Two finishes and something new

 Just before the Bee meeting on Thursday I finished the binding on my third neonatal quilt for the March collection.

I made the back from four FQs with some strips to make the whole thing large enough.

Right now it is in the wash.

Catherine had also quilted the Green Strips quilt with wavy lines and an occasional square or circle. It is light weight and is the right size for a nap quilt.

And for the "something new" --  I was asked to run a "Block Lotto" for our SpoolSpinners Bee.  At least I am going to organize the first time through.   I chose the FIREWORKS block.

So I spend yesterday afternoon writing up instructions.  And of course I had to make several more blocks to photograph some variations.

That was fun!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Jean took me to the women's brunch at Grace Church

Turkey dinner in February--lots for left-overs!

Symphony concert last night

Neonatal Checkerboard

The "leaders/enders" 4-patches I made when on retreat and later, finally added up to 100.  That seemed to be enough to make a neonatal top.

It is now together with a narrow inner boarder and a wider outer border.  I hope to get it layered, quilted and bound before our Bee meeting tomorrow night.

Meanwhile I am struggling along on the Leaves quilt top.  I had decided to change out the background fabric in a few of the blocks as I was making them, and then I found that it meant the leaf shape wasn't all there.  I am now required to replace some already sewn triangles, which not an energizing activity.  I keep telling myself that it doesn't take as long to do ONE as I was imagining.  Which is true.  Trouble is there are several more than ONE.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I've been appointed to the township Parks Committee
Another fun play reading at Actors' last night
Breakfast with friends

Quilt Retreat, Sunday 2

I had taken along my Block Lotto winnings, thinking I would make a stab at putting them all together into a top.



So I laid them all out on my large table.  Then I  made a paper-pieced Amish house, also from the Block Lotto site, and snuck that into the forest.

Hmm, I realized that I had gotten lost in the paper-piecing process and made the roof purple instead of black.

So I fixed that and made another one of red against black.  I thought the paper-piecing was too FUTSY, and I made another with out the paper -- just liberated style with an idea and some sewing.  That's the green one.

I spent some more time moving blocks here and there, and there and here,  and I got tired of the whole thing.  So I packed it up and put it away.

Maybe I'll make TWO quilts, one with black backgrounds, and one with black foregrounds.

Maybe I'll make more trees.  I don't have many 12" ones.  And/or I'll add trees between the trees in the seam like 3 dimensional flying geese [you know that method?].

Maybe I'll put spacers between all o r some blocks. . . . it was too much to think about after a long retreat!

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Yesterday I quilted the wonky Disappearing 4-Patch by sewing on both sides of the block joining seams.  I then stitched in the ditch around the center 4-patch of each block.

Today I bound, labelled, washed and dried it.

This will go in the Guild collection for the neo-natal unit.  Will any parent want this for their child?  I like it, but will young, stressed parents?  Oh, well, they'll have plenty of choices among quilts.

This is my Finish #3 for 2011, and I also have participated in three exchanges of blocks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sunshine on the snow
Raisin/bran muffin for breakfast
Got Valentines in the mail!

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"

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

YES! UFO # 9 is done!

These madras patches were already sewn together in strips when I found the bag.

Now it is a 34 ' X 35" baby quilt for the Butterworth neonatal unit.

I got it done even tho' I seems to be having muscle spasms in my back. I tied the heating pad around me and sat very erect at the sewing machine. But twisting is not in my program!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Had the grocery shopping done before this started

Had a heating pad in the house

Have Charlie here

Retreat Results

I've been at a quilt retreat for three nights, just returned in time for the Super Bowl game on TV. This retreat is one where you just bring whatever you want and work on your own projects--and have someone else cook for you, and have a lot of fun. We were 21 in number, and some (not me) tried a little "snow dyeing".

Several of the gals who chat together about Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts suggested that we plan to work on a BLUE version of one of Bonnie's quilts on Super Bowl Sunday (when the men are all too busy with sport to care what we are doing). For this challenge, I took the Fat Eights of blue fabric that I had from an exchange last year and cut them into 6.5" squares. I had to add several light blues from my stash. I took these on the retreat with me, and on Friday evening and Saturday AM I put this "Scrappy Mountin Majesties" top together. It will be bordered and then given to the neonatal unit of our regional hospital.

Then Bonnie herself suggested that for Super Bowl Sunday SHE was going to be making "Strip Twist" and anyone could join her on that project.

I had 20 bright batik strips in a jelly roll, so I took them and her pattern on retreat with me also. I finished putting this top together just before leaving the retreat site this afternoon. I was interested in emphasizing the pinwheel effect in the middle of the four block sets. so I placed similar colors there to catch the viewer's attention.

More about the retreat results tomorrow, but now it is time to finish unloading the car and get the dirty clothes down the chute, and go to bed.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Charlie and Ray prepared the Super Bowl supper
Dry, clear raods for the return trip for retreat
The game was more interesting than expected.

MLK Day work continues

Here's where the MLK Day work on a charity quilt has ended with more work on Inauguration Day. I began putting the blocks together last night. Today I added the muslin inner border and the red second border. Now I'm auditioning two different blues for the final border. I think this will make a "boy" quilt with the Blue theme and then the red border fabric has pictures of cowboy stuff.This will be a neo-natal quilt for the Guild collection in March.

After all the Inauguration TV watching and then the evening news, Charlie and I watched a video of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speach tonight--and there was the Washington Mall again, full of people, but in 1963! We both remember watching that event on TV at the time. What an amazing change in our country. God bless Obama and keep him safe. And may we all do our part to sacrifice for the good of others.

Sara

Gratitudes:
That I lived to see this day in America
Footcare nurses so happy and fun
Charlie's REAL first day of retirement (Mondays were his day off)

Lots of squares

Last week I presented the first real step in our Bee's home grown mystery. I made these sample blocks to show them that these four sizes are quilte different from each other, and one should take that into consideration when choosing the fabric. Now everyone is to make one block of each size of whatever block they have chosen [based on a nine-patch]

Today I have done some work on a charity quilt in honor of Martin Luther King's Day, as suggested by Barack Obama. I had a pile of 2.5" squares that I was using as ;eader/enders, but now I worked on them full time until 2:00 and I have 30 of them done. I figure that is about HALF of what I need for a neonatal quilt. Our Guild collects those in March, so this is a good time to get a little ahead.

Now I need to cut some more muslin and blue fabrics!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good farewell service at Holy Cross yesterday

Lead three last communion songs with my guitar

Came home to the beginning of a new life

Lynne made pot roast for dinner

Guild neo-natal collection

Our West Michigan Quilt Guild met tonight. One of the big events was the collection of quilts for the Neo-natal babies at our regional hospital. There were 367 turned in! We had a parade of them going around the church sanctuary where we meet, but since I was carrying mine, I didn't get a photo.

Here is one of the two I contributed. I showed the top before, but I just finished quilting it on my Pfaff this afternoon in time to get it washed and dried before the meeting.

Here's a closeup so you can see the "pebbles" in the inner border. This is the second time I've used this pattern in home quilting, and I like it a lot--both the look it gives, and the fact that you really can't do it WRONG. Just keep going around, in almost the same place, two or three times.

I trhought Iwas going to do something "fancy" in the plain squares, but not enough time, and it is soooo easy to do those diagonal lines.

In the border I just followed the plaid for some channels.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Everyone I called was glad to pray for Bob at time of death

Finished this neo-natal quilt

Ate "mindfully" today

Bordered squares

I spent most of the weekend writing my sermon and then delivering it twice. Sunday afternoon the tenors of the Grand Rapids Womens' Chorus had a sectional practice and it was all I could do to stay awake until I could get home and take a NAP. So no sewing to remark on.

Today I needed to just GET SOMETHING DONE. So I grabbed some purple 2.5" strips and made these bordered squares. I was thinking it would be a quick Neo-natal quilt, but the result was a little too dark. Pawing through more purple fabric I found these leftover printed border flowers, already cut. Amazingly there was enough for FOUR borders.
So here it is, ready to layer and quilt. I need to stop with the Neo-natal quilt tops and start doing some quilting!

Charlie is away on a one night retreat, so I'm home alone. I seem to always stay up too late in this circumstance.


Sara

Exercise today: 50 minutes of Strength and Stretch

Gratitudes:
Quiet day
Good GRWC rehearsal
ice cream!

Carolina leftovers

After much thought I finally realized that the Carolina Crossroads blocks were nine-patches. So I made BIG nine-patches to set between the "Ring" blocks I had put together with leftovers a couple of days ago.

So now I'm looking at it and not too thrilled. I hope getting the RIGHT borders on it will make a terrific difference. It is pretty dark, so I started with a 3/4" light mini-border. It's all sewn. And now I'm kind of stuck for what comes next. This will be a baby or neonatal quilt, so not very much bigger. The big nine-patches are looking HUGE to me.

Therefore I laid it aside and did "thoughtless sewing" for the rest of the afternoon and evening. That is, I put more pieces onto Confetti blocks. And I spent time reading other quilter's blogs.

Sara

Gratitudes:

warm sewing room on a wintry day

classical music on WBLU

sharp cheddar cheese