CHALLENGE PROJECT POSTED

I am posting a picture of a recent challenge i participated in , in my quilting group....the host just posted the pictures so i can post mine....

the challenge was how we viewed 'Apple Pandowdy'....i chose to let the fabric colors be it....a description as follows:
starting with the outside row....the red is the apples...the next row in which is a brown instead of white with red is the dough, the white in the next layer is the cream i would put on to and the next layer is more apples and the center is the dough....i know its far fetched but i dont have an embroidery machine to do graphic things and i didn't want to do applique so that was my version lol...i wouldn't blame you if it left you scratchig your head lol.....

i finally got a quilt laid out and put in my quilting frame....

where you see the light blue space in diagonal rows is where i am quilting a long feather the length of a row in each of those light blue spaces....i am also doing something a little different for me too...i am using navy thread for hand quilting this time....i wanted to show the feather and take up some of the blank space....dont know what i am going to quilt the border yet...got a little time before it get to it...lol...

we have gotten a lot of snow this past 2 weeks today included....i got out yesterday for some groceries before i got snowed in again so i will have plenty of time for quilting....the really only problem i have is my sore fingers if they arent sore from quilting i make them sore from working on the girls' grandmothers flower garden....but such is life!....more later....

GETTING A LOT DONE THIS WEEK

Yes i am getting a lot of sewing done this week...from the 'old' bags of projects in my basket to the new one that i am going to show you today....

this quilt started because i wanted something more to show off the strings instead of just putting the strings side by side...so i thought maybe stars on the outside of them would be good....then i decided it needed more color than the rust so opted for the green in the white space....this quilt makes me think southwest u.s. or mexico....it is bright in person...my laptop doesn't show colors very well i dont think....there is a bright rust and a brighter green in the picture than shown....

i double stitched to make the triangles for the flying geese so i now have a lot of rust triangle squares and green ones too from the leftovers to make something more....

that makes very little waste in this quilt...the ends of the strips were about the only waste i had....as you can tell i started making pinwheels from the green ones so far just not sure where its going yet lol....

i have just 3 small   UFO quilts left to quilt and maybe will get 2 of them done today then the rest of the ufos will be bigger ones to work on....got to lay out another large batt to be ready as i want to put one of the larger quilts in the frame to hand quilt a diagonal feather design down throughout the quilt....

i made my new challenge item for my sewing group but cant show till they are all shown so that is out but i did finish a ufo topper and the little mini squares quilt i showed in last post ....did all this yesterday....so i hope today is just as productive.....more later....

FINISHED RUNNERS PLUS

Well here are 2 pictures of runners i finished....i am so disappointed....they are batiks and they photograph bad....in an earlier post i posted one of them and these didn't turn out any better...in person they are fine....i guess that is what counts but they wont look very good in the book i keep pics of my projects in

They are about 12 x30 inches,

the bottom one a little smaller....but i got a lot of practice with my machine quilting on them....

More practice is coming....i have i hope the last of the smaller quilts with courthouse steps to quilt....i could have finished it while back when i mentioned it, as i had a back ready but changed my mind and ordered fabric i saw for the back...

The fabric at the top is the back and the lower one is the quilt....I think it will look great with the variety of color the quilt has....so i am going to work on it sometime over the week end unless i get side tracked....

I made a bunch of labels for my quilts while i was waiting for the new quilting foot to come to replace the one that broke....and now  i have all but 3 sewn in the quilts....guess i should have made more of them....i have a bunch of partial filled bobbins that would be good to use up ready to wind for full bobbins and new quilting....

I took this picture through the storm door of the back porch and yard....we dodged a big snowstorm that was headed to the midwest thursday over night....we only got less than 2 inches....i was glad so i didn't have to shovel snow....we need the moisture and have gotten a lot of rain this winter instead of snow that should help....its blowing and dreary looking today so i suppose the snow could blow...but it looks like we got some ice on top of it .....

well going to sew this afternoon after i figure out what kind of a meal i will have later...maybe something simple so i can sew more....lord knows i need to sew 24 hours a day as many projects i have going at the moment....more pics about them are coming in more posts lol....but for now gotta run.....more later....

SOME PROJECTS GETTING NEW HOME

I thought maybe i should come in and post now as i gotta get some groceries and run errands, then wrap my granddaughters birthday present....

Her present is the quilt i made and i made her a pillow complete with pillow form like the quilt also....

then there is the pillow form and pillow like the table runner she wanted too...she already has the runner...

its a small one that she says works over the arm of her sofa so the pillow to match should look good there too...i dont think she will need more pillows for awhile lol....she already bought  some in the colors of the quilt above....both pillows measure 18 inches square so they are good size ones....

Maybe i will get to do a little other sewing later today....i have projects sittin all over right now....its finish time i think before i start anything new....i would like to get the rest of the blocks made for the 'stringy stars' quilt i am working on....i am liking it quite well...no pics yet.....lol...dragging my feet on that....and of course i would like to get the quilting done that i started before my quilt foot broke....so lots of things i should be doing....so i guess i better get going....more later....

SLAVING ON THE FLOWER GARDEN QUILT

No i havent abandoned my blog...lol...i have been working steadily on the grandmothers flower garden...slaving away on first one part of it then another....first i went through all the clipped combos and re did the colors as i was getting too many different colors in a block....then i basted a lot of them and then proceeded to finish the blocks complete with half the white that i put around them ready to go in a row....

this picture is one i had before but some of the ones in the pic are ones i remade blocks of this week....i have 30 of them  ready now..i laid out the 2 quilts on the floor so i could see what colors are in both...i found that i needed to go back and cut out more of some of the kinds i already had....

1 strip makes a block and a third of the main color for each block so a strip doesn't go far....and i run out of them often....

tonight my fingers are so sore from holding and maneuvering the hexes around while i sew so i guess i better give them a rest....not to mention the hand that i use to hold the needle with....i havent been sewing anything else all week end or since the new week started....just slaving on the flower garden quilt.....

i havent even checked to see if my new quilting foot fits that i ordered....it looks like the old one did so i am pretty sure its ok....

got to take time out for groceries sometime this week.....the weather is even going to co operate....may get to the 40+ degrees too....that would be a big plus considering i hate getting out in the cold....

the quilt gals want to see the flower garden quilts for show and tell this week so i will pack it all up ready to take with me...i would rather wait till i have more rows done but then they might be too big to handle lol....

i remeasured and i have to have 13 rows across and 11 rows in length so i have a long way to go before they are done....i think i will miss my goal of March for them....so i will aim for next Christmas....lol....for now though i am going to grab some popcorn and watch tv ......more later....

TOO MANY COLORS IN HEXES MAKES BLOCK PLACEMENT HARDER

Lately i have been working on the 2 grandmothers flower garden quilts i am making for my girls...but i have been having trouble with placement of the blocks because of color combos....after i analyzed the problem i have decided that it is because i am incorporating too many colors into the block....

most of the main color hexes in the blocks have more than one color in them...and lately i seem to be putting 2 other contrasting colors as part of the the block with it....in the picture above a good example is the bottom hex combo and the top hex combo the colors should be a little more mono chromatic .....it makes it easier to place blocks in the row so that not the same contrasting colors are not close to each other....

In my box of hex combos that i have ready for working on i am going to go through them and make them more user friendly....i have more solid colors in my stash and quite a variety of colors so it should not be a problem, just more cutting lol....from the looks of the contents in the box it could use some better organization too lol....

By using floral prints most have 2 or colors in the flowers so i will have to watch that i dont add too many colors or each block will end up with the same colors...and we cant have that lol....

Later today i am going to quilt the 3 runners i have ready on the table and get them ready to bind then be done with them...maybe get pics ready for the rest of the week....i spent last evening for a couple hours going through quilt mags hunting ideas for small things...didn't find much...i did find an idea for string blocks i want to try....more on this later....

I have been working on the 4sq-4patch quilt...putting sashes around the ones done and hunting fabric combos for more....i have 45 and if i make the top the size i want i need 70 sooo i have a few more to do....more on this too later....

Its very cold this week so good time to be inside...weather man says warmer next week up in the 30's....good by then i will need supplies so i should start my list now....

My energy for sewing has waned some this past week so i am hoping that quilting those runners will get me going again......more later

LAST OF THE COURTHOUSE STEPS? MAYBE FISHING IS NEXT!

Well yesterday i did get to wally world for a bit....i got my lunch at a fast food place and wrote out a small list so i wouldn't forget what i wanted in case i got into a conversation with anyone and my thoughts went out of my head lol...i got there at a good time too, the parking spaces were up close but the wind was sooooo strong, glad i wasn't wearing a wig! lol....

here is the yellow background, courthouse steps quilt i fnished the other day....

AND i sure hope this is the last of those pesky courthouse steps blocks that i have had for the last 30 years....why o why i made so many of them is beyond me....but  i think they are all made up now....i know i said that before but i have looked in every nook and cranny and dont see anymore...i have made a lot of smaller baby type quilts with them for sure....and i am ahead and ready for the next new babies in the family...

this morning i got out all the fabric for my sons quilt....i found FISH fabric about 2 years ago for his but couldn't make up my mind on how to make it...not only that but i finally washed up the last of what i got for it so its all ready to work on now....i measured and decided on how i was going to make it today....in fact i might go in and work on it later today while everything is fresh in my mind...at least get the top done....and today i feel confident enough to machine quilt it....hah! have to see how i feel when i actually go to quilt it...that might all change lol.

yesterday i got enough goodies to make a veggie soup and i think i have a chunk of roast that i cut off some time ago in the freezer for the beef part....then later i can make ground up meat sandwiches with mayo,celery, onion and pickle relish to go with the soup...i never add the meat to the soup as it get old faster than the veggies do so this is a good trade off for nutrition......lol, my idea is simple, i wont have to cook for a few days and that leaves the door open to sew lol....plus the weather is going to get close to 10F daytime and i wont go out in that if i can help it lol....

i want to play around wih those new modern blocks i am creating....maybe add another element to them or make the bigger one smaller...they look too plain at the moment...more on this later as i stated...but they will be on my mind till i get them worked out  so i am sure i will pick up where i left off yesterday....

hmm...i left a coffee cup somewhere and i need to find it and warm it up again...cold coffee isn't bad either...i get a lot of that when i am sewing and too lazy to go warm it back up lol ...lets see where was i last?.....more later......

FLOWER GARDEN QUILT IS GETTING MORE BLOCKS

Today i am on my laptop...it sure is different to use....i should use it more often i guess...i make too many mistakes on it compared to the other one lol though....

this is what i am working on today and most of the week...at the top you see the blocks into place...i have to add some white to one of them before i can add it and some to the other one also i see...i will have the row complete when they are sewn into place....but lately i am thinking i may need to make both of the quilts  longer...that will mean ripping out the end pieces...i should decide before i add more rows across....the last time i talked to the girls they expressed how they would like it long enough for their bedspreads....that is something to think about considering they both have king size beds...i will think about this...but i doubt i will make each one that big or i might not ever get done with them....

this is what this one looks like today so far....i have the other one on the almost done with the 6th row across...i need to work a little feverishly on these...i had put them away for awhile while i got my granddaughters quilt done...so now it the grandmothers flower garden time again....

i also have the courthouse steps quilt with the yellow background pinned and ready for quilting....i havent decided for sure if i am going to hand quilt or machine quilt it...will do that later...dragging my feet again lol....i would like to find a new design for machine quilting that would be easy for me to try so i might do some practicing also this week and see what comes from it...

the weather is to be lousy for the next few days with lots of rain....we need the rain bad and i am glad its not snow and the ground is not froze so it should soak in...peoples wells will suffer soon if we dont get the needed rain....i dont like the dreary weather but i can avoid it by sewing up a storm inside instead of looking at the one outside lol....

well i gotta get to the kitchen and find out what is going to be for supper...so far not a clue and i have to cook whatever pops up fish and chips would taste good...and oh yes some fresh strawberries , yum yum lol so more later......

ITS A STRING DAY

I have done nothing but think about the color variation in the 'asian garden' quilt that i showed in the last post...my first plan was to take it all apart and try to get the green blocks the same color....but 'holy cow' that is a lot of work, work i am not sure i want to do right now....

So today i had to quit thinking about that quilt and got out the bin of scraps and started with the string blocks again....

i made 18 this morning , some cut ready to go and others on the right have to be trimmed up but now on a break from them...not sure if i will make more this afternoon or not....i will make that decision later....i have 3 different yardages of fabric in the washer right now, one of them is the blue for the yellow &courthouse steps quilt border...i may work on that instead....

It seems like a nice day so far and after checking the forcast last night for today i just might get in the car and get out of the house for abit...i have been thinking quilts too long and need to clear my head....that might help me make a decision about the 'asian garden' quilt...

i still have to put all that fabric away and what did i do yesterday but i got out some more...grrrr...lol...today i looked up what i thought i was going to use for the back of the asian garden quilt but 'no go' its only 2 yards and i need at least 3+ sooo...i am going to have to look deeper in the green stack of stash...i do believe i have 1 piece that might be big enough....i sure dont want to go out and buy more at this point...

i am hunting for a new runner pattern to make another one...i was asked what i was going to do with all the runners i am making....well i am using them for practice with my machine quilting and when it becomes our family turn to host our reunion i will gather them all up and hope the family will want something i made...hopefully i will get better and better at machine quilting......well gotta either cook something or get ready and leave to find a late lunch or early supper....i like the last idea better lol...more later....

MY GRANDDAUGHTERS MODERN QUILT

I finally got the camera going and took a picture of my granddaughters quilt all done....it has been a year in the making...i kept putting it aside for other projects through the year and last month i made up my mind to get it done...here it is....

but you know there is always something right behind it ready to be done and i have quite a selection to pick from lol...

its a toss up between the color study quilt i call 'MAZE TO NOWHERE'...cant remember now if it is no. 1 or 2....this one has a green border...the other one that is done has a blue border (in the first pic)....both are pictured below...they are alike except for the borders....a case of making too many blocks lol...

this is my own block that i designed and it is a very easy block to sew ...the seams dont meet so you dont have to deal with bulk there and it goes fast ...it does take a lot of variety of colors though...it took me a long time before i got what i wanted to use gathered up but it gave me time to figure out just what kind of block i was going to make...

and the other quilt to be quilted is this one...

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i would like to get it done too...i have the back for it that i want to use but dragging my feet on what to quilt in the light space....i love feathers and i think i have a stencil that will work....i will hand quilt i think as i am not good enough to do feathers on machine and i would like to give this one away as a gift later....more on my dilemma later lol

for right now i am nursing a back ache...i aggrivated an old injury last week carrying something i shouldn't have and now i suffer for it....and believe me winter weather isn't helping...but our weather could be worse and i am glad so far that the snow is north of us but soon i think we will have some....then i will have plenty of time to sew just hope my back settles down by then...

well lunch is coming  later this morning so i dont have to cook.... i better get dressed and i could use more coffee to get woke up...happy sewing....more later....

GRAND D. QUILT AND HAND QUILTING THOUGHTS

This is my granddaughters quilt i am working on right now...i took it out of the frame to relax it a bit so it wouldn't get those ring marks on it and i wanted to see how the stencil is working that i am using to hand quilt it....

This quilt is inching along ok without mishaps so far...i hope i dont jinx it by mentioning that lol....my hands started cramping last night while quilting but i have been working on it now 3 days straight so i think they need a rest...

Here is a closeup of the detail of the quilting in the inner border...it is working just fine....when planning a quilted border i usually pick something that doesn't fit lol...but this one popped out at me when i began to think about quilting it....i didn't want a lot of 'fru-fru' for this one as it is very contempory...i was even thinking of drawing boxes here and there freehand but didn't think i could be consistent enough....

THOUGHTS ON HAND QUILTING

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When i was first beginning this adventure of quilting was back in the 60's when i was accumulating lots of fabrics from sewing for my 2 girls....i had a huge box of scrap...my neighbor, an avid sewer encouraged me to make a quilt...so with her guidance i ventured into this world....i bet i picked her brain at least twice a week after that...lol

I learned a lot from her and from what i am told it was bred into me, as my grandmother was next to being a pro at quilting selling her quilts thoughout the county...she passed on when i was 5 so didn't get to know her long....i do have a big box of her quilting things though my aunt and mother passed onto me that i get out and go through now and then...

one of my early thoughts of hand quilting as you had to make sure the design was continueous without breaks all around the quilt...and another thought back then was no line shal cross another....so that played a role in getting me started...i was afraid i would make a mistake and they wouldn't fit right....now i am not afraid to be adventurous...lol...those thoughts came about from the older ladies at the time...when rules were strict and rigid about sewing...boy am i glad that changed lol....it has opened the door for  many new products and ideas for the sewer and quilter....

I will never be an expert quilter but i can do 18 stitches to an inch...now that is counting the top and bottom stitches...i am told that is how you count them...most of the time i average about 15....which i think it still ok...at least they dont look galloping along lol...

i have been teaching myself to machine quilt...not really good at it so i will stick to a lot of hand quilting along with learning new things so i am sure i will be adding little thoughts on hand quilting as i go along.....more later....

MUG RUGS & SMALL BAG DONE

here is a small bag i made this week...i need to make more of them to keep on hand for gifts...so easy to make and quick to add alittle bit of money or something to give as gifts when one is needed, dont want to wait till last minute to make them either....more on this later....

i also got all those mug rugs done

 and ready for my daughter to get hers and there will be some left in case that gal comes to check out what i have been doing....i need 1 each of lavender/purple ones and 1 browns/oranges and i would have a set of each to have on hand too....

this is the week i am to work on my granddaughters quilt too...i did quilt on it last night and now today my fingers are sore....i love the fabrics by Hoffman but they are harder to hand quilt because they are so dense and i put a hoffman batik on the back so makes it doubly hard to get a needle through it...when i get to the inner border it has a softer fabric for the top so will be easier...good thing as i have a 4 line border stencil to work on then....using 4 needles at a time....cant wait to get that far....almost there...maybe after tonight if i can work on it more....

got 2 of the 3 pkgs ready for mailing today....grrrr left out the note i wrote that went in one of them...so i will write a letter and send seperate....i am not going to tear open the package....used too much packing tape on it....lol... will mail them out Thursday when i go to town for a haircut that i desperately need....

well got to  check the cabinets and see if i can make a meal without going to the store...only need a light supper but that is what i lack is stuff to make something light but i could cook a 6 course full supper if i wanted lol....dont want to do that much work lol......more later......

GRANDMOTHERS FLOWER GARDEN TIP

i learned something about adding blocks on the ends of rows of the gfg quilt on the left today....it is hard to know where you are with the blocks unless you lay it out and pin where you want the block....if i hadn't double checked myself today i would have sewn at least2 blocks in the wrong places and would have had to rip out...

i have been working on these quilts this week...in various stages...cutting more white hexes, yes again....cutting a couple more flowered print hexes and sewing hexes into flowers and finally working on the rows sewing posies into place....i sure spent the hours working on these quilts....

when i wasn't doing that i was string block making....i found out from my youngest daughter that she likes quilts of a lot of colors, no matter the pattern....i didn't realize this but i should have being she likes primitive furniture...no wonder she grabbed the old 4 patch quilt i made a long long time ago i was going to trash...all made from scraps from the clothes sewing i did for the girls back in the 60's....i thought it got threw out lol....i am sure she will like the string quilt when it gets that far.....my other daughter said she wasn't too crazy about string blocks...talk about 2 girls and different personalities lol

i am still waiting for the thread order before i can work on the mug rugs and i have been getting the boxes ready that i am sending to friends in Texas and i hope to send one to Georgia also if i can find the right thing....and i have one to send right here in Il too...the dining table is a mess of boxes and rug mugs and no room to sew...ugh....that isn't good lol....

and to top it off i wasn't feeling good today for some reason....i had planned on going grocery shopping and looking around today but didn't trust my body to co operate....going to eat light for supper so maybe things will settle down...its the wrong time to be sick for sure with Thanksgiving just 2 days away lol....

well not a lot to talk about tonight....just sewing when i feel like it....going to lay down for a bit and watch the evening news...sure hope there is some good news for a change.....more later...

SMALL QUILT DONE

the sun is out today but i am sure its deceiving as the temp is just above freezing....i was suprised this morning when i looked out the kitchen window to see ice in the corners of the window....i dont think there should have been....maybe the window isn't tight anymore...will have to look into that i think....

saturday i walked by this quilt laying on the table ready for quilting and i said to myself several times during the morning 'i better quilt that today' and the last time i thought why not just sit down and do it now...lol....

so i did....got it all done including the binding before the day was through....hopefully these are the last of the pastel patches i cut out years ago....they have to be at least 20 years old lol....i had a habit of cutting way too many squares for things back then....but then i was making a lot of baby blankets for kids so i guess i thought i was ahead of the game....well they all grew up and now their kids are having kids and i am back making baby things again for great neices and nephews ...not as many though....

i wanted to make a quilt top for my good friend who is very sick with diabetes and other health problems but after figuring, i couldn't use the fabric for that particular pattern... i didn't have enough so now i am looking for another pattern to use....

Not sure what the rest of the day will bring....this morning i worked on sewing the posies to the main part of one of the gfg quilts...i think this week i will work on that then by Thanksgiving day i will need to baste more white hexes again so that will be my sewing while i am visiting and eating thanksgiving day lol....

but for now i am just going to get another cup of coffee and ponder my next move.....more later.....

SHERBET COLORS QUILT

i made this quilt a few years ago for my grand niece when she was expecting a baby....i have liked it really well and almost kept it as i ran out of a lot of the colors especially the blue border which i think is very striking and i wasn't sure i could ever make another close to the same colors again....

its a basic hour glass block with all colors combos without matching when its put together hence the prism effect....the picture shows them pretty good but the colors are more striking in person as i remember....cut two strips at least 1-1/2 inches, i think i used 2 inch strips...use triangle to cut and use both sides of the fabric making a positive and negitive and use both in the quilt for contrast....

well while i was ironing my new fabric yesterday i thought about this quilt and wondered if i had enough pastels to make another to put in my cabinet for my future GGChildren if they come to be....i looked up the picture again in my photo album i keep and again on line to see if i still had a record of it....

i recently found a blue that is almost the color though it has a hint of purple here and there in the fabric but i think it will be ok....i would like to be as bold as the one in the picture....i have yet to round up all the pastel solids or blends to make it ....i am sure it will be different from the picture because some of the blends i liked are no longer available...i already tried  reordering those lol....Hoffman watercolors really stood out in the quilt but they have discontinued several of them i used....but i will keep looking because one day soon i will be making another one similar to the sherbet colors above and i think bigger....it was so much fun to make!.....more later.....