Catching up on my quilting

March is here!

It came in like a lamb and 

here's hoping it goes out like a lamb too!

The temperatures have been in the upper 40's to high 50's.

not bad for March in Cleveland, Ohio!

Joe is doing very well with his recovery from surgery,

couldn't ask for any better.

.....

I have been doing some sewing, of course! :)

I ordered and received the blue backing for Maria's quilt.

I just have to iron everything and get it to the shop to get it 

quilted.

.....

I have made 20 of the blocks for the boys quilts,

this is what it will look like when done,

I don't know where I saved this photo, so I can't give 

credit to who ever made this quilt. It is really pretty!

I think the boys will like this design. (hope they don't read my blog!!)

I have some special fabric for the backings, a pattern to fit each boy.

More on that later.

.....

I have also been working on the hexagon quilt whenever I get a chance.

It is coming along pretty well. I am aiming for it to be a twin size quilt.

This is just a part of what I have done, I just don't have a photo of it yet.

Will get that taken soon.

I have made lots of hexagons and I store them in used

Crystal Light container. We have lots of them and I store so many

things in them! I have 100 hexagons in each container.

This one is full of my white hexagons, they stay nice and flat and clean, so they

are ready to go.

I also store extra needles in one and I put the trimmings and cut threads in one

 for my kit that I carry all over the house. 

.....

One thing I need to do is to finish up the space rocket quilt I started

last year. 

I fell in love with this when I saw it in

Quiltmaker. I had to collect lots of blues for it, then when

I was done I found a great print for a border

and backing.

I haven't been too happy with the appliqué I did for the flame and 

that's what is holding me up on this quilt. I'm not sure if I will do it

over again or not. I want it perfect! :)

Well, enough for now, I guess I'm trying to catch you up on

what I've been doing for the last year!

Winter 2016

This winter has been absolutely wonderful!

The weather has been very warm, so we haven't had

very much snow or extreme cold temperatures.

..........

Joe had back surgery earlier this month and 

is doing quite well considering all the work that

was done.

This is the card I made for him. 

I got the idea from CardzTV.com,

she makes some great cards.

..........

I have been quilting during the time I took off

to care for Joe. I made a quilt for my sister-in-law, Maria.

It is a scrappy nine patch with alternate blocks. Very simple!

Joe wanted it to be queen size so it is very large!

I usually make twin or lap size so to do a 

queen was hard for me.

I used off white as my background and so I

have gathered a lot of neutrals, so many I had to

sort them and put them all in a drawer unit I have.

It was embarrassing to see exactly how many I do have!

I do have plans to make an all neutral quilt

after I finish the group I have planned for this year.

I have these planned and must be done before September.

Maria's quilt - queen size

backing ordered

2 black and white quilts - queen size

yellow and grey zig-zag quilt - lap or twin size

hexagon quilt - lap or twin size

I also want to finish up a couple of UFO's that I 

have completed, just need backings

Hand quilting

Emptiness

While working on my "organic" quilting

I hurt my sewing machine!

I guess I somehow bent something by the bobbin case and 

the machine started making strange noises. Also the walking foot

would also lock up the screw holding the needle in and then the 

needle would fall out.

So I took it to my "guy" and he is working on it now.

So what to do while my machine is getting her insides worked on?

I thought and thought. Everytime I would think of something to do,

it would involve sewing on the machine. 

Since the desk is so empty,

I decided to straighten up my boxes of projects that need to be finished and found 

my Halloween doll quilt or wallhanging that needed to be hand quilted.

Yeah! It was already pinned and ready to go.

Simple stitch in the ditch.

After finishing the center I decided to add spiderwebs in each corner.

I hand drew one in the corner and will probably add spiders on the border also.

I don't usually draw lines for my quilting as I can't draw a straight line, 

but how can you mess up a web? Lol!!!

My machine will be ready by Wednesday

and I will no longer have an empty desk.

:)

Skittles favorite spot

This is where Skittles likes to sit

while I'm on the computer. Though at the moment

he is on my shoulder!!!!

:)

Doll quilts and organic quilting

Still working on my half-square triangle doll quilt.

So while it snows outside I'm snug in the house 

stitching away.

I wanted to add a 1 inch border and since I always have 

trouble with that small width I decided to mark the fabric at 

1/4 inch so I have a good 1 inch finished border. My sewing 

foot is not quite 1/4 inch so I need something to guide me.

A 1/4 inch foot is one feature I will want if I ever get another machine.

I added all the borders and it is now hanging with my other 

unfinished doll quilts.

These include the finished Sweet Dreams doll quilt

and an unfinished pink squares doll quilt 

(still thinking of what to do about borders for that one)

and the halloween doll quilt.

I love the "butterscotch" color of this border fabric.

After finishing up this quilt I decided to try "organic" machine quilting

on my blue baby quilt that I had pinned and waiting for hand quilting.

I like the look of this type of machine quilting in the pics I've seen posted at 

several sites.

So I went with it and started stitching.

I hope I don't end up with a ruined baby quilt.

I do see some wrinkling toward the bottom of the row.

It is probably because I am rushing the machine too much.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this works out ok.

:)

Half square triangles

This last week I worked on this doll quilt, using

some of my Year 2000 2 1/2 inch squares.

(I may have these until Year 3000!)

This is what I made.

I did do the windmill trick with the corners on the

back of the quilt top. (Only another quilter

would understand what I'm talking about! :)  )

but they are time consuming

and difficult to do so in this next quilt I'm not going to attempt

doing them.

 I am going to add a border of a gold fabric possibly with a blue

binding. I am following an inspiration quilt and want to make it just like

she did. 

What's on my desk today

:)

I finished the Sweet Dreams doll quilt!

It took me awhile but I finally finished the Sweet Dreams 

doll quilt.

Yeah!

These next photos are sneak peeks at what

I am working on now.

and in my spare time I'm still working on Josh's 

Christmas stocking. 

:)

Pink Sweet Dreams doll quilt

Decided to finish hand quilting this today.

Now I'm putting on the binding and should be done by the 

end of the week.

Work really cuts into my crafting time!

:)