Charity Quilting

After an exhausting 3 days with the grandkids (planting seeds, joining summer reading program, park, playing cards, camping out in backyard) they went home this a.m. and so I chose to spend some time on my extra day off work sewing for charity. 

 12 6inch 9 patch blocks for a lady who sews them together for new moms and grandmoms.  

5 - 8 inch heart blocks of choice for a lady who sews them together for those who have lost a close loved one. 

17 (out of 48 for an adult quilt) blue string blocks with black centers for Heartstring Quilt Project

And finally 10- 12 inch stars for Quilts of Valor. 

God bless our soldiers and keep them safe.


Edited on Tuesday - Linking up at Quilting by the River: Linky Party

What's Wrong With Me???

 This is the third quilt I have started that is out of my usual color palette. 

In fact, that blueberry basket at top really hurts my eyes. It's too wild. 

Guess subconsciously I must think I need a burst of color. Can't believe all of these were in my fabric stash. 

String Stars

I've been working on some string star blocks made with mint Kona and some 30s reproduction prints and a few other scraps that sort of match the 30s. Reason I picked mint is not because I like it (I think it should be called "split pea" not mint) but because it is so similar to what my grandma always used in borders in her quilts she made in the 30s out of old clothes.  Grandma was the first and only person who had the patience to teach me to sew. Each individual block is 5.5 inches unfinished and 4 of them together make a star. Stars are not yet sewn together. I'm aiming for a queen sized quilt.

I'm linking up at Quilting by the River and Quilt Story. Why don't you join too? I'm usually late getting to the party since I work a 10 hr day but better late than never!

What I've Been Doing With 3 Inch 9 Patches

I've been participating in a quarterly swap of 3 inch 9 patch blocks with some ladies with the Block_Swappers Yahoo group. I've been slowly turning them into Sister's Choice blocks with blue star points and someday they will be made into a Queen Sized quilt for someone. In the meantime it is fun to see all the different fabrics people choose to use in their blocks.  I used to love to sit and look at all the different  fabrics old clothes grandma used in her quilts. Those were the days...

HST Is Not a Disease

HST is not a disease although I did stay away from them for the longest time because I had a difficult time making them the correct size or the same size, etc. I've found Half Square Triangles are easy to make when I use an Easy Angle ruler to cut them. 

I'm even able to match up points now most of the time. 

 I love this Dandy block with the clematis. I love clematis and have several varieties growing in the gardens. 

Art imitates life.  My Jackmanii clematis. 

This is a different variety growing up the side of the barn. 

Jackmanii and friend. 

And, back to HSTs. I decided to border my Dandy Garden quilt with HSTs. I'm not usually a border girl but I tried something new. I hung it on the clothesline to take a pic but it was blowing in the wind like all my answers, my friend. 

Dandy Flower Garden with HST borders. A Flimsy. 

Do You Have Elves in Your Garden?

I finished my elf I'm going to use on another Midnight Fantasy Garden block. I chain stitched his shirt to look like a knitted sweater. His beard is made of french knots and bullions. You can't really tell but his ears, nose and hands are outlined in black metallic thread.  I think his shirt will glow in the dark. 

And, if you look around my garden you may just see a few elves hiding among the flowers.  Oh, and garden tip...fabric scraps make for good mulch. I put some of the scraps I collected all winter around the roses today. 

If you'd like to see what's blooming in the garden visit my garden blog - Down and Dirty Gardening. 

Nobody Likes Me and I'm Alright with That!

Facebook went public today. I've never felt the urge to join it. And I don't care if anyone likes me or not. I like my privacy. I like to remain a person of mystery. And I like myself just fine. If I play games I play old fashioned board games. I don't have a product to sell and I don't really care to know everything my relatives are doing since they are usually up to no good. And farmville?...I live on an acreage and do some real work that produces some real flowers, fruits and veggies. Like these peonies. 

 What's that under the pitcher of peonies? 

I found the cutest 50s type fabric...dancing dishes.  I combined it with some other fabrics from my stash and made a dish mat. My DH washes the dishes and what he doesn't put in the dish washer he puts on a towel. Basically this is an old covered bath towel. It looks nicer I think. 

So to match I had to embroider a flour sack dishtowel with some happy dishes and I made a hotpad to match it all too. I actually got a little wonky and just machine stitched lines wherever on the hotpad.  My DH burns them up or gets them grease spattered anyway. But I still like him. 

Snowball

For a swap for Ruby who requested a romantic or Valentine theme in purple, royal blue and pink. 

Linky testing:

An InLinkz Link-up

Fine and Dandy Garden Blocks

A few weeks ago I was looking for a little more fabric for a quilt backing and ended up making some Dandy blocks. I then liked them too much to use for a quilt backing so decided to make enough for a lap quilt from what I had in my stash and ended up with 20 blocks - 12 inch finished. 

Dark picture, I know. It was raining outside so dark inside. But this is how they look on my design floor.  

I'm trying to decide on a border. Suggestions welcome. 

Linking up at Quilt Story and Quilting by the River

I Participate Too Much!

My name was removed from some of the RR waiting lists over at Crazy Quilt International because I evidently participate too much according to new rules made. Their theory is that if you are in too many (3 in the list owners' judgement) RRs your work will suffer. I have news for them. I've participated in many RRs. The same people who are late mailing blocks will still mail blocks late. There are people who are just that way. I've been in RRs with people who participate in just 1 RR and can't get their blocks done on time.

 Then there are those people who just plop trinkets on blocks and do very little stitching and always will and call it their fair share. You learn to avoid RRs with those people. I think those specific people should be addressed in private about this. I would want to be if I was one of those people. They probably don't think they are doing anything wrong if they have done it in RR after RR and gotten away with it. 

At any rate...I don't like the new rules and although the group moderators believe them to be fair I don't. It is their list and they can make their rules. I do agree with that.  I think; however, that the offenders that caused the new rules to be made should have been privately emailed first as to their problems. If I was an offender I would like to be advised of it myself.  So after I finish up my blocks in each RR I will not participate in RRs on CQI anymore. That will leave me more time to do my own thing. So that may be a good thing. 

This is my work on Lorrie's Midnight Fantasy Garden block. Lorrie has always made her blocks bigger than the rules called for. This one is gigantic- outside the rules.  Anyway... the silky was already on the block. I stitched feather stitch, leaves and bead flowers around it. I crocheted butterflies, flowers and a star and plopped them on the block. I added a "star studded" seam, buttonhole stitch flowers, curvy chain stitch seam and motif of feather stitch with french knots. It is difficult to decide what is a fair share of the block to complete when it is so big. 

This is my work on Arlene's Butterfly and Dragonly block. I had to add some beaded seams to go with the rest of the work done on the block. It doesn't show well but next to the pink tinged crochet butterfly is a seam of buttonhole stitch further embellished with bead flowers. Below that is feather stitch motif of metallic antique effects in gold because many of the fabrics in her block have gold accents. Blue silk ribbon french knots and green silk ribbon leaves finish it off and a butterfly button sits below it. Buttonhole wheels of variegated blue perle cotton outlined in metallic antique effects is done on another seam above another crocheted butterfly. Another seam has chain stitched curvy seam with leaves and flower bead buttons added to balance out all the other flower beads on the block. And, finally, I added a beaded dragonfly. 

This is Arlene's block after Kathy, Candji and me. There is a little room left for Meg, the last stitcher. 

All the sane Yahoo Quilt Groups don't limit participation so guess you will see more sane quilting here in the future. Above are some Starz blocks for a swap over on Mailblocks Yahoo Group. 

Now, with my lack of participation I will probably make more charity quilts, teach the grandkids sewing/embroidery/crochet and other life skills, catch up on scrapbooking and genealogy notebooks and reading, garden (weed) more than usual and do some doomsday prepping.  

Autumn with a Twist

Blocks for a swap on Mailblocks Yahoo Group called "Autumn with a Twist".  For every participant I need to send 1 - 12 inch block, 2- 6 inch blocks and 4 - 3 inch blocks in fall colors. There are 8 participants and we had to sign up for different block patterns. After the swap, August 1, I think I will have enough for a great quilt. My choice of blocks: 12 inch= Sister's Choice, 6 inch= Posy, 3 inch=Bow Tie.

Crazy Basket Case (May CQJP 2012)

My May block for Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 has been completed. It wasn't until I looked closely at this picture that I noticed those little pansies under the red crochet basket were made of bullions and I meant to make them of cast on stitches. 

I will make a lap quilt with my blocks and I'm calling it "Crazy Basket Case". 

Challenge is to keep it washable, embellish mostly in red and white and not to repeat seams (I think I have already) and to try to add 2 baskets to each block. 

I Love Cherries (or Hi-Ho Cherrio!)

I didn't know if I should call the quilt "I Love Cherries" or if I should name it "Hi-Ho Cherrio" after one of the first board games I played as a little girl...

...at any rate...here it is...a lap quilt which measures about 72x79. I've been collecting cherry themed fabrics for a couple of years. I'm not sure where I first saw the Japanese X and + block. I think I saw a picture on some link from a blog from a blog from a blog...but I eventually searched and found a tutorial at a blog named badskirt. 

72 blocks make up the quilt. 

How can you be in a bad mood when you are surrounded by so much color? 

This is the backing...little kids and cherries. Sweet. I quilted it on my sewing machine with a concentric circle pattern in variegated blue thread on the back and cream colored on the front.  Those aren't knots in the picture...they are little pieces of thread that got caught in the quilting.  I had thread snippets everywhere. In the middle of quilting my thread seemed to break after every couple of circles. I cleaned the machine, I changed bobbins, I re-threaded, changed needles, re-threaded again, cussed quite a bit and then finally changed the brand of quilting thread I was using as top thread and then all went well. 

I have other collections of fabrics of my fav things. This is the first of many quilts to use up some of that fabric. I thought it would be a nice lap quilt to take to the nursing home should I ever see that day. But by then there will probably be "death panels" that will deem me unfit to even see another day. 

Hmmm... Didn't I just say "How can you be in a bad mood when you are surrounded by so much color? "

Linking up at Quilting by the River and Quilt Story