Boring

 

I almost didn't write a post today but, at this time anyways, it is a habit I can't seem to break. So you get a picture of binding and a partially stitched blackwork project.

The binding is for the Yellow Brick Road quilt I showed last week. Remember I said the back was a bright green? I made the back for the quilt and had enough fabric left over to make the binding from the same fabric.

The blackwork is an experiment. If this works out I'll be making a bunch of these vases with flowers.

I also pieced a back for the green HST quilt I made a few years ago. Making it was bit of a squirrel moment (it already had a back that I didn't like) but in a good way. I used up 20 green foliage fat quarters that have been sitting in my stash forever. 

For the short term I'm demoting the ornament quilt back to its UFO status. So May was a bust on the UFO Challenge.

June is a bit of a freebee. My #5 UFO is Sunny Lanes...the top is finished and is out getting long arm quilted locally.

See. I told you. Boring!

Darn

 

May is almost over. I've looked at a number of quilt / fabric stores to find a background fabric for my May UFO Challenge project. I had kinda sorta hoped I wouldn't find anything. Unfortunately I did.

 

Although looking at this picture and taking a closer look at the fabric, what I thought was black sure looks like dark navy blue. I'm pretty sure it is black but now I'm having second thoughts about how well it "goes" with the ornaments. Plan B was to make diamond shaped table toppers or candle mats with the ornaments and forget about making a wall hanging. Regardless, my May UFO Challenge is a bit of a bust as nothing has happened so far. I still have a week left but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

This past week I took a bit of road trip in order to take a class at a not-very-local quilt shop. I haven't taken a class in ages. I probably could have made this on my own but I really needed to get out of the house and I had hoped to meet other quilters in the process. 

The project was fun to make, but I was the only participant. The instructor was one of the store owners, she and her staff were really nice. I did enjoy having a day out and will probably take the drive for other classes.

I finished putting together the flannel Yellow Brick Road quilt.

To me the colors scream 1970's. I swear my cousin and I papered her bedroom with a wall paper with the same colors. I took this picture before I bought the backing fabric...OMG, I found a great green that matches perfectly. This baby is gonna be BRIGHT!

I think everyone has heard of Napa Valley Quilt wines but have you seen this...

I couldn't stop laughing when I first saw this. You can find the ale at Costco. Enjoy.

Another Visitor

 

I didn't do a lot of sewing last week and may not have a lot of time this week. I did get a donation quilt top loaded, quilted and binding added. I used a gray thread on the top and did my usual meandering.

 I didn't make this quilt top. This is the third jelly roll race quilt I've come in contact with. I do not like this pattern. Every one I've seen is wonky. This one was a challenge because I think the person cut the strips themselves and did not cut them accurately. There is a little bit of bunching, and squaring it up afterward...well, I hope no one measures each side cause all four will have a different measurement.

This quilt makes me want to send Barb, my long arm quilter in California, a huge I'm Sorry card for all the wonky quilts I sent her and an even bigger Thank You card for the miracles she preformed on some of my wonky quilts. I could never do this as a profession.

I did a little bit of yard work this past week.

My peonies were in full bloom this week. The flowers are huge. I love the color. I have three plants in the backyard but both last year and this year only one plant has bloomed. Is there a secret to growing them?

This was my visitor.

Not the best picture - I shot it through the screen door. She stayed there for a couple of hours. When it got too hot she moved to the other side of the yard to lay under the dogwood tree. I shooed her off when she started nibbling on the tree. Bella slept through it all.

Two New Starts and a Potential Third

 

I couldn't stand it anymore, I really needed something to piece. So instead of starting one new project I started two...and one is almost done.

First up, years ago I won a quilt kit at a silent auction, Daphne by Shabby Fabrics. The kit included all of the blocks, the finishing kit AND the back. I paid the same amount that the pattern only is currently listed at. I decided I'm going to take my time making this quilt as I really want to keep my momentum of getting quilt tops quilted. So here are the four corner blocks stacked and staggered.

My favorite block: Jacob's Ladder.

Second up, at the last Quilts for Kids meeting I picked up a fat quarter bundle of flannels. It was an old fabric line by Connecting Threads. Since it was kind of an odd assortment of colors and patterns I went with my favorite quilt pattern: Atkinson Design's Yellow Brick Road. This is the only pattern I have ever made more than twice. This may be my 5th or 6th quilt using this pattern. It is just such a quick easy pattern that can make any group of fat quarters look good.

Here are the blocks laid out on the design bed. Sorry about the the fuzzy picture and bad colors, it was rather late at night when I took this picture. This is not the final layout.

I'm going to sew together two sets of four rows then decide if I want two small quilts or one large quilt. I'm leaning toward one large one. It (or they) will be donated back to Quilts for Kids.

I really need to stay focused so I can get this quilt top finished and get two other donation quilts quilted cause I really really really want to start this project.

I don't have a Spring themed wall hanging and I've been wanting one forever. I saw this pattern and thought it was perfect. I'm only planning on making six flowers. The flowers are large - roughly 16 x 8. I also wanted it to be very bright and cheerful so I purchased Riley Blake Design's Strawberry Honey by Gracey Larson. Love the colors. Can't wait to get started.

On other news I won a great bunch of wool patterns from Janet at Rogue Quilter.

Check out Janet's blog, she makes fantastic miniature quilts. Make sure you take a close look at her FMQ and hand quilting. Very inspirational.

I also bought another rug for the entryway. I decided that last one was way to light / gray. 

The colors in this one are perfect... yeah there's a "but"...it is a little bit more contemporary than what I wanted... yeah there's a "however"... I think I'll be keeping this one.

Oops

 

So maybe my April UFO didn't get finished until May 1. The main thing is it is finished.

 Simple meander quilting. Machine stitched both sides of the binding. I may regret the all white quilt back. Oh well.

May's UFO Challenge is #9 on my list, the Christmas Ornament wall hanging. I made one years (and years and years) ago in a class. There were enough scraps to make a second wall hanging.

The first one:

The stuff for the second one:

I thought I had already started putting the top together. I thought all the fabric was together. I thought wrong. This version was supposed to have a black background. I think I used the fabric in my Scooch Over 2 quilt. The off white fairy frost doesn't have enough contrast. Unless I can find a good back ground fabric in the next week I may trade out this UFO for another...with 16 unquilted tops and 7 project in process I think I'll be able to find a replacement.

This afternoon I finished another quilt.

I started quilting it last night...lots of in the ditch with my walking foot. Then a little bit of FMQ around the dinosaur at the top and machine stitching both sides of the bind down. Quick finish. The size is 30 x 39 inches. It will be donated to the local Quilts for Kids.

The pile on the little table next to my sewing space is getting smaller but still has a ways to go.

Have you heard Google Feedburner is going away. 😭 I follow most of my blogs via email/Feedburner so I'm really not happy. I like to read my email via my phone, sitting on the couch, while I have my morning coffee and Bella pretends to be a lap kitty. I've been slowing adding the blogs I follow to my side bar and unsubscribing from the emails. Grrrr. On the bright side maybe I'll comment more.