February's UFO is completed

The Dogs in Sweaters quilt is bound and has found it's new home.

Henry is thrilled with it.

Jenn put it on his "big boy" bed and it fits nicely. 

Henry posed for some pictures with his quilt and wanted to make sure he was next to his two favorite dogs on the quilt.... Piper the TC airport dog..abd the green sweatered dog near the bottom. That's the Henry dog. All the dogs have names...guess it meets with his approval.

Not sure how much other quilting will be happening these next 3 weeks. Al and I are off to Florida to do some relaxing and soaking up the sun. I'll take a little EPP with me for rainy days. Mainly i think I'll do some fabric shopping. 

BOW TIE BLOCK Tutorial

I've been posting on my blog and on Instagram about this Bow Tie quilt that I'm doing...it's my current "leader & enders" project.

I usually have one of these going so that i can easily chain stitch whatever other quilt I'm working on. Last year I made a HST quilt from scraps...this year bow ties. This is also my Rainbow Scrap Challege project...I try to cut up a bunch of scraps into these blocks according to the color of the month.

As I was browsing through IG pictures, I found a bow tie quilt that @vickifreeman12 had done...absolutely gorgeous!

She used slightly smaller bow ties...i wanted something that would use up my 5" charms and scraps of about that size without being TOO small. 

I came up with a 3" block...

These are scraps cut to size to be used as i need leaders and enders.

Since I've had a few people asking about this quilt, i thought i would do a quick tutorial...

For each Bow Tie:

Cut (2) background and (2) bow color 2" squares. Cut (2) 1-1/2" bow color squares.

Place a 1-1/2" color on the corner of a 2" backround. Stitch corner to corner.

Trim outside seam to 1/4".

Repeat with the other 1-1/2" color square. Press to the color.

Place these with the 2" color square as shown below to form a 4 patch.

Sew 2 together then the other two like below...press to the color so your seams "lock".

 Sew the last seam and press. I press this final seam open.

 When you have 9, or 16 or 25 (depends how large you want each block) sew them together ...all facing the same way.

Rotate the direction of each large block to form the design below. 

I may or may not do a border...we'll see. I love Vickis but I'm not sure I'll feel like doing that much work.

I sure hope the quilt i end up with is as pretty as hers. 

With this CONTINUING scrap project, I'll be linking up with all the other ladies sorting and sewing their scraps at OH SCRAP.

 And this quilt is a finish...binding on. Henry picked navy with stars...good choice Henry!

On a roll...

 It's quilted!! I'm so glad to be done with the quilting on this one. Theres a few days left before we head out of town, so enough time to cut and bind this one.

The binding decision is up to Jenn since it'll be in her house. I kind of like this small plaid but she really wanted red or blue. Maybe she has something in her stash.

Today Al is sick...a cold I hope, not the FLU. Good thing about that is I'm getting plenty done. My neice-in-law is expecting a girl in May so my sister-in-law is throwing her a shower. Today i had put together a couple of "prizes". When i searched on Pinterest I found the cutest ideas...dont you just love that site? So the idea I copied was a basket full of bathroom shower items with a tag that says "From my shower to yours". Cute, huh?

February is purple scraps month at Angelas blog... Rainbow Scrap Challenge...

I was able to dig up a few scraps and make them into blocks. This is just about the end of my purple.

I'm feeling pretty good about getting my stitching done and projects completed this year. January's and February's UFOs just need binding... Scraps have been made into blocks and my bow tie scrap blocks are more than half made. Yay!

Scrap quilting

Sixteen blocks are done on the scrappy bow tie quilt. I just finished cutting a bunch of purple scraps for more bow ties. 

Purple is the scrappy color for February. I don't have much purple left after making a whole quilt top with my purple scraps last year. I've cut up what was left.

The UFO of the month is #1 (below). It's Elizabeth Hartman's Dogs in Sweaters quilt.

I'm making progress on it. The dog quilt is pinned and I've started quilting it. Today, after I scrub a couple of bathrooms, I'll be sitting down to finish this up. I'm setting a deadline for myself...by the end of the week I want this quilt completely finished. 

My daughter picked out the backing for it...a very neutral and masculine tan flannel. 

Do you prewash your flannel backing? At one time I prewashed EVERYTHING. Then I would read that it was no longer necessary so I stopped. But flannel is different. One backing piece I bought shrunk 3" per yard. On a normal 4 or 5 yard length that's a 12-15" loss! Well on this piece I planned accordingly and bought an extra 1/2 yard. What I didn't plan on was it shrinking in width. It went from 44/45" wide to 39/40"wide... That's 5" less width and with a seam stitched down the middle, I lost 10"! On this quilt that wasn't a problem but on some I do, that wouldn't have worked. I thought I was being very careful in purchasing the fabric...buying extra...watching out for flannels that would bleed...buying a better quality one (not that cheap one that goes on sale for $3 a yd at big fabric place). Just thought I'd give all of you a heads up... Buy EXTRA flannel for backings.

So then the binding...it might be a plaid...maybe one of the red ones. As usual, I think I'll wait until the top is quilted to make that decision.

Linking up with patchworktimes, ohscrap and Angelas rsc18.

UFO #10 is done

And January's UFO is finished (www.patchworktimes.com)...except for binding but I'm saving that to do on the drive to Florida.

Here's a couple of closeups...

This is the applique center that I made before sending this off to a bunch of internet quilter friends. It became my favorite Round Robin quilt. 

And on this edge...see the cactus I FMQ into the brown?... a special detail for All southwest quilt.