Another UFO

Another UFO completed today! That makes 3 for the year! Yippee!

Friday Scrapbag

Well I needed a quilt sandwich to practice on with my new machine. So I dug out these blocks I made a few years back and inspired by Gwen Marston's book below.

I sewed them together, pin basted them and started free hand free motion quilting. I've done stippling before, even on the 'Nina but this design as you go stuff isn't easy.
I can see this is going to take a lot more practice!

Have a great weekend! Happy quilting!

Wayback Wednesday

This blue and white quilt was my second quilt. It was made for my husband, "The Fisherman." I used half square triangles to make what I thought looked like fish. With this quilt I didn't use a pattern and thought I was very creative. It is completely hand quilted. At the time I thought it would take forever. I've since learned the quilting went fast as this is a very small quilt.
He loved this quilt and used to keep it in the SUV, but now it has been retired because he has a new one.

Almost forgot, the name of this quilt is: Catch 'Em Two at a Time Baby!

Good Weekend

I finished the scrap baby quilt on Friday night while watching The Big Comfy Couch with my 17 year old daughter ( don't ask) On Saturday it was yard work with my husband and I took a few pictures. Sunday we went to Lambertville NJ. to the Shad festival. I found some antique buttons and a piece of fabric. A great weekend was had by all!

Friday Scrapbag

Today's Friday Scrapbag is courtesy of Em at Em's Scrapbag. She has made some lovely black and white blocks and I commented that I collect black and white fabric. She said she'd like to see my collection. So here it is, minus the fat quarters.
As I said previously I love the black and white with brights combination. That's why I have so many black and white prints.
These aren't the best pictures, but I hope you can see most of them.

I've been spending quite a bit of time cleaning the sewing room lately. I have tons of things I'll be trying to make disappear. LOL So in honor of my 50th post yesterday I will give this book to the first person who comments saying they would like to have it. Otherwise it will go into the donation box.

Hope you all have a great Spring weekend!

It's Earth Day

No, It's not that easy being "Green" but we should all try anyway! Happy Earth Day!

Wayback Wednesday

Remember that cartoon where the characters got into the "Wayback Machine" and it took them to different eras in history? ( maybe I'm showing my age) Anyway I thought it would be fun to show some of my earlier quilts. Most have been given away but I've kept a few. So I'll show them now and then starting with the one below.
This is my very first quilt. Made in 1994. It is hand quilted and I don't know how I did it. As I remember I purchased the fattest batting I could find. The colors matched the living room in my condo and I thought it was wonderful. Now, not so much. I have never cared much for heart quilts and the colors are just a bit pale compared to those I like now.
This quilt did teach me something. Never hand quilt fat batting!

UFO and Garden

I'm working on this little quilt. It's about 8 years old. It's not the oldest of the UFOs. (believe it or not) I am trying to get done all of the quilts that no longer hold my interest. I will be machine quilting them and most will be donated to charity. This one is the smallest of the group at 35 x 35.
This is one of the quilts on my Spring To Finish list. Check it out on the sidebar.

Hosta is one of my favorite plants. I grow lots of them. If you look closely you can see this one had a visitor. A Lady Bug. Happy Quilting!

Friday Scrapbag

This is one of my UFOs. I made these blocks in the summer of 2008. I don't know why I didn't sew the blocks together at that time. I remembered them when I was rearranging the sewing room and came across a stack of fabrics leftovers from these blocks. I really like the pastel colors of these blocks. It has a kind of 30's feel. I think I'll move them to the head of the UFO pile.

This is my loyal and trusty 'Nina. She's been with me quite a while. I was a little worried that all of the machine quilting on my tote bags and quilts would wear her out. So she will now only be used for some piecing and decorative stitching. I will be using my new Juki TL98Q for all of my machine quilting. I got it yesterday and so far I think I like it. It's a whole lot faster than my 'Nina. I'm sure I'll get used to it. I remember being a little intimidated by my 'Nina because she is computerized. Now we're the best of friends.

Have a great weekend and do some quilting!

Quilts and Gardens

Here's a picture of the string scrap baby quilt. I took it outside, but because of the pine trees the lighting isn't that great. ( I don't take the best pictures either)

I'm going to check my stash for backing and then I will be quilting it. I think this will be a donation quilt also, unless someone asks for it. I like how it turned out. It's amazing what you can do without buying more fabric. I had to take a picture of this Coral Bells Huechera. It and about 15 others are growing between the patio pavers thanks to it's mother, who sits in a pot on the patio.

I think this is my best picture of the day. Who am I kidding, of the year.

Spring Beauty

Lots of yard work this weekend. Lots of Spring Beauties!

Friday Scrapbag

I worked on a few very scrappy string blocks today. Soon to be gifts. Some of these strings came from a string swap on my In Love With Strings group. I'm really liking the spring colors, so these will be controlled string blocks. Controlled but scrappy.

In my previous post I did not tell the whole story about making the challenge quilt and the new scrap baby quilt.

So here's the story. I had an iron whose temperature I could not control ( something happened to the dial). So about 10 months ago I bought a new one. Right in the middle of making the challenge quilt it stopped working. Dead nothing. So I got out the first iron which my Wonderful Husband said he fixed. I pressed 2 seams and the next thing you know the worst burning wire smell started coming from it. So there goes iron #2. Finally I had to dig out the old iron my Wonderful Husband used before we were married. It is approximately 25 years old. It worked. It's still working. So what does that say? They don't make things like they used to? This weekend I will most likely be looking for a new iron. Again!

Log Cabin Challenge Done!

I'm so happy! It's finally finished! My "Scrap Bags" challenge quilt is done, binding and all. It was fun to make and I can't believe I finished it before the deadline. Last years challenge quilt is still unfinished. I picked out a backing for it, so I will be working on it next. ( I hope)
I took these pictures on the patio today and Pollen was everywhere. So now I'm suffering. Going to take my allergy meds. HAPPY QUILTING!

New Scrap Bin Quilt

Wow, it sure is warm here!It's really early for hot weather but it's 87 today and we expect 90 tomorrow and high 80's again on Thursday. Since I'm not ready for hot weather, Ive been inside sewing.
I put these scraps together today and it looks like they may make a cute baby quilt.

Don't quite have the borders figured out, so I'll leave it up on the design wall until something hits me.

While that's waiting I'll put the binding on my challenge quilt. I also have some hand quilting to finish.

Take a look at the right side of my blog. I've joined a new group, Stash Manicure. If you collect fabric like me you might want to check it out. HAPPY QUILTING!

Easter Dinner and Surprises

We had a great Easter Sunday. My DS and DBIL came for dinner and we had a good meal and a good visit. My sister recently went to a needle arts show and brought me back all of these goodies. They came from In Stitches Needlework in Alexandria Va. I was so excited! A girl can never have too much fabric!

Here is a sneak peek of the challenge quilt front, without the binding. I just had to go outside and take photos, the weather is so beautiful.
Here's the back. I think this quilt is growing on me!

HAPPY EASTER

Friday Scrapbag

I'm taking a little break from the taxes to do some sewing this evening. I have completed the quilting on the challenge quilt, I chose fuchsia polka dots for the binding and I hope to have the binding done by the middle of the week. (well ahead of my April 30th deadline) Yeah!

If you've read this blog before you know that I like scraps. Below is a little scrap thingy I made for my sisters and myself. I carry it in my handbag and it's very useful.

I made it because, sometimes I'm out at a restaurant and they just don't have my preferred sweetener.

Happy quilting!

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes!

No time for a real blog, I'm working on my taxes with the help of my trusty sidekick!

I hope you are getting some quilting done.