Design Wall Monday 6 - 29 - 2015

I was pretty successful this week in finishing or moving forward on my projects.  First up, what I can show you.  I finished this donation quilt that will be going to a local nursing home. 

This was a joint effort between Sara Anne and myself.  She cut the pieces out from a collection of fabric she has (and is ready to move out!).  I swapped out whatever was in place of the yellows and added them, sewed it and then quilted.  The quilt pattern is a slight variation of Two's Company. I just bought a new edge to edge quilting design and wanted to give it a try.   It is called Ginger Snap and was designed by Apricot Moon.  I really like how it turned out.  See below to notice how it isn't obvious where the rows are.  It also doesn't go up and down so there are no blank spaces at the top and the bottom of a quilt.    

A large chunk of my time was spent quilting a 90 x 90 quilt for a customer.  I'll share it with you in the future.  I figure she needs to finish it and share with our quilt group before I post it here.  

Overall I did pretty well on my goals this week.  I'm close to finishing another UFO and hope to get back to finishing Galaxy.  We'll see how it goes. 

Week of June 22, 2015

Finish the handwork on Wild Dogs and put the binding on√, still need to embroider some faces

Get one donation quilt quilted√

Quilt next customer quilt√

Make blocks for Pam of FCQ EQuilter group√ started need to make a few more

Week of June 29, 2015

Plan border on Trip Around the World quilt

Cut and sew the border on Galaxy

Quilt the Quatrefoil table runner

Finish FCQ EQuilters blocks

Embroider faces on the dogs

I'm linking up with Love Laugh Quilt and Patchwork Times. 

Happy Quilting All!  

Work in Progress Wednesday

I'm on the lookout for additional linky parties that will motivate me to actually write a blog post.  Work in Progress Wednesday sounds like it might be a good one to try.  Hum, and how about Sew Fresh Quilts' Let's Bee Social.  

Here's something I've been working on (and not on) for a while.  I want to make 10 blocks. They will go into a lottery drawing in October at retreat.  Every block I've made I've had to unstitch something. Often I have caught the mistake before I've sewn the final block together.  This time, I have had the block on the wall (different layout) for a day before I really looked at it. Oops!

One of these is not like the other! 

It's only a small mistake but boy does it mess with the block design. Eventually I'll fix this and make the 5 more I want.  

I've been quilting a donation quilt and a couple of customers quilts.  Binding is getting done and eyes are being sewn on.  There should be a finish coming up soon.  We'll see which quilt I finish first. 

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts.  

Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 6 - 22 - 2015

I've finally gotten my quilting mojo back.  For the last two weeks I was pretty ho-hum about getting to the studio and actually making progress on something, anything.  A couple of customer quilts came in and I knew I needed to get going on them.  Saturday I fired up Ruthie and got most of the first one done. It was finished Sunday.  (I have to get permission to show you -- it was a fun quilt.) I finished it up Sunday and made some more blocks for the lottery for the October retreat.  And, I made another Quatrefoil block.  This time I decided to use the same fabrics I had used in making most of my Triangle Thursday blocks.  Hum, seems like I'll have to make more blocks if I use this setting. 

This project won't be at the top of the list but if I plan it, and cut out the extra blocks,  I might be able to use it as a leader ender and get a UFO crossed off my list.  Sounds good but don't hold your breath on this one happening all that fast! 

Next up is T.C., the chihuahua.  I've been working on these dogs since at least 2008, may be 2006.  I'm now down to sewing on buttons and embroidering some expressions on them.  Well, that and the binding. (He's got both eyes now as do the other two dogs on his row.  Sewing buttons on is pretty boring!) 

On to my goals list. 

Week of June 15, 2015

Finish quilting Wild Dogs√

Get one donation quilt quilted didn’t happen

Load and begin customer quilt√ finished

Work on Galaxy√

Cleanup cutting table also didn’t happen but desperately needs it!

And this weeks -- hum, seems to be a repeat of last weeks. 

Week of June 22, 2015

Finish the handwork on Wild Dogs and put the binding on

Get one donation quilt quilted

Quilt next customer quilt

Make blocks for Pam of FCQEQuilter group

This morning I did do a little cooking.  I made Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce.  Several years ago (hum 10??) we hosted a company party for Pat's job.  Afterwards the hard liquor was left with us.  What do you do with a half gallon of  bourbon when you don't drink the hard stuff?  I found a recipe that used bourbon!  For some reason I had forgotten about it. This morning's batch used the last of the bourbon.  Check out the recipe on All Recipes. 

I'll be linking up to Love, Laugh, Quilt and Patchwork Times. 

Happy Quilting All! 

It Might Be Time . . .

for a NEW quilt.  What?  I'm trying to finish quilts not start them.  Here's the story.

We've lived in our current house for 5 years.  We've redone several things to it.  We decorated the 2 bedrooms based on what was left on the walls and the carpet.  They both look decorated.  We put curtains up in the living room and dining room.  But, we hadn't done anything at all to our own bedroom.  White walls, white mini-blinds, beige carpet.  Ugh.  We hadn't even put pictures on the walls.  So first, we painted the walls. The fancy name for the paint is Mesa Taupe by Behr. Hum, that taupe doesn't look all that taupe in this picture but it really is a lovely shade of grayed brown.  

We've ordered new carpet. (Well, honestly, how long can we live with a hole in the carpet right in front of Miss Kona's bed?  She likes to lick and chew on the carpet there.  Jenny L. you are on notice if she chews a hole in the new carpet!)  And, look, we hung a picture.  This was one from my parent's house and I've always liked it.  That barely-there sunset (or sunrise?) really glows in this pic.  

New curtains were also in order.  Our bedroom faces the east -- we get morning sun full against the wall our bed is on for several hours.  We also get moonshine at night when the moon is doing its thing.  And both heavenly bodies have found the little space between the window frame and the mini-blinds.  I get a shaft of sunlight that hits me full in the face every sunny morning.  ARGH.  Pat, on the other hand, gets the moon shining on him when he's trying to sleep.  Brilliant solution was to get some drapes to put up that would cover the space between the wall and the mini-blinds.  BAM - problem solved.  And, oh how sophisticated the room looks. 

Except, now the quilt doesn't quite go with the rest of the room.  It's the yellow; the blue would be fine.  But the yellow -- blegh.  So, to finish a long story, we need a new quilt for this room.  But wait, I'm not starting any new quilts unless I really can see that they will be done in a short (6 months or less) time.  Not happening with an oversized queen. What's a quilter to do?  

To the UFO list! Well, I didn't really need to go to the UFO list as I knew I had a perfectly good quilt I can pull out and finish pretty quickly.  Take a look at it.  I last worked on it 2 years ago at the FCQ retreat. 

It will go perfectly in the newly redecorated room.  That should get me motivated enough to actually finish it up except I keep measuring it and I'm not sure about the amount of border I want to put on it. Hum, maybe I'll pull it out this weekend and remeasure and decide if I want a little border and then the big border as shown above.  I like the bedrails covered on the bed when made.  I'll also have to find a wide back to go with this.  It is a mix of batiks and regular quilting fabric.  It may jump ahead of my other big quilt that needs quilting.  

So there you have it. I don't really need to start a new quilt.  I just need to make some decisions and finish off an unfinished project.  And that will be a win-win situation.  Of course, I'll have to make some pillow shams too but I have quite a bit of fabric left from the trip around the world.  On the other hand I really don't like making pillow shams but to get the look I want, I'll have to do that. 

That's it for today.  I've got a quilt that needs to be loaded and quilted this week.  I've got some piecing projects I want to move forward.  And, now, I have a top to border.  

I'm connecting up with ****.  Evidently no where right now.  I had a Thursday link up to try but it hasn't been posted yet.  Do you have a favorite linky party?  Please share! 

Happy Quilting All!