Weekend work...

 Hello!  Can you believe it's almost mid-May?  Time is flying by here, as is the case when there is much to do.  I did an inventory yesterday, and there are currently15 tops that need quilting, lurking around in various stacks.  There are seven more that need borders attached!  It's good to actually know where I'm at in this process.  

 This quilt is called "Red Bird's Garden".  I had fun with the stripe setting.  Honestly the stripe border is over kill, but I like it.  It reminds me of older quilts I've seen that have huge borders and smaller pieced centers.  I've appliqued a red bird in the center, and am thinking of adding a few more.  This is just a fun, quirky quilt, and I've enjoyed it.  I'm going to quilt half flowers in the red triangles and in the four patch blocks.  A vine pattern may be nice in the rose stripes.

 

I've mentioned my huge clothes drying rack, I purchased up in Amish country.  It's a wonderful thing to own!  Right now it is holding all the quilt tops that are finished, ironed and ready to quilt.  It works for now, but I'm looking for very large hangers and a portable hanging rack.  Then I can cover them to keep dust free.

Enjoy your weekend!

I will spend tomorrow loading the frame & getting ready to quilt! 

Migration

The birds have come back to Indiana.  I take a break from sewing everyday or so, to walk by the river and visit the birds.  I just love the "honkers" despite most peoples distane.  I know they make a mess some places, but they are so beautiful.  I also think about all the down feathers I could make pillows of, but just once in awhile-- haha!

They are busy making nests and looking for food.  The Mallard ducks are so fun to watch.  The female here was quaking (nagging) the colorful male duck something fierce.  I think he was too far away from her, as he quickly took his place right next to her, and the two waddled into the brush.

 Okay, back to quilting!  Which is hard to do given the weather is so beautiful and warm today.

I didn't know there were groups of quilters online!  But a few days ago I discovered Kathleen Tracy's group on Yahoo, "small quilt talk".  I'd also discovered her blog Sentimental Quilter, which I love.  Then, after reading her back posts, I realized one of her books was sitting on my shelves!
Well....  I've been in small quilt heaven ever since.  Which technically is a good thing, but I have a so many big quilts to finish.  But I have taken some time to make the groups challenge quilt for May.  It is so much fun making a small quilt that can actually be finished in a hour!

Small quilt for May's challenge, made from scraps purchased by the baggie full at my LQS!

So...  I've been reading the group's site, going through back files, and re-reading Kathleen's book, Prairie Children & Their Quilts, and have at least a dozen small quilt ideas in my head, not counting making the patterns in the book!  But, just to make my situation a bit worse, last night I was shopping, and found this: (101 Fabulous Small Quilts)  Oh my...  small quilt love!  Then I found Kathleen also has quilts in this book!  

Don't you just love discovering something new?
While looking for fabric to plan these quilts, I found most of my civil war era fat quarters (which I've collected forever) will work perfectly for these small quilts.  The scale is just right!

The nice people at Martingale have given me permission to post a few of my favorite quilts in the book. 

 So much fun!  It's like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!  (I once told you it doesn't take much to make me happy!)

I will leave you today with a progress photo of the purple quilt that I have to make myself work on.  It will end up being two baby quilts I think, maybe three!  But for now, I make purple blocks.

Back to sewing....  ttfn!

Slowly adding squares to my current project!  Purple only a purple lover can love!

A Whole Lot of Sewing Going On Here!

 This little quilt is the only thing I've actually finished lately!  But I am still writing the pattern for it, and beginning to make it in another colorway, so... not really finished yet.  The quilt is made totally from my scrap box, hardly making a dent, but nice to use scraps.

I'm also removing the "square in a square" block in the middle, leaving them in the four outer corners only.  I think they make the whole thing a bit too busy.  Or... perhaps leave them in and changes only the "geese," and that may be the final change.  I'm just excited to get the pattern written.

I forgot!  This tiny quilt was finished Friday, complete with my one error!  I really didn't notice it until the quilting was almost done.  So...  I'm human, and it's staying this way to remind me of that.

Invasion of Sunbonnet Sue!  I found these blocks while going through my bins.

A few years ago I found all 26 of these girls at a small antique mall here in Indiana.  I paid $20 for them!  I'm not really sure what to do with them through.  They need a bath before I start sewing with them.  I love all the prints used, and also the makers button hole stitch, on long stitch, followed by a short one.  I've never seen the pattern used before.

My newest quilt

I cut strips all afternoon yesterday

While going through my bins yesterday, I came upon a bundle of purple prints.  Most of them were scraps from dresses I made my daughter when she was little.  She loved purple!  After assessing the scraps, it seemed a 2.5" strip would be the best use of the pieces.  There were also some minty green pieces with lavender accents, so that became a secondary color.  I love the results!   Above you can see the first two blocks of the new project.  I'm planning on making two of these crib size quilts:  one to sell, and one to add to my "grandma's chest" where I keep special items I sew.

Saturday I hung this top back up to contemplate my next step.  The quilt says "one more round please, with blocks that are dark and lite."   I'm thinking "end it now!"   The next step has to be either a dark frame strip, then some type of blocks/strips or something on each end, then another two border strips.  Regardless of the choice, it will be more work.

I hope the weather at your home is as beautiful as we're having here in Indiana.  Spring finally has come.

Catching Up

 Hello!  I have some catching up to do here!  My trusty laptop decided to die last week, which totally ruined my web routine!  I still have my desktop computer to work from, but it's not at all convenient.

So.... on to quilting.  The totally crazy mess of a quilt you see here is finished, ready for the quilting frame.  It's hard to see, but there are wacky cut Ohio Star blocks in the four corners, and I like those.  All of the fabric, except the cheddar color, came from my scrap box.  Can you believe it still looks the same?  It's over flowing still.  How is it possible to make a very large quilt, and not be able to see a difference?  Perhaps it's like the baskets of fish & bread in the New Testament, so I'd better not complain too loudly!

This little quilt is waiting for the postman to deliver border fabric.  It's a baby/crib quilt, made from French General's Petite Odile line.  It took 10 fat quarters, cut into 3" strips to make it via the "loop" method.  It was a fun afternoon of sewing, and I loved working with the fabrics.  There were enough loops left over to piece together a smaller piece of fabric, that will either be a smaller baby quilt or part of the backing for this one.  I love it when leftover pieces can be used to make something else.

The pink & brown quilt (6" squares) has been neglected lately.  This one square is all the progress that's been made.  I have picked patterns and fabric for three more blocks, so hopefully I can work on those later today.  I love how all the blocks look.

 In my last post I promised to post photos of my knitting & crochet projects that I've worked on when not sewing or quilting.  The below photos are all baby/children sized from premi to around a size 2/3.  The first two are cotton yarn, and the rest are all wool or a wool blend.  Some still need buttons and blocking. The items below are modeled by my ever loyal big baby doll, Sissy!  (she is really big)

Putting this one away!!!

TGIF!  Here is my latest top, and a  thing of beauty it's NOT~  and at this point I've wasted quite a bit of time on it!   I like the checked border, but the busy print is coming off!  I could cut it up, and make quilt blocks from it and some more white.  But at this point I think the whole thing needs to age awhile on the quilt rack.

I haven't shown you my racks yet.  I have two, a very large laundry drying rack that hold my finished quilt tops, all ironed and ready to be quilted.  The other is a typical quilt rack, and it holds unfinished tops, mostly problems yet to be resolved.  The racks help me keep track of what I've finished and what still needs more work.

I didn't sew at all today, but spent the day cooking and knitting.  Overall, quite a productive day.  In my next post I'll show you what I've been knitting.  Recently I've been working on a few knitting techniques that I never quite mastered and am quite please with the outcome.  So, ttfn! 

Enjoy the weekend!

Stars from flowers

This photo proves all ideas are not good ones!  The center stars are the left over pieces from the Flower quilt.  I thought it would be a neat idea to make borders out of the random parts, sort of floating them on the white.  NOT!  It's just a hot mess in my opinion.
 The border has been  removed, and I'm thinking of starting with a checkered border, Then some more white, and finishing it off with binding from prints.

 I just wanted to clean off my desk from the last project by making something of the leftovers, but now I've wasted a few hours with this mess.  Lesson learned:  when using multiple bright colored prints, less is more!  I hope my mood and my quilt have calmed down a bit in my next post.  Please stand by!

Completed Flower Power Top

 Finished at last!  I love how this turned out!  But if I ever make this pattern again, the border needs to be reworked.  It would be quicker to strip piece as much of it as possible.  This pattern was designed by Cindy Carter, and can be found online here.  Thanks Cindy, great pattern!  I loved using leftover pieces of "Soul Blossoms" jelly rolls.  The solid fabrics are all Kona cotton.

The flower blocks are very easy to piece and come together quickly. The large size, about 16 inches, are great for making a quick baby quilt.

I'm defiantly making more of these blocks.  But, probably not use this border again -- at least not for awhile

When I'm not piecing quilts, knitting fills my need to be doing something productive.  Whenever I leave the house I take my big L.L. Bean canvas tote, with several knitting projects inside.  It's great to fill otherwise wasted minutes -- waiting at the doctor's office, at the DMV, in line at the bank, etc...

In the past few days I've been knitting baby/children's hats.

I love this pattern!  

As you can see here I've made several in the last day or so, and now have the time spent knitting one down to a little over a hour!

 My model is about the size of a year old baby --

at least I think so!

These hats will be going to the Etsy show later this year, in Brown County Indiana.

I will be taking mostly quilts to the show,  but thought I could add knitted baby items as well.

This patterns is quite fun to knit.  I love watching the flower shape emerge from the needles! 

It really doesn't take much to keep me amused --

just a ball of yarn and needles

and I'm happy for a long time!