Quilting - Quilting -Quilting

I finished quilting the hidden stars quilt and it is trimmed and ready to have the binding sewn on.  Today I

finished up the stars and geese quilt.  I'll trim it tomorrow after Food Pantry.

It was only about 4:30 PM  when I finished the quilt above, so I loaded the Sixteen Patch and it is ready to go.  I will use a baptist fan pattern on it also but I will do a more open informal version which I think will go pretty fast.  This is also a fairly small quilt (60 x 72").  I left the heat turned up tonight so it will be nice and cozy out there tomorrow.

Lori and I made a Baptism banner  - it's been a while since we've had a baptism!  Lori is going to take over this ministry for me.  I think I've been making them for almost 10 years.  We have about 4 babies coming along so she will have more practice soon.

Now On My Bed

Fixation

Back side of Fixation

Really finished and the binding sewn down so I took it to the Bee on Saturday for show and tell..  I put it on my bed today  - hope I can sleep tonight!

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Monday Morning Bible Study

MMBS - 2

Recently I wrote about our MMBS group  - we  have two ladies who  have celebrated their 90th  who attend regularly .
Sadly we lost our former study leader on Thursday.  We all loved Alta Ruth,  who was a shining example of  a true  Christian.  She had a warm engaging smile and never said a word against anyone.  

x

Stitchers Garden Again

Up with the birdies this morning so I had enough time to finish the last of my stitcher's garden blocks.

There are 6 little 5" blocks.  They are finished with # 5 Perle cotton used in the bobbin.  Now when Sally is ready with her blocks , we will have to have a session to figure out how to put all the blocks together.  We did get a set of instructions with the pattern. 

And Saturday I got these two ready to add to"My Quilting Queue".

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 Just time for another cup of coffee before Monday Morning Bible Study.   We have been reading Deuteronomy and will probably finish it next week.  Then we will switch to I Timothy.  MMBS has been a  mainstay in our church for over twenty five years.  Mary Charlotte R. organized it and it met at her house until about 3 years ago when she needed assisted living care. There have been just two leaders over the years - Alta Ruth S. and Randi McG.  We meet at 10 AM every Monday for 1 hour from September through May. We start the year with an old testament book and follow up with something from the new testament as time permits.  I look forward to it and admire the dedication Randi in preparing for it each week.  She recently moved and is traveling over an hour each way to continue with the group.  God Bless Randi and safe travels for her. And good wishes  and love to Mary Charlotte and Alta Ruth. 

Baby Dresden IV & V

Red Version 

I have had the little doggie fabric for so long and I just wanted to use it.  This is the only version I made without the double nine patches.

Green version

More little doggie fabric.

I have a couple of cute children's prints to use for the backs.  Both tops measure 50 x 50" so

 I'll have to do some piecing to extend the width to 54".  Put that on my to do list.

Working on UFO'S

Yesterday, after lots of calls from friends and relatives to see how I was faring in the snow, I went to the sewing room.  The box with the leftover Dresden blocks and pieces caught my attention.  I made two plate blocks with the leftover blades, which gave me enough blocks to make two more baby quilts.  Then I went through my 30's fabrics, cut out centers, and borders etc. I turned the centers while watch the Olympics last night.   Pretty icy out this morning so it looks like I will have plenty of time to sew them today.

Finished the binding on this little donation quilt also.  It is ready to throw in the washer. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Waiting for the Winter Storm

This morning I went down to the quilting machine and finished a small donation quilt that I had started last week.  Forgot to take a picture of it - just a child's print panel that I've had for awhile. 

Then I loaded this one on the machine.  It is called Hidden Stars and I finished the top and layered it back in Nov. 2012.  I quilted another pre-layered quilt awhile back and it turned out well.  This is a little larger but I didn't want to take it all apart.  It is spray basted for the most part so there are not too many pins to deal with.  Just as I finished the first row, the snowflakes started.

Just after noon - lots and lots of little snowflakes and the weatherman called it exactly right.  It snowed until about 5PM, started sleeting and then turned to freezing rain.  

Little Cardinals Barb gave me

I checked the back deck about 9:30 and the camellias and crepe myrtles out back are coated with ice and dripping big icicles.  Quite pretty shining in the light from the back yard light.  Hope it doesn't turn into a major ice storm with power outages though.

Bunkhouse Braid Finished

Dark red binding goes great with the shirt plaids and they are so soft.

When I cut strips from the shirt front I don't remove the pockets .If they fall in the right places I add them in the quilt.  There are several in the quilt.

I also leave the labels on the back yoke and include them if I can.

I didn't have a lot of the cowboy print. I really wanted to use it so I added the camping print and also some of the same red as the binding.

The quilt is 62 x 72" and will probably be given as a Jubilee quilt.

Fixation Spiderweb

The quilting is finished and the binding sewn on.  Funny all along I thought I would use black for the binding but it didn't seem to work when it came time to sew it.  Seems like it needed red or blue - I didn't have enough of the blue that I liked with it so I went with the red.

I enjoyed making this quilt so much that I almost hate to see if finished.  It's pretty large (86 x 86") so I may even use it on my own bed!  Lots of TV time this next 2 weeks with the Olympics so I will have no excuse for not finishing the binding.

This morning I made Chicken Chili Soup, a recipe I adapted from a Chili recipe found in the Electric Cooperative Magazine that serves the lake area.  Enough for today and 5 containers to freeze.  I had leftover cooked chicken and chicken broth from yesterday so it was real easy to make. Recipe follows:

Chicken Chili Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

3 carrots, sliced thin

3 ribs celery, sliced thin

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 large can chopped green chilis, about 7 ounces

1 - 2 cups cooked chicken chopped

Chicken broth - use broth chicken was cooked in or canned

Saute the vegetables in a little olive oil. Add other ingredients, except chicken, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add chicken, simmer a few minutes more.  Add more spices according to your taste, if you like.

You can add half and half just before you serve it, if you like a creamy soup.

Arrow Star Blocks

I made this quilt out of 16" blocks a few years ago.

These are 12" blocks so I will need 42 to make a bed size quilt.  I have 17 done and I cut out the other 25.  This is one of my take along project for Bees and Sew Days.  I call this block Arrow Star.  

After finally finishing all my backings - I carried all the tops and backs down to the little house, turned the heat up and loaded the Fixation Quilt on the longarm yesterday.  It will feel good to get it finished. I don't know if this will be a Jubilee quilt.  It may have to live for me for awhile.

Sewing day at my house Thursday.  Looking forward to the inspiration I always get from sewing with others.