August OMG -- Finished!

Yes, just in time I've finished my August OMG.  My stated goal was to incorporate most of the pieces into a bargello top. In hindsight that sounds a bit weird.  What it meant to me is I had quite a few left over strata for my bargello.  I wanted to make the top longer.  I actually did that plus I made it 3 strips wider also.  I wasn't going to add a border but I had a nice pink that definitely went with the other pinks.  Needless to say if I had wanted to go out and buy a matching fabric I probably couldn't because most of these fabrics were 15 years old or so. 

Here's the finished top.  

I'm sure the peaks and valleys could have been a bit more interesting but I'm thrilled to be finished with the top.  Hopefully I'll finish quilting and binding it sometime before the end of this year.  It is time to be done with this UFO! 

And a closeup: 

Hum, this top, right side seems to sway in a bit.  Hopefully I can alleviate the issue by better ironing.  I added 7 more horizontal rows to the original 12 rows. If I had been smart I would have added them before I sewed the top section together.  It worked by sewing the bottom section together and then adding it to the top section.  I believe this will end up about 41" square.  

Even though these are old fabrics/colors I still like it.  It will be hung on the rack over the fireplace for a month or so each year.  

That's it for me today.  I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop and Needle and Thread Thursday.  Enjoy browsing some blogs to see what folks are working on these days. 

Slight confession here:  I actually finished the top yesterday mid-day but I didn't actually blog about it until 10pm on 8/31.  Yikes, only 2 hours before the deadline.  But it did get done as did the post. Whoop! Whoop! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 8 - 27 - 2018

Well, even though I thought I should blog twice this past week I only got one post up -- last Monday's.  Part of the reason (excuse?) is I don't have much in the way of pictures to share.  And, I still don't have much new but I thought I would share where my OMG stands.  I still have 5 days -- I should be able to get my goal done in that amount of time.  Here's what my top looks like now. My goal is to finish the top.  

You might notice I have a slew of little notes on the piece.  See the yellow note on the right?  Pretty much all the columns below that are in process of being added.  So far I've found a strip set for all 26 columns.  I had made a LOT of strata.  I lined up slices of the strata to match the column above.  And then I had to remove the stitches from the slice where the next color was.  Let me tell you -- I messed that up a lot.  So there was a lot of unsewing and sewing up going on.  I finally got that all figured out.  Next, I removed 4 squares from each of the columns -- I didn't want it too long.  Unfortunately for me I had already sewn some of the columns together.  More unstitching and then repairing (as in stitching back up) some of the squares.  Most of the columns to the right are individual columns.  All of the columns on the left have been stitched into groups.  So to finish this one up I still need to do any repair work from taking off the bottom 4 squares and then sew all the rows together correctly.  Then, I need to sew 2 columns to the top section.  And THEN I can sew the bottom section to the top section and I'll be done with the top.  Sure, I can do that in 5 days!  I'll let you know by the end of the month. 

I did pretty well with my goals this week, although I admit I didn't have a huge list because I had a lot of non-sewing things scheduled.   Here's last week list -- yes everything has been finished or at least worked on! 

August 20, 2018

Bind Charity quilt√

Finish 9 patches for flower pots quilt√

Continue working on bargello√

Make more Christmas lotto blocks for Oct. retreat√

And coming this week --- 

August 27, 2018

Finish Bargello top 

Make more Christmas lotto blocks for Oct. retreat

Work on Jamestown Landing borders

Attend Country Piecemakers Quilt In

Cut more blocks for pirate quilt

Make 3 pillowcases

I'm linking up with my normal Monday Linky Parties: Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  Yikes, only Oh Scrap is up tonight, Sunday.  I'll check back in the morning to see who else I can add.  I noticed Beth at Main Crush Monday was on vacation last week so I never was able to link up.  Maybe she's still on vacation but I will check tomorrow and a few times after just in case she's gets her next post up. I hope you spend some time checking out some of these linky parties.  

I'm ending with two of my granddaughters who we took out to lunch and to Build-A-Bear for their birthdays.  I know I've walked into a B-A-B location before but never with the intent to buy.  The girls had a good time picking their bear "skins" and putting music in and a heart and then watching their bear take shape with the stuffing machine.  Hubby says he refuses to get me a stuffing machine.  I used to make bears and it took me a LOT longer to stuff mine.  We then did a little clothes shopping.  

The green bear is a Power Ranger bear.  The pink is dressed in fairy clothes: Light up wings, light up dress and high heal sparkly shoes.  Yep, you read that right -- high heel sparkly shoes.  Orioles, the name of the green bear, also got some dinosaur pjs, a Univ. of Maryland t shirt and a Orioles baseball team shirt.  Definitely well dressed bears.  We had fun.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 8 - 20 - 2018

Here's Mr or Miss Bear all finished.  When I decide to make clothes I'll decide whether Bear is a boy or a girl.  I'm not sure when I'll get to making clothes but some day.  Bear was lounging around on the deck of the community center when I had the photo shoot last week.  I realize I have a label for bear -- but it was for a bear walking around some houses I was driving by in Pa. Big difference!

Next up are blocks I'm getting ready to mail out to Alycia for her Flags for Sue campaign.  Alycia makes quits for Quilts of Valor and Sue was one of her dedicated sewers who passed away this year.  In her honor Alycia is collecting blocks and making more Quilts of Valor.  It's not too late if you want to make some to send to Alycia. Check out info on Flags for Sue on Alycia's blog. She would like them mailed by September 1. Here are the 3 I'm sending off this week. 

To the left of the flags I've got my bargello quilt laid out.  I'm adding strips below the finished section as I want it a little bigger.  I'll be working on it a lot this week -- the month is almost up and this is my OMG.  

My last set of blocks is for the October retreat.  We are making 12" blocks out of Christmas fabric. ARGH!  I just reread the directions and these are WRONG!  I was suppose to use Christmas fabric with WHITE... not what I did. And, darn, I cut another pair of blocks out before I finished today. Ok, so, it won't be all that hard to change to white and Christmas.  In fact I'm betting the blocks will look better with a white.  And, I definitely have white on whites.  I think this red just screams in this picture. 

On to my weekly goals.  It was another terrific week where I finished everything I planned to work on! And, it was a fairly long list.  I actually was able to quilt a customer quilt and another charity quilt this past week.  I was staying focused! 

August 13, 2018

Finish binding strippy quilt√

Add legs and tail to bear√

Bind framed 7 ½” squares√

Work on 9 patches for flower pots quilt√

Start sewing more strips to bargello√

Finish piecing the string borders for Jamestown Landing√ or at least I think I have enough!

And here's my plan for this week.  I've got several days away from the house so I won't be getting as much sewing done.  I cut back on my goals somewhat. 

August 20, 2018

Bind charity quilt

Finish 9 patches for flower pots quilt

Continue working on bargello 

Make more Christmas lotto blocks for Oct. retreat

Celebrate Natalie's and Sophie's birthdays

I'm linking up with my regular blogs: Oh Scrap, Monday Making,  Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward.  If the link isn't live yet I'll come back and set it soon.  (Assuming I remember to!) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Finishes!

Recently I've not been getting pictures of finished projects.  So this week I made a big effort to get photos of 3 finished quilts that I was delivering to Virginia Star Quilters for our charity collection.  Most of them you've seen bits of as I worked on them.  

First up is a 25 patch.  VSQ schedules a bingo night with participants making their own bingo cards based on a list of possibilities from the guild.  The "cards" are collected at the end and made into a quilt.  I did not make the quilt; but I did add the grey borders to the quilt and quilted it.  I was given a big hunk of fabric for the back but there wasn't enough, so I added more of the grey to the back.  Voila -- on to the quilting part. 

25 patch - Quilting design: Puppy Paws; thread Omni grey.

Doggy fabric and grey backing.

Next up is a quilt that Sheila sewed together during VSQ's open sew for charity day last month.  It is totally flannel front and back. I volunteered to quilt it and bind it.  (What bind it?  Not my favorite job for sure!) 

Quilted with Ginger Flower using probably a beige So Fine but I didn't keep track of the information for some reason.

Last up is Boxed Squares.  I decided to try a technique for making framed or boxed squares using two squares to start with.  Go to Cluck, Cluck, Sew for the directions. I love the concept but I found my blocks were not consistent and they were running small.  So, some were made with those directions and others were made cutting 2.5" strips and cutting them to fit the blocks.  I liked the finished product either way! 

Boxed Squares, quilting pattern: Diamond Magic; thread: Glide burgundy.

Even in the above picture you can see some of the texture this quilting pattern makes. Below shows the texture really well. 

And, finally a peak at the backing I used.  It's always hard for me to find backings.  For the longest time I would buy 1/2 yards of fabric for variety.  I'm getting better at buying bigger hunks of fabric but I don't always have a something that goes.  Enter two collections of fabric I have acquired -- one from a friend who wanted to downsize and another from a quilter's estate. I can't tell you which group I got this from but I was happy to put it to use.  I was able to find a binding in my stash that worked with both the front and the back.  

I was laughing at myself the other night when I turned in all the quilts.  I overheard a lady say she liked this backing.  And, I'm thinking -- not my favorite.  But we all have different likes and I'm sure people will be happy to receive one of these quilts.   FYI -- I've just taken one more charity quilt off Ruthie.  It's waiting to be bound but also will be donated to VSQ's collection for seniors in our area. 

Happily, I've figured out some different locations for taking quilt pictures. The top two pictures were taken on the deck of our community club house.  And while taking them I realized the gazebo on the grounds might also make a good backdrop or maybe the tennis courts... lots of different places around the community too.  Hum, I wonder if the sales office would allow me to take photos in the models??

The rest of the pictures were taken in our small backyard.  The wrought iron fence is protecting the stairs going into the basement.  The same basement where my studio is.  When I sit at my sewing machine I am looking up those stairs.  I have a bird feeder hanging on a pole next to one side so I can enjoy some of the birds that flutter around.  It supplies a surprising amount of daylight too.  

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, and Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday.  Hope you can spend some time and see some great quilting going on! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 8 - 13 - 2018

Here's what I was working on this week.

I finished the quilting my framed square quilt on Sunday afternoon.  The quilting design is new so this quilt was a good opportunity to try it.  It is called Diamond Magic Pantograph from My Creative Stitches. I love how it looks.  I learned how to nest a pattern -- turned out pretty good in my eyes! Next I need to find a fabric to use for binding.  This quilt will be a donation to a senior group. Here's one row of the design on Ruthie's computer. 

Last spring I cut out this quilt to possibly make during the May retreat. Since I didn't get to it then I decided it was time to get it made up now.  I'm trying to decide if I want to add a small, calm border between the 9 patches and the center floral fabric.  It has a couple additional borders after the 9 patches. What do you think?  Maybe that dark green for a border, or a lighter cream or leave it as it is?  Let me know what you think. 

The pattern is from Quiltmaker's All Time Favorites, Spring 2001 magazine.  (OMG who knew I would actually use a pattern from a magazine from 2001!  I guess it made some sense to keep my old Quiltmaker mags.)

I did pretty well on my goals this week, even if I had to sneak back to the studio after dinner on Sunday.  Most items have been checked off but a couple need a bit more time to finish them. 

August 6, 2018

Bind 16 patch quilt√

Bind strippy quilt√ started

Finish knit bear still need legs and tail attached

Quilt framed 7 ½” blocks√

Figure out next step on bargello (and begin!)√ 

Cut our 2 pillowcases√

Keep making string borders for Jamestown Landing√ I'm almost done!

Here's what I'll be working on during this week.  Hum, it isn't as long a list -- maybe I'll be able to get all the items totally finished. Don't hold your breath. 

August 13, 2018

Finish binding strippy quilt

Add legs and tail to bear

Bind framed 7 ½” squares 

Work on 9 patches for flower pots quilt

Start sewing more strips to bargello

Finish piecing the string borders for Jamestown Landing

I'm ending with my favorite linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward. I'll keep checking back with Main Crush Monday and add that link as it becomes available. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Quilted Pillow

When I finished quilting and binding this quilt for my customer there was quite a bit of backing fabric left.  I suggested she might like a pillow cover for it.  Yes, yes please was the answer.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished pillow but here's the design I quilted on the front. The design is Spring Sunrise Block 4 by My Creative Stitches.  

And here's the finished design.

I used one of the tutorials for envelope pillow covers on the Internet.  Sorry, I can't find the one I used.  It gave recommendations on sizes to cut the cover based on the pillow form chosen.  I ended up cutting this one down slightly smaller than the 16" pillow I was using.  Luckily it worked very well and I passed a nice plump pillow to my customer.  And, no, I didn't remember to take a picture.  Sigh.  I've been missing taking pics of finished projects a lot recently.  Note to self -- remember to take a photo of the 25 patch quilt now that it is done! 

I hope you have a great weekend.  I'm going to link up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?  I hope you take some time to see what people are working on these days. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering & OMG 8 - 6 - 2018

Great week for goals!  I finished all of them and got on to other things I wanted to finish.  Here's the stripe project on last week's goals.  I'm ready to find backing for it and get it quilted.  

Next is my decision on my August One Monthly Goal.  It has taken a long time for me to decided to just finish this quilt.  I started it in the ... um, er, the early 2000's??? I can't even remember.  I know I took a class at Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland but I  didn't get very far.  Fast forward to February 2017.  Sharon and I took a class with a FCQ guild member to make a smaller (29 x 24") bargello quilt.  I never finished it because I wanted mine bigger.  And, I wasn't sure what to do nor did I really want to figure it out.  So now a million 20 years later I need to get this done and OFF my UFO list.  Note the pinks, burgundies and blues... even the colors are old! (Although, I still like them but they sure don't match my current living room where the finished quilt will hang part of the year!) 

This is the section I finished at the class. (The pieces still have the size tags on them!)  Here's what I have left with which I can play.

I guess part of my problem is I want it longer not just wider.  That takes a big of effort to figure it out.  

My One Monthly Goal for August is 

Incorporate most of the pieces into a bargello top.

Ok, that's my public declaration. I'm not sure what I'll do to get it to a top using most of the pieces but I'll at least try.  I'm pretty sure I have a whole strata still available for use.  Time will tell. 

Here's a peak at another little knitting project I'm working on.... Have you figured out what this is... no, not a mouse.  Oh, no, not a dog or a bunny. Ok, I'll tell you. He's going to be a bear. (Or maybe it'll be a she bear. I haven't decided yet.) Hopefully tomorrow I'll get more pieces together.  I've got arms, legs, ears and a body already knit and ready to add to the head.  It may take me all week to do this one, assuming I actually do work on him/her.  I'll share the book I used for this when he's done. 

On to the goals! 

July 30, 2018

Put borders on Stripe top√

Keep making string borders for Jamestown Landing√

Make 2 pillowcases√

Pick OMG for August√

Sew blocks and rows for 7 ½” squares within strips√

(Don't you love check √ marks after items on a to do list?) 

Because I really did zip through most of these items I decided to make this week's a little longer. 

August 6,2018

Bind 16 patch quilt

Bind strippy quilt

Finish knit bear

Quilt framed 7 ½” blocks

Figure out next step on bargello (and begin!) 

Cut our 2 pillowcases

Keep making string borders for Jamestown Landing

Hum, #3 up there is finish the bear... I guess I'd better work on him more than just during my normal Monday afternoon stitching group.

Here are the linky parties I'm joining this week: Elm Street Quilts August OMG, Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. (I'll link up with the other two parties after they are posted AND when I remember.) 

I'm looking forward to a quilty week.  I've been on a roll and I sure want to continue that forward motion! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie