Henrys little quilt

This is Henrys I-spy quilt. There wasnt enough of any of the fabrics for backing so I made a huge 9 patch out of leftovers and a mint gingham check. He ended up loving the back...especially since it had his favorite Paw Pals.

Three finishes

Getting back to quilting has been a challenge lately for a few reasons...1. I'm back to using a kitchen table as a sewing room :(
2. We are still trying to landscape and build (my sewing room/den) so there's so much to do.... my time is limited 3. It's canning season and I REALLY want some great canned veggies and sauces this winter 3. I have a PILE of UFOs that need to be finished before I embark on new projects.


Working in the kitchen has lots of drawbacks as many of you know...cleaning up before every meal so we can eat there (here's where the snack bar comes in handy!) The lighting is not that good. It's great for a nice romantic dinner but for 60 year old eyes to see on black fabric? NO. And then there's Al who likes to sit at the table to do bills or read mail or check his phone or snack... Just PUSH that fabric and sewing stuff to the side OR NOT and get pen marks, blueberry stains, grease and whatever on my fabric and supplies.. YUP, not an ideal place to quilt.


But I'm making it work and finishing up a few projects. I quilted the quilt for Lisa's friend...the purple one I posted a bit ago...not counting this as my finish.

I made and completed a quilt for Henry...this wasn't a UFO but I really wanted him to have a digger quilt (an I-SPY digger quilt!)
Then there's the Maple Leaf quilt from the 80's that I finished up for my brothers...for their up north cabin.

Finally I finished up a UFO Halloween quilt made from blocks I won. Feels like I'm getting somewhere! Just wait till that sewing room gets done...I'll be on FIRE :)

Back to Blogging and UFOs

Blogging has taken a backseat to home building the last two years but now that we are in the house I'm ready to quilt, bake and blog.
Right now it's canning season here in northern Michigan so I'm canning tomato sauce, jalapeno relish and peach salsa.
I'm also working on quilts that were started years ago but never finished. Today I'm quilting a Halloween quilt...the blocks were won in a contest through Hearts to Holly Quilt Shop. I won 11 blocks so made one more. Then using leftovers of black, white and a spider print gray, I finished off the top.
It was a bit of a challenge to get a dozen 12x12 blocks made by many different ladies, to work together. Some blocks were a bit small and one was a whole 1/2" smaller!

TIP: Easiest way to fix uneven blocks.... add a 3" border on all the blocks then press and trim each to a uniform size.

I then just sashed the new larger blocks with black fabric...and bordered the whole thing.
I'm pretty happy with the results and VERY happy that this year I will have a Halloween quilt to decorate with!

Quilting a few quilts

This is a cute lap quilt that a new quilter put together. She wanted it quilted with just an all over meandering stitch so I said I would do it for her.
She really did a nice job on stitching the top..nice and flat.

The never ending cycle....

The Farmer's Wife blocks are finished...yeah! So now I have loads of 30's repro scraps. Well, I just can't throw them away so I thought I'd use them up by making another quilt. I cut tons of them up into 2-1/2" squares and started this:

Well, making the white units means getting a bunch of little HST units as leftovers.

So. I stitched these together and pressed them open. They were just a little larger than 1-1/2" so I trimmed them down square and thought....if I put these together I would get a cute block.

So I put 36 of them together ....made a 6-1/2" block...which is Farmers Wife size. What can I do with one farmers wife block....maybe I'm gonna have to make a bunch more for a small quilt....but then..........

SEE where I'm going with this!,

An ENDLESS cycle!

Eenie meenie miney mo

I'm still playing with the setting of my blocks but at least they're all made. Took a ride to my daughters house and she came up with the two designs here. She said out of these two she would pick the second. I lean towards the first. Al says of the two he likes the first best....BUT since we paid for the art degree daughter had, I should probably listen to her.  Hmmmmm....

Wonder if I should just toss a coin. Remind me never to make log cabin blocks again...to many decisions.....

Found a new little quilt shop

Al and I went up to Suttons Bay today to shop and found a new shop had opened this year....my favorite kind of store, a quilt shop called Cherry Country Quilts! I met the owner and her husband...both very nice people. She has a nice variety of fabrics...some 30's reproductions,some batiks, a nice assortment of modern fabrics, some Kaffe and some civil war. I bought some of the Kaffe for a border on my Kaffe log cabin. I have 28 more blocks to make and then I'll start the borders.

One more setting....hmmm...think I like it

I made a few more blocks last night and came up with a winner, I think. Taking everyone's opinion into consideration, I decided to do the barn raising setting (setting one from the previous post)...well, I started laying it out wrong...lights to the middle instead of darks....and that took me here. I like it. Thanks ladies...you all always help! Now to make about 45 more blocks:)

UFOs getting finished

It's been a while since I've blogged but I'm back!

Al and I are settling into our new and FINAL house.

He's currently working to finish landscaping and grass before we get into cold weather. He's also starting my SEWING ROOM!!! YEAH!

By winter I should have a nice place to quilt.

So right now when I'm not busy helping him, I'm working on UFOs...un finished objects. 

Here's the first and the oldest UFO...started in the 80s!

This will go to my three brothers for the up north cabin.

Working on setting my Farmer's Wife blocks

I laid out what I have so far and decided that I need at least two more rows long and wide. With those added I'll be at 72" square. It will probably need two additional rows after that to get the length I need for a twin. It would then be 72" x 88"...a decent size. I don't really want to add borders to it. Trying to give it an vintage look.

All of the blocks will have a Snow White border around them. I add oversized scraps of the white...

Then using one of my favorite rulers...log cabin trim tool:

I center the ruler over my block and trim around it...getting a perfect 8-1/2" block.

There's a great 6" marking line on this ruler making it perfect for these...also a nice tool for log cabin blocks. I did a demo for this ruler a couple of years ago. Had to own one after I saw how easy it was to use. It comes in 8" and 12" size. I'm planning on buying the 12" next.

Doing lots of chain stitching today too. This is the quickest way to get the setting blocks made....and I have LOADS to make yet.

Farmer's Wife settings

Today I'm working on settings for Farmers Wife. I am giving a settings class in Febuary at Hearts to Holly and will be showing a few different settings. One will be a popular way I've seen online... One block straight, next on point. These blocks pictured below will be set that way.