THIS AND THAT!

Some frustrations last week and I had to take my Janome to get worked on.  I hope I get it back soon. Luckily, I have a Featherweight, so I'm able to sew, however, I really need to QUILT!  And I use my Janome 6600 for that.  I have 5 things basted right now - small things, but still.

Here is my Featherweight.  As you can see my sewing table overlooks the back yard and the shed back there.  Last week I was sitting at the sewing machine and heard a noise.

I looked out the window just as a huge branch from the maple tree next door fell down into our yard.  Luckily (again), our neighbor cleaned it up (with some help from DH) since it is his tree.

 After finishing American Crossroads (here), I thought I better see what large project to work on next.  So I got out my Moda Blockheads blocks (from 2017) to see what I have.  I put them all up on my design wall and here they are.  I have 53 of them.  Some of them I skipped (just a few) and others I liked a lot so I decided to make 2 (or 3 or 4) of them (usually because they were easy ones).  And, because I want to make a queen size quilt out of them.

This quilt below, Patchwork Barn, was made by my quilt guild to raffle off with the benefits going to the Yamhill County Heritage Museum.  I donated a few of my blockhead blocks for it.  I do love this quilt -  it was designed by Edyta Sitar.  I am thinking I would like to make this quilt with my blocks.  I might not have enough so I may need to make more.  But I could also make the column spacers wider or add some solid squares in the columns.  I will figure out something.

Lots of people add photos of local wildlife to their blog posts, so here is my most recent photo, taken yesterday on my walk.  This snail was crossing the street, very slowly.  He's about 3" long.  I was going to add a photo of some deer, but I've done that before and couldn't find my most recent photo.

My DS#1 has a new toy - at least it looks like one.  It's a one seat airplane.  Yesterday he flew over our house with it!  Don't worry, he wasn't very low - in fact he was so high I could barely see it.  Also, he is a pilot for FedEx and very experienced.

That's about it for today.  I'm hoping to get my Janome back soon so I can get some quilting done. 

Thanks for visiting! 

UFO FINISHED - AMERICAN CROSSROADS

I saw the American Crossroads quilt about 10 years ago and decided I wanted to make it.  It was published in the Fall/Winter 2005 Quilt Sampler magazine.  I didn't start it until 2016 and finally finished the top in January of this year.

I basted it (as you can see below) earlier this month.

I spent about 11 1/4 hours quilting it on my Janome 6600 sewing machine and  finished it last week.  My clothes line isn't high enough for it not to hang on the ground. The quilt measures about 100" x 90".

Here are some close up pictures showing that most of the fabrics are civil war reproduction fabrics. 

This picture shows the quilting best.  First I stitched in the ditch of all the blocks and then I quilted a flower shape on top of each 4-patch.  In the border I quilted "Swirl Scroll" from Angela Walters "Free Motion Quilting" book.

Today I also started working on another UFO, a small quilt with embroidered blocks - I'll show this one in another post.  It's feeling good to get some of these old UFOs finished!

BASTING!

While shopping at Joann's with my quilting buddy, I saw a bolt of batting.  It was marked down to $91.99 from $229.99.  I also had a 20% off coupon on anything on sale except clearance items.  When checking to see if it would apply to the bolt - 20 yards and 90" wide - I was told that it did.  So my friend and I decided we would split it.  The per yard price turned out to be $3.68!!    What a deal!

I just finished this quilt top, so it is one of the quilts that I need to quilt.  It was kind of windy when I took the pictures!  This quilt, American Crossroads, was in the Quilt Sampler magazine from fall/winter, 2005.  I started it in 2013.  It's about time I get it finished.

I put some tables together in my sewing room and laid out the quilt top so I could cut the batting.

So far I have basted 3 quilts and still need to finish the backing for American Crossroads.  The one in the picture below is made from scrap 2 1/2" squares that I cut quite a few years ago and will be a donation quilt.

Another one that I basted is the state bird quilt that I'm putting together for a friend.  You can see the backing fabric on the right.

I am hoping to get going on the quilting ASAP!

This is great quilting weather!  So keep stay inside, quilt and keep warm!

ESTATE SALE, UFO AND POT HOLDERS

Yesterday I went to an estate sale,  saw this quilt top and decided to buy it!  It is hand pieced with teeny tiny stitches!

Here's a close-up so you can see the fabric better.

 I decided I needed to get busy on some UFOs and picked this one as all the blocks have been finished for a while.  I am almost finished putting it together.  The pattern is American Crossroads and it was published in Quilt Sampler fall/winter edition in 2005.

I needed a new pot holder "handle" for my cast iron frying pan and decided to make several to sell as well.  I'm keeping 2 for myself.  The green ones are broccoli fabric and then there is corn fabric and chicken fabric.  They are a necessity if you cook with cast iron!

We are getting some much needed rain here.  Have a lovely Sunday!

2018 SCRAP ATTACK!

 I admit that I have a scrap problem.  As you can see, I have joined the "SCRAP ATTACK" group started by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Since I had already decided that I needed to use up a lot of scraps this year, I decided to join.  I had to put 12 goals on individual pieces of paper, one for each month, and then draw one each month.  I just drew the one for January and its - "Use men's shirt scraps and plaids to make a donation quilt.  Uh Oh!  That's not the one I wanted to work on this month.  But I could at least come up with an idea and start it.

12 goals for using scraps

Here are some photos of my "problems."  This is embarrassing!

Bag of triangle scraps

3 drawers full of strips

3 more drawers full of strips

A bin with 1" and 1 1/2" reproduction scraps

box of selvedges

3 more drawers full of scraps

4-patch scraps to make into a donation quilt

5" squares that I bought (!) for $1.00

I didn't even take a picture of the large bin full of men's shirts and I'm sure there are others as well.

I also have a list of UFO GOALS:

1.  Abby's Bodacious Quilt - I want to get this finished for Christmas 2018.  I have about 10 blocks done.

2.  American Cross Roads (blocks are done).
3.  Merry Trails Wall Hanging (Quilt Mania).
4.  Moda Block Heads - finish and put together.
5.  Pineapple 9-Patch
6.  Blocks my Grandma made in the 40's - put together, quilt and bind.
7.  Cat quilt - pieces are cut.
8.  Verandah Views, which was a block of the month from Willowberry Designs, 2009.  All the embroidery blocks are done and need to be put together into a quilt.
9.  Grandma's Flower Garden that I started at least 10 years ago.  After making several blocks, I decided to turn it into a lap quilt.  It wasn't working out very well, so I stopped working on it.  I want to get it finished one way or another.

10.  Another block of the month, which I can't find, was basket blocks for each month.  It's really cute and I finished about 8 or 9 of them.  I would like to get the rest finished.

Do you think that is enough?  If not, I may be able to come up with a few more.  Ugh!!

My design wall has some log cabin blocks on it that I want to make into a table runner.  The blocks measure 5 1/4" unfinished.  They aren't sewn together yet.

Well, please wish me luck with these projects.  I plan to use scraps in my UFO projects, so I might reduce my stash some if I only purchase fabric that is absolutely necessary to finish a project.

Have you made any goals or joined any group for 2018?  Let's all work together to use up scraps and stash!!

GOALS FOR AUGUST

I'm up to date on the Westering Women blocks.  The last one was super easy!

I have been working on a UFO lately.  It's a quilt I saw at Lori's home several years ago and liked a lot.  I don't remember when I started it, but I got tired of having it in a box, so I determined to myself that I would at least finish the top.  It appeared in the Fall/Winter 2005 Quilt Sampler magazine and is called "American Crossroads."  I already had 93 blocks finished and needed 63 more to make it into a queen size quilt.  I just finished 24 blocks!  So now I "only" need 39 more.  I'll try to get them made this week.

So, it seems I am back in the groove!  I also plan to get 2 wall hangings quilted this month.  One is my round robin!

Do you have any goals for August?