Tuesday, March 25, 2014

3 Quilt Tops ready for quilting!

Well, I didn't get to do my teal blocks Saturday or during the week last week like I intended but I did sew all week.  Friday night, I finished putting together my Friendship Star quilt and I must say that I am so pleased with it.  I have never used black to sash anything with and I really like how it looks. The quilt is made up of big friendship star block (12 inch finished) and the borders are 6 1/2" borders with 6 1/2" friendship stars on the corners.  Some of the 12 inch blocks were birthday blocks from many years ago that I received from my quilting group.  I made a lot of them myself to make the quilt as big as I wanted.  

 
 
I found out something lately that took me by surprise.  I finally realized that the thing I like least about quilting is putting borders on.  I like making blocks and putting sashing on. I like binding and quilting but I never realized that the biggest thing that bothers me or stops me from finishing is the borders.  I can be almost finished with a project and I'll put it up for awhile and not finish it. When I look at my project lists, a lot of the unfinished projects just need a final border to be finished.  Hmm, I made up my mind when I realized this that I'm going to stop procrastinating and get over this obstacle.  I pulled two more projects out Saturday and started pulling fabric for them.  I was going to work on them Saturday but didn't get a chance.  I went to sew with a few friends at the church and we worked on charity quilts.  So, when I finally got home, I cut the borders for two of the quilts that were almost finished and started putting the borders on them.  I finished these two quilt tops up Sunday afternoon and they are both now ready for quilting.....I was so pleased with myself and so glad I was able to sew and get these together over the weekend.  So, for the weekend I finished three quilt tops!  Woo hoo, I love it. It was good to get these done.   Do you have a hang up or something that stops you from completing your projects, or is it just me?    Now that it's finally dawned on me that this is one of the things I don't like, I'm going to make sure this doesn't cause me anymore problems.  After all, it's just another step in the process and shouldn't be a stumbling block and I'm going to really work on not letting it affect the process.


   







Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Time for family, butterfly blocks and friendship stars.....

I took off yesterday to be with my daughter in law and youngest grandson. He had to have nose surgery. He broke his nose over the weekend on the trampoline. Ouch!  He did great yesterday but has to stay calm and not run around all week.  He's 5 years old.  That is going to be really hard to make him be calm all week!  I really feel for my DIL and son. They will have their hands full this week. I'm so happy everything went good.

After we brought him home, I got him some bubblegum ice cream and a big Lego Farm set to put together. My DIL, grandson and I sat at the kitchen table and put the set together.  I should say my DIL put it together. I sat and talked to the grandson while she did it....We watched some movies after that.  It was a stressful time but ended up being a pleasant day too. 

I left their house when it was time for him to take a nap and went shopping.  I shopped for shoes and a new purse and of course, went to a quilt store. I just gotta go to a quilt shop when I'm off work, right???  I had skipped breakfast and lunch and was starving. I stopped and ate then went to tatting.  A friend of mine and I are showing some ladies from our quilt group how to tat and they are doing really well.  There were about 6 ladies Saturday that we were teaching and all of them have learned to flip so far!  That's the hardest part to learn.  They are all working on chains right now and doing well.  One of the ladies came to be with us last night for tatting and she's got the chain stitch down, so we talked to her about picots and she started doing those. Next lesson will be rings and then we move onto patterns from there.  So excited to show this craft to some ladies that really want to learn....

After tatting, I got home in time to make the last two Butterfly blocks and I also made  5 friendship star blocks.  Four of these are for my Friendship Star quilt. They are 6 1/2" blocks and will be cornerstones for the outside border.  The rest of the quilt is made up of big friendship stars that are 12 1/2" blocks. I finally made up my mind to do the little stars on the corners with a 6 1/2" border.  I'll do that tonight.  The other star will be for my Rainbow Scrap quilt that I'm working on...

Here's the last two butterfly blocks I'll be making.


 
 
Here are the little friendship star blocks.  4 of these are cornerstones for my big Friendship star quilt and the other one is for my Rainbow scrap challenge. 
 
 
I'm still working on getting caught up on the Rainbow scrap challenge but now I'm closer.  til next time, happy stitching!
 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St Patrick's Day!




 Happy St Patrick's Day!  I hope you have the luck of the Irish and get lots of sewing and quilting done this week!





Sunday, March 16, 2014

Butterfly Rainbow block and some tatting. Happy Late National Quilting Day!

I hope you had a great National Quilting Day yesterday. I was lucky enough to spend it with a new friendship group. There were fourteen of us in all and we had coffee at a local coffee shop first then went to Shirley's house, the leader of the group. We unloaded our machines and other things we would be working on and visited for a little while. We then headed to a restaurant and had lunch to celebrate the first quarter birthdays.  Yum, food, fun and friends.  Can't beat it....We went back to Shirley's house and my friend Cheryl and I started teaching  a few of the ladies how to tat.  Lots of laughter and fun along the way.  We had a few quick learners and get the "flip" right off but we will be continuing to instruct everyone and hopefully everyone will understand and get to know how to do this great artform.  I didn't sew at all even though I dragged my machine and some projects with me but I had a great time with some new and old friends....


  I got home and the grandbaby was there and we got to spend the rest of the evening with her and the great-much needed rain. 
  Today, I got up and fed the grandbaby. We then headed into my half sewing room/half baby room and while she played with her doll house, I cut and sewed this great block. I used teal for the butterfly so I could count it as my Rainbow scrap block!    I have two more of these cute butterfly blocks to make but they will be made in different colors. These are our summer blocks for my friendship group.  I'll turn them in for a chance to win more blocks.  For every block turned in, your name goes into a drawing for all the blocks.  I hope I win as I love this block.

 
I finished up some tatting this week and wanted to show you what I ahd been working on.  I haven't shown you any of my tatting in a while so I thought it was time to share.
 
I finished this blue cross Monday night.  The other little bookmark started out as a cross but I didn't have enough thread so I made what I could out of it.  I finished this one Wednesday night.
 
Last but not least, I've been working on this necklace for a few weeks and finally finished it. I will be making a bracelet to go with it too.  I'll be giving this one to my sister as these are her colors.   I made a blue and white one for myself but my niece saw them and loved them so I gifted them to her. Now, I'll be making me another blue one.  I love this easy pattern. It's not fast but it's easy to remember and fun to make....

 
Now, it's time to go to lunch witht he kids and hopefully, we'll get back in time for me to do more sewing. I haven't had my fill yet this whole week and I really want ot catch up on my Rainbow scrap blocks.  Til next time, have a great week and happy stitching.
 


Sunday, March 9, 2014

Rainbow Scrap Blocks and a finished wallhanging.

I hope you have had a good weekend. I've had a busy weekend with the grandkids but I have had a little time to sew too.  I have been working on my Rainbow Scrap challenge blocks this week and I got my Boxed in Block done for this month. I didn't do a pink one as I had already made a pink one last year for this project...one more block closer! 


 
 
I also got these little 6 1/2" blocks done. I am playing catch up for the rainbow scrap challenge. These are from January and I have alot of catching up to do but these blocks are fun and easy to do so far and I'm hoping to get caught up soon.

 
I made more Carolina chain blocks too...I made these for this month's color but I also made alot more colors and I had enough to put together 9 blocks.  I now only need 10 more blocks to finish this quilt....woo hoo, I'm so excited. This has really been a fun and easy project and I have enjoyed it alot.  These blocks are easy and quick to make and you can just sit and sew them together without thinking.    I just went in my sewing room and shut the door and just sewed away the stress


I put together these blocks too. These are cobblestone blocks or that was the name of the pattern I have. I have seen these same blocks on different blogs and I've seen them referred to as Happy blocks, whichever name you choose, these are easy too.



 
After the grandkids left today, I finished this little wallhanging. I quilted it this week but put the finishing touches on it today with binding, a hanging sleeve and a label.  This is another project that's been laying around for a few years that needing finishing. 
 
 
That's all I have for now.  I had so much going on this weekend, I could not make it to the Dallas Quilt show.  This is the first show I've missed in years but there are others coming soon that I hope to go to.  I hope you have a good week and get to sew or craft and show us what you're working on. Til next time, happy stitching, Linda
 


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Some Projects I've worked on this month

 
Here's some of my blocks for the Rainbow scrap challenge. This month's color is teal or bluish green from the Caribbean Sea.  I'm still searching through my stash to find some scraps.  I made 33 different blocks yesterday but they weren't all teal.  I'm playing catch up from February too so I did some pink blocks too.  I made blocks for my Carolina Chain quilt and Cobblestone quilt. 
 
 

 
I made this little wallhanging during the week. This was a fun little project. I've had this little kit for about five years and decided to finally put it together. I used fabric markers for the words and hearts.  The hearts were two different methods. The bottom part was paper piecing and the top was just regular piecing. I had to make half square triangles and quarter square triangles for the top of the hearts. 

 
The next block is for a swap in our guild. It is a disappearing pinwheel block.  Here are the steps to make it.....







 

 
 
 
Here's two  hand embroidered wallhangings I finished. I took an embroidery class to do this project. 



 
I crocheted around these two little fleece blankets.


 
Last but not least I put the top together with black sashing and scrappy cornerstones for my friendship star quilt.  I'm trying to decide on the final border.  I'm thinking about a full black border or a black border with small friendship stars for the corners....I'm really leaning toward the small blocks on the corners but not sure yet....

 
 I'll show you the finished quilt top once I make my mind up. 
 
I have several other blocks to make this week  and I'll show you those once they are all together. I hope you have a great week. Until next time, happy stitching!



Civil War BOW

Civil War BOW
Barbara Brackmen does it again! A weekly Block of the week. Comes out every Saturday!

May for Me!

QAL

Tell It To The Stars

Tell It To The Stars

Judy's Scrap Challenge 2014

To Recall The Fight For Women's Rights

Civil War Quilts by Barbara Brackman

Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching
Relax and stitch

Getting It Done Challenge

Getting It Done Challenge
2013 is the year I want to get it done! How about you? Are you up for a challenge?

Small Quilt Talk

Stash Manicure

Rainbow Scrap 2014

Soscrppy

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012
Angela's Doing It Again This Year!

Friday Night Sew In

Handmade by Heidi

D9P QAL

D9P QAL
Disappearing 9 Patch QAL

Christmas with Lesley

April Get It Done Challenge List

  • Make 30 floating four patch blocks
  • Bind the scrappy half square triangle quilt-Done.
  • Quilt and Bind the Purple/Gold tablerunner
  • Put the Civil War blocks together-Top is Done!

Free Motion Quilting Challenge for 2012



A Few Scraps Quilt Along

Christmas Through the Year

Thimbleberries Sew Day!

Bingo

Bingo
Bingo during May For Me

Getting It Done Challenge List

  • March Challenge List
  • Bind my Thimbleberries Garden Quilt-done 03-05-13
  • Quilt & Bind the Brown Bow Tie Quilt - done- 03-11-13
  • Quilt & Bind the Red Scrap Quilt
  • Quilt & Bind the 2nd D4P Quilt
  • .
  • February Challenge List
  • Bind my Thimbleberries Garden Quilt
  • Quilt & Bind the Brown Bow Tie Quilt
  • Quilt & Bind the Red Scrap Quilt
  • Quilt & Bind the Red & White Christmas tablerunner-done

Autumn Block Party by the Quilting Gallery

Glorious Autumn Block Party and Super Deals for Quilters

Christmas QAL

Photobucket

Year of the Pig Wednesdays

Pat Sloan

American 
Patchwork & Quilting Radio - Hosted by Pat Sloan.

Breast Cancer Site

Breast Cancer Site
Click here to give someone a free mammogram

Sew Cal Gal's AccuQuilt GO! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop

Christmas Quilt Show by SewCalGal



Verse of the Day

Moose on the Porch Star QAL

Little feet calendar

Random.org

Scrappy Challenge-Scrappy Saturdays

Positive Thoughts to Brighten our Journey

Little Miss Shabby blog

Free Motion Quilting Project-2011

Free Motion Quilting Project

Mystery Monday Button

mmbutton

Free BOMs over at Ellies Quilt Place

Amy's BOM Website

2010 BOM from Amy

UFO Challenge 2011

2011 UFO Challenge List

  • 1. 30's Sampler..I'm still working on this one!
  • 2. English Paper Piecing Baby Quilt-A Little of This A Little of That-flimsy completed 02-04-11, ready for quilting!
  • 3. Scrappy BOM - Flimsy completed 01-28-11, ready for quilting!
  • 4. Purple Stack and Whack- flimsy is together, ready for quilting
  • 5. Blue 9 Patches - flimsy is together, ready for quilting
  • 6. The Moose Quilt-still in pieces.
  • 7. Row By Row Quilt, quilted-binding is on but needs to be sewn down.
  • 8. Hexagon Magic- flimsy completed 02-01-11, ready for quilting!
  • 9. Santa Claus Quilt-ready for quilting.
  • 10. Hand Pieced Stars

2010 Finishes!!!

  • Nov 21-Oh, My Stars!
  • Oct 18- Boo Quilt
  • Oct 10 - Christmas Tree Quilt
  • Oct 10 -Turning Twenty (30's Repro) Quilt
  • Sept 25- Baked Alaska-quilt top for LQS
  • Sept 25 -Table Manners
  • Sept 20 - Dear Blanche
  • Sept 15 -Funny Flowers
  • Sept 7- Pink Toile Nursery Rhyme Quilt top for Carolyn
  • August 16- Plaid Teddy Bear
  • August 16-Red Heart Tablerunner
  • August 9 - Mother Goose
  • July 27-Autumn Braid Tablerunner
  • February 27- I Love to Fly-donation quilt
  • Feb 20 - Warm Fuzzies-Donation Quilt
  • Feb 7 - My Sewing Friends Quilt
  • Feb 1 - Nostalgic Garden Quilt
  • January 25 - Love Pillowcase for Alayna
  • January 12 - Pillowcases for Thomas Quilt

Quilting Bloggers

Whoop-Whoop Friday

Moda Bake Shop

Moda Bake Shop

Lynette Anderson's BOM

Photobucket-Dallas Quilt Show 2011

Free Quilt Patterns

I'm a slow poke too!

The Dear Jane Quilt

Great site for Crazy Quilt Patchwork

RPQ

First Friday Freebie

Quilts For Kids Website

Quiltville

Linda-Quiltville block

Linda-Quiltville block

Fat Cat Patterns

Tipnut

Tipnut
Great tips of all kinds!

The Kind Hearted Pledge

Bargello Bowl

A Quiltville Mystery Quilt

Carolina Crossroads

Orange Crush

Double Delight - I want to make this one too...soon.

Carolina Christmas-I want to make one soon

A Tisket A Tasket BOM 2009

2009 Christmas Quilt for Patchalot Patterns

Christmas Sparkler 2008

Christmas Sparkler 2008
Free Pattern from Patchalot More.blogspot.com

My Word Cloud

Wordle: Untitled

My Rainbow

Your rainbow is intensely shaded green, white, and blue.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What is says about you: You are a contemplative person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Charity Quilter

Charity Quilter

Jennifer Chiaverini Book Giveaway

Jennifer Chiaverini Book Giveaway
Click here to comment and enter the giveaway. Last day to enter is Nov. 30th!