Memories and Why I Quilt

 One of my best friends texted me a picture this week of her daughter's office space.  And hanging in her office was the quilt I had made for her daughter 27 years ago when she was born.   

This is why I quilt and seeing this warms my heart.

The quilt was made with hot air balloon blocks from a long ago swap.  And was "so much" fun putting them all together when they were all different sizes. lol

Gratitudes:

1. Seeing one of my quilts from yrs ago still being used.

2. For the relationships with friends and family that have been and are a constant blessing to me.

Something Smells Fishy Blog Hop - My Day

 

Our projects this month were to have something to do with fish.   And that gave me the push I needed to get a UFO out and then finish it up.

This quilt was one that the top was made for a commissioned order, Unfortunately the order was canceled (mom-to-be changed nursery theme) after I had made the top.   So it sat in one of the UFO totes that I have until this swap   The pattern is one of my own designs and I had a lot of fun with it.  The customer had wanted something to do with the sea and this is what I'd come up with.

Whales and anchor were scraps, background was a remnant from my stash.

Backing is a cute boating print.  Border and binding fabric was a  remnant that featured red & blue goldfish.  The background of the front is a funky kind of bluc, but the blue in the binding just matched it.   

Will likely put this up for sale.

Gratitudes:
1.  For my eye sight in the left eye slowly returning to normal after surgery

2, for AC out here in the 115+ degree temps in Phoenix this summer.

Stitching the Whales

Working on the satin-stitching on the whale quilt.  The anchor is done, and I've now progressed to the whales. 

The whales are easy.....just two different shades of blue thread now that I've picked up the ones needed.

Their eyes will have a ring of white around the outside and then a teeny white button to give depth to them.



The water drops though at the top are making me think twice about what to do with them.  I've stitched around the first set of them with a narrow satin-stitch, but I'm not totally happy with the look.  I'm thinking about going back and stitching them in solid so all you see is the satin-stitching and no fabric on them. 

Once I get to the quilting, I plan to quilt wavy lines in between the rosettes on the fabric.

Gratitudes:

1. For the enjoyment that I get in making stuff for others
2. Winter is coming!

Late Baby Quilt finished

I finished the surprise baby quilt that I was running late in getting finished, but at least the munchkin is only 3 months old....lol.

Quilt was inspored by a picture that I saw on the internet, but I forgot to note where I saw it.  It is an easy one to customize to the amount of focus fabric that you have.   In this case I had just enough to cut 9" finished blocks after cutting the borders so that the print ran in the same direction.  The red and blue were cut slightly larger than 4.5" by 8.5", and the brown sashing was cut at 1.5" wide.  Final alternate blocks were cut to 9.5" unfinished.  Final size was approx. 40" by 50" in size.

Gratitudes:

1. Three day weekend is coming up.

2. Good time spent with friends last night over good food.

Wild Animals and Duckies - Oh My!

I work part-time at Joann's and the store gets new fabric in all the time.   Doesn't usually happen when the fabric is on sale for a great price.   It did this week though, and I decided to splurge when a couple of remnants of flannel crossed my path as I was working yesterday afternoon.    We got a really cute flannel print featuring the ubiquiotus rubber duckies that I thought would make a really cute baby quilt.    Only by the time that I saw it there was only a 29" remnant left of it.   With the flannel being on sale for 60% off last week I went ahead and bought coordinating red and blue flannels.    

My original thought was to make a donation quilt using it, but then one of my co-workers last nite asked me to make a quilt for her from it for pay.   Sounded like a winner to me.   Made the blocks last night and then put them together this morning.    Will have it quilted by the end of the month (gotta move the stuff in front of the quilting frame first!).   Backing and binding will come from my stash.

Meanwhile, there's enough of the duckies left to use for the center of 6 blocks.   And I have enough of the blue and red fabrics left to put together a donation quilt from the leftovers.  =)     Current plan is to donate it to an organization in Phoenix that ministers to single moms for their 'store' that moms can choose things from as needed.   I've a couple of other tops for them, and just needed to get them finished up so that I can send them off to my friend who is the director of the ministry.

I also managed to finally finish a quilt that I'd quilted several months ago.   Haven't decided what to do with it though - might sell it since I don't have a pressing need for a gift right now.

Gratitudes - 

1. for cough suppressant meds......esp. at midnight when I'm coughing so much I can't sleep.

2. for the fun of being able to sew and quilt at present.

Got to Quilt!

Most of what I do here at home these days seems to be tied up with getting homework done or working on commissioned stuff that I have piled up here......but everyonce in a while I just gotta do something quilty so that I don't go nuts...lol. This weekend was one of those weekends when I needed to do something quilty, of course I had to work on my homework first and get the urgent stuff out of the way first. The next 5 weeks will be crazy busy trying to finish off projects for school, but the end of this semester is in sight.

After that I pulled a piece of fabric that had been in a pile of smaller pieces of fabric that I'd inherited after an online friend passed away a yr+ ago. It had been one that I had not been sure of what to do with. I finally decided to use it as one of the two fabrics in a wonky 12 patch block design. I'll post the pattern for the quilt in a bit so that any of you who read this blog can make it if you want to. Eventually when finished the quilt will go to Sunshine Quilts in Bev's memory.

Meanwhile I've pulled a bunch of orphan blocks that work together to put together as a quilt for American Heros. Just need to get some of them trimmed up and then I can start laying out the blocks to see how they'll fit together. =)

Gratitudes:
1. This semester is starting to wind down and the end is about 5 weeks away now.
2. PT is helping my knee feel some better! Slow but sure seems to be the key to healing of the torn cartiledge.

Projects in Progress

Have enjoyed the long weekend. =) Started working on getting my fabric and stash room under control. Something that was drastically needed after having the stash in storage for over a yr, buying more fabric, and having it scattered across this apt in piles and totes everywhere. For those that don't know, I normally have it sorted into boxes and totes by color and/or type of fabric. This has not been the case over the last 18 months as i keep finding boxes and totes of "Assorted Fabs" - ugh. So I've got everything pulled out and piles of colors and types sorted out ready to go back into the proper boxes.

Have been sorting out things to sell as I go through them as well. First pile to be sorted out was a large bunch of FQ's that I'm tired of moving around between various totes. I've finally admitted that I'll probably never use these so I'm going to list them for sale and hopefully get rid of them. Need to go through my quilt books as well and see what I can get rid of there.

The only problem with doing things like this is that I'm easily distracted and get caught up in new projects.....lol. One of the "mini-stashes" that I found were large pieces leftover from various quilt backs. I took three of them and made the baby quilt shown to the right. Had the perfect amount of the teddy bear fabric to cut 16 rectangles that were 7.5" wide by 9.5" tall, with nothing useable leftover. Fabrics used for framing were also leftovers. There is enough left of the tan to use for background in something else. Remaining red will be used for the binding. Blocks ended up at 9.5" wide by 11.5" unfinished. I still need to pull fabric for a border, but am not sure about what color I want to use for that. Need to take the quilt with me when I go upstairs to work on stash organization and see what looks good with it. When finished it will be a gift for the daughter of a very good friend who is pregnant with child #1. Will wait to send it until she has a baby shower later in the year.

Also in the works is a quilt for American Heros made from orphan blocks. Some were mine, many in it came from my friends Nancy, Susan, Jane, and Jodi. The pic to the left shows the two fabrics that I was considering, but I don't like either one, so it's back to the 'drawing board' for fabric. Need to head upstairs and see what I've got in the boxes of blue fabrics to see what will work.

Next up to finish off are a stack of quilted postcards that I am going to use as thankyou's for various things. And a pair of commissioned fleece hoods that I've been paid for and need to get made....gotta find the pattern tho first! lol. After that I need to put together the gifts I'm making my dad and mom for their BD's....stitching is all done....woohoo. Have due dates for both of those so need to get busy on them. After that it's onto BD gifts for later this spring. =)

Gratitudes:
1. Warmer weather yesterday.
2. School holidays! lol

Progress has been made!

Lazy day today since I don't have to go into the store until 6 pm tonite. =) As such, I've finally been able to make visible progress on the commissioned t-shirt quilt today. Have gotten the center of the quilt back pieced. At this point the quilt back measures 73" long by 72" wide. Have to wait to add the border fabric until I know what size the front will piece to. Next up is trimming the t-shirt fronts down to managable sizes so I can the quilt front together.

Have also managed to finish a donation quilt this week as well. The maple leaf blocks were sent to me by Jane, and the strip set blocks in the setting blocks were from the orphan blocks I inherited from Terry D.

Next up on the horizon, other than finishing off the commissioned quilt that is, is to work on the two commissioned projects for my land lady, finish off the purse that I am making myself, and continue with the projects (baby quilts, etc) that I have ready to make and then sell. Also have a tablerunner that I need to get made before the 20th of March.

Gratitudes:
1. One week down in my wait for the outcome of last weeks interview in IN.
2. The wonderful spring weather we've had here in N. Tx this week.

Finished Quilts....

In the past couple of weeks I've finished off another UFO (the 4th for this year!) and have also finished two baby quilts that I will be listing for sale this week. Also have a couple of tote sets that I've finished up and will also be listing for sale this week as well. Thinking of listing all items on both Ebay and Etsy, along with links to them on my website and blog. Really need to be able to start making some extra money by selling some of the things that I'm making.

The tablerunner is the 'twin' of the tabletopper that I finished in February. I'm thinking about selling this as well as the baby quilts.

Both of the baby quilts started with 3 FQ's of a cute Boyd's Bear flannel print. I cut 6" squares of the flannel and used them for the centers of the blocks. Added coordinating borders around the flannel and ended up with cute quilts. Still have enough of the flannel to make one more baby quilt, and the plan for that is in my head. =)

I have a lot of fun making tote bags. And working at Joann Fabrics part-time has given me access to the remnants as they are made. Have gotten a lot of fun fabrics to use for totes. The two pictured below are made from a couple of prequilted fabrics that I picked up as remnants. I had enough fabric to not only make the tote bags but also small little zippered bags to match.

Gratitudes:

1. Love being able to get remnants at great prices which makes sewing totes and quilts more affordable for me.

2. For the ability to sew and create. =)