Happy Memorial Day

Stop and remember those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

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It's a rainy, dreary day here today...

Not a good day for a picnic.

I guess I'll have to do a little quilting instead.

The other day I finished sewing the top of the latest baby quilt together.

The edges need to be trimmed and then it will be ready for quilting.

When I posted photos of this the other day,

people commented on how "beachy" it looks.

I have to agree.

It reminds me of sea glass.

 

 This one will be for a new Great Nephew who will be born in August.

It's hard for me to find fabrics I like for boy quilts,

but this one fits the bill!

For the past couple of months

I've been working on getting my Piles

of started projects finished.

It's gone pretty well and I have just a couple left to finish.

Now, I'm going to begin working on kits and quilts

for which I have purchased fabric but not yet started.

This is a kit I ordered last year,

made with Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

I cut and cut and sewed and sewed

and began trimming HST's over the weekend.

The kit description said this is a "Weekend" project.

I guess the question is... how many weekends?

I am a fast quilter and there is no way I could make this in a weekend.

It isn't a race, though, and it will be done in it's time.

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Happy Quilting!

I'm Doing It....

It's time.

They are vexing my spirit!

And I hope I don't get kicked out of the

Quilting Club

for this

but....

I'm getting rid of my scraps!

They have been sitting on the big black bag (or on the floor!)

 in the corner of  my Hidey Hole,

taunting me...

making me feel guilty for not using them.

No more!!

My goddaughter would like to start quilting,

so I asked if she would like my scraps.

She said Yes!!

(I don't think she realized just what she was saying Yes to!)

No more guilt, no more shame.

I don't enjoy using scraps,

and I'm not going to feel bad about it anymore.

They are going to a new home.

Phew!!

In the meantime,

I am making another Boy baby quilt.

 The top few rows have been sewn together already.

I've had to pull the seam ripper out once.

Somehow the first triangle of the row was turned

and the whole row was off.

These triangles have been sitting for some time,

waiting for their turn to play.

I needed one more fabric to add to the fun

and found the aqua solid.

The Go! Cutter makes such quilt work of cutting these triangles.

Plus, there are notches to line up,

so they fit together so easily.

Happy Quilting!

Camper Sew Together Bag

My best girfriend and her husband really enjoy camping.

A few months ago I saw this fabric with vintage campers

and flowers and such.

It's right up her alley!

At first I was going to make a little quilt for their camper,

but then she mentioned loving the

Sew Together Bags.

Done!!

I've had this cut out and ready to sew for a while

and finally got to it a few days ago.

 

These bags are so addictive!

I'm already thinking of making a couple more.

  

 

These vintage campers are so cute!

I don't know what she will pack in her little bag,

but it won't take up much room in her camper.

 

Ready for a road trip!

My goddaughter was married over the weekend.

(She is the recipient of the Wedding quilt.)

My younger daughter was her Maid of Honor

and carried these gorgeous flowers.

 My daughter lives out of state,

so left the bouquet here for me to enjoy....

And enjoying it I am!

Today I am linking to the new home for Design Wall Monday

at Small Quilts and Doll Quilt. 

Happy Monday!!

Happy Quilting!

Every Which Way But Loose...

The Flying Geese quilt is finished!

Let me just say that I love, love love this quilt.

It has to be one of my all time favorites.

I picked it up from being quilted last week

and finished the binding the other day.

Then I was waiting for a nice day to take photos.

It might have been too sunny for the photos,

but the sunshine really brings out the oranges.

 

There is something about the orange, black and yellow

that just makes my hear sing.

I decided to add some fun to the binding and added the black flange.

 It really pulls the black out to the edge

and adds a nice frame to the quilt.

The quilting design is perfect for the boxy geese.

It really softens the look.

 

This is going to hang on the wall in my guest room above the bed.

Since it will be above the bed,

guests won't see it while they are trying to sleep.

It shouldn't keep anyone awake.

:D

 

More Kaffe on the back.

I had so much fun making this quilt.

It might be made again in the future in a baby quilt size.

Happy Friday!

May Bible Book Blocks

My History of Quilting group

has been making

Bible Book Blocks.

The blocks for May represent 

Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms and Proverbs.

I still really like the reds and the white background fabrics in these blocks.  

They aren't in the order of the books of the Bible in this photo.

Here are the first 20 blocks.

Our session will go until November

and the books of the Old Testament will be represented.

 

I've begun thinking of sashing and corner stone colors

and will play around with some ideas as it gets closer to the end.

 

Happy Quilting!

Quilted on the Longarm...

A few weeks ago, two friends and I took the class to

begin learning to longarm quilt at a shop in our area.

You can take this introductory class and then rent their

longarms by the hour.

Last week I quilted my first quilt on the longarm.

The instructor said to not bring an heirloom or a treasure.

And she said "dogs need quilts, too."

I have been saving the perfect quilt for this adventure.

This one was made a couple of years ago

and is probably the ugliest quilt I've made.

It could not get any uglier,

so using it for my first longarm adventure was a no-brainer.

So the fun began....

They start us out on the hand-guided longarm,

so I was trying to make swirly flowers.

Some turned out really well and others... not so much.

I learned that I'm going to have to think about where I am

and where I need to travel next as I am quilting.

A few times I got stuck in a corner and had to travel over already quilted

areas to get out of it.

 

The good news was that the thread I chose blended in so well with the 

fabric, my mistakes don't show up very much.

The bad news was, I had a difficult time seeing where I had been.

It didn't matter too much, though, since you can't really see the quilting.

:)

The thread even blended well on the back. 

This quilt was a major blunder as far as fabric selections go.

I should not have used the gold as a background fabric,

but my friends dog will get a quilt from my mistake.

 

I had a BLAST using the longarm and have my second session

scheduled already.

Happy Quilting!

Circle of Geese Finish

Recently I was looking for something in a cabinet

and found two projects that I had totally forgotten about starting.

One was this Circle of Geese paper pieced little quilt.

I guess at one point I thought about making a whole quilt with these blocks

and then I remembered....

I really do not enjoy paper piecing.

One Circle of Geese block was made,

put in the cabinet

and forgotten.

It is now a finished little mini quilt.

This little quilt was a fun one to quilt

and took no time at all.

I couldn't decide on the binding fabric

and then remembered I had a black fabric with a little white 

that I had used in another quilt.

It's unfortunate that I dislike paper piecing so much....

I really like this design!

 

The back looks so cool!

Another little thing is finished and out of my Hidey Hole.

While working with the tumblers

I found a pile of 2 1/2" squares I had cut from Kaffe fabrics.

I also found some scraps of the polka dots.

The Go! Cutter came back out and more 2 1/2" squares were cut.

This is what came of it, but more are needed.

I have a lot more of the color squares, but need to cut more polka dots.

 

I'm not sure where this is headed,

but another pile will be used!

 

Oh, I just love these fabrics and colors!

Happy Quilting!

Tumbler Top Finished

Yesterday I had a "Free" day.

The plans I had changed,

so I ended up having nothing planned.

What is one to do with a free day?

Sew!

My Tumbler Top is now finished!

The tumblers were cut with my GO! Cutter

using my collections of Kaffe and Text fabrics.

  

The top needed to be longer

and I was out of the text tumblers,

so I added two rows of just Kaffe Tumblers

to the top and bottom.

 

The variety of fabrics we have today just amazes me sometimes.

 

Here is the whole quilt...

I'm not tall enough to get it off of the floor.

At this point I'm leaving the side edges as they are.

They may be straightened out after it's quilted

or I may bind them like that.

We will see how energetic I am!

 

I considered any fabric with words to be a text print.

This one is one of my favorites.

 

No matter how hard I try,

like fabrics end up together.

Oh well....

keeps me on my toes!

We have a good friend of the family graduating

from high school this year.

This quilt is going to her.

Happy Quilting!

Latest Pile...

How did I end up with so many projects

that have been placed in

Limbo Land?

This latest pile was a Leader/Ender project

that stalled out somewhere along the way.

It is time to get this one finished.

I used my Go! Cutter to cut tumblers from Kaffe fabrics

and my collection of Text fabrics.

 

These rows are sewn together, for the most part.

There are a few pieces on ends of rows that need to be attached.

 

I see some like fabrics together, but I'm not sure that I even care at this point.

This isn't one of my favorites,

but maybe it will grow on me.

I found a lot of unusual text fabrics when I was searching for them.

Most of them have been used up in various quilts.

 

This is what is left.

They will be sewn into additional rows and used in this quilt.

Hopefully I will have another pile finished and out of my Hidey Hole very soon.

Happy Quilting!

Found Blocks Finished

A little over a week ago I found some left-over blocks

in a cabinet in my Hidey Hole.

They had been left over from a larger quilt I made several years ago.

These found blocks are now a little quilt,

ready for a tiny little one soon to be born.

This is smaller than my usual baby quilts,

but it will make a nice play mat

or snuggle blanket.

 

As those who read my blog know,

this is one of my favorite blocks.

I've made many quilts with the

Disappearing Four Patch.

 

I lucked out at Joann's.

There was a minky remnant, half price

and the perfect size piece!

Another finish!

Small, but a finish none the less.

Happy Quilting!