Hearts and Flowers

These are almost all of the hearts for the border of the PatchKats quilt from Justquiltin with Denise Russart.  I have one little kat almost made, and have about 20 more to go.  When I planned on slowing down with my quilting I really didn't plan to slow down this much.  I'm working on a quilt for a gift and this quilt, and I'm optimistic about spending more time on them.

One little ginger Kat head.

After a brutal winter, the spring flowers are flourishing. 

 When this tree is in bloom, only briefly in spring, the scent is heavenly.

I love columbines.

The first of my mother's iris'.

I was wondering if I was becoming a non-blogger, but I don't think so.  I'm just preoccupied.

I have way too much fabric to give up quilting now:)  Gotta use it up.

God Bless You.

Lots of Cutting, Not Much Sewing

As the title says, I have done the border cutting for the PatchKats quilt, but I have only one block done.  It's cute, isn't it?  I chose blue fabric instead of green for the ribbon.  The nice weather we are having is a big distraction to me, but I plan to keep up with this.  Yesterday the second set of instructions were made available, and we are now making the cats.  

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful day.

God Bless.

Four-Patch Finish

It took a few weeks but I have this project completed and plan to donate it to one of the Hands to Help charities that Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict is supporting this year.  I am pathetically attached to traditional quilt blocks, and I don't think it gets any more traditional than the humble but lovable four-patch.  I'm probably going to let myself graduate to the nine-patch and see how many more scraps I can use up.

Today is a really beautiful Spring day here, finally.  The sun is out and it's warm and lovely.

I plan to begin work on the PatchKats quilt.  I have some American Made Brand red and cream that is going to be the heart border, and that's the first section we are working on.  

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend and that it is as nice where you are as it is here.  

God Bless.

Floating 4-Patch Fun

I viewed this tutorial on The Gourmet Quilter's blog and have been enjoying making these very simple blocks and using up my scraps for floating 4-patch blocks.  Very relaxing.

 Digging in the scrap bag is fun.  

I'm going to use them to make a quilt to donate.  I may or may not put in a sashing; not sure yet. Would they still be floating if there's sashing?

Hope you are enjoying your weekends.  

God Bless.

A Knitter's Gifts Quilt Top Finish

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This is the completed quilt top for From Head to Toe, A Knitter's Gifts.  

I did use the cheater's method for making the drunkard's path blocks.

 You can not tell by looking at the border here how much work I put into it, but I did quite a bit of floor crawling and seam fudging to make it work.  Not the designer's fault, but mine.  However, it all came together and this top is done.

 I was determined to complete this project, so I feel very pleased.  

I realized that one of my prints is very appropriate.

Knitting needles and yarn images - perfect.

Just Quiltin with Denise Russart's PatchKats BOM begins on March 21.  That one is also very cute.

The sun is shining, the snow is melting and a well earned spring is in the air.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

God Bless.

I Love Winter But.....

Where I live, we have been having snowfall at least twice a week at least since the first blizzard hit the first week of February.  This past week we had heavy snow on Monday and Wednesday/Thursday.  It is exhausting, trying to keep the walks safe, the driveway clear, my body from slipping.  And yet, I repeat, I do love winter.  Today is a beautiful winter day, the kind of days we have not experienced for most of 2015.  Sunny, cold, glistening.  But we are turning the corner; next week the forecast is for temps in the 40's, that's at good 10-15 degrees above freezing.  The 3 inches of ice on my front walk may actually melt.  Let's hope!

I apologize for not keeping up with my blogging friends' posts - I'm drained.  Now I know why snowbirds exist.  I may become one.

I haven't been able to get my sewing done because I'm the official shoveler here.  Although I live in the city, this property is not small.  This is the year I've seriously wondered how long I can keep it up.  But in between storms, I've sewn a bit of the border on my From Head to Toe A Knitter's Gifts quilt. (Don't you love Denise's bird header?  I do.)I was not able to successfully make the drunkard's path block traditionally, so I resorted to Jenny Doan's cheating version, the appliqued circles.  Works for me.  Not done yet, but I have one side finished.  Please note, the CatPatch  quilt along info is available.

This is the Footstool block, the 26th block in the Ben Franklin QAl.  

I'm happy to say I'm up to date on this qal, but the setting of the blocks is going to be a choice.  So far we have step one of the traditional.  I'm waiting to see what comes next before I begin to sew blocks together.  

I hope you are well and safe, and enjoying your quilting time.

Take care.

God Bless You.

Crazy Scrap Quilt

Last night I wanted to do some sewing so I pulled out one of my many UFO's and got to it.  I thought the blocks for this quilt were maybe from 2013.  You can imagine my surprise (shock) when after a bit of research I found they were really made in early 2011.  Can that be?  Yes.  I was reading Aneela Hoey's blog one day back in April of 2011 and saw her making this .  I enjoyed making the blocks because it's really a free and easy block, just put your fabrics together as you please.  I did organize my blocks into colors and use the cupcake as the common denominator.  When I saw the striped fabric I had begun to use as the sashing, it almost came out, but last night I went with it and in the light of day I think it worked well.

 That wide strip of navy may have been used differently, but it's fine.

I even like my brown/tan/yellow blocks.

So I'm four years late finishing the top, but it's progress and that's a good thing.

Our next round of funky weather is due to begin in a few hours.  I'll be keeping myself busy making the border for the Knitter's Gifts quilt, which is made up of mini drunkard's path blocks. 

God Bless You. 

Knitter's Gifts Progress

I put Grand Illusion aside for a while so I could catch up on this quilt, From Head to Toe, A Knitter's Gifts by Denise Russart   I was very behind on this and finally have the blocks sewn together.  I think Denise will be giving us the directions for the border this weekend or next, so at least I'm ready. 

 The mitten pairs need to have an applique of the cording that holds them together, so I hope to get to that tomorrow. 

I think this design is a delight.  

Stay safe.  God Bless You.

Grand Illusion Progress; Or How I Cannot Follow Directions

We've had lots and lots of snow in the New England.  We did not miss the blizzard of two weeks ago and got about 2 feet, then have had several smaller storms.  As a result, I've had lots of upper body workouts shoveling.  Even though this much snow is a challenge, it is beautiful and fun. What I do worry about is the deep freeze we will be getting tonight, with temps going to 0 and the wind chill making it feel like 15 below.  

The blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery QAL are finally put together, and I was attaching the sashing.   I have never unsewn as much and as often as I have unsewn my work on this quilt. I really wanted perfect points, and as you can see there are many. But that's not where I went wrong. The picture above shows Bonnie's layout, and the layout I will eventually follow.  

This picture shows the layout I was making until I realized it didn't look right.  I was attaching the sashing strip to all sides of the blocks, instead of just two.  Yes, an amateur's mistake.  So, I'll be ripping out again.  Coats and Clark should love me, even though I am not making the best use of their thread.

 

As a diversion one weekend I crocheted this shawl.  Perfect for the our weather.  When I remember where I found the pattern, I will edit this post with the info.

Stay safe, stay warm and God Bless You.

Quilt Doodle Doodle BOM 2014 Blog Hop - My Stop

Thank you to Cindy of Quilt Doodle Doodle  for sharing this fun quilt design. Welcome to my stop on her blog hop to show off our quilts.   I think many of us see the skates and mugs and have fond memories of winters spent enjoying the ice, even though our toes were frozen, and the same goes for  the snowmen and snow mounds.  Those images spoke to me.  

If you've visited my blog before  then you know that I enjoy QAL's.  I've learned new techniques and made interesting quilts as a result.  So early last year when I read of the Quilt Doodle Doodle 2014 Block of the Month and saw the first block, those cute snowmen heads, I joined in.  This quilt really was fun to make, and because we worked with 2.5 inch strips, it went together very easily.  The challenge was how to embellish.

One source of inspiration for me was a Christmas card I received from my sister that has mugs with holly and cookies.  So I put cookies and holly near my mugs, and added some candy canes for fun.

I used a real candy cane for the template and drew the gingerbread man, star and heart shapes.  I used a brown crayon to darken the edges of the tan fabric to give it a baked look.

I wanted to use my Sizzix angel die, so it became a cookie too.

And as you can see I added some holly and the berries are buttons from my Mom's button box. And a candy cane in the cup.

It all comes together in the mug row.

I wanted animals around a tree so I used my dog and cat dies and my AccuQuilt cutter.  These shapes were too big, so I cut them down and even shortened the torsos to make them the right proportion.  The grey cat is in memory of Puff, who was really a pastel and had some coral pink in her fur, so again out came the crayons, and the tan dog represents my last dog, Pluto.  They are both dressed up with red bows.  Aren't they cute?

I again used my Sizzix to cut a snowman and some fir trees to put around the house.

I crocheted the garland to put around the door and window, and also the wreath for the door.

It's very possible that some crocheted snowflakes will find their way onto the bigger trees, but other than that the embellishing is done.  I will be adding a border because I want this quilt to cover the top of my bed for the holidays.  

I hope you will visit all of the bloggers who joined Cindy's blog hop, and thank you for dropping by.

January 24th

Mari - The Academic Quilter

LeeAnna - Not Afraid of Color

Liz - Hosted by Quilt Doodles

Joanna - Needle, Thread, Happiness

Sherri - Sushine in the Attic

January 25th

Dee - deesdoings

Nancy D - Hosted by Quilt Doodles

Sharon - Vroomans Quilts

Leslie - 365 Days of Wonderful
Jules - Quilting with Calicos

January 26th

Kathy-Kathy's Quilting Blog

Nicole - quiltinglikeamaniac

Pam - Stitching Between the Lines

Jill - Hosted by Quilt Doodles
Debra - My Life Is A Stitch 

God Bless You and enjoy your weekend.

Hi There and Happy New Year

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted, but that's because I didn't have anything to show as far as quilts go.  I had a wonderful three days this past week devoted almost entirely to sewing, working on the Bonnie Hunter project, Grand Illusion.   Her finish of this quilt looks super to me, and I love that in her scrappy version the blocks together look like broken shards of colored glass, at least to me.  I hope mine looks as good.

I do have two blocks made, although I'm still working on the components for the entire quilt.

Two down, too many more to go. 

Can you tell I'm not hurrying?  This year I'll be going slower and probably won't be making as many items as previous years.  I want to perfect my skills and enjoy the process.  In my head I'm hearing a voice saying, "famous last words." 

I want to invite all of you to Quilt Doodle Doodle's blog hop for the 2014 BOM that some of us participated in.  I'll be showing off my quilt and the finishing touches I've added, so I hope you will visit.  1/24/15 is the first day and also my day.  It's going to be fun.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that all of us will stay safe and enjoy good health and happy times in 2015.

God Bless You and Happy Quilting!

Grand Illusions Parts 3 and 4

I missed last week's link up of the Grand Illusion QAL by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's Quips and Snips.  I don't have any part completed yet, but I have worked on a bit of each one.  This is part 4 which has two different color configurations of the Broken Dishes block.

This is part 3.

That's it.  It's a busy time of year and sewing is a relaxing activity for me.  

God Bless You.

Grand Illusion Part 2

I am making it under the wire to link up this week to Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion QAL Part 2.  I am having problems with this section and unsewing about as much as I sew.  

I'm not clear on whether or not these 2.5 sections get sewn together now, but the bottom set above are and the points are okay, so that's good.  But 200 singles to make 100 sets are called for.  Yeah, this will be a long project for me for sure.

This is my stack of the first block; 60 done out of 100.  

Section 3 comes out tomorrow.  

I may catch up in time for Easter:)

God Bless and have a wonderful weekend.