324 Down; 1724 To Go

I have 324  - 2 inch HSTs. 

I need 2048 to make Garden Mosaic (aka Totally Demented)

Gayle of Mangofeet challenged me and Sally of The Objects of Design to make what she calls a Totally Demented quilt.  I find it interesting that we have all approached the making of the quilt in different ways.   I'm going to make all the HSTs first, then the four patch units and then the blocks.  So far I have made HSTs out of the 2 inch scrap pieces I had in a bin.  Now I have to cut some 2 inch strips from scrap chunks. 

Update on the HST count will occur next month around this time.  Hopefully the count will more than double. Time will tell. 

And, yes, I enjoy the lost art of addition with scrap paper and pencil! 

It's a Finish! Snowball's Chance

Snowball's Chance

58 x 78

I used a 2014 Block Lotto block called Spokes to make the "Snowflakes". I had a variety of snowflake themed scraps left over from making my daughter a nine patch/snowball quilt years ago.  I also had a variety of different gray solid pieces left over from a few other quilts. I thought they might look like a cloudy sky background for snowflakes. 

I first quilted it on my DSM with a serpentine stitch in white (snow) at various intervals. I then hand quilted a few lines in white perle #8.  I left a tie each time I left off with a thread in the lines.  I also hand quilted and tied each snowflake. 

I thought the ties kind of looked like snow.   I also had a few spots in the machine quilting where there were skipped stitches. I'm not sure if that was my machine or me (I tend to think me) so at those spots I hand quilted in some snowflakes so the places where the skipped stitches were would not snag. 

I hand quilted in circles around the snowball. No marks...just eyeballed it. 

I pieced together some batting. 

I had enough of some light green snowflake fabric in my stash to use. 

The binding is scrappy -  made of snowflake fabric scraps. 

And the label says: 

"A Snowball's Chance

Despite the odds I believe some snowballs could survive a trip through hell. 

I believe in miracles too."

This will be a gift for someone who needs to know that miracles do happen. 

This was my goal #9

for

Q2 Finish-Along

It's a Finish! Star Chain

Star Chain

56 x 70

It's a Finish! 

This time of year I do a little machine quilting and take a break from that to do a little gardening and then take a break from that to do a little machine quilting and...(you get the picture). 

 I think half of these 14 inch blocks were 2014 Block Lotto winnings.  I made the other half. 

I quilted it on my DSM with horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. I'm not going to say "straight lines" because a lot of them are definitely not straight. 

I pieced together leftover batting, used fabric from stash for backing and made a scrappy green binding from scraps in the chunky scrap crate. 

This is in my donation/gift stash now waiting for the perfect recipient. 

This was my goal #8

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

It's a Finish! Fall Festival

Fall Festival

Celebrating the joy that comes from jumping into a big pile of colorful leaves. 

60 x 75

It's a finish! 

(Pardon the blurry photos. I was dodging raindrops and trying to hurry.)

It all started a few years ago with a six inch Chunky Churn Dash swap with a fall theme. 

You can also kind of see my free motion machine quilting on my DSM in this photo. I quilted tree branches with leaves horizontally across the quilt. 

I assembled four Chunky Churn Dashes, some Flying Geese and a 3 inch Nine Patch into a 15 inch block and when I ran out of Chunky Churns I substituted some framed four patches in a couple of blocks. 

Some alternate patterns emerged when the blocks were assembled into a top like four Chunky Churns bordered by Flying Geese with 9 Patch cornerstones or even some simple four patches. 

 Here you can see a little more of the leafy tree branch quilting. I used a scrappy binding. 

The backing was a soft flannel sheet from the thrift store. I had to let the seams out a little bit in order for it to be big enough.   I pieced together leftover batting for use in this quilt. 

This will go into the donation/gift stash which is very low at the moment. When the time is right it will go to a new owner. 

This was my goal #10 

for 

Q2 Finish-Along

I participated in four Chunky Churn swaps in order to challenge myself to make quilts with different layouts.  This was quilt number 3. The first two follow. 

CCD #1 -  The patriotic themed Chunky Churns were combined with snowballs and orphan blocks in a patriotic theme. It was a Quilt of Valor for my brother-in-law. 

CCD #2 - Chunky Churns in 30s fabrics. I combined them with another old swap - calico spools and actually made a border which is unusual for me.

I have one more to go - floral Chunky Churns. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Pink 3.5 Inch Scrap Edition

 Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  Now that my granddaughters are growing up and their favorite color is no longer pink I don't use pink fabrics much so that means I have very few pink scraps to use.   But I did manage a few six inch bow tie blocks from the 3.5 inch scrap bin and...

...a few 3 inch Snowballs with dark corners.  Last year I made them with light corners. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Scrap Miscellany

 Boyish Themed Six Inch Hearts

from my 3.5 inch scrap bin

The spouse of one of our Sunshine Online Quilt Guild members recently passed away. It has been customary to send heart blocks to any member that loses a loved one.  Kathy requested six inch boyish themed hearts. She will make kids' quilts with the blocks in her husband's memory. 

I used the six inch heart tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew

Four six inch May Block Lotto blocks (Rail Variation) from the 2.5 inch scrap bin. 

More Salsa Dancing

Salsa Dancing

Blocks 5-8

18 inch blocks

Anna Maria Horner Spinning Stars free pattern

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for May is to finish 12 more Salsa blocks. Then I will have the total of 20 I need for a top 72 x 90.