A New Machine

Posted on April 4, 2015 by katyquilts

Hubby and I did some bumming around yesterday. We stopped in a few antique shops and he bought me this: 

This little gem dates to 1949 and was made by the Betsy Ross Sewing Company in Chicago. Isn’t it cute? It I’d in working condition, just needs a needle. These are heavy, sturdy little machines as they are die cast. I’ve wanted this one for a long time! 

In the afternoon, we colored eggs with the Daughters #1 and 2.  

Of course, this little man came too. 

 I worked this morning, but I plan to finish the quilting on this yet today. 

 Time to get to work! Have a great day! 

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Finish It Up Friday

Posted on April 3, 2015 by katyquilts

I have two small finishes this week. I put the little hour glass top together earlier this week and quilted it in a random grid pattern.

I finished the hand sewing on the binding last night while watching Unbroken with my love. I highly recommend this movie about Louis Zamperini. Although the book by Laura Hillenbrand is even better. The back is a very old piece from my stash. 

 

I added borders to just the two ends. 

 

This makes it a perfect size for my coffee table. 

 Should have straightened those pillows!

My second finish was a kill two birds with one stone project. Kathy Tracy of Sentimental Quilter post the pattern for a cute little mug rug for National Quilting Day.  Last fall, I proposed a small quit challenge using vintage fabrics with a friend. Why is it that when the word challenge is used all my creativity flies out the window? I spied this little pile of fabric and used it for this little quilt. Mine is not going to be used as a mug rug! But I think it is cute with one of my vintage toy machines. 

I didn’t use all the fabrics in the pile and I added the shirting fabrics. The red “bloomed” when I hit my block with steam! I like it anyway. 

  

I used part of a vintage feedback on the back and my go to quilting a random grid.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts, and Pink Doxies.

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Doll Quilts, Finishes | 10 Comments

This and That Thursday

Posted on April 2, 2015 by katyquilts

I spent the morning before work doing a little bit of everything in the sewing room. I found some scrappy hourglass blocks and pieced them together into a small top. 

I loaded this last QOV. And if it looks familiar, I quilted one by the same topper like this in February.

I made one log cabin block. 12 to go! 

 And I cleaned out a cupboard for my long arm thread since this arrived this week. 

  

 The top two shelves hold prewounds bobbins. Previously, I had these in plastic drawers. This is much better. It may require tweaking again soon as I plan to place another thread order in a month or so. It is nice to have what you need on hand. As long armers go, my thread stash is still pretty small.

Linking up with My Quilt a Infatuation for NTT.

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Looking for a bit of help here….

Posted on April 1, 2015 by katyquilts

Daughter #1 bought me this lovely bundle of Betty Dear by Robert Kauffman for Christmas.     

I have an idea of how I want to use these in a lovely bed quilt for summer but am in need of coordinating solids. Anyone have any ideas what Kona solids would coordinate with these? I don’t have a Kona color card. Never thought I needed one! I am looking for a red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, and the background color which appears to be an off white.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

ETA: A very kind commenter, Lynn, alerted me to a Color Matching tool on the equilter.com website. It will only work for fabrics they have in stock but I was able to find most of the Kona solids that I need this way. Thanks, Lynn!

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

March Wrap Up and April Goals

Posted on March 31, 2015 by katyquilts

April is finally here! Do I dare believe the snow is past? We woke up yesterday morning to several inches of new white stuff. Thankfully, it warmed up and melted by late afternoon. Time again to review my goals since you all know how much I like checking things of my list!

March Goals

1. Goose in the Pond swap blocks have to be at the top of the list. DONE! They took a long time. I will pick up the swapped blocks at the next guild meeting.

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2. Finish quilting the Carpenters Star quilt. DONE! And on my bed!

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3. 12 more Sawtooth Star blocks. Not done. I actually only finished one block!

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4. SQT challenge. – Not done. Not even started.

So what else did I do this month?

I started and finished the Fiesta quilt for my daughter. It is one of my favorite quilts ever!

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I quilted 7 Quilts of Valor and 3 Comfort Quilts for our local women’s shelter. Here are two of the three Comfort Quilts (Note: I did not make these tops.):

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I made 25 City Sampler blocks.

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I also finished a tiny quilt that SQT group leader, Kathy Tracy designed for National Quilting Day. Except, I made mine yesterday. I will share it in a later post.

Moving on to April!

1. First off is to finish the last QOV top that I have at home. I  hope to have this one done this week.

2. I want to make 6 more Sawtooth Star blocks. This feels like a winter quilt to me so I may end up putting it away instead!

3. 25 more City Sampler blocks.

4. 13  4″ paper pieced Log Cabin blocks. Ideally, I would like to have this pieced, quilted, and finished. But I will settle for just having the blocks done.

5. I have a lovely FQ bundle of Betty Dear fabrics given to me by Daughter #1 for Christmas. They just say spring to me! And I have a couple ideas of how I want to use them. First, for my plan to work, I need to find coordinating solids. So for this month, I really just want to get the fabric in hand and pieces cut. This will be a large quilt.

6. Quilt the Metropolitan Fair Churn Dash quilt. I have been putting this on my list forever. It is time to just make a decision on the quilting and get it done already!

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That is probably enough for now!

Linking up with  Lily’s Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day. and Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Sewcial.

 

Posted in Finishes, Goals | 9 Comments

For lack of Vision….

Posted on March 31, 2015 by katyquilts

Remember these?  

I came across them last night while rummaging around in the sewing room. I started them a couple years ago. Got bored. Put them away. Got them out again when Aunt Marti from 52 Quilts announced her block a day for winter. I kept up well until an unexpected trip home in January. Once I knew I would not make the goal of one a day through the winter season, working on them lost the appeal. I have 51 completed blocks.  

I realized the reason I am not motivated to get back to work on these, is because I have no plan, no vision for what they will become. No final number of blocks, at which point, I can call this done. I need a goal, a finish line. With my City Sampler blocks, I am done at 100. I have 25 done and 75 to go. I don’t need to finish them tomorrow or next week, but I know that after making 75 more, I will be done.

Proverbs 29:18 says, My people perish for lack of vision. Okay, a stack of blocks is not the end of the world, no one is dying here! But this is so true with so many things. We know walking daily is good for us but I need a pedometer to count my steps so I can get to the magic 10,000 steps. Why am I like this? Lots to ponder here.

Back  to quilting. I decided that I would set these 8 x 8. There are plenty of design possibilities with this number of blocks. So I need 64 blocks total. A do-able number. I have 13 more to finish.IMG_2482

I can do this. The end is in sight. I may not get them done this week, but now I have a goal. Sadly, it won’t make much of a dent in this pile!IMG_2490

Linking up with Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Goals, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on March 30, 2015 by katyquilts

In between comfort quilts and QOVs, I have continued to work on my City Sampler blocks.  I am up to 25 now. 

I got two done just now while this little guy is napping. 

Here is one of the shelter quilts I worked on this weekend. 

  

My thread should arrive tomorrow and I hope to finish up the last QOV this week.  Then I am going to spend the next week working on my own projects.

Linking up with Patchwork Times for DWMonday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Saturday Adventures

Posted on March 29, 2015 by katyquilts

Yesterdat, hubby took me to an estate sale and antique show. It was cool but sunny, and it felt good to get out and bum around a bit! At the estate sale, I found some vintage quilt pieces and a bit of vintage fabric. Love these little Hexie bits. 

 

I saw several doll quilts at the show. 

  

  

 This next one came home with me.  

 I also found another piece of enamelware for my collection. 

I hadn’t seen blue before.  

Now, I am off to church. Have a lovely Sunday!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Out of My Comfort Zone

Posted on March 28, 2015 by katyquilts

I picked up a few tops to quilt from our guild’s Comfort Quilts group yesterday. They make quilts for the women’s shelter. Quilting tops made by others really moves me out of my comfort zone! This top is lovely but not something I would have ever made myself. I used the Fern Gully panto on it and some high loft poly batting (which I still hate). 

     

The next one in the frame is again, a beautiful top, but not my personal style. I find it hard to figure out how to quilt these.  

   

I started by quilting a piano key border and a half feather in the inner border. And I am stuck again. This one came with a wool batt and it is the first time I have worked with it. 

I have one more QOV to finish but that is on the back burner until my thread gets here on Tuesday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Finish It Up Friday

Posted on March 27, 2015 by katyquilts

I have had several QOV finishes this week and you have seen most of them. For my own record keeping, I will show them again here. But first is one youhaven’t  seen. This lovely anchor top was made by Joan from the Stitching Sisters group. 

I quilted this using a wave like pantograph called Ebb and Flow. 

  

Here are the others: 

          

I have one more to do, but I am currently debating thread choices on that one. Today will be picking up some tops for the local women’s shelter to quilt. I can’t wait to see what they have for me!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts

 

Posted in Finishes, Quilt of Valor, Uncategorized | 9 Comments