Swimming Upstream

 I rarely purchase quilting magazines.

The price has gotten ridiculous

and a lot of the quilts just don't appeal to me.

 

This months issue of

American Patchwork and Quilting,

however, had several quilts I liked. 

One quilt really drew my eye,

especially since I was given a stack of blue fabrics

left-over from a quilt a friend was making.

Before I looked at the name of the quilt

I thought this design looked like fish.

 

 

 

My version of "Swimming Upstream" is different from the magazines.

My borders aren't wide enough to add another fish block to them. 

 

 

 

This top came together in no time and was so relaxing to make.

I love making HST's. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was made as a donation quilt for the Veterans' Hospital

and will soon be taken to the ladies who quilt these.

Thank you, Holly, for your blue fabric pieces!

Happy Quilting!

Blue and White Twinkle Star

 Two years ago I was invited to join the

Gridster Bee, which is an on-line quilting bee.

Each month one of us is queen bee and we choose

a quilt block for the others to make for us.

It is one of the most fun things I've done as a quilter.

Each month is a new adventure and I have really 

been challenged by some of the blocks.

Last year my month was September

and I asked for blue and white

Twinkle Star blocks using
this tutorial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My bee mates came through with flying blue and white blocks!

I asked them to make two blocks each and I made the rest.

The photo below is a truer to the actual colors.

 

 

 

 

Some were so generous and made three blocks.

The amazing thing is there are no duplicates of fabrics

except from the same quilter.

 

 

 

 

These are all of the quilters who participated.

I could not love this quilt any more than I do.

 

My quilt was beautifully quilted by Jennifer at

Peaceful Hill Quilting.

 

 

 

 

This year my month is May and I need to start thinking of my block.

It will be hard to top this one!

 

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

 

 

Shell Bouquet Quilt

 For years this Philip Jacobs fabric, Shell Bouquet, has sat in my stash.

I love it and just couldn't make myself cut into it.

Finally, it was time.

 

 

  

 

 

I need a few baby quilts for girls and thought this would make a sweet one.

Well, I started making blocks and cutting blocks

and got a little carried away.

 

 

 

 

This ended up being about  48"x64".

It's a little large for a baby quilt,

but would grow with the child.

 

 

 

At first I had white sashing and the pink cornerstones,

but that was just blah.

After consulting with my sister and sister in law,

we decided on the Tula Pink hexagon print.

 

The fabric has been used and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

Now I just need to decide if it will be given to a baby or someone else.

Happy Quilting!

Baby Sewing

 In between making blocks for my latest

baby quilt,

I've been making hooded bath towels

for my littles.

With a new one on the way,

new towels were needed.

 

I use a double looped terry cloth  

from Naturesfabrics.com.

This fabric is really absorbent and so soft.

My daughter and son-in-law said they will

take as many towels as I want to make.

 

Do you think ten are enough??

 

 

 

 

 

I started to pull fabric to cut the binding,

but instead pulled out my bin of binding scraps.

Some of the bindings don't match the hood fabric,

but I don't think the littles will care.

My binding bin isn't nearly as full now.

:)

 

 

 

While shopping the other day,

I found this "Cars" fabric.

My two littles love the movie "Cars 3",

so I had to make pillowcases!

Now back to making quilt blocks.

Happy Quilting!

Moths

 Last week I was in one of my local quilt shops

and saw this moth fabric.

I just had to have some.

They also had a quilt book with designs

for quilts using one yard each of three fabrics.

Usually I'm not a fan of these quilts,

but a couple of designs caught my eye.

I bought the moth print and the gray filler

and used one of the patterns in the book to make this.

The orange fabric was in my stash.

 

 

 

This design really shows off the moth fabric,

which I like.

 

 

 

 

This may become a donation for the Veterans hospital,

if they don't think it's too wild.

 

One of my nieces HATES moths, so it

definitely won't be for her.  :)

 

 

Happy Quilting!

First Baby Quilt

 The beginning of 2024 will be the known as the

Baby Quilt Era for me.

Between now and the middle of May,

I have 6 baby quilts to make.

One will be for my newest granddaughter,

who will arrive in May.

:)

 

The first baby is due at the beginning of February.

The nursery for this one will be navy, hot pink and gray.

While searching the internet for new ideas,

I came across this pattern called Radiant

by Bonjour Quilts. 

Several years ago I made two quilts

from the pattern Diamonds in the Deep

by Bonjour quilts

and loved making them.

They are very well written patterns.

I knew this one was going to be fun, too.

 

 

 

The top is completed!

The navy blue isn't quite as dark as it is  in the photos.

 

 

 

 

You can just see that it's a bit marbled, too.

 

 

 

 

This will be the backing fabric for this quilt.

Now to get it quilted!

 

One down, five to go!

 

Happy Quilting!

A New Year

 The year 2023 came to and end and it's difficult to believe.

Looking back, the year is just a blur.

I didn't do an end of year blog post this year,

but I am happy with what I was able to accomplish.

For the first time ever, I kept track of the books

I read and listened to in 2023.

The vast majority of these books were audio books...

my new found love.

I can multi-task!  Listening to a book while

sewing, driving, cooking, walking, etc.

is awesome!

 

 

 

I didn't start using Goodreads until I was into the year,

so I actually read 102 books in 2023!

My favorites were "Demon Copperhead" and "The Rose Code". 

I ended 2023 with making some special garments for my

grandchildren.  They are being baptized this coming Sunday

and my daughter asked if I would make them their outfits for the big day.

This is my daughter's wedding gown, 

fresh out of the storage box.

I took it apart and made a dress for Olivia.

 

 

 

This dress is a combination of two patterns and a little of my own creation.

 I was thrilled to be able to use part of the zipper and buttons from the wedding gown.

 

 

 

(I'm terrible at tying bows!)

 

 

 

 

 

For Miles, I made a little Johnny

and smocked crosses for it.

The most difficult part of making this was putting

the snaps on it! 

I bought a light blue shirt to go under this for him.

*************

As I had a few minutes here and there,
I have been making Drunkard Path blocks

from a bundle of fabrics I've had for years.

 

 

 

This morning I was able to finish sewing the top together.

 

 

 

 

 

My first flimsy of 2024!

 

 

May 2024 bring you many blessings

and lots of time for creating!

 

Happy Quilting!

Christmas Gifts

 This year, in addition to the bed quilts I made for my grands

for Christmas, I made them each something with which they could play.

 

For Miles,

I made this mat for his cars

and had an absolute blast sewing on the buildings

and things, making his little village.

 

 

 

 

 

If you enlarge the photo, you can see the various

shops and businesses named after family members.

My sister made one for her grandson, too,

and we had so much fun coming up with the parts and pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

For Olivia, I made a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

with lots of accessories!

I added a design board for her to lay out the parts and pieces

and put them all into a vinyl

Hemmingway Bag.

 

 

 

 

One of these may have to be made to stay at my house!

 

 

  

 

 

I had to jump on the loopy yarn tree bandwagon this year!

My Santa made from an antique blanket looks cute standing next

to this colorful tree.

 

Merry Christmas!

Strings Veterans Quilt

 Last night I finished what is probably my last quilt for the year.

On Thursday I am leaving on a big adventure and

will be gone for 10 days, so there won't be much

more sewing or quilting done here.

For my last quilt of the year,

I finished this string quilt that will be

donated to my local Veterans Hospital.

 

This quilt finished up the big box of 1 1/2" strips

I had cut to make a huge log cabin quilt long ago.

 

 

 

 

I backed this one with flannel

and did some simple straight line quilting on it.

 

 

 

 

 

I had never made a string quilt before

and learned some things.

It will keep someone warm, for sure!

 

This will be delivered to Vicki today

for delivery to the hospital after the first of the year.

Happy Quilting!

Two Finished Veterans Quilts

 In previous posts, I have mentioned that there is a local

quilt group that makes quilts for our local Veterans Hospital.

While I don't belong to the group,

(they meet at the same time my book club meets)

I have made quilts and donated to them.

What an awesome mission this is.

 

After getting two quilts back from Vicki,  who

will quilt them for free if they are being donated,

they are finished and ready to return.

 

 

 

 

 

This one was made with a jelly roll and some yardage.
I came up with the pattern myself and played with the block placement.

 

 

 

These aren't my typical colors, but it's a very soothing quilt.

 

 

I've had the top of this next quilt finished for some time,

but never had it quilted. 

I didn't know what I was going to do with it

and then realized that it is close to the 

size needed for the Veterans quilts.

 

 

 

Vicki quilted this one, too, and did a great job with it.

The pattern is Hello Geese .

There might be another one of these in my future.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Hemingway Pouch

 

On Sunday, after our Thanksgiving guests had left and the

house was put back in place,

I just needed to sew something.

 

I had purchased the pattern for the Hemingway Pouch

and decided to make one or two.

This pattern is really well written,

goes together very quickly

and makes the cutest pouch.

 

 

 

 

The blue pouches are the XL size and the sea life pouches are the large size.

One zipper makes two pouches, but you do need another zipper pull.

 

 

 

These are lined with bound edges inside and are so pretty.

I used two layers of batting for my pouches.

 

 

 

 

This wedge is cut from the quilted piece to make the angle

of the XL pouch.

I didn't want to waste this quilted fabric

and decided to try making a small pouch.

From this XL wedge, I cut the narrow end off at 14".

 

 

 

These two cute little pouches were made from those wedges.

I see more of these pouches in my future, after I purchase

some more long zippers.

Happy Quilting!

The Orla Baby Quilt Finish

In October, I made The Orla Quilt in the baby quilt size.

This pattern is by Kitchen Table Quilting 

and went together in no time.

 

It is now quilted and ready to gift

to the baby coming in December.

 

 

 

 

I love this Tula background fabric.

I can't remember the name of it,

but I should have bought a whole bolt!

 

 

 

 

This baby print has been in my stash for a long time

and looks cute on the back.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Olivia's Quilt is Finished

 The other night I finished sewing the binding on my 

granddaughter's quilt.

Now both quilts are finished for my littles for Christmas!

This quilt is "The Violet Quilt" by

Kitchen Table Quilting.

Erica's patterns are written so well

and are easy to follow.

 

 

 

My daughter asked for a colorful quilt

and I did my best to please her.

 

:)

 

I used a lot of Kaffe, some Tula and some

random fabrics, too.

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Grace of Rebecca Grace Quilting

quilted it and did her usual excellent work. 

I love the design she suggested.

 

 

 

My granddaughter loves pink, so I used a pink on pink

fabric for the small blocks that are throughout the quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

This isn't a good photo of the backing,

but it has all of the colors.

 

It's labeled and ready to wrap!

This is a HUGE check off of my list.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Miles' Big Boy Bed Quilt

 My daughter and son in law asked me to make

bed quilts for each of my grandchildren.

I sent them Kitchen Table Quilting's website

and they picked a pattern for each of them.

For Miles, they chose The Ivy Quilt.

For those who follow me,

these fabrics are going to look very familiar.

This is the third large quilt I've made

from these fabrics and colors.

I added to the group for Miles' quilt,

but a lot of them have been in previous quilts.

The background is new.

 

 

 

 

 

These colors are my favorites, by far.
I love the lime green pops of color

throughout the quilt.

They bring in so much light.

 

 

 

Rebecca Grace at Rebecca Grace Quilting

did a beautiful job quilting this one,

as she does with every quilt!

The design looks like flowing water to me,

adding to the sea look of the fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

The backing looks like water, too.

This one is labeled and ready to wrap.

Now onto binding his sisters' quilt!

 

 

This months Queen Bee for the Gridsters

chose this block from Tilda.

She asked us to make one half of the block,

but I had to make the whole thing.

It was unfinished, otherwise.

This is a BIG block!

 

 

 

 

I had to make her with red hair for my two red-headed daughters

AND my two red-headed grandchildren!

 

 

Happy Quilting!