End of 2022

 The year is at a close. It seems like a good time to look at what I've accomplished and what I plan to do in 2023.

Plenty of tops were finished off, some of them started over 10 years ago. There's one final top that I'd like to add to the list and that's the #lonestarquilt I'm currently working on.

This top has been challenging. It was supposed to be a 9 patch lone star (9 lone star blocks sewn as a huge 9-patch). I made 4 blocks about 12 years ago then went to make a 5th block more recently. The fifth block ended up smaller. I'm not sure why. So rather than make 8 more stars of the smaller size (I just wanted this UFO done!), I decided to make it a 4-patch and use the odd block separately. The 4-patch idea worked well...love how it looks with the sashing and checkerboard cornerstones. What I didnt like was the size, 59 inches square. I prefer a more "usable" size. So then, with the help of IG friends, I came up with a header and footer to this quilt. 

The 5th #lonestar was split and added top and bottom. I made stars out of leftovers to flank the 1/2 star. Today I need to make 7 more friendship stars to finish this top. 

I'd LOVE to have it done in 2022!

So besides working on this top, I've finished up 2 more grandniece/nephew quilts:

Della's and Lewis's quilts were completed and sent to them. I still have more greatnieces to make quilts for and with any luck those will get completed this year. 

This #rainbowscrapchallengequilt will be going to a great neice. I've made quite a few rainbow quilts through the years. We start them in January (yes, I'll be doing it again this year) by sorting out scraps into color piles, boxes or baggies. Then each month a color is chosen and we make a block or two (or 10😂) out of that color. Do any block you want and as many as you want. 

The rainbow quilt above is from a few years ago. This past year I completed two rainbow tops, gave away one set of blocks and kept the final set to add to in 2023. 

These two #rainbowquilttops were completed and now need quilting.

So! For 2023, I'm going to concentrate on quilting tops. The pile of "to be quilted" is high....maybe 20 tops? It's a lot! I'd like to see how many can get completed this year. It may not be all.... Well, we know it wont be all...but 5 to 10 of them would be a good goal. And even that may be reaching because Al and I plan to sell our house and build next door😱. So I'm also designing a house, drawing the plans up, packing, moving into a rental, building (which includes us laying our own wood floor, painting, landscaping....)....well, you get it. It'll be a busy year! Sound like too much? Yup!😀 Let's see what the year brings🎉

Quilt tops everywhere!

 I'm working on quilt top number 19? I think. The stack of tops is huge...almost overwhelming. But my thought is, get the started quilts all made into tops then slowly quilt them next year. This current one is a #rainbowscrapchallenge quilt. I'm just finishing up a few blocks then I'll sew it together.

I make the block oversize then trim it to a perfect 8-1/2".

The strips are all scraps that were sorted into color piles earlier in the year. I didn't really have a plan with these but then I laid them out in rainbow order and loved it.

And now I want to add a border to each side. I thought a fringe looking border might be cute but as I look at the pictures I'm changing my mind. I may cut large half square triangle blocks instead. We'll see....

This is my pile of tops. Eighteen here...one more almost done. Three more partial tops on my sewing table. I think next year I'll be donating some quilts to the hospital. Plenty to go around! 😱😁

Aqua Dresden blocks

So another UFO will become a top. It's about halfway sewn. I'm keeping the 9 patch blocks but changed up the sashing color.

Im just glad to be getting this done. These blocks were started in 2011...I KNOW! So many old unfinished projects at my house😱 Well, this one was always in the back of my mind. I had loads of different ideas over the years of how to set the aqua blocks.

A few days ago I decided that it was prettiest with red. I had made the nine patches (nine 3-1/2" squares to make a 9-1/2" block )...my sister said keep them so I am.  But I'm glad I switched the sashing color. 

I love the dresdens and I feel like they're taking a backseat in this quilt...but I really dont want to start over-thinking this...otherwise this will end up back in the box for more years. 

One thing I'm happy I did was cut the back away from the dresdens...it cuts out some of the bulk. When it comes time to quilt it, it'll be much easier. I used papers from PaperPieces.com to make the dresdens. AND the papers were left in as I appliqued to make it easy to cut away the back without cutting the dresden flower. 

For the sashing, I cut white, red, dark blue, yellow and medium blue and tested them all out. The yellow and white were just too boring. The red and dark blue made the sashing jump out too much. The medium blue was perfect. So now I'm putting this together as a top.

After 11 years, it feels good to be working towards a finish. This will probably just get put on top of the QUILT TOPS pile but thats progress. Next year I can concentrate on quilting tops👍😁

 

Ocean Waves

Today I had a chance to work on two quilts. This #OceanWavesQuilt top is finished. I put the final rows on then dug around for a scrap of white for the border. The perfect piece was on I picked up at a thrift store not long ago. This was a really fun top to make. It used up quite a few pretty scraps and lots of different whites. 

The #rainbowscrapchallenge was the perfect excuse to try out the Ocean Wave pattern. And making it 7 blocks at a time (7 per month) made it painless. I think I'd like to make one more but this time in the traditional blue & white.

 So after finishing up that top, I spent a little time trying to decide on how to set these dresden blocks. They've been packed away for years and really need to be put into a quilt. I'm still not sure the above setting works for the aqua blocks. The red seems to strong and takes away from the dresdens. So I might not use them...anyone have any ideas or opinions? I only have 16 dresdens. I know I want them on point...just not sure what colors are the best to use with the aqua. My sister says keep it as it is. If I do and dont like the finished product, she'll be the new owner😂

September blocks

 

The color for September (for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge) is blue but since I had already made blue blocks, I decided I'd do brown. I know, I said I don't really care for brown but I needed one more color in this quilt. It was between gray, brown and black. Black seemed to intense and gray not strong enough so I did warm browns. 

I also made one more of green, orange and pink. That gave me enough blocks for a small quilt. I'm going to sew the blocks together now then give it a nice wide white border and then.. ? ...Maybe one more border after that of HSTs.... Or maybe just a bright binding. 

I also made one brown "Building Blocks" block and one in gray. I have a total of 10 of those. They're getting packed away until January. Next year I'll do 10 more, then set them on point for another rainbow quilt. I'm getting quite a collection of rainbow quilts. One is going to a great neice (one already did) and one is for me to keep. No idea what I'll do with the rest. They're just such bright and fun tops to make. 

Sewing on the road

Al and I are on our way to my brother's farm in the U.P. of Michigan. They called us to say they needed help with the harvest...which means they've canned all they are able to and would like us to haul tomatoes and other stuff back home. I usually can tomatoes into sauce each year because my husband (being Italian) requests spagetti about once a week. We go through a LOT of sauce!

So yesterday I dug through my 30's for scraps to for the tumbling blocks quilt so that I could work on it as we travel.

I have quite a few 30's reproductions and originals, that I've collected over 20 years or so. I'm trying to use up all the small pieces in this quilt. And if I need some color that isn't a scrap, I'm cutting one. 

Having these papers cut and pinned to fabric makes basting so much quicker. I prepped about 25 of these diamonds then grabbed a stack of scraps so that I'm not bored in the evening up there.

We are on the road, I'm sewing, he's driving...both of us doing what we love best!

 

September Sewing

The weather has been a little cooler and overcast, so I've been in the sewing room working on my four #rainbowscrapchallenge quilts.

This "Ocean Waves" quilt top is just about done. I'm sewing the last few rows on.

The Birds in the Air blocks are on the floor. I realized I need more of them for a decent quilt so I'm making a few extras. I'd like it at least large enough to use as a toddler quilt.

See those log cabin blocks on the wall? That's there to remind me to do a bit of work on it each day. It's a VERY old UFO and needs to be finished. The center was from a lone star quilt I started then changed my mind about. I like it much better in the center of these blocks. 

I haven't touched it yet this week...it's so hard to switch to dreary colors after playing with all these brights. 

But I'm planning on sewing some today...after I make a few more HST blocks.

The "Building Blocks", below, are going to be set on-point. I only made one each month so I think I'll put these away for the start of the next Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2023. I'd like to have 20 blocks so 10 this year, 10 next. Looks like I need to make a gray block before I pack it up.

Well, that's where I'm at right now. Still doing my hand quilting everyday (most days) and piecing the tumbling blocks EPP quilt top.

 

August orange blocks

This is the start of ORANGE blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've been running behind since getting sick in July. Last week I finished up the purple blocks and now I'm rushing to get orange ones done. 

 Summer has been super busy with good and bad things going on. But now that fall is on the horizon, it's"catch-up" time. Al and I are hoping to take a trip back up north to visit my brothers on the farm. They called to say the veggies are in ...lots of tomatoes for canning. Fall usually starts with canning tomatoes for pasta sauce and this year will be the same. Al loves his pasta dinners! I'd also like to can some apple pie filling and some Jalepeno relish. We're both watching our sugar consumption but a little treat here and there wont hurt (jam and relishes are included in the treat category). Al's sugar is too high and my inflammation was getting bad so that's the reason for the diet change. It's definitely helping. Well, that's it for now❤

Handquilting

So this has been worked on every day, 3 rows across. That takes me 1-1/2 hours. I know I won't be able to keep up this pace once the weather warms...I'll be working on the garden...but for now, while it's cool and rainy, I'm putting in as much time as I can.

I'm spacing my lines 1 inch apart because thats the easiest way to do the quilting. I'm sewing through the centers of the 9-patch blocks and using a hera marker to mark the other parts. I started using masking tape, but I didn't like sewing next to it. It's too stiff and I need the fabric to give a little as I stitch.

I've added to this quilt too. It's probably about 1/4 of the way completed. It's not going to be huge, maybe a lap quilt. That's all the sewing for now. I'm cutting up green scraps to get ready for the May #rainbowscrapchallenge blocks. I'll work on those next week, I hope.

April's projects

I'm doing the #rsc2022 this year to help me get my scraps under control. So far I've done RED, AQUA, YELLOW/GOLD, and this past month (April) was PINK. Im following along with Angela's blog and the #RainbowScrapChallenge ...she's on Instagram also I'm making FOUR of the RAINBOW SCRAP QUILTS... An ocean wave quilt, birds in the air, a quilt using scrap strips on a diagonal and a quilt using a "builders block". So those are done for April...not sure what color May will be yet. Since I finished up the 6-point star quilt, I needed a new hand quilting project. I picked this vintage style quilt. It's a copy of a quilt pictured in a magazine (no pattern was available). I used EQ to come up with one then used scraps of shirtings and pieces of old 80's and 90's fabrics along with some newer 1800 reproduction prints. It's on my quilting frame now. Hopefully I can stick to a schedule of three rows a day of quilting. I'd like to get this quilted in a month

English Paper Pieced Quilt

After more than 10 years, this English paper pieced quilt is finished! In 2014 I wrote a blog post about this quilt. At the time I figured I was 50% done (more like 30%). The post states that I had been working on this project for about 5 years. That means I started this in 2009...13 years ago! Wow! That's a long UFO!

The hand quilting was finished a few weeks ago and the binding was attached and sewn down this week. Now it's off to my daughter. She was promised this quilt as her wedding quilt (she was married about 6 years ago). Better late than never!

A finish!

The toddler I-Spy quilt I was making for my great-neice, Della, is finished. The one for her brother Lewis, was finished up a while ago so they are both being packed up and mailed. Della's quilt, like her brother's quilt, is made with shirting I-Spy blocks. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see a quick little block tutorial under my highlights. I'm @northerndebquilts

I used a bit brighter and lighter shirtings (and other fabrics) to surround her I-Spy, novelty centers. The I-Spy fabrics were animals, toys, household objects, bugs, book characters...etc. I tried to use at least two of the same type of item (like two different balls, two different bugs, etc) so that the quilt could be a learning tool also. How many balls can you find? How many animals or bugs? It should be fun! My hope is that it will be well used... dragged through the house, used for fort building, taken to the beach and on picnics, and tossed on the floor for tea parties and lego building. This is how we use my quilts at our house. Use them and use them up! I have VERY FEW "precious" quilts. But on that topic, here's one:

I guess I would classify this EPP quilt as precious, or an heirloom quilt. It was completely hand pieced, took 7 years to complete the top and then almost 3 months to hand quilt. I'm putting the binding on now. I used quite a few vintage fabrics in it...some are quite delicate. My daughter Lisa will be the owner of it when it's finished. She's a quilter and knows the value of this one. I'm sure it will be well cared for and passed down through the family in the future.

Besides finishing up the two quilts, I've been taking this #tumblingblocks quilt with me on car trips and dentist/doctor appointments. I'm making progress on it. It definitely wont take 7 years to complete like the 6-point star quilt did!