Too much fabric??

I have decided to quilt along with Judy on the Christmas Comfort and Joy quilt.

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/25/christmas-quilt-and-project/

 I ordered the pattern on Thursday and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

In the meantime I decided that I had depleted my stash of Christmas fabric this year with the three tumbler quilts and one patchwork quilt.  So I hit the stores to find clearance Christmas fabric.

Do you think I went a little overboard??

 

 

 

The fabric on the left are remanents and fat quarters and the fabric on the right is yardage.

Good thing I don't keep a stash report. 

 



 

2012 UFO Update

I just reviewed and updated my 2012 UFO List and added additional projects that I worked on ->

2012 UFO List – status 12/27/2012

1) Sew together 2nd Diamond Patch Quilt - get quilted and then bind -  Done 5/1/2012

2) Get 1st Diamond Patch Quilt quilted and bound (making these for the beds in our newly decorated guest room- our son's old room)  - Done 5/8/2012

3) Bind Four-Patch Heart Quilt – Done 2/18/2012

4) Layer, Tie and Bind Scrappy Patch Quilt – Done 4/19/2012

4A) Sew Together and Complete Emma's Star Quilt – Done 8/25/2012

5) Layer, Tie and Bind Pink Jelly Roll Quilt – Done 1/29/2012

6) Layer, Tie and Bind Blue Jelly Roll Quilt  - Done 2/6/2012

7) Layer, Tie and Bind Nine-Patch Baby Quilt – Done 8/11/2012

8) Layer, Tie and Bind Becky's Design Baby Quilt – Done 3/6/2012

9) Cut out, Sew and Complete Weave it to Me Quilt – Partially cut-out

10) Cut out, Sew and Complete Criss-Cross Applesauce Quilt – Top done 8/5/2012

11) Cut out, Sew and Complete Polka Dots, Prints and Pinwheels Quilt – Partially assembled

12) Cut out, Sew and Complete Striking scrappy Quilt – Top done 10/2/2012 at Longarm Quilter

Other Quilt Projects :

Three Christmas Tumbler Quilts – Done 10/30/2012

 

Baby Quilt for Brianna and Andrew – Done 6/15/2012

 

Hearstrings Quilt with 24 squares – Done 5/14/2012

 

Quilt for Elyse & Aaron Cleveland Wedding – Done 6/3/2012

 

Quilt for Sara – Done 5/3/2012

 

Baby Quilt for Melissa & Ed – Done 6/27/2012

 

Baby Quilt with Teddy Bears – Top done Sept, 2012

 

National Park Wall Quilts  (Glacier, Zion, Bryce and Rocky Mountain) – tops done, need quilting

 

Santa Blocks Christmas Quilt – Done 12/22/2012

 

Cross Stitch Projects during 2012:

Swedish Patterned Runner for Dee – Done 10/27/2012

Cross Stitch Ornaments for Reeve and Anderson family (8 count) – Done 7/30/2012

 

 

When I look at this I guess that I did get a lot done during 2012!!!

 

Hope that I can do as much in 2013.  

Prep for QOV New Year's Day Sit and Sew

Judy Laquidara posted about the First Annual New Year's Day Sit an Sew for Quilts of Valor (QOV) and I have decided to participate. 

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/23/qov-new-years-day-sit-and-sew/

So I spent a good part of today locating and cutting out fabrics for the squares so that I am ready.

 

Now I hope to at least get the blocks sewn together on New Year's Day.

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Cinnamon rolls and Egg Nog for breakfast.
Merry Christmas to all my quilting and blogging friends!!!

Another Christmas Quilt !!!!

After decorating our living room for Christmas I decided that I needed another quilt to put on the back of the loveseat.  So I pulled out my Christmas fabric bin and put together a quick quilt with 5 1/2" squares.  Got it bound last Sunday and just finished sewing down the binding this morning.

 

Put the quilt on the loveseat by 9:30 am

Robinson Family Christmas celebration starts at 1 pm

 

 

Merry Christmas Everyone !!!!!

 



 



Christmas Preparation

Took the day off work today to finish preparations for Christmas. We are having the Robinson family Christmas at our house on Saturday so lots to do

Got my whole To Do list done:
Made two pans of lasagna
Made 7 layer salad for work luncheon on Friday
Made and decorated two batches of sugar cookies
Finished buying and wrapping gifts
Prepared Christmas stockings
Started setting tables for dinner
General housekeeping and laundry
Paid bills and updated my checkbook
Made pot roast for dinner in crock pot

After all this I am exhausted!!! But I am 95 percent ready for Christmas. Probably the most prepared I have ever been on December 20th

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Bee Group Christmas

Had our Bee Group Christmas party Monday night. I am so happy to call these ladies friends. They have taught me so much about quilting!!!

Medallion Mystery Quilt 2013

I have decided to do Judy's Medallion Mystery Quilt challenge.
I was able to find four of the fabrics in my stash but had to buy the white and dark red fabrics
Here is the link to Judy's post.
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/05/medallion-mystery/

Double Dozen class with Kaye England

Attended a three day class with Kaye England this weekend at Linda Z's along with my Aunt Bonnie . Learned a lot and got 9 squares done.

Here is a picture of my completed squares and also a picture of myself with Bonnie and Kaye.

Lucia Beth's Christmas Tumblers

When I inherited my mother's fabric stash she had a plastic tub full of Christmas fabrics - no surprise as Christmas was a very important event for my mother every year.

I saw a quilt design made with the Tumbler AcuQuilt die that my aunt had done and decided that would be a good way to use up some of the Christmas fabrics.  So I decided to make a quilt for each of my kids and myself using the Tumbler design. 

Quilt #1 - went to Stefanie and Kyle Anderson

Quilt #2 - went to Kevin and Stephanie Reeve

Quilt #3 - I kept for my husband Ron and myself

I put the same label on each of the quilts and also embellished the labels with some buttons that I had found in my Mom's craft items.

We went out to dinner last night for my birthday and I gave our kids the quilts at the end of the dinner. Below is a picture of me (in the middle) with our daughter Stefanie and son Kevin receiving their quilts.

I know it is pretty early - but Merry Christmas everyone!!! - Remember Jesus is the reason for the season.

PS:  I am posting this as my December 2012 UFO finish

UFO #4A - Finished and Delivered

I added this to my UFO list after posting it and before I understood how the numbers are picked.
This quilt was made for my husbands nephew,Brian. The pattern is called Emma's Star but I did not include any of the stars in my quilt.
I actually mis-read the pattern and made 83 blocks which was for a queen size quilt when I only needed 50 for the twin. Will use the remaining blocks to make a crib size quilt.

Not sure which picture I like so put in both.

Post script 11-30-2012:  As I spent last week in the hospital I have not done much sewing lately.  Therefore, decided to use this finish for my November, 2012 UFO item.

Book 4 - Jane Austen Made Me Do It

Read this on my Kindle -
This book is a collection of stories related to Jane Austen books. Loved most of them and will check out the various writers for new Jane Austen inspired books

Book 3 -Dangerous by Nora Roberts

This is actually three books in one - all romantic stories with murder or crimes.
Good light reading

Book 2 Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

Good book and story
Did not like subject matter with domestic violence

Book 1 - Resistance by Anita Shreve

Good book with some good history and a good story

Going to Florida

My husband and I are headed to Florida for some r&r - I have four books and five new books on my Kindle. Let's see how many I can read!!!

Another Baby Quilt

I was asked to make a baby quilt in the colors pink and navy blue - I had never worked with that combination before so I took it on as a challenge.

I pulled out my scrap bins and other fabrics from my stash and decided to use a pattern that I got with a Charm Pack called Window Pane.  However, I added two more rows to the quilt to make it a little longer.

 

 

I tried to take this picture with my iPhone and it did not come out very well.  

Quilt Shop Finds

My husband Ron and I went down to St Louis, MO this weekend to see the Milwaukee Brewers play baseball againt the St Louis Cardinals. However, we left Thursday night and stayed in Springfield, IL overnight which gave us Friday during the day to have some fun. Ron insisted upon finding some quilt shops on our way down and I used my iPhone app Quilt Shops from Quilt Club of America to locate two different shops.

1) Sweet Annie's in Troy, Illinois
I found a Christmas Table Runner pattern, bought a kit for a small table mat and several fat quarters. My favorie fat quarter is the one with Illinois on it... now Ron wants me to find fabric from all the states we have visited and make a quilt with it !!!

2) Cross Patches in Collinsville, IL

I found a pattern for a dress for our granddaughter, a pattern for a tote bag, a pattern for a small box and a pattern for a quilt that could use up scraps.  Also found a couple of Baseball themed fat quarters that Ron wanted me to get and hold for a future project!!

 

 

 

I am so blessed that my husband was willing to go to the shops with me but as it turned out he also added to my list of future projects!!!!



2012 UFO #7 Done

I had a nine-patch baby boy quilt that I had put together last fall and included the finishing work as a 2012 UFO.   Finished this back on August 11,2012 but did not get a picture taken until today.

 

 

 

I took the picture out on our front porch but still need to find my best location for pictures of finished quilts.

 



Baby Quilts

I have used a Nine-Patch Quilt pattern that I got for free from the Hancock Fabrics website to make a number of quilts for baby gifts.  Recently I made two more....

The first one is for the daughter of my husband's cousin - Brianna and Andrew are expecting a little girl in September so I got to work with my favorite color combination of pink and brown.

 And I found some fun Hello Kitty fabric to use on this quilt. 

The second quilt is for baby Mason born to a friend of my daughter-in-law.  I picked out a pale green and yellow combination and then found out those were the colors of their nursery.

I even got a picture of Mason trying out his new quilt !!!!

June UFO #12 - Finish

Sorry it has been so long... work and life have gotten in the way of me doing any sewing let alone blogging.

My #12 from my UFO list is an artsy type quilt for my son-in-law and I decided early in June that it would not be done by the end of the month.

So I decided to do a switch with another quilt that I finished this month.... the daughter of our best friends from college got married last weekend (June 24) and I made a quilt for them as a gift. 

Pattern is Dessert Time Quilt by Marty Halus (published by Eleanor Burns).  I think this is the fourth quilt that I have made with this pattern. - it is somewhat quick and easy and I love making the piano keys around the edge. 

I was able to make this quilt just with fabric I had in my stash and I used the rest of the fabric from the inside bordor as the backing material.  However, it was not wide enough - so I made another set of piano keys to put around the outside of the backing.  Though I love how it looks I will never do that again.... took a lot of time and too much math to figure it all out.

Frustration !!!

Spent three hours sewing together most of a quilt top on Thursday night only to realize that my blocks were not lining up due to sewing errors.  So spent four hours tonight ripping apart, cutting down and re-sewing the rows.  Only got about 1/3 of it re-done tonight!!!

So frustrating that I was not more careful during the first sew but am happy with the new result.

Can't post any pictures as this quilt is a gift and surprise....

Have you ever done this?  I guess it is a good lesson learned but feels bad right now !!!

2012 UFO #2 Done

Got the Binding sewed down on the second of my yellow-green Diamond Patch quilts - which is my 2012 UFO Challenge #2 - which was the number picked for May.  So I have completed the May project a little early.

So with this completion now our guest room has quilts on both beds.  This is the biggest sewing/quilting project that I have ever done and I am very happy with the results.

2012 UFO #1 - Finally Done !!!

For the 2012 UFO Challenge #1 was chosen for February but it was at the quilters.  After some difiiculties (see my earlier post about problems with the backings), I received it back from the quilters about a week and half ago.  And last night I finished sewing down the binding so I finally get to post it as a completion !!!!!

And now Judy has picked #2 for May and that is the second of my yellow and green diamond patch quilts and the binding is already sewed on, just have to do the hand sewing and that one will be done also.



2012 UFO #4 Done

I have decided to swap projects for the 2012 UFO Challenge for April from # 10  to #4   (the point is that I got a project done... not necessarily which one !!)

I wanted a second quilt for our family room so did this one in dark blues, maroons, greens and tans.  It looks great on the back of a wing chair.

It is called the Scrappy Patch pattern and is from a Fat Quarters book that I bought... I did use fat quarters for over half of the fabric but ended up buying some yardage also to get the right color combination.

Update added May 9, 2012 ->  I was showing this quilt to my children the other day and noticed that I made a mistake in the piecing!!!  You can see it in the second photo  -  look at the bottom left corner.

Did not do that on purpose but I guess that makes it an authentic quilt.... always an error as only God is perfect !!!

They're Here !!!!!

My two Yellow-Green Diamond Patch quilts arrived home yesterday from Country Threads.  It was a bumpy road filled with errors on my part - the backings were not sewed together correctly  :(   -  but I learned a few things along the way.

These are my #1 and #2 UFO's for the 2012 UFO Challenge and #1 was picked for February, 2012.  So right after I finish the binding on another quilt I will Bind #1 so that I can post a finish (albiet a couple of months late !!!)

I chose the Landscape pattern for the quilting and I like it...

Also excited as my Quilting Bee group meets next Monday evening and I will be able to bring them for Show and Tell !!!!

My lovely Aunt Bonnie also just got her two quilts back from Country Threads... will be fun to see which one of us gets them done first....

http://bonnieweighsin.blogspot.com/2012/04/excited.html

Not enough sewing lately!!!

With my full-time job of Controller at a company with a March 31st year end, I have been very busy at work lately and have not been able to do much sewing.

I pulled out my April UFO (#10) last Saturday morning, sewed one block together and messed it up totally!!!! So I put it away!!!! 

I have another UFO that all I need to do is sew down the binding... think that I am going to finish that as my April UFO.

Hope to get back to sewing and blogging more after this one more busy week at work.

2012 UFO #3 - Done and Delivered

My 2012 UFO #3 is a Four-Patch Quilt made with Heart Materials from my mother's fabric stash.  I got the idea from some quilts that I saw at the LWML Convention in June, 2011 in Peoria, IL. 

Here is the material all cut out and ready to sew into four-patches

90% of this fabric was my mom's which she had collected because she had heart disease and had a triple by-pass in 1991.  I supplemented the red and white hearts (far right in second row) and the Valentine's Day hearts (second from left in second row) both of which were fat quarter purchases.  I was able to dig through my stash of plain fabrics to find coordinating colors for the heart fabris.

 I decided to send this quilt out to be quilted at Country Threads and was thrilled with the results. 

Here is the full quilt and the pieced backing that I did.

I made the binding a combination of all of the plain fabrics which I am very happy with as it plays off of all the other fabrics.

This quilt was given as a gift to Ruth Reeve, my husband's niece.  Ruth is a beautiful young woman who has devoted herself to helping others through mission trips and serving as a counselor at camps for handicapped individuals.  Because of Ruth's big heart I wanted her to have this quilt and I know that my mom would be happy with my choice of recipients!!



March UFO #8 - Already done !!!!

For Judy's 2012 UFO Challenge for March, she picked #8 - which for me is a small baby quilt.  The top was done, binding material chosen and sewn together and the backing material picked out, so all I had to do was layer, tie and bind.  Finished the binding tonight and am excited to have this one done early in the month !!!

Had to make the picture large as the light was too bright.... I need to get better at taking the photos of my quilts. 

This picture shows the detailss of the materials better.  The pattern is one that I have made up myself - it uses 49 5-inch squares and a couple of strips at the top and bottom.  This allows me to use up scrap materials from my stash.   For this one I had some flannel material for the backing that matches the square patterned material - but I did not take any pictures of the backing.

I have made about 5-6 quilts using this pattern/layout most of which have been giveaways as baby gifts and/or donations to charities.  Think that I want to expand the pattern/layout to be a little bigger - will try it on the next one.

February UFO - #1 - Still at Quilters :(

Unfortunately my Diamond Patch Quilt that is my #1 on the 2012 UFO Challenge is still at the quilter's. Once it gets back I will quicky bind it and post as completed at that time.

Sad that the second month of my 2012 Challenge that I am not able to complete the quilt but will work to meet the March Challenge !!!

Salt Water Taffy Quilt

Here is a quilt that I made last year for Joe and Diana Guyer, some friends who got married last May. 

The pattern is called Salt Water Taffy and was supposed to be made with Batiks, however, I had my Mom's stash of Star fabrics and used those. 

I used a solid blue for the backing and solid red for the binding as the top was pretty busy on it's own.



Joe and Diana are stars in my life... they are fellow Christians and members of my Peace Group and they help to keep me grounded in Christ.  Therefore, I wanted to share the star fabric with them.



2012 UFO #6 Done !!!

My 2012 UFO #6 is my 'failed' Jelly Roll Quilt - I cut the strips at 2 inches wide (instead of 2 1/2 inches wide) and then sewed them together not in a random order.... so it ended up with the fabrics meeting a lot. So to make it somewhat unique, I cut it into four rectangles, inserted navy blue sashing and sewed it back together.  I am happy with the result.....

And for the backing I pieced together the fabric with more of the navy blue sashing.

So I have two items on my UFO done for 2012 and a couple more close.... So glad that I made my UFO list as it is keeping me focused... but I am still doing other projects that are not on my list... think I caught the bug !!!



Heart String Quilt Project

I follow a fellow quilter/blogger named Mary and she is part of a group called Heart Strings Quilt Project.  They run year long challenges to make String Quilts using different colors and/or themes and the finished quilts are given away to worthy organizations.  See the link below -> 
http://heartstringsquiltproject.com/

So I printed out the instructions from the website and last night I pulled out my scrap and strings containers and made my first Heart Strings block

I think I need to go get a new template to help me cut them correctly but not bad for my first one!!!

The group has a challenge this year to make either 24 or 48 blocks enough to make a small or large quilt.  Thinking about trying it myself as it did not take that long and was a fun distraction from other projects!!!