Finally some updates

Fall has been busy, busy, busy, but I have accomplished a few quilt projects. That's much easier to do now that I have things organized in a sewing room. It really saves time to be able to put my hands immediately on whatever I need at the moment.

Here's a tote bag made from a block kit purchased on sale from my local quilt shop. There was enough fabric in the kit to make 2 blocks, so I added some extra stash fabric to them to make them into a tote.

I LOVE the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. I used it to stitch the pumpkin appliques.

A friend, who is weeding out her stash by making donation quilts with her extra fabric, gave me some to use when I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't have enough fabric for practice on my new sewing machine. She also gave me the pattern for this quick design called London Roads. I have the top all pieced and it's now waiting to be quilted and then finally donated to a local hospital.

I finished piecing this wall quilt and have to decide how to quilt it. I'll probably do mostly in the ditch quilting, but maybe some meandering around the crow and house appliques.

This was made for my favorite little girl's 1st birthday. She loves kitties and pointing out noses and ears. I used a wool applique design and adjusted it for cotton appliques. It's about 16 x 16.

This lap quilt was made for my daughter-in-law who recently had foot surgery and will be laid up for a while. She loves vintage type fabrics and is very in to recycling, so I tried to use lots of older pieces from my stash. I also put in a few novelty bits with pictures of things she likes...elephants, baseball, music, apples for the teacher, etc. The pattern was called Lazy Log Cabin, but we both thought there was nothing lazy about it : ). All the fabrics were cut into 2" strips, then 4 long strips were stitched together and the triangles cut from them.The finished blocks were arranged in the barn raising setting.

This was the first large project I have machine quilted and it was definitely a learning experience. I didn't have time to mark the top, so I just free motion quilted everything. The light blocks have flowers and leaves meandering over them. The darker blocks are done in a feather pattern. I know. What was I thinking?!!!


I didn't have enough of any one fabric for the backing, so I used several different reds and just pieced them together in large blocks. It worked out well and was in keeping with the scrappy theme. My daughter-in-law was thrilled with it, by the way.

somanywips

Most of my at home time this summer was spent cleaning, purging, and reorganizing. It feels good to have dug out from under some of the accumulated stuff. The best result is finally a dedicated sewing room (and sometime guest room). Many years ago our local grocery store (Wegmans) had a fabric department. When they decided to close that department, they offered a couple pattern book tables for free. We snapped them up to use for kids project tables, but for the last several years they've been stored in the basement. Somehow it seemed very appropriate to use them as sewing/cutting tables now.

There is also enough space over the tables to use as a design wall. I just tacked up a large piece of felt and put some of my current projects on it. Most of them are all pieced and ready to be quilted.

It's time for yet another loon isn't it? This was pieced and appliqued several years ago. The design, Loon Lake, comes from the book Spirit of the Northwoods by Debbie Field.

Here's a closer view of another wall hanging I started a couple years ago. I unearthed it in the big clean-up and have started finishing it up. This is called 'Along the Way' from the book Threads of Harmony by Whimsicals.

Finally school's out and there's time to quilt

Here're a few small wall hangings I started while on vacation at the family cottage on Paudash Lake in Ontario, Canada. The weather was pretty lousy so I had plenty of time to sew. They all still need to be quilted but I plan to do that here at home.

This one is called North Woods Noah from an Art to Heart pattern by Nancy Halvorsen. I love working on homespun north woods style things when I'm at the lake.

This next one is Summer Sunflowers from Garden Trellis Designs, designed by Janet Pittman. I've had my eye on this pattern for a long time and finally sent for it just before going away. I thought it would be a perfect project for summer and it's fun to use batik fabrics.

This design is a great combination of piecing and applique, and was a great way to use all those little bits and pieces of homespuns left over from other projects. It's called Five-Cent Fairy Garden and is from the book Simple Blessings by Kim Diehl.







And finally another sunflower design called For the Birds, from Pieces From My Heart by Sandy Gervais. I'd love to say I designed all these quilts myself, but these ladies are way more talented in that area than I. I'm just glad to have found their lovely patterns.

Baby toy

Ribbon loops will be stitched to the edges of this 12" square for baby to grab and chew.

Time for another loon wall hanging

Made recently as a gift. Machine quilted with monofilament.

folk art fancies wall hanging

The blocks are finally all done and sewn together

Tote bag

This is a tote I recently made with some batik fabrics from my stash.

The inside

The back

Close up of applique

Close up of machine quilting

A couple more WIPs

The first of several star blocks using Maywood fabric's Folk Art Fancies as centers. The pattern is from a Fons and Porter magazine.


Here are a few more star blocks, stitched and unstitched.

9 patch bed quilt

9 patch blocks laid out alternating with plain blocks

The plain blocks seemed a little, well, plain. So, I decided to use a few other fabrics. It seemed to add some depth.

Here are the blocks sewn together

More of the blocks sewn together. Now I need to figure out a quilting design. It will be machine quilted....the only way there's any hope of finishing it in my lifetime.

X Stitch

One of my favorite counted x stitch pieces, completed several years ago.

Theorem painting

A few years ago I did several theorem paintings. This is one of my favorites.

Christmas blocks

A few blocks for some sort of Christmas project...some day

Punchneedle

This is a little punchneedle piece I started some time ago. The rest of the red background still needs to be completed.

Punchneedle is worked from the back, so this is the side you see when doing the actual 'punching'.

Star wall hanging

I designed and made this little wall hanging to fit in a spot over my couch.

Crazy quilt block