Depression....

 ...blocks.    Another UFO.  I first blogged about making them in April 2011. Time flies. I thought I had enough of them made for a good sized quilt top. But when I dug into my bin I see that I wanted the 12 inch blocks in a 7x8 arrangement so need 56 and I only had 34 made. Darn!!  So I made 7 more from some HSTs I had in another bin...

...and now I only have 15 more to go.   Guess I'll dig into another UFO box to see if I have enough of some other type blocks for a top.

 Maybe I better finish these. Decisions, decisions...

Izzy's Wedding Quilt

The back story. 

I've finished more arches and have 42 of the 98 arches I need for Izzy's Double Wedding Ring quilt. 

I'm thinking of using a light blue (Kona Cotton Candy Blue) for the background. What would you use with a purple, blue, red color scheme? 

For more inspiration (well, I 'm assuming this was inspiring, but then again...) visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  

Crazy Basket Case Update

I only have 2 seams left to embellish on my CQJP 2012 Project - Crazy Basket Case.!!!!! 

In case you've missed any of my previous posts - this is a lap quilt sized crazy quilt full of red and white embellishments and some embroidered baskets. I'm still not sure if I'm going to add any type of border. But I sure hope next week at this time I'll have added the batting and backing and started quilting on it (or started tying it- haven't made final decision on that yet either).  What follows are a few of the seams I finished today. 

 I thought the above looked kind of like little baskets.

This quilt certainly has been slowly stitched so I'm off to link up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts where all slow stitchers meet for a little inspiration.

A Bit of Whimsy in Grandma's Sewing Room

 I've finished my Grandma's Sewing Room quilt- a mix of spools and jars. 57x63, it used a lot of my aqua and red scraps. 

It's not really finished until it's labeled and washed but it's pretty cuddly without being put through the wringer. I ought to know...for the last several weeks it's been on my lap almost every night after work while I've worked on hand quilting it. 

 

 

First I used red hand quilting thread to stitch in the ditch around the spools because I wanted to practice my hand quilting skills (smaller stitch length, even stitches, using a thimble) and I didn't want my practice to show too much.  Then I did a sort of free motion laced running stitch in red perle #8 all around the spools and jars to simulate loose thread.

The laced running stitch left it looking like a continuous thread on the top of the quilt but left it looking like a running stitch on the back of the quilt.

I used sewing themed fabrics in the borders and Kona turquoise for the binding.

 I have to admit Grandma's Sewing Room has a few spiders and cobwebs because Grandma spends her spare time after a long day at work sewing instead of dusting.

And doesn't every sewing room have a few jars of sewing supplies like buttons and snacks like mixed nuts?

Now I can mark #12 off my list of UFOs. (I had a total of 73 UFOs on the list on Jan 1).

Well, it's Friday and I finished this quilt so I'm linking to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  Stop by and see all the fun things everyone else has finished up and a bit of inspiration.   And, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?    You might also want to stop by Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see what everyone's Whoop Whooping about. 

Prepping!

I've added to my Jar Blocks. 

 If you are a Prepper you need to have a source of water.  So here's my bottled water.

And don't forget the chocolate! Or the coffee beans!

I really do can tomatoes...lots of them...but I do take the stems off and peel them! Not sure I like figs, I actually freeze the broccoli from my garden and I do make bread and butter pickles but these pickles seem to be missing the onions!

Now, if I could just prep myself to finish this jar block UFO I've called "Prepping" I'd be happy. (I hate to say it but I have about 70 UFOs.)

I have many more jars but have no design wall to display them all. You get the picture.  Other people have design walls and if you want to see what's on them visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.   Prepare yourself for some inspiration!

Slow Stitching Sunday

 I'm still hand quilting my Grandma's Sewing Room quilt. I hand quilted in the ditch around the spools and jars. Now I'm using perle #8 and a laced running stitch all over in kind of a free motion hand quilting  to look like a loose thread. I thought you would be better able to tell from the picture that I only have 2 and a half rows left.  I didn't have the patience to take more pictures outside today. It's cold and windy.

 Maybe I will be finished with the loose thread (aka laced running stitch, hand quilting) by next week if I work on it a little each night after work this week.  I want to get done with it because I have other stitching I want to do - crazy quilting.

This is the back of the quilt and you can kind of see where the running stitches are.  I like how this looks and feels.

To see what others are slow stitching this week visit Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday. 

The Wedding Quilt

Isabelle (a.k.a.  Izzy or Belle or Bellarina), one of my granddaughters,  is 8 years old. Several times in the last several years she has told me I'm going to live at least long enough to attend her wedding. Maybe she knows something I don't know. I hope she's not getting married for a long, long time!

On January 14 a driver talking on a cell phone ran a red light and hit me broadside - $6,000 worth of damage to the car. I tried to turn out of the path of the collision and came about an inch from hitting another car head on. I was not hurt - just shook up a little.

After that my granddaughter's words came back to me...that I would live long enough to attend her wedding.   That got me to thinking I should start on a wedding quilt for her, finish it and store it away. That way...if I'm not able to attend her wedding I will be there in spirit.

Over the years her favorite colors have switched between red and purple.  So, the color palette for her quilt will be red, purple and blue.  I've pulled some of those colors from my stash. The pattern will be Double Wedding Ring a.k.a Pickle Dish a.k.a. Gypsy Kisses.

Pink Fluff Fini !

Pink Fluff is Finished.   40x54    Most of my pink scraps are gone but with a granddaughter who loves pink I think I'll have more pink scraps in no time at all. 

 It was quilted on my Plain Jane Janome with hearts and flowers.

This will go to Wrap-A-Smile. 

It is so nice and crinkly cuddly. 

It has a hot pink backing. 

It was my goal to finish it in February for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

And since I have finished it I'm linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  and 

then... Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict? 

A Few More for QOV

    I've got a few more blocks ready to mail to Alycia for the QOV block drive. 

XOXOXO, VALENTINE !

I've made more X, O and Heart blocks - 18 total and no design wall to display them. I can't decide if I want to keep them separate in rows by block type or mix it up. Since I've got many more blocks to make and more valentine fabrics to cut I guess I've got a while to decide.

Thread Gone Wild in Grandma's Sewing Room

 I've worked a little this week on my Grandma's Sewing Room lap quilt. I've finished stitching in the ditch around all the spools and jars (see below the spool). I chose red thread (Gutermann hand quilting) because the backing is predominately red. I then decided I wanted to simulate thread on the spools and between the spools. I chose perle #8 (DMC) thread and a laced running stitch to simulate thread gone wild. I probably should have used a whipped running stitch instead but kind of like the wiggly effect of a laced running stitch.

So, I'm kind of doing a free motion hand quilting. I'm going wherever the thread takes me.

Yes, Grandma's Sewing Room has a few cobwebs, jars of buttons and tape measures and,  hate to admit it...jars of snacks.  And, for added fun..most spools are black but there are a few more whimsical spools in other colors like strawberry red. 

For other Slow Stitching Sunday news of what others in blog land are working on visit Kathy's Quilts. 

The Color Purple

 It's Scrap Happy Saturday and the color for the Feb. Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple. I think I've about used up all my purple scraps in just one week and in 9 - six inch blocks. I'll be using them for a children's quilt for Wrap-a-Smile or Wrap-Them-in-Love. I'll probably mix them with red scrap blocks so used the traditional red center in the wonky log cabin blocks.

 Maybe If I work super fast (never) I will have some purple scraps left over from my Pansy Patch blocks - 4 down and 234? to go.  I have about 25 or so different pansy fabrics but will probably mix some butterfly fabrics in there too.  I've been meaning to do something with these pansy fabrics for years and now is the time to make a Queen-sized quilt for my bed. I'm sure my husband won't mind sleeping under pansies! (I have pansy curtains, pansy pillowcases, pansy crazy quilt wall hanging and vintage pansy postcards attached all along the top of the wall like a wallpaper border). I love pansies.

I first thought I would use the pansy fabric in 4 inch butterfly blocks with blue background to represent sky and assemble them together into a 8 inch block along with two posy/african violet blocks with green backgrounds to represent ground.  Not sure I like that idea now that I've tried it.

To see what others have done with purple scraps visit So Scrappy's blog and all the links for Scrap Happy Saturday. 

A Block Drive, A Block Lotto and A Sew-In

Above blocks are for a QOV block drive at Alycia Quilts. I'm going to make some more tomorrow.  Alycia needs to receive them by March 8 if you want to participate.

While I was at it I made 4 blocks of the same pattern for Sunshine Online Quilt Guild's (Yahoo Group)  monthly block lotto. Send in blocks in sets of 2. One goes into the drawing and one gets set aside for a quilt for Wrap-a-smile or Wrap-Them-In-Love. Blocks should be red for February.

 Last weekend the same Sunshine Online Quilt Guild had a virtual sew-in on Superbowl Sunday. I finished my crumb stars and sewed them into a top for Wrap-a-Smile.   I might just have to make myself one. I like how it turned out.  There should be lot of fun things for kids to look at.

Crazy Basket Case WIP

I'm still working on my lap quilt - Crazy Basket Case. It was my CQJP 2012 project.  Actually, it still is my CQJP 2012 project. In between other projects I've been slowly working on stitching the seams where the blocks join.

 I've mainly done feather stitching (which I often mistakenly think of as stem stitch because when I stitch it it reminds me of flower stems).

I'm wondering about a border and haven't decided yet if I want one and if I do want one do I want to use one fabric for the border or use all my red scraps or...    I have some red fabric with little baskets on it to use for the backing and probably have enough to use for borders. I guess I will decide when I get to that point.

I also need to decide on how to finish the quilt. I was going to tie. But most of the quilt shows around here don't accept tied quilts. If I get brave enough to ever enter a show I want to make sure it will be accepted and fit category requirements.  Believe me, they will!

1. All quilts must be quilted by hand, machine, or both. Quilting is defined as a running stitch that passes through top, batting, and backing. Tied quilts are not eligible.
2. All quilts must fit the size requirements and definitions of the selected category. 

Since this is a Work in Progress please visit Pintangle where I've left a link to my WIP and where you will find all kinds of eye candy, stitch tutorials, eye candy, information, reviews, classes, eye candy, inspiration...Go!