February/March Goals

Posted on February 29, 2016 by katyquilts

Leap Day!

And as this posts, I am flying home from Arizona. Tomorrow is March 1st so it is time to take a look at the goals I set this month and see how I did.

1. I want to finish the EPP for my Brinton Hall and start mapping out my next step. Done! Almost. At least I finished the medallion as it was shown in Quiltmania. And I do have a plan for going forward.

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2. Finish my Tree of Life small quilt. Done!img_1951

3. Finish my Goose in the Pond quilt. Not Done. Held up by the border decision.

4. Work on cutting/storing more scraps. Done….sort of! Are you ever really done with this? img_2112

5. Finish at least one more item off my UFO list. Done! I finished the green/blue HST quilt and another that I will share on Friday.  But I still have more HSTs. So I will be working on one more donation quilt from this pile before it is completely done. IMG_3875

What else did I get done in February?

Quilts for my two grand dogs. These were actually FMQ practice pieces.

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One  pincushion.

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Two more donation quilts.

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Two mini quilts, one I’ll show tomorrow and this one.

 
And my favorite finish, my Conversation Heart quilt.

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And now to decide what I will focus on in March.

  1. Quilt any QOV tops that come in.
  2. Make one more HST donation quilt and get them all sent off.img_1340
  3. Goose in the Pond!img_1544
  4. Add one more strip of hexies on each side of the Brinton Hall medallion.IMG_6860
  5. Start sewing together the blocks I cut out of my Dear Betty FQ bundle.img_0744

Looking forward to sewing, but the first thing I will do when I get home, is nap! They don’t call an overnight flight a red eye for nothing!

Linking up with Patchwork Times, Cooking Up Quilts, Em’s Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt

Posted in Finishes, Goals | 12 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted on February 28, 2016 by katyquilts

I haven’t done any stitching since I arrived, but I have some to do while waiting at the airport tonight. Remember this?  

  
I brought along some hexies to stitch together for the next row. 

No EPP on this one, I have marked all the seams for traditional piecing. 

 

I brought along enough hexies for one partial and one complete row. I will add these to the big piece after I am home.

It has been a wonderful trip. I can’t believe I am headed home tonight. Have to get those last conversations in with my kids and the last cuddles with my little boys. Have a great day!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts, Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Arizona Quilts!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by katyquilts

I went to a new to me quilt shop this week! 

 
It was beautiful. Lots of eye candy. 

 
  

And of course, I didn’t leave empty handed. I picked up these goodies. 

 
And me sweet Daughter #2 bought these for me! 

 
I have had a wonderful week here with my kids and my dad. And I have to show you this bracelet given to me by my parents. 

 
How fun is that?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in Fabric, Quilt Shops, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Posted on February 26, 2016 by katyquilts

Here is the day I show the finished Jelly Roll quilt! I really love this panto for jelly roll quilts. You can see another one I used this on here. This is a shot of the back. The quilting hardly shows in this picture.

I found enough leftover bits of binding so that I didn’t have to make one! I love how it looks.

This will be a donation quilt. When I get  5 done, I will send them all off at the same time.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, A Quilted Passion

Posted in Donation Quilts, Finishes, Jelly Rolls, Pantographs, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Another Small Quilt

Posted on February 25, 2016 by katyquilts

When I was trying to figure out what to take on my trip for hand work,  I decided to make a small quilt just so I could bind it! I went to my Pinterest boards and chose to recreate a vintage doll quilt I had pinned. I cut my triangles from scraps.


And decided on a layout.


I used this die.


I sewed my rows together and ended up with this.


A bit of an odd shape for a quilt, but hang in with me. Time for some drastic measures.


Yep, I cut it in half. Then I switched the pieces around.


And sewed it back together. No waste!


Then came quilting.

Here is the back. It is a very old Kaye England print.


I chose this because it matched a piece of leftover binding I had that was just the right size.

Here are some finish pics. 

 
  
  
 
Only a few days left of my trip. I am soaking up all the sun I can! I understand the kids are enjoying a snow day back home!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Doll Quilts, Finishes, Scraps, Uncategorized | 20 Comments

Jelly Roll Part 2

Posted on February 24, 2016 by katyquilts

I mentioned in my previous post that my jelly roll top was a wee bit too narrow. I had some matching squares from a layer cake and I cut them into 4 1/2 inch wide pieces, sewed them together, and used them for side borders. 

 
I found a polka dot fabric for the backing and got it loaded in the frame.  

 
This is the panto I chose for this top. 

 
I am really liking this panto on this top! 

 
Come back on Friday for the finish!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Jelly Roll Quilt

Posted on February 23, 2016 by katyquilts

Have you seen or made a jelly roll race quilt? I have made a couple in the past. The concept is really pretty neat. If you are not familiar, you can see a tutorial from Missouri Star here.

I had these strips leftover from a quilt I made quite a while back. They were originally purchased from Connecting Threads.
I didn’t know what they would add up to but they have aged long enough and I decided they would be perfect for another donation quilt. So I stitched them end to end.
And because I wanted to get these together in a hurry and no precision was needed, I decided to use my serger!

It worked really well for taming all the loose threads on these strips. However, you have to be careful to only trim threads, not fabric, or your top may end up wonky in a bad way.
This is what I ended up with.

My top finished at about 32 inches by 64 inches. It is a little narrow to fit the requirements of the group I plan to donate to so I will add side borders.

If you make one, your finished size will depend on the total length of your strips when they are all sewn end to end. Some of my strips were full length, but many were shorter. I just randomly sewed them together. Some patterns have you sewing the strips together on a diagonal, some have squares sewn at the end of each strip before the next strip is added.

Wanda at Exuberant Color, calls these Random Plank quilts. She has a wonderful chart on this post explaining how big your quilt will end up based on different strip widths and lengths.

If you have never visited Wanda’s blog, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea first. You may be there a while. It is the first blog I read each morning.

Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Mel’s Quilting Room, Free Motion by the River

Posted in Precuts, Service Quilts, Timesaver Tips, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

DWMonday ~ Scrappy Rectangle Leader/Enders

Posted on February 22, 2016 by katyquilts

I am greatly enjoying the sunshine and my family here in AZ, but I do have something  on  my design wall back at home. I started using these bits that I cut up for leaders/enders.img_0767

And this is what I have so far.

    

  Rather than making long rows of tiny pieces, I am making them into blocks. Each block has 32 pieces, which sounds like a lot but they go together faster than you think! I will need 64 blocks for a quilt that is 96 inches square.img_0764

Each block has an even number of pieces and an even number of rows. This is important for pressing purposes. Each intersection should result in nesting seams for a  nice, flat top.

Linking up with Patchwork Times, Cooking Up Quilts, Em’s Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilts

Posted in Design Wall Monday, Scraps | 14 Comments

Good Morning from AZ!

Posted on February 20, 2016 by katyquilts

I took this picture just after take off from my hometown. If you knew where to look, you could pinpoint my house in this picture! 

 
I finished binding a couple small quilts on the plane. 
  
 And got both strips of hexies for Brinton Hall pieced. 


This was my view much of the way. 

 
I love having a window seat! I just love flying! And my two little boys were still up when I arrived at my son’s house. But I only got a picture of Little L. 

  
Looking forward to spending the day with my kids and seeing my grand dogs.  My dad arrives late tonight. Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Finish It up Friday ~ Blue/Green HST Donation Quilt 

Posted on February 19, 2016 by katyquilts

I am so pleased with this finish. It just goes to show, simple can be beautiful. I love the random scrappiness and all that saturated color!

The top went together very quickly!
 
And then on to the quilting. This is the thread I used.
The panto is called Elongated Meander from Patricia Ritter.

And here are the finished pictures.

And a look at the back.

I’m not happy with the binding, usually when I do a binding all by machine,  I sew it to the back first and top stitch in the front. Apparently I got distracted. For these donation quilts, they want the bindings all done by machine.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, A Quilted Passion, Sunlight in Winter Quilts

Posted in Donation Quilts, Finishes, Uncategorized | 22 Comments