“Working Dogs in the Green”

We’ve had record breaking rainfall this year and our autumn looked like spring! Hence the title for this quilt. I made this as a donation quilt for the silent auction for our state’s sheepdog finals which was held this past weekend. I’m pleased to say that it was a big hit and I received many compliments and it did well in the auction. Good thing - my dog works left much to be desired!😏😏 But that’s Sheep Dog trialing!!

Simple FMQ - crosshatching, laurel leaves, bunting for the blocks and vining leaves in the border.

Meet the dogs that keep me hopping, inspire me to be better and bring me pleasure!

Dan, Claire, Finn and Bess

Sajou!

Happy Friday everyone!! Hope this finds each of you doing well!

Lori over at Humble Quilts hosted another one of her soooooo much fun SAL/QAL and today is the beginning of the linky party!! I have already taken a peek at the ones posted and they are absolutely fabulous!! Such creative quilters out there and oh my the diversity and oh so gorgeous fabrics!!

Lori mentioned that, though she was using French General fabrics for this French  inspired SAL, that maybe she should have used cheddar and blue! Bingo! I had used most of my French general fabrics for other projects....but several years ago I had purchased a FQ bundle of cheddar and indigo by Penny Rose Fabrics. What a perfect time to cut into them!!

Blessings and hugs!!

The Mega Quilt

I call it the mega quilt, but really it is such a beautiful vintage style double irish chain two color quilt! More than a year ago, a friend (April) of Mandie (DD2) asked Mandie if she would make a quilt for her (April). Mandie said “sure and I’m sure mom will quilt it for you”! I couldn’t refuse for our sweet April, but I was surprised when I discovered that the quilt was to be more of a bedspread for a king size bed! Approximate dimensions - 134 inches square! Hence the mega quilt!! But I was committed to the task! Mandie pieced the top and then delivered it and the backing fabric to me earlier this year. I was working on the boy quilts and had planned to tackle it soon after finishing them. But what a daunting task! Quilt the large masterpiece on my DSM! How was I to handle all that bulk!! And with my shoulder discomfort!! 

So I pondered on the matter for several weeks as I rehabbed/rested my shoulder. Then I had an ah ha moment! Quilt it in parts!! Sort of quilt as you go,  but how to make it not look like that!! Pondered some more. I studied the layout and determined that by quilting wreaths in the white squares and cross hatching the white patches, I could make it work. I disassembled the top into 3 sections of two rows and one section of 3 rows. I basted the first two rows with one width of backing fabric and a similar width of batting. The quilting from each section only had to match at the crosshatching on the white patch blocks. As I completed a section I would add the next similar to the first and quilt that section all the time keeping the bulk of the quilt on my left which kept a smaller amount of batted quilt going through the harp. (I FMQ on my DSM like I sew any other fabric).

Not the best photos, as it has been cloudy and rainy here for over a week,  but I did manage a drier afternoon, and I got a couple shots before I packaged it up shipping.

Isn’t this backing fabric just beautiful!! 💗💗💗

Hope this finds each of you filled with gratitude and joy!

Blessings and hugs!

A Couple Summer Finishes

Several years ago, a blogger friend from the Netherlands sent me some Dutch fabrics and I put together a little doll quilt top. Finally, I got it quilted this past summer and it now adorns the door to my sewing room. Not fancy quilting,  but I did have fun with the tulip border.

Our seventh grand was born April 4, 2018, and I finally finished his baby/ toddler quilt in August! Mandie’s nursery theme is woodland animals/ outdoorsy, so I decided to make a sampler of different quilt blocks that depict that theme. My focal fabric was a woodland scene and then I went through my stash and chose the solid fabrics to make the blocks - turkey tracks, flying geese, North Star, fox and geese, duck tracks, bear paw, pine tree, log cabin, birds in flight, darting birds, maple leaf, swallow, hovering birds, Big Dipper, and some patch blocks to finish up.

My oldest daughter had the perfect backing fabric in her stash, which she willingly let me use! And for the grands - their baby quilt is hand quilted!!

Hope this finds each of you well. 

Praying for all those affected by the adverse weather!

Blessings and hugs!

Aspiring Seamstress

During the summer, two of our granddaughters spent three days a week with us.  Gracen, our oldest, had been asking for months if I would teach her to sew, and I told her that I would teach her during the summer. So I fixed up the 1953 Singer Class 66 for her.

And she took right to it!! 

Her first project was a doll quilt for her cousins whose names all start with “E”. She chose the fabrics and cut the pieces and then I stitched them for her.

Her mom had a box of 4” and 5” blocks, so Gracen would select blocks and then stitch them together. I would pin them for her, and I marked the seam allowance on the plate of the sewing machine. 

She even machine quilted this little beauty all by herself. I marked the lines with masking tape and she stitched right smartly!

It was so fun to help her! Such a joy for Nene to share her love of fabric!

While we were sewing, Charlea, Gracen’s little sister, played with Cedric the guardian dog! 

Hope this finds each of you enjoying life!

Blessings and hugs!

Patriotic Quilts

Hello, hello!!

Since I was working on the boy quilts for most of the month of May, I didn’t do a thing for my girls for Mother’s Day! So I worked up some small patriotic quilts from a panel and FQ bundle I had purchased several years ago. It worked out just perfect - one for me and one for each of the girls!!

More next time about the sweet model in the above photo! 

Hope this finds each of you full of hope and gratitude!

Blessings and hugs!

Spring Recap - Quilts and Other Things!

Hello my friends! I really can’t believe it has been nearly 8 months since I posted!! Oh my oh my! This year has flown by! My grandmother always told me “The older you get the faster times goes!” And now that I am a grandmother I totally understand!!

On the quilty front, the first few months of the year I assisted a dear friend in making quilts for the Godly Impressions preschool graduating class. There were 14 students this year, and she was in need of some “boy” quilts. So between her stash and mine, I put together four for her. There were a couple of hitches that caused me some delays: 1) my friend donated the batting for the quilts and it was low loft poly - struggled with it as it doesn’t spray baste best very well!! And I do all my FMQ on my DSM! But I perservered and finished! ( But I won’t ever use that type of batting again!!) 😳😳😳 And 2) Some time in March I injured my shoulder, not enough to go to the doctor, but enough that I had to rest it from several activities! i.e. quilting, even hand work irritated the injury, saddling my horse, lifting items above my head etc. Such a bother!! I’m glad to say I’m almost 100% now! 

Here are the boy quilts I made! They measure approximately 55” x 65”. 

Hope this finds each of you immersed in the things that fulfill you! I know I am sooooo grateful for my blessed life!!

Blessings and hugs!

This and That

It’s been cool, misty, cloudy and windy the past couple of days, so it has been an opportunity for me to stitch some. Right now I’m taking a short break from piecing a baby quilt top, and thought I would update my activities. Last post I mentioned a flimsy that coordinated with the embroidered bird block that I stitched into a pillow. Here it is! It is a full size bed quilt and I named it Nene’s Flower Garden. Over several years I collected FQs and small yardages of flower prints, but just couldn’t decide what I wanted to make. Last year I was sorting through my boxes of quilting stuff and found the embroidered blocks I had purchased on eBay several years ago. So the blocks and the fabrics sat out where I could “ imagaine” how they could go together. I must say, I like it a lot. Simple and traditional, just my style!

A month or so ago our oldest daughter was rearranging here storage and no longer needed these storage bins. They measure 17” x 13” x 10”, and I thought they would be great in which to store my flimsys. I set them out in my sewing room to remind myself that I need to do some FMQ and not so much piecing for the next few years!! 

There are fourteen flimsys stored here plus a couple of backings I already have pieced! And this isn’t all of my flimsys!! 😳😳😳😳😳 Oh well, I’ll get to them some time!!

Here is flimsy I finished a couple of years ago. It was a BOM called “Where Poppies Grow” published by Kansas City Star Quilts. It is a combination of piecing and hand appliqué. I’m thinking this is on my list to get quilted this year! I forgot how much I like it!!

Here is my current piecing project. A simple pink and gray baby girl quilt for a family friend. The baby is due on Sunday! Don’t think I’ll have it finished by then! LOL!  I am tickled pink, though, all of these squares came from my stash! I will purchase backing, but at least a little dent in the stash!

I also mentioned in my last post about my current leader/ender project. The randomness of this -

...was a bit overwhelming for me! So one evening I spent about three hours and now the triangle stack looks like this:

And this is how they are going together:

The four hourglass blocks pieced into a 4 1/4” (unfinished) block and since I don’t do “randomness” very well, I decided to piece by color and use light prints for setting squares! Another scrap/stash buster!

I also get my “Myrtle “ therapy most every day  and have stitched up some more log cabin blocks. I am stretching myself, as you can see, I have quite the variety of color  combos, from traditional coordinating brown tones, to way out wacko brights!!

Hope this finds each of you having a blessed day!!

A Couple Finishes & Some Other Stuff

Hope this finds each of you doing well! We’re just peachy keen here, except we could use some rain! It’s brown out there! I know it’s winter. But usually here in Texas we have green winter weeds! Praying for rain!

Now on to quilty things! I finished the little log cabin gift quilt!! Woohoo! Now just have to get it in the post!! Simple in the ditch quilting except for the brown corner blocks, I quilted my first pine cones! I love the fabric I found for the backing! Just a perfect mountain log cabin scene!

I even finished the leaded/ender for a little table topper!

I also got the little blue table topper bound! We traveled to one of our Grandson’s first birthday party so got some hand stitching time!

Here’s the grand! Can’t believe he is already one! Time sure does fly!

And here’s the little sweetie who is 18 months that we keep two days a week! She has Gramps wound around her sweet little finger!!

Now other quilty stuff!!

I finished this pillow awhile back. Again another vintage block I bought on eBay. It was the only. It’s one, so I though a pillow would work. It coordinates with a bed size flimsy I finished (which I’ll show in a later post). 

I’ve got another project started but won’t show it yet! It will be grand #7 little boy quilt! 

I needed a leader/ender project so....over the years I’ve saved every little left over triangle...

And they are becoming little hour glass blocks!

 

So...there’s been lots of Black Beauty, tea and me!!

I wanna make this quilt! Is this temptation or what!!