Last week of February

This week is already flying by so quickly. We've had 2 late start mornings and I feel like we may have another one tomorrow. Monday was President's Day and I had big plans for a quilting day at my dad's house after the kid's dentist appointments. The weather was supposed to be bad (6" of snow and below 0 temps), so I changed the plan. I decided Friday that I would go out on Saturday afternoon, after morning haircuts. I worked on the side borders for this quilt until 10:30 Friday night (after my birthday supper at Fuji Steakhouse). I couldn't get them on right, so I went to bed. While Paul took the kids to haircuts, I finished the borders, mopped the floors, cleaned up the kitchen, and sorted laundry. 
Saturday after lunch the kids and I went to Dad's house to quilt. I quilted this little boy quilt for Jace, the son of our work-study student Megan. Then I quilted my pillow swap (which I'll show after it's received) and the HST Valentine L'Amour table runner. 

It was going so well and it was only 2:30, so I loaded my Hey June quilt which is 73"x97". It is a big one, but I knew I had time to quilt it. The machine would not work! I messed with it for 30 minutes before giving up! I set up mom's sewing machine and fixed my dad's shirts and a couple things for his wife. I put everything away and decided I'd come back another day. I moved the quilting machine and it worked! It literally was like God said, "fix your dad's mending". I would have otherwise put him off. 

Thursday I had a foot doctor appointment and had enough time to finish sewing this quadrant of my EPP quilt. 

So I quilted Hey June horizontally (as I had 1" of backing and batting on each side). It was meant to be quilted this way. It quilted up beautifully after the break! I couldn't find anything else that could or would have caused the issue. I don't know who this will go to, but it's quilted and that's what matters. I used wide back red and 124" wide white warm & white batting from the Sewing Center. After it was done, I quilted a 40" square of purple Homemade fabric to make some more by Annie bags/patterns. I didn't have a plan, but I just quilted up the fabric and will cut it out later when I decide what to make with it. 

Last night I sewed the binding on my pillow swap pillow, my valentine's table runner (but was short, darn it!) and then I had put these by my table to finish as needed. I ended up sewing the binding I had cut on these 2 table toppers. I just gave them to a student for an adoption fundraiser he is helping with this weekend. I didn't have any other thing planned for them and it just felt like they would help that cause. 

Monday night I finished the binding on Jace's quilt. I think it turned out pretty cute for a "scrap quilt". I was kind of kicking myself for spending $40 on backing and more background for a scrap quilt (which I think of as a free quilt), but I know it was the right decision to spring for the minkee backing. I did frankenbatt the batting together from scraps, so that was free too. 
 
Sunday night Mathew and I played his new Monopoly game. Friday was the 2 year anniversary of my cancer sister's DMX. I wore my Heidi shirt to work as I celebrated what being a survivor means for me. Harmony is the background quilt. 

Remembering my mom Delia

Last night I had about 30 minutes and quickly made this wrist wrap for my friend Mitch to match the other one I made him. They are quick and fairly easy. 

Today it has been 10 years since my mom passed away. I still miss her a ton, but I know she's watching over me. 

I pulled out one of her cross stitch kits and I organized the thread. Now if I start it, it will be a miracle. I think I might still have some of her skill left in me. 

Today at lunch I worked on a table runner for my friend. This is the missing end piece. I need one more gray star and then I can put it together I think. I'd like to finish it before her March 1st birthday, but we'll see if that happens. I'm going to give it a try this weekend to see if I can get it to the quilting stage before Monday. 

 I also busily cut out my Grassy Creek Clue 6 at lunch today. I'm not string piecing, so it was time to get them cut and ready to sew. I'll finish cutting the corner triangles tomorrow. 

Mom's Cross Stitch & New Baby Quilt

My mom was a prolific crafter. She tole painted, crocheted, Hardanger, cross-stitched, garment sewed, and quilted. She was very prolific at starting, but she was not a finisher. She rarely finished anything. She got to the point where she could see what it was going to look like and then she was on to the next project. I inherited a lot of UFO's and finished most of them. I had this cross-stitch picture she did, but it needed framing. I finally got around to buying the frame and then watching a floss tube video on how to finish cross-stitch pictures. I am pleased with how it turned out and now I'm ready to tackle the other piece I found that she created.

I hung it in my office at work. 

I am busy making a baby quilt for a high school classmates new grandbaby. I'm switching up the Jungle Friends pattern and making elephants, monkeys, and giraffes. 

The pattern isn't easy to follow, but it has good cutting directions and pictures, so it's been pretty easy. I have the monkeys cut out and then I will be ready to assemble and quilt. I love how they are turning out. 

I also started the Block 1 blocks for Threadology sew along from a few years ago. I cut it all out but never started piecing it. It's my APQ selection for this month, so I am going to see if I can at least get the blocks pieced. It's in Little Snippets by Bonnie and Camille fabric. 

 

2018 UFO List

My Quilters Planner arrived last month, but I hadn't taken the time to start planning for next year until this week. I decided which projects from my UFO list from last year are still UFO's and put them on the list. In all reality, nothing else is getting finished this year, unless it's a new quick project.
My UFO's
1. Black/White/Green/Pink quilt. I've been working on this since 2012 and it's still not done. It just needs to be assembled, but I lost interest. It's for us, so no real deadline.

2. Scrappy Trip Around the World - The top is pieced and assembled, but I want it bigger, so I need 26 more blocks and just haven't put a focus on making them. All the strips are cut and ready to sew.

3. Blue/Yellow Scrappy Trip Around the World - started collecting fabrics 2 years ago, but cut out in 2016 and I've started making blocks. I have about 3 done and all the pieces sorted and ready to sew. Again I just need time to sew. I love making these blocks.

4. Blue Ridge Beauty - Yellow and Blue - Made from the scraps of the TATW #3 above. I've made the HST's and just need to finish the scrappy blocks, to use the leftovers for 4 patches. This might become a wedding present for my cousin, so I need to get busy.

5. Paul's t-shirt quilt - A t-shirt quilt from his racing shirts. They are all cut out and interfaced, just need to square them up and set them. All the fabric is bought and in the tub with them. Wish he would push me to get it done, maybe I'll try for his birthday in March.

6. Mom's Friendship Braid. I worked on it, and it's ready for the borders to be put on, my least favorite part, so I may take this to SOYO so I push myself to get it done.

7. Holiday Metals HST's - All the fabric cut, just need to make the HST's.

8. Sunny Skies - Leader/Ender Project. Getting close to having all the 16 patches complete. Need to pick a background.

9. Farm Girl Vintage - All the blocks done. Need to cut out sashing and be ready to piece at SOYO in January.

10. En Provence - Top is together, needs 2 sets of borders.

11. Nova - Need to finish squaring up blocks

12. On Ringo Lake - In progress. Clue 1 done, Clue 2, Clue 3, and Clue 4 cut out, some of each sewn.

13. Sunny Skies Hexie Diamond - My current hexie project

14. Purple/Pink Batik bag - Cut out

15. Carry All Organizer - Cut Out

16. Crazy Mom Focus Hexies - All pieced, waiting for assembly.

So there's my list. I know I have fabric for other things, but these are the cut-out and started projects. It's so much less overwhelming than thinking of all the projects I could do. Some of these I've simply been waiting for retreat because I do better at assembly and borders at the retreat than I do at home. Time to keep moving forward and finishing up some projects.

OMG: March Goal Completed!

My March OMG was to finish my mom and grandma's Wall Quilt Guild Friendship quilts and donate them back to the guild at their Quilting Weekend. I was successful! It came down to the wire, but I got them both done. I think my mom would be happy they are both made into quilts.

After quilting at dad's I got this picture. I spent one afternoon out there quilting them both up.

Mikaela and I went to the Bed Turning with my Aunt Jane and my dad's wife Ann. Mikaela took her own quilts to show and talk about. She was so adorable.

Grandma's finished quilt

Mom's finished quilt.

I've been participating in a bi-weekly Farm Girl Vintage BOW and this is the first block, Simple Star

Two weeks ago was Milking Pail. I like the pace of this and so far have been keeping up.

I made this Loralie Quilts quilt to use up mom's stash. I think it will go to my friend who's had a lot of health issues in the past year. She was also a friend of my moms.

I've been busily making scrappy trip around the world blocks. I'm planning to teach a class in June. I just love making these. The technique is so awesome and they use up a lot of stash scraps.




Our Family at Easter. We're celebrating the life of my husband's grandpa this week, so a new suit was in order and the kids got new outfits as well, so we were really dressed up for mass on Easter Sunday morning. I got a new dress for our graduation next month, but it will work for all three events.

Oh Scrap & Design Wall Monday

This past week has been super productive. I've finished 7 mini granny square blocks, including these two the that I sewed up Friday morning before work. A change in schedule for our family means no one is sleeping when I get up except for the kids, so if I get up a bit too early, I can sew! I'm loving it, although I won't be getting up extra early every day. These are made from the last of my Frolic scraps. I've made 4 baby quilts out of this line. I just love the Frolic line, although I am not a huge fan of the orange.

These five were done as of Thursday night. I have nine laid out and enough, I think, to do 7 more for a 16 block quilt.

Friday afternoon I took off and went to my dad's to quilt. I was able to quilt both this 16 block friendship quilt of my Grandma Elaine's blocks, which is 63" square. I plan to put binding on this week and donate them on Friday.

I also quilted my mom's friendship block quilt which is 42"x 55". I ended up using her block in the center as I needed just one more. I'm sure the ladies who made the blocks will be interested to see them as I am sure their skills have improved in 12 years. These blocks were done in 2004.


This weeks goals include:
Bind Grandma's Friendship Quilt
Bind Mom's Friendship Quilt
Make 2 more Mini Granny Square blocks
Make 10 Trip Around the World Blocks

I'll be linking up with Oh Scrap and Design Wall Monday.

OMG February Finish

This month has been crazy, but it's also been a great quilting month for me. I was able to spend the President's day holiday at my dad's and got in some serious quilting time. I was able to finish my goal to quilt and bind the purple Minkee quilt. It turned out great and is so cuddly.

I helped Mikaela make this Frozen bag from scraps. She's really wanting to sew more, so I am trying to be more prepared and ready to help her, when she's ready.

I made a pen case for my new pens to go with my Quilters Planner cover. I used the by Annie's free pattern, but used the scrap of soft and stable I had, so it's a bit smaller, which is just fine. I could have made it shorter, since I am just putting my fun colored pens in it.

I made a Quilters Planner cover and love how it turned out! I used a very special piece of double wedding ring fabric that my amazing friend Jen B. sent me several years ago. It's a Jennifer Chiaverini piece and I've been hoarding it like crazy. I can't believe how well the zipper matches and fits perfectly with the row.

I finished the binding on my 1st Buckeye Beauty scrappy batik quilt and made 36 blocks for a second one. I'd really like to make the next one bigger, so I'm going to wait to put it together. I have enough cut out to make a lot more blocks, but I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and make a half square triangle quilt.

I had a great day of quilting at my dad's and quilted this baby quilt for my Aunt Jane. I only quilted in the colored areas and left the white areas open. It's a small quilt she'll donate to project warmth.

I also quilted this Case IH quilt, which uses a modified Sidelines pattern for my nephew Owen. I'm hoping to get the binding on by Easter so I can gift it to him then.

I quilted this Loralie BQ4 quilt, which has no home yet, but may go to one of my mom's quilting friends. I am really trying to finish up her UFO's/fabric stash so I can move on to other bucket list projects I'd like to complete. 




















We also celebrated my birthday and Valentine's day. Nothing big, but still a great time. My MIL got a new job and we're so excited that she'll be working days now. Big changes in store for our family.  I was able to gift her the blue hexie Strip On quilt I made during the waiting process for the new job. She loves it and actually put it on her bed!! I helped with her resume, cover letter, application, etc., so it's been a waiting process of 4 months for us. We're thrilled she'll be working at SDSM&T as a auxiliary custodial supervisor.


With a week left of the month, I'm sure I'll get a few more things done. I'm feeling very quilters ADDish. Last night I pulled more fabric to cut TATW strips from. I pieced some pink/brown cowgirl fabrics for a baby quilt, using scraps from the other 4 Pink Cowgirl quilts I have made. I used this as my leader/ender project. I also took out my Briar Rose Leader Ender project and realized I need to cut the fabric for the X blocks, so I picked out one that would work, grabbed my 2.5" squares that are already pre-cut and prepped that as another L/E project.
Then... I pulled out my grandma Elaine's friendship quilt blocks and cut the sashing and pieced the top together. It still needs borders, but the hard part is done. I'm thinking I might get back to my dad's in the next few weeks and I'd really like to get both my grandma and mom's friendship quilts (blocks made by their guild members in 2004) done and be able to gift them back to the guild for donation quilts. I just couldn't throw the blocks away, so I am feeling compelled to finish them. Mikaela and I are going to the trunk show of their quilt show in mid-March, so this is a good deadline to shoot for to have them completed.
My little Valentine's at their pre-school party.

ALYOF November Goal Accomplished

November has been a very successful month for me! I did a lot of preparation for quilt retreat, thus not much to show throughout the month, until after retreat this weekend. I had the best weekend sewing with 7 of my close quilting friends. I pieced the mustang quilt top, which is a gift for our preschool teacher. It turned out really cute. This was my goal for ALYOF for November, so I feel great that I got it finished.

At retreat I also made Mathew a Toy Story bag. His sister has a lot this size, but he's been in need of some for his trucks and cars.

I finished this leader/ender project I have been working on for a few years. It's about 80" square, so a good size quilt. I hope to make this into a quilt to give away, when the need arises.

My big accomplishment was finishing the Trip around the world top. I've also been working on this one for several years. I love how it turned out. I was one block short, but decided to piece the top and make the other block at home, since I hadn't brought the fabrics, just the done blocks. I found the "extra" fabrics this morning and realized I had enough for 5 more blocks. Not sure why I hadn't made more. So glad I have enough of the center yellow to make the last block. This is a Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern, with a control strip of light yellow. It is all scrap batiks.

The Strip Lash quilt by GE Designs was my major project this weekend. It took me over 12 hours to piece and is 80"x 81". It's a quilt for my MIL, but I am not sure when I'll get it quilted. It is much more gorgeous in person, with the shimmer and sparkly glitter and silver glistening.

This was a random project I kind of put in at the last minute, but it is the friendship blocks from my mom's Wall quilt guild back in 2004. I just put a simple sashing on them. It will be quilted up as a comfort quilt. I also have my grandma's friendship blocks from the same guild exchange, but I ran out of time. I am going to put them in the same type of setting, although they are larger at 12", these were 10".

I also made this BQ4 quilt from my mom's stash of Loralie Design fabrics. It turned out pretty cool. Again, it has no destination, but will be quilted up for when I need a quilt to give away.

Before retreat I made this mustang Bendy bag for a guy I work with to give to his daughter. It's a bit super sized as I used most of the fat quarter.

Before our trip to MN another roommate decided to join us, so I had to make her son a bendy bag as well, so I whipped this up before we left. His parents are big snowmobilers.

So it's been a very successful month of sewing. Paul got his deer on Saturday, so I am unsure what we'll be doing this weekend. I had hoped to go to dad's and quilt, but we'll see if that happens.