Yahoo! Two Finishes

    What a great week!  I found time to work some in the yard plus I am excited to have accomplished a couple of great quilt finishes this week. The Scrappy Wonky Star quilt is finished. It will be given to a niece next week as a wedding gift. 

Here is a view of how it looks on a bed. 

    The second finish “Spring Greens” is quilted and the binding is sewn to the back. All I have to do is flip the binding to the front and top stitch it down. This quilt will be donated as part of Sarah's Hands2Help 2021 challenge.

I'm linking with with Whoop, Whoop Friday and Finished (or Not) Friday. Hope you check out what others are making. 

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Progress and Goals

   The week sure flew by. Partly because I spent half of it visiting family. After I got home it was back to my normal routine. It was nice to have a day of rain to work on quilting since I could not work in the yard.

    My bearded iris are healthy and have been blooming beautifully so I have more young plants to share with friends. This is “Crimson Snow”.

I am not sure it bloomed last year. Monday morning a friend is coming to get more for Master Gardeners to care for.

How I did last week -

1. Start quilting on May wedding gift. Done. Only one border needs to be quilted and then binding.

2. Make progress on a UFO. Done. At least a little was accomplished as a leader/ender project between other piecing.

3. Piece charity/comfort top. Done. Friday I shared the pieced top which used a bright jungle print as the focus fabric and it is waiting to be sandwiched for quilting. Wednesday when church quilt group meets, hopefully I will find a backing in our stash.

4. Record stash fabric used or added. Used: 0.25 Only some stash scraps were cut up for a test and sample block. Added: 0 for me; however, I purchased 7.5 yards for church quilt ministry backings.

Goals for the week of April 26^th -

1. Finish May wedding quilt.

2. Finish quilt for H2H 2021.

3. Record stash fabric used or added.

4. Clean and organize a drawer.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Pieced Quilt Top

     Another finished top has been added to the pile. Odd pieces of fabric were donated to my church quilt group. I pulled out a large print piece of jungle parrots in wild bright colors. A friend helped select some fabric to coordinate. I cut the wild jungle parrot fabric into as many 10” squares, 10 by 5” and 5” squares as I could and then added the other fabrics for uneven 4 patch blocks. Here is my bright jungle uneven 4-patch 20 block top that finishes at 56” by 70”.

That is about all the sewing that got done this week because it was so nice to work in the yard. I need to stay inside and get quilting on a wedding present. 

I'm linking up with Sarah for Whoop, Whoop Friday and Alycia for Finished (or Not) Friday.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Week of Gardening

     It is a good thing I didn't set very many goals for quilting as this week has been spent mostly gardening. The weather has been beautiful and so are my bearded iris. Here are a couple of my prettiest of at least 6 colors blooming.

How I did-

1. Sandwich quilt for Hands2Help2021. Done. “Spring Greens” is ready to be quilted.
2. Make progress on a UFO. Not really. I pulled out my “Seeing Stars” panels but that is as far as I got.

3. Record stash fabric used or added. Used: 5 yds for backing; Added: 0

     I am really enjoying Pat Sloan's “Home Is” mystery and pieced a large section of the middle panel.  All piecing is up-to-date.

     In addition to working in my yard, I am also working in my older son's yard. The maple tree in the front yard has huge bulging roots. To try and hide them I filled in some dirt, transplanted a ground-cover (I don't know the name) and also set some hosta. Hope they will do well here and I will increase the bed.

      Most of this week will be spent in the yard and with granddaughters so I don't expect to get much sewing done.

Goals for the week of April 19^th -

1. Start quilting on May wedding gift.

2. Make progress on a UFO.

3. Piece charity/comfort top.

4. Record stash fabric used or added.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Quilt-in-a-Day Finish

     Sunday I was determined to work on a comfort quilt for Hand2Help2021. Working around virtual Sunday School and church service I was able to plan a baby quilt for Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, pull fabric from my stash, cut and sew a baby quilt. After a supper visit with my younger son, the simple quilting was finished by 9 PM for a true quilt-in-a-day finish. The top is quilting cotton 6” finish squares, the back is flannel, and the batting is low loft polyester for a very soft snuggle worthy quilt.

How I did on goals -

1. Decide on comfort quilt patterns for Hands2Help2021. Done and a finish.

2. Sandwich quilt that will be wedding gift. Done

       3. Record stash fabric used or added. Used: 2 ¾ yds       

                                                                     Added: 0

4. Clean and organize a drawer. Done; sort of. I did pull out a few things to give away; however, the drawer has some old unused postcards from a trip and some odds and ends of my mother's that I don't know what I want to do with.

       I have several events on my calendar for this week that will take me away from my sewing so I am limiting goals.

Goals for week of April 12^th

1. Sandwich quilt for Hands2Help2021.

2. Make progress on a UFO.

        3. Record stash fabric used or added.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Springtime Progress

    It is spring here and a wonderful time of year to enjoy working in the flower garden despite the pollen. My sinuses appreciate it if I wear a mask. The azaleas are lovely and bearded iris have started to bloom.

My time is currently split between gardening and quilting. My Jewel Box Star leader/ender blocks (Bonnie Hunter's 2018 Leader/Ender Challenge) have became a quilt top. I had sewn 4 together to create a star then planned the quilt top. I decided to added sashing to break out the stars a little more, not match so many seams and increase the size without more blocks. I plan to add a simple border on this.

While piecing this I also managed to make progress on another UFO leader/ender style.

Then I had 5 leftover large blocks plus 7 more Jewel Box Star units. I pieced another large star so that 6 can be made into a comfort lap quilt by adding sashing and borders. The remaining 3 small units will be orphans unless I decide to make mug rugs or a placemat.

I'm linking up with Sarah for Whoop, Whoop Friday. Check out the progress for inspiration.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Family Time and Weekly Goals

    I am especially thankful that I was able to enjoy a weekend of family time, outdoor Easter service and beautiful weather. We were concerned that it would be cold to sit outdoors for the service, but it warmed to comfort level by 10 am and birds were singing. We still wore masks and had social distanced seating of groups. After church service we enjoyed dinner and fun together at home.  

How I did --

1. Piece green scrap border. Done. I shared pieced top Friday. This was another scrappy one color top inspired by the “Winter Blues” block drive for Covered in Love quilts of Kat and

2. Decide on comfort quilt patterns for Hands2Help2021. Not done, although I did sort some scraps in preparation.

3. Record stash fabric used or added. Used: ¼ yd Added: 0

4. Clean and organize a drawer. Not done

Friday I did post a couple of finishes but not much other sewing got done this past week because I was preparing for family to visit. Most of my time was spent cleaning and baking. It was my first time baking a Pavlova for Easter dessert. It took 2 tries to be pleased with the result. It was enjoyed after dinner.

Goals for the week of April 5^th\

1. Decide on comfort quilt patterns for Hands2Help2021

2. Sandwich quilt that will be wedding gift.

3. Record stash fabric used or added.

4. Clean and organize a drawer.

I hope you were able to enjoy the weekend.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

Yeah for a Finish

     My afternoons were spent sewing and quilting after yard work.  A church quilt group friend pieced the “Have Faith” top with blocks enlarged from the original 12” to 18”. I did the quilting and binding for the finish.

The “Have Faith” quilt pattern was shared for Hand2Help2018 by designer Jamie Elfert, who blogs at L’Fair Quilts  . You can find out more about Hand2Help2021 here. 

    March 1^st I finished a “Winter Blues” top of all blue scraps. This week I finished the all green “Spring Greens” version.  I sewed together the 20 blocks and added a scrappy 4” border to finish at 56” by 68” which is a good comfort quilt size.

     I am enjoying the early spring flowers in my yard although frost warnings are expected for tomorrow morning. 

It is cooler than normal here for early April.  I can enjoy it though the window and I better get busy quilting more as my collection of finished tops is getting very large.    

I'm linking up with Alycia for Finished (or Not) Friday. Check out the projects and get inspired.

Stay safe and healthy while you enjoy some time sewing or quilting.

                                   Easter Blessings to All.