Baby Quilt #4

Layer cakes are my friends.  For those not familiar with quilty lingo that means a stack of 42 10-inch squares with a variety of coordinating fabrics.   I bought a layer cake from Moda called Storybook by Kate & Birdie.  I have made 3 small baby quilts using it.  Granted, they are not the most exciting finishes with lots of intricate piecing, but they are a FINISH!    I have come to the conclusion that I need those simple finishes now and then just to be able to say I finished something.  And ALSO to have some baby quilts on hand to give as gifts.   So here is the 3rd quilt and final quilt out of the layer cake that I bought.  It's full of stuff little boy dreams are made of . . . ships, airplanes, hot air balloons, clouds, castles.

Loopy quilting reminds me of airplanes flying around in the sky . . .

Baby laundry!!

Currently, we have no landscaping and are surrounded by dirt at the moment so this old cattle yoke embedded in a tree near our house is the best I could do.   I'll bet this has been there since the early 1900's.  At least the sky was pretty!  

I am trying to not buy any new fabric for the things I am working on until the end of this year.  I was panicking because I didn't have anything the right color to bind this quilt but I finally found some brown plaid flannel for the binding.  I used this hot air balloon fabric on the back.

For some reason I didn't even list this amongst the WIP's for the 2016 Follow-A-Long so it won't count as one of my finishes.  Phooey!  Oh well.  

Have a blessed day!

Linking to Let's Bee Social

Sew Cute Tuesday

2016 FAL and Halloween Giveaway Winner

We are in!  The long awaited move into our own home, after a year and half, has finally happened!!  I am so tickled I hardly know what to do next.  So many decorating decisions to make!  Right now our home is pretty drab as everything is brown and gray (with the exception of a few pops of color courtesy of Pioneer Woman). We will be adding color a little at a time with a new couch, new rugs, pictures, quilts (hopefully)  Yes, I know I should make my own place mats but I don't know how to do scallops yet and I love them on these place mats.  All in due time . . .

I am going to participate in the 2016 Finish-A-Long.   I had such a fun time going through all my WIP's (works in progress)  and UFO's (Unfinished Objects), some I had forgotten all about.  I know there is no way I am going to get these all done this quarter, but I want to list all of them just to keep them fresh in my mnid and see how many I am able to get done by the end of this year.  Here we go!

Top of the list #1 is quilting the heart and chevron quilt I'm making for my husband's cousin,  She just had a new grandbaby and she is being such a sweetheart in telling me there is no hurry at all and she doesn't want to put any pressure on me to get it done.  Thank you, Karen!  She had me make this quilt much larger than normal baby size so it will be used well beyond baby years.

#2 is a project that I've completed 20 blocks for, but each block is only 4 1/2" big.  Meaning that the HST's are 1" finished.  What was I thinking?  I LOVE this pattern and the look of it and the wonderful secondary pattern it creates.  But I'm thinking about starting over with bigger pieces.  I would LOVE to have this on my bed.  

#3 is a kit I bought in 2002, a pattern from Atkinson Designs called Sonnet Lucky Stars.  The blocks are up on my brand new first ever design wall to motivate me to get this one done!   Only one block is done.  

  

Here is a closeup of some of the yummy colors . . .

#4 is a quilt top that is done and just needs a back, quilting, and binding.  I'm NOT in love with this.  The colors kind of make me go ewwww.   This is one of the reasons I quit making quilts because I didn't know how to quilt it and didn't have the money to pay someone.  Now I can do it!    I made it to go with my mom's couch so it's hers if I ever get it done.

#5 is actually not really a WIP, but I at least have purchased the fabric and have a plan.  This one will be for my middle son, Morgan using Yvonne Fuchs pattern Triangle Transparency.

#6 is a mini quilt that I can't show you yet because it is for a swap I am doing with my quilting friend, Kate at Smiles From Kate.  It has been a lot of fun trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this!

I'll be sure to show you when Christmas is past.

#7 Make more house blocks (maybe I'll set a goal of at least two per month)

#8 Meadow Mist Mystery Quilt.  I've almost got September's sewing clue done and will start on October's clue soon.  I'll show an update when I get all caught up.  Here is my fabric pull for that project.

#9 Pretzel Twist.  I like this one, but not too sure about that dark blue.  It kind of sticks out.  What do you think?  Leave it?  Maybe if I get some more blue in the rest of it, it won't look so bad.

#10 is not an official WIP either but it is something I have been dying to try.  Ever since I saw Kate at Life in Pieces showing her dress blocks I have wanted to try paper piecing.  Never done that.  Isn't this cute???

#11 Add sashing to cowboy blocks, quilt, and bind.

There is at least one more box somewhere that I haven't found yet because it has my iron in it!  I'll stop at 11 projects.  I think that will keep me plenty busy.

Now for the Halloween giveaway.  I used the oh so sophisticated method of hollering across the room to my mom (she spent the weekend with me),  "Hey mom!  Pick a number between 1 and 19!"  She said, seventeen.  The 17th person to comment last week was Karen Rowland.  Karen, I tried to find an e-mail address for you and left a comment on your last blog post.  Hope you see this!  Please send me your address and I'll get this Halloween fabric in the mail to you pronto.  If I don't hear from Karen by Monday, I will pick a new winner. 

Wish me luck on getting a couple of these projects done before the end of the year! 

Linking to:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Busy Hands Quilts

A Finish and a Halloween Giveaway

As some of you may know from my previous posts, we are in the process of remodeling an old house to live in.  It is amazing how much time it takes to move in and get settled.  All of my fabric and notions are now sitting in my new sewing room waiting to be unpacked but as of yet, I haven't had any time to get to it.  As Charlie Brown used to say with great regularity,   AAAAAARGH!!!

Do you remember this fabric?

I bought this for a silent auction coffee themed gift basket I needed to make for work.  I ended up making place mats for it.  The horrible thing was, they were due the same weekend we had to move!  Ugh.   Talk about a rush job!  I was in such a hurry to get them done, I completely forgot to take any pictures at all and ended up taking stealing one place mat out of the basket and taking a picture of it right there on the auction table.  Oh brother.  I made four of them and here is how they turned out . . .

This counts as a finish, doesn't it?

The quilting was just a simple loopy pattern that reminds me of coffee steam.  I stuck with extremely simple, just because of shortage of time.  I used a variegated brown thread and was rather happy with the way it turned out.  I think I'll use that same thread on a cowboy quilt I haven't finished yet.  Yup!

I COULD show you pictures of my new sewing room, but they wouldn't be particularly inspiring right now.  Piles of boxes?  Not so much.  I was so excited to go through them though!  I have found a bunch of WIP's (works in progress) I had completely forgotten about.  I will have fun showing you all those as soon as I can get myself organized.

GIVEAWAY!

Back when I used to be very involved in piecing quilts (but never finishing anything) I used to get a monthly shipment of FQ's from Keepsake Quilting.  I received this bundle of Halloween fabric that I will never use and would like to give it away to one of you!  The only stipulation being that you please show me what you make using this fabric.  Just leave a comment for me if you wish to have a chance at this Halloween fabric.  Drawing will take place next Friday.

I don't have a picture of the giveaway fabric yet but I will by tonight.  I am rushing to get this post done so I can add it to Bernie's Needle and Foot Halloween Linky Party.  

Update--Pictures of Fabric in Giveaway:  I'm not sure what year this is from, but it is from a Thimbleberries collection by Kate Grussing.  This collection is based on a collection of vintage Halloween decorations from the 1930's with the color palette based on a 1930's Halloween board-game box.

And just for fun, here are a few pictures of my daughter who has a penchant for going all the way when it comes to costumes.    

VIOLET

MARY POPPINS

Have a Blessed October!

Linking to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts