Quilts Lately

It has been months since last posting. I have not disappeared. Many of my projects have come and gone, but I'm still here making more. The year of 2012 was hectic and full. I work for an election authority, and the presidential primary and election took up many hours, and what time was left I preferred to spend with family, running or sewing/quilting, hence barely any time for chores and none for keeping a record of any of it! I would like to add some photos of recent (within the last year) quilts and sewing productivity, just to keep it all in one place.

From Top:

1. Pink bird-in-center medallion - started out as free piecing/wonky style, which I abandoned because it was trying me.  Then it never straightened out as I wished.  Finished for 3 yr. old granddaughter.
2. Puss-in-corner blocks I arranged in strips, using up lots of nice fabrics I had bought with no purpose in mind.  It was a great project to use up my family room floor when my hubby was out of town for a week in summer 2012.  As of now, not quilted yet.
3. Sampler made from blocks sent to me in a Flickr bee in 2010.  Love this color scheme!  Finished and using on my guest bed, 2012.
4. Red Fiesta - Most of the medallion round robin I did with my sister last summer, 2012.  She started this one, we took turns and she put on the last round but has not yet quilted it.
5. Bird-in-center medallion quilt which my sister also did with me.  This one is my center, took turns adding.  Shown is the last round I put on, including 72 flying geese.  It is now quilted and my OWN couch quilt.  More pictures later.
6. Red and Charcoal Jacob's Ladder, summer 2012.  Made for a wedding gift for the son of some of our oldest friends.  I didn't get bored making 25 identical 2-color blocks.  It is sort of a modern Amish style.  As far as I know, the block arrangement is my original idea (interlocking forks), as I never saw one like it.
7. Maple Leaf - my sister and I each made several leaf blocks and setting blocks, then got together at her house to put them together and make the piano key border.  This was given to our brother and his new wife.  They love trees, birds, and music - she plays piano and sings.  All the prints have leaves, feathers or birds.

I'll try to find some better and more photos to record for posterity (is blogging historically permanent?)

So long for now!

Some Quilt History

I think I could title this one, What Have I Been Doing Besides Blogging? ...or I better put this info on my blog before it becomes like Ancient History!

The photos are displaying in the reverse order as I uploaded them, so you get most recent news first. This top layout is made from 12 of the blocks I received in April 2010 (1.5 yrs. ago - maybe it is ancient already!) The flickr group is called Bee Pieceful. I finally figured out a setting design and made the setting pieces the last couple of days. It should go together fast from this point. Sometimes the thinking takes up a lot more time than the actual sewing. I will not include the table legs in the final construction.


This is a top I finished putting together a few days ago (my co-worker is inspiring or shaming me into getting busy on my projects, hence the high output in the last weeks or two). The centers of wonky log cabins are fussy-cut out of some old scraps I found in my ancient 4-H sewing workshop materials (I was the teacher, not the student - so they aren't prehistorically old.) I started putting together the blocks about 5 months ago. A picture in a book inspired me to go for the black stripey sashing, and that was motivation to find fabric, cut sashing, decide on borders, and finish up the top.

This is a finished quilt I made for DD#1. The nine patches are made from a charm pack I received as a birthday gift on my last birthday one year ago, so that was fairly quick - less than one year from pieces to finished!

The next two pictures are the back and front of a baby quilt made for my first great niece. She was born in March and I sent it to her in July, so at least she was still a baby! The pattern is simple and these prints were fun to work with. The back has a pretty, girly print of butterflies.

I hope I haven't repeated old news here. I definitely need to keep track of this blog a lot better than I have been. It is a good record of my projects, finished or not!

Melissa Kuber Lederer inspired

Melissa Kuber Lederer inspired by cjhaab featuring plaid shoes

fall mustard with plum,wine options

fall mustard with plum,wine options by cjhaab featuring long sleeve tops

Just looking at some different color combinations for fall.

Hot, But It's Friday!

Linking to Susanne's Living to Tell the Story, for another Fave Five. A nice way to remember my gratitudes each week, and just about the only blog posts I'm doing right now.

This week's five favorite things:
1. Had the BEST time with our granddaughter and also spent time with her mommy, daddy and baby brother when we took her home on Sunday. She stole our hearts once more by declaring all the way to her home, "I need to go Gramma Grampa's house!"
2. Pretty weather early in the week. Ran Monday and Tuesday since I skipped the weekend. Enjoyed sitting on the deck in th evenings and quiet companionship of Drh. I did crosswords and he read.
3. Helped clean out and organize the church library one evening. We filled a big garbage barrel and some smaller trash cans, but ended up with shiny shelves of useable, attractive books for reading, and ministry resources. I like our church to look modern, inviting and homey to anyone who enters.
4. For some reason I have been efficient and productive this week. One morning I washed windows before work, and kept up with the dishes, laundry and other tidying chores. Home feels welcoming when it's neat and fresh.
5. Multi-item Fave: I have today off, so a four-day weekend. Drh always has Friday off. Today instead of sleeping late, I convinced him to beat the heat and we got outside early, trimmed all the bushes, borrowed a tree trimmer from a friend and trimmed trees, loaded up all the trimmings on the friend's trailer and served ice tea to ourselves and two helpers, all before 10 a.m., and it was still nice out!

Have a good weekend, Happy 4th of July, stay cool!

Friday, Sweet Summer

Fave Five for a sweet summer Friday (not necessarily in chronological or any other order this week!):

1. G has come for the weekend! I'll spare you the cute stories of 2-year-old amazingness!

2. Saturday I ran in a race and was amazed at the consistency of my pace recorded by my Garmin! It's not the fastest I've ever run that course, but certainly the most consistently. It was a fun time with friends, always a great start to the weekend to run early Saturday.

3. Sunday turned out so nice that we took a motorcycle ride again, spent some lazy, quiet minutes just watching people take their boats in and out of the Illinois River, ate out before we headed home.

4. Enjoyed some summer food this week: grilled ham, cheese and tomatoes; BLT's; wonderful melon new to me called canary melon; strawberries; rhubarb pudding. MMMM. And since I'm upping my fruit/veggie intake and really cutting out sweets esp. at work, I think I've dropped the 3 lbs. I wanted to.

5. Took one morning off to help a church friend clean out the office. We are on the trustees committee, which is responsible for the care of the building. We both like to organize and update records, so it was good to declutter some old supplies and outdated catalogs which won't be used, put some stuff away where it belongs in other parts of the building, and review what records were in the desk. A good job done!

Have a great weekend, enjoy the weather and the summer food, and check out Fave Fives of other grateful ladies at Susanne's Living to Tell the Story. Thanks for hosting, Susanne.