Lots of Binding

 I made the binding for Ginger Belle and it is put away until it's needed.

I made the binding for the quilt from H E double hockey sticks (don't want to owe the cuss jar more money).

As I mentioned before this is a "cheater" fabric. You buy it by the yard already pieced. The seams are serged and thick. My thread kept breaking in the minky areas. I noticed after I finished quilting it that there were some very large stitches...again only in the minky areas. I carefully removed the large stitches, and after adding the binding, went back over the areas that I removed with my walking foot.

I have three more of these "quilt tops" to quilt...not looking forward to it. 

I was able to load another quilt sandwich and finish it.

A little drab, but I'm sure there is a young boy out there who would love cuddling up with mountain lions. I used a new pantograph that I think gave the quilt lots of texture.

When Angela visited she brought me a cat puzzle. I put it together a couple of weeks ago but keep forgetting to show a picture.

Want to make an easy puzzle difficult? Don't lose a piece, add in an extra piece. It's not a duplicate piece either. Thanks Angela, it was fun to put together.

Almost Finishes

 The baby quilt is off the frame, trimmed, and the binding cut. I'll show the finished quilt next week. 

The Ginger Belle top is done, the binding is cut and the red wide back I bought a couple of weeks ago will go on the back.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. It is 80 x 80. I'm not sure if I will attempt to quilt it myself or have someone else do it. It will fit on my frame, but I'd really be pushing its limits. 

I had a few 4-patches left over. I think I'm going to turn them into a little mug rug or table topper.

My leader-ender project is also almost done.

Scrappy quilts just make me happy. This isn't the final layout, I just wanted to get an idea of how it is going to look.

I also got my Christmas tree up.

Whew! it was a lot of work taking it out of the box and plugging it in. ;o)

Getting Closer

 Nothing new or exciting...we did have a nice Thanksgiving at my niece's house. Lots of food. Lots of leftovers.

Made progress on Ginger Belle.

I've been adding the pieced border as I go. I have one more row to add - it will take longer as it has the final pieced border added to each block before the blocks are sewn into a row. Probably takes longer that way but I know I will have a good distribution of colors.

Slow going on getting this quilted...mostly because I'm avoiding it.

Probably the worst quilting I've ever done. All the passes are left to right so taking a little longer and still having thread breakage. I think I have four more passes to make. The cuss jar is overflowing.

This is Bella's current favorite place to be.

Notice the heat vent above her...it's been cold here. Isn't it a law that you have to constantly complain about the weather...was too wet, now too cold...hate the heat. 

I May Have A Problem

 I went to an estate sale this past weekend...twice. The first haul:

Flannel quilt top. I think I've mentioned before I'm a sucker for orphan quilts and blocks.

Cute holiday flannel panel.

And 22 yards of fabric.  

The second haul:

Polar fleece to be donated.

Cute mini quilt holder. Actually, saw when I was leaving. It was out with some odd garden wire stuff, very cobwebby.

Orphan holiday placemats. Need hand stitching to finish binding and some blind stitching to close sides.

Two books and 12 more yards of fabric.

Plus a few puzzles. Coulda brought home so much more but I didn't want to look greedy. 

Loaded one of the cheater quilts onto the frame.

I might have to install a cuss jar in the long arm room. There were a lot of bad words said. This fabric is all bias and stretchy. It also has thick seams. I started off using one of my Aurifil threads...after it kept breaking, I switched to good ole Omni. Got the first pass done...no problems, started heading back...more thread breaks. I think I'm going to have quilt the whole thing going left to right. I had directional issues with my Juki on the old frame, this is the first time I've had it with the Moxie.

I've been making more progress on Ginger Belle. Laid out on the design floor.

Attaching the pieced border as I go...it will take longer but I want to keep the fabrics / colors random.

Hmmm...it's bigger than I thought it would be.

Little Finishes

I finished two more blankies - hard to think of them as quilts since they are only two pieces of fabric sandwiched together. I think I finished one of these two weeks ago and forgot to show it here. 

Both were quick finishes. The hardest part about both was finding binding fabric in my stash.

All the chain blocks for Ginger Belle are finished. Now I have lots of pressing to do. I also made a little bit of progress on my leader ender project. Hopefully both will be finished by the end of this month (I know, I said that last month).

I was really good today. I took a few things to put on the guild free table and didn't bring anything home! I can't say the same for last Friday's Quilts 4 Kids meeting.

I brought home four more sandwiches. These are really cute - made from a cheater fabric you can buy at JoAnn's. 

Busy Week

 Doctor appointments, house cleaners, shopping, birthdays and family - it was a busy week. But not much sewing.

My mom turned 89 on Saturday. My cousins from Stockton came up to help celebrate. It was so nice to see them. My niece and her family were also here Saturday. We played cards, cooked and ate too much. Overall, I think my mom had a really nice day.

I did get more of the chain blocks made. Seven out of twelve are done. 

I loaded a quilt on the frame today just so I'd have a picture to share. ;o)

Retail Therapy

 This has been me this week:

Sorry for the bad picture.

I got lots of prep work done...story of my life. I swear I spend more time prepping to sew than actually sewing. I have all the chain blocks laid out ready to sew. Cut strips for the additional 4-patch blocks I need to make. Cut the background fabric for my leader-ender quilt. Cut and ironed all the leader-ender strip sets I'd already sewn...yup, enough for two quilts. Loaded a quilt on the frame.

And didn't sew a single stitch.

One of my favorite not-very-local quilt shops is going out of business. I think I was her very first customer as I showed up one day before she had actually opened for business and she let me shop. I don't get there often but every time I've been there she remembered my name. 

I may have gone a little bit overboard. Lots of wide back fabric, lots of Aurfil thread, and some other fun goodies. The red wide back is for the Ginger Belle quilt. The blue is for the quilt Donna gave me last year and the other three were nice neutral fabrics that I know I'll be able to use someday.

The black print is for my next quilting project.

Donna gave me the aboriginal fabrics a few years ago. I bought the pattern a few years ago. Last month someone posted their version of the quilt with aboriginal fabrics on one of the Facebook groups I belong to and I thought Bingo! Love the combination and found the perfect background fabric at the sale. I so want to start making this quilt NOW!

Making Good Progress

 I've been making lots of progress on Ginger Belle. I don't think I'll have it finished by the end of the month like I hoped but I will be close.

All the star blocks have been framed and I've made four out of twelve chain blocks. Bella isn't as sweet as she looks, she was trying to chew on the book two seconds before I took this picture.

I've decided I'm bored with my leader-ender project. Since I've already sewn and cut a large number of strip sets, and I don't want to waste what I've done, I'm going to make a variation of this quilt instead.

I love Villa Rosa Design quilt cards. Most of their patterns are easy and quick to make. My strip sets are wider than the pattern calls for, so some creative adjustments will be made. I should be able to make the quilt fairly quickly. I might even have enough strip sets made for two quilts.

Impromptu Visit

 Donna (lives in Idaho) was visiting family in California and decided to take the long way home in order to have a quick overnight visit. I talked her into staying two nights. We had lots of fun and did lots of talking about quilting. We also went to the Valley Girl's quilt show. Best part, I got revenge! When I leave her house she always gives me lots and lots of fabric and kits, this time I was able to give her a bunch of fabric, almost all my wool, a few goodies from my mom's estate sale that I knew she would like, and a few goodies from all the fabrics and kits that Angela had brought up.

Below are a few of the quilts from the quilt show that I liked.

I've seen this quilt online but never in person. It would be a great scrap buster.

Another scrap buster. Loved how the stars popped out next to the yellow.

This one was so cute! the "sashing" is black rick-rack.

There was a theme to the quilts I liked...again very scrapy, very small disappearing nine patch. I think the blocks were 3 inches. I really want to make this one.

Donna bought us both a cute little button flower bouquet.

I made progress on my Ginger Belle. I made more 4 patch blocks but still managed to be short a few. I'll make them when they are needed.

I made all of the star blocks. Next step is to frame them with more background fabric and 4 patch corners.

Ginger Belle

 Okay, are you sitting down? This will be a shock, and I don't want you to get hurt.

I've been piecing quilt units...and not just any quilt units, units for a quilt for me! I know, amazing right?

The pattern is Ginger Belle from Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Book by Carrie Nelson. The fabric is a Moda fat quarter bundle I bought over 15 years ago. I cut it out two years ago, put it in a project box and haven't touched it since.

It calls for 60 hour glass blocks and 261 4 patch blocks. I don't know how I managed it but I didn't cut enough strips for the 4 patch blocks. Normally I over cut, not undercut. I have about 50 more to make then I get to spend some quality time pressing them all open.

My goal is to finish the quilt top by the end of the month. Make sure you hold me to it.

This was my morning view a couple of days ago. The tempts are cooling and we've started getting morning fog. When it sits low in the valley like this it almost looks like a very large lake.

Visitors

 Angela and her husband Randy drove up for a really quick trip. Palo Alto to Grants Pass in one day, then back to Palo Alto the next day. A lot of driving in two days.

Recently one of the ladies in Angela's guild (a modern guild) gave her a LOT of fabric, kits, and patterns. Angela kept some of the fabric and kits but a lot of it wasn't her style. She was going to donate everything to a local thrift shop. Well guess who opened her big mouth. Yup. Me.

Yardage.

Over a dozen BOM applique kits.

Fat quarters and more kits. This isn't all of it. There was also a bag of Halloween fabric, a bag of Christmas fabrics, and other odd bits and pieces that I forgot to include in the pictures.

A lot, most, of the fabric and kits were from 1998 - 2002. I don't applique but I know a lot of my guild members do so I took about a third of the kits and some of the fabric to my guild meeting today. Most of it was gone before you could say Free (although they do have a jar for donations to the guild).

I'll take the rest to the next guild meeting in two weeks. I'm giving the next batch, the good stuff, to the chairperson of our quilt show boutique. The proceeds from it go to two local non-profits.

And yes, I did keep a little bit (a LOT) for myself.

I think Angela's and Randy's trip was so quick because they were afraid I'd give it all back. hehehe

Oops, Forgot it was Monday

 I know it was Monday yesterday, but it didn't feel like Monday. It felt like Sunday...kinda. Also felt like Saturday as my landscape guy usually comes the last Saturday of the month and he was here yesterday. 

Do those sound like good excuses why I forgot a blog post yesterday? Yeah, I thought it was pretty lame too.

I don't have anything exciting to show.

Airplanes with red flannel.

Bears with blue flannel.

Sports with blue flannel.

Lion flannel with yellow fabric. I think these lions are so CUTE!

All are about 40 x 48 inches. I could easily do one a day...and almost have. They take a little more than three hours to prep, load, quilt, and machine sew the binding. I got a little wild and quilted loops on the sports quilt. ;o)

Monday Again?

 Didn't do much last week. The sale of my mom's house finalized today. We signed the papers last week and I spent Sunday doing a quick clean.

I loaded, quilted, and added binding to one of the sandwiches I prepped last week.

You'll probably get bored of these long before I finish with them.

You'd be proud of me. I took four quilts to turn in at the Quilts for Kids meeting and didn't bring home any new quilt tops or sandwiches. That's gotta be a first for me. (hehehehe)

Odds and Ends

 Bella started "nesting" in the pile of quilt sandwiches I showed a couple of weeks ago. When she nests, she destroys batting. So I've spent the week prepping the sandwiches for long arm quilting.

Most of the sandwiches were 1.5 yard cuts of fabric...front, back and batting cut to the same size. Spent time deciding what would be the top and what the bottom. Trimming edges and selvages as needed. 

I also made a couple of executive decisions...

This was one sandwich...both fabrics were cute but not together. I split them up and found backs for both.

Some were not even close to being considered a "kid's quilt". I just couldn't quilt this, so split the fabrics up and maybe they will be backs for a future quilt.

This one is just scary ugly. The back with it was a directional fabric that wasn't going in the same direction as the panel. I haven't found another back yet...partly because I really really don't like this panel.

Pressed, trimmed and ready for long arm quilting. I'll probably do a simple meander on all of them. Then I'll have to find binding fabrics.

This one was interesting. The top and border fabric are manufactured pre-quilted fabrics. It was sandwiched without batting and the edges sewn with a serger. I carefully quilted it with my walking foot and added binding.

A different person made this quilt top. I don't know what the fabric is but it is not quilter's cotton. A little stiff. I tried to soften it up a bit with flannel on the back.

I quilted it with an edge to edge pantograph in blue thread. I think the picture is showing my first pass...a little rough...by the end of the quilt my quilting was much smoother.

I found a different blue that I like much better than the blue I showed last week. I shortened the panel also. I have a back for it and the binding is made from a cute sunflower fabric I found at my local quilt shop. Now I have to decide how I'm going to quilt...any suggestions?

This week the boys were back in town. (do I have you singing the Tin Lizzy song?)

There was a third buck, but I couldn't get all three in the same picture.