Two Finishes & Vintage Candy Cane Snowman

I have a lot to show you today but first . . .

Some of you are you are confused about the back basting applique technique I talked about last week.  Gay, from Sentimental Stitches, has a step by step tutorial. Gay is left handed so right handed people will be sewing the opposite direction. I noticed she marked on top of her fabric too.

Now onto the show & tell stuff!

Last Sunday afternoon I started quilting this snowman and I couldn't stop! I did all the quilting in an afternoon. Now I admit, there isn't a lot of quilting on this little quilt. I stitched in the ditch along the edge of the border fabric, then just outline quilted the embroidery. 

Since this project was hand quilted, I hand sewed the binding on the back side.

On the backside you can see the straight line quilting in the border fabric.

Several commented on how perfect this stripped fabric was for the border. This was fabric left from the Zippy-Strippy quilt I made DIL 2 in June.

He finishes at 12" square and I'm displaying him in a picture frame. I had to take the picture from the side, there was a glare otherwise. 

I'm not a seasonal decorator. If I think something looks nice, I display it, no matter what the season. 

The pattern is Vintage Candy Cane Snowman by Crabapple Hill Designs. The pattern was purchased from the Pumpkinvine Quilt shop in Middlebury, Ind.

Since the embroidered snowman project is completed, I'm appliqueing again every evening. Block 22, Crossed Laurel Spray, of the Pastor's Attic Quilt has been started. Freezer paper in the back of the leaves is the technique I'm using for this block. Pictures next week.

I also got the king size pillow cases sewed. Yes, I am finished sewing pillowcases! At least I think I am, you never know for sure.

Last spring I finished two flimsies which were to be long arm quilted. They were both quilted by Tammy from the Three Sisters Fabric. Last week they came home. I've finished the binding and they are officially finished!

First is the Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt designed by Judy Martin. The pattern is found in her Log Cabin Quilt book. I purchased a kit from Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewana years ago. I love how she has turned out.

This log cabin quilt finishes at 95" square which I think is a rather awkward size for a quilt, but it is what it is.

The colors that read as blue in the picture are actually purples.

A close-up of the center star. 

The snail blocks in the center and the border are actually pieced the same as the log cabin blocks. It is just the placement of lights and darks that make a different design.

I used a purple whole cloth for the quilt back. The simple meandering stitch shows up nicely. 

I also stitched both sides of the binding on my machine. The straight stitching on the back beside the binding doesn't bother me at all. I think it looks just fine.

The next quilt is Cherry Blossoms by Karen H. Her blog is Faeries and Fibres. (Click the heading Patterns by Karen H. She asks that people link to her blog, not directly to the patterns.) 

This quilt is different colors than I normally use but I think she looks so peaceful and elegant. The 9-patches finished at 3" and the little HST are 1" finished. 

Karen had a plain fabric border on her quilt but I added a pieced border. I thought the border was needed to add a definite stop to the center, it looked too plain. The binding is a flange binding.

Again this binding is machine sewn on both sides.

The backing fabric for both quilts came from Calico Point. They have the most reasonable priced quilts back of anywhere, including the online fabric stores.  I like whole cloth backing, no piecing!

Here is a close up of some of the blocks.

This quilt was made entirely from my stash, even the background fabric!

She is quilted with meandering and measures 90" x 102". Karen's pattern finishes at 69" x 82" but I wanted it to be bed sized.

Both of these quilts will go on the pile to be given to the grandchildren as they become adults. 

Linking to - Log Cabin Loonies, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Super Mom - No Cape, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts, Silly Mama Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Show Off Saturday

A Flimsie & Sweet Surrender

I've finished my 2nd UFQ of the year so far; the Summer Lake Log Cabin from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt book. This quilt top has turned out pretty, but there were times I wondered what it was going to look like. Talk about ugly fabrics!!! I had purchased the book and these fabrics years ago, in a kit from Lolly's in Shipshewana. I would never have selected most of them, but I have got to say, whoever put the kit together definitely knew what they were doing.

I've sewn the binding and made a reservation for quilting with the long arm quilter. Sometime this summer I'll be able to show you a completely finished quilt! 

Judy had me make the blocks differently than how I normally piece log cabin blocks. She has you cut the strips from the length of fabric, not width of fabric. This was to keep your fabric from stretching. Another change is you piece the blocks in courthouse steps design, the light and dark strip are both the same length each round.

I'm not sold on the length of fabric idea. I don't normally have a problem with the fabric stretching and if it does, it isn't hard to to make the block fit in. But I do like the courthouse step piecing method. I will probably piece my next log cabin quilt like that.

I've picked a couple more of the patterns in this book to make someday; but not this year.

The 18 original applique blocks from Sweet Surrender have been completed. I've prepped and have started appliqueing the 13 applique blocks I need to make this a full sized quilt. 

Here are 2 of the side half-triangle blocks. There are 4 of them, but I forgot to take a picture of the others.

Another triangle block. The other block I made from this pattern had red berries. I'm trying not to make the blocks look the same. I also added the red circles.

I'm tired of making the hexie flowers that are needed for most of these blocks and decided to make some changes.

For this block I made a yo-yo flower and I really like it. 

Now I'm working on the next 4 triangles.

Linking up with - Log Cabin Loonies,  Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Book It, A Quilting Reader's Garden, A Quilted Passion, Crazy Mom Quilts

Flimsies & Applique

 April is speeding along. The first of the month was cold and snowy; now we're enjoying sunshine, warmer temperatures and green grass. 

The spring Jane Stickle quilt retreat has come and gone. It's always wonderful to see the many out of state friends and I've met new friends this spring too. There are so many beautiful projects; it's hard not to start new ones. People have joined in on-line BOM's. There are the 365 Day blocks, Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler, the 1857 quilt from Sentimental Stitches, Circa 2016 from the Temecula Quilt Co. and many, many more. I checked these out after I arrived back home, but common sense prevailed and I haven't started any of them, not at the beginning of my busy season. I'll just keep on working at my 'old' projects.

So what did I work on at retreat? The first project was this Houses wall kit designed by Rachel's of Greenfield. The directions were very well written and the quilt sewed together easily. Now I need to get her hand-quilted and hanging on the wall. She finishes at 20" by 20".

People keep having babies so I keep making crib quilts. I pieced 2 dotted pinwheel crib quilts using the Pineapple Press pattern What Goes Around Comes Around. They both measure 40" by 46" and I plan to quilt them on my sewing machine, I just need to find the time. The pinwheels are not pieced, the dotted fabric is folded diagonally and then sewn to the yellow background square. The pinwheel is 3D and left open. Many people asked me if I was going to quilt them closed when I quilted the quilt and I said no, I like them the way they are. Maybe there is some obvious problem that they saw that I'm not seeing. Of course it will get caught on stuff if the child drags it around but I never allowed my children to drag around their quilts. 

I did hand applique too. I appliqued several Sweet Surrender blocks at the retreat and then finished the rest when I was home. 

I have completed all of the 18 applique blocks required for the original quilt which finishes at 69" by 65". 

I don't want a wall quilt so I will applique more blocks and make a full size quilt. I drafted a rough diagram of what my finished quilt will be and I need at least 12 more blocks (I think it is 12, I'm too lazy to go check). I'll get them prepped and work on them this spring. After the additional blocks are appliqued, I'll put the project away until winter.

I didn't accomplish as many sewing projects as I often do, but the weather was so lovely, who could stay inside and sew all the time?

After I came home I made a list of quilting projects to work on this spring/summer. Some of them are fairly simple such as sewing bindings. Some are more involved. Here are a few of what I'll be working on.

Until more Sweet Surrender blocks are prepped, I'm working on block 7 of the Pastor's Attic Quilt.

Working on two applique projects has worked well for me. I normally have only one hand project going at a time.

At last fall's retreat I had pieced the blocks for a Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book. The fabrics are from a kit I bought years ago at Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewana. It is time to get this quilt top sewn together.

The very center (snail) blocks have been sewn together. The rest of the center section is ready to be pieced together. The blocks and border have also been pieced.

Progress is being made on hand quilting the Fussy-cut Star wall hanging. Since I've rolled the last time, I can see the last side border slowly making her way to the top.

As you can see, there will be plenty happening around here. I'll fit it in here and there in between my outside work. I enjoy being outside after a long, dreary, sunless winter.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm linking to: Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, 
Love Laugh Quilt, Patchwork Times, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts, Let's Book It

Quilting Projects for 2016

A quick word about my changing blogs. I appreciate all the kind comments and willingness to help me with the Wordpress problem. I don't want to spend anymore time trying to make changes with Wordpress. I'm here on Blogger now and plan to stay. I also think  a lot of people didn't read the last paragraph in the last Wordpress post and didn't realize I was moving. Someone told me they only read the important stuff. That is their choice. And yes, I did accidentally hit the publish button for this post before I was ready but fortunately there is a return to draft button. That was part of the learning process. Someone e-mailed me and said Blogger wasn't the same as Blogspot. When I am writing the draft of my post, the information in the bar says blogger. When I hit the publish key, it changes to blogspot, so to me, they are the same. 

Now, onto the fun stuff!

The first finish of 2016 is completed!  I've quilted the Snowflake Zippy-Strippy on my sewing machine. I'm not the best machine quilter, hand quilting is my speciality but I'm trying to learn. I've got the straight line quilting down pretty good and I'm pleased with the borders. The curves in the white border leave a lot to be desired but my grandchildren aren't going to care. The flange binding adds some extra zing to the quilt.

I've noticed most people wrote about their 2016 projects at the end of December but I work at my own pace. I'm starting three long-term projects but I plan to make time for other short term projects too.

Some friends and I have started piecing the Salinda Rupp quilt, also known as Nearly Insane, published by Liz Lois. I plan to foundation paper piece this quilt row by row, like I did my Jane quilt. We've drawn up a tentative schedule and will need to piece approximately six blocks a month to have her pieced in 18 months. Some of these blocks have a huge number of pieces so I will try to piece more than 6 a month this winter. When spring/summer arrives in several months, I may need to put Insane on hold until fall.  I'm hoping she doesn't take over my life like Jane did. So far I've pieced 1 block, block #1. I'm piecing her in blues and yellow from my stash and need to get to working with the prep work.

There are two applique projects in progress. The first is a Baltimore Album called The Pastor's Attic Quilt. I actually started appliqueing these blocks last year. I've completed 5 blocks so far and am working on the 6th block now. There are 25 blocks total and all of them are applique. I plan to eventually hand quilt her.

The second applique project is Sweet Surrender designed by Sue Cody. Half of the blocks are applique and the rest of them are pieced.  My quilt will be made using 30's fabrics and I have been busy with prep work. 

I've completed several blocks, they work up very fast. I'm pleased with the 30's fabrics, they make a very nice change from the more somber fabrics in the Pastor's Attic Quilt.

These three projects won't be completed this year, but that is OK, these are slow projects. I'll keep working on them and eventually they will be finished.

I have several UFQ's (unfinished quilts) I hope to finish this year and I'm starting with these two.

1st project - Piece the border for the Cherry Blossom Quilt by Karen H. The fabric is cut and ready to go. Once the borders are finished, the top will be completed and ready for quilting. Cherry Blossoms will be long-arm quilted sometime. The Cherry Blossoms pattern was designed by Karen H. Her blog is Faeries and Fibres. Click on Patterns by Karen H on the headings line.

2nd project - The blocks for the Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt are pieced and just need to be sewn together. I need to lay these out on the floor and didn't want to do that earlier with all the extra people here. 

Summer Lake Log Cabin was designed by Judy Martin and is from her Log Cabin Quilt Book.

This isn't an old UFQ since I pieced these blocks in November.

Once I get these two unfinished quilt tops sewn, I'll get to the 'older' UFQ's.

And finally, some little, cute and fun projects to make.

I think my granddaughters will like the Lazy Girl purses but I need to figure out how to do the zippers. You take them apart and only use one side of the zipper!

The Sit & Stitch Pincushion is actually a sewing kit with a pincushion attached. I've already decided how to make changes so it will be more convenient for me. 

There are several crib and youth bed sized quilts I would like to make and of course, the Fussy Cut Star quilt is still in the quilting frame, very slowly being hand quilted.

I think this looks like a reasonable and manageable list but it isn't a legal contract and I may change my mind. We'll see what happens in 2016.

I'm linking up to Quilt Story, Linky Tuesday, Cooking Up Quilts, Esther's Wednesday Wow, Freshly Pieced, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Quilt Addict, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts, Quilting is More Fun than Housework and Slow Stitching Sunday.