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.

Sunday Morning Sewing

The dogs in sweaters quilt is a top!! I'm adding some large borders to the top and bottom because we need more length for Henry's bed. The sides will get a minimal 2" border...it seems plenty wide. 

I finished up a few more of the #rainbowscrapchallenge2018 blocks. I have 11 done...each block is 96 pieces so over 1000 pieces so far!

Once I've added the borders to Henry's dog quilt I'll start quilting Al's southwest quilt. That's the UFO of the month and we both want it done!

Dogs in Sweaters almost a top :)

I'm on a roll now. I had a great day today... Over half the day spent in my sewing room so I was able to finish ALL the dog blocks. Yay! 

I started putting sashing on and rows together. I stopped for a coffee break with my sweetie...

After coffee I have to run to JoAnns to pick up some Heat n Bond so that I can add eyeglasses to one of the dogs. One will have eyeglasses and one has goggles. Plus I need to add an American flag to the sweater of the dog with goggles. After that I can continue putting rows together. 

I also had a chance to make some scrappy blocks for the #rainbowscrapchallenge ... I've stitched up 54 of these blocks. I think 10 more will be enough for a cute quilt. I'd like to finish this one up this year along with the Bow Ties and the Scrap Jar Stars from last year.

My version of Piper

Here's my version of Traverse City's Airport dog, Piper. I made reflective (shinny knit) snow goggles with pleather trim. 

Eleven dogs finished, 4 to go.

Early morning stitching

Today I was at the sewing machine before dawn trying to get a bit done on two projects before heading to work. 

I made a few scrappy bow tie blocks... So now I'm up to seven 12" blocks. 

After work I pieced a few more dogs. Ten are done, 5 to go. They're getting done pretty quickly now. Maybe next week I'll be sashing these...fingers crossed.

Seven doggies done

Seven done, 8 to go! Almost halfway on this project. One of the dogs will have goggles, instead of eye glasses. We have a dog here in Traverse City that worked at the airport. He died recently of cancer. My grandson was very upset about it... He just loves working dogs. So anyways, the airport dog wore goggles as he worked and I'm going to try to replicate them on one of these guys. The dog was named Piper... Here's a pic of him: 

I found a reflective fabric, a knit, that I hope will work. He had a few pairs of these, one with black trim.... That will be the ones I'll copy since black will look better than yellow in this quilt. 

Bow Ties and Doggies

Ive been making LOTS of scrappy bow tie blocks and started putting them together into 16 patches. These are the first 4 16 patch blocks. Im going to keep this very scrappy, whatever leftovers are around are going to be added to this quilt. The background fabric is muslin... I have quite a few yards of it leftover from a project and thought it would add that vintage touch. Linking up to OH SCRAP... See the link button on the side of my blog.

So this is my main project this month...I want to get Henry's dogs in sweaters quilt finished up before we head south. Im cutting all the block pieces at once, then doing all the paper pieced parts and then I'll put the blocks together. The pattern doesn't have paper piecing instruction, it's just something I did on my computer using EQ7. It makes it much easier for me to assemble them this way instead of cutting tiny little squares and sewing point to point. Much more exact and easier on my eyes. 

I just came back from downstate and am glad to be back in my sewing room fooling around. The trip back was SCARY! The weather was so treacherous. We've  had quite a few storms here in Michigan this winter. I'll be glad for spring.

Scrappy blue bow ties and dogs in sweaters

I wasnt going to make a new quilt....really....but I just couldn't resist these bow ties. I saw a quilt on Instagram that I just fell in love with. It was all bow ties plus a pretty border. I may not do the border but the scrappy bow ties are calling my name. SO, as my scrap challenge quilt this year, I'm doing these... along with finishing up two I started last year.

I made a bunch of the blue blocks since that's January's color of the month. Then because these are so much fun, I made a ton more in all kinds of colors. I've done 60 or more blocks the past week and am now putting some together into 16 patches. This is going to be a fun old-fashioned quilt. 

So these dogs.... they're a pain in the ... well, they have about 50 pieces per block and some are so tiny I have to get out my special glasses to make sure they're on correctly. But, as much as I complain, I do love them. They are turning out so darn cute. I have 4 made now and will need 15 total. The next 11 Im doing all at once.... I'm making all the feet, all the ears, all the sweaters, etc for all of them, then I'll put all of them together at once.

And my third project that Im working on is quilting my husbands quilt, which is the UFO of the month. I'm hoping that by the end of the month Ill have two of these projects completed. Yeah, right. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

It's a brand new year ...time for resolutions and fresh starts. I'm having an unusual January 1st... I don't have any resolutions and nothing I'd like to change in my life right now. I accomplished much of what I set out to change in 2017 and am pretty happy wiih life.
Al and I are comfortably living in our "last house"...if you know me, you know there's no such thing. The kids are happily married... we have a grandson and another is on the way. We both have fulfilling hobbies. And we both work VERY part time... as we feel like it.
I guess at 60 (something), I've learned to be happy, relaxed and just enjoy my friends and family. You just never know when it's all going to end so I want to just ENJOY. I hope all of you have a wonderful year, finding peace and contentment.

So on to my UFOs and scrap usage... I'm joining Patchwork Times again this year with my list of 12 UFOs that I'd like to complete in 2018. For January we are working on UFO number 10. This was also on last years list but I didn't have batting for it so it didn't get worked on. This is Al's southwest quilt and is quite large. I decided that for me to be able to quilt it, I would have to find a batting that is super thin. What I found was a king sized flannel sheet that is preshrunk and will do the job... I HOPE. Al is anxious for the one to be done.

As far as stash and scraps go, I'm doing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again with Angela on www.soscrappy.blogspot.com. This month's color is light blue.. probably my favorite color. I'll be making more of the same ones I was working on last year. I finished one of the three rainbow scrap quilts i had started so I'll work on completing the other two. I'll also be trying to make quilts and complete quilts using only stash. Im not sure that's completely possible but that's the plan. I will be starting one new scrap quilt as I follow along with OH SCRAP.  It will be a Courthouse Steps quilt done in low volume and brights ... unless I decide to do a log cabin quilt... still considering.

And in keeping with a stress free year, I'll be donating any fabrics, blocks, quilt tops and/or quilts that don't make me happy. I gave a few away last year and I don't miss them in the slightest. It's a relief to let it go and it makes a fun "find" for someone else. I gave family members 6+ quilts. I have a few more people on my list that I'd like to give one to... and a few friends that have asked. I also give the pediatric dept at the hospital some for children that have to stay overnight and are scared.. they get quilts and teddy bears to comfort them. Knowing someone will enjoy and use my quilts makes my hobby enjoyable.

So off to the sewing room :)