TWO FINISHES!

I got up at 5:00 AM and made two of these blocks for my churn dash/star quilt - patterns from Thread Head.  

I'm so excited to have my flag quilt finished!  From the first time I saw it on Lori's blog at least a year ago, I knew I wanted to make it.  I can't remember when I started it, but when I saw Lori's quilt in person last June, I was determined.  I have it hanging on my quilt rack, although it really doesn't quite fit - it's a little scrunched on the rod.  I'll think of a better place to hang it.  

I don't know if you can see how I quilted it or not.  The meandering quilting on the blue square is done with variegated thread, so the dark part doesn't really show up.  It looks like it's not quilted very much because all you can see is the lighter blue thread.

I probably shouldn't have used a directional fabric for the field of blue, because when it is hanging, it's going sideways!  Oh, well.  I am very happy to have it finished.

This is the donation quilt finished.

I don't know what got into me this afternoon.  We've been hunkering down in the cold and icy weather, but I decided to do some cleaning!  The dust in my sewing room was at least an inch thick!  It's a lot better now, but I still haven't finished because I decided to vacuum out my closet too.  Oh, my gosh, it was bad too.  I even found some stuff to get rid of.  Woo Hoo!  Maybe I'll continue some more cleaning tomorrow - or maybe not.

Hope you are all keeping warm!

TWO AWARDS!!

Carolyn at Lee Prairie Designs is a dear blogging friend and she has picked my blog to receive the Liebster Blog award!

The aim of this Liebster Blog Award is to bring recognition and exposure to small blogs who have less than 300 followers. If you accept this award, you then agree to chose three other small blogs that you would recommend to others.  I can think of "many" blogs that I read, enjoy and are deserving of this award but ------I can only chose 3 blogs and here they are!


Theri at Theri's Quilt Stuff - you will be amazed at her bird quilts!


Liri at Liriopia's Legacy - a wonderful seamstress and quilter who loves vintage finds.


Joan at Keeping You in Stitches - home schooling mom who quilts with her daughters.


I hope you will visit these blogs - I know you will be inspired!  Thank you, Carolyn!


Then, just today I received an email from Cate Newton to inform me that my blog has been featured on the list of the 50 Best quilting blogs which was published on the Guide to Art Schools web site.  I have put their badge on my sidebar.


I feel very honored today.

HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES, ETC.

I made 120 half square triangles (HSTs) for this little quilt.  They finished at 1 1/4" square and the quilt measures 13" x 15 1/4".  I lost my directions for the number of rows and haven't been able to find them - they were from the Jo Morton class.  In the first picture I have all the HSTs lined up and started piecing them row by row while keeping them lined up.

Here it is all pieced together.

It's quilted and bound.

Back view.

This week's Civil war block - Kansas Troubles.  This is an actual block made into a quilt in Kansas in 1850.  See this blog for some history as well as directions for each weekly block.

I quilted this baby quilt which will be donated to the children's hospital in Dallas (through my quilting guild).

We've started to plan our next trip, which will be later in March/early April - back to see the grandbabies!

MORE BLOCKS AND A CLASS

I have been busy sewing.  On Saturday the 4th block came out for the Civil War quilt, so I made it up.

Two more blocks for my Thread Head quilt along.

My design wall is looking a little fuller, and I have quite a few of the alternating blocks made.  I plan to make this into a king size quilt.

I decided to take the Jo Morton's Little Women Club.  I purchased this FQ set of Jo's fabric.

The first quilt pattern is for a small HST quilt and I'm doing it in pinks & browns as the sample was made.  I started on the 120 HSTs last night.  I decided to get it made right away, so I'll have it to show next month.

I also machine quilted my flag quilt and as soon as I get it bound, I'll post a picture of it.  I'm happy to have that almost finished.

Thanks for visiting!

WORKING ON BLOCKS

The last few days, I've been working on the blocks for the Thread Head quilt along.  I'm not going to make all the blocks but will mainly make churn dash variations and some sawtooth star variations.  

I also liked this Kansas Troubles block (below) and made 2 of them today.

I've been strip piecing the alternating block.

And I now have a stack of about 26 almost finished.

I got some more reproductions from the scrap bin that I can use in this quilt and in the civil war quilt.  The first block pictured is all from the scrap bin, so the scraps are pretty good in size!

TWO LITTLE QUILTS

I have had a busy week and gotten a lot of sewing accomplished.  First, here is the 3rd Civil War block from Barbara Brackman.  I'm excited about doing this quilt!  I didn't like the idea of doing needle turn applique on this week's block, so I did it by machine.  Much easier!

I didn't make a UFO list, but if I had, this valentine's day project would have been on it.  Last year, I embroidered the heart blocks from Kviltstina.  She still has the project on her blog if anyone is interested.

This was a quick finish and a step towards a goal to have seasonal table toppers.

Does your toilet have a quilt?  Mine does now.  

I spent some time working on the Mansfield Park quilt that I blogged about here.  I am ready to sew on the borders and then can baste it and quilt it.  I'm going to baste it in two parts so I can fit it in my machine and then will sew the two parts together.  We'll see how it goes.

A NEW AND OLD PROJECT

New project (Oh No!)  Block 2 of the Civil War blocks from Barbara Brackman.  I love these fabrics, which I just got with my gift certificate.

I finally finished piecing my second cheddar cheese & crackers doll quilt (a reproduction of a large antique quilt) that Lori held last year (Yea!).  Now I just have to quilt it.  Since I hand quilted the first one, I think I'll hand quilt this one too because I don't know how I would machine quilt it.  BTW, there are 552 pieces in this little quilt (22 1/2" square).

Here's the first one, which I have shown before.  I LOVE this quilt.

I am cheered whenever I turn the corner in the hallway and see this view of the quilt hanging over the chair.

A few more pictures from our trip:

Cuddling with Jonah in the morning.

Abigail on the left "driving" in the park.

A beautiful day on the Gulf.

DIL, DS & Abigail just before DS left for his first day on nurses' training in his scrubs.

Thanks for the many comments on my previous post!

BACK HOME!

We arrived back home in Texas on Monday afternoon and were glad to be here.  We hated to leave.    Abigail bounces when she runs and it's so cute.  DS said that she stood at the window asking DIL, "Where is Grandma and Grandpa?"  It breaks your heart.  Jonah told any visitors who came to see Eli that he got to eat lunch in the camper with Grandpa.  We hope to go back for a short visit in March.

Jonah made his first snowman on Monday.  The snow didn't stick together very good, so they made a short one, which was great for Jonah.

I won a quilting calendar from Ann!  Her quilt is featured in October.  Check our her blog here.  Thanks so much, Ann.  

I have it hanging in my sewing room.

My sister gave me this quilting calendar for Christmas!

It's hanging in our kitchen/dining room.  Both calendars have the patterns for all the featured quilts.

This is a knick knack shelf that I have hanging in my sewing room.  I have a small collection of chickens on nests.  I found 2 at a thrift shop in Florida for a really good price.  They are the 2 bronze colored ones.  The pink one was given to me by my Grandmother sometime in the 50's. and the other ones I got at thrift shops.

Here's a close-up of the pink one and one of the bronze colored ones.  The bronze one's basket is mis-shapen.  I didn't notice that when I got it, but I don't mind.  

Yesterday, we washed clothes, opened mail, paid bills, etc.  I also did some sewing and will take pictures of what I made and will post again soon.

CIVIL WAR BLOCK & MRS POTATO HEAD

Check out the Civil War blocks here from Barbara Brackman.  She will be putting up a block every week, so I decided to join in.  Luckily I had some reproduction scraps that I showed you a few posts ago and I had enough for this first block.

Several of you asked about my paper piecing project.  Go to Katie's blog where you can see the quilt that her mother made called Everyday Best  (scroll down a ways until you get to the quilt with the nine large circles on it).  It is the sixth one down of the quilt show quilts she blogged about.  So far I have 2 circles paper pieced - but not sewn together.  There is one thing that I'm not particularly fond of doing in this quilt - paper piecing, and one thing that I have never one - curved seams.  Actually, the paper piecing on this is pretty easy.  We'll see what I say about the curved seams after I do them.

Abigail got Mrs. Potato Head for her birthday.

"Hmm.  I think I'll try on these glasses (from Mrs. Potato Head)."

"They don't seem to stay on very well."

I love hearing a little voice calling for Grandma or Grandpa.  It's definitely going to be hard when we leave on Sunday,

Reading the Teddy Bears' Picnic Book

Back on October 31 I told you about making a book with the song "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" for Jonah.  I also made one for Abigail and here is a picture of me reading (actually singing) the book to her.  

I ended up printing the book for Abigail on our printer and if the books get wrecked, I think I will have them printed at Staples, because they would come out better.  The song is very old and I think it is so sweet.  Both Jonah and Abigail seem to enjoy the book (even with my singing)  Hee Hee!

Two year olds are so adorable!  Jonah is 7  months older than Abigail and in some ways they are so alike, but other ways so different.  Abigail is a little drama queen.  Jonah is all boy.  Oh, I hate not living close enough to see them every week.  We have 5 more precious days with Abigail, then back to Texas with a short stop in Louisiana.

PAPER PIECING IN THE CAMPER

I finally got a chance to do some sewing, and I think paper piecing is a really good "camper" project.  Here is what I did.  Katie will recognize it.  I'll have to tell you the name of the quilt later.  The smallness of the paper base makes it easy to do with a bag of scraps - no big pieces of fabric needed.  

Below is my side of the table where I always sit.  I put the kleenex box within reach and it was always falling down, so at first I looked around WalMart to see if they had anything that I could use to keep it in place.  I also wanted a holder for some napkins and a note pad/pencil.  Well, when I didn't find anything at Walmart, I decided to make something.  A simple strip of fabric to hold the kleenex box in place!  Loose enough to replace the box,  but tight enough to keep it from falling down!

Next was the napkin/notepad/pencil holder.  I had just bought a few pieces of fabric at a thrift shop for 25 cents (including a cheese slicer), so I used one of those pieces.  It still wasn't enough, but I had a couple bigger pieces in my scrap bag, so I was able to sew a makeshift holder and put it up with thumb tacks.  It doesn't really match my curtains or the kleenex box holder, but it works for now!

I received a gift certificate for Christmas from a friend to Common Threads in Waxahachie, TX - one of my favorite quilt shops.  I used the gift certificate on yardage (which I don't have a picture of), but also bought the scraps below from their scrap bin.  You can stuff a plastic bag full and it is $2.00.  I figure I got at least one yard's worth of reproduction fabric here and some of the pieces are pretty large.

This is what I got at the thrift shop along with the piece I used for my napkin holder.  The Betty Boop fabric is about 1/3 yard and I got it all for 25 cents!  Woo Hoo!

Soon we'll be going to our son's apartment for a New Years' brunch.  It's supposed to rain all day, but the temperature is in the 60's.  Hope you all have a good New Years' day!