OMG Success!

It's done!  One small quilt: extra blocks made, top assembled, quilted and bound.  The only thing I haven't added yet is the label.  It will be done in the next few weeks.  There are previous posts about it here and here. 

I started the blocks for this quilt in 2010.  I was a member of the Small Quilt Yahoo Chat Group.  Every month there is a challenge quilt offered for members to make.  So, I made the little star blocks. And then something else took my fancy and they languished.  A couple of months ago I made one more star block.  

Once I decided this would be my first OMG quilt I figured out how I wanted to finish it.  I started in on it.  Next thing I know it was a top. I spray basted the batting and the top and backing. I had to add extra pins to make sure the layers didn't come apart.  I decided to hand quilt it using the big stitch concept.  I used two strands of regular DMC embroidery floss. (If I had a small enough pearl cotton I might have used  it but didn't have any and I wasn't going to buy any.)  I outlined the 5 stars and called it quilts. Next up time to bind it.  I don't always hand stitch the binding after applying the first side by hand. But I sat down and finished it off by hand.  It's the first finish for 2016 and it was a UFO.  And all of the fabrics came from the stash! Yippee!  I've added it to the hallway gallery.

Now to decide what to work on for February.  I'm linking up with Red Letter Quilts OMG Finish Party for January.  Come see what folks succeed at this month.  

Happy Quilting All! 

Small Quilt Gallery

The long hallway into my new studio has been put to good use.  It is now a gallery of small quilts I've made and been given. This is looking from the studio down the hall.  Interestingly the light over the front section is actually facing the quilts; the rest of the lights are shining down.  We got a hanging system from Ikea, Dignitet.  It has the posts that stick out and a wire that goes the whole length of the wall with supports.  There are little clips on the wire that I've hung the quilts by.  Cool.  Easy to change out the quilts.  But now I have to figure out where I've stashed all of them. I'm not allowed to hang anything over the short door as that leads to attic storage.  

The tumbler quilt was made by Heather Wald in 2010.  Small Quilt Talk group on Yahoo seems to do a small quilt swap every year.  She was my first swap partner.  The little red quilt is my interpretation of the Temecula Quilt Shop's 12 Days of Christmas quilt.  I finished it in 2013.  

This is a quilt I made and hand quilted but I didn't put a label on it.  Oops.  I have no idea when I would have done it.  

This cute little twister was made by Patty Levine for the Small Quilt swap in 2011.  Next to it is a little Amish quilt I made in 2010. 

These last two quilts didn't quite have enough light on them to get a great picture.  The little baskets were made for a class I taught at Seminole Sampler in Catonsville, Maryland.  I'm guessing it was in the late 1990s.  Darn, no label, again.  The blue is from a challenge from the Small Group Chat yahoo group.  This quilt is either in one of Kathy's book or she wrote directions for the group.  Recently she's been selecting one of the quilts from her books and that becomes our monthly challenge.  Except, I hardly ever get them done.  I've got so many other quilts calling my names! But now I have a real incentive to make them.

On the other side of this hallway is my long run of shelves where I store a lot of stuff.  The first few units are my fabric stash and then books, yarn and finally stamping supplies. (Oh why did I decide to buy SO much stamping supplies?)  

That's it for tonight. I'll try to get a picture of my stash in the light one of these days.  

Happy Quilting All!

Design Wall Monday 1-28-2013

It's been a non-quilty week.  Not much new but here's what've been working on. 

This is a small hexagon quilt from Civil War Sewing Circle by Kathleen Tracy.  I'm a member of her Small Quilt Talk group on Yahoo Groups. Last year she challenged us to do a small quilt every month.  I think I got one quilt finished the whole year.  Sigh.  She's going to continue this year so I hope to get more quilts done although I doubt I will get 12 done! 

I'm still working on the string blocks.  Here are several lined up ready to be sewn. I started with some old baby fabric that I wouldn't be using as a foundation and then I checked what I had in my solids and found a really thin pale pink that was a perfect foundation. 

Do you track your use of thread during any year?  I have for several years and this year was the best year for using thread.  See that big white cone or maybe it was the big blue cone.  Anyway, one of them was grey thread -- 5000 yards of it.  It was my main piecing thread. It took me a year and a half to go through all of that thread.  Once that was gone I really started using up older spools of thread.  The other cone was from long arm thread.  It's interesting to me to see some of the different spools.  One is a styraphone most are just basic plastic.  The four prewound bobbins I used for embroidery.  22 spools used.  Unfortunately I still have tons of poly cotton that I'm using sporadically.  I've bought smaller spools for my basic piecing and I am using some that I already own.  I'll see how I do in Jan 2014. 

Didn't do particularly well on my goals last week. 

Week of January 21, 2013

Finish string blocks still need to make some

Start clue 6 of Easy Street haven’t finished previous clue

Clean house√

Organize food for Sat night party√

Play with Sophia and Natalie√What can I say, I'm ahead of the week! 

Drive home safely√

Week of Jan. 27, 2013

Bind small hexie quilt and quilt borders

Finish string blocks

Make Coffee cup blocks

Make BOM for FCQ

Heart blocks 2 or 3

Quilt pinwheel quilt

Start Dresden variation quilt

Lesson 4 in EQ7

Keep appliqueing orange peel blocks 

This week is a long list but it is very specific as there are several blocks I need to get finished and in the mail this week. 

And, here's a picture of Natalie I took last week.  She loves this jumpy seat so much that Jen and Brian now have two of them, each slightly different.  She is a very calm, happy baby. 

Don't forget to visit Patchwork Times to be able to visit design walls across the internet.

Happy Quilting. 

  

February Stashbusting Report 2012

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves... not a bad month but not a fabulous month either.  It probably would have been better if I hadn't had an argument with Ruthie.  She just didn't like the thread I picked to quilt the Chips and Strips quilt.  That took way longer than it should have.  Better luck this month, I hope. 

	February	Year to Date
Fabric In	5.875   yards	9.75 yards
Fabric Out	8.625     yards	15.375   yards
Total	2.750    yards	5.625    yards

I evidently have no memory for what I bought as I thought I'd used at least 10 yards more than I bought.  Except for a little note that showed I'd bought a lot more fabric when Sharon and I went shopping together.  Later, I'm going to check the stash upstairs just to make sure I actually did buy all that fabric!  


Here's what I was working on late last night. 


Kathy Tracy, author of several small quilt books, has a monthly challenge going on at her blog, A Sentimental Quilter and on her yahoo group Small Quilt Talk. She's challenging us to make one small quilt a month. She picks a quilt from one of her books for us to try.  Here's my take on the February block.  As usual, I didn't get it done.  I have the center together.  I'll be auditioning fabric(s) for the borders and then I think I'll hand quilt this little one.  I had the embroidery done within the first few days of February.  Then I eventually got the blocks cut out and some sewn and trimmed.  Last night I decided I wanted to get the majority of the top done.  


I also began making some of the units for the next Scrap Squad.  I love my colors for it but it has a lot of pieces.  I need to really focus on that over the next few weeks.  


Yesterday I took another of the guide classes for the new machine.  And, I picked up the embroidery module!  I'm not looking at it until I get a little further along on the Scrap Squad.  I know I will want to play with it if I open it... so it'll stay sealed up for a least a week or two!  Jenny, Brian and Sophie are coming next weekend.  Jen and I are hoping to make some clothes for Sophie while they are here.  Hum, that embroidery unit may need to come out for that! 


The stash numbers weren't too bad at least I am still using up fabric!  Happy quilting all!  

A February Finish

I've finished 2 quilts this month. Unfortunately one is only a small quilt but it is really cute. (So says me!) I belong to Small Quilt Talk sponsored by Kathy Tracy. We had a challenge to pick a small quilt from her book, Prairie Children and Their Quilts. I chose the Prairie Baskets. The red is more subdued than this photo shows and the baskets are a double pink. Unfortunately, I really like it -- I was thinking of donating it for a silent auction for Faithful Quilters' show in late April. Hum. I may have to rethink that!

Here's the quilt being cuddled by a bear on a chair.

And, remember the Tale of Two Elephants from a few days ago. Here is the poor elephant as of Saturday morning. For those of you not sure what you are seeing, that little mound of snow in front of a hill of snow is the top of a ceramic elephant.

We've continued to get snow. We think we got another 2 to 3" today off and on.

ENOUGH already!

Tomorrow I hope to get the Plaza del Sol quilt on to Ruthie and at least started. And, Heidi -- yours is up next.

Think Spring! And Happy Quilting All!

Yum!

Pat and I had a shopping day today. Most of what we got was for me. New turtleneck, sweater and vest. Will be good for Christmas and then the rest of winter. And, did a little, tiny bit of Christmas shopping for the family and others....

On the way back we stopped here for dessert:

It is the Pocono Cheesecake Factory, a bakery. Pat had a piece of cheesecake and I had a chocolate eclaire. Mine had the very best filling! Nowhere to sit and eat in this store -- so we sat in the car and enjoyed the goodies.

Before we left I got these two blocks ready to send to Kathy Tracy. Her most recent book is Remembering Adelia: Quilts Inspired by Her Diary. She is currently writing a new book and has asked members of Small Quilts Talk, a yahoo group, to make friendship blocks for her. So I got to searching through my fabric stash and found these 19th century reproductions to use. It will be fun to see what Kathy does with the blocks.

I have finally finished the binding on the charity red, white and blue quilt. We'll take pictures tomorrow before we package it up. I've got a few other things ready to mail various places so I might get them ready too.

Happy Quilting All!