Whoo Hoo!

 

I made my first Aunt Daisy block!

And right off the bat I made an error - turned a block. Can you find it? It will be an easy fix. This block is huge! I'm having second thoughts about making a king sized quilt...maybe a queen size and a nice throw would be better. We'll see as I progress.

Guild community service top is quilted. The back is a solid red. 

I'm not a fan of solid backs - shows everything, but it's not too bad if you have a thread color that matches perfectly on the back and top. Kinda bad when the top has a border that reads like a solid and the red thread shouts against it. Oh well.

Clue 3 was trimmed up last week and clue 4 is ready for trimming this week.

Love the Bloc-Loc templates for flying geese trimming. Expensive but  worth it!

I won this fantastic seam ripper from Project Quilting. 

Alas, I've already had to use it. The fat grip is wonderful. The cute sewing machine paper clip came with it. This week's challenge theme is Inside Out: Some part of the project must thematically or literally be inside out. I have a few ideas - I might even make two very different projects for the challenge.

I finished the duck panel. Very quick and easy. 

I used flannel scraps for the back. It and the above guild quilt were quilted using a swirl pantograph. They turned out much better than my free motion swirls.

Next up is this Thomas the Train panel. It should be another quick and easy finish.

Monday Monday

 So good to me...well, as good as any other Monday. ;o)

Still waiting for tile so the bathroom remodel is still on hold.

I finished my January UFO challenge quilt.

And it's quilted! I added the softest green plaid flannel on the back. I love how this turned out.

February's UFO challenge is more of Stephanie's extra blocks. 

Needs more sashing made but should be another quick finish. I'll decide if I'm going to add a border after the top is put together.

Other than trimming these to size I'm caught up on the Grid Girl's clues. 

Clue 4 should be released in about 30 minutes.

And the next quilt is ready to be loaded. This should also be a quick finish...once I decide if I'm going to do an edge-to-edge or free motion. Decisions, decisions. ;o)

Oregon Winter Sky

 

I love the view out my living room window. I get to see spring rainbows, clear summer skies, autumn colors and dreary winter grays. LOTS of dreary winter grays.

This was my inspiration photo. It's the view I've been looking at for the past month. In this picture there is another set of mountains hidden by the fog. 

I needed to make sure my Project Quilting 15-2 Sky Colors challenge quilt included gray skies, dark mountains, evergreen trees and lots of fog.

I though a blooming nine patch pattern would be perfect (plus I've always wanted to make one). The brown is an ombre remanent from my very first quilt made almost 30 years go.  

No Normal

 Participating in the Project Quilting challenges kinda throws my posting schedule off as I have to post my finished project by noon Sunday. Not having internet service for two days also throws things off. 

So where was I? Last Monday I wouldn't have had much to show as I spent the prior week working on the Quail's Next mini. Last week I tried to get caught up on my guild wool embroidery class homework.

I'm still behind but have made lots of progress. Poor birdie looks kinda weird with no beak - I think we cover that stitch in February's class.

I added borders to the Project Quilting mystery.

The yellow looks kinda dull in the picture but it is very bright in real life. I like this so much better with the borders. Unfortunately it's still on the small side at 40 inches square. It will make a good chair lap quilt. I have the back and binding made so look for a finish soonish.

I found some thrift store bargains last week.

The quilt top was long and narrow so I split it into two smaller quilts. I have a Thomas the Train panel in my stash so had to get the coordinating fabric for the panel back. The purple dots were just too cute to leave.

I had the snail quilt all loaded on the frame then realized the back was not long enough. A little trim here and little seam there and the quilt is loaded again.

Now I'm doing the long stare trying to decide how I'm going to quilt it. 

I've also been keeping up with the Grid Girls mystery. Clues 1 and 2 are finished and clue 3 will be released tomorrow.

Project Quilting challenge 15-2 is Sky Color, but it cannot be more than 10% blue. This is my inspiration picture.

Since I haven't seen blue skies for weeks, I don't think the blue will be a problem. I've already decided what I'm going make and have the top almost half made. I'll be posting the finished quilt later this week.

Quail's Nest

 The prompt for Project Quilting 15-1 challenge is birdhouse, which could include nest, tree, or however you want to interpret what a birdhouse is.

I went through my sampler quilt books looking for a birdhouse or nest titled block and found Quail's Nest.

In this book.

I've always thought of the block as a churn dash but who am I to argue.

So here is my Quail's Nest mini. The blocks finish at three inches and the quilt is 13.75 inches square. All the fabrics came from my reproduction scrap bin which makes me very happy.

This was a fun first challenge.

What Was I Thinking!

 I've decided to remodel my master bathroom. I couldn't find a good before picture, but this is what it currently looks like.

The shower is where the insulation is showing, and the old vanity ran the length of the wall on the right. While Mike (my niece's boyfriend / contractor) did find some water under the shower pan there doesn't seem to be any damage (whew!). He is going to start prepping for the tile tomorrow. Now I just need to decide on which tile(s) I want. I hate this part. How come I have no problem deciding on fabric for a quilt but deciding on tile/vanity/fixtures for my new bath is sooooo painful?

While Mike has been working, I've been doing some sewing.

The Project Quilting mystery is done. Each block is a Roman numeral 1-15 for the fifteen years the challenges have occurred. I think I'm going to add a couple of borders and turn it into a donation quilt.

This small quilt is my January UFO challenge project. The borders were given to me by Stephanie. I just had to shop for a fabric I liked to make it bigger and sew two seams. Hard work (hehehehe). I don't have back for it yet - hopefully I'll find something soon so I can get it quilted before the next Quilt for Kids meeting.

Project Quilting's first challenge is birdhouses. Including any broad interpretation of a birdhouse. I went through my sampler quilt books and found this block. Hmmmm, nest fits the challenge requirements but I think it's really a churn dash block. Regardless I'm going for it. I decided to make it mini. I've already pulled fabric and cut everything out. I'll probably be posting the end results Friday night.

The guild community service quilt is done. The binding is made and will be added sometime before next Monday's meeting.

I think it's time for another trip to Home Depot...is this my first or fifth trip today?

Celebrate!!

 Yes, I hope you all have a very happy new year but that is not what I'm celebrating...the Aunt Daisy units are done!!

All 784 of them! Now I can start making the 16 28-inch square blocks. ;o)

I have a guild community service quilt loaded on frame.

As always, I have no clue how I'm going to quilt it. Although I know it won't be anything fancy.

Project Quilting will reveal their first challenge next Sunday, in the meantime they are having a mystery quilt along.

It's an improv mini quilt. I've never done an improv quilt unless crumb quilts count. I just finished clue 6 (not shown). Two more clues then the big reveal on Thursday. 

Normally between Christmas and New Year's Eve I try to clean up my sewing room and cut up my scrap basket into the sizes I like to save. Ya know how when you "clean" something it always seems like you make an even bigger mess? Yup. I thought I'd pull my scrap bins first and get them organized so I could add to them.

OMG, this is out of control! I consolidated some of the smaller project boxes, dumped 2.5 inch strips into a large tote and dumped strings into a large tote but this is still too much! I talked to the person heading the boutique at our quilt show in May to see if she would be interested in some home made jelly rolls, she said Yes! I think I'm also going to create "string kits" with my 1.5 inch strips and strings. I'll include a string quilt pattern in each kit. Hopefully that will put a dent in scraps.