Two more down,

...about 18 more to go. I'm talking about little quilts that have been waiting to be quilted.

The patriotic one is the little quilt I made by slicing up a large LeMoyne Star block made by Michelle C.
The leaf quilt was made with the trimmings I begged for received from fellow class members after a demo of Carmen Geddes' fusible piecing method.

Kept the quilting simple on these two. 

The leaves got a hooked swirl and ditch stitching in the light border.

The stars were ditch stitched and then a paisley filled in the background. A simple looped border finished it off.

So now this pile of little basted quilts has become this pile of finished quilts--well, kind of. I had already gifted the snowman quilt, so I subbed the tumbler topper that I had made in the midst of the quilting frenzy. BTW, I have a bunch of those cut tumblers leftover. Anyone interested?

Now I have another pile basted and ready for quilting.

The pile includes a Temecula Summer Stars quilt, Pam Buda's Patchwork Pocket SAL, and the little r/w/b one at the bottom was a block gifted by Vic. It has taken me too long to get these quilted!

This is the state of my current little projects. Pinwheel Garden (blue and brown one) is receiving most of my attention, when I am not working on the ubiquitous T-shirt quilt. The other two projects are all cut, but haven't seen much action.

I'm not paper-piecing, as the pattern recommends, so it isn't perfect, but I am happy with it. The blocks are 4", as opposed to the 6" in the pattern. Everything seems to shrink in my hands. : )
Five out of twelve blocks made. I have all of the fabrics chosen and two more blocks are cut. The only rush on this project is my own anxiousness to see it completed.

 Took this shot from the front deck as the setting sun was sending a golden glow to the mountaintops across the valley. This is NOT the view from my sewing room window--opposite sides of the house.

Until next time,
Janet O.
 

Chalk up a couple more finishes!

 I am on a roll! Five of the seven little quilts I basted last month are now quilted and bound (plus the tumbler topper I made for my hutch). These are the latest two.

 

You may recognize that one of these quilts is my version of Pam Buda's "Tucker" SAL. 

 The other quilt is from a Lori Smith Fit To Frame pattern. About 4 years ago when a new LQS opened, they had this little star quilt on display. I remember loving it and wanting to make it. I bought the pattern, which was a rare event for me, at that time. Usually I made up my quilts as I went along. Though I loved the shop sample from a distance, I wasn't thrilled with the machine quilting--mostly SITD. I determined that I would hand quilt mine.

Well, according to my blog post from back in Oct. 2011, when I got this project to flimsy stage, it was the first "mini" quilt I ever made. Can you believe it? This was the first!! (And today I don't know that I would even consider it a mini.)
This little top has been sitting ever since then, waiting for me to hand quilt it. I finally faced reality and machine quilted it this week.
To the left is the back view.

I took one final photo of Snowball before gifting it. I added some quilting to the "snow base" and took it out for a photo in its natural habitat. I didn't use a flash so the quilting would show up.

If you follow the Temecula Quilt Co. blog you may have recently seen this rustic looking clipboard from Pottery Barn being used as a mini quilt holder. It was on sale and there was free shipping. How could I resist? This is hanging on the side of my kitchen cabinet now. I love it.


 Look at this cute little heart quilt that was my Valentine from a sweet blog friend (thank you, thank you). Perfect for the little quilt hanger I got for my birthday last year.

 And speaking of Valentines, hubby and I took the day last Friday for a Valentine getaway. We drove south a couple of hours to a couple of events...

The new LDS Temple in Provo, UT is currently open to the public for tours prior to dedication, and the BYU Museum of Art was hosting a Norman Rockwell exhibit. Thoroughly enjoyed both experiences. We also took a test drive in a car we are considering, got a little lunch, and stopped at Trader Joe's before heading back home. Not a single quilt shop was visited in this excursion. I'm slipping!

Until next time,
Janet O.

Bound--and Determined!

The little purple star quilt is bound now. I don't have a name for this yet. Any ideas?


 This photo on the left gives you a better view of the quilting.

I got this one bound, too. I stitched tiny buttons into the cornerstones.
Haven't come up with a name for this, either. I had considered Christmas in Kansas, since it is all KT fabrics in Christmas colors. Maybe that will stick--maybe not.

This Snowy Gathering mat, designed by Lisa Bongean, is all blanket stitched now and the edge is bound.


Is this a great match, or what? This is a mayonnaise jar turned candle holder that a very talented friend painted for me years ago. It looks like I tried to make the mat to match, but it never occurred to me. It just happened. : )

The tumbler topper got stitched together last week. Yesterday I did some simple meander quilting on it  and got the binding sewn on one side and pinned. It is waiting for some slow stitching in the evenings to complete the binding.

Then I will finally have a topper for my dining room hutch when there isn't a holiday topper to fill the space.





Last of all, Snowball got quilted and the binding is pinned down ready for hand stitching.

Now I am determined to get back to work on the T-shirt quilt AND I am determined NOT to join any of the bazillion fun SALs that are popping up like daisies all over blogland. My goodness, it is tough to be strong, with temptation at every turn! But I have made it all the way through January and the first week of February without succumbing. So far, so good!

Until next time,
Janet O.