Oh My Stars !

Birthday Stars

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I finished quilting and binding my Birthday Stars.  I participated in a Birthday Block Swap last year and for my block I asked for any 12 inch star block in jewel tones on black background.  With only 12 stars I wanted a little large quilt so I added 5 inch sashings and in some spots I added little 5 inch stars I made as the cornerstones. 

 Since most of the blocks seemed to have some purple in them I used purple as the backing - (shhhhhh....it's a 100 % cotton sheet from the thrift store).   I had some variegated purple thread so used that in the bobbin and on the front...

 ...I used black thread.   I was a little leary about quilting in black in the lighter colors but I guess it looks okay now that it's finished.  I quilted on my DSM - no fancy machines here - in loops and stars. It's better that it's finished than sitting around as a UFO for several more years.

And, about those five inch stars....I thought I had enough of that swirly multi -colored jewel tones fabric for stars all around but I didn't.   So, stars are randomly placed here and there.

Getting this quilted and bound was my August goal for Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I'm going to go Whoop, Whoop it up now at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and then see what everyone else is Whoop, Whooping about. 

And, finally...a question...What color of thread would you have used on top?  I'm still not sure I like the black.  I need advice because I have another jewel tones on black UFO I hope to finish up soon. 

Still Working on It. It's Still One of My Favorite Things.

Still quilting in perle #8 ...

...on my Rainbow of Favorite Things.  But I'm almost finished. 

Then I have to decide how to finish off the edges.  I'm still thinking about that.  Why plan ahead? 

Other Slow Stitching on Sunday links are at Kathy's Quilts. Go look. 

Boo hoo...my week of vacation is just about over. Hi ho! Hi ho! It's back to work I go tomorrow. 

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Actually, I just got back Wednesday from a week at a family reunion camping trip in Mark Twain State Park in Missouri. But since this blog isn't about camping I'll tell you about the quilt I finished yesterday while still on my summer vacation. 

To get this finished was my goal for June's Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I accomplished my goal. And I can mark off another UFO from my list. 

1930 Reproduction Fabrics/Kona Snow

c. 1930 blocks swapped on a Yahoo Group in 2010

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I just did straight line quilting. You are not imagining things if  it looks like the lines are not evenly spaced.  Long story on that but I'm not going to rip out any stitches. The quilt is for me and I'm fine with it. 

The binding is scrappy. 

And the backing is muslin. Just like grandma used to make. 

So, now I'm linking up to Lovely Year of Finishes - June Finishing Party at Fiber of All Sorts  and Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Now, to finish off my summer vacation...I have toads in my swimming pool and wild raspberries in my daylilies so my work is cut out for me. 

Time Warp

I have quite a few UFOs that use 30s reproduction fabrics (or fabrics I think remind me of my grandma's quilts). I decided I need to get them all finished before I start another 30s project. So, this weekend I worked on: 

7 more Tulip Blocks

9 more Great Granny blocks (only need 8 more for a total of 42, I think!) 

3 more Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks - Buckwheat, Butterfly at the Crossroads and...

...Cups and Saucers.  I need to count how many more I need to finish this quilt.  I file the blocks in between the pages and I probably shouldn't but other wise I probably wouldn't remember the name of the blocks or which ones I had finished. 

And I made 16 more String Star blocks

For a total of 46  that will be sewn together into groups of 4 

I can't help but feel happy stuck in a 30s time warp. 

To see what others have stuck on their design walls visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

They've Been Around for About Three Years So...

...I decided it's about time I made them into a quilt.

1930 Reproduction Fabrics/Kona Snow

c. 1930 blocks swapped on a Yahoo Group in 2010

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Sewn together this weekend into a top and ready to be basted, quilted and bound

Now my June Goal for a Lovely Year of Finishes

Depression Blocks and Fond Memories

It's time to post my Lovely Year of Finishes completed goal for May.  I originally posted on May 3 that I wanted to quilt and bind my Depression Blocks UFO.  I have done so.

896 HSTs sewn into 56 -12 inch Depression blocks. Finished quilt 84x96. 

This quilt is for the bed in the guest room. It gets pretty darned cold in this old farm house in the winter so I will use it to keep the grandkids warm when they sleep over every other weekend. 

I've been working on this off and on for several years. I love Depression blocks and think of Grandma when I sew on it. She taught me to quilt and she told me many stories of how she survived during the Depression years on a farm in rural Iowa with Grandpa and 5 kids. I've used some of her tips myself during hard times.

So I should probably call this quilt Fond Memories - of Grandma, of learning to sew, of old fabrics used in other projects.

Backing is some plain brown flannel to make it extra warm. and I did some easy line quilting on my plain Jane DSM.  Binding sewn down by hand. I like how the polka dots look on both the front and back. 

Now I need to start thinking about what I hope to accomplish in June.  

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict for a Whoop, Whoop. 

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. 

More UFO Work

I participate in a 3 inch 9 patch swap several times a year with the Block_Swappers Yahoo Group. I've been slowly turning them into 5 inch Sister's Choice blocks. I now have 92 out of the 288 necessary for my quilt. I better get moving if I want to finish a quilt made of these any time soon.

Grandma's Sewing Room (Spools Block) - It's a Flimsy

I've hand sewn together all the points I didn't think met right, ripped off the border and added a think black inner border and now my UFO is a flimsy that I think will go back to being a UFO until after Christmas since I need to get some more Christmas gifts finished.

 And, this Grandma's sewing room (notice I don't have a "studio") is full of other things besides spools like jars of buttons, peanuts...

...jars of M and Ms and, I don't know if you can see them or not...but this Grandma even has a few spiders and spider webs in her sewing room.

I'm not sure of what to use for the back and was contemplating bow tie blocks made of black and sewing themed fabrics for the back to make it a reversible quilt but these look kind of blah but I could make a separate quilt out of them and maybe embroidery sewing related items in the center. Hmmm... decisions, decisions...

And since this is a UFO turned flimsy I'm linking up at Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project - UFO Sunday.    This is the second UFO I've been motivated to work on. And thanks to the UFO Sundays I've got one UFO finish (Spider Web Quilt)

I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 

Dandy Garden Finish!

 Once upon a time in 2010 I participated in a quilt block swap on Mailblocks Yahoo Group where we exchanged Dandy Quilt block made of 30s reproduction fabrics. I made a lot of blocks for myself as well as exchanged them and ended up with a Queen-sized quilt I still have on my bed.  I have loved that block ever since.

Now, I've made another Dandy quilt - I've called it Dandy Garden. It is not Queen-sized this time. It's a lap quilt that measures approx 60 x 72.   And, I hand-quilted the entire thing in perle #5.  (Just an FYI - perle 8 worked a lot better on my Chocolate Dresden quilt. #5 thread is a little too thick to pop knots easily.)

 I got a little wild with colors again. If you've read previous posts you know I tend to be a more docile person - not this wild.

 But, I've noticed I can't feel depressed or tired looking at colors like this.

 I'm practicing hand quilting on this one. I noticed my stitches are getting a little more consistent and evenly spaced. I use no tools for marking...just eyeball it.  I wanted to practice my hand quilting before I start on a queen-sized quilt using regular quilting needles and thread. (That may take me several years).

The border. 

The backing and binding. 

The different thimbles I tried out in the course of this hand quilting. I still think the callous on my finger works as the best "thimble" but I'm tried of the needles piercing my skin in that area even with the callous there.  It was hard for me to believe these are all thimbles.  I couldn't even figure out how to wear a couple of them.  The one I've grown accustomed to is the black one which I believe was called nimble finger. It's leather and has a cutout on top for your fingernail. I bought a medium and think I need a small. I have to bandaid it to my finger so it doesn't periodically fly off. 

So, do you wear a thimble when you do hand sewing? If so, which is your favorite?

I'm linking up to Sew Many Ways - Sew Darn Crafty Linky party. Visit and see what everyone else is up to this week.  And linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.   And linking up to Linky Party Tuesday at Freemotion by the River. 

+176=>500

Way back on July 9 I posted I had finished 361 hourglass blocks (gray and roses). Well, now I have enough to start on the quilt 20x25.  I needed 500 and I have 506. I may have to make a few more after I trim the dog ears and measure them. They are an off size. I matched up two - five inch squares of fabric, cut twice on the diagonal and sewed up a couple of hourglasses.  I made 176 of them today. I couldn't help but think of that song "99 bottles of beer on the wall" as I counted down after each batch of blocks I finished...171 more hourglass blocks for the quilt, 171 more blocks, sew one up, throw it on the pile...170 more hourglass blocks for the quilt.

This quilt will be another lap quilt and part of my favorite things collection. So far I have completed my cherry quilt and my chocolate quilt and now I'm on to my roses quilt. Hey, notice it doesn't involve something to eat like the other two!

If you'd like to see what other crafty things people are up to visit Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party .

Hourglass Figures

I've finished more blocks for my Roses are Red, etc, Skies are Gray hourglass quilt. 

According to my figures I now have 361 out of the 500 necessary if I make the quilt 20x25 blocks. 

I don't have Fifty Shades of Gray or I'd call it my "Fifty Shades of Gray" quilt! 

This is actually not on my design wall but my design desk top but I'm linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday (for the first time) and also to Quilting by the River Linky Tuesday. 

Sitting on It

Backing fabric and perle #8 quilting threads have arrived. I don't have a table large enough to pin a quilt easily so I have to sit on the floor and on top of the quilt to pin. And since I don't have air conditioning (really!) and since it's been over 90 degrees lately and since I'm going to be hand quilting this one and have it on my lap -  I think I will be "sitting on it" for quite some time. My goal is to have it completed by September 1.