UFO Weekend

Made progress on several projects over the long weekend when I wasn't hauling stuff to the new house. 

First project up was finishing off the HST's used in this quilt top and then putting them together.  These were a UFO that I bought from the scrap barrel from my local quilt shop here.  I added a remnant  of a Kona red that I had in my stash and cut the needed triangles and squares.  This is 32" square and still needs a border or two to finish it off.   It will be donated at some point.







I then switched over to working with these rail fence blocks that came from somewhere.   I don't even remember where now.   Fabrics are both batiks.   Blocks are 4" finished, so this is definitely not finished at this point.  I'll need to add multiple borders to this to get it up to a size for donation, but have no idea at this point of what I want to add.   Stash-diving here I come to find something.  =)

And the last project that I worked on this weekend were adding a border of WOW fabric to these blocks.   Made with 30's repro fabrics they are from a long ago swap with online friends.  They will be set with scrappy 30's repro sashing and cornerstones cut form more of the WOW used as block borders. 

Gratitudes:

1. Between switching back to 100% cotton sheets (from microfiber ones) and antihistamines, the hives rash seems to be well on the way to being routed.

2. I'm glad for almost 2 more weeks to go before the big move is upon me.

Footsquare Freestyle, Round 3 Starts

Footsquare Freestyle (F2F), Round 3 is starting in June and I'm looking forward to being in this new round after being in round 2.

Here are two of the fabrics that i'm planning on using in the blocks I make for myself.    Main colors used are various shades of browns - from assorted tans, golden browns, and dark browns.  Background is a cream, and I'm wanting various cream tonal fabrics.

Close up of the print.  Large eggs are a light grey blue which is what I'd like to have used for an accent color in the blocks made for me.

And the blue-grey fabric that I'll be using in my blocks.

A pic of the kitchen which is right beside where the patio door is in the dining room.  Current plan for the blocks are to be used ultimately for the border of curtain panels over the patio door.  I plan on using some sort of a cream for the main part of the curtain panels and will border them with these blocks.














This is the tile backsplash in the kitchen - browns, creams, grey are the main colors in the tile.  These are the colors in the kitchen and the cabinets are a taupe color.


Gratitudes -

1. For allergy meds which are helping to get an allergic hives rash under control.

2. For friends who are willing to help me move one more time.

Scrappy possibilities

I've been considering what I want to work on as my next scrappy quilt.    Some of the things I've considered include these free charts that I've found online -

A Panda bear (need more TOT blacks for this one) -

 Another wolf.  This one would require scaling down someway to keep from having to use 1" finished squares.

 This could be split into two different ones.......

 Love this scene, but I would have to work with it to get it to a doable size.

I like this horse head, but need to figure out if I'd have to resketch it to get it to a doable size.

















The tribal style in this wolf might be fun to work up.

 And for a change of pace these tulips.  Size would have be adjusted though for the length for a doable size.

Still mulling around ideas........might have to dig out my cross-stitch books and charts to see what i've got.

You guys have any ideas of things that might translate well?

Gratitudes:

1. I have the keys to the house!

2. A long holiday weekend is coming up.

Wolf flimsy is finished

I finished off the wolf quilt top this weekend...woohoo.......  It now goes in the to be quilted pile that will be worked on once I'm in the house and have my quilt frame set up.

Stats on the quilt top -

Pattern used -

Free cross-stitch pattern found on the internet of a wolf (altho I've had one person tell me it looks like a malamute dog they used to have)

50 rows in the quilt, with 33 squares in each, for 1650 total squares.  2" finished squares were used to make the quilt.

Over 110 different fabrics used in the quilt in various shades of black, grey and creams.  Fabrics were from scraps, FQ's in my stash, and long-third yardage that I bought to get enough different fabrics for the quilt.

Finished size - 66" wide by 100" long

Quilt will be sold once finished.

Gratitudes:

1. House closes tomorrow!

2. Lots of progress made on packing, and the first load to go to the house is in the back of the car

May 2018 Block of the Month - Sherry the Bear

This month's block of the month is Sherry.  She was not able to go to the quilt retreat with her friends, and is out walking her puppy to have some fun.

Click here to download the Pattern for Sherry the Bear.

Enjoy!



Gratitudes:

1. Only a few more days till the house closes!

2. Packing is progressing.

ScrapHappy May

 Several weeks ago I had made these three appliqued, string blocks.  The are 10" finished blocks and eventually will end up in a donation quilt.  The flowers were cut using a pair of inexpensive, plastic cookie cutters as a template - gotta love the dollar store for things like that.  =)

However, three blocks wasn't enough for a quilt and I still had a large pile of strips (from a few inches long to WOF), and strings.  I sewed those up into larger chunks that were at least 11" long.  And then sliced them into sections that ranged from 2 inches to 4 inches in width.   Then sewed them together into blocks that are roughly 11" to 13" in size.   These will be trimmed down to the 10" finished that the first three are once I get the appliqued flowers added to them.

I'm still deciding whether to just make the same flowers and perhaps vary the size of them or to add some different flower shapes to these blocks for more interest to the final quilt. 

Still to be decided is what to do for sashing once I have these blocks completed.   Tossing around perhaps a scrappy brown or a green sashing.

Gratitudes:

1. Lots of scraps to play with.

2. Closing on the 21st.....woohoo

Hands 2 Help 2018

I forgot to post earlier, but I sent off two quilts for Hands 2 Help about a month ago. 

 First quilt was the quilt I made from rows gotten in last years row-by-row shop hop. 

 Second was this quilt that I made from flannel scraps for the most part.   Two pieces of flannel yardage were used for the borders (the floral and the blue).  this finished out at 50" square.

Backing for the flannel quilt was a piece of 60" wide flannel that had been in my stash for years.

Both quilts have gone to the Little Lambs group in Utah. 


Gratitudes:

1. That little quilts such as these can be used to bless others.

2. for the rain that is predicted for today and tomorrow.

Weekend sewing amidst the packing

This past weekend was one of packing and house-cleaning alternated with sewing.    The kitchen and pantry are well underway in the packing games.   Lots of jars and boxes emptied out of things that were out of date.   I can really tell how much my diet has changed by how little I actually eat things that are kept in a pantry.   This is definitely a good thing!  And the stack of sealed moving boxes in the living room is growing.   Good thing I'm not having company over any time soon....lol.

First sewing project to be worked on this weekend was to get the binding sewn down on this wall-hanging.   Only one more to design and make to have the series complete. 

And next up was the wolf.   I finished 12 more rows completed on it and added to the rest.   That makes 28 rows completed out of 50 rows in the quilt.  

It is now complete through the eyes and the design is starting to be clearer now.   I'm now starting on the forehead of the wolf and will soon be working on the ears.   At this rate I may get this together before the move happens.

At the rate I'm using the squares I've got cut out I have a feeling that I'll have to cut more to finish off this quilt because there are probably close to 300 black pieces in the top 14 rows alone and I doubt I have enough cut to get it finished.   I figure though that any extra ones will give me a head start on what I'll need to cut for the next scrap quilt which will be a panda - lots of black and white in that one!

Gratitudes:

1.  Drove by the house yesterday and the new roof looks good......YEAH!

2.  Weather has been wonderful.

Wolf, Part 2

I've been working on this quilt in the mornings before I leave for work.    I'm now have 16 rows completed for a total of 528 squares sewn together so far.   Only another 1122 squares yet to go before this quilt is finished. 

The black in the top, center of the quilt section shown below is the tip of the nose of the wolf. 

Gratitudes:

1. For my foot not hurting as I did a not-so happy dance when the sewer roach crawled across my bare foot last night.

2. For making progress in my packing.

New scrap quilt

When stressed I sew......and it's easy to get distracted and even with multiple projects in progress start something new.    And that is what happened this weekend, although technically this project was already in process because I had cut the squares for it weeks ago.

6 weeks or more ago I had gone through and cut a bunch of scraps, as well as pieces from fat-quarters and yardage in assorted blacks, greys and creams.   I'm not sure how many different fabrics, although I will be counting each color as I use down on them.

I do know that I need at least 2 times the amount of black squares because I'm almost halfway through what I've cut and I've only got 8 rows done out of the 50 needed for the quilt. 

I'm am working on putting this cross-stitch chart that I found free on the internet into fabric.

Progress of the quilt as it hangs right now on my design wall.  Eight rows have been completed which means I'm 16% done with the quilt.  The finished quilt is 33 squares wide by 50 rows long.   So this will be a large quilt.   I am planning on selling this one after it is finished.







Gratitudes:

1.  Good time of fellowship at small group tonight.

2. Trip to doctor tomorrow will hopefully get meds changed to control the edema better.

Block Lotto Blocks for May

Over the years I've participated some in an online Block Lotto hosted by Sophie who is a quilting friend.   Time has been at a premium this year so until this month I had not been able to make any blocks.   But in cleaning up & trying to get ready for my coming move I found enough scraps to make the block for May.

This months block is a scrappy variation of the rail fence block and makes a 6.5" finished block.  We were to use blues and greens for the squares and a solid white (no WOW's) for the final 'rail'.   All fabrics came from my scraps.

Gratitudes:

1. 7 weeks or so till I have to be out of the town house if all goes well with the sale.

2. I think all is done with getting paperwork in for the house.........

String Blocks

I love making quilts with many different fabrics in them.   No, they aren't all scrap quilts in the truest sense of the idea because I'll cut pieces from fat-quarters or yardage to get the tones & colors that I need.  But at the same time I hate getting rid of my scraps because they add so much fun and life to my quilts.



I save almost all of my scraps as a result.  Scraps that get used in my applique blocks and ones that get trimmed further down into usable sizes.

One of the things that I do is to take similar width scraps and sew them together to form strips and chunks of fabric that I then use for things such as sashing.   One example is this quilt that I made years ago.   I used longer, but narrow green strips to form the center panel of the quilt and hen bordered it out to get the final size that I wanted.  I then appliqued flowers on top of it for added interest.

Recently I came across a 1-gallon sized ziploc bag of small green scrap strips that I had pulled together years ago and then never done anything with.  Instead of just tucking them into one of the packed  scrap bins that I have at present I decided to do something with them.











I added flower appliques to the blocks and then trimmed the blocks to a finished size of 10".   Flower shapes were made by using two different cookie cutters as templates.  Fabrics for the flowers came from the bag of scraps that already have Wonder-Under ironed onto them

For now these will go into the tote that has other string "fabrics".  I'm not sure what I'll eventually do with them.

Gratitudes:

1. Living room is packed and the kitchen is started.

2. I've been able to make headway on getting projects finished up before the move.