My Allie's Hourglass quilt top

A few days ago I thought I was finished with this quilt top but I didn't feel like it was large enough. 

I've added a row in length and then put a border all the way around using the little 9 patches. 

This quilt is now 75x66.

The scrap bin is now 1/2 empty so that's a win! I made this quilt almost entirely from stash and scraps.. Except for the white + print.

Now, staying with the theme "use up my stash", I have two backing possibilities...yellow dot or mini print. 

Which do you think looks best?

On to another project

It has been raining since 7am and it hasn't let up...probably won't stop at all today if the weather app is correct. SO, it's a sew day. Al and I had plans to build the second window well on the new house...aww shucks...guess I'm stuck in the sewing room today. (Can't you just FEEL my disappointment?)
So here's todays project...

While making my Sister's Quilt, I made a pile of "leaders & enders".

My scrap bin is huge and almost overflowing...it was time to slice and dice.

 I cut a bunch of strips then subcut into triangle pairs... More than 200 of them. Some scraps were so small that I could only cut 

very tiny strips or squares. Those I made into little 9-patches. Some of the scraps were beautiful little feedsacks or pretty leftovers from other quilts. 

I paired up a bunch of the half square trianges and made hourglass blocks. To make the hourglass blocks pop a little, I surrounded them with this cute plus sign fabric. 

Then I dug around in my solids and found a blue that felt somewhat "vintage"...perfect backdrop for my feedsack scraps.

So today I'm putting everything together. 

This quilt will become a pattern. I'm calling it Allie's Hourglass. 

And here's my finished Sister's Quilt. The binding is on and the quilt is in the mail, on the way to my sister.

I chose the small green and white stripe for binding. She has a green sunroom and is planning on using it there. Perfect, I think!

Sister's quilt

 The last few weeks I've been working on sorting out my WIP and UFOs. This will soon join the FINISHES!

I'm so glad I added the border...it feels big enough and the border just adds a nice finish. 

Yesterday I quilted it. Now to decide on binding and get it finished.

Tackling another UFO

             
UFOs.....WIPs...whatever you want to call them, I have a LOT!
I keep saying I need to get them done before starting a new project but it doesn't seem to happen. So I'm just going to do my best and finish up COMPLETELY each one as I come across it in my sewing closet.

This one is SO old! I won floral "happy" blocks YEARS ago through Block Central's quilt forum...this was way before Instagram and back when Facebook was mostly teenagers.

I gave the blocks to my sister because she liked them and I had way too many projects going. She stitched them together and then it sat. She decided to give it back to me to quilt knowin she'd never FMQ it.

When I pulled it out a week ago, it seemed too small so I figured I'd add a 8" border all the way around then quilt it.

I searched for large florals in my stash but didn't have anything that would work to I drew up this Tulip block. I made one then decided it took too much time to do 32 of them..so an alternate block would be needed. That was easy...sawtooth. Sawtooth is one of my favorites and it sort of looks like grass.

I cut a bunch of HSTs and chain stitched them...that was quick!

So far I have two borders on and am making flowers for the third. With any luck, it'll be ready for basting this weekend.

Charlevoix quilt is quilted

All quilted!

This is my "Charlevoix quilt"...all the fabric is from Minick & Simpson's Charlevoix line, which just happened to be where I was living when they designed it.

Before we moved into the temporary rental where we now live, I started to free-motion quilt it...then ran out of time. We've been in the rental for 6 months now and I just came across it. Luckily I packed the top thread (a soft white) and the bottom thread (a medium gray), into a baggie and pinned it to the quilt.

What I forgot to do, is pack up the 1/2 yard of binding that was purchased to match. I've spent HOURS looking in boxes for that piece. So, binding will have to wait until the boxes are unloaded in the new house...and that could be another 5 or 6 months!

I'm searching websites in the meantime, so if anyone knows of any Charlevoix fabric in peach or light blue for sale, let me know. I'd really love to have only that line on the whole quilt.

This pattern is my own design...I drew up 3 versions and had everyone on Instagram vote on they're favorite setting. They chose this one.

Farmer's Wife Quilt

 I don't know about you but I sew in spurts...I'll barely sew anything for a month or two and all of a sudden I'm going gangbusters. That's where I'm at now. This top was started long time ago... maybe 2012 or 13. It got worked on from time to time. The main blocks we done as I taught a class...quickly.

But then I slowed down. The Irish Chain blocks weren't as intetesting.

I changed my mind three times about what size to make it. Finally i decided 99 blocks would make a nice sized bed quilt.

I'll be giving this to my daughter and she has a queen sized bed...it needed to fit that.

These blocks were from The Farmers Wife. There were over a 100 6" blocks in the book and I made all of them. Some I made twice. I taught the class twice so I ended up with quite a pile. 

These are the first 50. There will be probably two more quilts to use up all the blocks. I kind of dread making 49 Irish Chain blocks again so maybe I'll find another alternate block. There are over 2100 pieces in this quilt. It's good to have the top done. 

Now to decide on how to quilt it.

Charlie's I-Spy quilt is DONE!

I'm happy to say I finished a quilt..Yay!

I am linking to Oh Scrap (use the button on the right side). These i-spy quilts are a great way to use up scraps of novelty fabrics and to reuse cotton shirts that are still pretty but maybe stained or have rips. I get more than a FQ out of most shirt backs and the backs are almost always free of stains and damage.

So where have I been? What have I been up to?

Al and I have been very busy with designing and building our new house so finding time to quilt isn't easy. I design the house and draw the blueprints so most of my work is done...for now. The last few days we've been waiting for the basement guys to pour the walls so I had a chance to sew.

My eyes are not that good anymore so I saved stitching down the binding for when we were traveling or sitting waiting for workers to show up. The light is SO much better outside, sitting in the truck.

I finished the last stitch on the binding today as we took a Sunday drive to visit my dad.

Henry helped to pick out the I-spy blocks for his brother. There are bad guys, pirates and trucks. ...Lots of treats like peppermints, bomb pops and cupcakes... And a ship in a bottle that he insisted on, so thats on the back. It was too large for the front.

A few of these cute little characters were recieved during an Instagram swap. Thank yous to those of you who contributed to Charlie's quilt. #quiltyfriendsarethebest

#getyourquiltywishesgrantedsummeredition

This is my third and probably final I-spy. 

Want to make one?

The blocks are 6" finish (6-1/2" before sewn into a top). 

1. Center (spy pieces) are cut 2-1/2" square 

2. Cut two shirting pieces cut 2-1/2" sq attached to each side of spy piece. 

3. Now cut two shirting strips 2-1/2 x 6-1/2" and attach to each long side. 

Very simple block and a good way to use pretty cotton shirt scraps. 

2019 Finish Along -projects

I joined the #2019finishalong.  My list of UFOs in extremely long so I just picked out a few

 projects I'd like to work on and finish up. This one below was my #1 "get done NOW" project and I finished it just in time. My husband, my daughter  and her two sons went with me downstate to see my nephew and his 8 month old daughter. I wanted to give them this quilt so I spent a few days getting it done. 

I posted these on Instagram before the posting deadline but wanted a record here too. These are the ones that need to be worked on. 

The scrap jar stars will become a donation quilt and the EPP stars is for my daughter Lisa. The rest I just enjoy working on.... My list of ufos needs to decrease. 

My pile of scraps is overwhelming also so I'm also joining SoScrappy for the monthly scrap challenge. I'll make at least 3 more scrap jar star blocks to complete that quilt and however many blicks the UnNamed quilt needs. 

Wish me luck...I'm going to need it to get everything I want and need, accomplished. 

We are starting a new house. The design/blueprints are my job. We have tree cutting and surveying to do in the next few weeks then we head to Florida. When we get back we'll start digging the basement so the plans need to be finished NOW. Sure am glad I'm retired and don't have deadlines any more...yeahhhh...lol.

I'm hooked on Kale chips

It's that time of year... time to watch what I eat. There are so many yummy food as part of the holidays... Christmas cookies...pumpkin pie...whipped cream...cocktails...chocolates...cheesecake... And I want to enjoy those without regret. Soooo....I'm trying to find healthy snacks and meals for in between. 

These work! They're like eating salty thin potato chips but GOOD for you.

And they're really easy. 

Get some kale...make sure it's dry...cut off all the thick parts (those never get crispy) ...save the cutoffs for veggie soup.

Preheat your oven to 250°F 

Toss the leaves with oil...I use safflower...just a drizzle but use your hands to get it on every leaf. 

Lay them out on a cookie sheet...sprinkle with sea salt (or reg salt)

Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Eat them as a snack or sprinkle on soup or salads...YUM!

What am I quilting? Well, I'm packing up the sewing room for the move so barely any sewing going on. When I get a few minutes, I have been FMQ my Charlevoix quilt. I plan to baste2 baby quilts in the next few days...these are Christmas presents...lol...yeah, I know...good luck with that. 

It's slow going...and gets even slower when I find pretty UFOs.

It's bound and on the bed!

I marked this quilt off as "finished", quite a while ago but it really wasn't TOTALLY done until last night.

The binding was attached but not stitched down. Usually I hand stitch down my binding. I don't know why I feel they have to be this way...But this quilt is SO big and SO heavy, I just didn't want to do it. So it sat in my sewing room closet almost a year! Last night I decided it needed to be done. 

Since it's my hubbies quilt, it will probably need washing more often than my regular quilts... (This is me talking myself into something)..  So if it's going to be washed often it should have a machine stitched binding. I could get that done pretty fast...and I did. 

Done is better than not done, right?

This was 9 years in the making...you can search back to see the beginnings ..

starting a round robin

More progress on the Vintage Quilt

I've been working on this quilt a bit. Every day I spend a little time cutting or sewing on it. But today it needs to get it packed up for our move. After we'rein the apartment or house...whatever temporary place we find...I'll pull it out to play with again. In the meantime I have two quilts that need to be done for Christmas, a house to pack, our basement to finish trimming out and painting..well, the list goes on and on. It's going to be a very busy six weeks!

 This is the picture from a Fons & Porter magazine that I'm copying. I just love it. 

 And below is one of the blocks I stitched up when I shouldn't have been sewing.... Put a row on backwards...fixed it easily enough but that was the third mistake of the day so I quit. Too much on my mind.

We have to be out of our house by Christmas Eve! I need to get packing!!!!!