Happy Little Things Blocks

I caught up on Jacquelynne Steves qal Happy Little Things.  There will be 4 blocks in the quilt, so I'm embroidering images for the four seasons in my center piece.  

Block 2 Happy Little Things

 Block 2 is autumn and block 1 is summer. 

Block 1 Happy Little Things

The summer image is something from Primitive Quilts Fall 2018 issue and is by Deirdre Bond-Abel. I had to free hand draw my image so it's a poor copy of her design, but I like it.

I had to get a new laptop and can't get into my other laptop where all of the free downloads for some of the qal's I am in the middle of are filed.  I can buy the months I lost but after buying a new laptop, my spending power is a bit weaker.  So I might see if I can create similar blocks on my own and see how they come out.  I think that would be fun.

We are having the best weather right now, cool and sunny.  Hope it lasts.

God Bless!

An August Finish

I finally can say that the Frozen quilt I am making for my grandniece is finished.  The quilting was not going well, but it looks OK now that I have it bound.

I made a small doll blanket and a pillow. For some reason, I find making a case for a round pillow difficult. I'm not happy with the way it looks and may not gift it.  

Time to move on to something new.  

God Bless.  

Patches of Life by Eleanor Burns, QIAD

Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt Top

The Crafty Quilter has a link up open for a few more days for this QAL.  I have finished the quilt top only, but that's enough for now.  I think I will save it in case I need a cute quilt at some time.

I really like it.  The pictures aren't doing justice to it, but the navy border and cream/tan background look great together. 

Thanks, Julie.  Although this is another UFO for me, I like this block.  I don't think I would have made it without your tutorial.

I am not doing well with my UFO's.  But they aren't going anywhere, so I know they are waiting for me.

We're in for a severe heat wave this weekend.  

Stay safe and God Bless Everyone! 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt - My Fabrics

I'm sewing along with Meadow Mist Designs' Mosaic Mystery QAL.  (I love all of the alliteration.)  I've had the A, B, C fabrics for a few years now, so it's their time to shine.  They are by Felicity Miller for Westminster Fabrics, Moon and Planet.  

I am making this quilt for Seana, my sister's youngest GD.  The fabric is Frozen which I've had for a year or two and decided I better use it before Seana hits college.  

I love the pattern; it's an Eleanor Burns quilt called Patches of Life.  The quilt is now on my sewing machine in the process of being quilted, but I've run into problems so I walked away for a few days and will resume later today.  

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.

Enjoy and God Bless You.

I love hollyhocks

Hands2Help Square in a Square

This is the lap quilt I'm sending to Happy Chemo as part of Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Hands2Help event.  

It's a simple Square in a Square quilt.

I used a gray backing.

I'm glad that Sarah's event is so successful.  

Have a wonderful time at your sewing machine.  

God Bless.

UFO Finish for March

I almost missed a March finish.  I had pulled out my Swoon quilt, which was just a quilt top, with the intention of getting it quilted and finished. But it is just too big, and I really didn't make any headway on it.  Then I pulled out this little quilt which only needed the binding.  I had made a major mistake when making the waves on this Summer quilt designed by Julie Cefalu, The Crafty Quilter.  This is how it looked when I put it together this past summer.

I fixed the waves by using Applique Patchwork, 

which in this case meant sewing over my mistakes.

All better.  And the binding is on, so it's all done. Another UFO down.

And today's the last day for posting so I really just made it.

Will I have an April UFO finish?  Not looking good right now, but there's always hope.

Quilt Doodle Designs has a beautiful QAL going on, Garden Sunshine, and these are the March and April blocks. 

I'm also finishing the quilt top of the Heirloom Quilting QAL.  I love it, but nothing to show yet.  I'm working on the placement of the blocks.

Have a wonderful month.  It's warming up a bit here so that I can work outside most days and get the garden in some kind of shape.  I think I just like playing in the dirt.

God Bless!

A Finish for February

Cupcakes is a finish.  This is certainly one of my oldest UFO's begun in 2011.  

Cupcakes

It's soft and sweet so I'm keeping it to use as a summer coverlet.

If I made one of these every year I'd have much fewer scraps:)

The backing used up some bigger pieces of stray fabric.

I'll be linking up with The Crafty Quilter on Sunday for the UFO Challenge.  I think it's cool that I've already achieved two finishes this year.

I don't think I have any more easy UFO's, only big quilts that need borders and some that are just blocks that need to be put together.  Since March is a longer month I may choose a challenging project to try to finish.  

I've been making blocks for Heirloom Quilting's Mystery QAL.  I've used a bit of a mix of colors and prints and am hoping it all pulls together at the end.

Heirloom Quilting Mystery QAL

  Not the best of pictures but you get the idea.

Hope you are enjoying your time with needle and thread.

God Bless!

February's UFO Goal

I'm still in with The Crafty Quilter's UFO/WIP Challenge.  My project this month is this scrap quilt I began in 2011 which I'm calling the Cupcake Quilt because that is the common denominator of each block.  Aneela Hooey showed the making of these blocks and I joined in because it was so easy and used up scraps.  Now that I have the quilt top made I love this quilt.

It's at the "to be quilted and bound" phase, so I should be able to complete it by end of the month.

I'm also doing the 2019 BOM from Quilt Doodle Doodle called Garden Sunshine.

These are the January and February blocks.

February Variable Star

January Birds and Bird House

I hope this is not the only quilting I do this month.  We'll see.

God Bless and have fun.

A Finish for January

My first finish for 2019 is this one from 2016.  The quilt top was done, but needed to be sandwiched and quilted.  

This is my list of unfinished projects that I plan to work on this year. And now I can cross off #3.  Maggies' First Dance is a finish.  So happy.  If  Julie of The Crafty Quilter had not set up this community "quilt with a deadline" thing I wouldn't have worked on this quilt.  

It was the motivation I needed.  

I'm linking up with The Crafty Quilter; an amazing number of UFO's are hitting the dust this month.  

God Bless and have fun!

WIP Challenge

The Crafty Quilter has a WIP Challenge this year, beginning this month.  The goal is to finish at least one UFO each month.  My list has over 13 entries.  I knew I had quite a few UFO's, but not as many as I found.  Shame on me.  Anyway, I'm working on my first one, quilting the Maggie's First Dance quilt that I made about 2 years ago as a Jacquelynne Steves QAL.  It's a pretty quilt and not that big, so I know I will finish it this month.

I'm making good progress and hope to finish this week.  

I have a few new projects that I want to get going on.  (So I can have more WIP's:)

God Bless !

Day Late, Dollar Short

 This quilt was done before Halloween, but I haven't posted until after Thanksgiving.  

I love the way the long stitch quilting looks.  

Next week the Christmas decorations come out.

God Bless and take care.

Black Cat with Polka Dots

I was pulling together all of the Christmas panels I have when I came across this one that I completely forgot owning.  I don't usually do very much for Halloween but I must have liked this little guy in the pumpkin.  It's a Mary Jane Carey for Henry Glass panel from last year, I think.  

Anyway, I'm hand quilting it with long stitches.  

This is an aster plant the I bought for half price from the "almost dead" section one of the garden stores nearby.  It was a sad thing at first but it's doing well now.  

I got this aster at the same time.  It's really a bush with very small flowers; very delicate in appearance but I think it's a hardy plant.  I'll mulch it really well when the weather turns colder.

Hope all is well.

God Bless.

Four O'Clocks - I love them.

Silent Night Quilt and Flowers

Unfortunately, I cannot take a good picture of this beautiful quilt.  

The fabric is rich and beautiful; it's by Ro Gregg for Paintbrush Studio.

I've had the fabric and free pattern for about a year, so I'm happy to finally have it put together.

Next I think I'll put together a small Halloween quilt that's a free pattern from Fort Worth Fabric Studio; it's call Boo to You Mystery QAL.  After the uncomfortable summer we've had here I'm ready for autumn anything.

I had to begin establishing flowers here in my new home this year.  I had successes and failures.  I learned that unless it's a cactus most flowering plants cannot take full sun all day.  Fortunately, I started some of my plants in pots so I could move them to a better location in the yard.  At my parent's yard, there were small and large trees and bushes that provided shade at different times of the day.  That really is necessary, especially when the temps are very high.

This is a tithonia or Mexican sunflower.  I almost pulled it out when it was about 5 feet high and still not flowering.  It was just too soon.  Fortunately I waited and now it's full of flowers.

 My dahlias are doing very well.  They are all new so that probably is a factor.

Gaillardia.

I'm so glad I tried morning glories; they are gorgeous in the mornings.

This praying mantis dropped by, and yesterday a pheasant crossed the street as I was driving down my street.

On one of the hot, humid days, I found Moxie like this.  Most of the time you can find her under a shrub in the coolness there.

God Bless and be well.