DESIGN WALL MONDAY

I have an empty design wall today!  Too much machine quilting!

I'm still working on my friend's quilt, just trying to decide what to stitch in two areas of the quilt - the final outside border, and some neutral large rectangles used as spacers between the blocks.  I'm sure something will come to me....  She doesn't want it too heavily quilted, so I'm being careful not to "over quilt".  I'm glad that I don't quilt for others, and that this is a special task for a good friend.

We finally managed to plant some of our garden - 4 tomato plants, some herbs and two large flowering planters at our front entrance.  Between the cold weather and rain, it has been hard to find time to plant.  My irises are just beginning to bloom!  Now I have to hunt for a few annuals to fill in some areas in my tiny garden.

Check out the design walls at Judy' blog, Patchwork Times.

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week  .75 yards

Fabric used year to date  129.875 yards

Fabric added this week  0 yards

Fabric added year to date  36 yards

Net used 2014  93.875 yards

My only usage this week was for binding on a community quilt for my guild.  Hopefully I'll do better next week.

Check out all the reports at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

QUILTING, BUT NOT FROM MY STASH!

This week has been spent machine quilting 3 quilts for my guild's community quilts program.  I helped with pin-basting these, along with many others at our monthly workshop.  I did use some fabric to bind one......
The plastic bag holds all the pins from the quilts, ready to return and be used again.  Now they just need labels.

This is my next quilting project.  I don't machine quilt for others, but offered to help a friend.  She did all the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting.  The quilt is a Joann's Fabric BOM kit from 2008, called Desert Sky.  She managed to find all the block kits on sale at the end of the season, and was able to find the rest of the yardage to complete the quilt. The kit included pre-cut pieces, and since she is a beginner, this worked well, and she said she learned a lot about construction doing this project.  She wants it quilted using the suggested designs - very simple.  The colours of this quilt are wonderful, and I'm sure she and her DH will love having this on their bed soon!  I spent some time auditioning threads to use - I want them to show, but not to be too showy.  I guess I better get stitching!

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

Nothing new on my design wall.  I'm machine quilting some quilts for my guild's community quilt project.  The first one is a quilt top that was donated.  I had fun quilting in the plain blocks that surround each star.

This one was made as a "thread saver" or "leader and ender" project.  The squares were sewn while stitching other projects.  Bonnie Hunter of  Quiltville has an episode on The Quilt Show about scrappy quilting.

We're having friends drop in this afternoon on their way home after visiting their daughter, so I have to get some goodies lined up to go with tea.

Head over to Judy's blog, Patchwork Times to see others' design walls this week.

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week  0 yards

Fabric used year to date  129.125 yards

Fabric added this week  7.5 yards

Fabric added year to date  36 yards

Net used 2014  93.125 yards

I did complete the log cabin top, but won't mark the fabric as "used" until the quilt is completed.

Next winter, my group in the south will be working on a mystery quilt, so my new yardage is the fabrics chosen for the project.  We need a dark and medium fabric of colour 1, a medium of colour 2, an accent colour, and a background neutral, either white or cream, depending on your other fabrics.  Since I was ordering some batting, these fabrics jumped into the box as well.

It is all washed and folded, ready to begin!

Check out all the stash progress at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

A BUSY WEEK

I've spent lots of time sewing log cabin blocks, hunting for strips the right colours, then finding fabric for borders - all from my stash!  While I was rummaging through my brown/rust pile, I decided to re-fold the fabrics, and I also took the time to organize them by value, from darkest at the bottom to the lightest at the top.  Since I had them all out to find pieces large enough for the borders, it seemed to make sense to reorganize it.

Tuesday was spent at the community quilts workshop.  One of the members is lucky enough to dedicate the entire basement of her bungalow to quilting, so there was lots of room for 12 quilters to work.  She also stores all our donated supplies, and her DH makes a pot of soup for each monthly work day, to add to all the pot luck goodies that everyone brings.  Three of us pin-basted 9 quilts, trying to make a dent in the many tops that are completed by our guild members.  We had a visit from the organizer of the "Hugs" program at our local hospital, and she left with a huge bag of baby quilts for the program, and some to be sold in the gift shop, with the money going to the program for other items.  I brought home 3 basted quilts to finish in time for next month's meeting. 

Wednesday there was a food bank drive, so I dropped DH off at our friend's home, and they went door-to-door, collecting donations.  Then I headed off to the monthly meeting for our next quilt show.
Quilts Kingston 2015 is next June - Friday to Sunday, 12th-14.  Our show is hosted by both guilds in Kingston, so we have a fairly large committee!  We had some lively discussions, but things are moving along nicely.  The above link will take you to our official website, and our publicity convener will also be providing updates on the Quilts Kingston 2015 blog.

 Weekends mean laundry and baking - since we are charged different rates for electricity at different times of day, most of my dryer and oven use is saved for weekend, which are charged at the lower rate.  DH started the laundry, and I'm getting some "oven" style meals planned, and I have to bake so I have some goodies for friends dropping by for tea, and to take to they guild executive meeting this week (we take turns bringing refreshments).  I've also started machine quilting the first quilt from Tuesday's outing. This one has some large, plain blocks - perfect for some quilting opportunities!

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

I've been promising myself that I'd use some more of my scraps before beginning anything new.  I had planned to make a quilt for my DDIL2's nephew, and had asked what his favourite colour was, or what colour was in his room.  Of course, the anwer was brown and beige!

I dug into my orphan blocks and units bin, and found a collection of half-square triangle units in two shades of brown, so I decided to make some log cabin blocks, using the units as the centre of each block.  I am using scrap 1 1/2 inch strips in brown, rust, and a few green, along with light beige, tan and cream.

So far, I have completed 3 rounds, and the blocks are 8 inches unfinished.  I plan to add 2 or 3 more rounds before decided on a block setting.

 This is a closer look at four of the blocks.  I'm trying to make some creative choices that will hopefully suit a young man!

Check out all the creativity shared at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week  13.875 yards

Fabric used year to date  129.125 yards

Fabric added this week  0 yards

Fabric added year to date  28.5 yards

Net used 2014  100.625 yards

This week I completed 2 flannel baby quilts, 2 sets of placemats and a "snap bag".

I used the "waste" cut off ends of the strip sets from the table runner that I showed here.   I stitched them into an "X" block, and used them as the main fabric in the bag.  The bag finished 6 x 8 inches.

I decided to quilt different designs in each of the plain triangles.

One side has clamshells and continuous square shapes, and the other has a large half-flower and some swirls.  I made 2 prairie point triangles to use as the pulls to open the bag.

The bag has 2 strips of steel measuring tape in the top to hold it closed.  The top border fabric also forms the lining.

I'm happy that I used the leftovers right away, as I have 2 large containers of leftover blocks, and units that seem to be growing.  Since I've tackled my flannel leftovers, my next goal is to use more of the orphan blocks and units......

Check out everyone's stash report at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

 

A QUICK FINISH

In April, as my guild's President's challenge, the members made spring themed place mats to be give to the Victorian Order of Nurses, for delivery to their "Meals on Wheels" program.  

It was so much fun that instead of making blocks for community quilts, as has been done for the past few years, our summer project will be to make autumn themed place mats.  Since I never know what tomorrow may bring, I just finished 2 sets.....

 I'm not sure where the pattern came from, as it has been passed along between friends, but it starts with 4 coordinating fat quarters for the tops.  I kept the quilting simple and minimal, so the fabric could speak for itself.

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

Nothing on my design wall - I just finished sewing the binding on two more flannel quilts, ready for donation to my guild's community quilts program!
 
Once again, I used one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns from Quiltville.com, called
Hidden Spools.
 

 It is made with "light and dark" 2 inch strips, and although the finished blocks have bias edges, it is a quick way to use leftovers.  I made several strip sets, and found out I had more than I needed for the first quilt, so I made a second smaller one.

In among the flannel scraps were some leftover pieces from previous "use it up" patterns, so I stitched them together to make the pieced borders for each quilt.  Both have a cotton backing fabric.  One of the previous ones I made was flannel on top and back, and I thought it was a bit heavy for a baby.


Head over to Judy's blog, Patchwork Times, to see all this week's creativity!

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week 0 yards

Fabric used year to date  115.25 yards

Fabric added this week 0 yards

Fabric added year to date  28.5 yards

Net fabric used 2014  86.75 yards

Nothing completed this week, although I have 2 more scrappy flannel quilts in the works, just waiting to be quilted!

I've spent the week catching up on some chores around the house, finishing some cross-stitch Christmas ornaments for my friends' church sale in the fall (I make things when I have time), looking through some quilt books for inspiration for some up-coming projects, visiting with friends, etc.

After stitching each pattern, I "fringed" the edges, then mounted each on felt, trimming the felt with a pinking blade.  The hangers are made of a sparkly silver yarn that was leftover from a long ago knitting project.

Check out the stash reports at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.