Several years ago, I purchased a small bag of fabric scraps from the local quilt shop. The price was $5.00.  I thought it would be fun to see how many small quilts I could make using just the scraps.  All the quilts do not have binding, but are put together in the pillow case method.  They are all hand quilted except for one which is quilted with the feather stitch on the sewing machine.  I was able to make ten little quilts.  The whole project was finished quickly as some of the quilts are very small.

This is the smallest.  It is 5″ x 5″.  It would make a very nice coaster,

 

 

 

I had made a sailboat quilt for a grandson.  The pattern was easy.  It had six half square triangles, two rectangles and four squares. It is 6″ x 7″.

 

 

The dark fabric with shooting stars and a moon called for a night picture.  There are two decorated Christmas trees and flowers in the garden.  It must be in the South, not New England. We would have snow at that time of year.  The lights are on inside the house.  This quilt is 8″ x 9″.

 

 

 

This little quilt is made of nine patches and a border.  It used some of the fabric that was used in the little house.  It is 6″ x 12″

 

 

 

 

More little sailboats.  This quilt uses more of the night sky fabric and the house fabric.  It is 6 1/2″ x 13″.

 

 

 

 

The Monkey Wrench quilt has the strawberry fabric that was used in the first sailboat piece.  Also some more night sky.  It is 9″ x 15″.

 

 

 

 

The little farm scene fabric already had nine patch blocks with nine patch corner squares.  It was easy to piece and quilt.  It was fun to notice that some of the corner squares were not straight,  Not everyone is a perfect quilter.  It is 11″ x 11″.

 

 

The quilts are getting larger.  This one is 14″ x 14″.  It consists of four Road to California blocks.  It is made of half square triangles and four patch pieces.

 

 

 

It is hard to see all the little pieces in this quilt.  There are nine Pineapple Log Cabin blocks in the center.  The fabrics do not have contrast so the blocks just show light and dark.  There are 415 pieces in this 14″ x 14″ quilt.

 

 

 

The tenth little quilt is made of strips of all the leftover fabric.  It is the only one that is quilted on the machine.  It is 11″ x 15″.

Quilting is so much fun if a project is started with “what if I do this?”  The results can be amazing.  I had a lot of fun for $5.00

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

My Christmas cactus has been blooming non stop since Thanksgiving.  I have three plants on the windowsill.  The two outside ones have bloomed once in a while, but the center one has outdone itself this year.  The trick is to enclose the plants  at night with thermal drapes.  They enjoy the cold from the window.  You wouldn’t think that cactus would like the cold, but they bloom much more if they are not in heat all the time.

 

 

 

The top that was made from the fifty 6″ blocks from Kimberly Einmo’s book is pieced.  I don’t know if I will send it to the long arm quilter or quilt it myself.  I’ll hang it on a hanger and decide when the ones in front of it are done.

 

 

Another quilt top from Kimberly’s book is finished.  It uses her 12″ blocks.

 

 

 

The third quilt top was made from leftover blue fabric from the Canadian 150 quilt.  It originally was a nine patch, but with a little cutting and resewing, it became a very nice top.

 

 

I really have to start quilting the tops instead of making more tops.  I think back when I started quilting.  I pieced and quilted one quilt at a time.  I didn’t have a stash or any of the “necessary” tools that are in the sewing room now.  There were no rotary cutters or rulers. I drew around a cardboard template that was made from cereal boxes.  I even hand pieced my first five quilts. How and when did I become obsessed with quilting?  I don’t know.  Someday, I will teach a class called “Two pins and a needle”.  That is all that is needed to make a quilt.  Of course there should be fabric, scissors and thread.  Other than that, you are good to go.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I haven’t worked on the flower wall hanging for a long time.  When I started this project, I wanted to finish it by February.  I think it might be February next year as I intend to hand quilt this one.  The right side of the main body is appliqued.

This week, I added an iris, two poppies and have a mystery flower ready to applique.  I think that it’s some kind of a hanging day lily.   I pinned the pieces of the mystery flower to a paper so that I would remember which piece goes where and the order to sew them down.   I may tone down some of the colors on that flower.  It is dark. It’s easy to change my mind before the pieces are sewn down.

 

All the other flower and leaf pattern pieces are cut out of Gypsy applique freezer paper.  The  freezer paper has been ironed to fabric, but the fabric has not been cut to size yet.    I still have a rose, an iris and a rose bud to place on that side of the wall hanging.  I might cut them out and prepare all of them for appliqueing.  Then I can pin them to paper and put them in the spot where  they will go.  That will tell me if I need to change any of the colors.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

I have made all fifty 6″ blocks in the Kimberly Einmo book, Pre Cut Bonanza.  The book has 200 pieced blocks from cut strips and shapes.  I intend to make all the blocks eventually. The quilt that was made with the 10″ blocks still hasn’t been quilted.  It is on the “to do” list.  There are still 8″, 12″, 14″, 16″ and big blocks to make.  That is for the future.  I’ll be checking magazines and the Internet for settings for those blocks.

The solid color fabric drawer was stuffed to overflowing so the 6″ blocks were made with just solid fabric.  I had hoped to use it up.  At least I can shut the drawer now.  I don’t usually buy solid fabric and had used most of what I had in one of the Miss Rosie quilts.  Some of my friends are no longer quilting and some of their fabric ended up in my fabric drawers.  I should never have to buy fabric again as long as I make scrap quilts. Most of it was solid color fabric.

The quilt will be set on the diagonal. Each block has a different color border.  Then there will be black sashing with different colored corner squares.  The sashings are  cut 1 1/2″ wide.  I was able to cut the corner squares out of the leftover fabric.  Everything that was cut will be used. The setting triangles will be black and it will have a black binding.

This is the first and second rows of the quilt.  I’ll add the black setting triangles to the rows before I sew the rows together. I might even change my mind and use another color.  I could even use half blocks in that spot.  The quilt will speak to me when I get to that point.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

I am caught up on piecing the Moda Blockhead block of the week again.  Somehow, piecing the 6″ and 12″ blocks seem easier than piecing and appliqueing the  4 1/2″ Dear Jane blocks.  I have enjoyed this project, especially because it uses the Japanese fabric that my daughter gave to me.  The project will be finished in a few weeks.  I have two other patterns that are ready for that fabric.

Block # 42 is a 12″ block

 

 

 

Block # 43 is a 6″block

 

 

 

Block # 44 is a 12″ block

 

 

 

The original instructions said that there would be 46 blocks so the end of this project is near.  The plan for joining the blocks together should be interesting.  There are  several different sizes.

I have finished sewing the binding on a quilt.  I was helped by my special helper, Miss Molly. She always lays on a quilt when I’m hand quilting or sewing binding.  It must be her pre-quality control inspection.  I’ve learned to take a big handful in my lap, leaving her just enough to be comfortable.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Congratulations to King, a Wire Fox Terrier, who make “Best Of show” at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. He is a beautiful dog.

I have several baskets on shelfs.  The other day, I decided to see what was in them as I hadn’t looked in them for a while. One of the baskets had pretty boxes that I had embellished.  I had forgotten them.  When I put them in the basket, I had intended to put a shelf over the computer station  to hold them.  The shelf is still not up, but there is hope that I will paint or stain it some day and put it on the wall.

The wire mesh boxes were embellished with flowers that were made out of paper.  The paper was stitched and pressed to make them more realistic.  Then the centers were filled with thread. They could hold small treasures.  .

 

 

 

I still have three empty boxes and several flowers. When the shelf is up, I’ll finish them.  Then they can be with the others for a pretty display.

 

 

Also in the basket were three small boxes that I made from greeting cards and a photograph.  Greeting card boxes are very small, but are a nice way to present a small gift.

 

The bottom box is make from a photo of Miss Molly.  The photo was a little larger than a greeting card, so made a larger box.

I may find other forgotten treasures when I check out baskets and bins.

I’ve been working on  two different challenges.  One top is finished and is ready to quilt.  The other is still being pieced.  It has a lot of pieces and will take a while to finish.  I’m pleased with it so far.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The Guild met last Friday night.  David Taylor was our speaker.  His quilts are absolutely awesome.  It was a wonderful night that was enjoyed by all.

I’ve had two quilts at the long arm quilter.  I quilt my smaller ones, but send the larger ones out.  I knew that I had sent quilts that I made last summer, but I couldn’t remember what they were.

I’ve been looking at four block quilts on Pinterest, as I have a drawer of cut squares.  They are cut 2 1/2″, 5″ and other sizes.  There are a lot of 2 1/2″ squares and I’ve been looking for a pattern for them.  There was one quilt that I thought would be perfect to use the squares.

When I received the quilted quilt last week, I was surprised to see that I had already made that one in 5″ squares.   Last summer, I took a box of scraps to Maine and tried to use them up.  Now, I’m wondering what the other quilt at the long arm quilter looks like.

This is such a pretty quilt.  It’s so easy to make.  The white strips are 1/2 the size of the squares.  It could be made with any size square with that formula.

The quilting made the quilt.  It is quilted in a pale blue.  ‘The back is beautiful.

I may still make the quilt with the smaller squares.  It could be made with beginners and enders.  It would be a good way to use up that drawer of fabric.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I have a big pile of UFO tops on a closet shelf.  Some have been there for a long time.  I should just quilt them and move them along.

This star quilt was made many years ago.  The center poofs out.  I either have to quilt it down or redo the center.  It wouldn’t take long to finish it as it is a small quilt.  When it is finished it will either go into the give away box or become a charity quilt.

 

Years ago I had a stack and whack class with Bethany Reynolds.  I should have used a floral print, but instead, used golfer fabric.  This was the only quilt that I finished in a class.  Usually, I have to finish them at home.  After all the stack and whack pieces were sewn together, I realized that there were body parts everywhere going around in a circle.  Who would want this quilt?  Maybe if I quilted it and put it into the give away bin someone would take it away.

   

I used to have a surger.  It was a simple one but I didn’t like it.  Probably, I didn’t practice enough to give it a chance.  I did make one quilt, but the corners didn’t match. The surger wasn’t really made to make a quilt.  It didn’t help that the fabric made it look like a big overripe watermelon.  It’s the perfect size for a Linus quilt.  When I finish it, it will have a home.  Someone will like a cheery watermelon quilt.

This brown quilt must have been made many years ago.  There was a period of time when I used brown fabric in my quilts all the time.  This is the only unfinished brown quilt  that I have.  It is pretty.  Miss Molly has inspected it and thinks that I should quilt it and give it to someone who will enjoy it.

 

 

 

There are many more unfinished quilts on the shelf.  Most of them are small.  Some are twin size.  They all have different reasons why I haven’t quilted them.  It would be nice to have an empty shelf.  I should get busy and quilt them one at a time.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

The International Challenge quilt is on the basting rack and has been thread basted.  It is ready to quilt.

I know that I am going to make a small stipple with white thread around the embroideries.  A decision will have to be made about the thread and the quilting for the green and red blocks.

 

I had some extra blocks so I found a feather quilting pattern that would fit.  I used green Aurifil thread.  It is very nice, but when I set it on the quilt to see how it would look, it was distracting.  There were too many circles.

 

      I did some ruler work on the other blocks with different colored thread.  Also some free motion quilting.  I still don’t like ruler work.  Maybe some day I’ll enjoy it, but I’ll have to practice a long time to get to that point.  I’m glad that I practiced on other blocks and didn’t jump in and quilt something that I didn’t like.  The red center of one block was very nice quilted with dark green thread.  It had a very small border and free motion quilting.

I have a lot of solid fabric so I pieced strips with the colors of the blocks.  Then I embroidered quilting patterns, stopping and changing colors to see how the quilting would look with the different colored thread.  None of the quilting patterns looked right.  I did decide that the light green fabric should be quilted with light green thread and the darker green fabric should be quilted with darker green thread.  I did like how the red fabric looked with the darker green thread.

I found a quilting pattern that had a center flower and thought that I could change colors to make it fit on the block.  It is a nice quilting pattern, but it was not right for this quilt.  Making it did give me an idea for making another quilt.  I could  make quilted 8″ squares with solid fabric and put them into a quilt.  Very fast and easy.  That’s for another day.

The final decision is that the thread color should match the fabric, except for the red fabric.  That will be toned down with dark green thread.  The embroideries are so busy that seeing a quilting pattern on the other block is distracting.  Using the same color thread in free motion quilting will give texture and not take away from the embroidery block. I won’t stipple quilt, but will make a leafy meander or another background filler.  The spaces are small so the filler should be a small one.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I spent the day doing household chores that really needed to be done.  After breakfast, I made a long list of things that I should work on today.  There are just two items left on the list this evening, so I feel that I had a good day.

The Moda Block head project is up to date.  Just a few more to make and then they can go into a quilt.

 

 

 

The backings are ready for two quilts.  One will go into the basting frame tomorrow.  After I baste it and quilt it, I will decide if I’ll quilt the other one or send it to the long arm quilter.  She does such a beautiful job and I want this one to be nice.

I’ve been drafting a 2″ x 6″ block.  The 1/4″ seam allowance was  added to the pieces.  It seemed like a lot of work to piece the large amount of blocks that I needed for the project.   The block has two 1″ half square triangles, plus other size triangles.  As I was looking at it, I suddenly realized that It could be paper pieced.  The block was in EQ7 already.  With a few clicks of the mouse, I had the numbered paper piecing pattern.  It will be easy and accurate.  I was able to print three blocks on each paper. The colors change in each set of three blocks. I can write the proper color on the papers and keep everything in order.  I saved myself a lot of frustration by thinking about what to do before I started.  The quilt is in Southwestern colors.  A few years ago, when I flew over Utah and Arizona I saw these colors in the landscape and commented that those colors would make a beautiful quilt.  Now I will find out.

Have a great day and happy quilting.