First quilt finish this year

This is the first finish of 2023!

 I wanted to get one of two "great niece " quilts finished. The top was made last year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I did 4 sets last year. One set I gave away, 2 are tops and one is still just blocks. 

Basting was pretty quick on this one, but finding batting wasn't.  I had to piece together a few smaller white scraps. The only whole batts were cream and those showed through the white background. 

I'm using my favorite pinning tool, which I heard isn't being made any longer. It's called the Kwik Klip. If you'd like one, maybe try Ebay or Etsy? 

So, it took 2 days to quilt the top...I had to work a bit at a time. It's really hard on my shoulders lately (must be getting old).

The backing is a purple and aqua print that my granson, Charlie,  thought Evelyn would like. Her favorite color is purple but I couldn't find a matching purple fabric for binding so I used this aqua gingham. It's cut on the bias, just to look cuter. 

And that's a finish! Evelyn's quilt is done...time to baste her sister's quilt.

 

Another block plus basting a rainbow quilt

Block 3 made. Since I'm starting a new quilt, I'm quilting a previous one.

Today I basted one of my Rainbow scrap challenge quilts. This one will be for my great niece,  Evelyn. I used a purple & blue backing because according to my grandson Charlie, Evie likes purple the best. 

 

I'll be doing two rainbow quilts...two sisters. I'm going to start FMQing this tomorrow so that I have time to add binding... done by Friday? We'll see.

Starting a Family Room Quilt

Here I go again.  Starting a new quilt 😆 My daughter Jenn came over and sorted through my HUGE pile of fabrics I dumped in the family room. I was struggling to choose fabrics that coordinated. She said I had too many so she narrowed them down these.

This is her picks on the floor. I like what she chose...they look perfect. 

I guess paying for that fine arts degree paid off.

The last few days I've gone through a bunch of patterns trying to decide what kind of quilt I wanted. I was thinking something simple. Also, I wanted stars. 

So here's what I picked...an Ohio Star block. These will be the main part of the quilt...20 blocks,  I think. The sashing might be dark or it might be scrappy...flying geese or 1/2 square triangles?..I'll figure that out later. There's even a possibility that I'll skip sashing and just alternate dark and light stars. Still deciding...

So right now, I'm putting the third block together. I'm using a pattern I found in a vintage magazine. It's easy cutting and so far fast sewing. 

 

My SEWJO is back

I finished a top! This is super thrilling for me since lately I just haven't felt like sewing.  I lost my SEWJO in January and just couldn't get it back.

Well, this past weekend we met up with family.  I met a niece for the first time and her two adorable little girls. I have tops made for the little ones but just haven't had the ambition to quilt them. But now I do! 

First I figured I'd get this top off the floor and onto the "to be quilted" pile.

I woke up early, started doing laundry and then decided to go down to the sewing room and, at least, finish the friendship stars...maybe add them to the header and footer.

I did that and forced myself to finish...put it all together. There really wasnt that much to do!

So it's done! It's a top. And I think I have my sewjo back because, as I was having a cup of coffee, staring at my new ottoman, I decided I need a new quilt for this room.

I have mostly blue, gray and white in the upstairs. I needed some warmth so last fall I ordered a new "coffee table". Actually, I found this cute leather ottoman and a tray to serve as a coffee table we can put our feet on. The leather picks up the warm tones in the rug and in my fish picture. 

Now I need a quilt that matches better. I pulled out my Autumn/Halloween quilt for now. But I'm thinking gray beige, blue, and a bit of orange/rust might be nice.

So I guess I back😁 Time to get working on more quilts!

Quilting in 2023

 It's 2023, the year to get my tops quilted! 

I've decided to join @allpeoplequilt on Instagram doing a monthly UFO challenge.  We picked 12 UFOs and number them 1 to 12. All People Quilt will pick a number each month...that's the project to work on and HOPEFULLY finish it.

This is my list. Two of my projects aren't quilts, just sewing that needs to be done. I have an ottoman in the basement family room that has seen it's best days. It needs to be reupholstered desperately. I've had the fabric to do it for over a year. Maybe doing this challenge will be the push I need to do it.

I also put recovering two living pillows as a UFO. This is an easy thing to do but I just keep putting it off. 

So for January APQ picked #3. That's this one,  my gray star quilt.  

The quilting has been started but I stopped when I got really frustrated. I wanted it machine and hand quilted. We'll, as I finished up a section of hand work, I thought I'd put in a bit of fancy free-motion quilting. I did feathers in four corners. But, I used too light of a thread and it looked TERRIBLE. I knew I'd never be happy with how it looked so decided to remove all those stitches.  It took FOREVER and that's when I shelved it. It's ready to be worked on again I just need motivation. 😩  Maybe I should start with some hand quilting.