So little to show for the passing of a week

This post may come as a shock to some who know that I don't spend a lot of time on hand work. But since most of the piecing I have done this week has been for the Indigo Challenge with Sandy, to be shared at the end of the month, I had to scrape the bottom of my quilting barrel to come up with anything to share.
First off--quilting on my BIG hand quilting project that has been basted and waiting for years! (I can see from the photo that this needs more lines for the background quilting.)

When I started quilting this I was having shoulder troubles and finally gave up on it until I could have the surgery. That got postponed a couple of years. Then my healing was slow, and I felt like I couldn't stress my shoulder. But eventually it got better, and now I have no more excuses. I gave myself a swift kick recently and committed to at least quilt 30-60 minutes a few nights a week. Back issues keep me from doing more at a time.
This quilt was to commemorate my youngest son's time as a missionary in Brazil--he has been home for almost 10 years (yikes)! He'll get it eventually.

Then there was the stitching I did while we were on the road for about 3 hours today (Saturday). My Stars in the Garden mini hexie quilt is my "go to" road trip project. The problem is that I don't enjoy stitching hexies and this little thing could very well be my lifetime project. I forced myself to attach 3 hexies to this flower today. That was all I could manage.

I keep a photocopy of the potential finish in the lid of the project box. As I finish a section I cross it out. When I look at what I have crossed out I try and tell myself that I am making progress. Then I remind myself how many years this much has taken and I realize I am practically standing still on this one. (Don't roll your eyes at me, Sarah--the hexie queen!)




















I  also made a smidgen of progress on my Circa 1880 quilt. I stitched my final "rogue" block, and laid out the row it will call home. This was foundation pieced, and I still have to remove the papers from the block. This will be in row 24--it is the last one I will make from my own blocks. The final three rows will be made from swapped blocks, when the last of my swaps are completed. This one is so close, I can almost taste it.  

I have a few more patterns that want a home where they will be loved. Most of them are wool projects. Some are patterns I have already made, some are duplicates, and some I'm just sure I never will get made. I am not separating them--I just want to send this out as one bulk group.

If you are interested, please mention it in your comment--and if you don't know whether or not you are "no-reply", please include your email address if you are serious about it. I will choose a random name from the interested parties.

Just for fun, I am sharing a photo of me that was taken exactly 60 years ago. I came across this as I have been working on my Mom's history lately. 

And exactly 8 years ago I began my blog. What fun it has been to build a blogging community with so many kind and generous, fun-loving and mischievous (you know who you are) quilters. Thank you all for reading, commenting, lurking, or whatever it is you do here. :)

Until next time,
Janet O.

Do you ever tie quilts?

When I first started quilting decades ago, that was what I did most of the time. I was so slow at hand quilting, and couldn't afford to pay someone to machine quilt. So this week I went back to my roots.

The binding isn't wrapped around and sewn down in this photo, but my Mom has since taken care of that. She is gifting it to a man in her neighborhood that was really good to my Dad the last few years of his life, visiting him, and helping him with many tasks.

Mom had wanted to give him a quilt, but all of hers have been promised to people already (and she isn't quilting anymore). This is a top I had put together years ago with leftover parts from one of her quilts, so I told her I would tie it if she would bind it, and she could give it to him. She is happy with the results.
When I tie a quilt by myself, I smooth out  the backing and pin it into the carpet around the edges, using T-pins. Then I spread out the batting, and finally smooth out the top over it all and pin around the outside of the top. I tie one quarter of the quilt at a time, starting in the middle and working out toward the edge. Not everyone's knees can do this, I know. Mine haven't complained so far, but my back sure does!!





I basted a couple of little blocks that I will be hand quilting. The one in front is for my brother, made from leftovers from Mom's "Happy" quilt. After he has had 4 heart procedures in the past 5 months, he needs some "happy".

The block in the back was made by Jill Reid, an online friend that has since passed away. It was thoughtfully given to me by Barb (Fun with Barb blog), a good friend of Jill's, and I am going to hand quilt it and put it on my wall of quilts from friends. You can't tell from the photo, but I have marked a feathered wreath in the pink. For all the feathers I have machine quilted, I have never hand quilted any.

 




You may have seen on Lori's (Humble Quilts blog) blog her efforts to make a block representing the solar eclipse. I have been on a similar quest. Last night I stayed up way too late and tried a block Lori has made using a different pattern. If it hadn't been so late, I may not have messed up the color placement I was attempting.
I may try this block one more time, and try to get the colors where I want them this time. This block finishes at 5 1/2".
 




This is my latest thrift store find for my sewing room. It is making sense of the growing stacks of charm squares and mini charm squares, and fits nicely in about the only empty spot left in the room. It is very stable, so I don't have a fear of it toppling over on me.


Not really much to share this post, considering it has been over a week since my last post. Maybe one day I will surprise you and really make big progress on something--but don't hold your breath.

Until next time, 
Janet O.

99 and Counting (see the end of the post)

If these blocks look familiar it is because I made them last summer for a table runner and asked for opinions on a straight set or "on point". On point was favored and I proceeded to assemble it. Didn't get it past the flimsy stage and it has been kicking around my sewing room for a year now. I was planning to have it quilted for this summer, but every time I thought about tackling it, I couldn't do it. As much as I prefer these blocks "on point", I just didn't care for all the red in the setting triangles (you can see it here). I thought about piecing new setting triangles, but finally I just unpicked it and did a straight set. Maybe I will have it quilted for next summer. If it ever does get quilted I will be binding it in red.

During a recent family camping trip I took some hand quilting. The little sampler finishes at 7" and you may recall that it used up the bits and pieces leftover from the mini quilt I made from Kathie Holland's triangle trimmings of her 9-patch blocks on point. Did you follow that?

I had one basket block leftover when I made my little basket quilt (bottom of the linked post) inspired by this free pattern from APQ, using leftover fabrics from a quilt my mother made last year. It has been about 4 years since I did any hand quilting and it was a refreshing change.

I finally got around to my version of the "Ramblin' Rose Meets Jamestown" BOM. I hadn't made a block since March. I got the next four cut and three of them are sewn up, but I am struggling with the fourth one. I will say that paper templates are not my favorite method for constructing blocks. I often measure the template and then cut it out using rotary cutter and rulers instead. If I can't get the seventh block to work I may have to design my own. The three blocks on top are the newest ones.

Since I am not using the true "Ramblin' Rose" fabrics (just some rose fabrics I have picked up over the years), I have chosen to call this "Random Roses in Jamestown".

As I did my usual pawing through the remnants at the LQS recently I found a 3/4 yard piece of "Just Train Crazy" fabric. It caught my eye because my youngest grandson is crazy about trains. I picked up a matching black (I think blacks are hardest to match) and at home I found the blue and green in my stash. This is the favorite donation quilt pattern of Mary at Maryquilts.com. I have made one before and I think it works up fast and cute. You can get the instructions here. The strips are just clinging to my design wall--I haven't started stitching them together yet. I'm thinking this will be a great quilt to use with Leah Day's train tracks quilting design. I got enough black for the binding, too.

Earlier this week I received an unexpected squishy in the mail from Ruth. I had just sent her some extra pins I had and she gifted me with these fun items. There is a cute little portable tissue pack cover and a cheery trivet made from yo-yo covered bottle caps. How clever is that? And look at the cute little quilty card. Thanks, Ruth. I didn't expect a trade, but it was fun!

Oh, here I am with another long post. It has been two weeks and there is so much to squeeze in. I've had questions from several people about how I finished my little tumbler flag,

 so I made a tutorial. You will find the tab for it at the top of the page under my header. There are many ways you could do it, I'm just sharing what worked for me.

Finally, this is my 99th post, and although that is small compared to many of you, I think a little celebration for my kind followers will be in order when I hit the 100 mark. Stay tuned.