All-Star Sampler

Recently, I read on someone's blog that she didn't think anyone would be interested in finishing a project.  Guess what! People do finish other people's unfinished projects. 

Virginia Star Quilters received a plastic box with several finished blocks, extra fabric, a couple of sample blocks, a ruler, and a book, All-Star Sampler. The Community Outreach chair person passed it on to me to see if I would finish it -- or at least do something with it.  There were 9 blocks finished and one nearly finished.   I looked in the box soon after I got it and freaked out. The blocks were beautiful star blocks. There were two settings both with feathered star blocks. The project had been a block of the month project from a store according to a note the quilter left. She said she started it in 1999. The piecing is exquisite.  Take a look at the blocks she's finished.

I originally thought I'd finish another block that is nearly done. And, maybe make one more so there will be 12 blocks.  Um, er, I don't make complicated blocks for the most part. Most, if not all, of these have set in seams. My plan now is to pull out my trusty Circle of Nine book and choose a setting.  No doubt any of them in that book would be easier than the settings in the book, All Star Sampler by Roxanne Carter.  You know I'm not making a feathered star block -- although I have and I actually could.  But, no, not for this. 

After texting back and forth with Nancy, the Community Outreach person, we decided one of the Circle of Nine quilts would work. We think the finished quilt might be a raffle quilt, or possibly donate to another organization to use as a fund raiser. Here's what the design will (hopefully) look like. As shown it would be 68" square. The blocks are 12" and the outside border is 8.5".  I'm not sure it will end up that big but it's what we're thinking about.  

I did an inventory of all the fabric that was included.  The multicolor print on black ground has a whole bunch of fabric already cut at 6.5".  Other fabrics have 2 yards or less.  If I remember correctly the "F" rectangles need about 2 yards. Hum, I just noticed the light background squares "D". There isn't a lot of background left -- hopefully just enough.  If we're lucky,  the only fabric that will be purchased is the backing. 

I'll keep you posted as I begin to work through this challenge.  I doubt it will be high on my list to complete soon but I should be able to finish it if I work on it off and on over the next few months. Part of my issue is I'm trying to finish a lot of my UFOs and quilt some of the many tops I have.  And, a surprise group of quilts for a customer.  I'll be busy. 

Have you decided what you will do with your stash, sewing machines, UFO's and finished quilts? I mean, when you are either not around or unable to keep working on them?  

I have a plan -- my daughter will be responsible for moving out my sewing supplies. She's a quilter but she has a tiny little sewing space so she's not going to be able to keep most of what I have. (Remember, books, rulers, threads, long arm, old projects -- the list just keeps on going.) I will try to leave some ideas of where she can donate quilts and supplies to that will benefit others. 

She rolls her eyes at me when I tell her I've gotten rid of things.  A while ago I gave away a big bag of paper panto patterns for long arm quilting. *eye roll* I was happy to pass it on to a lady who had a fairly new long arm and was thrilled to take them. (I'm also working on my yarn collection making frame knit hats.) 

I am continuing to move UFOs into tops. I've cut back on fabric buying -- except for specific projects or backing. I think in the last 2 or 3 years I've only gotten a 3 or 4 books. I sporadically sell some of my supplies or give them away on the free table at the guild.  So I am trying.  But I hope to never give up on quilting. If I have any luck sewing through my fabric collection it would be some what easier.  Have you put any thought into your quilting supplies? 

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Alycia's Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Beauties Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty.  Take some time to visit. A lot is  going on with quilters around the world. I'll be back to link up the other posts on Friday -- if I remember... UGH! Saturday morning and I finally remembered! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meandering 1 - 16 - 2023

Winter has gripped our area again.  We're are staying in the house to keep warm.  Hubby and I are staying with our grands while their parents are in Key West. Hum, why didn't we think to do that?  We're having fun during our visit. I'll share some of the visit at the end. 

First it's time for my goals. Here's last week's list. 

1/9/2023

✅Continue with RSC blocks in blue

✅Work on January UFO Challenge — Moose quilt

👎🏼Work on Spider Web blocks — sew blocks into “foursys”. Decide how many more blocks needed and make them — A few more blocks sewn but didn’t get far. 

✅Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning up the studio — Most days 20 minutes were spent cleaning around the studio. And I can see a difference. More needs to be done though. 

Here's the result of two of my goals. First is the progress on the Moose quilt. I decided on using some 3.5" squares to separate the pictures. I'm using a brown which has some light colors in it to accent the pictures. (Sorry you can't see the light highlights in that dark brown in the picture.)  The short brown piece above the bigger moose picture was just to see how a brown strip would look across the quilt.  When I have a chance I'll be adding a brown strip above and below the second strip of pictures. I hope I can get this finished by the end of the month... at least to top stage. 

I was able to get a sample RSC block done in blues.  Here are the results. Hum, I need to make sure there are light colors in each quarter of the block. I haven't decided how many I'm going to make but maybe 2 of each of the 10 colors. This block is 9" finished. I generally make lap size quilts with RSC blocks.  We'll see what I decide this year.

 

Here's are my plans for this week.  They are a little less challenging than normal but I hope to finish all of them. 

1/16/23

Finish a few RSC blue blocks

Do the January Melodic Mystery clue

Make a few blocks for Flower Song

Finish Traffic Jam top with 2” blocks

Enjoy the Grands

Now on to some photos that should make you laugh when you see them. 

And he here is ... Walter the dog! 

I know, poor dog.  Next up is a list of Linky parties I'll be signing up with.  Hopefully I actually link to all I list. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

I'm ready to get some piecing done and hopefully I'll be able to when the grands are at school over the next few days.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

First UFO Challenge Finished!

I joined the American Patchwork and Quilting UFO Challenge this year.  The last quilt I wrote on my list was the first one chosen.   I listed it as a sail boat quilt.  I had some leftover sailboat material I had made into snowballs.  I also had a grouping of lighthouses, seashells, and seaweed fabrics left over from a friend's quilt.  From the tossed lighthouse fabric I made some more snowballs.  And then, I got involved with a different project and put all of the blocks and fabric away.  Which is the condition it was in when #12 was pulled at the beginning of the month. 

You can see how it looked when I pulled it out and blogged about it on the Jan. 3rd. And, I showed it again on Jan. 10th.  But at that point I hadn't decided where the lighthouses should be.  I often share pictures of my works in progress with my friend Sharon.  And when I sent her a picture similar to the one on the 10th, she suggested I place the lighthouses between row 2 and 3.  Brilliant! With that in mind I kept working.  It was easy to sew the sections of the lighthouse fabric together. A final border of the same yellow as the sashing was added and it was ready to quilt. (I used up all of that light yellow fabric which one reason the border is the same size as the sashing!

I decided I would actually finish it rather than just leave it as a top. Thanks to Marlyn who gave me a leftover piece of navy blue that I added to a leftover piece of brighter blue swirl fabric I could make the backing.

Ruthie the long arm worked well and I finished it in a day.  I used Fern Gully, one of my go to patterns.  Then it was on to binding.  There was enough of the navy blue to make a nice frame for the quilt.  I sew my binding to the back of the quilt by machine.  And then pull it forward to sew it again with machine.  It is much faster than hand stitching and holds up better.  

It was finished this afternoon.  Unfortunately, it's been so darn cold out I didn't want to take any outdoor shots.  Here's the finished quilt on my design wall.  The beige sashing on top and below the lighthouses is the seaweed fabric. 

I did a great job using up all of the sailboat fabric but there is a bit of the  lighthouses left and some other smaller pieces of the go with fabrics. I'm really pleased with the finished product.  

We won't know the next quilt to work on until Tuesday.  I may pull out one of the quilts that is more involved to finish and move it forward.  Then switch to whatever quilt comes next.  

We were at our local butcher's shop this week.  Look what Pat found.  I just had to take a photo to share. It's hard to read the label but it says Napa Valley Quilt.  It's a cabernet sauvignon.  And it was fairly pricy: $28.00 a bottle.  Nope, didn't bring one home. 

I'm hoping the big snow storm moving up the East Coast doesn't dump a bunch of snow on us.  But watch out everybody north of DC.  It's heading your way with a lot of snow.  

I'm linking up with the following blogs:

Midweek Makers    

Needle and Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday 

Beauties Pageant 

That's it for tonight.  I hope you can visit some of these blogs and see what folks are working on these days. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 20 - 2021

Did you have a great week last week?  Get a lot of quilting done and the like?  I did too but it seemed to be a slow week for me. I was successful with my goals so let's take a look at them.

UFO -- Roman Stripes 

9/13/21

✅Make Table Scrap Challenge runner — cut & laid out. 

✅Finish cutting out Economy blocks for retreat — finished &bagged for retreat.

✅Work on UFO blocks (need 2 more) Plan sashing — Trimmed blocks, made 3,  ready to sew together.  This pattern is called Roman Stripes. 

✅Make a couple of walker bags — Made 3 and turned into the guild (oops no pictures!)

✅Contact Grace Co. — Ordered new cables and small circuit board.

Here's what's up for this coming week.  It isn't a very long list because as soon as the parts for Ruthie come in I'll start catching up on my quilting.

9/20/2021

Finish orange table runner

Sew blocks together & start sashing UFO Roman Stripes 

If parts arrive, fix Ruthie & finish quilt on Ruthie

Put border on curved 9 patch

Last month I was really good and didn't buy any fabric.  This month I'm going crazy buying fabric and winning fabric.  I won a prize from the Positivity Quilt Along.  I received a squishy in the mail holding these beautiful fabrics. Whoop! Whoop! There were 7 fat quarters and a yard of the burgundy.  I need to start looking for fat quarter friendly patterns so I can make something special from them. 

Did you know Saturday, Sept. 18 was Jelly Roll Day?  I didn't either.  But I did read about it on Facebook.  There was also a link to some jelly roll friendly patterns.  Check them out here.  There are 15 different patterns -- one is probably going to call your name! I shared with my friend Sharon and she's planning on bringing instructions and a jelly roll to the retreat in less than 2 weeks. It's always nice to have a backup project just in case. 

• I'm linking with my regular parties. Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday. (Ok, I've not been too successful on linking up on Tuesdays. I'll really try hard this week.) Join me in surfing the web.  There are lots of things to see out there.

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

March Stash Busting or Not

I thought I was doing a good job on not building my stash this month.  But then I remembered I bought quite a few pieces of fabric on a shopping trip to Richmond on Mar. 3.  Blue Crab Quilt shop was having a going out of business then so a group of us went down to take advantage of the good prices.  We hit a few other shops too, where I also bought fabric and thread.  Sigh. 

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Mar	7.125	25.375	6.00	14.625	10.750

So I am still bringing in more fabric than I am using. But so far this month I've bought no fabric at all.  

As well as everyone else, I've been making masks.  Unfortunately, masks don't take all that much fabric. And, I'm using muslin for backing and ties.  Luckily I have a lot of it from different people's stashes I was given.  So, yes, I'm using small amounts of my own fabric, and making a dent in the other stashes.  I did not add those into my fabric acquisition numbers over the years so I am not deducting them either.  Hopefully, I will get a few of my own projects quilted and bound this month.

I started with 8 blocks/parts of blocks left over from a baby quilt I made in 1997.  Scrappy  Mountain Majesties is a Bonnie Hunter pattern available on Quiltville.com. It's been on my UFO list for ages.

I added 9 blocks and dropped a bunch to get this 3 x 4 layout.  The blocks are taller than they are wide.  The 3 x 3 setting seemed an odd size. So I made 15 blocks. Yep, that works. Once I find a backing fabric, get it quilted and bound I'll be able to mark it off my UFO. 

Not every juncture is wonderful.  Some look like the top one at the right.  And some look like the bottom one which looks pretty darn good to me!  There will be no border.  This goes directly into my closet with other tops needing to be quilted.  This one is small -- it'll probably only need a 1.25 yards for the backing.  But do I have that much fabric just hanging around? Maybe, I need to do a really good search.

I've started putting together the red, white and blue blocks I showed here. Hum, I just reread what I wrote.  I forgot all about putting sashing in.  I've already sewn the top row together with no sashing.  Oh well.  Hopefully it will look good when finished.  Tomorrow I'll check my measurements and make sure these blocks will be the right size for QOVs. 

I'm still making masks, but I'm sewing on my UFOs too.  I hope to be able to continue to donate 10 to 15 masks a week to good causes but still make some forward progress on my own projects.  

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday,  Can I Get a hoop Whoop, Beauties 76, Midweek Makers, and To Do Tuesday. I'm doing some surfing over the next few days.  won't you join me? 

Stay Safe and Happy Quilting!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 18 - 2019

EEK!  How many power outages are we going to have this year?  Our lights went out Sunday morning around 9 or 9:30.  No! Again?  This time a transformer went.  Very frustrating as I had planned to go to the studio to work on some current projects.  Three or four hours later it went back on but we had other things to do. And, my motivation was gone. Bummer.  Just a note, we live in an active senior community with underground wiring.  All these events we've had have been several miles away from us. Bummer.  

Here's what I have gotten done on one of my weekly goals. Since this photo was taken I've sashed the whole thing.  I am ready to put the borders on.  This will be going to a senior living facility that the Powhatan guild supports.  

The blocks are some of the over 50 blocks I received from the FCQ EQuilters. 

 I love the blocks but I got way too many for just me.  I've planned a 4 x 6 set for a lap quilt for me.  But I'll have enough left to make at least 3 of the smaller quilts.  A couple of years ago I bought the sashing/border fabric when Pat and I were in Lancaster, PA.  Below is a selection of blocks still waiting to be used.  I had them spread out to try to pick which ones I want to use for my quilt.  I didn't get that done but I will soon. 

I'm hoping to get this UFO done over the next few weeks. And won't that feel good to get a UFO done!  

I did pretty well on my goals this week.  I had planned to bind the Valentine table runner but just didn't get to it. (Blame the power outage. At least it is trimmed up and the binding is cut.) You can just make it out on the upper center of the granny square picture. It's hanging over the front rail on the long arm. 
Despite not playing in the studio Sunday, I was able to check off every thing on my goals list last week. Yea. 

February 11, 2019 

Quilt Valentines table runner√ 

Work on dog tumbler top√ 

Print labels for Va. Star√ 

Work on scrap quarter square triangles√ 

Work on my FCQEquilters blocks - granny blocks √

And here's this week's goals.  Pretty much a repeat of last week trying to move all of these projects forward. 

February 18, 2019

Bind Valentines table runner

Border first Granny blocks quilt 

Make more quarter square triangles 

Work on dog tumbler top 

Hand quilt on Christmas quilt UFO

Don't forget to check in to Sarah's Hands2Help if you are looking for some places to share your quilts with.  She's got a really good group of charities this year.  I'm looking at quilts I've got in my closet ready to quilt along with finished quilts.  I haven't decided which ones I'll send off to new homes but I will be participating in Hands2Help again this year. 

That's it for today.  I'm linking up with the regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  I had a great time last week browsing through some of the links.  Lots of great quilting going on out there.  Hope you can take a few minutes to surf. (I'll come back to link up any links not available as I write this.) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

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 7 - 9 - 2018

The project from last week's goal list that I made progress on at the end of the week was -- the red, white and blue hearts.  The hearts were done in 1996 and then were aged for, um, 22 years or so.  Fast forward through 3 or 4 moves and a lot of other quilts taking priority to 2018.  I'm trying to get it finished this year -- to get one more UFO off the list.

Here's the center sewn together.  I've placed a bit of black around the sides to audition it as a small inner border.  Below are up close pics of the two corners.  The top one has a more cherry red color.  The bottom one is actually the color used in the stars -- more of a deeper burgundy. 

Hum, I'm not sure the color differences are going to show up.  Any one want to give me your 2 cents on which color?  I'm thinking the black will be about 1" finished.  The outer border will be about 2" finished.  The blocks are 4" finished so it isn't really very big.  It will fit on a small hanger in the great room that gets different quilts throughout the year.  This will work well for patriotic holidays.  

Here's the scoop on my goals last week. Let's just say it was a pretty good week. 

July 2, 2018

Start sewing secret project√

Begin making string border for Jamestown Landing√

Sew Beachside Bungalow (celebrate) together√

Sew red, white and blue heart blocks together√

Quilt airplane quilt√begun 

July 9, 2018

Make more string borders for Jamestown Landing

Work on Stripe blocks 

Make backing for Celebrate

Border heart wall hanging

Make some pillowcases

Attend Angel ornament class

One problem that came up is the long arm isn't working correctly.  I received a new chip to put into it.  Here's the old one on the left and the new one on the right.   Hum . . . it looks to me it is missing a section on the left side. I wonder if that is why it isn't working.  Sigh.  Hopefully tomorrow tech help can get a new one in the mail to me.  And, I had hoped to get Celebrate quilted this week.  Probably not going to be done, thus left off the goals list. Hopefully I'll get Ruthie up and running this week if the new part can come in fast enough... 

I'm done for now.  Don't forget to visit these linky parties to see what folks are working on this week. Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. Some of the links will need to be done tomorrow.  But I hope you will spend some time checking them out. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 23 - 2017

Does this happen to you? OOPS!  This is suppose to be 2 pinwheel blocks.  Unfortunately I didn't notice it until I'd sewn the row together.  

And, yes, I did get the center of this top together.  It is another baby quilt that will go to a NICU.  I used the 9" Qube half square triangle die to make this.  When I make baby quilts I generally like them to be no wider than 1 width of fabric.  So 9 x 4 = 36.  I've got about 4 to 5" of border I can add.  Below I'm auditioning some of the fabric.  I do have a big piece of the print available.  But it is directional.  I probably have enough of the yellow, green, or red to use as a border.  

Any suggestions on it?  Unfortunately, I took these photos in the late afternoon.  And, today it is poring rain so there's no chance for better photographs.   I'm beginning to think I might put the extra print fabric on the back. Send me your ideas.  The border will probably be about 2" on each side.  It won't be finished this week because I'm heading up to take a class at Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland so Sharon and I are having a sewing weekend at her house.

                               

Here's my prep work for the Bargello class we are taking from one of the members.  

No, I did not sew all of these strips together this past week.  This is a UFO.  The best I can remember is it was started in a class in the mid to late 1990's but I can't pinpoint it any better than that until I talk with Sharon. She didn't take the class because she moved away for several years.  I've got four width of fabric strata sewn and some cuts already made.  Why I didn't finish this is beyond me.  Although I was working full time so that may have been part of the reason.  

It's going to be really challenging to re-iron all of the strips that have been cut.  The plan with bargellos is to have two identical strata and press the seams opposite -- one set of seams go up and the other goes down.  Then when you sew them together all the seams nest really well.  I'll be ironing these in between other things this week. 

I did really well on my goals this past week.  I was really energized and spent a lot of time in my studio.  

January 16, 2017

Load and quilt customer quilt√

Knit on UFO sweater√

Start emptying boxes & put things in new closet shelves √

Put together pinwheel quilt√

Load RWB Gems quilt√ quilting is started

And here is what I'm going to be working on this week.

January 22, 2017

Finish quilting RWB Gems Quilt

Bind black and bright colored quilt

Prep for the bargello class and attend it

Finish bargello top except borders

Gather all red, white and blue orphan blocks

Knit on sweater

This is a pretty daunting list, especially finish the bargello top since I won't have all that much time after the class to do that.  But I really hope to get to all of these projects.  

I'm linking up with the regular blogs: Monday Making and Main Crush Monday.  I'm going to spend a bit of time visiting various blogs this morning and then head down to the long arm. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Work In Progress

My trip around the world now has two sides of the border on it.  Yea!  I've been less motivated to finish this one but now that the bedroom has been "decorated" and this will go wonderfully with it I'm back to getting it finished. I am using 8" borders as we like the quilt to cover the bed rails. I hope to get the other two sides of the border done today. 

I've also started on the repairs and finishing the second half of the antique quilt I'm doing for friends. The last one I worked on was cut in half by ripping out the stitches.  Now I'm finishing what was left.  The quilt is by no means a perfect example of piecing.  In fact, it really is pretty awful.  But it means something to these folks and they are planning on giving the quilts to other family members.  

I had to remove one of the blocks in order to repair the first quilt.  So I've made another block to place  where I removed the one. (Actually, this is just a general picture of the quilt.)  I've fixed one of the rips in the piecing.  Two more to go.  Then I'll put a border on.  I've got some yellow from the collection of fabric my friends passed on to me so I think I'll use it for the border.  I'll probably continue to use the baptist fan panto for the quilting.  It is appropriate for the time.  Here's the first one as it was coming off the frame. (Did I really not post a picture of the finished quilt?  Do I even have a picture of it??) 

The tree from the last post is down. Sniff.  I'll miss it's beautiful flowers in the spring.  It looks so bare where it was.  You can look at the header to see how big it was! 

All that is left is this stump.  I keep telling myself the tree was rotting from the inside out but I am still sad! 

Today I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced Modern Quilts. 

That's it for today. It's time I head up to the studio to put the other two sides of the border on my TAW.  Heck, I've got a little dress to finish for a little birthday girl too. 

Happy Quilting All!