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.