Up date on things

I have finished several quilts since I last posted. The Trip Around the World (TATW) is finally on the frame, the thread is set up, but no stiches taken yet. I finished the Churn Dash in teal-hated the quilting-so I'm not going to post a picture of it yet. It is going to be on my bed, not for giving or sale. I finished and gave a Happy quilt to Nina, a nurse at work.
I have sent in a block for the Carol Doak group May block lottery. I hope to win some blocks some time, we'll see! I still have one more postcard to make, then send them for the postcard swap. Still working on my Bahama Breezes blocks...I think I need to call this quilt Golden Breezes or Hot Winds-the colors are Orange and Lime green, not really what I imagine a Bahama Breeze would be like...the original quilt in the magazine is yellow and green and teal-much cooler looking.
Looking forward to the sew-in in Seattle-still a month and a half away. I think I need to continue sorting my scraps and stripes and put some in a box for the trip. Never hurts to get ready early! LOL. I get so excited about going somewhere!
I'll make a goal list later, right now, I need to get back to work!

God bless-Mary

Plant a Seed

I finished binding my Plant a Seed quilt and have a picture or two to share. I would like to show it in the quilt show in October, but must fix the outer border. I quilted it with a wave design...the waves were going one way one the top, and then started going the other way when I rolled the quilt forward! I don't know how Icould have forgotten it that fast, I did it all on the same day! Just eager to finish it I guess. I also quilted Welcome Spring in the middle of the quilt. It is hard to see, but the sentiment is there.

I also have the little bow tie done. I think I will give it to a young RN at work who I have gotten to know over this past year, and enjoy working with. She is having her baby in July I believe.

I'm almost done with my TATW, finally. The patchwork got to be tedious, but I'm looking forward to quilting it.

5 Quilts!

I had this weekend off, and had the time and energy to quilt several quilts. Five to be exact! Yesterday, I was on a roll thet would not stop. three of them were smaller that 36" square, so they are small, but still...they are quilted. Four of them are bound, and the Plant a seed one is still waiting. I'll post pix asap. To update my list:

1. New quilt on the frame-two Churndash variation quilts. I liked the pattern from...I think it was from The Quilter Magazine...so I made two in different colorways. I loaded the teal one today, and will try to get going on the quilting tomorrow. I also want to quilt a small wallhanging that I made from batiks and marbled fabrics bought at the quilt show last year, and I used blocks from Jacque designs-she has a shop on etsy.com. She does the most amazing pictorial hand dyed designs. I bought some a long time ago, and finally decided to do something with them. I made a attice windows type setting with the pictures and the batiks/marbled fabrics. I am a little scared to quilt it, as I don't want to ruin it!

2. No progress made on the scrap stash being cut into usable sizes, so time to work on that!

3. I signed up to make postcards to exchange with the Carol Doak Group, so will play with those soon.

4. I need to post some new items on etsy. Have several, just need pix and time to get them posted!

5. Niece's b-day coming up...need to make a gift. I think a fabric purse or tote bag would be perfect.

6.I still am working on the TATW quilt. still piecing it bit by bit. I also am making a pp quilt from Quiltmaker magazine. I slowly coming along on it too. I have some nautical fabrics left from the tote bag I made, so will make a small quilt top out of that.

Okay, the list is not really complete, but there is enough for the rest of this month and into the next!

God Bless You All!

Mary H

So...New to do list

I have finished 5 quilts in March. Feel pretty good about that. They are bound too. I posted the pix last week (see below). Now I have new stuff to do!

1. Sew that darn label on the QOV and get it to Alycia! I keep getting sidetracked, and haven't yet. So It has to be a priority for today.

2. Quilting: Those two house quilts are still waiting. One is loaded and the other is ready to load. One will go on etsy.com, the other will be a Hospice or Daybreak one.
I also have a scrapy heart quilt, and my Plant a Seed wall quilt. I also have a baby quilt of the extra blocks from the big one I made last month. I am thinking of giving it to another gal at work who is expecting her 2nd baby in June. That is five for April. Not too hard! Three of them are small!

3. My Trip Around the World is still in pieces, so goal is to finishe the quilt top. MAYBE I can get it quilted before the guild meeting at the end of April...or maybe the June meeting!

4. I started working on my scrap bins-sorting the larger strings out, and cutting smaller ones into 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3.5 inch squares. This was an idea from Bonnie Hunter's blog. Thank you Bonnie! I have to tame the scrap bin lion somehow! sending out some to fellow Heartstringers was a help, but I needs to make it more organized. Thsi will be an ongoing, yearlong project!

5. I also am working on making blocks for fabric scrap pillows out of my left over half sq. triangles. Any time I do a pattern that uses stitch and flip methods, I sew another line of stitching, and can use the hst for something else. I started a small broken dishes quilt top too with the 2" hst's I have-there were a GOB of them! I'll post some pix of the pillows and quilt at some later date.

There...April is all filled up with quilting projects! I also need to use some of the fabric I bought at the WSQ yard sale. I bought about 25 yds of fabric at 1-3 dollars a yard...and it is good stuff too. I will have to see what ideas I can come up with soon. I won't be buying anymore fabric until...June? Can I hold out that long? We'll see!

God Bless You All
Mary

New pix to share

I took these pix awhile ago, but finally have time to post them!

First I want to show my finished Gypsy Star quilt. I think it is very pretty, and even though the quilting is very simple, it still turned out well. The quilting is kind of meandering, but also some places look like amoebas! Shows my science background huh?

I also want to show my next QOV to go to Alycia in Colorado. I call it Welcome Home Soldier. When I was quilting it, I thought of all the soldiers over in Iraq and how much I pray everyday for them to finish up over there and come home! I also thought of how many of my son's generation of young men and women will never be the same for being over there. I quilted welcome home soldier and thank you right into the quilt. And toward the bottom, I quilted God Bless America and You have fought the good fight.You can't see it in the picture, even up close, but it is there with all the prayer and blessings I can give.

I did make a couple quilts for either Hospice house or Daybreak-thats a local teen shelter:

And last, but not least is my Pineapple Variation. I said earlier I wasn't too happy with the quilting, but I still think it is pretty. The colors really are great, and the pattern is wonderful. It is from Fons and Porte's Love of quilting magazine-I think Spetember or October issue, 2008.

I also have been making blocks for the BOM in Carol Doak's paper piecing yahoo group. They are fun and cute, and I love paper piecing, so it suits me well. I will post some completed works when I am done!

Yes, quilting is my haven, and I love to share my work. I look forward to time to quilt and time to blog. I thank God for giving me this to enjoy.

God bless you,

Mary

Progress!!

I quilted two quilts today, the Gypsy Star and the Log Cabin. I plan on binding them in the morning...do need to sleep! Shara wants to do a movie and tequila afternoon, and if I don't have something to keep my hands busy, I'll get drowsy...Shara gets a little irked by that! I can understand:-)
I will be posting a bunch of pics soon...and I did reach the goal of 5 quilts quilted for this month. I may be able to get that 6th one done this month. I have one of my crazy pieced houses loaded on the frame now.

Progress on List

I finished the Pineapple Variation, even though I'm not very happy with the quilting. I got in a hurry and it is a little sloppy. I do much better with free motion overall patterns. When I try to do block by block ones, I have trouble. I may need to take classes! I also finished the one I intend for Alycia's QOV project. Both are ready for the binding to sew down, so I'll post them after that is done. I added the Strip Twist to the finished list, but it is half quilted right now. I should get it done today. So...New List:

1. Quilt: Gypsy Star, 2 Crazy Houses, Log Cabin, Scrappy Heart. These are the ones that are ready to load right now. I'm trying to make a dent in my UFO pile!

2. Finish Bow Tie Quilt. I may have enough blocks for a baby quilt too.

3. Have some fabrics I want to put together for a planned color scheme quilt. Also another tote bag-have fabrics chosen for that too.

4. Bindings on the quilts I finished quilting.

5. Still cleaning and reorganizing the room.

6.Still need to do some QAYG blocks!

7. Send QOV one to Alycia when done, and pillowcase made.

Whew! That's enough for now!