A Finish for Jean

I've shared a little about my very, very talented mother in law.  She knits, crochets, sews, makes a mean custard pie, so forth and so on!  In one of my first posts I talked about how her quilts inspired me to get into this hobby.

To simplify her pile of WIP's, a couple of months ago, she pulled out two beautiful finished quilt tops and asked me to quilt and bind them.  Of course I couldn't refuse despite my fear of messing up someone else's work!  It was a wonderful reason to dust off my free motion skills that had not been exercised in months and bravely (!?) did so with simple meander quilting.

She supplied the polyester batting and backing.  This was my first experience with polyester batting and although I had no problem quilting through it, the weight was noticeably heavier than the cotton batting I normally work with.  What a soft puffy quilt though when finished!

I love her choice of layout for these log cabin blocks. Although pieced probably decades ago, with a wide array of fabric types, the colors seem bright and contemporary.  The quilt is a double bed size.



And isn't her son a wonderful quilt holder?  Looks like a quilt monster or something...

Finishing this quilt for someone else, reminded me how much I respect the responsibility that long arm quilters take on each time they accept another maker's work.

We brought it back to her this week and I think she was pleased!  Now for her to decide who in the family will be the lucky recipient of an heirloom quilt made by Gram!

Have a great day!
Kathy

Back to Quilting

Now that the holidays are over and most of the decorations are put away, it is time to get serious about sewing.  This week I basted and quilted two quilts! I can even share a little something with you.

After many months away from my Sweet Sixteen I went to work on a very special quilt.  After a little dusting and oiling, I started sewing and it stitched beautifully despite months of neglect and quilting with a polyester batting for the first time.  I love this machine!

I've organized my Splendid Sampler blocks in approximate color order, ultimately ten rows of ten blocks.

As we get closer to the finish, this layout suggests where I need more blocks in certain colors.  Fabric for blocks #89 and 90 have been cut, sewing to commence soon!


Happy Wednesday!
Kathy

Hello 2017!

We're looking forward to another wonderful year for our family.  My first grandchild will be joining the family in April!  We'll be officially welcoming another daughter-in-law in the fall!  Soon I will be fully recovered from surgery and ready to hike, kayak, practice yoga and play like I used to be able to!  And who knows what else will come our way!

Between all the baby and wedding planning and PT and other family stuff, I will absolutely find time to sew.  There are projects I would like to work on including:

• Quilts for the remaining beds (two twin size and one queen)
• Finishing the Tula Pink City Sampler
• Complete a quilt top using the Splendid Sampler blocks
• Make a Christmas quilt starting with the little pile of Christmas blocks
• A few more quilts to donate
• A scrappy quilt that makes a noticeable dent in the scrap bins

And there are things I will try very hard NOT to do:

• Be disappointed if I don't get the above list completed.  I love my Quilters Planner and will use that to keep track of projects but I am sure priorities will change all year.
• Stop buying fabric.  No apologies.
• Join another QAL.  It is tempting and there are so many beautiful ones out there (take a peek at this post by Kim at My Go Go Life for temptation) but I just don't need another set of deadlines that I will feel bad about missing.  But it is so much fun...

However, I will apologize in advance if there are periods of secret sewing that impact what I can share on my little blog!  I'm sure you will understand!

To start the year I am working on a quilt to match the pillows in the family room.  I went with neutral colors for furniture, walls and carpets so that an evolving pop of color might be fun.

The pattern is Shimmer by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I'm optimistic about this!

Looking forward to sewing and chatting with you this year!
Kathy

Goodbye 2016!

Another year has passed....and quickly it seems (but I say that every year lately).  2016 was another interesting year when lots of memories were made.

In the sewing department, relatively speaking, 2016 was a less productive year.  My primary focus was trying to finish the decorating in our newly renovated home.  Lots of pillows, window seats and a couple of window treatments were completed.

I really love making small projects for gifts and donations.  In addition to the Christmas gifts in the last post, here's a sample of other little finishes during 2016.

A few sewing accomplishments I am quite pleased with are the completion of the 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month...

...completing the Tula Pink City Sampler quilt top...

...and making all 88 of the Splendid Sampler blocks to date!

I just noticed that all three of these are sampler quilts.  Interesting!

So not my most productive quilting year but I am OK with that! Wishing you and yours all the best in 2017!

Linking up with:

Just a Little Christmas Sewing

I've had a wonderful Christmas that we managed to stretch over 6 days and three states.  With my temporary mobility limits my gift sewing was limited this year.  I did finish a few little pouches.

In addition to the double zip pouch I shared with you a few days ago, I made three boxy pouches for my three men. 

How nice I had just the right fabric in my stash for my baseball fan, movie critic and star wars fan.  I used this easy to follow tutorial by The Seasoned Homemaker.

I couldn't resist purchasing Gilmore Girls fabric from aprilcobbsdesign on Etsy for the women in my men's lives.  Very timely I thought!!

You recognize this as Anna's wide open pouch tutorial of course.

So that's it...7 pouches, 8 zippers, 36 boxed corners and 7 happy recipients!

It's time to start thinking of 2017 sewing goals!  I have a LONG list that I need to prioritize!

A Block Here and There

I am slowly getting my sewing strength (and coordination!) back.  Working on a block at a time is the perfect pace right now.  I've been catching up on the Splendid Sampler blocks.  Did you know there are over 40,000 people worldwide participating in this?!

#79 - Spool of Inspirational Thread

#82 - Under the Apple Tree.

 #83 - Minnesota Maze

# 84 - The Early Bird.  One of my favorite blocks!

#85 - Flow 

 #86 - Unity Star

Then I found this #uglychristmassweater on IG and couldn't resist giving the pattern by Kerry at KidGiddy a try.  I even dug into my very precious stash of Dear Mr. Claus for this cute little block.

And for a laugh...we did a little shopping with my almost 90 year old mother-in-law the other day.  Here I am trying to keep up with her at Sam's Club!  She left me in the dust!!

Linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social Party!

A Little Sewing Therapy

I'm thrilled to report that I am recovering quite nicely from that silly hip surgery.  Thanks for all your healing messages and thoughts!

I've even managed to squeeze in some therapeutic sewing time.  Of course, it is the time of year of secret sewing projects, but there are a couple of ones I can share with you.  First is a little table runner that I started in a class with my local quilt guild.  Cute wonky Christmas trees.

This has been shipped off to Chicago to be part of my son's holiday decor.

I also snuck a little tree ornament into the Chicago package.

I made yet another of Svetlana's two in one pouch.  It's an easy to follow pattern with a very neat finish.  One of these days I will have to make one that I actually keep!

Love all the Cotton and Steel black and white fabric.

 I've fallen a bit behind on the Splendid Sampler project...and I am perfectly fine with that.  I have enjoyed making each interesting block (OK, enjoyed MOST blocks) and its kind of a treat to set aside some time to work on one.

#76 - Little Things

#77 - Prism.  It took longer to pick out the fabric than to sew this one!

#78 - Jersey

#80 - Heartstring Star

#81 - With Love From

Winter has started here by the lake.  If I have to sit around and look outside, well at least the snow is lovely.

Have a great day!
Kathy