Snow Days

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Ours was very quiet, and very nice. My niece and her family (including the dogs) spent Christmas Eve eve and day at my mom's. They left for home just before the roads were closed Christmas Eve. 

It has snowed on and off for the last four days and is supposed to snow for the next five days. Yikes! It isn't as bad as it sounds. It has been a heavy wet snow that doesn't really stick. Regardless, I don't really want to drive down my steep driveway or my steep road, so I've been staying nice and warm inside cleaning and sewing.

I only made one thing for Christmas this year.

My niece's boyfriend wanted money for motorcycle parts, but I wanted to have something for him to open besides an envelope, so I made him a motorcycle themed pillowcase and wrapped it and the envelope in a huge box. 

Remember Christina who's nautical quilt I finished in October? She made me an afghan.

 It is a pretty green in real life. She "finger crochets" using a heavy thick chenille like yarn. So soft. Best part is for some reason Bella doesn't like it so I can cuddle up with it and not worry about her getting in my lap and kneading biscuits with her dagger claws.

Christmas night I loaded the 2nd of the 3 quarter log cabin quilts on to the frame. I finished adding the binding today.

I'm on a mission to get all of these quilted before January 1.

None of them are very big and I don't plan on doing any fancy quilting in any of them so hopefully it is doable.

I'll start this one tonight. Mostly in-the-ditch, with maybe X's in each block.

I hope you all have a very happy New Year. See you next year.

Squirrel

 

 I told two different people that I started a squirrel project, they looked at me as though I was nuts and said it looked more like a snowflake than a squirrel.

Are quilters the only ones who know what a squirrel project is?

The snowflake pattern is a freebee by Lake Girl Quilts. I've always wanted to make the larger snowflake pattern by Modern Handcraft but the likelihood of that happening is pretty low so this little quilt was my compromise.  It's supposed to finish at 13 x 13 inches, but mine is 13 x 13.5.  Don't ask.

My Baby Lock did pretty good with the free motion quilting however it did not like some of the bulky seams.  

I have one last minute Christmas present to make and then I'll be ready for wrapping. 

According to the weather app on my phone I could have my first white Christmas. Getting up and down my driveway and hill to get to my mom's could be an adventure.

I hope you all have a warm, safe and very merry Christmas.

Quilting Weather

 It has rained all day today. We even had a little bit of snow this morning. This past week has been dreary, overcast and rainy....perfect quilting weather, but I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of sun.

The donation quilt I volunteered to quilt is done. From a distance it doesn't look bad but close up...

There were lots of puckers and bunching even before my quilting, unfortunately the quilting contributed more. I found a few other issues as I was quilting it. I'll let the project coordinator know about the issues. It is a cute quilt.

I also got the next clue to my Project Linus quilt finished, "Don't fence me in".

I'm behind on this mystery quilt and the final design has been revealed. Here are all the clues I have finished roughly laid out. Oliver in the doghouse will go in the big empty spot and paper pieced birds with go above. I think I'm going to change up the final layout a bit, I'll decide after I get all the clues made. 

I have been having really good luck finding bargains at a thrift store in Medford. This time it was 6 yards of a nice neutral fabric for $15.

I think it may be old as there is no selvage markings on it. It will make a great back on a future quilt.

I got all my Christmas shopping done last week! So happy. My mom asked for one of her gifts early (she was with me when I bought it and it is a holiday decoration). All the wrapping paper and bows are at her house. My whole family is famous for it's 11th hour wrapping after they get to my mom's house on either Christmas Eve and Day.

So she would have something to unwrap I improvised quilter style. Only problem is I think she liked the fabric and is going to keep it too. 

Green Swirl

 

The green half square triangle swirl is finished! I finished the top in August 2015, I made the HST blocks years before deciding on a pattern.

The top.  Quilted with a large meander.

The pieced back. I used up some really old foliage fat quarters I had in my stash. I used the trimmings from the back to make the quilt binding. I wish I could say I finished my oldest quilt but I can't. I have a flannel flimsy that is older, I just can't decide if I want to use it as a top or a back, so it stays hanging in the closet.

I worked on my Oliver quilt...fire hydrants.

These took a bit of time and paying attention to get them made. I didn't do enough paying attention and cut one of the blocks too short. I didn't fix it. One of the hydrants is about a half inch shorter than the other two. The pattern designer has you sew most of the units oversized then trim them down. By the time I finished all three the "short" one was the same size as the other two.  I'll put the short one in the center.

I volunteered to quilt another person's quilt at the last Quilts for Kids meeting. Smack me up side the head if I ever volunteer again.

The quilt and pattern are very cute but the quality of the sewing is horrible. None of the pinwheels were pressed or squared up before they were sewn into the rows - there are puckers in almost all of them. For about half the rows, the machine tension was bad and the thread was just laying on surface of the fabric. There are patched holes in the fabric (I found another hole and patched it). There were several areas were the edges were not lined up when the seam was sewn and there were gaps in the sewing. 

I seriously thought about taking the whole thing apart, but it isn't my quilt so I don't feel I have right (?? not the right word but I can't think of another) to remake someone else's quilt. I re-enforced seams as much as possible but I didn't take any of the pinwheels apart. The puckers are staying. I'll be loading it onto the frame tomorrow. Wish me luck on the quilting.

Eleventh Hour Finish

 

Not much sewing last week. Lots of cooking. We went to my niece's for Thanksgiving.  I think she thought she was going to feed an army instead of 20 people. There were 3 turkeys, 2 hams and a huge huge tray of mac and cheese plus so much more. She actually had to-go boxes so everyone could take leftovers home. I made a couple of appetizers to share last Wednesday, traveled and ate all day Thursday, spent Friday making soup stock and deboning turkey, then made a HUGE pot of turkey and wild rice soup on Saturday. Yum. I still have a ham bone to use up, I'll probably make a pot of beans tomorrow.

I did manage to get the green swirl quilt (my November UFO) loaded on the frame yesterday.

It is about 2/3's quilted. Probably could have finished it tonight but I currently have a very short attention span so about an hour of quilting was my limit.

I'll finish it tomorrow while the beans are cooking.

December's UFO is a cross stitch project I haven't touched for over a year. I think I'm going to not touch it longer and focus on finishing up my 2021 blackwork project and get a couple of donation quilt tops quilted.

Random Stitching

 

I worked on a number of projects this past week and just enjoyed the sewing. 

Put together a guild community services quilt top. The blocks were already made I just had to sew them together and add the border. 

Bella (not) helping me find a quilt pattern. I can't open a cabinet, drawer or closet without her running to get inside it.

Table toppers using a Christmas border fabric and my 60 degree ruler. The upper right cream is kinda fugly, it's made from the last bit of pieces and parts.

 Me, modeling a utility apron I made for a friend. Dontcha love the sweats? It's been a dreary cold week (probably why I got so much sewing done), I don't think I've put on real clothes in a week.

Finished the last three blocks of the FQS beginner sampler. This is not the final layout and I'll probably add a pieced border and cornerstones but this gives you an idea of what it will look like - BRIGHT!

These are the blocks of my leader-ender project. I spent a day putting together the sashing rails. I think I'm going to really like this when it is finished. I'm still sewing 2.5 blocks together for the border.

Tomorrow I have to get dressed and go out in public...Costco, grocery store, post office, fun stuff to get ready for Thanksgiving at my niece's house. I hope you all have a safe and tasty Thanksgiving.

Two Finishes

 

It's done! 

Hmmm, I don't know if it should be donated to a child, there are a LOT of swear words sewn into this quilt. The majority of the quilting (and swearing) was done with the walking foot. I think if I could learn how to ruler quilt things like this would go much faster. I don't know if there is anywhere around here that teaches ruler quilting on a domestic machine.

My second finish:

I finally got this quilt back from the longarm quilter...again. This time the quilting looks good. If you enlarge the picture you can clearly see the pantograph on the back of the quilt.

Now I feel like I can move on to something fun.

Slow Progress

 

It was another quiet week with a few fun events. First my new car / SUV was delivered early so I got to pick it up on Tuesday.

This thing almost drives itself! I'm having a very difficult time getting used to the keyless entry. I'm paranoid I'm going to lock the little fobby thingy (official technical name) in the vehicle. Or that the locks won't engage when I leave the vehicle. I can't test the lock by pulling on the handle like I used to because that unlocks everything. Yikes! It does drive really smooth. And with the crazy windy rainy weather we've been having I'm glad to have all wheel drive (it is currently pouring outside).

I had to drive to Roseburg to pick up the car. While I was there I went to a couple of the local quilt shops and picked up some coordinating fabrics to go with the Anna Maria Horner fabrics I recently purchased. Here is everything:

And this is the quilt I plan on making with them:

I'm really excited about making this quilt but probably won't start it until after the holiday's.  I want to finish up a few items first.

Yesterday my family celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner at my house. My niece made pumpkin pie for her "birthday cake". Yum! Her actual birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Ma!

I've made slow progress on quilting the side-by-side quilt. All the in the ditch is done and the meandering in the background. I feel like I need to do "more" in the houses but I don't know what "more" would be. I'm going to add swirls in the border. Should I add anything else?

See the raggedy batting in the bottom right? The lovely Bella was at work again. That cat loves to chew on batting.

I forgot to mention my November UFO Challenge project last week. It is quilting the green swirl quilt that I traded out last April so I could quilt the Xmas table cloth. I made a scrappy back for the quilt using up a bunch of old green foliage fat quarters. I'll load it on the frame so it shouldn't take too long to get it quilted.

Quiet Week

 

Not much has happened here. Still waiting on information about my Accord. It has only been two weeks but seems much longer.

I prepped these two Project Linus, Oliver in the Dog House, mystery blocks (don't you love the poo blocks!!). They are all ready for appliqueing. 

I'm over two weeks behind...mostly due to this Project Linus Side-by-Side Covid quilt:

I just cannot get into quilting this quilt. And I'm determined to finish it before I work on anything else.

I had a good excuse yesterday for not quilting. I got to baby sit these two cuties.

Buttons (on the right) is 15 years, 100% deaf and about 80% blind. She may be old but she still has a lot of attitude. Rex (left) is 5-7 years old (can never remember) and is just the sweetest thing ever. 

My consolation fabric arrived today.

The fabrics are made by Free Spirit and designed by Anna Maria Horner. The line is called Love Always. I have doodled over the fabric line since its release. The colors in these fabrics are almost iridescent. I know what I want to make with them but need 3-4 more coordinating fabrics. Preferably solids. That may be a challenge as the colors are very unique. 

Okay...I want to finish my current mystery blocks, start the new clues, and start a new project, so I better stop procrastinating and get busy quilting the Side-by-Side quilt.

No Deal

 I haven't had much time for sewing this week. Just a couple of little thing each night.

Project Linus Mystery clue #3. I'm behind three clues, two are really easy so hopefully I'll get caught up this week.

Some four-patch blocks for the guild community service quilts.

Nine-patch blocks for my leader-ender project. I've been making lots of progress on it.

I also bought a new car. I am a girl who loves loves loves a good deal...that didn't happen. There is a shortage of computer chips which has caused a shortage of cars, which is creating a high demand for new (and used) cars. Car sellers are happy campers. Car buyers are happy if they don't have to pay more than MSRP - how sad is that.

This is an internet picture but my new SUV should look very similar to it. Unfortunately it will not be delivered to the dealership until mid November.

I bought new fabric to console myself.

RIP

A week ago Tuesday I drove to California to visit friends and to attend the Pacific International Quilt Festival. I was supposed to return home last Sunday. Unfortunately Sunday when I went to start my car it made the most horrible noise ever...someone had stole the catalytic converter. In doing so they damaged the whole exhaust system. The cost to repair the car would have been over $6,000 (!!), most parts are on back order so even if the decision was to repair the car it would have been a month or more before it could be repaired. My car was a 2005 Honda Accord with over 180k miles in excellent condition but not worth $6k so the insurance company is totaling the car. 

Boo hoo 😢. This has been the best car ever and I had really hoped to drive it for another 100k miles. After waiting three days on the insurance company I was able to get a rental car today and drove home today. Luckily I have the truck to drive until I can find another car...although apparently there is also a shortage of cars!

I was staying with my friend Angela. She and her family were so incredibly nice to put up with me for an additional three days.  

While in California, Angela and I joined Stephanie and her sister at PIQF. The show was much smaller than previous years and not surprising, not very crowded. There were lots of pretty quilts but I only took pictures of two because I liked the quilting. I got to test drive a Handi Quilter Moxie long arm machine and fell in love. I bought some machine oil and a spool holder for my featherweight and that was it. It was nice to spend time with friends but the show was a little disappointing.

Angela and I both worked on our FQS Sampler quilts.

We both made microwave bowl holders.

Mine - using Angela's fabric - which I made for her. She made one for her sister but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Angela also made a cute mug rug for her sister - this is officially her first finished quilt. I think she did a great job.

Here is the reveal of my secret sewing. A pop-up thread catcher, sewing machine mat and a matching (not pictured) ironing pad for Angela. Don't you love the two featherweights 💖.

I also gave Christina her quilt which she loved.

So a fun, productive, stressful, and sad week.

Odds and Ends

 I have two (!!) finishes this week and progress on three projects.

Christina's quilt is finished. I worried about the bunching and gathering but it was not a problem at all. Squaring the quilt up after quilting was a different story, I didn't even try. I trimmed the quilt so the border was an even 2.25" all around then added the binding. 

I quilted it with my famous meander in light blue thread. I'm happy with how it turned out, I hope Christina is too.

Our current guild challenge was something pumpkin themed. I got my pumpkin quilted and bound.

I'm still tempted to add more quilting in the background fabric but can't think of anything interesting. It's due next Monday so we'll see if anything else is added.

I made progress on my Project Linus mystery blocks.

Clue 1B - Pinwheels is finished and Clue 2 - Chow Time is ready to sew.

I also have Clue 3 all cut out but it doesn't look like anything yet. Hopefully I'll be able to show the finished blocks next week.

I made the third block for the FQS Sampler.

This is going to be a VERY colorful quilt.

And I moved the Q-Snaps on my blackwork garden. One quadrant is done.

Sorry about the wrinkles but I can't iron it until it is finished and cleaned. I can't believe there are only 8 more weeks until this stitch-along ends. I'm still very behind.