Grassy Creek

A friend quilted my Grassy Creek, 2020 Bonnie Hunter mystery.

Now it's bound and on my bed!

I have three Halloween kits to put together.  Here's number one.

Cabin Chills by J. Wecker-Frisch.  Picking Daisies kitted it with a black background. 

Cabin Chills in progress.
16 blocks.

Thanks for checking in.

July Progress

Here's an update on works in progress.

I started quilting two of my older tops.

Halo Medallion.  The Quilt Show BOM 2017.

In My Garden. A Laura Heine kit started several years ago. The top was together I just needed to add borders.  

I have the foundation/ditch work done on both of these.

I quilted a top for a friend. It's her first grandchild and she didn't realize you had to get in line for a long arm quilter. I offered to do the quilting for her.  40 x 40 inches.

Hope all if going well in your world.

Thanks for checking in.

August

My biggest accomplishment for August was getting the binding attached to Sizzle.  I will go back and add some more quilting, mainly on the applique pieces, but it feels done!  This one was on my WIP list.  Progress - check.

One corner of Sizzle.

I needed thank you gifts for my Soroptimist Board and after a lot of thought I decided to make each of them a table runner.  Since I wanted to make sure they would actually use a table runner I asked for input from them.  I have 6 of 7 tops pieced.  The final one will be applique similar to my Thimble Towne Challenge, but I'm ready to start the quilting.  The challenge was to make each of them from my stash - and I was successful so far.  Yea!  Of course, the fabric stash doesn't look any smaller???

I made the black and white version first.
Liked it so much I made another.
Very different looks.
approximately 13 x 36 inches

VERY easy pattern.  17 x 42 inches
I might try this one again and change the color placement.
It could be mountains and sky.

Two asked for a fall theme, but one needed it long and skinny.
13 x 36  and  10.5 x 47 inches

Ocean colors.  Friendship block.
12 x 36 inches

Thanks for checking in.

June finishes

I'm continuing to make progress on my friendship group WIP (Works in Progress) Challenge.  It's all about working on some of our UFO's.

Sizzle:  

The quilting continues.  I'm not completely done with quilting the blocks, but I've moved on to the background until I can finalize the "what to do" for the blocks.  It made me feel like I was making progress.

Midnight Hibiscus:

I now have the nine blocks complete!  I am changing the sashing and borders from the original pattern.  (Bonnie Hunter, "Emerald City")  I started the quilt in a class last year when Bonnie was the guest teacher for Seven Sisters Quilt Show.

This is only 4 of the 9 blocks.  Blocks are 24 x 24 inches.
All 9 blocks are now sewn.

Speaking of Seven Sisters . . .  June 27 & 28, 2020, would have been our 14th show.  It was a sad week.  I kept thinking of what I should have been doing that entire week: Take a class from Sue Spargo, be on site for pipe and drape installation, hang the show, welcome vendors, welcome attendees, mingle and have fun, take down the show.  As chair, I'm on the grounds all day starting Thursday until the show is dismantled Sunday afternoon.

I did start and finish a graduation quilt for my great-niece.  I told her the end of her senior year may not have been what she expected, but she'll never forget it.

63 x 78 inches
Modified the idea from a Sue Garmon pattern.

  

I'm trying to incorporate ruler work into all my quilts right now.
The white and blue fabrics (columns) were quilted with rulers.

You might say I made two graduation quilts.  I finished 35 blocks for the first one, then thought it was too boring. So I came up with this instead.  It ended being larger than I originally wanted because when I was designing I forgot to add the outside border twice!  The border is on top AND bottom, right AND left sides.  Oh well.  The borders are very wide because the print was larger and I wanted to use it all. 

Another heart stopping moment.  I washed it and it bled.  I knew the pink was a hand dye, but I thought it was OK.  After 4 washings, the last of which happened after I rubbed boiling water and dish soap into the bad spots, the quilt is acceptable. It is on it's way to the recipient.

I've been busy the past few weeks learning about Zoom for my guilds.  I'm disappointed that none of the 4 guilds of which I'm a member have had a virtual meeting.  My last guild meeting was March 11.  My Soroptimist club immediately went to Zoom, but the quilt guilds have been slow to respond.  I've been involved with several round tables and meetings AND I'm proud to announce my first guild will go virtual with small meetings this month and our first full guild meeting will be in August.  Yea!!  Happy dance!!

Thanks for checking in.

I hope you are staying safe.

Sizzle Update

A friend came to visit and sew for a few days.  I love it when she comes because I get so much done while we talk and sew.

I concentrated on the borders for Sizzle, The Quilt Show 2019 BOM.  I have (almost) finished the side borders for October and have made good progress on the top and bottom borders for November. I am machine appliqueing.  The pieces are all glued back and ready to sew.  I wanted to see how it looked.

It's on the wall right now and I am enjoying the view!!

Finished size will be approximately 70 x 70 inches.

The border on the right is only pinned.  The circles

are there for placement purposes only.  I have yet to

decide the fabric for the circles.  (Circles will be added

to the border on top as well.)

Thanks for checking in.

October 2019

I have been busy the past two months.  I can hardly believe it's November already.

In September I decided I wanted to make apple butter.  It was a first for me of any type of preserves.  I had to  purchase all the equipment, but when I went to get my apples they were on sale!!  I started with 20 pounds, then had so much fun I went back for 30 additional pounds.  By the time I finished, I was done!!  50 jars of apple butter.  I'm not waiting till Christmas to give them away.  They are going out as I see people.  I used my crock pot to cook the apples.  It saved having to stand at the stove and stir.  I was surprised at how easy it was!

The apples have a long way to go before they're ready  to be
 called Apple Butter.  I still have to make my pies for this year,
but I'm almost appled out!

Quilts:
In a previous post I showed that I was all caught up on the blocks for the BOM Sizzle from The Quilt Show.  I actually started the prep work for the applique borders, but did not get far.  At least I have the fabric I'm going to use.

I've made several other quilts during September and October.  Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of several of them before I gave them away.

I forgot to take a photo of the entire quilt when I finished.

Here's the entire quilt.  Not the best photo, but you see the design.
I stitched the rick rack 3 times:  center and both sides.

I made this for my brother-in-law in honor of his retirement.
These were his ties.  Quilt title:  No More Ties
Of course, it took me 7 years to get it done!!

Back of No More Ties.

The charity for one of my guilds is Quilts of Valor.
I purchased this as a kit and made it up for the team to quilt.

Another guild does a boutique as a fund raiser.  The committee puts
kits together and you can take several and sew them up. This is three 
of the kits I took home.  I'd never made the iron caddy before. 
My second one was much easier!!  The one table runner is
"wine bottles".  I live in a area with lots of wineries.

More quilts in progress.  My church will be doing a work/witness trip to Belize early in 2020.  They are organizing a fund-raiser dinner with Holly Starr as the guest performer.  I'm making a donation quilt for their use.  Actually I'm giving them a choice of two.

This was my original quilt to donate.

This is a kit.  I think I purchased it at Keepsake Quilting
when we were back there for our Boston trip.

Not sure I like the red thread on white, but
once you start you have to finish.

Back of quilt.

 This is the second quilt.  I'll let Pastor select the one she'd like.  Two completely different styles.

This was a kit I purchased when in St. George Utah
during a Philippa Naylor class at Superior Threads.

The quilting on this is a first for me.  I did an overall
wave design.  It was actually harder to do than I expected.

And finally . . . . may I introduce you to Mr. October.
I saw this online and loved it!  The pattern is by Carol Steely of Fun Threads Design.  There is a second Mr. October.  Watch next year!

He was originally going to be a wall hanging but
I decided he needs to be on the bed.  He'll be a pillow.
His bones are glow in the dark fabric.

In addition to all of this I attended a one-day DIME presentation and a 4-day Destination Education for my Babylock Destiny machine.  Both were fun . . . I learned a lot!!  Workshops held at Kiki's Quilt Shack in Fresno, CA.

Whew!

Thanks for checking in.

Sizzle 2019 BOM The Quilt Show

I've been busy the past few weeks . . .  but the good news is I have the center of my Sizzle quilt complete!!  I remade the lower left block because it was just too dark when put together with all the others.

60 x 60 inches at this point.  I've started the applique prep work for the border.
I need to decide if I'm going to use the black (background for the circles) or find a darker purple.

Thanks for checking in.

Mid-August Update

I picked up a pattern at guild this week that was on our "free table".  It was sunflowers and perfect to give as a gift to a friend who recently lost her mother to cancer.  It is finished and ready to go in the mail tomorrow.

11.5 x 31 inches

The quilting doesn't show, but I used gold metallic in the flowers.
Everything was fused and most pieces where secured with blanket stitch.

I am caught up on my blocks for The Quilt Show BOM 2019!  Only one more block, then we start the borders.

I will attach the purple outer sections after I make the final block.
I realized I might want to put them in a different position.
Each block finishes at 20 x 20 inches.

I also made two baby quilts for my sister to sell in the gift shop at her local hospital.  I didn't realize I hadn't taken a final photo until just now.  This is the 'boy' version - blue and green.  There is also a 'girl' version in pink.  I found the kits on sale at Shabby Fabrics and bought two of each.  I'll make the other two to sell at our quilt show next summer.

I've had a productive start for August!!
Thanks for checking in.

Delft Blue Update

I last posted about this quilt in March.  Since then I have finished all 12 blocks and put the top together.  I'm in the process of quilting now.  I need a new name since I changed from Blue to Pink.  I laugh because now when I look at the quilt I think "but it's so pink".  I'll find a use for it.

48 x 60 inches
All of the ditch work around the blocks in complete.
I've only quilted the block in the upper right.

One down, eleven to go.

Thanks for checking in.

Sizzle and Tush Cush

I just returned from a four day quilting retreat in the mountains.  It was a small group, but we had a relaxing time AND got a lot accomplished.

I am all caught up on my Sizzle blocks.  I could not download block 5 until I got home, but I finished it today . . . . Yea!!!

All 5 blocks.  Each is 20 inches square.

Block 5. Finished today.

Block 4.  You were supposed to inset the center circle, but
I wanted to make sure it matched, so I will be using applique!
(Basically I chickened out.)

Block 3.  I have a hard time selecting which fabrics to use.

Block 1.

Block 2

Last month I took a guild workshop with Becky McDaniel.  We made her Crazy Cushion, which another guild member has renamed "Tush Cush".  Becky will be at another of my guilds next week so I wanted to have mine done.  I got it all put together at the retreat.

I'm not sure why the photo rotated back to its original position???

The pattern calls for "big stitch" quilting with pearl cotton.
I chose to do it by machine with contrasting thread.

I almost finished piecing my Halo Medallion, but I'll post that later.  I forgot to take the fabric to make the corner stones.

Thanks for checking in.

Delft Blue BOW

I decided to participate in the Delft Blue Block of the Week  program with Piecing the Past Quilts.  I've followed several of their BOW patterns, but this is the first time I decided to actually make the quilt.  (https://www.piecingthepastquilts.com/delft-blue-bow)  My sister is celebrating her 70th birthday and I thought this would be a great present.  She loves quilts!

I started off OK, got behind, almost got caught up AND then a friend showed me some of the quilts on social media.  Why didn't I think to change colors?  I do it with Bonnie Hunter's mystery every year.  I kept working, but my spirit wasn't in the blue quilt anymore.

Why torture myself just to say I finished?!  I stopped the blue version at 4 blocks and started another.  I thought I would do red (!) but didn't have the right values in my stash, but I do have pink.  So I'm making  pink tulips.  

The blue blocks are machine appliqued with the edges turned back and glued.  I really didn't want to do that again, so this time I'm fusing the pieces.  I scanned all the pattern pieces into my Silhouette Cameo cutter, reformatted the shapes and cut them out.  (Again a learning process)  I have all six blocks cut and ready. (We get block 7 tomorrow morning)  I'm blanket stitching around all the edges.

There are some difficulties.  Some of the pieces are so small, there is not much fabric left after I cut them out.  I should have used a fabric with a tighter weave so there was less fraying.  Another learning experience.  I may redesign some of the smaller pieces just to make it easier.  I'll decide as I get further into the process.  

Thank you to all the people who shared their blocks on Facebook.  You gave me the inspiration and  motivation to change what I was doing.

Oh yes, I took three of the blue blocks and made a table runner for my sister.

Table Runner.  18 x 49 inches

Extra block.  It didn't seem to go with the other three.  
Maybe a pillow? I actually have 5 circles that need
to be sewn down.  They are glued and ready.

If you know the pattern you'll see this block moves the
wrong direction.  It was the first re-do and I forgot to reverse
the pieces.  Direction doesn't matter here though.

I need to stitch down the leaves and sew on 12 circles.
This quilt is going to be very Springy.

Long story, but I'm happy.

Thanks for checking in.

TQS Sizzle 2019 BOM

FACT:  I really don't like paper piecing.   (add some extra really's to this statement)

FACT:  I really like The Quilt Show 2019 Block of the Month - Sizzle by Becky Goldsmith
https://thequiltshow.com/

FACT:  It's paper pieced!  I decided I'd bite the bullet and participate anyway.  It's only 9 blocks (large - 20 inches) that I need to complete then the border is applique.

Here are my first two blocks.

The colors are really off in this photo.  My efforts to correct them were 

unsuccessful. The inner section is light green, the diamonds are really

 Teal. The outside points are green and yellow-gold. The yellow looking

 fabric is pretty close. This fabric appears in all of the blocks except one.

There are three shades of purple around the circles.  All of the background

for the circles is black.

I'm excited that the directions for block 2 were just released today and I already have the block done.

I recently quilted with a friend for several days.  I got a lot done; I just need to take photos to include.

Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery "On Ringo Lake" is ready to bind.  The 2018 Mystery "Good Fortune" needs the borders quilted.

I'm also doing a Block of the Week, Delft Blue, with Piecing the Past Quilts.  It's appliqued, but I'm choosing to do the applique by machine.  The prep work takes just as long as hand applique, but working on the machine means I actually get it done.  I have 1 3/4 of four released blocks complete.

https://www.piecingthepastquilts.com/

Thanks for checking in.

Good Fortune! Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2018 Clue 5

I wanted to make a few of this week's clue.  Today's baking took longer than expected.  It's really the cleaning up that takes so much time!!  But I'm ready for the family event Christmas Eve.

Not much, but I tried!  My neutral is brown.

My goal is to be caught up by New Year's Eve.  I'm going to be the little engine that could!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
Thanks for checking in.