Thursday night I spent the night in a hotel on the way home to visit family. I brought along my featherweight and set up shop!
These are the blocks I brought to work on.
They are quick and easy and take very little brainpower. I think this is called an envelope block. I ended up getting 21 made.
I do not like snow but the snow on the trees made for a pretty drive here.
Back to family! Have a wonderful weekend.
I am traveling today so here is a throwback Thursday showing some VERY old quilts. Way back in 1995 or 96, I decided that I would make a lap quilt for each of my aunts and uncles. I hadn’t seen most of them in years and just wanted them to know that I loved them.As I recall, I decided to do this about 2 months before taking a trip home with my four littles. I had lots of swap blocks laying around so I wasn’t starting from scratch. They were all machine quilted with a walking foot.
It is almost embarrassing now to look back at these quilts. I guess I knew too little about quilting to be embarrassed to give these at the time! I could only locate snapshots of 7 of the eight quilts. I cannot for the life of me even remember what the last one looked like. I know from the thank you note that I saved that it was pink and blue and that it went to My Aunt Mary Ann.
The first one went to my Aunt Marge. The colors are actually cream and navy blue, although it looks like black in the picture. My Aunt passed away a few years ago and this quilt found its way back to me.
This one went to my Uncle Hank who has also passed away.
This one went to my Uncle Joe. He was the oldest of my dad’s brothers and is also gone now. I must have been running out of time because this is so simple. My Aunt Gin was so happy that it matched her living room!
This one went to my sweet Aunt Angie.
And this to my Aunt Nancy, my mom’s sister. We always called her Nanny. I still do.
The next one went to my mom’s brother, my Uncle Arland. He could be crotchety old fellow but I miss him! I think this is my personal favorite of the quilts in this group.
This last one was made for my Uncle Ralph. He passed away just two weeks ago. My dad said he had this quilt with him at hospice when he passed. 
Five of the eight quilts I made went to people that are no longer with us. These quilts are not my best work. but I am so glad I did not wait until I felt like I had something “good enough.” It would have been too late.
Tell your family that you love them! Have a great weekend.
Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.
I got up and sewed a few star blocks this morning.
Before I could do this, I had to sort all the pieces I cut.
I did most of this while watching TV withDaughter #3 the other night. I have a bit more sorting to do.
Some of you suggested that I piece my scraps together to get the last square of each fabric that I needed. This is a great time honored tradition in quilting and I haves done this myself on more than one occasion. However, my scraps were even too small for that. They went into this bin.
To be used with these:
To create more of these:
My log cabins finish at 4 inches and each log is one half inch wide. This bin is getting full so it looks like it is time to get back to this project.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
I didn’t sew a single stitch yesterday! Daughter #1 and I went down to Ikea with Baby E. We spent 6 hours shopping there! We had a great time and Baby E was such a good trooper through it all.
I got another cabinet for under my quilt frame.
I love these for storing my pantograph rolls, backing fabrics, and finished quilts. And I’m not going to lie, I like that they all match. I can be a bit OCD like that!
This morning was all about running errands, doing laundry, and preparing for a trip to see family this weekend. This was the most important:
I work until late tonight but I am looking forward to coming home to these new books.
I so appreciate each and every visit and comment to my blog! You all are the nicest people I have never met. LOL! I try to respond to each and every comment but find myself behind on this once again. I won’t have the extra time to get caught up on it this week either. So if I don’t get to it, please know that I do read and am thankful for each one.
Have a great day and don’t forget to pray and then vote!
I have a love/hate relationship with precuts. I love getting one bit of every piece in a line of fabric. I love that everything matches. I love how pretty they are all tied up with a ribbon.
But gosh, it is hard to break them open! I tend to hold onto them too long and then I can’t find border fabric to match. I bought this lovely bundle last summer when we visited the Missouri Star Quilt Company. I have had the hardest time trying to decide what I want to make with it. It has been years since I made a quilt for my own bed and decided this bundle would be perfect t for a quilt for my room. So I got brave.
And I started cutting.
I like to try to use up every bit of a precut bundle. This is what I hade left.
And I am short one 2.5 inch square of each fabric! I will order a charm pack of this line when I order border fabric. My blocks will measure 8 inches finished.
I am going to use all fabrics for both the stars and backgrounds. This is what not to do:
I have enough pieces cut for 96 blocks. No deadline on this so I will work on it a little at a time. It’s nice to have a project cut and ready to go when you have a few minutes to sew.
Linking up with Patchwork Times for DWMonday and Helen at Til We Quilt Again for Anything Goes Monday.
Today I plan to do a little slow stitching to add this label to my most recent QOV finish.
I also have a bit of faster sewing planned with these:
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.
It’s that time again. Where ever did October go? Time to look at what I finished and make plans for the next month.
1. My first finish was the quilting on this lap quilt that my dear MIL pieced.
2. I finished the 5th of my shirting quilts.
3. I finally finished this bargello quilt, not in love with it but it is done.
I
4. This top was quilted for the local shelter.
5. Another shelter quilt quilted.
6. This one was pieced and quilted.
7. I made this little posy quilt which fulfills my May SQT challenge.
8. This little windmill quilt was inspired by the windmill quilts made by Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts
9. I made my SQT challenge quilt for October and I shared it on Instagram but I think I forgot to show it here! It is tiny, the blocks measure 1 inch finished.
10. And finally, my favorite quilt of the month, the Quilt of Valor I shared with you yesterday!
Now, what do I want to accomplish in November? I need to think about that so I will save it for another post!
Linking up with Lily’s Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day.
I am so excited about my finish today! I started this Quilt of Valor last Friday night and finished it this morning. I didn’t really do any other sewing this past week And it is amazing what you can accomplish when you stay focused.
I debated using a pantograph to quilt this and it would have been fine. But I decided it was time to overcome my fear and start putting the stuff I have been learning into a real quilt.
I used some Angela Walters techniques from her dot to dot class and feathers from her Free Motion Feathers class. I was encouraged to revisit these classes by taking part in the Feather Free Motion Quilt Along hosted by 13 Spools. It was the kick I needed to go for it and after some practice, I was ready to go for it.
I used Superior Monopoly on the red and blue bits and white Glide on the feathers. I used Cool Grey Glide on the borders. I used the same bobbin thread throughout, Superior Bottom Line #60 in white.
It s very rainy and dreary and I apologize for the less than stellar pics. The quilt really IS straight and square! By the way, I use these hangers from Ikea to hang my quilts from the top of my armoire to take pictures.
They are really handy. I also use them when I hang quilts on my neighbors fence to take pictures outside.
Mr. Wonderful is heading to Arizona tonight to see our kids and Baby L. I am insanely jealous but will console myself with quilting!
Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday, and Richard and Tanya Quilts for Link a Finish Friday.
No time for blogging today because I have been quilting! So I decided to share a few pics of some VERY old quilts I have made. Sorry for the picture quality. These are pictures of pictures and since these have nearly all been given away, it’s the best I can do.
The first one was a gift for a fellow expat that I became friends with while living in France.
The next one was a gift for a SIL.
This one was a baby quilt for the daughter of a friend. I just saw her homecoming pictures on Face Book!
I don’t even remember why I made this next one!
And this last one was made with blocks from an AOL block swap probably 20 years ago! We each made blocks to represent our homes. At the time, we lived in a blue ranch house. Do you see it?
Daughter #2 loved this quilt when she was little. We would rock together and make up stories about the people who might have lived in these houses.
Hope you enjoyed my little blast from the past!
PS Dear reader Lois, your e-mail keeps bouncing and I don’t know why! I have not been ignoring your comments but I can’t figure out why my e-mails are not going through :(.
I loaded up my QOV top yesterday morning.
I debated thread and considered pantographs.
I have taken a couple of Craftsy classes from Angela Walters and have been practicing feathers. But it is so hard to actually do this on a quilt top you live. I mean, what if I ruin it or have to spend days roping stitches?
I procrastinated and played with designs on my Adobe Ideas app.
I decided to start with a feather border that probably wouldn’t show anyway.
Then I went to work and refused to look at it last night.
This morning I got up and wound bobbins. And decided to go for it.
So far, so good!
Oh, yeah! This is what I had in mind! But now I don’t want to go to work!
Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Sewcial and Freshly Pieced for WIPWednesday. Also linking up with Gemma at Pretty Bobbins for IQuilt.
