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.

Distractions

I am supposed to be back to my UFOs, after my 2 month obsession with minis to get ready for the trunk show. But what's a quilter to do when 2 of her favorite designers are running SALs at the same time? Join in, of course!

First up is Lisa Bongean's Primitive Gatherings 10th Anniversary SAL. She is doing a "pieced only" version, and a version with "piecing and wool applique". I have been trying to convince myself that I only need to make one version. Making multiples has been my downfall in the past, so I have chosen to do the pieced/wool applique version, and ONLY that version--so far. And, so far, I LOVE it!

Then Pam Buda has been running one of her Pocket Patchwork SALs. This one is called Market Day, and she offered the regular version, and a mini version. Which one do you think I did? : ) 

It is such a cute little patriotic quilt--just 16". Pam bordered hers in red and bound it in blue. I tried every red I had in my patriotic drawer, and my CW repros and I didn't feel like any of them clicked as a border. Then I moved to the blues. This was the only one I felt did anything for it, but I'm still not sure if I will leave it on. I tucked the little red dotted strips behind it to see how it would look bound in red. What do you think?

Recently I was a poll worker for a primary election. I knew turnout would be low and I needed a handwork project I wouldn't finish in the first few hours of the day. This project has captured my eye on Gayle's and Kathy's blogs. (It is from the Spring 2013 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.) Okay ladies, I caved!

I can't believe I actually started another hexie project. The one I already have going is 17 years old, at least. But I like this, where my old one is made in fabrics I had purchased decades ago when I started quilting and I don't care for them anymore.
This will definitely be a long term project. You can see I didn't make a ton of progress, but it is a start.

During my mini obsession in the past few months I haven't spent much time with Gidget. So this past week I found a few minutes here and there to brush up on a couple of favorite designs.

It was fun to play, but I can't believe how rusty I have become in what seemed such a short time. I need a few more practice sessions before I sit down to quilt an actual quilt.

On Independence Day DH and I drove an hour up a nearby canyon to a favorite lake. It is just a small lake and the trail that circles it is a little over a mile, and is peppered with a variety of wildflowers. We had just received our Fitbits in the mail the day before and thought it would be a good inauguration to walk the trail. It was a gorgeous day at Tony Grove.

Forget-me-nots

That was the only boat on the lake and I wished I had been in it.

Violets

There was such a variety of wildflowers, but two particularly caught my eye. We usually go up later in the summer and I don't recall seeing these two before, and they are two of my favorites. Click on the right photo to see the butterfly.

Until next time,
Janet O.