It's about time!!

This was only my March UFO.  I made the final border really large, but may trim it down. I want enough space in case I choose to do swirly feathers. It isn't a top that I think needs feathers, but I want to practice them, so I figured it would do. Then it will be bound with the black polka dots fabric in the sashing. I haven't measured this since I put the borders on today (finally!!!), but it appears to be exactly 80-something by 90-something. : ) I had to put it on my design wall sideways.

My year of the UFO has been an abysmal failure! My goal was that by now I would have 7 UFOs to flimsy stage. I wasn't even expecting to finish one a month. I cut myself some slack for the summer months and the holidays at year's end, and gave myself one "bye" month just in case. Little did I know.

When I was asked, back in March, to do the mini quilt trunk show in May, I became laser focused on minis and have had a hard time disengaging from that mode. What can I say? I'm hooked! So here is the news from the mini front.

My "Fall" Lamb for All Seasons (not to be confused with the Halloween LFAS which you can see in the post linked here) is now ready to go up on the wall as soon as October is history.                                                             If you are new to the blog, this is part of a series of seasonal little quilts I have been making using the free Primitive Gatherings "Old Glory Gatherings" pattern.

Next up is what I am calling Cherry Chocolate Churndash. This was a copy of a quilt made by Kathie Holland (inspiredbyantiquequilts blog). I admired hers and she offered me fabrics to make one like it. The churndash blocks finish at 3".

I am really smitten with it. You can't see the quilting very well from the front.

 This back view gives you a better idea. Recently Mary, (quilthollow blog) described how to get a good photo of quilting designs, and I concur. It is how I take my photos of quilting, too. In the morning I lay my quilt in front of an East facing window and let the natural light spill across the surface. The shadows accent the quilted pattern. Then I take the photo WITHOUT a flash.







I think the quilt is very happy in its new home on this table in my bedroom. Love the colors, the fabrics, and the pattern! Thanks so much, Kathie!

Another nod to Kathie for the fun blocks shown here.













These windmill blocks finish at 4" and are made using one of the little templates found in this set from Baycreek Quilting. I lifted this photo from their website. Kathie had recently made a little quilt from these blocks and provided the link to order the templates.

You can order them from Baycreek Quilting here.  You get this entire set, with shipping, for under $10.



I am using this for my current leader/ender project. I don't know how large I will go with this. Right now I have just cut a bunch of reds, blues, and blacks from my scrap basket. I'll see where I am when I have used these up and decide whether or not to cut more.

We've had some gorgeous sunrises lately. A few days ago I told some of you I had run outside in my pjs and scampered across my frosty lawn, barefoot, to get to the corner of my yard for this shot without any power lines in it. I think it was worth it. : )

Until next time,

Janet O.

Little Finishes Fill the Wall

WooHoo! The yardstick gallery outside my sewing room door is now completed. Another yardstick and three more little quilts have been added. (See the "how to" tab above for the source of this idea, and instructions on how to make your own.)

I love having this to greet me every time I go to my sewing room! : )

These are the three recent finishes, and they all involve batiks.

The  9" square Storm at Sea (which I named "A Little Squall") was a flimsy for my mini trunk show in May. I finally got it quilted. Since I pressed many seams open I couldn't SITD between rows.

But I did SITD around all of the lavender and marine blue pieces. The border is a swirly free motion design.

Terry (of Terry's Treasures blog) hosted a SAL for a quilt called "Goodnight, Irene." Terry didn't want the bonus triangles from her quilt, so I acquired them. I showed the top I made a little while back, but I didn't like my border, so it sat around for a while. I've remodeled it and am much happier with it. The hourglass blocks are 1".

I do a lot of straight line quilting on my minis, and this one was no exception. Here is a shot of the back before I stitched the binding down by hand.

That used most of the HSTs, but there were still a few left, so I put this together.

I started out just putting the pinwheels on point, but then I put the whole block on point, and that gave me a chance to practice feathers in the setting triangles.

And through all of this, I have actually made a little progress on big projects. I am currently binding the churn dash baby quilt (see the bottom of the post in the link), and I have the rows all made for my Garden Maze quilt. Now I need to sew the rows together and put some borders on it. It will be so good to get this done. I know I got the block pattern in 2006, but it was a little while before I started making the blocks. I finished them a couple of years ago, and it is about time they became a quilt!

And while I was making the rows,  I was itching to be sewing with some Fall colors, as I could feel the nip in the air as I sewed at night. So I grabbed some fall colored HSTs left from other projects, and I made a bunch of little blocks as leader/enders. 

When I had used up the HSTs, I trimmed the blocks to a uniform size and then cut some little squares from a beautiful Primitive Gatherings yellow my friend Annie M. sent me a while ago. 

The top is webbed and I am getting the rows sewn together. The little blocks finish at 3/4" and the whole quilt will be just over 5"x7", if I don't border it.

I just read back through this and it sounds pretty dry--sorry. But here is some exciting news--next Friday and Saturday I get to attend workshops with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co.! Looking forward to that!

Until next time, 

Janet O.

Progress report of an easily distracted quilter.

Two little quilts are finished.

From a 9-patch SAL at quiltsbycheri blog. I think she called it "Gathering Patches." She made 3 different 9-patch quilts. I only made the first two. This one has been a flimsy for quite a while. I may tea-dye it. Haven't decided yet, for sure.

This was one of the many little quilts I made in my one-patch frenzy earlier this month. Just got it quilted and bound.




















And speaking of the one-patch frenzy--the smaller quilt in this photo is the last of the little one-patch quilts that I had laid out on a design board. Very random scraps. I hadn't machine quilted for a while, so I used this as a warm-up piece before moving on to quilt "Market Day" (the larger quilt in the photo, from Pam Buda's SAL). Yes, Kris, I kept that border fabric on Market Day. After three quilt shops and nothing I liked better than this, it stayed!
Both of these just have the binding pinned down, waiting for hand stitching.

The back of Market Day is a repro of a great old patriotic print that I received from Barb Vedder (Fun with Barb blog), whom I consider queen of the cool backing fabrics!

I am working on getting caught up with Lisa Bongean's 10th Anniversary SAL. (Click the links on her sidebar for the patterns)

I chose to do the light border in one print, rather than a collection of scraps. The flying geese will go all around, eventually. I am just taking one side at a time, doing them by paper piecing. I have a hard time getting  lots of flying geese in a row to end up the size they are supposed to be, so I opted to take this route, and it is slow going. The corners will have little wool appliqued flowers.

And I got one more little block (finishes at 3 3/4") made in my mini version of Lisa Bongean's version of the APQ SAL. I have the strips cut for more. Hopefully I can add one or two blocks this week



















Finally, the big quilt is progressing. (Yes, I do make big quilts, too.)

Three of the rows are made--two more to go. Then a couple of borders and the hardest part of all--how to quilt it? I'm open to suggestions. : )

Until next time,
Janet O.