St. Anne's.  I traced the butterfly design on freezer paper, cut it out and ironed it to the center of the circles and then sewed around the design - that way no paper to tear off.  I also made each butterfly with a different color of thread.

 

 

I'm linking to Leah's FMQ Project.  See you there.



Finish it up FMQ Friday

Having been sick all week don't have enough hexies to show for a Hexie Friday, so here's a finish I hadn't reported yet.  It's another charity quilt.  This one I took all these bits of flannel that were left over from rag quilts and made a flimsy, then sandwiched and backed it with a cotton to get the reverse of what we usually make for St. Anne's.  That is flannel backed baby quilt.  Here's a cotton backed flannel baby quilt.

Those aren't black flannel pieces around it - midnight blue ones.  Measures about 34" square.  I used 4 different FMQ designs on it.  Here's the back

:
I'm linking to Leah's Free Motion Project and Crazy Mom's Finish it Up Friday.  See you there.  Thank you to all who sent prayers and good wishes while I was sick.  Docs didn't have a clue what was wrong. However, a friend has a friend who came down from Sacramento and had the EXACT same thing for the same length of time at the same time as I did!  I don't believe in coincidences.  Must have been some kind of bug - never felt flu-like or stomach virus like - oh well - it's over now - all all those tests they did - normal - which is reassuring.  Again, thanks for getting me through it!