Almost Another Finish

    Saw this comic on Facebook recently.  Yesterday morning was perfect.

     I took advantage of the rainy morning yesterday and sewed.  I have made good progress on the dogwood blooms.  In the directions Annette recommends stitching the curves after sewing the blocks all together.  I do not want to manipulate a large quilt top to stitch the curves so I have been stitching the bloom curves for each block. They now look more like blooms. 

     When I needed a break from dogwood blooms, I decided to stitch a small sample quilt for a JoAnn Fabrics beginner class.  This version of the “Hole in the Barn Door” block is taught in Quilting 101.  I made scrappy blocks and quilted simply with the walking foot – mostly in the ditch.  I just need to add binding and the sample will be ready to display for Open House on Saturday. 

Hope you have enjoyed some rainy weather. 

Back to Work on a UFO

     Saturday I made a little progress on the dogwood blooms for a bed size quilt.

The pattern is from

http://www.southwindquilts.com/  by Annette Ornelas

and her workshop on creating curves with straight seams.  You add folded squares and create the curve with the bias folded edge which is stitched down similarly to the curves in cathedral windows quilts.  Most of the folded curves are not stitched down until units are joined so you do not see them in this photo.  Sunday afternoon I have been working on more blooms and have a total of 14. I need at least 7 more. 

I have chosen to use a light background fabric instead of the dark used by Annette in her pattern.

  

       “Sewing with Nancy” has been on TV for over 30 years and I have watching her show almost as long.  If you don’t watch her on your local PBS channel, you can now watch and/or rewatch her shows online (http://wpt.org/SewingWithNancy/  ) which I did to figure out how to make this tablet stand from the show on sewing with squares and rectangles (http://wpt.org/SewingWithNancy/Video/sew-simple-rectangles-squares-part-2  ).  I made the larger size but might have done with the smaller.  

       There is still more time to sew this afternoon so I'm back to work. 

Graduation Gift Finished

      For a number of years my sister Irene and I have shared the task of making each niece or nephew a bed size quilt when they graduate from college.  We each make half the blocks, Irene finishes piecing the top and I finish by machine quilting.  The most recent gift project is finished.  The pattern is "Millennium Star" from Nickel Quilts: Great Designs from 5-Inch Scraps by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.

I enjoyed quilting the continuous motif on the stars. I think the imperfections just add to the creativity of the design.

Later today I plan to make from some of the leftover fabric a pillowcase for wrapping the quilt.

Then it is back to work on a UFO.  This rainy afternoon will be a great day to sew. 

A Finish and WIP

       I have a large stash of fabric and have been doing trying to use fabrics in my stash unless I REALLY need to buy something.  However, today I definitely fell off the wagon.  JoAnn Fabrics has their clearance fabrics half price.  Many times there is nothing on the rack that I want.  Today I found too many great tone-on-tone prints at prices I could not pass up.  I came home with 46 yards of cotton plus 2 pieces for purposes other than quilting. 

      The other day I quilted and finished a lap crumb quilt.  The top has been pieced for at least 6 months. 

Then I started quilting on a full size bed quilt that will be a graduation present for a nephew.  I have meandered with cream thread in all the background. 

I have practiced a couple of designs to see what I like for the start areas.  I plan to use a dark gray thread.  This is the latest practice continuous design. 

If I don't come up with something I like better, tomorrow I will start quilting the stars. 

Two Wall-hangings Finished

      The last 2 large wall-hangings for Palmetto Health Hospitals of nurses’ blocks are finished.  It was a bit of a challenge because of the different fabrics and embellishments the nurses used to create their blocks.  Thanks to Lynne S. for piecing the top of  # 2. 

                   # 3 

      Today I will try to get back to work on  a UFO.

Relaxing with Easy Piecing

    I have been trying not to start any new projects but after I worked 3 days quilting on the nurses' wall-hangings. I wanted to sew something different to relax.  I have another big piecing project in the works but it is more complicated.  I wanted something simple.  I started the following quilt top, I'm calling "squares and strips".  I have seen a similar project but don't remember a name.  Mine started with my stash of 2 1/2" squares.  I did have to cut new off-white 2 1/2" strips.  The rest is 4 1/2" squares and strips from leftovers. The top measures about 57" by 65".

I have been cutting up odd pieces ( less than a fat quarter mostly) from my church quilt group.  I came about irregular pieces of a pink background fabric with flowers.  I know it has been used in at least one quilt and the pieces may be what was left when the backing was pieced.  I have been thinking of making a carpenter star quilt and found there was enough for the background.  This quilt top went together easily from HSTs and measures about 49" by 59".

    I enjoyed 2 relaxing days piecing, have 2 more small tops to be quilted and still have to finish quilting one wall-hanging for the nurses. 

Hope you enjoy a Good Friday and Happy Easter!