Three Finishes! Three Moose!

I am so happy to be posting photos of actual quilts! Three projects done!


First up is the camo baby quilt for my new great-grandson, due March 12, but he could arrive any day. My granddaughter asked for an outdoor/animal theme with a very specific camo fabric. You can read more about that in this POST. It finished at 39" X 39" after washing. I am happy with the finished quilt.

I used the large camo design for the backing.

Just did a loopy meander for the quilting.

The second finish is the blue plaid baby quilt for the same great-grandson. This one finished at 34 1/2" X 38 12".

I used  flannel for the backing.

The third finish is the flannel quilt for our bed. It is a nice heavy quilt, just right for this time of year. My DH said it it is his favorite quilt!

 

And since we are talking about threes, we had three moose in the yard the other day.

Pretty sure she is pregnant.

This is the one you can't see too well in the other photo. Probably last years calf.

Now to look over my list of projects and decide what to work on next! Happy Quilting, Rebecca

In the Hoop!

In July of 2015 I joined an online sew along with several other quilters. We made the Cranberry Album quilt from Jeana Kimball's  Old Voices, New Impressions book. I finished sewing the blocks in December of that year. It took me a while to find that "just right" sashing and border fabric, but finally got the top sewn together in April or May of 2016.

Below is my finished top. I do plan on a scalloped edge for the final border.

I actually entered it in our quilt show at the local fair. I got a first place ribbon. (Yes, they let you enter tops, unheard of I know!)

Well, it is finally in the hoop for hand quilting. This will take some time, but I am not in a hurry. I am thoroughly enjoying the process! I am quilting around the block and then around the applique pieces. I looked at photos of antique quilts and crosshatching in the background area seemed common and since I want an old fashioned feel to this quilt decided to do that in the background. I am not sure what design I will use in the sashing, but need to decide soon as I want to quilt in that area as I move along with the blocks. Any suggestions would be welcome!

First two blocks done.

Working on the third block.

Here our some of the other ladies that participated in the sew along. You can see Cathy's, of Big Lake Quilter blog, finished top HERE,  Karen's, of Log Cabin Quilter blog, finished top HERE,  Nancy's, of Tattered Garden Quilting, finished top HERE  and Sharon's of Grass Roots Quilting HERE.  My apologies if I missed anyone.


I am linking up with Kathy for  Slow Stitching Sunday. Happy Quilting! Rebecca

New Projects for 2018

You have to admit the quilts in my last post rated low on the "pretty" scale! LOL So I thought I would share some of the new projects I have added to the herd.


Let's start with the prettiest! This is Edyta Sitar's Spring Bouquet Quilt. I am going to do it in batiks as she did.

A start on block #1.

I bought this circle cutter for this project. I have Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circle templates, but they do not include all the sizes I need. I hope this works!

The next new project is a mystery BOM through the Fat Quarter Shop. We will be using Kaffe Fassett fabrics so this will be really different for me. I was going to add a link, but when I went over to the Fat Quarter Shop I could not find the page, sorry. This starts in March.

My third new project is a Kaleidoscope quilt. I saw this quilt on Lori of Humble Quilts blog, she graciously has allowed me to use her photos. It was a quilt she saw a the Aurora Quilt Show, in September of 2017. Here is a LINK to her blog post.

I participated in a Civil War Reproduction fat quarter club through Primitive Gathering for about three years, so I have gather a LOT of CW fabrics. I am sorry to say that there are many of them that I would not have picked for myself. So what to do with all of these fat quarters. When I saw this quilt I had my answer!

 While I have my CW fabrics out, I will probably cut out some pieces for this quilt too. It  will be a good way use some of the scraps from the Kaleidoscope project I think.

The Pyramids quilt is found in Quiltmania #94.

I also joined in on Kathleen Tracy's mystery QAL , Friendship Garden. Here is a LINK to her website where you can download the instructions and the first block patterns. She a has an applique block and a pieced block. She also has a Facebook group called Kathleen Tracy's Small Quilt Lovers, here is a LINK.

This block will finish at 8"

I also want to make a liberated style word quilt using this book. I have lots of ideas going on in my quilty little brain on this one.

So as soon as I finish up the two baby quilts for my new great-grandson I will be able to do more  on these projects.


We also had a visitor the other day. The photos aren't the best, I took them through our front window, I was worried if I went outside it would alert the dogs that he was out there. As you can see he has shed one of his antlers.

Happy Quilting, Rebecca (Sorry for the long post)

Current Projects

I have some new projects planned for this new year, but I have some current projects I need to finish up first.
We bought a king size bed a few years back and I made a new quilt for it.  This was a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial called Four Patch Stars, here is a  LINK to the pattern.                                        

King sized bed quilt made in 2016

We also continued to use the two queen size quilts I had made for our old bed, but they are just not working out. So plans for another king size quilt developed. I have been collecting flannel shirts along with  cotton shirts to use in my quilting. I was picky about the flannel ones, no pilling and a nice medium weight. I decided to go simple and used the flannel shirts and this free pattern. Here is a LINK. Since I am making it king sized it took a little more than a weekend.

I will quilt mine, not tie it.

It definitely has that humble-down-home-dorky-hand-made look, but my DH loves it. I still need to add the outer borders of red flannel. I ordered that and some wide flannel for the backing.  I hoping to have this one ready to quilt soon.

I also have a new great-grandbaby due in March. I asked my granddaughter about colors and themes. She requested an outdoor/wildlife theme and to include camo. This is the camo she wants. It took me a while but I finally found some at the Spoonflower website. Here is a LINK. (It is a interesting site, you can design and print your own fabric.) There was a large and a small pattern design, I got some of both. I not sure how it will work into the top of the quilt so I got enough to use it for the backing.

Interesting camo design!

Small pattern design

Large pattern design

I also ordered this wildlife fabric. It has everything she requested, deer, bears and etc. I will fussy cut this .

I found this quilt  online and I am going to use this pattern. HERE is the blog where I saw this quilt, it was on Kelly's My Quilt Infatuation blog. She kindly let me share her photo. She made it from a Moda Bake Shop pattern called Four Squared, HERE is a link.

I gathered up some browns and greens, but I am waiting to start cutting until the camo fabric gets here and I can decide if I want to use any in the top. 

So while I am waiting on fabric I thought I would make a second baby quilt. This one will be out of blue plaids. I saw this photo and plan to make this design. I am sorry but I do not remember where I saw it. Simple four-patches and squares.

I have everything cut and ready to sew this one up. 

So I have plenty to keep me busy! Hope to show some of the new projects I have planned for 2018 in my next post.

We have some cold weather headed our way. It is coming in from Siberia. They are predicting some -30 temps.

Happy quilting, Rebecca

Pineapple Craziness

Who knew you could learn so much from one quilt block! Let me explain. Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Crazy quilt has been on my list for a long time. It is from her String Fling book.

Pineapple Crazy by Bonnie Hunter

I even picked up this little sewing machine at our local thrift store a while back with this quilt in mind. I can leave it set up just for paper piecing.

My $10 sewing machine, it just needed a light bulb.

I finally sat down the other evening a started on my first block.

I had to rip out one corner where there were suppose to be dark pieces.

Important to remember! One corner has dark/medium pieces. I was following along with my paper piece, but it is not correct. I went back and marked my other papers with a marker so I don't make that mistake again (fingers crossed).

Ta Da! First complete Pineapple Crazy block!! I did have fun sewing this block! The finished block measures 5 1/2" X 5 1/2".  There are 224 pineapple blocks in the quilt, so only 223 more to go! I might make a smaller version, we will see!

Lessons learned from this block:

1) Sort my scraps into to two containers, one for lights and for one darks and mediums. Too much hassle digging through to find something. Also, I don't have to have all my scraps out, just a few are needed. It looked like a fabric volcano went off when I was done.

2) Pre-cut my fabric pieces into smaller pieces before adding to scrap container I am using for this project. They are pretty small already, but cutting off a piece to use, just makes sewing this block take a lot longer.

3) Get my crumb container out, there are a lot of tiny pieces in this block

4) Set up an iron right next to where I am sewing.

5) Don't be so picky about each piece I use!!

6) I need an open toe foot for this machine so I can see the stitching line. (found on Ebay and ordered)


So after all that look what I found online! A very helpful page by Jo's Country Junction! Here is a LINK.. She has lots of great tips for sewing these blocks. I am definitely going to try her tracing paper suggestion.

Happy Quilting, Rebecca

Revisiting Some UFOs

I have seen lots of different quilting plans in blog land for the new year, for finishing up projects and/or starting new ones. I don't think I will join any of these, but I do plan to make some progress on some old projects. I have six complete quilts tops that have been hanging around for a while, I really hope to get them quilted this year. First I thought I would share some projects that I thought I had  finished, but I went back to and made some changes.


First up is my Tumbler quilt, this was Bonnie Hunter's Leader/Ender Challenge in 2015. Here is a  LINK to the info on it.  I had finished the top back in June of 2016.

  Then I had another look at Bonnie Hunter"s Tumbler quilt and it looked like she had added darker tumblers as an outer border. I really like that so I decided to redo mine and add the dark tumblers. I am not so sure now.  LOL  I may trim it a bit, taking at least a tumbler and a half width off. What do you think? I would value your opinions.

I think I like it better before.

Next up is my Front Porch quilt top. I had completed the top in February 2017.  This was a sew along hosted by Lori at Humble Quilts here is a  LINK  to her blog and a  LINK  to info about the sew along. I was never happy with the background I used for the three rectangular blocks with the flower pots and circular flowers. I don't know why I didn't listen to that inner voice at the time. I had to go back and change them out. I don't know if you can tell much of a difference, but I am glad I changed them.  

Before

After(I also redid the leaves and flowers)

 I also changed a few other things, I thought the top need a few more sparks of yellow in it. 

I also switched out the purple and lavender flowers
 for yellow in this block.

Added berries, a bird and a flower to these baskets.

After (Roscoe doing his quilt inspection)

Before

I have also made some progress on my Handfuls of Scraps hexie project.

I still need to join the sections together. I laid them out to see how they looked.

Happy Quilting, Rebecca