Flight of the Hummingbirds

This quilt block I completed is called Hummingbird, but I also have seen it called Periwinkle.  I decided to tackle this block because the name Hummingbird peaked my interest.

Every spring I look forward for these tiny feathered friends to return to my house for the summer.  In May I hang three hummingbird feeders around my house and quickly the birds appear to start feeding.  It's so entertaining to watch these little birds buzz around my yard.  As they dart past my head I can hear them grunting.  I actually have to refill my feeders at least once a week they are so busy.

Even more appealing about this quilt was learning a new technique - paper piecing. This paper pieced quilt was easy to learn and it had lots of blocks to practice.  In this 19 by 17 block quilt, measuring 95" by 85" finished, there are 323 five inch blocks. Each five inch block is constructed with four paper pieced blocks making a total of 1,292 blocks.  After the five inch squares were constructed I removed the paper piecing paper before attaching the blocks together.

As mentioned in previous posts I am a Amy Butler fabric fan and have accumulated a large stash of her fabrics.  One of my goals is to use up my stash fabrics so I picked this her fabric to construct my Hummingbird quit.  Loving the bright colors of Amy Butler fabrics this choice tied in well with the bright colors of hummingbirds. This quilt will always put a smile on my face, because it will remind me of my little feathered friends that entertain me every summer.

This quilt was pieced in 2018 and finally I quilted and removed it from my UFO pile.  I have only two more pieced quilt tops that needs to be quilted.  My 2020 New Year's Resolution was to catch up with my UFO pile and I feel that I have stuck with my plan.  Two more months left this year to finish up those last two quilts.

Autumn leaves are falling

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons.  When the leaves start changing their colors our world is set aglow.    So when I discovered Bonnie Hunter's Appalachian Autumn quilt wallhanging pattern - I was in love.  

Bonnie Hunter is great at making scrappy quilts.  Since I've been on a mission to use my stash and scrap fabrics and to finish my UFOs, Bonnie's patterns are definitely right up my alley.  Although making this wallhanging doesn't help my UFOs mission, it did put a small dent in my stash.   Digging through my stash fabrics I discovered I had plenty of fabric on hand to make this beauty.   I had everything on hand, no cash outta my pocket.  Win - win!

Since autumn is in full swing I pushed to make this wallhanging ASAP - I completed this in less than a week.  Today was a chilly, but beautiful sunny day so as I finished sewing on the binding  I was anxious to hang Appalachian Autumn on my front porch.

Here I go again - this is one of my favorites!  LOL

I'll leave it on my porch until after Thanksgiving, but now I think I'd better work on a Christmas wallhanging for the next holiday.  Well, the weather perfect for spending my time sewing.  Let's see what I come up with.  Maybe it will be another quilt using my stash fabric again.

Just right for a special gift

I'm still creating with the leftover fabric purchased from Art Gallery Fabrics "Pacha" after making a baby crib quilt.  Again, Art Gallery Fabrics Lookbook inspired me to make a fabric Toy Box that I will use as a gift filled with goodies when the new baby arrives.  The fabric group called Pine Lullaby shared this free pattern for a 10" cubed toy box with handles.  The toy box only took a couple hours to construct and I was able to use all materials that I already had on hand.  

The baby's due date is September 25 - as of today we are still waiting.  I purchased a couple gifts for the toy box, but once I find out if it is a boy or girl I'll have fun quickly finishing filling it.

A second version of this tote I made with side handles instead of straps.

I find that these totes are great as gifts and fun to fill with special goodies.

I love you a llama

This past weeks sewing project was a baby quilt for my first grandchild who is due in the next couple weeks.  My daughter-in-law saw the Art Gallery Fabrics Lookbook for their fabric line called Pacha.  This fabric and ideas from the Lookbook tied in perfectly with the nursery decorating.

I used the Art Gallery Fabrics quilt pattern called Inquita for the crib quilt.  I did omit squares on all sides of the quilt pattern so it would fit the crib mattress with approximately a six inch over hang on both sides and bottom making the finished size 48 by 56 inches.  Not knowing if our grandchild will be a boy or girl I stuck with gender neutral colors of greens, gold and black and white.  The center fabric is a panel with Llamas called I Love You A Llama.  The pattern called for large half square triangles which made the quilt assembly quick.  I would definitely recommend this pattern for a beginner sewer.

Next I purchased the fabric panel Born to be Wild that had six printed blocks.  As seen in the Pacha Lookbook I framed three of the prints to hang on the nursery wall.  If it's girl I will frame one more block from this panel that has pink in the design.

Here is the quilt and pictures displayed in the nursery.  Now we're just waiting for our new arrival.

I love Art Gallery Fabrics.  The quality of the fabric is excellent and has a soft silky feel.  And to top it off their Lookbooks are so inspirational - I could spend hours just leafing through them.  If you're not familiar with Art Gallery Fabrics visit their website.  Most of their patterns are free.  The only problem I have is finding a quilt shop that carries this brand. Of course there are online fabric stores, but usually you have to order half yard or whole yard pieces - they charge a shipping fee if you don't order their minimum for free shipping - and if you run short because you changed the pattern it's another shipping fee.  ai always end up spending more money because I have to order more fabric than what I need.  I guess this is great for my stash, but I'm honestly trying to use up my stash.  I really prefer to purchase my fabrics from a brick and mortar quilt shop.

Meet spot

With September being National Sewing Month I thought it would be a great time to get in my sewing groove.  This week while rummaging through my fabric stash I came across a preprinted panel of fabric for a dinosaur stuffed animal.  I bought this back in the 90s when my daughter thought she might like to try sewing.  Although dinosaurs was not her thing, her younger brother loved them so she was going to make it for him - never happened.  She preferred me to sew for her.  So the panel got stashed away with UFOs.

My little buddy Sebastian (he's four) comes over weekly and he loves dinosaurs so this would be perfect for him.  I showed him the dinosaur panel and he was pretty excited.   He didn't quite understand what we would be doing with this cut out, but he was anxious to get started.  I cut and sewed it together and left the stuffing for him to help, and boy did he help.  His little hands were perfect for pushing the stuffing in small spaces.  Being a boy and a little rambunctious he jumped on the large plastic bag of stuffing.  With a big pop stuffing wet flying everywhere.  Now this was really beginning to be lots of fun for him.  It took us over an hour to pick up that stuffing to put it in the dinosaur.

 As the dinosaur started to take shape he was so excited.  I stitched up the opening left for stuffing and handed him his new "lovey" as he calls it.

This Brontosaurus is now named Spot.  He can't wait to take it home to meet his other toys.  I think he'll always remember the fun we had making Spot and they will be pals for some time.  

Back to the sewing machine.  I have a baby quilt to finish.

Tiger Lily

Back in 2018, while decorating my studio lounge area with midcentury modern furnishings, Kona came out with their fabric of the year called "Tiger Lily."  I instantly feel in love with this strikingly orange colored fabric and the free pattern from Kaufman called Terrace was my inspired me.  It's like a perfect accompaniment for my mid-century decorating project.  Not only did the color and fabric call my name, but the name "Tiger Lily" is my cat's name.  How could the stars align any better?

Here is my Tiger Lily, and of course she loves snoozing on my quilts.

I excitedly pieced the quilt top together within a couple weeks and hung it temporarily on the wall behind my couch so I could decide just how I wanted to finish it.  Well almost two years has passed and I decided it was time to get this UFO checked off my to do list.  I debated if I should just stretch it on wood stretchers like a painting and do no quilting or if I quilted it - would I quilt the orange or white areas or both.  A lot of thinking went back and forth for those two years.  My final decision was to do minimal quilting in the orange areas and if afterwards I felt the white areas needed some quilting I could always add it.

So now that I decided on my plan the next obstacle was finding the orange thread.  I bought three different orange threads that weren't the right shade.  The color distracted from the quilt design.  I even looked online for threads that matched Kona fabric, but Tiger Lily was not a thread color option.  After hunting for a couple months I found an orange thread at Hobby Lobby that matched perfectly.  Since there isn't as much white it looks great with no quilting on the white fabric.  I quilted it on my long arm quilter using a straight ruler using straight lines longwise.  Needless to say I got better at using my quilting rulers.

Notice on the couch is a pillow in the same fabrics.  With the scraps from cutting out the Terrace quilt I assembled a pillow.  On the pillow I quilted only the white fabric.

Well the quilt is finished and now hangs on my wall.  It is striking with the white contrasting wall.  I soooo love it.  Another mission accomplished.  

With fall a few weeks away and temperatures cooling off it will be time to refocus on my quilting projects.  I noticed September is National Sewing Month so what better month to put the pedal to the ground but now.

Here comes the bride

 My eldest son eloped at the end of June.  Because of the all the precautions with Covid-19 the original dates set for his wedding and reception just became impossible - too many regulations.  This was disappointing for me, and of course family and friends, because we wanted to be part of this great celebration.

Since his bride had already purchased her wedding gown they decided to dress in their wedding attire to have photos taken.   In a couple days they will be having their pictures taken downtown Detroit at Belle Isle.  My husband and I are invited to be part of the pictures.  This is very exciting for us.

As I mentioned in previous posts I'm not much of a sewer during the wonderful summer months, because I'm too busy with projects outdoors.  But today I had to make an exception.  I made a bride and groom face mask for the newly married couple.  After they are done with pictures they will go out for an elegant dinner and of course will need masks. So today I'm sharing my mask creations.

We love our growing family.   Congratulations Dave and Modie.

Custom face masks

With Covid -19 still a threat wearing face masks is necessary to stay safe.
My kids come up with clever ideas for their personal masks.  Previously I made a Crown Royal mask for my youngest son - which he lost after a couple days.  I made him a new Crown Royal mask for his birthday.
My daughter who lives in LA commented that she would love a mask with red lips on it.  So I made her a new mask with red lips.  I used my Cricut to cut out red lips with red infusible ink paper and ironed it on the fabric.

My daughters new "red lips" mask

The things we do for our kids.  Love them.

Crown Royal

The title Crown Royal makes me think of a James Bond Movie, but this is about my recent quilt.  

My youngest son asked if I would make him a Crown Royal whiskey bag quilt.  I told him if he provided the bags I would assemble a quilt.  Over the past year he has asked friends to save their Crown Royal bags and in March he gave me approximately 100 bags.

The most common Crown Royal bag is the purple, so I assumed my son would be giving me 100 purple bags.  To my surprise there are a few different colored bags that coordinate with each flavor of whiskey that they come with.  I wasn't confident that this modge-podge of colored bags would make a nice looking quilt, so I found a purple batik fabric that included most of the colors of the bags to help connect it together.
The most time consuming work was cutting up the bags into squares to assemble into a block.  The bags were stretchy and raveled easily, so I added an iron-on stabilizer to the back of each square.  Adding cotton fabric squares in-between the bag squares also seemed to add more stability.
Assembling the quilt I used more purple bag blocks than the other colors - I think the combination of colors works.
My son's birthday was June 21st.  Although I normally don't do much sewing between May and August I felt that this was important to try and finish as his birthday present.  Between cold nights and mornings, the past few days were rainy and doing some sewing outside on my deck - I was able to complete this Crown Royal quilt in time for his birthday.  It felt great to have this mission accomplished.  Best of all he loves his Crown Royal quilt.

The finished Crown Royal quilt measures 88 inches by 88 inches.
This photo shows the different colored whiskey bags used.

Above shows a close-up and some of the assorted colored bags.

One of my favorite bags was the one that included the state of
Michigan.  There were only a couple of this style bag in my stash
to add to the quilt.

When this quilt was finished I was very pleased with the end result. My first doubts to have such an assortment of colored bags mixed together proved to work great.   Glad to have this one completed - now I have to go on to the next quilt (that is when it's a rainy day).

Endless Chain

The endless chain quilt has been on my to do list for over ten years.  When the String a Long quilting group I belong to came up with a challenge to make a "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend" string quilt, I noticed if I changed a piece in the block to be the same fabric as the background it gave me the endless chain block -  I was excited.  I couldn't wait to get started.  I choose to use my civil war fabric stash which gives it a scrappy, old fashioned look.  Because of the larger size I decided to make this quilt it seemed like an endless chain to get it pieced together.
All quilted, but not having enough fabric to bind this quilt I had to travel north to one of my favorite quilt shops for curb-side service.  With fabric in hand I made quick work of binding and taking a picture.
I'm extremely happy with the end results.  It's everything I was hoping it would be.  Again, every quilt I finish ends up being my favorite until the next quilt I finish.
I sent a picture of the finished quilt to my daughter in LA and she replied "who did you make that quilt for"?  I replied no one special - just a quilt I wanted to make.  Is that hint that she loves it too?  Well, she didn't ask if she could have it so I've folded it up and added it to my pile of finished quilts.
Speaking of my pile of finished quilts - I think I need to start finding places to display or store them.  The pile is ready to fall over unto the floor.

My Endless Chain quilt finished size is 92" by 92"

The weather has been cold with snow for the past couple days which has kept in in the house working on my UFOs.  In fact, my UFOs and to-do list is dwindling down.   Looking at my pile of unquilted quilts, there are only four left.  However, I still have six quilts that I need to finish piecing together, but I have really put a huge dent in my projects.  It's also great that I'm using up fabric that I already have purchased.  I have decided that as I finish piecing a quilt it will be quilted immediately, so I shouldn't have any more quilts piling up waiting to be quilted.

Blockhead

Back in February of 2018 our quilting group came across Moda's Block Heads One and decided that it would be a great challenge.  This challenge started in 2017 and was intended to be a block a week, but since we joined in after a few months of it starting a couple of the ladies went crazy and made several at once.  Unfortunately, as the weeks progressed most of our group lost interest.  Working with blocks that finished as 6 inches that were constructed with squares averaging one inch and challenging instructions it took the fun out of this challenge.  It would have helped if there were some finished square sizes included.
I thought that the ladies were doing a great job.  Their color choices and blocks were looking great.  Too bad they ended up as UFOs.  Although I didn't stick to the block per week, I was determined to finish this quilt and plowed away at these blocks off and on over the next year and an half.   Since I used quite a few different fabrics and colors there were times that I started to second guess my fabric choices.  Many times I was ready to give my blocks to a UFO pile too, but I pushed along finishing the construction in December of 2019.
I made my quilt larger with a total of 100 blocks than the recommended 48 block size so many of the blocks I duplicated in different fabrics.  And to add madness to an already time consuming quilt I connected my blocks with 1 1/2" by 3" flying geese constructing 624.  I love the flying geese block and after making this many I've become the flying geese queen.  The ladies in my group think I was crazy, but I was in no hurry - I was on a mission.
Looking at the pile of quilts I have completed at home, and who knows how many other quilts I made as gifts for others, I don't need to rush through making so many quilts.  I've decided to choose what I really want to do and enjoy the journey.  I know I'm mastering or learning a new technique.
I quilted my Block Heads quilt on April 30, but had to wait until I could get more fabric to bind it.  With these stay at home orders it is very challenging to get supplies. So today I was able to buy my fabric curb-side from a local quilt shop and bound it.  Here it is.  I love the finished result.  (I think I say this about every quilt once I finish it).

Finished size 97" by 97"

Now that my quilt is done some of my quilting friends are second guessing abandoning their quilt and are considering tackling it again - just not as big as mine and not with 624 flying geese in the borders.

Welcome Joel Thomas

March 1st welcomed a new little guy into our world - Joel Thomas.
Joel has an older brother, Evan, who is now two.  When Evan was born I made a quilt for him.  My older son helped me pick out the fabric at our local quilt shop.  When it was finished my son and my daughter claimed it was their favorite baby quilt I've made.  With that in mind, I found leftover fabric from Evan's quilt that I decided to make Joel's quilt from, but I wanted it to look different but sort of the same.
I love the pen and ink drawing look of this fabric line from Moda called "Thicket".  I used the same black line drawn animals, but added a little more color for Joel.  Evan and Joel live in Minnesota so the woodsy animal look seems appropriate.

Evan's baby quilt from Deember 2017

Baby Joel Thomas quilt finished April 2020

With the quilt finished I'm getting it ready to mail.  In the package I've included a book and snacks for Evan and I made a couple face masks for mom and dad.  A little something for everyone and trying to help keep everyone safe.

Another nine face masks made today for family and friends

Time flies when you're having fun and quilting has been fun and rewarding during the stay at home orders from our governor.  As of today, May 15th is the scheduled last day for staying home in Michigan.  I'm excited to get businesses open again and to be able to buy whatever I need.  Shopping has been a challenge lately and the shipping services has been horrible.  But on the positive side,  I've used up a lot of my stash fabrics lately.
I made eight more face masks plus a special one for my youngest son - a Crown Royal face mask.  He has been saving Crown Royal bags for me to make him a quilt. I'm currently in the process of  piecing the quilt together.   But in the meantime, he will be surprised to receive this mask.

My son will be surprised when I give him this special
made  mask

With still a couple more days left in April and the next two days are going to be rainy, I think I'll tackle quilting another quilt.  I'll be back again in May.

Dutchman's Puzzle

Today was a rainy day making it a great day to work on my UFOs
A couple years ago Missouri Star Quilt had a video for making the Dutchman's Puzzle block/quilt.  Continuing with my mission to use up my stash fabrics - I found large amounts of a few blue fabrics that worked out perfect for this quilt.  The size of the quilt I made was as large as the fabrics would make blocks, so it ended up a good size of 85" by 85".  This was a very simple pattern and being larger squares this quilt was pieced together very quickly, but today I finally quilted it.

Dutchman's Puzzle

My piles of UFOs is dwindling down to a handful.  During April I've pieced a couple new quilt tops and I want to make sure that they get quilted and I don't end up adding them to my UFO pile.  With April winding down and May a couple days away I'm hoping to tackle one of those quilts tomorrow.
Like so many quilters/sewers I've been side tracked sewing face masks for family and friends.  I've made and mailed about 100.  Recently I've had a request for six more masks.  I think I'll make a couple extra for backup.  Put that on my to-do list.

April showers bring...

Today April showers brought another finished UFO.  While Mother Nature was busy showering my gardens I was busy quilting.
Hopping from Grayling, east to Oscoda and as far as south Saginaw to eight different quilt shops, I participated in the 2010 Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop with a few of my quilting friends.  Shop Hops are so fun.  The participating quilting shops are all decked out with lots of displays, patterns, demonstrations, gifts, raffles and of course fabric.  It's a quilters paradise.  And of course there is always a stop for lunch.  It's truly a girls day out.
Every time I've participated in a shop hop I've found myself getting caught up in the moment.  I end up buying that new demonstrated tool that I still haven't used, bought a pattern for a beautiful quilt that was on display and still haven't made it, or bought a few yards of fabric with no idea what I need it for.  But it was great fun.  I think the quilt shops must have one of their busiest business days of the year with all of us crazy shoppers - the stores are packed.
During the Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop we received a quilt block pattern from each shop to complete a quilt.  The theme in 2010 was "Reach for the Stars" so of course the blocks were stars. I finished putting this quilt together shortly after the shop hop, but it finally got quilted today.

Reach for the Stars quilt is 60" by 60"

As I was quilting this quilt I sadly realized that only five of the eight shops are still in business.  I haven't heard of any Middle of the Mitten Shop Hops in a few years.  I wonder if they still do a shop hop.  I'll have to look into this - I'm ready to do some hopping.

As March marched by

I am extremely happy with meeting and exceeding my goals and accomplishments for March.  In fact, for my New Year's resolution - to tackle my UFOs - my success has been very rewarding. A great weight has been lifted off my shoulders by staying focused and cruising through my goals.

Here is my stack of 2020 completed quilt.  Instead of a stack of
UFOs I have a stack of finished quilts.  Now they just
need to find a place to rest.

With the coronavirus stay home orders I have not had an opportunity to shop for my March reward, but I did find this beautiful violet plant in bloom and decided this would serve as a well deserved reward.

March reward

The month of April has started with warm temps and the snow has disappeared quickly, so my inside sewing time has started slowing down.  I feel that I'm in a great place with my UFOs to easily focus my time to outside and gardens.  Therefore, I decided that I will not commit to any more resolution goals until possibly September.  If the weather keeps me inside, I will be sewing and will post any of my finished quilts that I complete.  Let the sun shine!

Coronavirus face masks

Information and updates of the coronavirus is constantly in our day to day lives.  A week ago I came across directions to make DIY face masks.  I'm sure like a lot of other sewers I started digging through my supplies to start sewing.
As I was sewing my first couple of masks I thought to myself - who really needs them and will they get used or put aside.  Hospitals seem to have certain needs and they are all different.  There are hundreds of different patterns and opinions, which is awesome, but the more I looked through the internet for clearer answers the more confusing it got.  With the governors orders stay home & stay safe it really is hard to shop for supplies.  Unless you know exactly what you'll need it is hard to order online.
Today I decided I would sew masks for my family and friends.  I combined four different patterns to make what I think is the best option to be washed and used over and over and provide the best protection from a DIY mask.  

I made two different mask sizes - small child and adult

They have a cotton fabric front, a flannel liner (so it's smooth on the face) with an inside opening to add a filter, elastic loops that go through the sides so it gathers the fabric close to the face and wraps around the back of the head (the elastic is tied in a knot so it can be adjustable or replaced if worn out).  Putting the elastic in loops to go around ears didn't let the mask fit snug enough around the face.  If I used string ties theyget tangled while in the washer and dryer.  So this seemed to be the best idea.  I've read that vacuum micro filters bags and hepa 19 furnace filters can be cut up to insert into masks so an inside opening in the lining seemed necessary.  Will they be as good as medical masks? surely not, but they offers some protection which is better than nothing.
I just finished 25 masks.  Tomorrow I will be sending some to my daughter in LA and some to my son and his finance in Lansing,  Michigan.  I have a handful  more for my son and his wife who live here in Grayling.  That leaves a few for my husband and I and for friends.  When I hear that our local hospital and/or medical personnel is in need of masks I will certainly step up to the plate and sew as many as I can.
In the meantime - Stay safe and Stay home.

Spring welcomes the bears

As I was posting about my "Union Blues" quilt -  outside my window I noticed that our tree was bouncing around.  I stood up and looked out and there were our bears.  Mom and her two cubs evidently have just came out of hibernation - it's officially spring.   They didn't get the memo - stay home, stay safe.
Last spring there were three cubs, but unfortunately one cub got hit by a car this past summer.  I'm excited to see them.  They look healthy.  Mom has done a good job.  I hope they keep their distance during the day while I garden.

Spring welcomes the bears

We haven't dealt with bears before this past year.  So right now it is sort of exciting.  I would certainly feel better if they lived further in the woods.  Unfortunately with all the clear-cutting of trees in our area their habitat has been destroyed.  They are finding their food near humans.  Let's hope we can coexist with no problems.
Bears - I've always loved the bear paw quilt block.  This has been a quilt that I've always wanted to make.  I think that a bear paw quilt will be coming up soon in honor of my little bears.

Union Blues

This was the first Civil War quilt I made.  I had my oldest son in mind when I purchased this quilt kit called "Union Blues",  in October 2017.   When my son was younger he became interested in the Civil War.  We went to a Civil War reenactment in Jackson, Michigan, and he was hooked.  He would have loved to join a regiment to participate in reenactments, but traveling to these events, unfortunately, just wouldn't work.
Since getting involved in quilting I learned that many blocks from Civil War quilts had hidden meanings.  This is very interesting to me.  I don't believe this quilt "Union Blues" has any blocks with particular meaning, but it did catch my eye and I decided to dive in.  Starting this quilt towards the end of 2017, I finished it about mid-2018, but today I finally quilted it.  At the time I started this quilt my son had a queen-size bed, but now he has a king-size.   Not sure if this will be the treasure for my son that I thought it would be when I started it, but I love it.
There were so many half square triangles and flying geese in the construction of this quilt that it definitely was a great skill builder.  I know some quilters hate the repetition of sewing so many small blocks - I don't mind.  I feel once completed that I've mastered these squares.  I think this quilt is beautiful.

Civil War quilt  pattern "Union Blues"

I'm cruising along this month and more than reached my monthly goals.  With few more days still left in March let's see what else I can tackle in my UFOs.

Beast of Burden

In November 2019 our quilting group conducted a weekend quilting retreat.  During this weekend we agreed to participate in a block exchange. I was a little reluctant to take on a new project, but one of my wish list quilts was to make a cheddar colored civil war quilt. I decided this was the perfect time to tackle that quilt.
The rules were easy -  we would use light and dark civil war reproduction fabrics to construct 60, 6 1/2", nine-patch blocks, to exchange with each of the 12 participants. This would give each of us 60 assorted colored blocks.  We would exchange these blocks in February during our winter weekend retreat.  This gave all of us a few months to make our nine-patch blocks and decide how to incorporate these blocks into a quilt.
Coming up on the February retreat the ladies were getting excited to put these blocks to use.  We came to the retreat with a plan and ready to tackle this challenge.  We were on a mission and the results were beautiful. The assortment of fabrics used are stunning.
I don't recall anyone completing their quilt that weekend, but they certainly were pretty close to putting on the finishing touches.
Now here comes the "beast of burden".  Of course I couldn't settle on using only 60 nine-patch blocks, I wanted more.  In fact, I ended up making a total of 130 nine-patch blocks for my quilt.  Also, I wanted the blocks to be connected with the cheddar fabric in a zigzag pattern on point.  A lot of thought went into the construction since I had no pattern - just a vision.
Yesterday  I used 14 fully wound bobbins and spent about seven hours on my longarm quilting this beast. It finished as a 97" by 96"quilt. The result is exactly what I hoped for.  I love this quilt.  It also feels good to check off a project from my wish list.

Block exchange quilt I call Beast of Burden

Close up of quilting

At the time of this posting the other ladies have not shared their finished quilts.  As they do I will share pictures.

Scrap Mania

Scrap Mania was one of the first classes I took from our local quilt shop in the early 2000s.  I started with fabric choices in green and red, but it looked too much like Christmas so I added the yellow and blue.  Definitely scrappy.
This was a great skill building challenge.  We were given a quilt block layout and three pages of different size blocks to decide which we wanted to insert in our quilts.  Being new to quilting (first time to use a rotary cutter) it was a little intimidating to be left with so many decisions. but I was up for the challenge.  Here are the directions we were given:

Quilt layout guide

Six and eight inch block options

Page two of block options

Final page of block options

It was a blast to start making random blocks, but when I started to put it all together I got a little nervous that I got too crazy with fabric selection.  When it was all assembled I actually liked it.  Very scrappy.  In fact, I even pieced large scraps of batting together using strips of iron-on Pelon featherweight interfacing to enforce the batting seams.
Unfortunately there wasn't a follow up class to see all the participants final quilts.  I would have loved to see what direction they went in.  Here's my final quilt.

My final scrap mania quilt is 64" by 60"

I decided to try a variation of feathers for my quilting design called paisley feathers.  After sewing the design a couple times it was actually very easy.  I will use this same design on my next quilt.

On the quilt back you can see a close up of the paisley feather quilting design

It's said that practice makes perfect and I must say I've mastered my longarm quilter during these past few months since I'm quilting a quilt at least every other week if not sooner.  Back to the UFOs.

The 24 yard quilt

National Quilting Day, weekend or month. It's confusing to know which one it is or is it all of them? Depending on the website you visit some claim monthly, while others claim weekend or day.  Regardless, hope everyone is enjoying on one of their favorite projects.  I've been busy in my studio tackling my UFOs.
I have a crazy story about the Bargello quilt  below that I finally quilted today.   I call it the 24 yard quilt.  Yes you read this right - 24 yards.
Back in 2013 our local quilt shop was offering a class for the bargello quilt.  One of my great quilting friends asked me if I'd join her in this class.  Boy this quilt looked pretty hard, but I love detail and told her I would love to.
We paid for our class and received a discount to purchase our fabric for this class the day.  So we both scoured through the quilt shop to find our fabrics.  The class directions required 2 yards each of 12 fabrics.  My friend went right to the batiks and found 12 green fabrics that coordinated great.  As I looked around the shop everything was pretty picked over.  There were no other batiks to choose from unless I copied my friend, which I wouldn't do.  And greens weren't my colors.  Three employees working that evening could only coordinate together a geometric fabric in the colors of black, gray and lime green.  Definitely not my colors either, but I felt sort of pressured and gave in.
As I brought the fabrics to the cutting table it dawned on me that the directions said I would need 2 yards EACH of 12 fabrics.  That's 24 yards!  How big is this quilt going to end up?  I always go big or go home, but this was crazy!  I questioned that the amount had to be wrong.  This must include the backing, right?  Nope, that would be additional fabric.  I always make queen-size quilts and backing alone usually is around 8 to 9 yards.  As I argued that 24 yards had to be wrong my friend was getting her fabric cut.  After about 30 to 45 minutes of questioning the staff how this amount of  fabric could be possible I gave in and let them cut the fabric.
My friend and I went out into the parking lot and she said to me that she paid over $300 with the discount.  She wasn't paying much attention to what I was saying until she got to the cash register, than her light bulb went on.  My fabric, with my discount, was just shy of $300 and I didn't even like the fabric. To top it off we still had backing to purchase.
We took the class and wow how stunning and simple the bargello is.  My friend's bargello is stunning in the batiks - exactly what she wanted.  My bargello is cool, but the color isn't to my liking.  This is nobodies fault but my own for compromising the purchase.
Well, with our bargello quilts finished - mine a queen-size and my friend's a king-size we both have over a yard left of each of the 12 fabrics. That's 12 yards.   My friend had made pillow shams and a wall hanging to match her quilt, but still has leftover fabric.  I have no idea when I will use all this leftover fabric.  Maybe a baby quilt.  I'm still not sure.
Well here she is - the 24 year quilt:

This quilt looks difficult, but is actually pretty simple.  My
favorite is the swooping rows.

I quilted swooping arches following the fabric colors

We now laugh about the 24 yard quilt, but still are trying to find ways to use up the leftovers.
Happy quilting.

March Madness

It seems like March is Madness.  So much is celebrated during this month - National Craft Month, National Reading Month, National Quilting Month also, National Quilting Day on March 21, and International Woman's Day.  And let's not forget we just sprung forward to Daylight Savings Time.  Next week everyone will be wearing green on St. Patrick's Day.  And as the snow banks start melting, crocus will be popping up from the ground and here comes the first day of Spring.  I'm sure there are many more special events during March that I'm not aware of.  Unfortunately the real term of March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournaments, have been canceled due to the growing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic.  As I wonder how this virus will play out  I'm in my own March Madness mode.
Working on my March quilt challenges - I've quilted my January String A Long quilt - String A Ling.  The fabrics should look familiar if you've followed my past blog post of my bargello quilt entitled, "Come strip with us".  I had plenty of fabric leftover from this bargello quilt to use in my first String A Long challenge (and still have more).  The bright colors surely reminds me to be bright as a spring day.

January challenge - String A Ling

close up

Back to my madness.  I have more projects to finish.

Spring Fling

Temperatures are starting to warm up and forecasted for tomorrow to be high 40s and Sunday 50s.  I'm thinking Spring.  
Going through my UFOs I came across Spring Fling - Star Fling quilt top that I assembled in 2002.  The fabric is nice and bright with primary colors. What an appropriate time to finish this quilt with spring on it's way.
This is the only time I purchased a quilt as a kit so it matches the pattern - no trying to find the best fabrics they already did the work.  It was actually a pretty simple quilt, great for a beginner and I learned a few techniques that were new to me.  Stars with no matching points took the stress out of the assembly.  This was the first time I used piano keys for a border and loved it.  I have been able to use this technique over and over - it's a great way to use up the scraps.

Looking forward to spring with this Spring Fling - Star Fling quilt

The quilt size is small, measuring approximately 51" by 60".  This could make a great baby quilt.
As I'm marching through March I have more UFOs to complete.

Bag Babes

A new sewing group at the OOOOOlala quilt shop started in January called Bag Babes.  I joined the first workshop to make a purse.  Making a purse and sewing with faux leather was a new experience for me.   

This small shoulder strap purse is about 10 " wide by 7" high and only took about three hours.  What a great learning experience.  I learned how to assemble a purse with hardware, made a decorative tassel and even added a custom button over the magnetic closure.  Pretty easy peasy.

Faux leather shoulder strap purse

Purse inside has two compartments

The workshop for February was another small purse with appliqué flowers which I wasn't interested in making.  Possibly March's workshop will be a bag I want to make.  Since I don't need dozens of purses, I decided to pick and choose which bag workshop to participate in.
I always thought making purses/bags was more difficult and time consuming than what it was.  I already have some great ideas for some new bags to make.

Rock-a-bye-baby

Time flies by fast - it seems like yesterday I was sewing a baby quilt for Nyla.  Her quilt has been one of my favorites.  Little Nyla is now 2 1/2 years old.
A couple weeks ago Nyla came over with her mom and dad.  Tucked under her arm was one of her baby dolls.  Her mother stated that Nyla loves her baby dolls and takes them everywhere with her - she sleeps with them, eats with them, and plays with them all day long.  I decided that I needed to make Nyla's baby dolls a couple quilts.
Going through my stash fabric I found some leftover fabric from Nyla's baby quilt, plus some small heart fabric.  These fabrics were perfect for her baby dolls.  Over the past week I sewed Nyla a couple baby doll quilts.

Nyla's baby doll quilts

The approximate size of each quilt is 26" by 32".   Even though they are small it did take a few hours to assemble since I constructed them with small blocks.
Hopefully I'll get to see Nyla this coming week to give her her baby doll quilts.  I can picture her now - rock-a-bye-baby.

February bonus - Leap Day!

What really is Leap Day?   Researching the internet I read that this day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the Earth does not orbit the sun in precisely 365 days.  A leap year is a calendar year that contains an additional day added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year.

So what did I do this Leap Day?  Of course Leap Day is filled with sales from every vendor imaginable, but I celebrated Leap Day by having one extra day to finish up my February challenges. Actually, I didn't need an extra day, I was an over achiever and accomplished my February goals and then some.  

I was on a roll and headed to my studio to get to work. During the last few days we have had a total of twelve inches of new snow in northern Michigan, but today we have sunny blue skies.   I was ready to Leap into a day of sewing, I turned on my radio and the song, "Here Comes the Sun" was playing.  This was great inspiration to start my Leap Day.  

Reviewing my finished February goals:
Bind snowball quilt - check
February string a-long quilt top pieced - check
Moda Blockhead top pieced - check
Quilt guild block exchange top pieced - check
Quilts that I quilted: Heart quilt, Bargello strip quilt, and Queen of Tarts quilt.  (My goal was two quilts quilted and I quilted three - check
Postings caught up - check (more to come)
Extras - Bag Babes purse, Claude the Crab pin cushion, and two baby doll quilts.
Wow! I'm doing a victory lap.  For my February goal treat I'm heading up to the store to buy myself some flowers to brighten up these snowy days.

My February reward

Now comes March.  Can I keep up this pace?  March has 31 days giving me a couple extra days to get more UFOs done. Since  I don't want any of my newly pieced quilt tops to become UFOs,  I will quilt the January and February string a-long quilts, the Moda Blockheads quilt, and the block exchange quilt.  That's four quilts.  Now add to that list two other UFO quilts, that will make a total of six quilts finished.  There will be a March string a-long quilt challenge to piece, if I decide I want to accept it, and another bag babes purse.
So as the March winds blow I plan on blowing through these challenges.  

Crabby baby

Throughout February I was able to work on some fun small projects.  One project was a Teenie Beanie Baby pin cushion.
Cleaning around the house I came across some TY Beanie Babies.  I'm sure you remember the craze in the 90s.  My kids had fun collecting various babies.  It was great that they were so affordable so they acquired quite a few.  When McDonalds came out with their Happy Meal TY Teenie Beanie Babies they were a huge hit with my kids.  Perfect excuse for parents to buy Happy Meals for lunch or dinner.
One TY Beanie Baby I came across was a baby crab called Claude the Crab.  My husband gave me this crab because he said he could tell when I was hungry,  I get crabby.  Twenty-some years later, I still have this original TY teenie crab and it makes me smile with the memory of my husband giving it to me.
This teenie crab was too precious to throw away or donate to a thrift, so I decided it would make a darling pincushion.   With the crab being small and flat I needed to build up the body so pins could be stuck into it.  I found a half shell and made an oblong fabric cushion filled with crushed walnut shells and dried lavender flowers that fit into the shell.  I glued the cushion into the shell and than glued the crab to the top.

My new Teenie Beanie Baby pincushion

Back and bottom view of shell

I certainly didn't need a new pincushion - this makes number six.  All of my pincushions are very different and have great memories behind each one.   Having six pincushions reminds me of when I was a child and my mother's salt and pepper collection.  She had a few dozen salt and pepper shaker sets.  Some of them pretty crazy.  I'm sure they were inexpensive and were fun for her to collect.   The only difference between our collections is that I use all six of my pincushions - we never used any of Mom's salt and pepper shakers, only dusted them.   I don't think any salt or pepper was ever put inside them.
For hoots and giggles I decided to Google Claude the Crab Beanie Baby.  To my surprise the TY Beanie Baby crab is still available for purchase - it just looks a little different.  But there are people who are selling their original TY Beanie Baby - Claude the Crab, anywhere from $8,000 to over $30,000.  In fact, with any spelling error on the tag it could fetch $100,000.  Claude the Crab is listed as one of the most valuable TY Beanie Baby.  Not sure if there are any buyers, but with price tags like this I'm glad I didn't throw mine away or donate it.  As far as the McDonalds TY Teenie Beanie Baby it states that it was distributed in 1993/1999 and they are worthless, because they gave out over 100,000 in just two weeks.  I don't remember when my husband gave me this crab and I con't say for sure if it was from McDonalds.  Where the Teenie Beanie Babies for sale in stores?
Regardless of what is stated on the internet my Claude the Crab is certainly is priceless to me.