on a roll..

after last year of traveling and spending lots of time with my hubby, who had cancer (and is in remission--PTL), I can finally get back to sewing...cleaning and basically catching up with life at home. And it feels so good! I love to travel, but I think I overdid it last year. Oh it was fun...but I sure paid the price!

My bi-annual quilt show is this year and I don't have very many quilts to enter in my own show! I went through my UFO's....and I had a LOT more than I thought I did! YIKES!  I vowed to myself that I would make a valiant effort to get ONE quilt done per week, sometimes two!  Oh yeah. Sounded good at first, but things are starting to slow down a bit as the UFO's now are needing more than borders and backings!  And my list of flimsies (quilt tops) is dwindling as I'm getting those done as well.  But I will give it my best shot.

Here are a few that I have worked on in the last few weeks.  I will get all of them posted eventually.


This little wallhanging has been ready and basted and all it needed was quilted! Sheesh! I made the Figgy Pudding 3D quilt a few years ago and loved doing the trees. So I did just 3, with negative images. I just love the look and will be perfect in my great room next Christmas

3D Black and White trees

 Another little wallhanging that has been patient as well. I made a Garden Gate Trellis quilt for my MIL several years ago. Well, I had to fussy cut the fabric to get the desired flowers and left my fabric looking like swiss cheese! I cut it up into little squares and decided to teach a watercolor class using those leftover pieces.  I got it done in time for her birthday this past March. She wasn't at home when I dropped it off with the other gifts for her, but she never mentioned this one. Hmmm. Wonder if my family is tired of getting 'quilty' gifts from me?  I did get her some other things as well. Oh well, I enjoyed making it for her. :)

Watercolor Flower Basket

 I designed this ( I was inspired by my friends quilt) for my last quilt retreat in Pawleys.  I recently re-did one of our guest rooms in gray, yellow and pink and thought it would be a perfect wallhanging. It's about 42" square.

Keep Calm and Quilt On

...and the embroidered center....

This is 9 Patch Lattice, done with Elizabeth Hartman's of Oh Fransson, free pattern. I just love this. It's so simple and a nice blend of fabrics. Some little baby at some point is going to love it. 

9 Patch Lattice

and the backing done with leftover strips...

9 Patch Lattice back

9 Patch Lattice

Back to work, I have binding to do on one and blocks to finish on another. 

A finish for Valentines Day

Just in the nick of time! I quilted and put on the binding on this Buggy Barn's Crazy Hearts pattern. It's only been waiting maybe 3 years! I meandered around the hearts, adding a few 'love', 'hugs' and 'kisses' sneak in. I did pebbles in the outer heart and echo quilted in the inner heart. Happy Heart Day to my hubby!




Crazy hearts and I sure wish I could tell you the designer. The only thing I know is that the fabric is a Moda Line. Sandy Gervais, perhaps? Too long ago to remember!





Kisses for Mr. K




Hugs too!




Love you Kirt...

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Testing iPhone posting

Back in the saddle again. This is kind of a test to see how posting to my blog works from my phone.

At the eye dr with Ms S... Check up after cataract surgery a few years ago.


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Shakespeare in the Park--DONE!

Shakespeare in the Park

And it's done!  I looked back and I started this back in 2009!  It means she is 3 years old already.  I admit, it's been hanging on my design wall for over a year.  It just took a little incentive to light a fire under my rear end to get it done.  I was asked to have a Quilt Exhibition in the University's Art Gallery this summer and I really wanted this one it the exhibit, so I busted a gut, developed tendonitis, starved my husband and a colony of dust bunnies moved in, but I got it done. About 12 hours before I had to hang it in the exhibit! LOL

This is from Judy Martin's The Creative Pattern Book, but I admit that I recreated it in EQ7, to color it like I wanted and I pieced it a little differently than in the book. But I fell in love with this pattern when it was all the rage, oh....like 3 years ago!   I used leftover fabrics from another quilt I made for my hubby. He loves these colors. A little bland for me, but I admit I do like this quilt. If you notice, I added little sparks of burgundy here and there. I just could not do a quilt without at least a little color!

I'll be posting my progress on this quilt soon.

April finish

Just squeaking' in at the tail end of the month. I gotta quit doing that!  This is my finish for April.  We are leaving mid-May for a trip, so I better get hustling or I'll never get May's done.

My Flimsy closet ran out of hangers and I vowed to not make more quilts until all the hangars were empty.  Can I do it?  Hmm, not sure, but am trying.

This is a class sample I made a few years ago, but never quilted.  It's Winning Hands (from Eleanor Burn's book of same name), and I made it in our Buckeye colors!  Actually a student did one years ago and I always liked it, so I made one for me.  And now it's going to go to a good friend who helped me out on a project.

OSU Winning Hands

A new Grandma is being born!

ABC quilt for Sue

No, not me. I have 6 grandkids already!  A friend is having her first grand baby soon and has waited SO long for this to happen. She was beginning to think she would never get the chance.  A group I am in (a non quilting group) have what they call 'Grandma Showers' when one of us becomes a Grandma for the first time.  My friend was in this group for 25+ years and dropped out a few years ago, so won't get a shower. :(  But a few of us decided to surprise her anyway.  I have made quilts for all my other friends, so made one for her too.

I have made several of these over the years, and had one bag of blocks already done.  I have collected prints over the years that would work with this quilt.  My own grandkids have theirs, so this bag of blocks was just sitting in a bin.

So, I really killed two birds with one stone!  Another UFO done! And a gift done! Woo too..don't you love it when things work out like that?

The quilt size turned out to be 50" x 60"..so a little bit bigger than a normal baby quilt..but will be perfect when she becomes a toddler and then Grandma can play the ABC game with her. My own grandkids were entertained for hours with theirs. 

I hope everyone is having a great spring! We sure are.  It got almost a bit too warm a few weeks ago, now it's more like spring.  A little bit cooler, but very refreshing. I'm loving it!

A Hen Party

Actually..it should have been called a Rooster Party....but the hens were doing the work...so we're calling it the Hen Party....lots of fun and cackling going on for sure!

And it took all of this......

a mess at the cutting table....that's what this is...

A mess at the sewing table as well...

to make these.....and are they not the cutest things EV-ER?  they were pretty funky, that's for sure, but the more funky we make them the better!

Work in progress on Henry..

Henry is done...and needed glasses. His eyes were a bit crooked...so had to fix him up!

We howled all night making these and ended up on a Julia Child binge...wondering exactly what she would think of our chickens.  

Filling his innards...

We used crushed walnut shells

And you know what?  We were supposed to be making the pincushions and ended up making Door Stops!!  OR Large Pincushions!  Guess that's what happens when you work too late into the night and start a new project on a whim!  All UFO projects went on the floor as we jumped in with both feet to create this guys. 

side view of Henry

Julie's guy

Chele's?

The whole bunch getting ready to watch the movie...

They are just so darn cute!  The pattern was from Quilt Magazine April 2012 issue--so it's still out there....run and get your copy today!  And then you can have your own hen party!

February's UFO Finish

Wow--by the hair of my chinny chin chin!  Thank goodness it's Leap Year and I got an extra day!

Actually, I did have this done on Monday, but couldn't find time to post it until now.  

This is a sampler quilt I designed for a Beginning to Quilt class I taught last year.  I usually don't quilt my samples until after the class due to the weight of hanging them. It's much easier to hang 'flimsies'.  But it was time to get it done.  

Summertime Fun

Summertime Fun

Summertime Fun close up of Flying Geese block

Summertime Fun block
Fussy Cutting, HST's, 9 Patch

Summertime Fun

I also got a few wallhangings finished over the weekend, although they aren't that old.  I had to do the machine appliqué and then quilt them.  The February and March quilts are from the Calendar book by Kim Schrader.

February Calendar Quilt

  I'm doing a monthly series based on her pattern.  They are a small enough project to get some good technique teaching and practice in and get them done! 

March Calendar Quilt

 I'm working a month ahead to miracles of all miracles happen…we get them done in time to hang in the month they are supposed to! 

Mission Accomplished!

Joy's Parting Gift

My first UFO of the year done!  Okay...so it wasn't that old, but it was from last year and now it's done. I was in a hurry to get it mailed off, so only got one good shot.

Joy's Parting Gift

There is a pattern out there like this, but it make a big quilt, I thought I would rather have it be wall hanging size.  I just sewed jelly roll strips together, adding a wide "ribbon" 1/3 of the way over.  Then I cut off the top third of the strips and added another 'ribbon' of fabric  Added the bow...wishing now the tails were a bit longer. :(   I had a party and had everyone sign good bye wishes to her.  I quilted it with various size swirls. And now it's on it's way.

Sample sewing

It's that time of year again....getting all my samples done for Spring. Actually, this is later than normal as I decided to take January and part of February off and head south...where it has been deliciously warm! I love it! Sure makes it more enjoyable to sit and sew, looking out at bright sunshine and taking the afternoon walk to stretch the legs and back.  Especially when I have 11 quilts (ok--some are just blocks) to make!

Here is what I've been working on...

This is a fabric line from a few years ago...Oz by Sanae (Moda).  I had just a FQ bundle that hubby bought me and thought I would wing it on the border...more on that later....

sewing strip sets.....

making cornerstone units

making sashing...

is it ever going to end?

all done but the border...

Ta da! Slide Show (a pattern by Atkinson Designs).  A scrappy border just wasn't going to look right, so a quick internet search yielded just enough fabric for a border and some for the binding. I am loving this quilt, even without the border!

Sew It's Finished...

Well, they will be this year!  I joined the group "Sew It's Finished" in hopes that publicly admitting my need for accountability for getting UFO's done will work. :)  And so here they are:

1. Be Attitudes
2. Pop Star
3. Dresden Plate
4. Folk Art Christmas Stars
5. JOY's Parting Gift
6. Shakespeare in the Park

Shakespeare in the Park Blocks

7. Red & Black Row by Row
8. French Lone Star
9. Pink & Black Pinwheel
10. Folk Art 16 patch
11. Nana's Garden

Nana's Garden block

12. Diamond Scrap Star

And so there they are--the UFO's I'd like to finish this year. Some are 8+ years in the aging barrel and others were started last year. And I have plenty more, but I chose these to be done first. I also have flimsies to do as well, and would like to get 12 done of those.  But it's an ongoing project and wonder if I will EVER be caught up there.