April Quilts

  

It's been a busy month for me. I've accomplished a lot on my goals list and still have things "to do". The list never ends. I spent several days at my dad's house quilting this month. I had 4 teacher quilts to do before this week. I have a graduation quilt coming up and I have 3 quilts that I've done for others. 

This quilt is for Karen and her family. It's an antique quilt and I quilted and am working on the binding. I should be able to finish it this month. 

Last night as I was in between projects, I sewed up 4 more of the side blocks for Rhododendron Trail mystery. I'm getting closer to being ready to put this top together. 

I finished sewing this mini Trip Around the World top together. This one is about 13" square, so it's pretty tiny, but I love how it turned out. 

I pieced Dapper as a leader/ender this month and quilted it on Saturday at Dad's house. The fabric is Nova and it's a challenge pattern for our online sewing group with The Sewing Center. 

My co-worker had a baby last week, so I quickly pieced this baby quilt from Amelia fabric I've had in my stash. I put a purple minkee on the back. It turned out to be super cute and I think I can have it done before I meet up with another co-worker to exchange and have her take back. 

Teacher appreciation is this week, so last weekend (when we had a blizzard cancel our plans) I was able to make labels. This is for Mikaela's writing teacher. 

I made her Bookends, another quick pattern from our monthly pattern challenge at The Sewing Center. I used Glamping Gypsies fabric. I am getting close to the end of my fabric from this line. This is quilt number 15 or 16 from that line!

Another teacher is an SDSU graduate, so I'm gifting her the Yellow/Blue Trip Around the World. I used a navy minkee on the back. 

My Glamping Gypsies Hey June was finished in March. This is for Mikaela's main homeroom teacher.  

I added a label to the back of it. It was too big to get a piece of minkee without piecing it, so I used a wide back in red. 

Mathew's teacher loves owls, so hers has pieced minkee on the back with 2 colors of teal (her favorite color) and a piece of owl minkee (that is also on the quilt she received when she was Mikaela's teacher). 

Mathew picked this owl pattern for her quilt. It's a pixiated quilt. I bought a pattern, but ened up changing it a lot because it was really poorly written (as in here's a picture and the shapes, figure out how to make it). It was really long and narrow, so I took out a bit to make it more proportional. 

Religion teachers each got a wall hanging or mug rug. I quilted these on Soft and Stable, so they are a bit puffy. 

My 3rd cousin's wife is gifting me a sewing machine, so I am giving her a quilt. I finishe piecing the top last week and then quilted it this weekend. This is before it was quilted. I didn't know what size it was, but bought 2.25 yards of minkee, only Michelle was talking and cut 2.5". It ended up being 80"x90" and wouldn't fit across it, but because of the mistake, I was able to make it work, just barely! I laid it out to make sure it would fit before I put it on the frame. I used a black flannel so it wouldn't be so heavy. 

A friend referred me to her cousin to quilt a couple quilts, so I have 2 of these to quilt. I ended up quilting the first one. It's really big and it took a lot of effort, but it's done. The 2nd one is loaded, but I ran out of time Saturday to quilt it.  

My friend Jennifer had a benefit and she asked me to quilt and bind these for her. I was able to get both of them done before the benefit. 

It was a busy month, but I feel like it was really productive. 

En Provence Clues 4 & 5

This is my first mystery quilt and I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up. I've been very relaxed and I knew I wouldn't get too uptight if I didn't keep up. That's just my nature. I had most of my Christmas quilting done back in October, with the exception of a couple small projects, so I was ready.
Yesterday we were home all day due to a blizzard in Western South Dakota. I helped my daughter sew baby blankets for her new twin dolls and then I got a chance to work on my Clue 3, 4, & 5. I finished up Clue 3 as a leader ender with Clue 4. Last night around 10:30 I couldn't sew anymore, so I cut out Clue 5.

This morning my kids (5 & 4) were up at 4:30 AM! I slept in until my husband left for work, but still got up and ready for work an hour early. Since I had my pieces cut I was able to quickly get all of Clue 5 sewn at 6 AM this morning and even had time to press them before we left for work/daycare.

Last night I also finished up the Dangerous BOM block 8 from Gudrun's Crew. I just love how many small scraps this one is using up.

I also finished up my Crops block for my FGV BOM. I am only about 3 blocks behind now. Time to get caught up this week.

I finished Pie Cherries and Tumbleweeds this past week as well.

I gifted my MIL a table runner and pillow made from the scraps and excess pieces of Strip Lash, the quilt I made her when she got a new job in March. She loved them!

I made my co-workers Mug Rugs of Maxine. This is just one example and they were extremely loved.


Linking Up with Mystery Quilt Monday at Quiltville!

WIP Wednesday 8.8.12 Week 32

This has been a busy week! I have gotten so much accomplished and I really feel like I made some headway on my goals. I found out Wed. that my friend Emilee was doing a yard sale at a local church on Sat. morning. She invited me to join her, so Paul helped me pick up the totes on Friday night, my aunt Jane watched Mikaela, and I participated in the yard sale on Sat. morning. I got rid of all the totes of stuff I had! I came home with a few UFO's I couldn't part with and the purses I had made, but otherwise all of it is GONE! It felt so good to be rid of it and it was so much fun to spend the day with Emilee.
I quilted this baby quilt for a friend having a baby in November. I put the binding on Friday night, so I could do the hand stitching during the yard sale on Sat., but it is still sitting with unfinished binding. The backing shows a bit in the lower right hand corner. It's super cute and I think she'll love it. She's decorating with a barnyard theme.  It's another UFO out of my stash as I've had it a long time!I think it's about 3-4 years old. I usually buy fabric for kits, with enough to make the top,back, and binding. This was no exception, though it was just a panel.

I worked all weekend on my dad's quilt. I spent part of Sat. finishing up making the blocks into rows and then Sunday I sewed the rows into the top. I pressed A LOT on Sunday afternoon. I had to put it away as dad came over with Ann on Sunday afternoon. But when they were gone, I pulled it out and worked on it again. I got the borders on Sunday night by 10PM. I even figured it out so I cut the horses the length of the quilt and was able to have them all standing up.  Tammy would be so proud, I measured every single border before I put them on, so it's a very square quilt! It's 90x105, so it doesn't fit on my sewing room floor. When I was in the crawl space I pulled out a wool batting to use in it. It was part of my mom's stash and I've saved it, but I think this would be a great quilt to use it on. Isn't a bit ironic using on dad's wedding quilt when it was my mom's? Oh well, at least I'm using up what I have of her stash of stuff. One lady at the yard sale asked if I was selling batting... oh nooo, batting is way too valuable and I don't have that much of it.

Monday I brought it in to show the girls at work and took a picture of it laying out. I think the first picture is a little truer to the color of it, though it's a bit cooler in this picture. I hope he loves it. All I have to say is I get this one back when he's gone, because I LOVE it!!! I have the backing, thread, and a wool bat and hope to quilt it in the next week or so. I wanted to have it done to put in the fair, but since I'm gone this weekend, I don't think that will be happening.

On Monday night I pulled out this table runner I had pulled out of the sewing stuff to get rid of and quilted and put binding on it for my friend Pat. Her last day at work was Tues. and I made it to match her new bedroom when she moves. She loves it and I'm glad that I was able to finish this old UFO up and give it a new home.The top is made of string blocks from Kay Capps Cross black and white book.

I also made this mug rug for my friend Pat on Monday night. It's a block from the Carol Doak BOM from about 2007. I gave one block away, another needed to see the trash, and this one made a great little mug rug. I'm so glad to have another UFO out of my stash!



Finished this week:
Black White Table Runner
Black White Pink Mug Rug
Crown Royal Quilt top #3

Ongoing projects:  (and progress this week on them)
Ditto quilt top sample - Cut out
Crown Royal Quilt 3 - Must be done by 9/21!!! - Top is DONE!
Barn Yard Friends Quilt -quilted and binding on!
Swoon - 2 Blocks done
Dilly Dally Baby Girl Quilt
Pink/Brown Friendship Quilts -Handwork on binding
Buggy Barn Pink/Brown Extra Blocks -Binding
Cre8tive Swap w/ Jen - All the HST's are prepped and I just need to spend some time sewing.
Friendship Block Swap - Hand sew binding
Sign Language Diaper Clutch
Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Blush Quilt 
Pink/Green Jungle Animal Baby Quilt
Confetti Top
Twisted Heart
Merry Go Round
New Projects:
DITTO - Cut Out
No progress:
Mocha Meringue Wonder Blocks- Together, needs 3 borders
Ed's Crown Royal Quilt - Started sashing
This week's stats:
Completed projects -2
New projects -0
Currently in progress -
Finished this year - 43 , 11 Samples

I'm linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday Week 10 3/7/12

This was an awesome week for WIP's! I got more done than I have all year. This weekend I attended my first retreat in 2 years and boy did I get a lot accomplished! The retreat was a blast and I have to do a couple posts about it, but all in all it was amazing and went off with very few hitches.
Friday I finished up the 13 mug rugs. I got about 7 of the bindings hand sewn, but finished up the last 6 as a way to ease into retreat sewing.

I pulled out my blocks from the friendship block swap and put them together in a gradation of purples. I love how it turned out and my borders rock.

Saturday I quickly sewed up the Little Confetti blocks and made a top from them. The top went together in about an hour, so I felt like this was a quick one after I got the blocks sewn and pressed.

Sunday I spent sewing this Mocha Meringue top together in an on point setting. I'm not sure what the original plan was, it's been too long and I forgot, so I decided to challenge myself with setting triangles. It's way busy, but looks better in person. I got it done just as we were ready to pack up, so will add borders later. I'm thinking some brown dots, then a thin gray border and more brown dots. I'm just so glad to be done with this part that it's looking for a good home now. 

Throughout the weekend I worked on making black and white blocks for the 3 quilt block sets we gave away. This is one of the blocks. We had no pattern, just measurements, a stack of b/w fabrics, and each person brought a bright to make the center block unique. We made 60 blocks, so each person we drew got a good set of blocks to make a quilt.


I also worked on the Crown Royal quilt blocks and got them all done, but was too tired to think about cutting sashing and figuring it all out. At least the blocks are done!
I spent quite a bit of time Friday and Saturday working on the Merry Go Round blocks. They are pressed and cut out and need to be sewn together. It took way longer than I expected it would to make them and I got bored.

New Projects this Week:
Black/White Quilt
Finished this week:
Confetti Top
Friendship Block Swap Top
Ongoing projects:  (and progress this week on them)
Jim Shore Quilt - Quilted and binding machine sewn on -  1 1/2 sides done - Embroidered the label
Ed's Crown Royal Quilt - All the blocks done!
Merry Go Round -  All the stratas cut, ready to match up into blocks
Mocha Meringue Wonder Blocks- Together, needs 3 borders

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Blush Quilt 
Pink/Brown Friendship Quilts
Buggy Barn Pink/Brown Extra Blocks
Pink/Green Jungle Animal Baby Quilt
Confetti Top
Friendship Block Swap Top
No progress:
Pokey Little Puppy Book
3 Mug Rugs - Binding
Winding Ways
Twister Baby Quilt
This week's stats:
Completed projects -13
New projects -1
Currently in progress -4
Finished this year - 23 , 6 Samples

I'm linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

September Quilting Accomplishments

September was a very productive month for me! I made several samples for the store and even realized I'm missing a few pictures. I made this name tag holder for Groovy Girls.

This pillow is for Oct. for GG's.

Another Pillow for GG's

A QAYG baby quilt with prairie points sample for the store.

A Diaper Clutch for my cousin Molly.

Patti's block for the Friendship Block Swap

Bound a Mug Rug for Kim at work as I passed on the Atta girl award to her.

Bound a wall hanging my mom had done in a mystery quilt night at our quilt retreat last year.

Quilted Jenn's Hunky Dory quilt

Made Jacque's block for the Friendship Block Swap

Made two Diaper clutchs out of the sandbox fabric.

Made the blocks for the Crown Royal quilt.


I got 66 hours in and I feel like I accomplished a lot. I've already set goals for October.
I plan to make a baby blanket for our friend Jory's little boy Bridger.
I'm working on putting my Blush quilt together and would like to get it finished.
I'm finishing up a quilt for our daycare lady out of the Wanna Be a Cowboy fabric.
I'd also like to work on mom's Jim Shore quilt and my Mocha Meringue quilts. We'll see how well I do, since these are all big quilts.