New Scrappy Books

Well, you know me and scrappy.  And, I also follow Bonnie Hunter and her annual mystery quilts, so I bit the bullet and bought her books.

Yep, I bought all five of her books (I think she has a new one coming out soon)!  You can look here if interested in getting them yourself.  She also has a list of what quilts are in each book, if you are looking for a specific pattern and only what to buy that book.  

I have spent an evening going through the books and tried to narrow it down to what I would like to get started on for my next scrap quilt.  Talkin' Turkey and Scrap Crystals seem to jump out at me for a new project.  But so does Jamestown Landing, Blue Ridge Beauty and ......Sigh!

But as we all know, I need to finish my cheddar bowties (I have about 950 done of the 1200 I need) before I start another scrappy project.  Just in the dreaming stage now.

Warmest...

Next Crossroads Block

The next block pattern came out this last Friday, and I was able to get them cut out and made.  This next release is a block called "Friendship Block"  It is made up of squares and 8 flying geese per block.  I am not a fan of "flying geese", as mine don't ever come out as good as I think they should, but all in all, I think they came out pretty good.

  You can read and see the prior blocks here.  Also the post has all the links to the information about this quilt-a-long.  The patterns are free, they just ask that you make donations to the March of Dimes.

Come back next month to see more progress.

Warmest...

Cheddar Update

With all the different things that I have started lately, I have been using the cheddar blocks as my leader and enders so something is under my needle at all times.

So to let you know again, I need 600 for each quilt that I am making, and I am making two, so I need a total of 1200.

Here is the first bag of 600:

And here is the start of the next 600 (so fare I have 260)

So far I have not repeated any bow tie print.  I have gotten fabrics from a fellow blogger, my DIL (who is now quilting), and from a couple of quilters who own a quilt shop.  

On our quilt trip along the coast this last February, I asked at all fourteen shops if they had any scraps.  Some did, some didn't, but all in all, I got a bag full to use for my cheddars.

This week while I was back in Albuquerque, burying my Dad, I visited my Sister in law, and she asked if I was still working on my cheddars (apparently she reads my blog), and when I said yes, she pulled out a box of scraps she had leftover from when she sews and from when she once worked at Hancocks.

Not only is it full of wonderful scraps, I got a really nice box with "wren" birds all over it!

I just might make the whole 1200 without repeating a single print!  Getting very excited!!

Warmest...

Another Sew Along

Yep, I am a sucker for sew alongs, quilt-a-longs, online BOM's.  Most of the time I finish them, sometimes I quit (like the Farmer's Wife 30's Sampler Quilt a Long).

This one is called The Splendid Sampler.  It is hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson.  They are releasing two blocks a week.  I am not going to do all the blocks, I am being picky.  I am only doing blocks that I like, and make a quilt with them, only smaller.

Here are the first ten blocks that I have gotten done out the the fifteen that have been released.

This block was about crocheting, and had an embroidery design to stitch, but I just cut out this already crocheted lace piece and stitched it on the back ground piece of the block.

I climbed out of my comfort box and chose some colors that are not something I usually pick for quilting.  A few years, I bought this line, Mimosa and Dear Stella, by Stella designs.  It was the first two lines this fabric company came out with, and I purchased all the SKU's.  

The blocks are 6 1/2" size and should be bright and cheery.

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Basket Quilt Finished

I finally got some decent pictures of this Basket quilt that came back from the long arm quilter at the beginning of February.  I showed you the following pictures in this post.

 The working on the binding.

.

The folded finished quilt.

Close up of the quilting.

So here is the finished quilt laying on my mom's bed.

Again, I used the background fabric for my backing.  I am beginning to like this look.  Somehow it brings continuity to the whole quilt.  And again, I chose a solid color to do the binding.  Seems this is a pattern I am following to use on quilts that have reproductions prints in them.  This time I chose a bright yellow to finish this quilt and I think it gave it the right touch.

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An Honor

This quilt has been around since 2008.  It was a BOM with a Local Quilt Shop, and it was one of the first quilts I machined quilted myself.

It was loved by one of the cats of the house.  I laid it across my living room chair to dry, and the cat found it before I even left the room.  

Before my dad was put on Hospice, he had asked for one of my quilts to go on his bed, so I asked if he liked this one, and he did.  One night he told me that when he died he wanted me to bury him with this quilt.

When he came home from the hospital and was put on hospice, he was in a hospital bed and he asked for this quilt.  And when I brought it to him, he reminded me that he wanted it in the casket with him to be buried with him.

So it was done, he was draped from the waist down with this quilt and laid to rest on March 31, 2016 in Albuquerque, NM.  These are three of his seven grandchildren at his casket.

I am honored as his daughter and a quilter.

Warmest...

Tumbler Quilt

See the 2015 Leaders and Enders box in the top right column of my blog?  I spoke about it here in blog posts last fall.  

I have so many 30's reproduction prints that I was able to only use one print per tumbler not repeating any print.  Although the red polka dot looks like a repeating print, it isn't.  

It is laid out on my side of our California Split King bed.  So I would say it is an oversized twin size.  I made it longer than I would normally, as I wanted it to be able to tuck in at the end of the bed so it will stay in place.  I am so happy with the way it turned out.  I just grabbed tumblers at random, and sewed the rows together at random, not paying attention if I got two yellows or two greens together.  It is a true random put together quilt.

I had a 30's reproduction yellow small print that was a wide backing width, so the whole back is in one piece.  I struggled with what to bind the thing with once it got it back from the long arm quilter.  I didn't want to use a single print, so I settled on a solid.  Then it was a decision to decide which color of solid to use.  Pink is my favorite color, and there was pink prints in the front, and there were pink flowers in the backing print, so pink it was for the binding.  Moda has a line of 30's reproduction solids, and this pink is one of them that I used for this quilt.

I couldn't be happier with this quilt!

Crossroads Quilt Along Blocks Continued

I did get a chance to complete the March blocks of the Crossroads Quilt Along.  They are called Diamond Blocks.  There are only three blocks this time.

Block 1 set:

Block 2 set:

These blocks looked fairly easy at first glance, but putting four triangles on each of the 5 squares in each block took quite a bit of time.  Not something that I could just sit down and whip up!  

Block 3 set won't be available until around the 15th of this month, so I am on hold until then for this project.

Warmest...

Little Trip to Bali Complete

I forgot to do a post about the completion of this baby quilt called Trip to Bali. I did get it done about 4 weeks ago, took the pictures, and put it away.  I had no idea what I was going to do with the completed quilt.  I don't have any babies in my life, none, zip, zero, zilch.  I'm sure you are getting the idea.  

This is a picture of the completed top all laid out flat.  I looks like the elephants are floating in one big circle.  

Some close ups of the center and the elephants, both above and below picture.

For the backing, I used the same fabric that I did for the background on the front.  Then, I chose a dark batik for the binding.  

My daughter in law's sister had a baby boy at the end of March, and my DIL made a baby quilt in blue elephants prints, so she asked if she could also give her this one to match the elephant theme.  So off it went to a wonderful new baby boy! 

Warmest...