Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig!

Hubby has been discharged!  We are back in our Home Sweet Home once again and now we have a living room full of new stuff - oxygen machine with some really long tubing, oxygen tanks for when we leave home, nebulizer, walker, and a feeding pump/iv pole and new prescriptions. Hopefully within a few months all that stuff will be unnecessary except for the feeding tube/iv pole. Time will tell.

And what did I do for 12 hours a day in a hospital room? I  kept an eye on healthcare workers, read 2.5 books and did a LOT of BIG stich hand quilting. In fact I did so much hand quilting that I am now about ready to add binding. More on that later.  I did snack once in awhile on a diet of apples, bananas, granola, cheese, crackers, pretzels, Gatorade, iced tea and water. Must be a good diet for weight loss! 

And sew on...

 

FYI

I still have roses blooming in October in my cottage garden but don't have time to stop and smell the roses right now.  I called 911 this morning because my husband was very confused, had trouble breathing and had low o2 level and high heart rate.  The ambulance took him to ED and then he was admitted.   So don't worry about me if I go missing for a few days. I'll more than likely be at the hospital sitting next to hubby.  Prayers and positive thoughts and vibes are always welcome. And thank you.

Cathy

 

It's A Hand Quilted Finish! Smitten

Smitten

63 x 81

It's a finish!

And it's hand quilted!

And this one is for me!

Back in February of this year I was pondering what to do with a Castle Wall ufo. I had three super-sized  blocks made for a quilt I was calling Valentines at the Castle Wall. The oldest block, above, was made in 2014. I really wasn't sure I liked how all three blocks looked together and I really didn't want to make any more blocks but I really wanted to use those blocks so in February I turned the one ufo, Valentines at the Castle Wall, into three different quilt tops I named "Throwing Snowballs at the Castle Wall", "Hugs and Kisses at the Castle Wall" and "Smitten". 

Smitten was inspired by a c. 1890-1900 quilt. You can read more about that and the making of Smitten on my February blog post. 

I big stitch hand quilted it very simply with red perle cotton #12.   I stitched in the ditch around the Castle Wall block and around the heart in the middle. 

In most of the six inch patches I stitched around any whole hearts that were showing. 

In the three inch and one inch patches I stitched about 1/4 inch along the seam lines. I didn't mark anything...just eyeballed it. 

The binding was aqua solid to match some of the aqua patches on front as well as the roses on aqua backing. 

This quilt is full of a few of my favorite things - scraps, hearts and roses. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

A Couple More New Starts

Well, it started when Nann sent me a link to a Scrapbuster block. (I guess she thinks I need to bust some scraps or something.)    I guess since it is a scrapbuster block by Claudia I will call it Claudia for now.  Well, anyway, I took a glance at the block and decided to give it a try as a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) block.  I grabbed a few scraps and tried.  Ok. Looks pretty good. Claudia might be a good Scrapbuster and I have just the box of scraps for it.   One problem...unless I missed it Claudia gives instructions for pressing the seams in the blocks; however, when it comes time to put the blocks together into a top I don't think the seams will nest properly. 

I think for the seams to nest properly in the top the blocks would have to be set like above. And I'm okay with that layout too. BUT I think I figured out how to press the blocks now so they can be assembled into a top like Claudia's.   So, this is a new RSC start. 

And the reason I've started it is because I have a little box of 4 inch width pieces that have accumulated. Most of the scraps in that box have come from others. I usually have a block in the works for each size of scrap I normally generate. As I make scraps or receive scraps I try to process those scraps right away into those blocks in the works. 4 inch width scraps is not a size I usually deal with so I just set those aside in a box when scrap processing.  Now that I have a little box of that size scrap I know what to do with them and I now have a block in the works for 4 inch width scraps and the block works well for RSC. With each color of the month I can dig into the box and find that color to work with plus I can look in my bag of scraps sorted by color (mostly scrap chunks now) to see what could be used to make blocks.  Oh, and I also will hopefully be using up a little pile of pastel bits and pieces to make the blocks. I haven't decided yet if I will make a couple of child sized donation quilts or a larger twin sized donation quilt. More later...

Then I was inspired by this photo in the latest Connecting Threads catalog.  It is called Sunset Flight by Needle in a Hayes Stack.  

I grabbed a few scraps and gave the block a try. I think I will start making these blocks as another RSC project. Also you can't really tell from the photo but I think I have enough different pieces of light leafy greens to use for the background in these blocks.  I'll probably aim for 48 blocks and a twin sized donation quilt. 

And then I will also make the same block but in a light blue and black colorway. I have a little pile of fabrics in those colors waiting to be used up. I'll aim for a twin sized 48 blocks. Happy Blocks and Flying Geese = Happy Geese.  This one isn't a RSC block. It's just fun. 

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Name That Block

Do you know the name of this block? 

I spied a vintage quilt with the unusual block. I do love vintage quilts and I'm a bit unusual so I just had to see if I could figure out how to make the blocks for a quilt of my own.  I'm going to use plaids, dots, stripes, old shirts and '30s repros.  My sample blocks above finish at 12 inches. 

I first saw the vintage quilt above at Pinterest in a search for "vintage quilt". That lead me to the website Heirloomed Collection where I could see more pictures of the quilt. I think the blocks in the vintage quilt are larger than the ones I made and I think I switched the positioning of the darks and lights in my blocks but it's all good and now I have a new start without a name. 

And sew on...

 

It's A Finish! Heart of the Matter

Heart of the Matter

(sometimes I called it Heartfelt)

42 x 56

It's a finish!

These are what I call Slab Blocks. Some might call them Crumb Blocks. For me slab pieces are bigger than crumb pieces and slab pieces have mostly straight line sides whereas crumbs might take any shape.   

So I started making these blocks back in December 2021 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. I used red Heart Blocks as the center of the 14 inch Slab Blocks - the heart of the matter.   Earlier this year  when "Strings and Crumbs" was the theme in my sewing space I only needed 3 more blocks for a top so I made those and assembled the top. 

And now it is quilted - with swirls on my DSM - and it is bound with a striped print in a rainbow of colors and a few flowers. 

And the backing is a rainbow of color too.  And see the LOVE quilted in? 

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's A Top! Orphan Lester

It's a top! 

Orphan Lester

42 x 54

The September and October theme in my sewing space has been "Orphans". From time to time I am lucky enough to get a package of scraps from a few folks and once in awhile I receive orphan blocks too. I usually try and process the scraps immediately but put the orphan blocks away for another day.  Like hurricanes I've been giving the orphan block quilts names and I can't believe I am almost half way through the alphabet. 

This top consists of a lot of six inch blocks. I made Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) for the alternate block from some small chunks of different brown fabrics and a creamy neutral. 

I like this setting because sometimes you can see Economy Blocks or...

...sometimes you can see Ohio Stars. 

And sew on...