Happy New Year's Eve! Quilting As Usual!

Here is how it is.  I finished the Dr. Who Quilt last minute at the end of November and got it in the mail to S. Korea.  Number 1 Daughter received it and loves it!  I have not had a chance to post photos of several things I have completed.  I finished putting the binding on the Jelly Roll Race Quilt, and of course, assisted Kirsten with finishing up one of her quilts.  But these last three weeks, I have been tackling a mending/restoration job that I have been holding on to for over two years.  I decided to stop procrastinating and get it done!  A co-worker and his wife were dog-sitting their grown son's big puppy dog, who had to have a medical procedure.  The wife felt sorry for big puppy and brought out an old baby quilt she had made many years before.  Big puppy ripped a big hole in this quilt.  The wife was sorry she had put the quilt down and thought it unrepairable.  She was distressed and threw it in the trash.  Thoughtful husband secretly rescued it from the trash and brought it to work and showed me the situation.  I told him I could fix it and brought it home.  Once I brought it out of my cupboard, I thought, "I can have this fixed up in a week!"   Boy, was I wrong!  I zig-zagged around the edges of the embroidered patch I had made over two years ago, and threw that in the wash.  It needed softened up.  I snipped all the yarns that held this 'tied' quilt together.  This is also a 'turned' quilt. I unstitched part of the bottom and turned it inside out.  I mended two tears, two seams coming apart, and replaced the ripped up block with the embroidered block.  Then I assessed the batting, which was torn up pretty big in the one area and coming apart in two other areas.  I decided to replace the batting.  The amazing part is: When I went to that J store and got batting, I found baby yarn exactly the same shade of washed-out yellow as on this quilt!  I came home and cut the batting out, and I was just going to sew inside the existing seam lines to connect the new batting when I discovered the back of the quilt was really a lot bigger than the top of the quilt.  I took the back apart from the front.  I was trying to determine how to tack the batting to the back, to make things easier when turning the quilt the right side out again.  My wonderful friend, T, suggested that spray basting stuff.  What a great idea!  When she arrived with her can of spray basting, the next day, I had just laid the back out on my table, so we laid out the batting on top of it.  She shook up the spray basting and then we pulled back the batting about half way, so she could spray. She sprayed one half of the quilt backing, when I suddenly realized it was not the inside being sprayed, but the outside!  I snatched that back up and ran into the laundry room and rinsed it in the deep sink, then put it in the wash to wash that stuff out.  No way does that stuff wash out!  I washed it and tried to steam dry it with my iron, washed it again, washed it again, dried it, then used a lint removal roller on it.  It was still sticky. 

So, T, ripped out the seam holding the two pieces of the back together.  I resewed them, so the seam allowances were on the side with the sticky stuff.  Now the inside of the back of the quilt is the outside of the back of the quilt.  A very clean quilt back it is indeed!  Tonight, I got the batting, backing, and front all sewed together.  I got it turned right side out. I hand stitched the opening closed.  I found my big-eyed needle and threaded it with pale yellow thread and got about half of the blocks tied. I am a happy girl.  I took a break.  My husband and I made some pistachio pudding, then took photos of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt.  It is beautiful!  So, here is a photo of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt!  I love the way these crazy bright colors work together and the stitching is a fabulous design decided on and quilted by Sid Mooney. 

It is a good sized quilt; 60" X 77"

Merry Christmas!

I am wishing you a merry Christmas and a safe week during this cold, slick weather.  It is a great time to stay in with your stash and sew something fun!  I had a wonderful relaxing Christmas and got some terrific gifts.  Two new self-healing cutting mats, pins, gift cards, See's peanut brittle, and a fabulous quilt!  And a bunch of other stuff!!  I cut a stick and hung up the light house wall hanging that QN gave me.  I hung it above the big photo of us in my quilt room.

from Silverdale WA to Meridian ID

First Day of Winter - Here's my summer sea side wallhanging!

My quilting niece, whom I used to quilt with every Wednesday night until she went into the Navy, has finished her tour of duty.  She is now a stay-at-home Mom.  She is back into the quilting fold and lives out-of-state.  We wanted to do a project so we made a couple rules then picked a theme and away we went.  Of course she went faster than me, because I have a full-time job, a freshly retired husband, and various community commitments.  I did get it done around the first part of December.  I am loving it!

I was going to try and use fabrics that I already had, but something for a seaside theme was going to be very difficult.  Then a friend wanted to go to First Thursday at The Cotton Club, and so we went.  I looked at their batiks and found four that I decided would be good for an ocean, sand, sky, and a beach house.  Turned out the seagull batik was too dark and busy for the sky, so I used it for the border.  I already had couple other batiks and the grunge basics fabrics.  I like to call this wall hanging "Batiks Meet Grunge Basics".  I like how the grunge basics give a sun baked, weathered look to the houses.  The idea for the design was from a magazine.  A friend of the featured quilter, Lynn Edwards, had given her a wall hanging with an ocean, boat, and two beach houses as the main design.  This is my take on a similar wall hanging -no plaids or stripes here.  What you may not have noticed is the lace curtains in the windows.  One of the requirements of the project was to use a piece of lace.  When Quilting Niece got this in the mail, we skyped and I opened the one I got from her, while she opened the one she received from me.  It was sooo much fun!  And she gave me a cute little message owl, that she sewed as well.  When I hang hers in my quilt room, I will post a photo!

It's December: I got my Jack O' Lantern Wallhanging Completed

It has been a busy month! I have gotten one year older, and I have a substantial list of unfinished projects. I only have  two more to finish in this year!  Woo-hoo!  Oops! Make that three.  I miscounted.  Last night I started on a repair/restore project for a friend that has been hanging around in my cupboard for two years.  I want to be able to give it to him by next Friday!  When that gets out of here, I will have a nice chunk of space in my fabric cupboard that I can fill up with something else. Like fabric!! Then I have the one flannel quilt I began last January, ready to quilt.  It is all pinned and ready for me to add miles of thread to.  After that I just have the binding to hand-sew on my "Jelly Roll Race Quilt",  I did make some surprise gifts for a couple special people, so I could not post the details or photos of those until after they receive them.  I will be posting those in the next week or so.


T and I started Jack O' Lantern wall hangings on
October 23.  I finished mine on December 17.
I am so good to go for next Halloween!
measures 16" X 20"

Quilts Backing Up!

Sorry, I did not post in November.  I hurt my back, and between being off an not being able to do anything, and then physical therapy and being back to work I just did not get to do any blogging!  I had bills to pay and getting ready for Thanksgiving and relaxing, etc. to do.  The Knotty Quilters had a retreat in October and I was working on a special quilt that is still secret until Christmas.  The Knotty Quilters had a retreat this weekend and I got the secret quilt all finished today!  The pattern is Nighttime Blossoms by Fons and Porter.  It is huge for me!  But then, I did a huge one last year, too, now that I think of it.  Huge just is not my typical thing.  Twin size is my usual thing.  This year, I have made more doll quilts than ever.  You can see them by clicking the link on the menu to the left: Gluten Free Doll Quilts.
Or just click on the words, because I think I was successful in make it a link!  Who would have ever thought I could do this?
   In 2015-2016 I was working hard on moving and selling our previous home.  We had a fabulous realtor, so I have made a quilt for him and his wife to enjoy.  They have two adorable little dogs, so I picked a cute dog print and some other nice colored fabrics to make this cuddly quilt.

I decided squares are okay. Every now and then
make a quilt with squares and a border.  You will not
be disappointed in the results.

The quilt was quilted by Sid Mooney, who used a dog bone and happy dog face quilting template to make it even more fun.  You just cannot see much of the quilting in this photo.  Great job Sid!

Happy Halloween!

I am making a mini-quilt wall-hanging, with a Jack o'lantern on it.  I pulled out all the orange scrap fabric I could find and took a contribution from my quilting buddy, T, and pieced the pumpkin part.  I am going to applique the eyes, nose, and mouth onto the quilt top.  I picked the candy corn fabric for the borders.  I have, what I think, is a better idea, now, but that would mean making a second one, and that ain't happening!  I have pinned the eyes, nose, and mouth on, so you can see what it is shaping up to be.

I Finished Something!

I made a baby quilt for little Evelyn, aka Evie.  I had some shu-fly orphan blocks from a previous study in pink, so I used some of those and some yellow fabrics to go in between.  The yellow birds and bees fabrics really set off the pink!  I used Winnie the Pooh and friends fabric for the backing.


I quilted it mostly stitch-in-the-ditch on my home
sewing machine. I used high-loft batting for extra
soft cuddliness!

Challenge Blocks!

Last year, the Challenge Block Committee picked out some awesome fabric for the challenge blocks.  I did all mine and turned them in last fall.  Then someone gave me one, as I was packing up our house to move.  It has been AWOL for quite some time.  We were unable to have our Quilt Show in 2016, so the challenge blocks will be on display at Room To Learn, in November in Kuna, during the Customer Appreciation Run.  Quilters visiting Room to Learn will get to vote on their favorite challenge blocks.  I found that challenge block fabric last week!!  How timely!  I have been practicing making these 'frames,' as they call them in England, and I did the off-set frame for this challenge block.  There was an additional left-over piece from a block I did last fall, so I used it all up making this one block.

I used the same technique on the outer border (frame), or I would not have had enough fabric without cutting and piecing it.  I had exactly enough.  I do hope you all like it.

That Red White and Blue Quilt I Started in 2008 is Finished!

My blog entry for July 4 is about this quilt, but the photo is of what was on the design wall that day.  There was not much up there.  I am so happy to have it finished after all these years.  I get to cross it of my list of UFOs.

Ta-da!  I do love bright colors!

Made a Fat Quarter Pop-up!!

Sometime in June, I discovered the Fat Quarter Pop-Up.  I bought one from Nancy at Nancy's Quilt Shop in Nampa.  Then I bought a refill (spring) in Bend, OR on the way back from the Sister's Quilt Show in July.  Nancy came to our Kuna meeting last Wednesday and gave a lovely demonstration on how to make these Pop-ups!  All you add is your own fat quarter.
Friday night I got out my license plate fabric fat quarter and got started.  I finished it up on Saturday morning, just before my hair appointment. I took the Pop-up with me, and I stopped at my dear friend's house to wish her a happy birthday.  I gave her the pop-up. A perfect home made gift!

It has a metal spring inside and a piece of elastic sewn into
the side seam, so you can smoosh it down and secure it
with the elastic, so it is compact. Take the elastic off and it pops-up!
It is a handy container to take to quilting retreats to hold
your scraps, or whatever you decide to put in it.

Summer should get a speeding ticket!

I have gotten a couple of quilts finished! Hoorah! My stack n' whack doll quilt got a blue ribbon at the Western Idaho State Fair! Yeah! I have been cleaning, painting, and organizing our garage, so not much quilting or blogging going on.  But hey, here are my top picks for the quilt shows I went to in July:

Council Quilt Show -hand quilted -Spools by Barbara Huey
of Indian Valley, ID

Sisters Quilt Show -my favorite. By Pati Fried of
Piedmont, CA -love the fabrics and the background!

a little closer so you can see the detail;
especially the selvage edges that make up
the background

Love it! Don't know who did it.

Quilt backs blowing. Sisters Quilt Show



Sisters Quilt Show -hand quilted by Jan Tetzlaff of
Bend, OR, Guatemala Color

Star Quilt Show:I wanted to include a photo of this entire quilt,
but the blog program only lets me show it sideways, even when
I chopped it into top and bottom. Here is the close-up;
you can see the bunny ear details and kites.  This one
was by Saralyn Lynart; it is called Seasons in A Row

Duck Tape Quilt -oh yeah!

I had an extremely busy July:

1^st  Sat in July –Council Quilt Show –took Aunt Daisy and my friend T

2^nd weekend in July –Sisters Quilt Show –went with my friends to 3 days, two nights, quilting adventure in Sisters, Oregon

3^rd Sat in July –Star Quilt Show –took Aunt Daisy and Duree and then went out for Mexican food!  What fun.

20^th of July –flew to Missouri and drove back to Boise with our daughter and stopped in Hamilton MO (quilting Mecca of USA)

4^th weekend of July  -M and I used duck tape to make a sun drape for our back patio, which looks like a quilt! I used my half-hexi ruler that I bought at the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton MO.

 

Happy Fourth of July! What is on the Design Wall in July?

It is the 4th of July! Yeah! I did some yard work, have to go visit my Mom and run some errands this afternoon, maybe run through the sprinkler. Although, I did run through the sprinkler at the Lyons Club Park in Council, ID, on Saturday afternoon.  What fun!  We went to the Council Quilt Show, had a picnic, and I ran through the sprinkler, while T swang (yes!, swang!) on the swing, and Daisy looked on with great amusement.  I will post pictures of my favorite quilts at the Council Quilt Show, later this week.  Meanwhile, below is a photo of the quilt I am working on for "Scrap Happy". 
     I started the quilt, below, in late 2008.  I wanted it to look scrappy but I was short on RWB scraps, so I was using repeat fabrics and trying to put together different combinations of the same fabrics in the blocks, and it was very limiting.  I put it away and went on to enhance my quilting skills on many other quilts since then. When I went into quilt shops, if I did not need something for the current quilt, I would look for fun red, white, and blue fabrics to add to my stash.  I have discovered, this last week, that I truly have enough RWB to get on with finishing this quilt top.  I have discovered, that my old skills (2008-2009) were a bit more sloppy than I am today, but I am going to use those old sections and just fill in the gaps with the new fabrics.  The newer fabrics actually date through the entire time-frame after 2009 until day-before-yesterday.  Yes, had to buy some red and white fabric, in Cambridge, on the way back from Council! 


I have used some of these fabrics in
other quilts I have made since 2008.

Wonky Flowers!!

Way back in March, when my life was completely frazzled, I took time to be good to myself, and I attended our Spring retreat in Eagle.  I planned on working on my purple Twisting Turning Twenty, but once again I was thwarted by the group learning of a new stack n' whack block.  It is called Wonky Flowers.   Well, okay, I will give it a try, but then I am back to my purple project.  Well, that did not work so well.  I ended up deciding I needed to complete this new project, so I could return to working on my old projects, of which I have 30 on a list from 2015.  I have not had time to update my list for 2016, not to mention it was packed in a box somewhere until May.  Below is my first quilt photo, taken out-of-doors at our new house. 


The fabrics are those I have collected with cupcake, baking themes,
and polka dots. Quilted by Phyllis Oneal.

Orphan Block Challenge!

I had a wonderful time at the last Idaho PieceMakerS Meeting, in Kuna.  We all brought our Orphan Block projects and presented them to their owners, all finished in a surprise fashion.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished wall hanging.
Norma took a photo and sent it to me.

The really amazing part was what became of the two orphan blocks I submitted for completion by someone else. 

I made these two blocks at a quilting class in spring 2014. I learned paper piecing and enjoyed the experience, but I did not want to make anymore of these type of blocks for a quilt.  I prefer my own free-style method of making wonky house blocks.  So, these went into the paper bag for the Orphan Block Challenge.  It turns out Mary, picked my bag from the pile on the table and what she brought back, two months later, was a wonderful pleasing surprise to me!  Below are the front and back of the most fabulous tote bag!  The back has the trees block and it is a pocket. She, also, put a pocket on the inside. The bag is lined in navy blue.  Mary is an excellent seamstress and made me feel extra special with this wonderful finished project!

Thank you, Mary!

Newly Painted Old Cabinet and Smashing Roses!

Hi all!  I have been very busy, but have made progress in a little bit of the quilting area of my life.  T helped me move my metal cabinet from my workshop into my husband's empty workshop, where I took a couple hours to be creative with some spray paint.  I painted it white, with pink and yellow accents.  This last Saturday, T and R helped me moved my newly painted cabinet into the new house; into my quilting room.  I managed to get five boxes emptied this last weekend and it is starting to get organized.  T helped me put up my design wall next to my newly painted old metal cabinet.  Right now that blue flannel quilt that I am growing is on my wonky houses quilt on the other wall.  I want to see my wonky houses quilt and not have other quilts being designed on top of it.
     Last Saturday after getting the cabinet situated, T and I went to Quilt Expressions and ran amok!  We found the coolest fabrics to use in our dog quilts and more! I have nothing on my freshly hung design wall yet, but I am working on a wall hanging for someone in the Idaho PieceMakerS group, from their orphan block.  I took a photo, so I can show it off on my blog. It is ready to be quilted, laid out on the backing and batting. I plan on having it done by Sunday.   

The big block in the center is the orphan block that
I added to.  The only fabric I could find that went
with that red diamond in the center are the roses;
and what a smashing match!

February is nearly gone, but there is something on the design wall!

I know February is nearly gone, but I think that is a good thing. Tonight is supposed to be a snow moon according to the Farmer's Almanac Calendar.  After I type this, I will have to go outside and have a look.  It got up to 50 degrees today, here in the Treasure Valley.  I have something to post, before February is gone.  I unpacked a couple boxes in my quilt room (in December), and decided I had best use up some of this flannel and make more room in my fabric cabinet.  I pulled all the blue and white flannel out, all but two of the fabrics are scraps left from previous quilts.  The stash flannel that has not been in previous quilts is the blue on blue leaf pattern flannel and the tiny symbols print (may be black on blue). The symbols print is small, so you cannot distinguish it in the photo.  I decided to just grow a quilt and use as much as possible of the airplane, automobile, and train fabrics.  Some of the Spidey scraps were already sewn to black flannel, so I added more black flannel, into the quilt, for contrast and balance. 

Growing a quilt is fun because you don't know how it will end up, but you can leave it on the design wall and just add to it when you can, or when you feel like and not have to remember what it was you were doing with it.  I think there are three seams to sew on this before it is all one piece. Also, I think I need to add another strip across the top to make it yet longer.  I last worked on it on Super Bowl Sunday. I will post a photo should I get it finished in the next couple months.  It is soo close to being a finished quilt top, but I have other priorities at the moment.

Happy New Year!

I took a break from moving activities/working at old house over the Christmas and New Years holidays.  On December 19, I completed a fabulous Dalek pillow case for our daughter.  On New Year's Day, our daughter helped me to hang my wonky houses quilt on the wall in my new quilt room.  We had a wonderful time! 

Dalek pillow case, is said to exterminate
sleeplessness and bad dreams.



Now that this fun pieced quilt is hanging up,
I can see the entire thing at one time.