Carousel Horse

Here it is the completely finished Carousel Quilt.  It was given to Project Linus today at a Blanket Day.  I've never been to a BD before. Wow, lots of people and lots of different blankets. There were fleece, knit, crochet and quilted blankets.  This group donates 150 to 200 blankets a month.  The bad part for me is that the location of the BD was about an hour away in New York! Yikes. Pat drove me up and the usual weird directions spewed out of our gps. We got to see quite a bit of the countryside. I will probably not go very often although there were lots of stores up there and it is about 20 minutes from a quilt store I went to this fall.  Hum... maybe paired with a shopping trip.  

Here is a close up of the quilting on this one.  I used a polyester batt that was some what puffy. For speed of quilting I used a zigzag stitch that had several stitches in each of the zigzag. (I wish I knew the name of the stitch it would be so much easier!)  I also was able to lengthen the stitch which makes it work pretty well for quilting.  The other thing I did differently was sew the binding on the back by machine.  Then turned it and sewed it by machine.  Way faster than by hand.  

On our way home we took a different rural route.  We went through Milford, PA and had lunch at the Waterwheel Cafe. Yummy!  Also went to the county library and got cards.  I'm hoping they have different audio books online than the library we use in Wayne County.  Evidently we are as far west in Pike county as anyone can get! Figures.  I sure miss the Howard County Library!  

Happy Quilting All.  Bonnie 

2 Kind of Finishes

Here's a Valentine's Day Quilt I did a while ago.  I quilted it on my Bernina using Press n Seal -- it's actually a kitchen wrap but I traced the design on it and stuck it on the quilt and quilted it free hand.  Wasn't that bad, quilting wise.  I don't use Press n Seal all that much now.  I tend to draw the designs on lightweight tracing paper and then pin them in place.  Hum, this has a bad crease in the center.  I will need to fold it differently when I store it next.  

I still have two threads to tie off and bury on the Carousel Quilt.  I found out I hadn't done two short rows of quilting so got that finished.  Now to do the 10 minutes of work to finish the whole thing.  I keep my projects in plastic bins or boxes (depending on what is available.) I was happy to empty this quilt's bin.  I had quite a few fabrics to put away.  So, now can I start a new project?  NAW.  Maybe I'll take out an older project (UFO) and see if I can drum up some interest in it.  And, I'm still plugging away on the "million" piece quilt. There are lots of 1.5" x 1" finished pieces in this quilt.  Looks great when done.  So, again, I just keep adding to the sections.  Later I'll try to share pictures of what I've done so far.  

And, I finished the hand stitching on a quilt that's been done since Dec. except hand sewing the binding.  And, then I had only 1/4 of the binding to do yet it sat around.  It will eventually be a gift for a friend but not yet.  I'll get pictures after the label is put on.  Maybe I'll make the label today.  

I've spent some time recently on some knitting projects.  I was knitting at the Wed. quilting group and kept making mistakes on a very easy project.  I kept ripping out because I would figure out the mistake and go back to correct it.  Some of the mistakes stayed in.  Oh well.  Pictures when I finish.  

Time to get quilting.  -- I want to get the red hearts quilt quilted today along with some more motifs of the green, blue and beige quilt.  

Happy Quilting  -- Bonnie

Skating Rink?

No that's just the driveway after more snow, sleet and rain.  Yikes. I don't think I'll be getting the mail today! Most of that is ice!  And now at 3:00 pm it is grey and bleak looking.  Yuck. I don't hear rain/sleet/snow hitting the roof so maybe it is done for the time being.  But, I think it is suppose to snow again tomorrow. The good thing is I do hear snow plows around.  We'll see if Pat can get the car up the driveway.  Fun.  

Here is the Carousel Horse quilt top -- all sewn together.  It is 40" wide so I doubt I'll put any borders on it.  The fabric I have for the backing is about 42" wide so this is going to be tight.  I may bind it with the green. (The backing is the stripe.)  Although I may decide to use bias on the binding and use some of the stripe.  It would look cool.  

Now I am focusing on getting some other tops further along.  Specifically a mystery quilt with a million pieces.  Marge says no but .... I know better than that.  Specially since I'll probably make it bigger than what I originally thought.  

I have one more day to get all the ornaments off the tree.  We will be down in Maryland to celebrate Kevin's birthday and Christmas.  Lucky thing is the weather reports that both Friday and Sunday should be dry.  Of course, Sunday is a long time away so who knows what it will do on those days!  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

New Years Eve Day

I was all ready to go to the Wednesday Quilters even though we have snow on the streets and driveway.   And, it is still snowing.  I am showered, dressed and ready to go.  (well, hadn't made my lunch yet but that wouldn't have taken long.)  The phone rang.  No Wed. quilting today.  It makes sense but I was going to give it a try.  Now, I have a day stretching out in front of me and a few decisions to make.  What to do? What to do?  . . . 

Here is a photo of the carousel horse. Yuck. This photo doesn't make it look very good does it?  It is better in person.  Plus, I took this in the evening when the light gets weird. I need to make about 20 more blocks to go with these to make it a reasonable size.  So I will stash dive again and see what I can find.  I have been using up odd pieces of fabrics with this.  I purchased the pink stripe and the blue (both around the center block).  The pink will also be the border.  I have lots of the dark green left.  We'll see what happens when I get more blocks done.  I don't want to sew it together until all blocks are put together.  

And, hearts ... remember Valentine's Day isn't that far off!   These are fun, easy hearts to make.  Get the direction's from my friend Marge, at Delaware Quilts.  They are called Scrappy Hearts.   Marge also runs Mysteries for Relay.  You can access that yahoo group by the button in my sidebar.  So all you mystery lovers here is another choice for mystery quilt directions.  

Snow continues to fall.  Or as of right now -- blow sideways.  Guess I shouldn't have been planning a day out when I really didn't need to be out and about.  It's upstairs to the studio for another round of quilting.   (after the towels finish spinning that is!) 

Happy Quilting All.  And, may 2009 find you well.  Bonnie 

Hi, My Name is Bonnie and I am a Fabricholic . . .

That's the only reason I can figure for hitting Jo-Ann and doing some damage to my low buy decision.  Yes, I went into the big city of Scranton today and did a bit of Christmas shopping.  I returned something.  And then I went to Jo-Ann with one 50% off coupon and a list of what I thought I might "need" that was on sale at Jo-Ann.  Some was to fill low spots in the stash. Some were not at all necesary and some were go withs to a project I have in mind.  And, then there was stuff for Christmas cards, a knitting project book. and  .... you get the picture.

I had this cute carousel horse piece hanging around the studio.  "Ah ha!" says I,  "That would look cute in a Project Linus quilt."   I rummaged on the shelves and came up with the cream at the top right and the green -- which might be a bit too bright but what the hey!  I also found some little pieces of pink and blue to go with but not enough.  So, all those pieces went shopping with me.  (Hum, were they doing a mind meld on me and convincing me I had to get more fabrics??) I thought the pink stripe would be really cute with the horse. And then the blue was another go with.  Now, I plan to cut this up as soon as it all gets washed.  So, maybe this will be a top in the very near future.  I thought I might use the pink for the borders (if I use borders, and if not, the backing.) We'll see what gets done. 

I also found this really cute kitty cat fabric ... on sale, of course.  And the moose fabric is flannel.  I thought it might go in another rag quilt. Am I totally out of my mind.  I don't need any of this.  But, if I get snowed in this winter (when it officially arrives) I'll have lots to work on unless we lose electricity again! The center piece is Kona unbleached muslin from Jo-Ann.  I happened to have some other Kona -- it felt very similar.  This is just to have around.  I find I like to use the same neutral fabric in my scrap quilts.  So this will serve the purpose.  

On to dinner -- I'll be slaving away over a hot oven when I put the frozen pizza in!  

Hope to actually get a few more stitches in to the binding of the wall hanging.  I thought it would be up on the wall by Sunday, but didn't happen.  As always, there is always tomorrow! 

Happy quilting.  Bonnie