XOXOXO Is Finished!

XOXOXO

60 X 72

I've finished my October goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I didn't think I was going to get this completed before the end of the month but a few blog readers cheered me on enough to get moving on it. 

I was #63 at the Goal Setting Party. 

When I made this my goal I only had 80 six inch blocks and needed 120. 

Then I blogged about how boring it was to make the blocks and felt I could not complete the quilt. 

That is when the kind cheerleaders stepped in and gave some words of encouragement. 

I quilted it on my plain Jane DSM with some loops, flowers and hearts (that sometimes look a little more like leaves). 

This is another UFO off my list. 

I started this in January 2013. 

My daughter wants some themed lap quilts to throw on her couch for each month of the year. 

This year for Christmas she will get a Snowball/9 Patch for January and this for February. 

Drunkard's Path - Still Quilting Along

I'm 1/4 of the way there. 

 I want to make a quilt with 120 blocks ( or 480 blocks if you count each quarter section  of the blocks above as a block)

This batch brings me to a total of 30. 

And now I'm back to cutting fabrics for another batch of 30. 

Drunkard's Path sew along with Vicki at Fields Trips in Fiber. 

Journeys

Rarely do I get to see where my donated quilts end up. 

I made this Crumb Star Quilt last year and donated it to Quilts Beyond Borders. 

(photo from Quilts Beyond Borders)

And now this quilt is in Uganda and belongs to a handsome little boy. 

Crumb Bear Paws is another quilt I donated to Quilts Beyond Borders. 

(photo by Ann D of Sunshine Online Quilt Guild)

And now it belongs to a beautiful little girl in Ethiopia. 

(photo by Ann D of Sunshine Online Quilt Guild)

A member of the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild recently distributed quilts at an orphanage in Ethiopia. 

I finished up this QOV UFO last year and sent it to Alycia. 

And then saw it on this soldier in Alycia's July 30, 2014 Quilts of Valor Quilt Show.  What a thrill to see the new owner! 

And finally, I participated in a  crazy quilt pansy themed round robin in 2010. 

There were 6 members in the group, each member sent around 6 crazy-pieced foundations and each member chose one to embellish. When all the blocks returned home the original block owner had five embellished blocks and was left with one of their own to embellish. 

This was one I did for Lisa B in that round robin. 

I see on her blog post she has turned all her blocks into a bell pull all these years later. 

Back in the Day

Back in the olden days of yore my brothers and sisters and I were pirates.

We made lists of treasures we wanted to find like a red rock, bird feather, gum wrapper, paper with writing, a coin, etc.  and then we went on treasure hunts all over the neighborhood - a race to see who could find all the treasures first. 

Or we would find stick swords and challenge each other to a duel and we never poked anyone's eyes out like mom said we would do if we played with sticks. 

If we were Winter pirates I would make my younger siblings walk the plank into an area rug sea of sharks and somehow they would always escape the sharks and push me into the area rug sea and pile on top of me and tickle me...a punishment far more severe than sharks. 

And in the olden days of yore when my brothers and sisters were cowpersons (actually we were all, boy or girl, cowboys) we would find the perfect sticks, point them at each other and run around the yard after each other shouting "bang, bang" because we didn't have cap guns like the neighbors.  And no one ever got hurt.  And we all  had lots and lots of fun. 

And then we all grew up into old people.

And the world around us grew politically correct. 

And I have to tell my grandkids not to eat their toast into the shape of a gun because it might poke someone's eye out or, even worse, they might be expelled from school. 

Making Happy Blocks and remembering some happy times. 

Before I Forget...

I have a couple of boxes and a bag of men's shirt pieces. 

Before I forget I want to make a kaleidoscope quilt with them

AND a Churn Dash like Nancy's at Joy for Grace

AND a Railroad Track like Julie's at Me and My Quilts

AND then I'll just admire P's Drunkard's Path at The Way I Sew It. 

Starry-eyed

I've made 4 more 12 inch birthday stars in 30s reproduction with a blue background. 

This quilt started with a birthday exchange of 12 blocks. 

I need a total of 42 blocks and with sashing I should have a full/queen sized quilt. 

The most fun is finding different stars to make each week.  I hope I don't have to resort to paper piecing to meet my goal of 42! 

Top row: Star Puzzle and Shooting Star 2

Bottom row: Love in a Mist and The Cog Block

And I had to fix one of last week's blocks.  

An astute blog reader asked if my top 4 patches were arranged correctly. 

No, they weren't. But they are now. 

Thanks, Vic!

Linking to Choose Your Own BlockAlong at Live a Colorful Life. 

Crazy Cravings Again

I finally finished up the embroidery stitches along all the connecting seams on my Crazy Cravings quilt. 

I took off the pink gingham border. I originally wanted to do some chicken scratch in the gingham but the squares were too tiny for me to even do chicken scratch you could see but also because the pink was too pink and also because I just plain didn't like it so it kept me from working on it. 

 Now that I've embellished all the connecting seams...

...and now that I've got it sandwiched with some pieced leftover batting and some pink and brown sale fabric that says chocolate all over it (forgot pic...will show next time)  I'm ready for quilting.   Not quite sure how I'm going to do that or even what thread or threads I will use but this is no longer a stalled project. 

Hopefully today I'll be joining others with some 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hand Quilted Category

I've entered my Stash Baskets quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side - 

Hand Quilted Category. 

72 x 84

I've done regular hand quilting in the ditch between blocks and did big stitching in perle #8 navy thread. 

I actually used a 10 inch Cake Stand block but switched direction on the two HSTs closest to the basket. 

I also used a variety of fabrics from my stash in blues, purples, reds and yellows. 

It was a lot of fun finding things to put in my baskets. I hate to admit I had all these things to fill the baskets already in my stash too. 

I enjoyed big stitching but need to work on keeping my stitches even. 

After a go in the washer it didn't fall apart so there must have been just the right amount of quilting. 

This was a lot of fun to make and to quilt.  

I'm ready to do more hand quilting!

Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Scrappy Quilts Category

I'm entering my Sister's Choice quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side-

 Scrappy  Quilts Category. 

80 x 90

It consists of 288 - 5 inch Sister's Choice blocks. 

I don't believe there are any fabric repeats in any blocks. 

I started with 3 inch 9 patches and then added scrappy WOW fabrics and scrappy blue star points to each block. 

I quilted it on my plain Jane DSM with loops and stars. 

I'm really surprised that most of my star points matched up! 

But, no bother if they didn't. 

It's a nice warm, soft, cuddly bed quilt.

Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side

Final Chapter of Tales from the Dark Side

This is the last weekend for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month - Brown, Black, Gray. 

This week I've made 64 lozenges from my 2.5 scraps...

...a HST block (plus extra HSTs) from my gray 4.5 inch scraps...

...spools from my 1.5 inch scraps...

...and finally, I've added another 49 patch in cream/browns made from 1.5 inch scraps. 

I didn't even get to any string projects this month but I think I will have a use for them later on this year. 

Got Scraps? 

Use them up and join us each ScrapHappy Saturday to show us what you've done with them. 

Nine More Drunkard's Paths on the Wall...

....Nine more Drunkard's Paths

I'll take these down

And make another round

Nine more Drunkard's Paths on the Wall.

That makes a total of 18 - 6 inch blocks. 

Sewing along with Vicki and others. 

My Heart Is Not In It

My goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes this month was to finish my XO UFO. 

 It's about time...I started it January 2013. 

My daughter has always wanted a quilt to throw on her couch with a theme for every month. 

This is for the month of February and it will be a Christmas gift. 

All 120-  6 inch blocks are made now. 

I hate not to complete a goal I've set for myself. 

I'm cutting it close. 

Will I finish it? 

This has been some boring, boring, boring sewing and my heart is not in it. 

But I do think my daughter will heart this quilt. 

Block Lotto and the Mod Mod Sampler

This month's Block Lotto block is a Woven Bar on white background with orange, gray, brown bars. 

I then made a couple of Woven Bar blocks  in complementary colors for a Mod Mod Full/Queen Sampler that Sophie designed to go along with each month's block. 

Then I made another Woven Bar block which completes another module. 

And then I made one final Woven Bar block and another module.