WIP Wednesday 5.31.2017

On Memorial Day, I dug into one of my bags of rwb fabric. I make quilts using 2.5 inch strips and I knew that I have quite a few leftovers.  When I watched the Missouri Star tutorial for 'Make a Baby Block' quilt--I thought the center would be a great place for my *leftovers*. Link here for the you tube tutorial.

I have four centers made and three blocks ready to assemble. The one in the upper left is all together. It finishes at a whopping 32 inches square!

(sorry for the wonky picture-I'm on a new computer and not familiar with the photo editing yet...)

Linking up with:

Alycia at Alycia Quilts: QOV Wednesday

What I'm Working On...

First up:

I sashed and bordered the scrappy stars.

This quilt used quite a few of the little bits of pink and grey from the stash. Each star used one 4.5 inch strip of background and one 5 inch strip of color. What I did on the color was that I cut a 4.5 inch square for the center and then cut the remaining 5 inch strip into 2-2.5 inch strip. I then was able to make the star and only have a little bit of the star color for the scrap pile. I'm really happy with this result. I decided to not add cornerstones this time around (smiley face)

This technique is definitely a great addition to my quilting tool box - Thanks to Bev for sharing.

Maybe I'll start referring to these stars as 'Bev Stars'



Second up:

Labels-















trying something new.  Larger fabric surrounded by the white. We'll be writing on the white- I'll let you know if its a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Linking up today with:

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts - Design Wall Monday

and

Cynthia of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework - Oh Scrap!

credit: google image search...

Three for Happy Chemo

This year as part of the Helping Hands quilt challenge I am donating three quilts to Happy Chemo.

The Bella Wave Quilt in purples.


pattern info:

Belle Wave found here

panto info:

Curly Hearts












This is Donation Quilt I


This quilt is a Chinese Coin done with flower prints.

pattern info: Chinese Coins - public domain

panto info: free motion on long arm

This is Donation Quilt J







This quilt is simply a panel with a partial checkerboard border.


pattern info: found here

panto info: free motion on my Elna

This is Donation Quilt K. This one has been hanging around awhile. Time to let go and let someone love it.  (smily face)



Today is the last day to link up to show your

Hands to Help Quilts

with

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Hands to Helps Linky Party found here. (I actually missed this linky since I worked today - sad face - but these three quilts are on their way to Emily at happy Chemo - happy face)

I'm going to link up with:

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Whoop! Whoop!

and

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

WIP Wednesday 5.24.2017

Today I worked on two projects.

First up:

I quilted down the next grad quilt.

pattern info:  Four Patch Posie

panto info: plumage

Second up:

More stars! This time with grey background and pink stars...

I think I will take out the dark grey background one and place dark grey as sashing. I think I want to search for a pink/grey for an outer border...

I'm feeling Eiffel Tower fabric, maybe?!

Design Wall Monday 5.22.2017

Last Thursday at my Helping Hands Sewing Bee, a fellow member schoolhoused how to use templates to make star blocks. This is a new-to-me technique so I was anxious to learn it! Our *cost* to attend the workshop was to donated four Quilt of Valor stars. At the meeting, I made one so I *owe* three at our next meeting. I also checked out some fabric from the charity bin to make stars for a Helping Hands quilt.

Here are my stars.

The top two rows are *Helping Hands* and the bottom row is *Quilt of Valor*.


Linking up with:

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun the Housework-Oh Scrap!

A Sneak Peek - WIP Wednesday 5.17.2017

DD asked me to make a few graduation quilts for her friend groups.

Here is a sneak peek of the quilts.

Grad quilt A has been pieced and quilted.









It's waiting for the binding to be sewn back and labeled.

panto info: Halcyon, one source here.

Grad quilt B has been pieced and quilted.









It's waiting for binding to be applied, sewn back and labeled.

panto info: Plumage, one source here.

Whoop! Whoop! 5.13.2017

I finished the John Deere tractor quilt this week.  Well ahead of the deadline of this upcoming Thursday at the Guild meeting.

pattern info:

I simply added oversize frames to the square -that were varying sizes - and cut them to the same size. I also added a few John Deere fabric to bring the quilt to crib size.

panto info: Hot Rod

or here where it shows up better even though sideways!


A little too close for comfort on the batting when I was quilting it!






This is Donation Quilt H.



Linking up with:

Sarah at Confessions of Fabric Addict

More Plaid

Ever have a light bulb moment?!

I had one a few weeks ago when the Charity girls mentioned that we are going to have a program where the member do the Jelly Roll Race as teams with prizes...

The Charity bin has lots of 2.5 inch strips and one of the girls suggested we sew the strips together, measure and have the strips ready just to sew!  Brilliant!

I went home, dug out more plaids that were from the Lewisville Texas Land O' Lakes Quilt guild --yes they came with me 10 years ago to Wisconsin! I had washed them and they were a mess.  So I spent some time ironing the pieces and cutting the 2.5 inch strips.

I sewed the ends together as Denise had suggested. My strips were all sorts of lengths so I sewed and sewed and then measured to the 1,600 inches. That was approximately 40 minutes to do.

I was them curious how long it took to sew it into a top. Out came my phone to use as a stopwatch. It seems I very rarely use my phone as a phone any more. (smiling face) My sew time clock in just over an hour and 15 minutes.

I quilted it with the Plumage panto.

Somehow I did not end up with a picture of the finished quilt.
(sad face)

This is Donation Quilt G and so very happy that Denise helped me to figure out a way to use all the odd ball pieces of plaid!

A Plaid Phase

I blogged about the Tumbler quilt that I checked out of the Guild Charity selection, here.

This is the picture I found of the finished quilt.

This is Donation
Quilt F.

pattern credit:  Tumbler


I quilted it with the plumage panto. I thought it needed lots of texture to give it more interest.



Making a tumbler quilt was on my Bucket List so I was glad to piece it and see how I liked it.

I'm thinking about making another with my collection of Bluebonnet fabric that I brought when I lived in Texas - about 10 years ago!

Design Wall Monday 5.8.2017

Here is the latest quilt. This is for the Guild Panel Challenge. I had purchased a John Deere soft book panel and merely cut it apart. Sewed some frames around and add a little border. I also added a few tractor print to bring it to size.

A cute quilt for a baby...perfect for rural Wisconsin.

April 2017 Happenings

After I finished the scrapbooks, DD enlisted me to make him a few bags to organize his belongings in his new motorcycle side bags.

This was a labor of love - for both of us!


This is the group I ended up making for him. I pulled out the old jeans, cut them up and quilted them in a quilt as you go style. It really was free form and the dimensions of the various bags were -well- varied. I cut and sewed and he made
adjustments as we went.  These took about a week to prepare.
I got a little wiser towards the end of this bag project and use cotton fabric on the ends to reduce bulk - and make the sewing easier. (happy face)

He is on a 'Quest' to visit all 50 states before his is 30 years old - he was 27 on his last birthday. Once this trip is completed - he will have visited 49/50 states with just Hawaii left! This portion of his 'Quest' also has him visiting 50 National Parks in at least 25 states as part of the 100 Year/ Iron Butt Tour National Park Services.

This actually the first bag that didn't make the cut!

March 2017 Happenings

In March, I concentrated on preparing scrapbooks for a few of the Milwaukee Admirals players. This year our guys were Justin Florek, Justin Kirkland and Kevin Fiala. The banquet was held int he beginning of April and I forgot to take picture of the Justins' books.  (sad face)

Kevin Fiala was playing for the Nashville Predators at the time of the banquet so his book sat around the house for a little bit until I shipped it off the Nashville.

He is a native of Switzerland. Did you guess by the scrapbook cover? - lol. (happy face)

I also quilted up a floral UFO and made a matching pillowcase. I donated this combination to our Church's Woman's Retreat as a door prize that was held in the middle of March. I haven't heard 'who' won this quilt but I hope she is enjoying it. (happy face)

This is Donation Quilt E.

Pattern credit:

no pattern - just winged it.

panto credit: trailing vine - but no picture
(sad face)

Once Again...Where Have I Been?

No good answer here except not blogging...unfortunately...

I'll start with my most recent finish since it is a companion to this quilt, blogged about here, labeled Donation Quilt A.

I had a little bit of the fabric panel leftover so I cut a few squares, added a few frames and a whole lot of background and ta-da: a modern take on a donation quilt.

It will be Donation Quilt D as part of a challenge my guild is sponsoring. In January 2017, a member showcased her quilts using panels and challenge the members to make a quilt either using panels or big blocks of fabrics.

Pattern credit:

I just winged it...not real pattern.







Panto credit:

Plumage