It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

 Well, the season is upon us! 

There is lots of white stuff here, 

and the cold has descended!  

The cards are almost done. 

 I have been sending quilts off to significant 

friends of the family when they are having a baby.  

We haven't been able to go to lots of weddings

or even have a lot of gatherings . So I send off

a queen sized bed quilt with a matching baby quilt. If they 

have a wedding quilt from me, I make a 

baby quilt in the same pattern. 

Here are a few of the pairs I've made. 

These two beauties I pulled out to work on

 during 2 Christmas guild meetings.

I managed to make the top longer instead of 

wider during one of the sew days, 

so some readjusting was necessary. 

These will be off for a couple who didn't

 get a quilt from me but got 

one I helped her mother complete. 

I absolutely love this pattern. 

It was inspired by  a Pinterest post 

It is a half string block. Endless

possibilities and variations. This is my 

third time trying to make one for

my own bed!  Babies and weddings 

win out and I just have to spread the quilty love!

Linking up with:

Design Wall Friday

Oh Scrap

RSC 2021

Design Wall Monday

Monday Makers

To Do Tuesday

Wednesday Wait Loss!

Graduated Back to Back

 Busy days here. 

It seems to happen to me whenever

 I make a list. Lots to do, or 

actually lots I want to get done!

First off , the grad quilt is almost ready 

to ship! It is reversible, 

that is right, it is completely 

reversible! This is only the 

second reversible quilt I've made. 

The first was a Sunshine and 

Shadows. It was gifted for 

a sixteenth birthday and he 

is now 35!!

My block stash of diagonal 

color squares is much smaller now.

Something to work on during the

long sun-free days ahead!

Now this grad quilt! Wanting a quick back , I 

pulled out a partial top of 

Christmas squares and added 

borders to bring it up to size!

The back even got mitered corners!

It worked nicely although not quite 

as quick or large as I thought!

Then I layered one night and 

saw large squirrel ( 2 backs!) ,

so I layered the Block Chain 

top and Floating Bali square tops too!

Soo  the next day, I quilted up the grad 

quilt with a medium grey 

thread using a big echoing wave pattern.

I video called a friend and we

 had a wonderful time stitching and chatting!

Then I needed lots of binding!

The quilt measures 80 x 87.

Hmm since there are two different 

quilts so two different bindings!

I cut blue and brown strips for one side

 and the same silver border fabric for the other. 

Uneven widths (1 1/8" ,1 7/8")

stitched together, press in half, 

 sew on skinny -  side down and Voila!

 2 color binding!

 I had the label prepared in advance and I am quite

proud of it. " One goal achieved! 

Now on to the Next Adventure!".

I always try to put an inspirational 

label on quilts for special occasions. 

The binding turned out well.  

I used to zigzag my quilted prior 

to trimming , but have found that 

straight stitching uses less thread

and lays flatter. If a few threads 

get trimmed during squaring up, 

it's no problem. So here it is!

Front side, all string squares, 

finishing at 8"

Kind of a reverse L shape

 running thru the quilt.

Here is the back side. 

Christmas/seasonal blocks 

with alternating squares and 3 borders.

The silver binding on the back really 

blends well.

To make the week even busier , 

we have a new to us car!  Does anyone 

else dislike car shopping!  The more 

we shopped the grumpier we got!

We got the car and it even has 

heated seats !  Yay!

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

TGIFF

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

 RSC 2021

Wednesday Wait Loss

Midweek Makers

Put Your Foot Down

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Stitch , Sew and Show!

Finished or Not Friday!

TGIFF

Stay warm and Toasty!

 Cold outside but 

nice and toasty inside! 

Great day for sewing up 

this grad quilt!  

The top is finished and I spent the 

whole day sewing up a 

Christmas backing to make 

the quilt reversible! It looks 

great but I may lose one of the 

borders when it is together. 

The center portion was complete in 

the quilt closet so the 

back was not too difficult to complete. 

Also working on a couple 

clean up projects.  I have 

a huge mound of 1/2 squares 

to be sewn up. I should use 

them as stop and goes but 

they are really  picking my biscuit.

There will always be more 

half squares to join, so no fear

of running out!

Newton got our Christmas

tree, so we had to reinstall 

with more supports, looks 

great now! 

This tree was a foundling.  Squirrels 

and birds deposited seeds in my 

friend's front flower bed and the 

trees sprouted up and got too 

big to transplant!  She offered 

a tree to us and we got to 

harvest our own tree and 

clean up her yard at the same time!

 More cookies to 

bake tho, I like to gift some 

to the neighbors in early December.

My tree gifter will get a bag too!

Now off to clear up my workspace

and layer the grad quilt!

Linking up with : 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Makers 

To Do Tuesday!

Wednesday Wait Loss

Patchwork & Quilts

Midweek Makers

Grad quilt - One monthly goal

 We do this to ourselves. 

I suddenly feel the need to make 

a grad quilt for my nephew and 

would love it done before 

the holidays!

Argh!  I have some blocks in 

the block bank .

A long end of month  day of 

stitching, I finished 19 more to make 

enough blocks for the top to be 80 x 80.

 It still is just a bit too small

for a queen sized bed !

Do I add another round of blocks 

or do a border !  Maybe a black patterned fabric!

The blue blocks were the recent addition. 

What a decision!

Wish me luck . This is definitely a 

big goal for this month!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

OMG

Affirmation really motivates!

 

Woow!  Great week and 

another great one coming up! 

Open house for one of the off spring.

 They now have a  beautiful and 

modern home. There is even a 

loft sewing area! Yes I managed to 

convert my DIL and now she is a quilter.

Reconnecting with extended family, 

and I have grad quilt to make!

Since next year projects included working 

on my block bank, a grad quilt started 

coming  together this week using these piles 

of string squares!

A quick count of clips showed the 

distribution. My block bank has

the waiting squares clipped into 

sets of 10 so counting is always quick.

 

The inventory lead to the pattern and Voila!

The reverse L shape for this 

quilt was born.  

It looks a bit 

busy deconstructed. Once sewn 

it should come together nicely. 

The outside blue row was a late 

addition for size and a lone 

grey needs to be replaced with a 

black block, but it is ready for joining! 

This week's To Do list 

and last weeks completions!! :

                    1. quilt small pink coin -Done

                    2. Add borders to the scrap lozenge quilt - 

                         Hatchet  Now a flimsy!

                    3. Organize 1/2 square projects Getting there!

                    4. Drop 1 to long armer Done!

                                 

                    5. Bind two! Done!

                    6. Create grad quilt In progress

                    7.  Plan tic tac toe quilts (project for new year)

The focus for this week will be on 

the grad quilt. If it leaves soon it 

should arrive before year end. 

After hearing my nephew say, 

" I miss your quilts!" I have lots of motivation!

If that wasn't enough, I got a 

beautiful picture of a wedding quilt.

Designed by Kathy Hamada in

Quilt Sampler S & S 2014.

So wonderful to see our gifts in use!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with : 

Monday Makers

To Do Tuesday

Design Wall Monday

Patchwork and Quilting!

Wednesday Wait Loss

Put Your Foot Down!

Off The Wall Friday

Finished or Not Friday

Midweek Makers

UFO Busting

Peacock Party

And over the finish line!

 Wow, what a great sew day!

I had some finishes lined up, 

supplies ready and bobbins wound.

Chores completed yesterday so 

the whole day was set aside for

stitching!  

First up were finishes on 2 quilteds. 

 

Berries and Cream got a lovely creamy 

print binding . Inspire by a designed by Cheryl Filby 

in Australian Patchwork & Quilting.  

I used one of the 20" x  20" 

 25 squared on the back so 

it could almost be reversible!

I also tried the quilt ball /rolly thing for 

a photo. I think it looks like a cinnamon knot.

It is not destined 

for a home yet but I am sure 

the little gift gnome in my 

brain will find a place for it!

Next up is the double batted 

Pink Coin. I put a saturated pink 

binding on it and it really pops!

This inspired me to start thinking

about doing up some more lap 

sized coins in colors for the RSC 

challenge next year. Imagine 

the stack I could have to gift next 

December !!

Didn't get this pesky orange block done.

 

If I do it up , 

the process would be set and 

I can make other colors stress free. 

I think this will be a carryover for 

next year's RSC also. 

Is there time for big strings 

work ? Always.  I use this basket 

for zoom meeting work and it is 

really fun for ready to sew anytime.

 

The last snow day precipitated 

(see what I did there ?!?)

  a pile of crumbs borders

so those got all trimmed too!

The triangle block bin was 

pulled out for in between , stop and go 

sewing.  I really have trouble remembering

to slid in a triangle set but I will keep working on

it. I managed to get about 10 half squares

put together but it is a process. 

A bit into Monday and 

borders got mitered and another flimsy 

was born!  

These borders will 

be scalloped after the top is quilted up. 

A very productive weekend!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

Monday Makers

To do Tuesday 

Patchwork and Quilts!

Wednesday Wait Loss!

Off the Wall Friday!

TGIFF

Oh Scrap!

One Monthly Goal!