OMG I finished my OMG

I went down to the wire. I quilted this Thursday, trimmed and added the binding last night and sewed the binding down today.

This is Raising Cane by Dorothy Young of A Pocket Full of Mysteries. I made this quilt either in 2009 or 2010 all from stash. It's 48.5" square.

My OMG from Elm Street Quilts for December was to finish this. Mission accomplished! I had also tagged this as one of my 4Q Finish Along Goals.

I'm linking with Elm Street Quilts and Finish Along 2016.

Happy New Year!

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Scrap Wrangling

I've been thinking a long time about how I wanted to wrangle my scraps. In fact when I was at my mothers many years ago I had sorted her fabric into yardage versus scraps. She passed away several years ago and so I inherited this sorted fabric.

I'm currently in the process of making a quilt almost exclusively from her fabrics. It uses a lot of 2 1/2 inch wide strips so I finally decided to attack her scraps and get as many 2 1/2 inch strips as I could from her scraps and then 2 inch strips and then 1 1/2 inch strips. For the smaller pieces I've been cutting varying sizes of squares.

I will see how I like this process as I work through it with the current quilt and see what is left. I will have to choose another quilt to make from the scraps to really know if this is going to work for me. If I like it I will adopt the practice for my own scraps or at least the parts I like.

After session 1:

After session 2:

It does take quite a bit of time but if I cut scraps down as I go it will be more manageable. I'm currently using photo boxes to store the strips.

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Merry Christmas to All

 This has been a very tearful holiday season for me this year. I have been really missing my mother. I've been doing a lot of baking and cooking and that makes me think of her. But I have to admit that when Christmas day arrived it turned out to be one of the best Christmases I've had in a while. There was no fighting and everyone seemed to get along. Some of the neighborhood kids, who are friends with my kids, came down and ate dinner with us. They even helped clean up the kitchen afterwards.

We exchanged some nice little gifts and everyone seemed happy.   I got to sew for a few hours and made good progress on my Wanderlust quilt.  I'm working on the birds in the air block which is the corner of the main block. I need to make 120 total and have 49 completed. Slow and steady wins the race.

So from my house to your house I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

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Pillowcase Finish

I was gifted these two pillow cases as kits.  They were all cut, rolled and pinned following the hot dog pattern.  I received these in early 2012.  I sewed the first seam, turned them out and let them sit until last week.

I was talking with some friends about gift ideas for our guild Christmas party.  As soon as someone mentioned pillowcases I remembered I had these.  I went home and hunted them down.  I sewed that final seam and wrapped them.  They were gifted and the recipient seemed to like them.

There were some neat door prizes as well.  I had a 50-50 chance of winning.  I didn't but my table mate gifted hers to me.  These were made by some of the guild members and have a cute sewing theme.

Quilty hugs!

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Wanderlust

 This is a Bonnie Hunter mystery that I took at Fabric Fanatics in Plano Texas in January 2013. This is one in a series of quilts that Bonnie offered as a New Year's Eve mystery. Wanderlust was the one offered about six months after my mother passed away so I decided to use her fabrics to make this quilt. While I was in this class I got a call from my dad that he was in the hospital.  To say this quilt is full of emotion is an understatement.

 I pulled this quilt out earlier this year to work on but was frustrated with the lack of variety that my mother seemed to have in her stash. I learned from working on Garden Party to tackle these complex quilts one small step at a time in order not to be overwhelmed. So I decided to focus on the small 4 1/2 inch star block in the center of all of the bigger blocks.   When I did this I managed to find all the variety that I needed in her stash and completed those small stars today.

 Another realization that I had while working on this quilt was that there is a constant of black and orange in the quilt and my mother had neither of those so I already had to add fabric from my own stash to make this quilt. This makes me feel less strict about sticking with her fabric only but I'm going to select from hers first where possible.

Quilty hugs!

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December OMG

I am repeating Octobers/Novembers goal.  Still helping my daughter deal with the fallout of her accident in October.  Her new to her car has only been in her possession 3 days since buying it on 11/10. I'll tell that story another day.

I have been sewing quilt tops just haven't been quilting any.  Maybe I should call myself a flimsier rather than a quilter.  A flimsy is a term I learned referring to an unquilted quilt.  Some call themselves toppers.  Regardless I need to breakthrough whatever log jam that is keeping me from quilting things.

Again I present to you my Raising Cane by Dorothy Young.   Just needs quilting.

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts goal setting link up.

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November OMG

I am repeating Octobers goal.  My daughter had a car accident and I've been helping her deal with the fallout.  She is heading in the right direction now.

Here is my Raising Cane by Dorothy Young.   Just needs quilting.

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts goal setting link up.

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Friendship Star QOV

I always run across great ideas for quilts but rarely make them.  Coincidentally I ran across just such an idea then was asked to make a Quilt of Valor to honor the memory of the a local quilt store customer that passed unexpectedly.

I found the link here. http://scrapboxquilts.blogspot.com/2016/10/rsc16-yellow-finishes.html?m=1 Then I emailed back and forth with the designer for her assembly instructions.  I made it much harder but don't care for flip and stitch corners.

Thanks Kat!

Hugs,

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FAL 2016 Q4

Nicky of Mrs Sew & Sow had me laughing. I read her proposed list of finishes and thought she had quite some list. I had to read back to realize she was listing all her projects. I commented on her post and a brief email exchange ensued. Basically she told me that if she listed some of her projects she wanted to work on the others. That's what happens to me!

So inspired by Nicky my list is as follows.

- 4 Strip Stacks. 2 are pink and green and 2 are primary colors. All need quilting

- baby BQ. Needs quilting

- blue and white 4 patch. Needs binding

- Raising Cane. Needs quilting

- Razzle Dazzle. Needs quilting

- matchstick Marimba. Needs quilting

- Garden Party. Needs borders

- Wanderlust. Piecing

- Pfefferneuse. Might add borders but needs quilting 

- Grand Illusion. Needs quilting

- 2 Orca Bay. Need quilting 

- Dizzy. Possible border but needs quilting

- Avignon Picnic. Needs quilting

- 2 30s print samplers. Need quilting

- Christmas packages. Needs quilting

- Bloomers. Needs quilting

- Hugs and Kisses. Needs quilting

- Lazy Sunday. Needs quilting

- Stepping Stones. Needs quilting

- 30s Dog Prints. Needs quilting

- Happy Block Jean quilt

- Row by Row quilt. Reconstruct

- Garage Sale top. Needs quilting

- Antique top. Needs quilting

- Tumbler. Needs quilting

- Freeze Frame. Needs quilting.

- Pink and Green 4 patch. Needs quilting

- Pink Poppy BQ. Needs quilting

- Stepping Up. Needs quilting

- Awareness. Needs quilting

- Hopscotch. Needs quilting

- Red and White quilt. Piecing 

- tie dye shirt

There are a few more but I know I won't get to them. I'm linking up to the FAL proposed finishes linky.

Wish me luck!!

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Posting by Email

My friend Krista over at Kristaquilts.blogspot.com told me that blogger allowed you to post to blogger via email. If you go to the design option then settings and click on email the options are all there.

Let's see how this works.

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Design Wall Monday 10/10/2016

I got to attend the American Sewing Guild retreat in Witchita Falls over the weekend.  I was very productive.

- I assembled the blocks for my Razzle Dazzle quilt by Bonnie Hunter into a top.

- I cut two backings for flimsies I plan to quilt soon
- I buried threads in a quilt top I recently quilted
- I made the bag portion for two FQ bags I am making
- I cut the neck opening of a shirt I made from a class I took at last years retreat.  I made mine reversible

- I auditioned borders for a quilt top although I didn't bring it but had the leftovers from making it

- I did some hand work on a quilt that has a pieces birder and I've decided to add to it

I think that's it.  I'm happy!

Linking to Judy Ls Design Wall Monday.

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One Monthly Goal for October

I have skipped this a few months.  Too much pressure.  My goal this month is my Raising Cane.  I am not sure how old this top is but all it needs is quilting.  I have it loaded on my machine ready to go.  When I first load quilts I usually have an idea of how I want to quilt it.  The same is true for this one but the ideas are evolving.  I'll show you once its quilted.

I'm linking to Red Letter Quilts.

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4-Patch On Point

I got this little quilt done and off the frame.  I had one thread break but luckily retreading fixed the issue as in no more breaks.  I was surprised that I needed more than one bobbin to quilt this.  In fact I kick myself because I only partially filled the next bobbin and ran out again with just 3 motifs left to quilt.

It measures about 38x58.  The most expensive part of this quilt was the batting.  The backing was a $2 find at our guild garage sale.  The four patches were from a 50 cent scrap bag from a retreat garage sale.  The blue was a $1 a yard find at Walmart and the thread was free from Freecycle.  How's that for quilting on a budget?

This will be bound with the same blue used in the top.

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Ricci's Quilt

If you go back to my June OMG post here you can read about this quilt.

I took this from a coworker who talked so lovingly about his quilt and repaired it.  It had been tied.  I removed the ties, repaired, added new batting and backing.  Quilted and bound it.  He's seen it on Facebook and seems happy.  I'm going to wash and dry it to make sure there are no issues with it.

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Razzle Dazzle Block Two

I have all the sub units made for the 20 alternate blocks.  I assembled the first block to see how things would go together.

Here it is with one of the first blocks I made.

I now have the 20 pinwheel centers sewn and am sewing the flying geese to those first.  I should be able to get these together pretty quickly.

Hugs!

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On The Frame

Here is the next quilt I plan to get quilted. The four patches are from a 50 cent scrap bag I bought at a retreat last year during their guild garage sale.  The blue fabric is from a $1 a yard sale I found.  The backing is from my guilds garage sale from last year.  I don't remember what I paid but probably just a few dollars.  The thread was free from a huge box of thread I was given on Freecycle.  The most expensive part will be the batting.  I bought a roll from JoAnns when they had a huge batting sale.

I'm using the top thread.

I'm linking to Patchwork Times Design wall Monday.

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Razzle Dazzle Part Deux

I cut the parts for HSTs for the alternate blocks last night.  I lost count and decided to just start seeing them together.  Only need 160 of them so will sew a little, press a little and do something else for a break until they're done.  Once this is done 80 flying geese. Wish me luck!

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Hopscotch

When I posted last time I referred to tha last quilt top I had finished.  When I went looking for a post About it I realized I had not posted here about it.

I give you another 3 yard quilt called Hppscotch from Fabric Cafe by Donna Robertson.  I was a little frustrated with this pattern because I had made so many dumb cutting errors. I wrote to her about the ideas I had and she made changes to the pattern and mailed me a new updated copy.  Wow!  Thanks for listening to me Donna.

I think the quilting will make a big difference.

Hugs,

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Razzle Dazzle

I Here is another Bonnie Hunter UFO that I'm working on.  Razzle Dazzle.  I worked diligently to get the first set of blocks done.  There are 30 and they are all different colors with that gold as a constant.  I need 20 of the alternate blocks but stopped working on this to do a little quilting.

I had made one of the alternate blocks but did not care for the shade of gray that I used.  I found another I like and that will also be a constant with scrappy neutrals.

I don't want the blocks to over power each other.  To me this gray is more subtle.  More after my quilting spree!

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Garden Party

I'm here sewing in the background and not posting either here or on yahoo groups.  For 2.5 months I was intensely piecing my Garden Party UFO by Bonnie Hunter.  I just have to add borders but need to decide if I go with Bonnie's  design or try to find a way to preserve the points on the setting triangles.  If I had the foresight I would have accommodated that idea.  Maybe on a future chain design quilt I will.

Here is the center.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Swooze

Garden Party

But it's no party.  I've been cranking out quilts with pieces in the 2.5 to 3.5 " range.  Because I'm trying to finish UFOs I dug one out and chose Garden Party by Bonnie Hunter.  This quilt has 200 blocks with 17 pieces each.  The strip sizes are all 1.5.  I'm currently working on the 81 sashed nine patch blocks.  Then I'll work on the half blocks that serve as side setting triangles and corners.

For comparison I'm showing an almost complete nine patch block against my last quilt block.  5.5" versus 8.5" with the latter only having 5 pieces.

It's gotta be done eventually so why not now?

Just adding the last piece top and bottom which will have a cornerstone.  I only need 202 of those pieces!

Hugs!

Swooze

Tumbler Quilt Topped

There was an impromptu sew-in at Wattafind yesterday in Mesquite.  I had to add borders to a quilt and love going to these events for this activity because I can spread out on their tables rather than crawling on the floor or working on my bed.  

I am always overconfident in what I can accomplish in these short periods of time.  I took three items to work on but my tumbler quilt was my priority.  How long do you think it takes to add two simple borders to a small quilt?  I know about when I got to the store and when I left.  I was there around 3.5 hours.  There was a little time visiting but not that much.  So it took at least three hours.  All my strips were precut too.  Wow!

Well here it is!

I used fabric samples my mother had bought in a garage sale for the colored pieces.  The white or neutrals were all from my scrap bag.  The borders were cut from yardage in my stash.  I bought this fabric last year or earlier this year on a very good sale.  The pieces were all cut on my AccuQuilt GO Cutter.  I enjoyed making this quilt and plan to make another tumbler quilt soon.

Hugs!

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Another Flimsy Finish

II took a class a week ago on machine binding.  I learned a few great tips.  One of which is an app by Robert Kaufman called QuiltingCalc.  It has lots of great calculators in it.  One is figuring number of strips to cut for your binding.  The other is sizes to cut your side and corner setting triangles.  

I misread it and only cut the side triangles in half rather than quarters.  I love how it finished my quilt.  In fact I decided to NOT add a border because I loved how it floated.  I did have to recut my corners to make them larger but I love this top!

The little four patches were purchased at a retreat in Witchita Falls last year.  It was a 50 cent bag of squares.  I sewed the 4 patches last year.  I also had a bolt of this great blue fabric that I bought for $1 a yard.  So far I have about $2 invested in this quilt and I LOVE it!

I was planning to donate it but a fb friend or two commented on it.  It may end up gifted to one of them.

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Vicki Welsh's UFO Challenge

Vicki has us account for our UFOs each month.  I remembered one more.

I finished 3 small quilts so far this year plus 7 of my new starts.  6 were microwave bowls.

Starting UFO 37  + 1 found
Finished YTD 3
Started YTD 12

Finished New Starts 7
Ending UFO 35

How are you doing with your projects?

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June OMG Goal Setting

As I was finishing up my May OMG I began thinking about what I would do for June.  I took a quilt from a coworker wth the intent to repair it.  I have most of the repairs complete so now I'll quilt and bind it.

Where you see the gold that is the inside of the quilt.

The binding was split.

The backing was a sheet and a blanket.

Fiber from the inside breaking down.

This was the "batting".  A sheet, a blanket and what appears to be an embroidered shirt.  I had hope to use this to repair the top but it was too fragile and tore way too easily.

Here is the repair thus far.  I have to replace the lavender piece on the side then layer and quilt it.  I'll square it up once it's quilted.

Click here to head over to Red Letter Quilts to see what everyone else plans to accomplish in June.

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