One done, five to go . . .

What? It is February already? Well, I have a good excuse. We traveled in January. In AZ, rainy weather greened up the desert and ruined golfing, so my dear hubby took me for a shop hop. Could not buy more than a few fat quarters (suitcase full already) but did get a few patterns and lots of inspiration, plus great conversations with shop owners and customers. The best one? The Quilter's Oasis in Mesa. I'd have been happy with any yardage in the store. Wonderful fabrics, exquisite quality and just yummy. Next time I will take an extra empty suitcase!

Then we went to SC to spend a week with our daughter and son-in-law. The weather was crappy but the fun made up for it. We ate, shopped, toured, and made three 1000 piece puzzles in three days -- hard ones. Now we are experts. Laughed much and just enjoyed being together.

My daughter had a love poster on a door and another one outside on a hanging rod -- to celebrate Valentines Day and February. So I came home and made this in one afternoon. It is in our dining room window so everyone who goes by can see it. Our daughter is a sweetie, a wonderful hostess and very thoughtful. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Now I am working on a larger project. It is for a refugee couple who arrive in Canada soon with their children and the grandmother. All will get a quilt, so this is the beginning one. I've made only four blocks thus far. A dear friend from our bee group offered to make one of the other quilts, so that might mean all five will be finished before their plane lands. 

Sorry for no posts this past while. We have been buried in to-do lists since getting home. I'll try harder, if I'm not sewing like a mad woman.

Longarm Ruler and Two on the go...

 I had (note past tense) a great batch of old-fashioned flowery scraps, small flowers, not the greatest to go with anything. However, I decided to use them up. I made as many HST as I could in the following sizes (finished) 2" - 3" - 4" - 6" making 8 at a time if possible. I wound up with a large pile. The leftovers were cut into squares in the same sizes, and the narrow pieces became piano keys. The design wall became a puzzle board and starting with a square, I built a design that balanced, at least most of it, and used up all that pile! Some will be on the back because the backing fabric (also flowers) is a tad short. The leftovers filled that space. It turned out about 70" square and is ready for the longarm. Those who have seen it, love it. Even hubby. Yikes, this feels good. Photo soon. 

Also, Jessica's quilt is on the longarm and I cannot show it yet --- it is a gift. We plan on delivering it in a couple weeks.

However, I'm doing some in the ditch quilting and thought I should put you on to a ruler that makes this incredibly easy. Best ruler I have for many uses. I got it from Judy Madson. LINK HERE and it is on sale right now. IF you longarm and avoid ditch work, this will change your mind! It has a nifty handle and great markings. See the photo.

 

This 'squirrel' is not a squirrel at all!

Quilters have a name for a project that strikes our fancy and turns us away from everything we are working on. These "I must make this now" projects are "squirrels" - or various other names. I've been working on this one, which is not squirrels at all but five fine Dachshund dogs that used up a few of my scraps.

I did buy the background fabric after doing the design in EQ8, which told me I needed about a yard more then it really needed -- so it wasn't a scrap-buster because my stash became larger! Oh well, who is complaining. This light tan is just a joy to work with.

So are the pups! Fun to sew and put together. The head and tail sections are foundation paper-pieced and the middles are easy -- just had to find a bunch of scraps in each color range, cut the all the same size (2.5 x 5.5) and sew them together. A good test for my ability to do accurate 1/4" seams. Only the red and purple sets were a tad different, one slightly shorter and the other longer. An easy fix. I'll be putting a border all around to finish this top. Also found a pantograph of paw prints... no kidding. It will be used for the background. I'll stitch in the ditch around the dogs and haven't decided what to do with the rest. I do have eyes for these lovely mutts so will put them on before quilting it.

And I also found a backing fabric, brown and densely patterned with paw prints. How fun is that. At least if i botch up the quilting, it will not be noticed on the back. 😀

Just finish another top also, a panel for Basically Babies. I used the paw prints panto to quilt it, mainly to see if it was difficult. Not too much, so am more confident to put it in the Dachshund quilt on a plain background... still a bit scary though. No picture yet. Still have to put on the binding.

Hope everyone is well. Found out yesterday from the local newspaper that scientist have discovered that 30 minutes in the sun is 90% effective to destroy the Covid-19 virus. So less sewing and more gardening!

More red slab quilts and one finish!

From a small box of red scraps I made this quilt which looks far better than the photo. My hubby claimed it as soon as he saw it. Now am working on this one (below) and will make another one also, all from that box of red scraps. The three of them are lap size or larger (or will be) for big laps!

The blue sashing is not my choice. A friend convinced me to try it. I've never been a fan of red/blue together, but it does have a certain appeal. Besides, it is from the stash and I am not buying more fabric! The left two verticals are sewn, with the third ready to attach and the fourth just hanging there looking messy. I am thinking of a 5" piano key boarder with leftover reds (they multiply in the dark when no one is looking). There is enough of them, plus a bit of blue to accent or put in the corners.

The third quilt has a brown/red print ready to cut up for sashing. 

Making these slab quilts is easy and fun. I'll quilt them with a panto and they will likely go to QoV Canada.

Scott's king size quilt is done, but no photo yet. We are taking it to our church where we can hang it from a beam and get back far enough to take a picture. It will be quite a production needing two ladders, at least two men, lots of clamps and patience on my part!

All of a Sudden

Please tell me I'm not the only one who this happens to... I was nicely making one quilt at a time but something happened to my good intentions. 

• I finished Nativity 2 (it has a better title) and was 1/2 to 3/4 done drafting the pattern with lots of people asking for it.

• I'd also started and finished a one-block wonder but was not happy and designed to jazz it up with a dangling zentangle design, so gathered a pile of stuff to do that with while we were on holidays.


• And while we were on holidays, a woman bought "Only in My Dreams" from my Etsy page. Then in the next few days, a couple people asked for the pattern... and I thought that would not take long so started working on it, which of course involved making another one so I was sure the pattern worked and was easy to follow.


• In the meantime, I had some ugly fabric that I wanted to make a utility quilt with, and cut it out, sewed the smaller parts together and have this stack ready to sew together -- hiding somewhere in my sewing room. It will make 11" blocks and I've enough for a good-sized couch quilt.

 
 

• At the start of the year, I decided to do the 'pick 12' thing, so numbered that many projects and told my hubby to pick a number at the end of each month. Yikes, he was so sick in January and into February that we nearly lost him. (He lost nearly 20 lbs) Weak and wobbly, he still picked a number, which turned out to be one of those "only an idea in my head" projects, along with some blackish fabric. I decided to make place mats. How hard can that be? But the idea included skylines, so after a bit of searching, I found enough good ones to make a set of place mats. So far, they are mostly dormant on my computer, but this looks like fun...

But I need to finish that Cascading Blossoms pattern, and the pattern for the nativity scene. Dangling Zentangles are calling my tame, but the ugly fabric even looks good at times... All of a sudden, I need to clone (or kick) myself.