Out of the Dryer

These two quilts came out of the dryer today.

Above is the 35" x 35" Neo-natal quilt made from left-over Mountain Majesty blocks.

The border on the left is quilted with rabbits, Catherine's choice.

Pineapples, 43"x 55", is temporarily hanging on my kitchen wall until I decide who is going to get it as a present. It's not my style, but Catherine's quilting helps it look more interesting. Dianne, who passed to blocks on to me, doesn't want it back.

So with these two now finished, and one in the binding process, I am a little ahead of my goal for the year. Good thing, because March will not have much time for quilting.

Sara

Gratitudes:

11:00 church means time for leisurely breakfast

Learning more and more about curling at Olympics

Eye doctor says "no injection needed this time"

Finish, not a UFO

Left-over Mountains Majesty blocks, left-over HST borders, left-over fabrics, but not really a UFO. It wasn't even on my list. Sometimes I happen to see some blocks that have been lying around, and, who knows why, I feel the time has come to finish them off. I even forgot about it after I handed to Catherine for quilting. I was very surprised when she gave it back to me last night at Bee.

Today I finished the trimming, the binding and labeling. It's "down the chute" to the laundry and will then be ready for the Neonatal collection by the Guild in March.

I also trimmed this quilt of flannel "waste triangles" which Catherine also returned. This too will need to be bound and labelled, after I do the same to the true UFO Pineapple wall hanging.

Will post a photo of that tomorrow, if I have time after the GR Women's Chorus workshop that goes from 9 am to 4 pm tomorrow. Right now it is in the binding process.

And I have to watch the Olympics, knitting in hand. That takes time away from quilting projects.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Chance to go to Beaver Island Quilt Retreat in the fall

Lots of sun today

Yummy salmon for dinner

Progress and Delay

I keep putting off making any progress on the "Amish Lib" top. I have only cut a few strips with which to make the letters. Nothing more sewn together.

I have done some of the quilting on the Paper Dolls quilt, around the blocks and the strips in the borders. Next I need to decide what I'm going to do in the 9-patch blocks and the girls. Or I could do something in the two wide borders. Or I could put on the binding and THEN finish the quilting. For the moment it is just lying on the bed.

You see, I have distracted myself from these hard decisions by continuing on the simple four-patch baby quilt, another for the neonatal unit. There were more than enough Four-patches (made as Leaders/Enders), and NO THINKING required to sew them together. I now have a 32" x 40" center.

Easy-Peasy!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Laura Fyffe made a nice dinner and Valentine's cake for us

My new green carry-on suitcase arrived

Empathetic friends

Two houses

Made a second house for Bumble Beans after I got the envelope ready. I used a "window pane check" fabric to make the windows, but again I made a mistake. This time the roof was too short, so the whole block was not wide enough. I decided that adding a coping strip on the right would be OK. . .make a little space between the houses.

Got back to knitting on the current "last" sock during the Olympic opening ceremony last night. This will be a good reason to stick to that project until it is finished. And, of course, I have several skeins of yarn already purchased for more socks. I can easily have plenty of knitting for the rest of the Olympics!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Chili with Peter and LYnne here last night

Fresh whole wheat bread from Healthy Bread in 5 MInutes a Day

Funny dog behavior

House for NYC homeless

BumbleBeans, at http://bumblebeans.blogspot.com/ , is soliciting 10.5" house blocks for a project in NYC to benefit the homeless, but no wonkiness allowed. Here's my contribution. Now to get her address and send it off.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I have a home.

I have heat, light & water.

And I know I'll have these for the rest of the month.

Quilts sent to St. Louis

Study the muslin back of this quilt and try to imagine it without the straight lines. That's how it came back from the LA quilter. I had told her to use "feminine" designs since it was for a woman, and I thought the back could be used as a whole cloth quilt as an option. Well, I wasn't satisfied with the open spaces, so have spend part of two days wrestling this double-sized quilt through my DSM to get the straight lines filled in.

This takes some of the wrinkles out that appeared after washing and drying. Now I like how it looks, and I am willing to send it to the recipient. The flannel does feel cosy!
I decided if the boy in that family was going to have a matching pillowcase for his quilt, so should his sister. There were some leftover strips from the bargello, so I used them in a fancy cuff.

Then I bundled all four quilts into the car and carried them to the UPS Store, where they have lots of big boxes and will pack and send things for you.

Hooray! That's a big project finished, and it completed 3 UFOs.

I am keeping current--two UFOs projected for each month, and so far I have finished four in two months. Now I can go back to some NEW projects.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Less stuff on the bed in the sewing room

Emptied clothes basket of quilting gear from retreat last fall

Three people who really need a loving quilt will have them next week

Liberated Amish

I'm participating in a challenge by Tonya, Lazy Gal, to make a liberated Amish style quilt with liberated lettering on the front somewhere. The details are at http://lazygallibamish2010.blogspot.com/

Above you see my beginning of an Amish Triangles top based on the sample #93 in the book we are using. I have about as many again which have been added since this photo. And maybe that photo is upside down.

I am now thinking about borders, and more difficult, what words to add, and how to make the letters. This is slowing me down. I am procrastinating. I want to just add the borders and start quilting. No, I have to make some letters.

One thing I did was to sew together a lot of four-patches. That doesn't take much thought.

Another thing I did was to take an old machine quilting practice sample and cut it up and make two hot pads. The bias binding was just lying around in the same place.

So that also put off the making letters for another half hour.

Now I'm reading and watching TV, and looking at the computer.. . . .and not yet making any letters.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Slept in late this morning

Quilt making challenges

Yummy pizza at Vitale's tonight

#3 and #4

Both came out of the dryer with wrinkles. I guess they are just a little too big for the space available.

So, I have four less UFOs than I had at the beginning of the year. And three quilts ready to send to a needy family in St. Louis.

But the snow is snowing, the wind is blowing. . . and I'm not going out first thing in the morning! Maybe they will get mailed on Thursday.

Sara

Finishing two in Feb

Sewing the binding on the back of Eleanor's Pink & Green Bargello, I found that the quilting lines show up very well through the polar fleece. It is currently in the dryer, so I will take a full photo later. Where is the fabric I was going to use for a matching pillowcase?

And here is how the quiltiing looks on LaShawn's flannel quilt. I told Catherine to make it "more feminine" with flowers, since the front has some pretty masculine fabrics. I just finished the binding and label and it is now in the washer.

I'm planning to mail all three of the quilts for this family on Thursday. Where do I find a big enough box?

We are finally getting some snow. With all the news about the East Coast, we have been feeling left out. Didn't seem right to have hardly anything on the ground in Michigan in January and February! They are forecasting 6-10" today and tonight.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Fun Super Bowl party at Ray and Dianne's

Have managed to keep a food and exercise diary for four days

Day at the sewing machine with snow outside

9-patch and paper dolls

I've been taking the next steps with this neonatal quilt. I found this cute paper doll fabric online, cut squares, decided on brown sashing, and got to this stage tonight. I'm going to let the border decisions percolate overnight.

Sara

Gratitudes

No need for an injection at the eye doctor today

Dark room to rest my dilated eyes

Spaghetti for dinner -- comfort food

Start of "Emerald Forest"

Despite all the UFO work, or BECAUSE of all the UFO work, I have started a new quilt.

Here are the batik strips Lynne and I purchased in St. Louis back at Thanksgiving to make a quilt for their queen-sized bed in their newly redecorated bedroom. She saw a sample quilt in the store, and said, "That's IT!" The pattern is called "Emerald Forest".

We bought two "jelly rolls" of Hoffman "Green Tea" batiks, and a couple of FQs in additional colors to add into the mix. Also some yardage for the borders.

I have so far made 22 blocks, which look to me like Kleenex boxes! However, they are pretty easy to construct, and I am whipping along toward the end of having 88 of them.

So, one quarter of the way.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Toenails cleaned and trimmed

Leftover chili for supper, yum!

Got all the cutting done for all the blocks