Opinions Please

I am thinking of joining the Fat Quarter Shop's Threadology quilt along. I've always wanted to make a low volume quilt and was thinking this would be a good project.

Above is my fabric pull from stash. Some are a little yellowy, some are a little peachy-pink, but all have a "leafy" look to them. For grins I put the green and black leaf print and the green bee print with them - I kinda like them - I'll probably only do a few little blocks with them. It is hard to see, but the background has little dashes of tan/gold in it - not a strong white.

Here are the prints in monotone. Looks like there is enough contrast with the background fabric.

I don't intend to make the original version, I do like Melissa Corry's universal layout here.

So what do you think? Do these all work together? Would you pull out any? There are three that are questionable to me. Would you use a stronger white for the background?

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions.
 

More Quilting

 
I didn't do much sewing this past week other that start a pieced back for the Violet's Bakery quilt. I tried to use up all the scraps for the back but there is still quite a bit of scraps left over.

This is my final January finish. A table topper that was pieced two years ago is finally quilted.

I'm not crazy about the quilting...I feel like it needs more but since I can't figure out what more is I'm going with done.

Stephanie ask me to quilt one of her quilts. I got it loaded on the frame and quilted in one day.

Notice Bella...she is not a quilt helper. She thinks quilts on the frame make great trampolines. The spray bottle wasn't doing the trick so I finally had to lock her up in my room while I finished the quilt.

I don't know how professional long arm quilters do it, even with the mat on the floor, my back was killing me by the time I finished the quilt. I really want to load another quilt this week, but I think I'm going to have wait a day - and take a couple of Tylenol - before I load the next one.
 

New Family Members and More Little Finishes

 
For the past several years I have been feeding three "outside" cats...all belonged to the same household but the gentleman of the household is not a cat person, his wife was. When she pasted away several years ago the dogs came in and the cats went out. He knew I was feeding the cats and has provided food for them and helped with a recent vet bill.

Meet Buddy (aka Bobby)...

Buddy has been around the longest, we think he is somewhere between 15-18 years old. He is very much an outdoor cat. Very sweet, drools big time if you pick him up and cuddle. He is not interested in coming in the house at all. I think he has a few other "homes" in the neighborhood.

This is Spooky (aka Loomis)...

She has been living in my back yard for over a year. Also very sweet and she loves to have her belly rubbed. She acts like she wants to come in the house (sits by the back door and cries) however the one time I tried to bring her in she HOWLED the whole time and went ballistic when I tried to take her to the vet for a check up. She won. Back to the back yard she went. She has a bed in a protected area and seems to be quite content. She has been known to catch birds and rats.

This is Piggy (aka Morris)...

Piggy and Spooky are siblings. Both are somewhere between 12-15 years old. Piggy has tried multiple times to come in. A couple of weeks ago he got his wish...unfortunately it is because he is a sick kitty - he had an infection and has hyperthyroid which he'll have to take medication for the rest of his life. I think he may be partially blind as he doesn't jump on anything, follows the walls when he is exploring and tends to get stuck in corners and behind open doors. He's adapting well to being inside although he spends most of his time sleeping.

This is a not very happy Bella...

She seems to be adapting to having Piggy in the house but is not a happy camper.

 On the quilting front I did pretty good this week. I finished piecing this table runner (it was a kit that was part of the estate haul I purchased a few months ago - it was cut out and partially sewn). My mom has already called dibs on this, so it will have to get quilted before next fall.

This is a primitive stitchery I started years and years ago (over 10?)...it had about an hour of embroidery needed to finish it. I then added borders. Hopefully it won't have to wait years and years to get quilted.

I quilted and added the binding to this little table topper. I really like how the quilting turned out.

I quilted and added the machine side of the binding for another table topper but didn't finish the hand sewing to include it in this post.

I think I did pretty good for the first month of retirement and the new year. Four blog posts and soon to be five finished small quilts and three pieced small quilts/table toppers.
  

Getting little things done

  
So far it still feels more like I'm on vacation than retired...it is all a little strange. I feel like I should be job hunting. I get job announcements from the county and I've checked out a few them. Part of me wants to post my resume on Indeed to see if I get any hits for a part time job. I've told myself I'm not going to do anything for the first three months, if I still feel the need to work then maybe I'll look for something but I really need to give retirement a serious try first.

I finished this little quilt top...Kim Diehl's Plain Folk. The finished size is 18" x 18". This was so fun to make. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.

I finished this table topper. It only took two years to get it quilted. The pattern is Rock Candy by Jaybird Quilts.

Another project that has take a few years to get done is changing my kitchen cabinets from this...

To this...

LOVE 💖 these drawers! Why did I wait so long to have them installed?

And here is a picture of Bella trying to go home with Nancy.

Overwhelmed

Yay! I finished one item off my "need to quilt" list...

 I finished stitching this little wall hanging in February 2017. Now I can check it off the list.

I finished the first clue to Kathleen Tracy's mystery quilt.

I'm about half finished with the blocks for Kim Diehl's Plain Folk mini but don't have any in process pictures.

What has got me overwhelmed? This bin...

Nancy and Stephanie were here sewing last Saturday, I dug out this bin of scraps hoping to get it a bit more organized, sorted, etc. After about four hours you couldn't tell I'd made a dent. I sorted pieces and parts into 5 inch strips, 5 inch squares, 2.5 inch strips, 2.5 inch squares .... down to strings which were anything less than 1.5 inches wide. I have a lot of strings. This is kinda my January thing, but I think it is going to take more than a month  to get through this bin. The sad part is I have at least three larger bags that look just like this. I really need to find a project(s) and actually use up these pieces and parts. That is more overwhelming than the scraps themselves.
  

First 2019 Finish

  
My first 2019 finish...ta da...Sweet Tooth.

Okay...sooooo maybe 90% of it was finished in 2018 and I only need to hand sew some of the binding in 2019, it is officially finished and I'm counting it. 😉

I'm not one to make resolutions or to set new year's goals. I normally like to spend January giving my sewing room a good cleaning, organize a bit, sort my scraps into various bins and make a list of my UFO's and how much progress or what more needs to be done. 2019's list is a very long list. Remember the ridiculous piles I talked about here, here and here?   Well it is even worse now. I have 23 quilt tops that need to be quilted...some, okay more than some, were in the original ridiculous pile. There are 8 quilts that are cut out and partially pieced. I've also added a list of hand stitching projects  - 2 wool and 3 embroidery projects that need to be finished.

Unfortunately after I made the list I had a squirrel moment...

Kathleen Tracy released the first clue of her newest Facebook mystery mini quilt. This will be my first time participating in one of her mystery's.

And while I was sorting and cleaning out my scraps I had another squirrel moment...

I cut out strips to make the first quilt in Kim Diehl's Simple Whatnots book - Plain Folk.

I actually made a little bit of a dent in my in one of the smaller scrap bins.

Bella was shocked by this also.
  

Good Bye, So Long, Farewell 2018

  
Happy New Year! I'm trying to sneak this post in before midnight (and pretend it hasn't been almost three months since my last post). I've been doing a little bit of sewing...

 Temecula Quilt Company's Christmas mystery that doesn't look very christmasy. And looks much better in person.

Violet's Bakery and Confectionery -   the 2018 Project Linus mystery quilt. LOVE the pattern.

And a little shopping. I picked up all of this at an estate sale. Over 27 yards of fabric and an unopened TrueSharp rotary blade sharpener for a crazy low price. Kinda sad, some day there will be another happy quilter getting a great bargain when I pass.

Last year's Project Linus Mystery quilt - Ethan's World Travels all quilted. I love how Barbara continued the flying geese path into the quilting.

I donated the quilt to Nancy's dental association that has a silent auction every year to raise money to provide dental care to low income children.

Nancy said that at the time she left for the evening the bid was up to $200. Wow.

The 4x4 quilt is all finished too. Love how this one turned out.

 2019 should be a very interesting year. I am officially retired on January 1. I know I'll be doing lots more quilting but I'm a little worried about this retirement stuff. Financially I'm okay, it's what to do with all the time!

Hope the new year brings you lots of joyful quilting.