Holiday Time Off

Christmas is over and we are about to start the new year. I am blessed to have this time off for the first time in my career and I am loving it. I am putting together the block for the CQJP 2013 challenge. I have hunted and gathered so much material for crazy quilting and to date that has yielded so few CQ blocks. I am hoping this will get me moving. And, of course, I am still trying to reduce stash.

     I have not abandoned traditional quilting yet. I finished a quilt top today and began the machine quilting on another. No pictures to post today, but hopefully in a few days.

     Along the stash reduction lines, I found a pattern to make rag rugs out of scraps with a crochet hook.  So, off I go cutting 2" strips and rolling them into balls. I'm filling a small gift bag with the fabric strip balls until I am ready to begin crocheting. This should go fast and I hope it will be fun.

     Time to feed the animals. More soon with pics.

     

Wow, it has been so long since I posted that I really am starting all over. I have continued to look for things to use up my bountiful stash and to complete unfinished projects. Then lately I have stalled out a little. I needed a jolt to get my creative juices flowing, so I have registered (I hope--I read the email a little late and may not make it in) for a Crazy Quilt challenge. At any rate, I feel the need to at least journal some of my work and try to get back on course.
     Current projects that I am working on:
1. A quilt for Elijah, one of my newer grandsons back in the midwest. This is a scrappy project that used stash fabric (other than the sashing, binding, and backing--tee hee). I have had the pattern for quite some time, so I feel good about finally using that, too.
2. A quilt for a friend's mother who was widowed a little more than a year ago. Again, using mostly stash fabrics and a pattern that had been laying around for a while. This is sandwiched and basted, in the quilt frame awaiting me to sit down and quilt it.
3. A quilt made for donation that is sandwiched, basted, and awaiting machine quilting.

So it sounds like the last thing I need to do is start a CQ project, but I can't help myself.
Here is a little bowl I made from clothesline and scraps. A very addicting type of project. I found the book "It's A Wrap" by Susan Breier at the Paducah quilt show last spring.

Stay tuned.....

Quilt Number Five for 2011

I just finished this quilt over the weekend and I love it! This is a retreat quilt that languished in my UFO pile for a couple of years. I think that was partly due to the fact that I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Then--voila--I knew this quilt's home. That seems to happen to me. I start a project, knowing that I really don't want to keep it, but with no idea what I will do with the finished item. Somehow the perfect recipient always seems to appear. The fabric for this quilt is April Cornell's "Portugal". A long-time friend of mine is half Portuguese and this is going to him for the times that he could use a little more sunshine in his life.
Next up--a quilt for my grandson Christopher and I have another quilt ready to sandwich and quilt that will be donated to a charity. I am having a great time this year and truly finishing things.

Anya's Quilt

I am very happy here today as Anya's quilt is going in the mail! My progress is great this year and I just hope to keep on track. This quilt was made from a kit purchased at a quilting retreat I attended several years ago. It is a perfect fit for her toddler bed and I think it has all of the colors of the Disney princess dresses in it. At the age of 3, she is all about the princesses.
I am quilting the borders of another quilt that I hope will be finished by the end of next week. Yea!!!! Next up--a sampler quilt from the fabshophop made of scraps. Another yea!!!

I can't believe how much time has gone by since I last posted. I fell very short of my goal last year and so this year I just set about quilting as I please and when I please. Lo and behold, I have finished 4 quilts to date and will finish the 5th this week! I am having fun, but I am a long way from using up or substantially reducing my stash! I am having a blast making quilts for family and friends and they are so appreciative. That may be more of an incentive than attaining a goal.
Two of my friends have birthdays in January, so I made each of them a wallhanging (or table topper--they could take their pick). The picture above is one of them. And yes--it is made entirely from stash! The picture below is the other and again--all stash! Doing a little celebratory happy dance right now.

The Finished Product

Finally, Alisha's quilt finished and mailed to her. And I've even received a "thank you" text. It seemed like one of the longest projects I have worked on in a while.
I am still on my mission to reduce my generous stash and complete UFOs. To that end, I have been hand quilting every morning on my daughter's quilt and am happy to say that I have only 3 more borders to quilt. This might be the second longest quilting project, ha ha.
I have also completed a quilt top from a jelly roll that I bought a few years ago and it is layered and basted and waiting in the wings for hand quilting. This quilt will be a surprise gift to a good friend here in Tucson. Pictures will be posted later. One thing I can say about my photos is that I definitely need some help with getting good photos of my work.
Happy quilting everyone and enjoy the summer.

Machine Quilting Without a Longarm Machine-One Method

Wow-I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted anything. Life does get in the way of our plans and goals! Now that I have had my machine serviced I am making progress and have finally finished the machine quilting on all 4 sections of the quilt.
As promised, I will explain how I am joining these together. I can't take credit for this idea--it was taught to me by a good friend and fabulous quilter.
This method requires a little extra backing fabric. I cut strips 2 and 1/2 inches wide the width of the fabric. For this quilt, I only needed 4 of these. One strip was needed to join the top 2 sections together, one for the 2 bottom sections, and I sewed to strips to make a long one to sew the top and bottom halves together. The strips are then folded in half lengthwise and pressed, as you would binding strips.
Next, I trimmed off the excess backing and batting and squared of the edges.
At this point, I placed the 2 top sections right sides together and one of the prepared strips on top, all raw edges together and sewed through all layers with a 1/4 in seam.
Last step--I opened this up and stitched (hand sewing) the creased edge to the back of the quilt, taking care not to sew through to the front of the quilt.
Ta da!!
I can't wait to get this quilt bound and in the mail. I think sometimes that the binding is my 2nd favorite part of quilting because it means I have actually finished!
Happy 4th of July to all Americans and happy July to everyone else!