CHRISTMAS QUILT FINISHED

 I finished the Christmas quilt that was made from a kit.  This is just about the first time that I didn't wash the fabric before sewing it together.  The fabric was cut into pieces, some of which were pretty small, but other were large.  I just started cutting it up without thinking too much about it.  Then, when I was pressing some blocks, it seemed like the red would stick to the iron and move over to the lighter color.  I was afraid it would bleed, so I tested some red and white together in water and it didn't bleed.

My first post about this was September 12.  I had the blocks done but not sewn together.  Last week I was reading Barb's blog and she was showing a finished quilt - just awesome - and showed how she washes it in her bath tub.  She had some bleeding and needed to fix that.  I have also read in other blogs that some quilters wash their quilt as soon as they finish it.  I rarely do that.  Now I'm wondering if that is something a lot of quilters do.

Anyway, I decided to wash this one in my tub because I wanted to be sure that it wouldn't bleed as I plan to sell it and my washing machine doesn't have a gentle cycle (well, it has it, but it certainly isn't very gentle).  I used 2 color catchers and some Dawn.  I soaked it for a couple hours and rinsed it a couple times, then put it in the washing machine to spin and dryer it in the clothes dryer.  It came out perfect!

Here' a close up of the appliquéd ornament in the center.

This is the backing fabric and you can see the quilting better.  I quilted it with a goldfish thread on top and bottom.  The backing fabric is dark green with light green and gold dotted lines.

Another project that will be for me is this wool appliqué wall hanging.  I really need to get it finished or I won't be able to use it this year.  All the pieces are stitched down by machine and I just need to do a little hand embroidery and find some more buttons to sew onto the backing on the sides.

My cousin from New York and her hubby is in town this weekend - her first time to visit Oregon!  We will be spending the day with them today and then they will be going to Newport, on the coast for a conference.  I rarely get to see her, so this is great!!

Please let me know if you wash your quilts as soon as you finish them - and why.  Do you wash the fabric before hand?

Here's a couple pictures of the beautiful fall trees in the area.

 I love fall!!

THREE FINISHED QUILTS AND A SNOWMAN

I finally got the binding sewn on my "Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's House we Go" quilt!  I hung it on the wall and should have taken a picture of it before doing that because it was kind of hard to get the right angle and lighting from where it hangs.  I think we used to sing that song around Thanksgiving time in grade school.

"Over the River and Through the Woods"

 Then I finished a Christmas rail fence quilt that will be donated.  I cheated and folded over the backing for the binding and then sewed it on top by machine.  It sure went a lot faster!

The backing fabric was given to me by a friend.

Another Christmas quilt that I will keep and this patchwork fabric was also given to me by the same friend.  All I did was back it with some flannel that I had on hand with no batting and I quilted it with straight lines on the diagonal.  I really like this fabric, which is already pieced together and sold by the yard.

My sister has a snowman like this and I had been wanting to make one from an old bed spread.

This is the program from the Houston International Quilt Show that I got when they sent my quilt back to me.  My quilt, A Civil War Remembered, is listed on page 39 under Texas Guild's Award-winning Traditional Quilts 2014.

Tomorrow will be a baking and cooking day and on Thanksgiving we will be going to DS#1/DIL's home for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Unfortunately, our DGD has to work on Thanksgiving, as the stores are all open now on Thanksgiving.  I liked it better when stores were closed.  :-)  And our DGS won't be coming home from college for Thanksgiving, but we'll see him at Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my quilting  and blogging friends!

HOUSTON QUILT FESTIVAL AND A VISIT WITH NANA GIRL

 I think I told you before about my Civil War quilt being sent to hang at the Houston Quilt Festival.  Since I wasn't able to go to it, I had a friend take a picture for me so I would have proof that it was actually there.  I feel very honored to have had my quilt hanging there.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted lately.  If you read my last post, you know we were in Virginia.  After Virginia, we traveled to Florida where I was able to visit with Karen of NanaGirlQuilts.  She graciously showed me many of her quilts and I especially enjoyed seeing her Jubilee quilt.  Her hand quilting is amazing!  I hope you'll go over to her blog and check it out if you haven't done so already. I would love to take one of her classes or visit the guild she belongs to some time.

Thanks to all who voted for my Baskets of Blue quilt in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and for your lovely comments!  I didn't win anything, but it was fun and I visited a lot of other quilters' blogs and saw some lovely quilts.  I continue to be amazed that there are so many quilting blogs out there - and so many talented quilters!

I have been quilting on this scrappy rail fence Christmas quilt and it is about half way quilted.  It's going to be a donation quilt.

I'm gradually getting back to a routine and am especially happy to be able to spend the holidays with our oldest son, whose birthday is today, BTW.  We're going to fix supper for him and I think this is the first time in many years that we have been able to be with him on his birthday.

USING DESIGN WALL!!

Since the design wall was up, I thought I would put up some blocks.  Last Christmas, the president of my guild in Texas gave us some 2 1/2" strips of fabric.  I didn't know what to do with them, so I just sewed them together and cut them into 6 1/2" rail fence blocks.  Well, I didn't have enough for a whole quilt, so I dug out my box of Christmas fabric to see what I could come up with.  I wanted to use fabric from stash.  I used white, plain or white on white, for the middle strip and used up some small pieces of white.  Then I had quite a bit of some different yardages, which I put together with white and pretty soon my design wall was full!

This is what got me going - the blue and white from my guild president.

I almost have the top together and will figure out something for borders, but there are 12 rows of 10 blocks each, which will measure 72" x 60".

As "leader/enders" I have started another quilt by Bonnie Hunter called Bow-Dacious.  I have am making some progress too.  The block below measures 9 1/2" square.  If I follow Bonnie's directions, I would need 49 of these blocks.  Along with the border, the quilt would measure 84" x 84".  I don't know how big I will make it.  I'm using all scraps for this so far.

These little parts of the larger block measure 4 1/2" square.

It doesn't seem like I'm spending any time at all on it using the leader/ender method.

What are you working on?  I still need to do more organizing, though, so I can't do too much sewing. I thought that while the blocks are up, I might as well sew them together, right?

THANKSGIVING FOR A YEAR OF MANY BLESSINGS

We are thankful to God for his many blessings to us this year. First of all, the birth of our grandson, Jonah, then my DH's improving health, and of course the expected birth of a new granddaughter, Abigail in December.

We are going out to eat today and will celebrate Thanksgiving with our #3 son, DIL & Jonah at a resort in North Texas on Lake Texoma. We leave tomorrow and will be a whole week with them! Yippee!!!

This double nine patch quilt is for #3 son & DIL for Christmas. I took it to be quilted last week and didn't think it would be finished in time to take with us, but the quilter called yesterday and I was so happy! I sewed the binding on last night and will have to finish the hand sewing part after I give it to them. I'm so glad it is finished.

Some of the pictures are too light because we took them in direct sunlight. We'll take some more when it is totally finished. It is done in all civil war reproduction fabrics.


This is the Christmas quilt after I quilted and bound it. I used the meandering quilting design because that is about all I can do now except for straight lines & stitch in the ditch. Tee Hee!

Here is Jonah's Christmas stocking. It isn't finished yet, but I just have the outlining to do on the cross-stitching - maybe you can see where I have done some of it. It really helps to make the picture stand out. I'll work on it during our vacation.
Then I'll have to get the cuff sewn onto the stocking. I really like the plaid fabric that I found for 40% off!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and maybe get some time for quilting! Thanks for all the comments. I try to respond, but I know I miss some. I appreciate all the visitors to my blog and enjoy checking out your blogs also.

CHRISTMAS QUILT; TRADE FROM TASMANIA

I found a blog friend in Tasmania, Australia and we traded some fabric.  Below is some of what   received from Leanna in exchange for some fabric from me.   I plan to use the charm squares in a tumbler charm quilt.  It still amazes me that we find friends on the other side of the world by blogging.  It is so fun!

Here are some of the other charm squares I have collected for the tumbler charm quilt.  I will be using mostly reproduction fabrics - or fabrics that can pass for reproduction types, Tee Hee.  I will be hand piecing it, so needless to say, this will be a long term project.  No deadline here!
Here is one of the finished doll quilts that I made last week.  I sold one to a friend at work and she was real happy with it.  I hope to sell this one (if not, I will give it away).  The pillow is kind of strange (long & skinny), but I had some blocks left over and this is how it turned out.

I have been wanting a Christmas quilt, so I decided to use these charm squares to make a lap quilt for us.  It's a really fast project.
I'm kind of addicted to charm squares!
I found another charm pack of  Christmas fabrics and I think I will make this one with alternating fabrics, such as the ones I laid out below.  We'll see if I get this finished in time to give as a gift.
The LQS is having a sale - 40% off everything in the store!!!  I went there yesterday and plan to go back today.  The store will be changing hands the first of the year, so the owner is trying to clear out the inventory.  I love it!!!