Another UFO Finish!!!!

I've finished the last stitch in the binding of another UFO on my list.  This is the patriotic quilt for my cousin Jason.  It was started last fall to give to my uncle Virgil who was sick with lung cancer.  Unfortunately he passed away in December before I could finish and give it to him.  My cousin Jason found his father who had passed away so I decided that he should get the quilt when I finished it.

I purchased most of the fabrics while on our trip to Hershey Pennsylvania last October.  I found the Navy Seal to use as the backing fabric and since Uncle Virgil was in the Navy I thought it would be perfect.

I did a corner label for the quilt.

 While trying to find some lavendar/purple fabric to use as a backing for one of mom's quilts I found this piece which I had fussy cut flowers out of to use in the quilt I donated to the Habitat for someone to quilt.  This should have gone in the trash many years ago.......oh well, I guess I was saving it for another fussy cut project????

 Here is the picture of the finished quilt after Yvonne quilted it.  The blocks used this fabric somewhere in each block.  It was a block of the month from one of the calendars from I believe 1994 or 1995.



So tickled to have another UFO off my list.  I have decided to put an applique border around the kaleidoscope quilt and I am piecing hexagon flowers for the border.  I hope to get the background sewn onto the quilt tonight and hopefully tomorrow the vein.....I'm using rickrack for the vine.  We'll see how that turns out.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

UFO Progress

Still working on my UFO list. 

The patriotic quilt for my cousin Jason is being loaded into the longarm today.  Today I got the borders on and the backing pieced.  Now to get the quilting done tomorrow.

Soon there will be one more project off of my list.

Hope you found some time today to quilt,
Shelia

A Precious Little Find

My precious husband is so sweet to keep me occupied and not dwelling on the events of the recent weeks. 

Yesterday afternoon he took me with him to run errands and we wound up at an antique shop to brouse around.  I found this tiny miniature quilt block that is framed. 

The block is called Judy's Star and is 1 1/2-inches finished!  It has 25 pieces in that one block.....OH MY!  I don't think I will be attempting this anytime soon......so I bought the piece!  The framed block is signed by the quilter Helen Coman.  To my wonderful suprise the  back of the framed block has a sheet with information about the quilter!  What a wonderful way to Label her quilt. 

Helen was certainly a dedicated quilter who wanted everyone to know who did the work and where she was from.  Now I know the history of this piece.  Smiles abound.  The little gentleman at the register was thrilled as I informed him how special this piece was.  He quickly flipped over the frame and began reading the history aloud to all those within ears reach.  Then he in awe flipped the piece back over and said "oh my look at those tiny pieces.....25 pieces in this little thing".  Oh yes he GOT IT!

Thanks Roger for this spirit lifter.  But in my sweet husband's way he was not done yet....we next went to a garden center to look for a water feature to put into my memory garden.  Wow this place had tons of different fountains.

We found lots of beautiful fountains and ideas here.  Just have to decide exactly where I want to put the garden.

But we didn't come home without something for the garden.

We bought this beautiful hanging basket and hung it on the shepard's hook by the birdbath.  Life is good.

Tonight we have our quilt bee.  Mom and I are looking forward to seeing the girls again.

Happy quilting,

Shelia



Just Scraping Along

See this pile of cut 2 1/2 inch strips of batik fabrics???? 

This is the reason I cut the end of my finger off.....Mom and I are in our batik strips swap in the quilt guild.  At the beginning of the swap last year we purchased all of our fabric and I got it all cut and bagged up by the month they were due.  When dad got sick and they moved in with us I had to move alot of things around and my bin of cut strips got moved to a different location somehow.  So when I needed to turn in the March and then April strips I could not find them.  I searched everywhere I could think I would have moved them to.......grrrr.  So then like a good swapper I purchased more fabric for mom and I for March, April, May and June and was re-cutting the strips when I cut my finger with the rotary cutter!!  I got the new fabrics cut into strips and mailed to our swap host.

Well since I did not go on my trip to Las Vegas due to the injury I was cleaning up in my quilting studio and guess what I found......oh yes the bin of already cut strips.  So now mom and I have extra cut strips.  Oh well, we will use them in something I'm sure.

Do you use Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System?  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrap-users-system.html  I started using this system many years ago and below are pictures of how I sort my cut pieces. 

These bins under my quilting table have 2 1/2 inch strips, 3 inch strips, 3 1/2 inch strips, 1 1/2 inch strips, 5 inch squares, 6 inch squares, 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangles, 8 inch squares.

 These bins below hold 10 1/2 inch sqares, 2 x 3 1/2 inch rectangles, 2 inch squares, 3 1/2 inch squares, 1 1/2 inch squares, 3 inch squares, 2 1/2 inch squares, 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles. 

 The great thing about the system is that in these bins are not just squares of fabric there are also pieced blocks like the 2 1/2 inch ones below.  So it gives you so much more variety in a scrap project.  These were left over from mom's orca bay project.

 These are some of the leader-ender blocks that are now in the 3 1/2 inch square bin.  I have them pinned together into stacks of 10 so I can easily count how many I have.  I keep a bin of squares and triangles beside my machine so I can use them as leaders and enders while piecing other projects.  (don't know what a leader/ender is?  then  visit Bonnie Hunter's website for more info  on this wonderful system.  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/leaders-enders-whys-and-hows.html

 More leader/ender bonus 3 1/2 inch squares in the bin

 These were also left over border blocks from mom's orca bay.

 And these string pieced 3 1/2 inch blocks also left from mom's orca bay. 

Once I've finished cutting scraps down into usable pieces, this is what was left.  This is my string and scrap bucket now. 

Now these scraps can be used to make crumb blocks, string pieced blocks or crazy quilt blocks.  Hopefully none will go to waste.

Happy quilting,
Shelia

Beauty All Around Us

On our way home from checking on mom, yes she is o.k. after her fall, just bruised and sore, we saw a double rainbow.  How gorgeous.  The inner rainbow was so brilliant that you could see red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.  All the colors so bright.  Such beauty just after a storm.

 My kaleido scope top I have just hanging over the rail on my long arm, and yes I know that means that there is not a quilt being quilted currently, but there will be soon.  When I walked into my studio I noticed the evening sun was shinning from behind the quilt in one spot, looked like a stained glass window effect.  Another beautiful sight for today.  I am truly blessed.

Work yesterday ws definately a challenge, but made it through, throbbing finger and all.  Now to get through today!

Hope you find some quilting time today. 
Shelia

OUCH!!

If you are squeemish with blood etc., then look no further today.  I was trying to cut some strips of fabric today and trying to get done to move on to other things when the slot in the ruler flexed just a tiny bit.......but with a rotary cutter moving fast a tiny bit can mean disaster.  A trip to the Emergency room was not on my list of to do things today!!
Not able to sew the piece back on so I will have a weird looking finger for a while. 

 Here I'm back home with the offending ruler.  Do  you know how many times you use your index finger.  I am a typist and use all of my fingers....not a pecker like my hubby types.  Going to look weird taking care of patients tomorrow too.  I'll sure be wearing a glove on this hand for a while.  That is also my IV feeling finger for veins......grrrrr.  Hope I don't have to stick any necks tomorrow.

The good news here is that I didn't get any blood on this beautiful batik fabric.....blood all over my table and floor, but none on the fabric.

I think I am just going to have Roger pop some popcorn and watch a movie....no more sewing for me today.

Hope you have a SAFE day quilting.
Shelia

Kaleidoscope Progress

Today I started sewing the rows together on my Kaleidoscope UFO.  The sun shinning through the window looks like some odd pieces on the top.   I love how the pattern looks like circular piecing. 

One more row to sew on, then I have to decide about borders.  I am leaning toward no borders.....but haven't quite decided yet.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Just A Thought

Today I came across Mark Twain's saying while searching for ideas for my memorial garden.
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail Away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."

Still today how very true.  We must explore, dream and discover new things in our lives.  What else fuels us to become better people each day?  Explore your pile of UFO's today........what do you discover.......and did you dream of a new way to use that UFO?  Continue on your journey.

I'm piecing some today on my brown kaleidoscope quilt while working through some pain.  I hope to get the top pieced together this evening.  I'll post pictures of the progress later this evening.
Shelia

This Week In Review

Yesterday,Wednesday the 11th was my mother-in-law Alberta's 78th Birthday!  Happy Birthday mom-2.  She was spending the day with her grand-daughrer Amanda in Orlando, FL being a tourist and having a great time. 

Mom and I started some of the list we need to complete after daddy's death.  We got probate opened so we can get some other things off of our list. Many thanks to my cousin Teresa for all of her assistance with this part of the process.  We made many stops during the day to get things changed at the bank and such.    Busy day but productive.

At our quilt guild meeting on Monday night I was reminded of my UFO clean out I did earlier in the year.  Remember all of the sorting and decisions to keep or give away unfinished projects????  Well one of those projects which I had the top pieced and 3 of the borders on so far and it was suppose to have another border of chevrons on it which I had pieced but did not like.  So I decided to donate the top to our Habitat for Humanity philanthropy project and let someone else either add more borders or just quilt it.  This quilt was one that I had started in a class back in 1993.  It was a block of the month class that I took with the founder of our quilt guild, Mary Isbell who passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.  Mary was a long time quilt teacher in our area and very active in the Quilter's of South Carolina guild.  She will be truly missed. 

But back to the top, one of our members, Yvonne took the top as I had pieced it, quilted it and gave it back for our Habitat for Humanity project.  So now it is a finished project that someone will receive when they have their home dedication.  Our guild provides quilts for the Habitat for Humanity in Greenville County and each person in the home being dedicated receives a quilt.  It is an awesome project that we have been doing for over 4 years now.  That is a great ending to a UFO that I almost threw away.  Here is a link to see the chevron border I had pieced to go with this quilt.  http://www.quiltinginsouthcarolina.blogspot.com/2012/01/here-is-my-list-of-ufo-groups.html  I think I will make this into a lap quilt with some spacers.
See your taste in fabric and quilts do change as you get into quilting.  This was pieced my second year of being a quilter.   

Now onto the next fun things.  Pat Nagle, Eleanor Burns sister who travels along the East Coast for Quilt In A Day came to do a lecture, trunk show and tips class for us last night.  We met at the Fountain Inn History Museum.  She did a wonderful show.

Below is the quilt for the newest book Eleanor has written, Tales of First Ladies. It is a beautiful quilt.  She explained from the book how each block was made and showed wonderful techniques to make them quick.

 Beautiful eagles in center block.  She used hand turn applique in the center block.

 Here is a miniature of the same quilt, she used Harrison Rose pattern as her medallion center.  Those are 6-inch blocks around the medallion.  Gorgeous.

 You as with any sampler quilt can take just one block and make a quilt with that one block.

 Eleanor also has a new braid pattern which in Eleanor style was a quick piece.  She had these in 4-5 colorways.  She said that when she got started it went so quick that before she knew it she had pieced 5 quilts.  Now that is a great pattern.  Just like Bonnie Hunter's braid pattern which uses the corner stone, this one is truly a quick piece project for something you need to do and get done in a hurry.

 Here she made a miniature braid.....OOOOOH so cute.

 Here she made a miniature dresden plate quilt.

 Lots of quick project ideas were given, like this fan table runner and she had patterns and rulers for each.

 She even made another miniature dresden plate in batiks.....ooooh.

 The book gives history of the first ladies which was interesting as she told the stories.   Here is a link to purchase the book.   http://quiltinaday.com/shoponline/books.asp

I've got tons of errands to run with mom again today.  We are starting off at the social security office to get that changed.  Hopefully it will not be an all day things there.

Grab some time today to do some quilting.
Shelia

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday this year was solem but how wonderful for dad to be spending Easter with his Lord and Savior.  We miss you dad.

Mom and I spent the day in the quilting studio less some time for lunch out at the picnic table.  What a beautiful day!

Below you see where mom was working on piecing the rows together of her Orca Bay mystery.

Next is the center of the top completed.  YIPPIE!!  She has worked so hard on this.  I truly think it has been a good thing to let her work through some "stuff".

 Here is mom just piecing her little heart out on her featherweight.  That thing sews like a dream.  And this quilt has sooooooooo many seams in it.  Her last mystery with Bonnie Hunter (Roll Roll Cotton Boll) had over 4,000 pieces, This one I think has a lot more, just don't know if I am up to counting all of those pieces yet.  Now on to piecing the borders.

 Ta dah!  The top is completed!!!!!  Wow mom you have done a wonderful job with this quilt.  Congratulations on another finish.

 See what I mean about all of those tiny pieces.......Looks great.  Yes those are my feet in the chair at the left.  I had to get into a chair to get the entire quilt in the picture.

 And mom with her newest quilt.

Had a wonderful day with mom quilting, I so enjoy our time together to quilt and glad to see her out again quilting.  Roger and I had a wonderful eveing together just relaxing and watching NCIS marathon. 

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Plans For Easter Weekend

Plans this weekend for mom and I to spend some time quilting.  She is doing pretty good this week.  I started back to work on Monday so Roger and I took her dinner Wednesday night and had dinner with her.  She looked good.

Mom's got six rows pieced togther and hanging on the design wall, she has sewn them horizontially into individual rows but now the rows together yet, just in case you see that they are hanging a little crooked.  It is going to be a beautiful quilt.

Here is what I have been working on, it is one of my Pat Sloan projects.  I am adding the stem in the border to place the other applique on.    I think it is going to be pretty when done.  Maybe I can get the border finished this weekend.   

I still need to load my cousins quilt into the long arm. I just realized that I had not sewn the borders on.  I had them cut out and was about to sew them when daddy got sick......now to find what I did with them!

Hope you and your families have a wonderful, blessed Easter weekend.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia