Friday, June 30, 2017

Scrappy progress!

 Well, I thought I had all these blocks done, except for one.  I could not find them all!  Now honestly...where could they have gone...seriously!!??  So, I cut out four new blocks...see the bright green paper plates?  This is a good idea, as I can stack them up by the sewing machine and keep all the pieces straight, and then reuse them over and over with other blocks pieces and parts.


And then??  I found the blocks!  So...this quilt will have 24 blocks, instead of 20.  A little longer, just right for a hospital bed.
This quilt is one that I just started cutting out, from little tiny pieces of wool and felt.  My wool and felt are in one little box, so it gets used together.  No pattern...just started cutting out flowers and this is what I came up with.  No plan to make this quilt either...it just happened.  I love having the time for that!   Great fun!!  No rules!   and I love that...




Have a great day, everyone!


Julie

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Circular Thnking!

 Alrightly, then!!  Here is my circle quilt, in all it's circular glory.  I still have three more circles to applique, and then I am calling it quits.  I loved making this quilt!!  Of course I still have to sew the blocks together, and then a border too.
I just have to have a heart circle block in there!

And some slightly off center circles, for those kind of days...

 Here are all the blocks stacked up after trimming.  It took about 3 and a half hours to trim them...wow!!!  Holey aching feet, Batman!

Some blocks are pieced circles...and many have favorite fabric scraps from my deep stash.  LOL!  Just musing here...MOST of my stash is just scraps!!  Which is perfect for this kind of project...I love my scraps!!




Hope each of you has a magnificent day!!


Julie

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Neutrality, and purple and green!

 Just a wee bit of progress of the neutral string quilt.  I am putting just about anything that is in my neutral strings into this, and will probably use them all up.  These blocks are surprisingly labor intensive! Each string is a different size, and must be squared up and measured...each one!  Wheww!!

I made up my own pattern for the purple and green block for two weeks ago...these are for the Moda Blockheads quilt along.  Because...
The block to be done was this one!  It is really not amenable to purple and green as a colorway...so I made this block in patriotic colors as shown and made up my own pattern for a block to make up for it.  This is hand needle turn applique.  I am loving it!!




I hope each of you has an amazing day!!!

Julie

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Some hand work...long overdue!

 I have been procrastinating finishing this Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt for a long time.  It just needed binding!  But it was black binding, and you see, I cannot see on black very well to stitch anymore!!
 But, tada!  It is done! It is some number of years old, but is done, and ready for gifting, or keeping.  Not sure...I am quite fond of it.
 I have been working on the circular reasoning quilt, too.  These are all hand applique.  The premise was to choose a fabric to suit your mood, each day, for a year.  I just went through my color bins and chose fabrics I loved.  But, I found some days, when I felt really good, like I hit the mark with my work or at home...I made a bulls eye, with a circle within a circle.  Other days, I felt fragmented, so I made circles of two colors or more.  It is great fun, and I am moving toward an end of the project.  But, more neutral circles were created, cutting the back out from behind the colored circles, so stay tuned!  I have a feeling that this project may not end any time soon. Thank you, Audrey, for your lovely circle project idea. See Audrey's blog here!

http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/



 This is all hand quilted and bound. Super fun, and all those tiny geese are hand quilted in the middle of each one...otherwise, they would not stay flat.  Fussy things!!
 These little decorations were from last year at Christmas...I made a ton, but never finished them.  DONE!!  Whoop!!!
And after all this hand work, I went off to a bitty quilt show.  There was a tiny lady selling fat quarters for a dollar each.  She also gave me the polka dot piece on the right.  Super fun!




Have a great day, each of you!!


Julie

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Low volume strings

 I have been organizing, and with that, comes many new ideas!  One of the ideas was to make a low volume quilt, which was on my list for this year. A variable strip size, wonky, 1/4 square log cabin quilt was on my list, too!  So...TADA!!  The two ideas are becoming the above quilt!  Kind of fun, so far, to pull out the next string in the bag and GO WITH IT!!
These little blocks are 3 inches finished, and can be found on Betsy's blog, below, throughout the last several posts.


http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/


I hope each of you has a wonderful Father's day!  My dad is up in heaven...Happy Father's day, daddy!!


Julie

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Lavender hearts

With all this purple floating around from sewing purple and green quilt blocks, I just had to make a small purple heart quilt. 


I did something really good!  I went through all my green and purple fabrics, and eliminated those I will never use, like a piece of green velvet and a chunk of purple corduroy. I have a surprising small stack of each!!  I am making headway in using everything I have up...at least that is what I say, and I am sticking to it!






I tend to remember what I was doing, when I hand stitch quilts, and this one will be forevermore known as the day that the Baseball team in Washington was attacked...I went from hot tears to hot anger about that situation today.  I pray for swift recovery for those attacked and peace and unity for our nation.



Julie

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Purple and Green!

 There is a sew along going on...the Moda Blockheads quilt along!  It is 48 different sampler blocks, all 6 inches, finished.  Well, you know me...as I had already done two samplers two years running with six inch blocks, I decided to be different.  These are 9 inch blocks (I love the math part), and very different colors of green and purple, instead of the more traditional reproductions that most quilters are using.   I do not have a green and purple quilt, so now I will have one.


One funny thing about this was...I cut out all the pieces and parts ahead of time, and labeled them. Well, I labeled one batch wrong, and ended up with a bunch of miscellaneous parts.  So...that is why I have at least one block that is not the same as the pattern...I just winged it, and made my own block from those parts!
 This block is not one of the blocks offered in the quilt along, but I made it, instead of the beehive block.  It stands for four friends at work, when we all used to work at the hospital  Everyone is retired but me!
This is a toad stool in our yard...with my foot in comparison for size.  It was a whopper!!



Have a great day, each of you!

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Cutting, cutting, cutting!!

 High fiber diet, anyone?  I used the turkey platter to hold my cut out Triangle Gatherings blocks, a quilt along by Lisa Bongean.  I have had the strips cut out since January, but just have not cut out the blocks...until today!  I figured it is not gonna get done, unless I ACTUALLY do it...imagine that!!!
 I admit to being pretty smitten with all the Rainbow Quilts on this website!  http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Above are some scraps from my 3.5 inch bin.  Stay tuned!  Something may be swimming toward you soon!  Does these scraps look a little rainbow-like to you??
 All these recipes from Pinterest are being saved, yep, by me...so I decided to make a few!  This cake really was delicious and super easy to make.  I used a sugar free cake mix and sugar free pudding mix too...not sure if it made it that much healthier, but maybe!


Garage sales!!  I went to one in the neighborhood recently, always on the hunt for plaid shirts.  Here is one I found...it is pretty cute though, and I may wear it a bit before cutting it up!!! One lady had VERY expensive clothing...all at $1.00 per item.  Some with the tags still on them!!!





Have a great day, each of you!!


Julie

Sunday, June 4, 2017

a little rainbow fun stuff!

 So Scrappy!

  http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Please go and look at all the fun projects, in a rainbow of colors!  Yellow is the color for June and someone (Please let me know who?  If it is you, please let me know, and I salute you!  OINK!)  made a delightful piggy pattern!!  So, here is a yellow piggy for June.  Hurrah!!  I am going to use polka dots for these pigs.


Update!  Chantal found the piggy designer!!  Here is the link...thank you dear Chantal!


http://theobjectsofdesign.blogspot.ca/2015/11/piglet-tutorial.html
Sally Trude was the designer!



And a green block for last month.  From the 2.5 inch bin.





Thank you for all your comments on last post, about how you do your bindings.  Wonderful wisdom being shared, and I appreciate you!!




Julie

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Binding

 I am working on hand binding this quilt!  I am using single fold red scrappy binding.  A few minutes each night will eventually get all my bindings done.
 Here is the whole quilt...so may I have your opinion on single fold versus double fold binding, and straight binding versus bias binding!??  This is the first large quilt, I think, that I have used single binding on.
Here are three more blocks, heading toward twenty!  Whoop!!!


Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Puffins and purples!!

I was tempted by Puffins...a squirrelly breed!!  LOL!  This fabric was shared with me, and I have been loved these bright, candy corn colors...