Finished another quilt...again, a small one - approximately 15.5" x17.5".   I think I  mentioned it in earlier blog.  It's  my first doll quilt for this year.  Eleven more to go.

Not as productive as I had planned

I blogged earlier that I was going to take a nap and then get started back to working on my Christmas quilt... I took the nap, but woke up with a headache ( it's supposed to be the other way around - oh well) and just didn't feel up to standing and outlining snowflakes so that I could stitch them into the quilt.

So, instead I decided to work on a doll quilt... this pattern showed up in my email box from Connecting Threads... well, it's doll size and I've never done a Jacob's Ladder... actually I found this yesterday and picked most of the fabrics then ( pattern showed blues and white).  Ummm, I'm just noticing that the yellow looks more like pink... oh well....

Still need to find batting and backing before I can finish it... since it's a doll quilt, I'm going to assume that it's going to get used/abused a lot and I'm not going to do a bunch of fancy stitching.... just in the ditch and using my domestic will do just fine.

Time to watch tv for a few minutes before heading to bed.... oh darn!  I forgot I've got to finish making salmon patties first .

Ok...ttyl

Burning the midnight oil

First quilt to be finished in the new year

 

wool applique'd onto homespun background

Twenty four hours later, I can't remember where I left off the night before last and picked up again yesterday morning;  I just remember that I worked on this until time to take hubby to his dr. appointment.  We stopped for lunch after the appointment and then, once home again, I got right back to working on this little 'guy'.  I was determined to call it finished by the end of the day.  It was close.... I finished the last stitches on the binding just as the clock struck twelve midnight - well, it would have struck twelve if it had had something to strike with.

 I followed the pattern and cut the binding strips 2" wide... fold it in half and then stitch a 1/4" seam - that doesn't leave much to turn - so I felt I had to stitch the binding on the 'traditional' way... stitching it on the front of the quilt first, then bringing to the back & hand stitching the finish.  It was not my favorite thing to do... there was so little binding fabric left that it was hard for me to manipulate & make it go where I wanted ( like in the mitered corners).  I really wish she/the designer had allowed for a wider binding.

This was my first time trying wool other than as a batting... it wasn't too bad... would I do it again? probably not -been there, done that, give me my d*** t shirt!... time to move on.  I don't have anything against it, it's just more 'primitive'/'folksy' looking than where my taste runs.  I wouldn't even have tried it this time if the kit hadn't been an unexpected Christmas gift and I was pretty sure that the 'giver' would be watching my FB posts to see if I had done it.

So, it's done now and ready to take to guild meeting for the next 'show & tell'  After that, I have no idea what I'll do with it.  I'm also taking the pattern to the meeting so that if someone shows any interest in the quilt, they can have the pattern to make one of their own.  <smile>.

Not enough sleep last night  so there's a nap in my immediate future ( like as soon as I finish this blog) so that, this afternoon, I can devote my time and energy bonding with Mo'e over my Christmas quilt.  At the rate I'm going, it may be Valentine's Day before I can call it done and take it off from Mo'e.  Life sure has a way of interfering with my quilting.

TTYL

Another slow day

I didn't want to get 'into my groove' working with Mo'e this morning knowing that I'd have to stop to take hubby to his appointment a little after noon so I decided I'd do what I could on a gift I had received for Christmas.  It's a wall hanging kit that measures 13" x 15"so it shouldn't take too long to do.

I managed to get the background cut and sewn before I had to eat something/anything before leaving for the appointment.

Tonight, after dinner I cut out some of the pieces and now have them being held to the background with those teenie tiny applique pins.

There are still flowers, stems and leaves to cut out..I think I will stitch the sheep down before I add the flowers, etc.  I considered hand stitching, but decided that I'd rather sew by machine and get it done.



It's an hour later and I have the body of the bottom sheep and the ears & legs of the middle sheep sewn down using black thread and a double blanket stitch.  I think I'll try and match the thread to the fabric for the entire applique'.  Yes, the bottom sheep is a dark gray and I used black thread, but my dark gray thread would have looked the same, so I just stuck with the black.

Ok, almost time for the season premiere of Alaska Bush People... can't miss that!!

TTYL  Happy Quilting

Slow day

gloomy foggy day..and cold to boot - not freezin' cold, but in the thirties, which is still too cold to me.

I finally bit the bullet and removed the stitching that I didn't like on my Christmas quilt 2016; broke in my new DVD player and listened to/watched about 1/2 of one of my new Nunsense movies - the one where they go to Nashville to perform at the Grand Ol' Opry.

That was it, quilting wise.  The rest of my day was spent napping, grocery shopping ( and buying new phone for myself), eating dinner ( sandwiches from the deli) and just chilling.

Tomorrow afternoon, hubby has appointment to be fitted and equipped with his bi-pac.  I haven't told him that others have told me that it will take a while for him to get used to it, but it's worth it.  I'm hoping that he'll remember how it was in the hospital this past summer and he'll be fine.

After that, I'm free to work on whatever quilt project I feel like... will depend on how my legs & back feel; if I'm relatively pain free, I'll work with Mo'e on the Christmas quilt... if I'm hurting, then I'll work on something else that's on my 'to do' list.  I'm already two months behind on one of my BOM's... of course, I'm also several months behind on the one I started last January - I hope to get some help with that in the next week or so.

UFO's, BOMs, PIBs (projects in bins waiting ... and waiting)... I've got to get my chit together and get some 'stuff' done.

and on that note... TTYL

Shame on me!

Instead of removing the stitching that I don't like on my Christmas quilt yesterday, I worked on this... only thing done before was the background & border; finished it today - all except the quilting and binding.

I read in one of the groups I belong to on Facebook that someone's father told her that whatever you do on New Year's Day, that's what you'll be doing for the rest of the year.  Doing dishes was a given, so I did some... but I just didn't feel like sitting there ripping out stitches for an hour or so, so I decided I'd do something else that would, hopefully, be quick and pretty easy.

This could have been even easier, but I wanted to give it more of a 3-D effect and so all the full flowers (except one) are loosely attached by stitching on the green pieces in the center of each flower ( stamen/pistol - don't expect me to remember elementary school science) and a couple are tacked down a little bit along the edge to hide a stem that isn't there, etc.

I really like this and the way it came out.. I got more excited with each finished step.

So, no excuses now... I HAVE to rip those stitches out so that I can back to the fun part of quilting MY Christmas quilt.  This won't be the first time that I didn't get it done by Christmas; probably won't be the last either.

Oh wait!  I still have one more block that I need to do... for our guild prez, but it's not due til July, so it can wait a few more days.  I need to either find a cut of black cotton the size I need or I'm going to have to bite the bullet and cut into some yardage which is what I'm afraid I'll have to do and why I haven't started the block yet.  Good enough excuse?  Works for me <smile>

TTYL

Happy New Year!

I didn't think I was going to be able to get back on here today.  It's been so long since I've blogged - so much going on around here.
Hubby ended up having a double bypass on Aug 1st..and ended up staying in the hospital for the entire month...most of it in ICU due to his left lung collapsing twice.  After being released from the hospital, it was three weeks in residential re-hab.  Then it was on to cardio therapy three times a week, with a sleep study stuck in.  Thought everything was going well --until about noon on Christmas Day...12:20 p.m. I was driving him into the local E.R. for shortness of breath.  They admitted him and he was released on Tuesday.
While he was home and doing well, I did manage to get Christmas quilts finished and sent to their owners.

Wall hanging for oldest daughter

Snuggle quilt for 1/5 'Saginaw' grandkids

Snuggle quilt for "Saginaw granddaughter' 2/5

And another snuggle quilt 3/5

Wall hanging for parents of one of my grandsons

Reversible apron for neighbor, Joyce

Quilt for youngest daughter

   

Saginaw grandson (4/5)

                                        5/5 snuggle quilt for Saginaw granddaughter

Now, I'm finally able to get my annual Christmas quilt onto "Mo'e'.  I was just going to baste along the top yesterday, but I couldn't stop there... Oh no :(.  Stitching in the ditch between the border and first row/block went OK and so did the stitching around all the applique and I like the snowflakes I've done so far....not so happy with the stippling in the background;  I'm going to have to take it back out and do something different.
;

                                                 You can barely see the snowflakes

I like the idea of the snowflake in the corners.  Thinking that maybe I should make the piano keys narrower...maybe an inch and a half.  I like the texture of stitching in the trees - thinking every other tree ought to be enough.