Grandmother's Flower Garden

A woman from my hometown asked me to help her husband and his sisters finish this quilt. It's a hand-sewn Grandmother's Flower Garden. She wanted 3 baby quilts, a bed runner, a couple pillows, and an unquilted section. This was an overwhelming project, but I figured out how to quilt it and leave one corner unquilted. A day before I planned to quilt it, the woman who wanted her section unquilted, wanted it quilted, so I quilted the entire quilt.  

Then I had to cut it. This made me super nervous. I need up using blue painters tape and then cut through the middle of each block. I originally was going to do 4 pillows, but it worked better to do the upper right corner the other direction, so I changed it to go vertical. This allowed me to do three sections for the baby quilts.  

I quilted the backing fabric and made two pillows. 

I sewed top and bottom sections to the three baby quilts and put batting on them and put them back on the frame and quilted both the top and bottom. It worked out way better than I could have ever imagined. 

I took one section (the tope rows) and made a bed runner. 

The final (unquilted section) ended up as a small table topper or baby quilt, or back of the couch quilt. I'm not really sure what it will be, but it's a quilted quilt.

I used muslin on the back and quilted it on my frame. The thread was a darker gray glide thread and I bought a hand-dyed pink to use for the baby quilts and the binding. This turned out to be a really amazing project and I'm proud of how it turned out. 

Christmas Gifts and Other projects

 I was asked to help with a charity sewing project and we made reading pillows. The four below are the front and backs for the pillows for 9 year old boy and girl.

I made an Easy Does It for a class sample I would like to teach at the Sewing Center. It's a free pattern from byAnnie. 

I made this Large Flipping Out from byAnnie patterns. It went together much better than I anticipated.

This year I struggled with Christmas gifts as the kids have 2 teachers who they have had in the past. So I decided the teachers would get reading pillows for their rooms. Mrs. Leite loves Owl's, so I made one for her. Then I made Mrs. Hammell a camping one. 

Mrs. Barbaruolo and Mrs. Preston received red pillows with flowers and camping. All three of these had red minkee on the back. 

My MIL found her brother after an extended period of time and I made his girlfriend this bag. 

I made the buffalo bag for him. 

I used up the last of my Case IH fabric for a few bags for my brothers, dad, and nephew. 

 I love making these little bags. They are super easy and the recipients love them. 

Quilting and Quilt Retreat

 My sewing friends and I decided to get away for a few days to sew at the Passionate Quilters retreat. We ran into a snag when they wanted everyone to make all day, every day at the retreat, so we went to our friend Tammy's home. She kicked her hubby out and we enjoyed 4 days of sewing. I worked on several quilts. 

This is a picture of all of us together. It's been 8 years since we all got to sew together for a weekend. 

I finished the Swoon 16 top. 

I also finished the Harmony top in Nova. My SIL thinks it looks like barb wire, so I'm going to make a quilt for them in these colors. 

I made the Threadology top and planned to give it to my hubby's aunt, but my MIL loved it, so I made it a little wider and she received it for Christmas. 

I finished Mathew's quilt top Marina and quilted it with a blue minkee backing and wide back flannel. 

I made this RWB Jelly Belly quilt for my co-worker Myron who is a veteran. He does so much for me, that I thought he would like it. 

I finished the inside of Frolic and am working on the border. I'm doing it as a leader ender, so it's taking a while. 

I finished the Hey June top. This one doesn't have a home yet, so I'm not sure what color I'm going to use on it. 

I finished the Phoenix top in Little Snippets. I quilted this one with a red minkee backing and I gave it to my MIL for Christmas. 

I finished my Meadowland quilt top and I got it quilted before Christmas. I just need to get it bound. It's for me. 

My dad's wife wanted a baby quilt, so I quilted up this panel and she was able to gift it the next day. 

I quilted a couple of Quilts 4 Kyds quilts.

I quilted a couple of Quilts 4 Kyds quilts.

It was a very successful retreat and quilting day at my dad's house. 

September Sewing

I've been making Simply Swoon quilts like they are going out of style. This one is for one of our work-study student's little boy who loves cowboys. I'll get some minkee and quilt it up the next time I go to Dad's.

I've been busy making Quilts of Valor blocks for a charity sewing block drive we're doing in our private FB group. I've made 5 so far, but have 35 cut out. I hope to send some and use some to make a quilt for a co-worker. These are so quick to make. They are fast to cut out and fast to sew. I got three from each fat quarter and they took about 30 minutes to sew all 5. 

My hubby needed a case for his Ipad for work, so I quilted up Chiefs fabric and made this Zip It Up case for him. 

I put a padded pocket on the inside to protect it a bit more. I did make it a bit over an inch bigger to compensate for the size of the ipad.

I had leftover Chiefs fabric, so I cut out and made an Easy Does it bag for my son. He loves it for his toys. I'm not sure it's my favorite bag, but I have 2 more cut out, so I'll get them made. 

I quilted up this panel quilt for my husband's cousin who had a baby recently, but she decided not to attend our family event, so I may be gifting it to someone else. 

I quilted my Good Morning a couple weeks ago with red minkee on the back. I'm going to gift it to an instructor, but she's teaching on Zoom for the next couple weeks, so it may be a while before I get it gifted. 

I'm making progress on my Everyday Handmade EPP project. I have 3 sections stitched together so far. 

I've also been working on my Swoon blocks. I now see that I screwed up on 2 corners and need to re-do them. I'm so thankful I just caught them instead of after I quilted it. Now I can take it apart and fix it. I'll also check my other blocks as well. I did this on the Cowboy Simply Swoon too. 

I've been busily making Yellow and blue Blue Ridge Beauty blocks I finished 5 more. Last night I sewed 27 more strip sets and matched them up, so I have more 4 patches to make. 

I made this Zip It UP in Everyday Handmade.

It has mesh on one side and vinyl on the other side. 

There is a  front pocket as well.

I sued up some scraps to make a Piecekeeper. It's a bit smaller than the original, but it used up the fabric. 

I finished making all my Harmony blocks in Nova fabric. I squared them up and set them aside to piece together at the retreat. 

I finished up the Woven Star blocks in Sakura. I'm hoping to make these into a baby quilt. 

 I've been doing quite a bit of sewing and making bags. It's relaxing to me.