Catching Up - November 2021

 

Made these houses for the Color My World  - I need to get back on track and final 8 blocks.

Have ordered some fabrics for them - disappointed that I could not get one of the fabrics I wanted.  Perhaps I'll try for that fabric one more time! Sounds like procrastinating to me.

Love this little quilt - it is 54 by 54".  Not sure when I made the top.

Chunky Crosses - I'll donate it to Pine Tree Bee at the next meeting.

In 2017 I purchased the Flying In Circles Pattern by Lessa Sigele and thought I'd make it as shown in shades of blue.

So I cut out and made lots and lots of flying geese and put together 2 blocks before I set it aside.

When I got it out in late October I just wasn't into it anymore so...... and I have so many big quilts.

I cut out some reds and made a red block.  In the end I made the three blocks and will turn them into a table runner. 

Haven't decided about a border yet.  Have lots of leftover spare parts but at least that's one less big UFO.

Catching Up - September and October 2021

This post was started a few weeks after I had Covid in late August. 

I'm not sure I even like this and I have already cut out the pieces.  

It was late in the evening when I sewed these four blocks.  The good news is that it only takes 10 of each blocks to make a good sized child's quilt and I have 2 of each done.  

It took me awhile to figure out that I needed to use a 30 degree ruler to cut out the the spokes or petals for the "Dresden" block.  The gals who was telling how to make it kept saying Dresden ruler and I had cut out quite a few wrong with what I call a Dresden Ruler before I realized that they wouldn't work.

I finished this top in September.  It is 58 by 70".  I showed it art Bee and it now belongs to a friend who saw it there.  I made another version of this pattern in October.  I saw the pattern on Wisconsin Public Television.  The pattern maker is Lori Dickman.

I'm planning to put a red print border on it before it's quilted.

And I finished the binding on this 2015 project!

Something to Crow About - 42 by 56".

 

Time to put this back in the box and  pass it along to someone else.

  My daughter sent it to me to keep me occupied during my covid quarantine  time!

Actually I had to wait until I was feeling a little better to concentrate on it.

Looking at it now makes me want a frozen Milky Way bar!

 

Old and Older Projects -September

I took this really old UFO to work on at the Undercover Bee last Saturday.  Even I find it hard to believe that I made it back in 2006 and it has been waiting this long to be finished.  And even then I didn't finish it (too much gabbing I guess).

  Truly finished at long last - cross this off my list!

My older sister, Janet, gave me several yards of this fabric.  She saw it in a store in New York and thought I would like it.  She like to sew but was always into so many other activities she rarely got much sewing done.  I think I have used it all by now.

Another UFO.  I have wanted to make a version of this pattern since the first time I saw it on a blog years ago.  In 2019, I saw a tutorial on a blog called "Elsie's Girl".  I made four blocks and for some reason or another haven't touched it since.

This past week I finished the top.  It is about 42 by 54"

Think I will leave it at that and see if I can find a backing I like among the fabrics I already have.

Summer Sewing- August

Looking on Pinterest is always a source of good ideas.

                        A fun way to pass the day - perhaps I'll make a pillow - or not!

                                                                       It's about 16" square.

 

August Blocks


And here it is the last day of August and I made it just under the wire with this month's blocks for the Color My World Quilt.  They are considerably larger this month.  The floor is littered with all the trimmings from the paper piecing.

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Other than that I have been sewing bindings and making some labels for finished quilts and 
reading or listening to audiobooks.  
We have met at the church kitchen twice this month to make bread (Brown Sugar Bread) to deliver to new families in town.  We are so behind because of Covid.  We made 40 loaves for delivery last Friday.  I was so glad I had recovered my sense of smell as the kitchen smelled magical!

A learning Process, Borders and A Mystery

A Learning Process

I haven't been able to find a fabric I loved for the binding for this so I decided to dig out some of the fabrics from the stars and see if I could piece this by color around the quilt.

It took me two days to piece a section then pin it and sew it on.  By the time I was on the third border I had figured it out.   Rather fun but time consuming.  Made the label today.

Borders

 Sewed borders on the Marco Polo II.

The pictures are not good representations of the colors in the border fabric.

Used a 1 inch inner and 4 inch outer border.

Made a backing and then binding from the blue.

Add to the quilting queue.

Love the center of this quilt which was just laying in a box with the border fabric.

I added borders to this quilt (pattern: Scrap Sensation)which I started in 2018.

It now measures 84 x 97"

I found a backing fabric and added some blocks from a block exchange with friends in 2005 to make it large enough.  Thinking of using the border fabric as a binding but will wait until it is quilted.

Quilting Queue!

A Mystery

 

A couple of weeks back, while checking out some of my older project boxes, I opened up this box.

I took them out and counted them  - 19!  I counted them several times - 19.

I remember making them but for the life of me I don't know why I would make 19.

I thought maybe I was planning to set them on point and drew up a simple plan to set them on point.

There is extra background fabric in the box.

While looking for something else today,  I came across two older zippered tote bags.

One was a red work embroidered tote made by a friend in New York.

The other a Vera Wang style print in blue with this among other things in it!

It also had some medical papers and procedural information pertaining to John from 2012.

Mystery solved.   I remember choosing the simplest pattern to think of to appliqué so I could have something portable to take to John's many appointments.

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I have been recovering from a very mild case of covid this week.

Today I spent a couple of hours out on the porch just watching the grass grow - so to speak.

 

Summer Sewing and Activities - July

 

I finished make the 110 exquisite star blocks and sorted them by colors.  I had made 55 each of light and dark backgrounds.  I wasn't sure I wanted to crawl around on the floor to arrange and rearrange them so 

I gathered 110  - 2" squares of similar colors and lated them out on my cutting mat.

Then I transferred the pattern to the rows as I played them on the floor in my sewing room.

I had just enough room to lay out four rows at a time.  Sew them and do four more rows.

Rows 5 through 8.

It's pretty colorful -  Exquisite Star X.  

90 by 99".  I'm pretty sure I've never made any other pattern as much as this one 

and I never tire of it.

My CMW blocks for June and July - this is the beginning of the outer rows of tall buildings.

I must say again that the shot cottons that they recommended ravel terribly. I'm trying to be very careful with them but just removing them from the freezer paper patterns is sketchy!

The aftermath of all that paper piecing and trimming.

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We are back to meeting in the ZUMC Fellowship Hall for our Undercover Bee!

Hurrah! - We had a great turnout last Saturday and even two new members.

 I had my little crosses quilt - with binding on.

 And my last  pandemic patriotic panel quilt also with the binding finished!

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Enjoyed celebrating my 82nd with a train trip to Charlotte with the girls. 

And a visit to the Van Gogh Exhibit among other things.

Summer Sewing and Activities - June

I finished the Campfire Friends Kit and it is 48 x 54".  I bought a backing for it but I'm not sure it is the one.  I'm thinking of putting Logan's name on the back with block letters.  But first I want to look at a few more backing options.

Very excited to pick up my Friendship Circles quilt after being quilted. 

Love the circles Carol used in the quilting.

 Couldn't get the entire top in the frame while on the floor.

Now to find or make a binding. 

Thanks to Carol for her excellent quilting.  

Getting all the Patriotic and other donation quilts  ready to take in the next time I attend Pine Tree Quilt group.  I have received a few more since this was taken.  Will take and updated photo when  I take them.

Started another Marco Polo when I met with C & S.  Have missed sewing with them during the lock down time.  They inspire me and our get togethers are always bright spots in my month.

Quilted this little donation quilt.  

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And in other goings on 

 Enjoyed a short vacation with these three handsome guys at the Greenbrier.

Logan was a happy little diner as long as we plied him with croissant crumbs.

And my youngest grandson, Benjamin, graduated from high school.

His Dad would have been so proud of him. 

 Hard to believe he began life weighing in at 1 pound 14 ounces.  Close to six feet tall now.