What I Am Working On......

Karen showed me this blog post and I have to admit that I was intrigued with the concept. Of course I misunderstood the idea, I thought that each day you pick a fabric that reflects how you feel about the day, or what you did.  Though I knew I didn't want to make mine with circles as it would take too long, I don't enjoy handwork, and I would soon quit making them. 

I decided to make mine using the Road to Tennessee block. Ever since we moved to TN twenty years ago I have been wanting to make a TN quilt.  I am using a five inch square for the main block and scrappy 2.5 inch squares for the corners. The block goes together in under one minute, cutting included. I am going to try to make my blocks all from the scraps I have been saving. If I need to I will cut into larger pieces of fabric. Wish I had a fun novelty fabric for each day.  The blocks will be sewn in calendar order. I started this on November 10th.

 The day I started was foggy - the gray fabric, the next was Veteran's Day, next day I worked on my hexie flowers, got new glasses, started my Bargello quilt, etc...

 dreaded ladybugs arrived, finished Christmas Stack n Whack, love the color red, beautiful sunset, ...

canned some leg of lamb, family history, - you get the idea.

I have also decided to keep a small journal with just a word or two about why I chose the fabric for that day. 

I might try to incorporate this list on the back of the quilt. I am surprised at how much I am enjoying making these blocks.

As you probably know I like to make quilts to fit my bed - 100 inches square. I am going to have to do this for 400 days to make it big enough. Just might have to put borders on this one!

 My hexie flowers are getting done, been averaging about 5 a week, just have about 100 left to go. If I knew just how much time it takes for me to make one flower I would never have started this quilt. It takes about one hour for me to make one flower. I thought I would have gotten faster over time. Guess I need to watch more TV!

Stacks of 10.

I am making Lori Holt's barn blocks - one a week - All my barns will be red. She also has a 12 inch barn block that I have enlarged to make it as big as the others and this will give me three different barns in my quilt.

 Amish Twist is also being made.  I am making one set of blocks each week. I have 25 finished. 

I am struggling with paper piecing these tree blocks. My mind has a hard time grasping that you have to sew the pieces upside down. I am going to have to find someone in my guild that knows about paper piecing. I won't work on these again until next year.

A Bargello quilt has also been started. Being taught this by a quilter in my guild.

There are only four rows so far. All the strips and strip sets have been cut out.

I just might have too many projects going all at once - though none of them actually take a lot of time. Once the Christmas quilts are finished - have two more to make - then I will be able to concentrate more on the Bargello and barn quilts. 

Been thinking about my quilting goals for 2016...

Linking up with Quilty 365.... Linking up with JudyL's Design Wall.

Something New

I finally have another finish.

One of the new friends I've made since moving is the "queen" of Stack and Whacks! She has made more than 200 of them. It is the only type of quilt she is interested in. Bill was fascinated with them.

Of course I agreed to make one. I decided on a Christmas one. Also decided that since it will "probably" be the only one I will ever make I wanted to make it for our bed.

Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful quilts, it is just that there are so many other types of quilts I want to make. This is the fabric I chose. I like the background colors - red, maroon, and two shades of green.

You buy by the repeat in the fabric not yardage so I wasn't sure how much to buy to make a big quilt.  My friend will buy what I don't use. Not crazy abt it and was told the uglier the fabric the prettier the stack and whack quilt will be.    Which is certainly true after looking at my friend's quilts. Glittery fabric, girly fabric just isn't me and I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it.

Since starting this quilt I have come to realize that I am not a fan of making Stack n Whack quilts. I didn't mind the piecing or the cutting. The tacking of all 8 layers together wore me out! It took me  - TWELVE - long hours to tack my components. I did it while watching a Murder She Wrote Marathon. Never - Ever will I make one again. Eight layers made 14 blocks and I needed 64 blocks, so I had to tack 5 - 8 layers stacks.....which made 70 blocks. 

I decided to set my quilt on point which didn't use as many blocks. A friend will be getting a Christmas quilt with the left over blocks!

This is my first quilt that I set on point. So not use to dealing with bias edges around the outside of the top. There are a few wavy areas and I am hoping that once it is washed that some of the glitter (there is a lot of glitter) and the waves will disappear. 

 This quilt is 98x98. Some of the blocks.....I like that the blocks are surrounded with cream as it makes it look like they are floating.

 And these cute snowman are on the back.

Because I struggled with the bias edges and also where the 8 points meet in the center of each block there were some peaks, meandering was the simple way for me to keep the top kinda flat while quilting it.

Linking up to the stash report at Patchwork Times.

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in YTD ~ 31.66

fabric out YTD ~ 198.80

used YTD ~ 167.14

Quilts Finished ~ 17 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 6

RMH ~ 8

UFO ~ 1

New ~ 2

The Last QOV of the Year - #6

This will be my last Quilt of Valor this year.

Forgot to take a picture of the presentation case before delivering the quilts.

A new quilting friend wanted to take a quilting class. She asked me to go with her. I told her to find a class she wanted to take and I would go with her. She is a new quilter and has never taken a class. She chose a "Square in a Square" class. It is a different way to make sq in a sq, flying geese, dove in the window, etc, blocks, using a speciality ruler.

I still have two more borders to put on it. It will be about 26 inches square.

Here are some the the steps using the ruler. I used white as the centers of my blocks and they don't show up very good on the white paper.

You start with a center square and add strips on all sides.

 You then trim, using the ruler to create this block - the square in a square - this is the basic unit that all the other blocks are made from

 by cutting the blocks you can create flying geese or 1/2 square triangles

 Cutting in a different direction you create the dove in the window block - I do really like the border it  makes

I didn't buy the ruler or any of the books. I have bought speciality rulers in the past and used them once, sometimes never - wasn't sure about this one because...

#1 - I felt there was a lot of waste - I know I will never use all the fabric I have and I shouldn't be concerned about a little waste. I could be wrong about this percentage but I think I heard the teacher say there was about 1/3 waste, seems like a lot to me.  

#2 - The other thing was that after you trim the blocks they are on the bias, I haven't had a lot of experience working with bias blocks. Guess I should have used starch on them. The center of the small wall hanging I made was a bit wavy. 

The main thing was I got to spend time with a new quilting friend, learn a new technique and was able to drop off my QsOV. 

All the new beautiful fabrics and patterns were so tempting but I didn't purchase any.

Linking up with JudyL's Stash Report

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in YTD ~ 19.66

fabric out YTD ~ 176.02

used YTD ~ 156.36

Quilts Finished ~ 16 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 6

RMH ~ 8

UFO ~ 1

New ~ 1

Quilt of Valor #5

I used the Fat Quarter Shop's free pattern "Welded" for this QOV.
You can get the pattern here.....

The directions were perfect and  the top was quickly completed.

The pillow case was made and donated by my friend, Karen. She blogs at K's Quilting Korner.

Now that I am no longer taking care of my mother, have joined a quilt guild and have made new friends since our move, I find I don't have as much quilting time as I did before! Having quilt/sew dates, visiting new quilt shops in our area (not much fabric has been coming home with me), and it seems as though there is/was a quilt show to go to every weekend in September and October, is keeping me busy. Having a great time. I feel so very blessed.

Bought 6 yards of this fabric at the Huntsville quilt show - only $3 a yard and I couldn't pass it up. Bought all they had as it will be perfect background fabric for RMH quilts.

Visit the stash report at Patchworktimes

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in ~ 6

fabric out ~ 10.5

used YTD ~ 146.18

Quilts Finished ~ 15 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 5

RMH ~ 8

UFO ~ 1

New ~ 1

QOV #4 ~ RMH #8

I doubt I am going to reach my goal of 12 Quilts of Valor and 12 quilts for Ronald McDonald's house this year. I will be thrilled if I am able to finish 5 QOVs.

I very seldom buy quilt magazines as I already have so many patterns I will never have the time to make. The cover quilt just caught my eye and I had to buy it.

I really, really like the cover quilt! I am not sure what color I will make the star points, maybe blue or green.....I already have about 5 quilts that have red star points.
 There are at least 4 quilts in this magazine I like. I used this pattern to make a QOV.

Here is my version of the quilt.

I used a bunch of blue on white/beige fabrics for the background and a solid red for the pinwheels and border. I made a pink and black version a few years ago - you can see it here.

The pillow case was made and donated by Karen.

She used such cute fabric to make it. Love the hearts...

Kat over at Kat and cat quilts is asking for 10.5 inch string blocks. I was able to make 24 this weekend will try to make some more in the next couple of weeks. I was touched when I read about her quilt ministry - though not sure she calls it a ministry. Go here to read her story.

Here are 12 of the blocks - I used muslin for the foundations.

I certainly have enough strings to make hundreds of blocks...Gotta love mindless piecing.

I was, once again, inspired by a quilt Karen made - 

Just when I think I am out of I Spy fabrics I keep finding more! I used 5 inch squares. This quilt will be going to RMH.

Linking up with -
Patchworktimes
Quilting is more fun than Housework
Michelle's "Let's Make Baby Quilts

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in ~ 0

fabric out ~ 18.89

used YTD ~ 141.68

Quilts Finished ~ 14 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 4

RMH ~ 8

UFO ~ 1

New ~ 1

Finally, A 10 Year Finish....

We have spent many years looking for the perfect place, for us, to retire. About 10 years ago we were in Colorado, we went to quilt shops for me and woodworking shops for Bill. The Great American Quilt Shop was in Denver, a great shop. Saw a quilt we both liked and we bought the templates, pattern and a bunch of fat quarters and finally after all these years have a finished quilt....

I wanted it a bit bigger so I made a border out of the smaller 1/4 circles. It is 95 inches square.

The backing is flannel. Not sure if we are going to keep it or if it will become a Christmas gift quilt....

I did purchase the kit for this quilt....

I love it. The blocks are all pretty simple, it is the shading of the placement of the colors that make this such a neat quilt. Plus it finishes at 105 inches, it is the perfect size for our bed. I might change the border a bit.

Really great instructions. Wonderful colors, so looking forward to making this quilt.

I am making this quilt with Karen.  She had the great idea of copying the color swatch sheet, cutting it out and matching it to the fabric, so we could keep everything organized. I wrote on the copy what block each fabric was used in.

Here is my start of block 1 - need 12 of these. Forgot how much fun it is to start a new quilt.

At guild we made three yard baby quilts. Here is the link....

Bill helped me make a portable  ironing table to take to guild sew days.  We bought a plastic table ($15) from Walmart, covered it using 2 layers of batting, one layer of insulation stuff from Joanns and then used some fabric from the upholstery area, also from Joanns.

We used hot glue to attach the fabric to the table. Liquid nails can also be used. The batting and insulation were not glued.  The underside doesn't look great but it is holding tight.

 The table is collapsable, and has three height adjustments. Perfect to take to classes. Now to find a good portable iron...

Linking up with JudyL's stash reports....
and Quilting is more fun than Housework

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in ~ 10

fabric out ~ 23.57

used YTD ~ 123.12

Quilts Finished ~ 12 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 3

RMH ~ 7

UFO ~ 1

New ~ 1

A Gifted Quilt....

I don't usually (never) receive a quilt as a gift.  Bill's cousin came to visit for 4 days, she also came to quilt some of her tops. I think she brought 12 of them with her. I have to admit that I was pretty proud of her that she stuck to it and got them all quilted while she was here. All except one. The one she gave to me. She also gave me the backing for it.

The quilt was an odd size so I took some of it apart and sewed it into the size I like for our bed - 100 inches square.

I had 6 pinwheel blocks left over. I have always wanted a black and white quilt - now I have one!

(I am so pleased with my new quilt rod holder, makes taking pictures so easy. The rings have small clamps. I plan on putting up a design wall behind the quilt.)

The backing she provided is absolutely adorable.

The little red birds on the backing cried out for a red binding.... 3/4 of a yard....some of the blacks on the front contain red.

Love it!  I quilted it using freehand swirls in various sizes.

It is such a fun, happy quilt, so glad it lives at our house.

Didn't know which category it fit in, so I am not going to count it.

Fabric usage  2015 ~

fabric in ~ 0

fabric out ~ .75

used YTD ~ 109.55

Quilts Finished ~ 8 ~ each quilt will only be counted in one category

QOV ~ 3

RMH ~ 4

UFO ~

New ~ 1