A Little Bit of This and That...

Since I finished the

Big Project

of making quilts for my 11 nieces and nephews,

I've been working on

Odds and Ends.

This week I started a

Christmas Tree Skirt

to give as a wedding gift in October.

The top is sewn together and is waiting to be quilted.

This pattern goes together so quickly

and really shows off the gorgeous Christmas fabric,

"Holiday Flourish" by Robert Kaufman.

Giving Christmas Tree skirts as wedding gifts

has become my standard gift, when appropriate.

I made this months blocks for "Gravity."

The colors aren't quite as bright as shown here.

These blocks are growing on me.

The pinwheel and snowball blocks I made a while ago from the

Anna Marie Horner fabric have been sewn together.

This top reminds me of sparklers. 

I need to find some fabric for borders and 

don't have any other fabrics of hers in my stash. 

With her fabrics being so bold and different,

I'm thinking I need to continue with using hers for the borders.

This might mean some shopping is in order!

On the Knitting front....

I finished my "Socks that Rock" socks

and I love them!

These were made with #3 needles,

casting on 60 stitches.

They are loose on me, but they will be so warm.

These are going to be anklet socks....

something I have not made before now.

They will go together more quickly though!

It's a hodge podge of projects today, 

but it's been fun to bounce from project to project this week.

Please visit Whoop Whoop

and Patchwork Times to see what others are working on this week.

Happy Friday!

Wedding Gift Needed

For the past few years,

making Christmas Tree Skirts for

Wedding Gifts

has become my standard gift.

(If it's appropriate, of course!)

We have a wedding to attend in October,

so I need to get the Christmas Tree skirt made.

I cheated this time and bought a package

of pre-cut 10" squares.

 These fabrics are gorgeous!

For this tree skirt I am using this pattern.

It will be the fourth or fifth time I have used this pattern,

I think.

I made HST's and then pinned the blocks and made the
Hourglass blocks.

I just put the blocks on my design wall

and have since moved some blocks around to even out the design.

I just love these fabrics.

The line is "Holiday Flourish"

by Robert Kaufman.

Hopefully this will be sewn together and will

be ready for quilting by the end of the week.

It's Christmas in July!

Happy Quilting!

Hot Finish!

Yesterday I put the final stitches in

"Hot Hot Hot."

I love this quilt!

It's wild and bright and fun and colorful!

It surprises me at how much I like this one.

The zebra prints, the polka dot border...

so much fun!

This is the final quilt I had to make for this

HUGE plan that hatched back in January.

My side of the family is having a family reunion beginning next week.

I have 11 nieces and nephews and I decided to make them each a quilt.

Doing this was going to make me practice and, hopefully,

improve upon some of my not so great quilting skills.

The quilts are finished and I did learn some things in this

creative process.

Here is the stack ready to be packed up for the trip north.

Looking at the binding side is fun, too!

A peek at the quilts in the stack...

I'm looking forward to playing Santa Quilter next week.

The six hearts in the upper corner are for my siblings, my mom and me.

For the last four years I have made a little patriotic quilt for all of us.

I had to continue with that tradition!!

Now...

Onto the next project!!

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!!

Hot Quilting

A few months ago I started making a quilt for one of my nieces

with this pink and black zebra print.

She LOVES pink and black zebra print.

Well....

It is in the home stretch.

"Hot Hot Hot" is becoming

Finished Finished Finished!

My FMQ skills are not very good at all,

but they will only improve with practice....

I hope!!

This is one wild quilt!

Now that the deadline was met for making the four

Family Crest quilts,

(WOOHOO!)

I can get the sleeves blocked for this sweater I'm making.

Unblocked sleeve parts.

Front pieces and back stitched together.

Hopefully this will be done by fall!

In the meantime,

the sock knitting continues.

I finished the first sock with this awesome

"Socks that Rock" yarn.

Isn't the pooling so cool??

I love how the heel and toe are striped. 

It's like I added a different yarn for each, but I didn't.

Please visit Patchwork Times and Whoop Whoop

to see what others are creating.

Happy Friday!!

Mission Accomplished!!

The Family Crest Quilts are Finished!!

With time to spare!!

I really thought I would be finishing these

on the trip up to our

Family reunion,

but they are done with over a week to spare!

It is a Gorgeous day here today!

No humidity and lots of sunshine.

 

These were certainly a labor of love!

I learned a couple of things while making these four quilts....

~ I do not enjoy machine applique.... at all~

~ I will never chose to make four of the exact same quilt again~

~It's amazing what can get accomplished when one puts her mind to it!~

The labels need to be added to these quilts and then they will

be given to my nephews at our family reunion.

There is one more quilt to finish before heading north to this reunion.

Do you remember "Hot Hot Hot?"

This one will be quilted and bound by the end of the weekend.

Enjoy this day!

Happy Quilting!!

More of the Same....

For someone who bounces from project to project,

making four of the same quilts is a

Challenge for me!

I have made multiples of things before,

but they have been little things...

like table runners or table toppers.

Last night I finished quilting the third

Family Crest Quilt.

Only one more to go!!

Woohoo!!

I'm hoping to have the last one quilted by tomorrow night.

Once the fourth one is machine appliqued,

I'll trim and bind them.

Hopefully my nephews will enjoy having these

as much as I have enjoyed making them.

While I am spending hours quilting these,

I am dreaming of the next projects on my list.

(Of course my list changes daily... or hourly!)

I have been collecting low volume text fabrics

and will use these, along with some Kaffe Fassett fabrics,

for a project I have in mind. 

 I am itching to cut into these!

My youngest daughter has her undergraduate degree in Chemistry,

her graduate degree in Forensic Chemistry

and works as a Forensic Toxicologist.

When I saw these fabrics, how could I NOT buy them?

I have been banned from making her any more quilts for the

time being, 

but I see a bag in her future. 

:)

Last week I posted this pattern and said I want to make it with

reds and blues.

After looking at my stash, I have very few blue fabrics!

These found their way home on Saturday.

I must get quilting if I am going to finish the last Family Crest quilt by tomorrow.

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating today.

Happy Monday!

Stay cool!!

More Family Crests Quilts

It's July 17th...

half way through the month...

half way through summer....

How did this happen?

I was outside this morning and had to take a couple of

photos of some of the plants on my deck.

I love photos of plants with dew drops.

It's going to be a hot one today!

Okay...

onto the other important stuff for the day.

I finished stitching the second

Simmons Family Crest quilt.

Hopefully the third and fourth will go quickly

as I am getting bored with this project. :)

I don't know if I'm going to do any stitching

in the background. 

Any thoughts?

 

The back looks kind of cool, too.

 

Two down, two to go!

 I do have a knitting finish.

 

These socks are kind of Christmassy and will

go in my pile of gift socks.

I started another pair and
LOVE this yarn!!

It's "Neon Trees" by Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

I love how the colors are wrapping around the sock.

AND it's soooo soft!!

Please visit Patchwork Times and

Whoop Whoop to see what others are doing this week.

Happy Friday!

Is He Worried??

My husband cut this cartoon out of the paper

and brought it home yesterday.

Do you think he is concerned??

Have a great day!

Happy Quilting!

:)

Making Progress...

I am slowly making progress on the

four Family Crest quilts I am making for my nephews.

I pin basted two of them the other day and was able to use

my cutting table to do it.

From now on, I'm only making quilts that will fit on my

cutting table.

No more crawling around on the floor!

:):)

 

LOTS of machine applique!

 

One done, three to go.

After looking at this photo,

I think I need to stitch the outline of the helmet in black.

It will stand out better.

This one still needs binding, but the stitching is finished.

Yay!

Happy Quilting!!

Family Crest Quilts

Last week I posted about making a quilt for each of my

Four Nephews

using the pattern of our family crest

I had drawn years ago to make a flag for my dad.

And I really questioned my sanity.

Well,

the tops are all ready for quilting.

This past weekend I spent

HOURS

tracing and cutting and pressing and cutting...

And it's always nice to realize that some pieces were traced

backwards and needed to be traced again. 

:(

So now the sewing begins.

I'm hoping it won't take too long to stitch around all of the

shapes and add the details to these quilts.

A girl can dream, can't she??

Yesterday I had to visit my LQS to get more red background fabric,

and found this pattern.

(Please excuse the bad photo,

but it's raining here today.)

I have been ITCHING to do some applique

and am totally inspired by Lea Anne's at Podunk Pretties

design in the reds and blues.

What do you think? Won't it be beautiful in reds and blues?

Let the tracing begin...

or continue??

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!