12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book Release

Today is the release of Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation, latest book 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler: Perfectly Pieced Holiday Design” which provides step-by-step instructions for 12 festive blocks inspired by the classic Christmas Carol. I was excited when I read her Posts last year showing her quilt, working on the pattern and the plan to do a QAL starting in July. I emailed Kelly to let her know how wonderful her quilt was  and I was planning to participate in the QAL. The darling Granddaughter loves singing the 12 Days of Christmas song all year and I knew she would love the quilt for Christmas. However, plans changed when the book publisher agreed that Kelly’s wonderful pattern should not be a stand alone pattern but a book instead. This meant that the pattern and QAL would be delayed until this year.

Kelly knowing that I wanted to make the 12 Day of Christmas quilt to give the darling Granddaughter for Christmas, kindly gave me a draft of her pattern with the condition that I would keep it a secret and not post pics of my quilt until her book was released. This was the Secret Sewing Project I was posting about last September and would be revealed in May/June.

TaDa! Here is my big reveal! When I was discussing this Post with Kelly and asking her how I should explain receiving the pattern, she suggested that I say that I was asked to be a “Pattern Tester”. I mentioned that this may be hard to believe by those who have read my Posts and there would be a possibility that Sandra/mmm quilts would be spitting out her coffee as she reads this. However, I considered myself as taking a pattern test and followed Kelly’s instructions completely. Does my Dancing Lady look like she’s doing the Can-Can?

These are the fabrics I pulled from my stash which were: Basic Grey Grunge, Vanessa Christensen’s Confetti Ombre, Zen Chic Spotted Zebra, Jennifer Sampou Chalk, Timeless Treasure Gray Grid, Figo/Libs Elliott Workshop, Robin Pickens Thatch and Leanne Andersen Houndstooth. I used two different white Grunge prints for the background: Seeing Stars for the large areas and a Basic for the smaller areas.

As with the other books and patterns by Kelly, she writes great detailed instructions and provides wonderful illustrations for the  twelve blocks. I thought I shared four of the blocks and if you know me, a fan of the big patches, I really enjoyed making all of the blocks, even though I worked on a tight schedule of twenty days. Kelly offers great tips and hints for sewing the blocks (perfection is not required but it sure does look nice--these are my words). My favorite of all, a big game changer for me, was to use diagonal seam tape (which I had an unused roll of it stashed in my drawer for several years) to sew the many connecting corners. If I had a favorite block, it would be #10 Leaping Lord whom I’ve named Jethro but Gaston would have also been a good name too.

Kelly did an amazing job on machine quilting her quilt so I’m embarrassed to show that I only machine quilted horizontal wavy lines approximately 2” apart. The reason for using Basic Grey Grunge Seeing Stars fabric for the background and embroidering many gold stars throughout the quilt was to make it look more interesting. The same dark green Grunge used for the numbers was also used for the binding.

I wished I had a video of when the darling Granddaughter first saw her 12 Days of Christmas quilt. She had such a smug smile suggesting she knew Grandmin would make her this and knowing it was just for her. Her father, my youngest son, was so excited, took many pics and was given very ample warning not to post or share any photos. The quilt hung at the GP house until early January when it was taken down when the darling Granddaughter wasn’t around and brought back to our house for safekeeping. Would you believe the darling Granddaughter started singing the 12 Days of Christmas song on April 15th. I’m pretty sure her quilt will be hung up right after Halloween. BTW, this photo collage shows the first Kelly Young pattern I made, Purse Strings quilt 2013 and the latest; both quilts, as well as several other quilts made with Kelly's patterns, were bequeathed to her.

It should be no surprise that I am a big fan and follower of Kelly and have made  sixteen quilts from nine of her patterns; six of them with her Unruly pattern, my very favorite. I have all of her books and have participated in many of her past NTT Linky parties. Her latest 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler book is an absolute gem. In addition to her patterns, there are some interesting tidbits that I never knew about the song. Even though my quilt is made, there are several blocks I would make again and would be perfect as a stand alone for wall quilt or pillows or combining several blocks to make a small wallhanging. My Grandniece just got married this weekend and I’m thinking of combining the Dancing Lady, Turtle Doves and Leaping Lord blocks to make a special First Christmas wallhanging. Also, there is a bonus Father Christmas pillow pattern which I definitely will be making. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Kelly's Post. Her book is available now at her Etsy Shop as well as Amazon and any other distributors where you purchase your books (not an affiliate link).

And lastly, a very big Thank You to Kelly for trusting and allowing me to make my quilt last year, it was very appreciated and much loved.  I hope readers will see that I can follow a quilt pattern and keep a secret.

Thank Goodness for Christmas QALs during the Summer

We're experiencing a heat wave this week, a "ring of fire" as the meteorologists are calling it and, of course, our central air has decided it needs to be fixed.  It's days like this I appreciate that my sewing studio is in the lower level, i.e, basement.  Also helping me to stay cool is the Quilt Along that is happening along side the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop.  Today is Day 6 and I am on schedule with my quilt.  I'm loving this Quilt Along because it only lasts 12 days, the helpful tips which were provided and also because I am using mostly several collections of Christmas fabrics from my Basic Grey stash which meant no new fabric was purchased.  What also is very nice are the tools which are helping me stay on task:  my die-cutter used for the sixty-four  2-1/2" strips needed for this quilt and made them nice and straight, my two big basting boards to keep my strips in order and my big Shape Cut Ruler Pro which made cutting the 2-1/2" strip sets an absolute breeze. (changing the blade on my rotary cutter helped too).

Please be sure to check out the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop,  (you can see it here) where twenty-five bloggers will be sharing their hand-crafted Christmas ideas.  Sarah is doing a great job with the blog hop and I like that the new links and the next quilt steps are posted each day after Midnight so I guess I'll be staying up late tonight just to satisfy my curiosity.

And once the July QAL is done, I'll be ready to start another one on August 1st.  I'm looking forward to participating in the I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long,  and reuniting with some of the bloggers I met through the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  Eleven of these quilt bloggers will be releasing every other Tuesday, a new Free 12" quilt block pattern and tutorial.  (More information can be found on Quilting Jet Girl's blog, click here).  My plan for this one is to use my Cotton+Steel Christmas stash and to have a new wall hanging for the holiday.

I'm linking up with the fortnightly Sew Stitch Snap Share link up hosted by Linda of Kokaquilts.  I am honored and thrilled that Linda has mentioned me in her post today.  Please be sure to visit and join the link up to see Linda's lovely work, I love her fabric mashups, and to check out some of the other bloggers.

Here's hoping your quilting is keeping you cool!

SaveSave

12 Days of Christmas in July--Quilt Top Finished

It sure wasn't a beginning to feel like Christmas mood amidst the ring of fire heat wave, intermittent power outages, torrential downpours, flash flooding (some water in my basement studio because the sump pump went out, but not bad enough to stop me from sewing)  that occurred during the past twelve days but I'm glad my top is finished and is completed on schedule.

I love this top and that all of the fabric used came from my Christmas stash which I've been wanting to use up.  The fabric is all from different Basic Grey Christmas lines with the exception of one print which is from Sweetwater's Cookie Exchange line.  It just took me two auditions before I was happy with the fabric placement or "rhythm" like I call it.  I wasn't happy with the first audition and while I was walking the dog, the rhythm came to me.  When I worked at a quilt shop and was putting together a bargello type kit using five fabrics, I came up with a "rhythm"; Shocker (Accent), Light, Dark, Mush, Mush (medium value fabric)--you can dance a Salsa to this. I realized that since I had sixteen fabrics, four each of red, light, green and teal, I could use the same rhythm, just eliminate the last mush and then after rearranging the fabrics to this rhythm, I was happy.  

The suspense of wanting to see the way this quilt was going to turn out and not waiting until all four panels were sewn, (also couldn't figure out in my head how the four panels and the center square were going to be sewn together) I took a photo of the first panel sewn and then did a four square photo collage on PicMonkey, rotated the panels in each square and was able to preview the quilt and see that the center square involved a partial seam.  This felt like reading the ending of a mystery/suspense novel before finishing it because you had to know the outcome--which I don't do, but that's what it felt like when I was sewing the strips together.

Also, as I was sewing the strips, I was thinking that the word "Trip" in the pattern name can have dual meanings.  When you follow all of the directions and tips, your "trip" will be nice and enjoyable.  When you go off course which I did when I decided to split all of the seams of each strip sets for each panel all at once, and not one at a time like the direction, I did "trip" and stumble and became totally confused when one seam was split wrong.  I did "trip" several times--it probably didn't help that I was watching TV while splitting.  I did pay attention while sewing the strips together and always made sure I was sewing on the correct side so I did not "trip" then.  And, just as important, I pressed, according to the directions.  For such an easy pattern, it is so easy to sew wrong.  I've made several Trip Around the World Quilts before, but Sarah's (Confession of a Fabric Addict) directions were the best.  I've never made one like this one before and my strips laid nice and straight and sewed together very nicely (there were some spots where the seams didn't nest but like Sarah said, the pattern is so busy you won't notice them.

Now that this top is done, I am ready to join  the I Wish You A Merry Quilt Along which starts August 1st, (details can be found here).  I'll be using my Christmas Cotton+Steel stash for this quilt.  Of course, I needed buy some green fabrics to add to this mix and I might as well confess now, I also bought some more Christmas fabrics to add to the never-ending stash.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop. ( Be sure to visit each blogger's site for wonderful holiday ideas and be eligible to win some great prizes), My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday;

Some Show and Tell Before I Take A Holiday Break

Now that my commitment to the Blanket Ministry has been met, the rush to complete my other projects before the end of the year is on.  This past weekend was a productive one and I must have been still working off of the adrenalin from completing the six baby quilts from last week.

It's great to have another quilt cross the finally finish line and in time for the holiday. I sewed the binding for the quilt made from this past summers 12 Days of Christmas QAL hosted by Sarah Craig of Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  you can read the post here.  Jan, my longarm quilter, again did a wonderful job. While I was making the top, we were experiencing crazy hot weather with lots of rain and now the weather is still sort of unpredictable, cold, rainy and cloudy.  I think the days of taking photos outside when it's sunny are going to be few and far between. 

This is one of the few quilts I've made which has a pieced backing and I used scraps from this project and from stash.  I think the reason why I don't like to piece my backs is the time it takes to make a backing to fit the top; it's like making another quilt top. My son, who held the quilt up for me while I took the photo, does not have the same knack as his father who has earned the title of Master Quilt Holder because father knows how to lower himself so his shoes doesn't show, made the comment that he liked the back of the quilt better than the front of the quilt.  The son also does not have his father's knack for knowing what to say about my quilts.  

The quilt is already hung up in the family room  thanks to father and son who knew I was taking their photo to provide some beefcake to liven up today's post.

The sewing and layout for the Splash of Color QAL blocks, hosted by Myra of Busy Hands Quilts,  you can read about it here was also done this past weekend.  I still have to decide on the sashing and once the top is made, I can write more details about the making of this quilt.  Just to give you a heads up, this quilt was supposed to be pinwheels.

Last month in early October, I attended a Kaffe Fassett workshop and the blocks have been hanging on my design board since then.  I finally sewed the blocks together and added the border and cornerstones.  I needed the design board so I could lay out the Splash of Color  blocks and also was afraid that someone or something was going to knock the blocks off. Here's a sneak peek of the top with the luscious purple Minky which I'll be throwing together and will write a future post about my wonderful Kaffe experience once the throw is completed.  I was tempted to finish it yesterday when the Minky arrived and do a late nighter but decided not to push it since I had to get the house ready for the holiday.

And speaking of taking a holiday break, here is my precious granddaughter who is providing the cupcake to this post to sweeten it up.  Micah will be occupying most of my time when she and her parents arrive this weekend for an eight-day visit.  I don't think I'll have too much time to sew, and if I do, it's probably be something for her.  With this sweet face she's going to get pretty much what she wants.  As you can see, Micah already has the pout down pretty good.

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving  next week. I am grateful that I will be spending the holiday with family and friends and am thankful for the many things life has brought me this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Thursday Needle and Thread, Crazy Mom's Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop Friday, and Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday

June-balaya

There was a lot of mish-mash  and jumbling of activities involving celebrations, Mother Nature paying a visit to our house, health appointments for myself, a family wedding and, of course, a whole lot of quilting that I thought June-balaya would be a good name for this Post.

June always involves the celebration of two birthdays, Demando’s and myself and it just warms my heart that we’re both the same age now (wink). And not to be forgotten, are Hubby and my youngest son celebrating Father’s Day. During the first two weeks in June, we experienced heavy storms and tornado warnings and the first of two storms which happened two days straight, we lost our 34 year-old Linden tree which had graced our parkway. So far this year, Illinois had 172 tornadoes and now leads the nation which makes me uncomfortable. As for my health, I had my annual vision exam, a bone density scan and a mammogram and thankfully all went well. To top off my had-to-do list, was renewing my driver’s license, which after my new photo was taken, the very nice security guard walked with me to the exit door when I told him a major crime had just been committed. I’ve been saying that mucho money can be made by charging an extra fee for a glamour or soft focus photo. But no...I have a photo of me looking like an old man.

We traveled to Wisconsin for the wedding of our grandniece who had her ceremony at a farm venue right across the road from her Grandmother’s (Hubby’s sister) house. Less than 24 hours before the ceremony I realized that I had  over fifty leftover signature blocks from my younger son’s wedding thirteen years ago and I contacted my niece (the Bride's mother) to ask her if I could make a wedding quilt with them. She said yes, so  during the two-hour drive, I altered the paper holding the signature blocks. The funny thing about doing this was, the Bride, was the one who handed out these signature papers during the wedding and reception at her cousin’s wedding. I jokingly asked her if she would have time to re-assume this duty but she was a little preoccupied so her future sister-in-law and my hubby did a great job passing and collecting them. Once the newlyweds are finished building their future home, we will decide  on whether a large quilt or smaller wallhangings will be made.

And finally, to the quilty portion of this Post. I had two quilts to finish and  a Post to write on June 15th for the Lyra QAL hosted by Sandra, mmm Quilts and another Post revealing my Secret Sewing project from last year which was my quilt made from Kelly Young’s 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book released on June 16th. By then, I was ready to call it a month but then there were two weeks still remaining.

I thought I should finish my #11 of Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge which was the flimsy I made in 2024 after I had finished my Spectacle Square-tangle Quilt. For both of these quilts, I used the Easy Bricks pattern designed by Amy Smart, Diary of a Quilter which is a great pattern for a layer cake.

I enjoyed making the Spectacle Square-tangle quilt so much that I wanted to make the pattern again using a Whisper by Windham Fabrics layer cake which I had in my stash for several years along with other fabrics which went well with it. I had plans to make a queen size quilt but decided to make a 66”x88” flimsy instead. Unfortunately, straight-line machine quilting did not go as smooth as I wanted and I ended up having to rip out eight lines of machine quilting because I didn’t realize the backing was scrunching up. This has sworn me off of making large quilts for awhile but at least I was able to use my CT Essential Thread in Blush. I do like this quilt which I’ve named Birdsong though Bird Brain came to mind. I was tempted to make a simple one-patch Patchwork Throw with all of the leftover fabrics remaining because I may need a new one for traveling this September and I found the perfect plush in my stash, but I didn’t.

Instead, I decided to finally finish the quilting for my Peace Quilt which I started two month earlier. I made this 16” x 26” flimsy twenty years ago before going back to work full-time. During this time, I was making these small quilts which I call Patchbox quilts because I was making them with large squares of novelty prints. The Peace hands were fussy cut and then fused to two different black prints. My plan was to hand quilt this but after the Peace hands were  done I decided to machine-quilt the rest. It has laid on my table in front of my sewing machine when I finally realized that all I had to do was straight line quilting, grid style using a jewel tone variegated Star Thread. While machine quilting, I had another realization that this quilt needed to be finished, because……

I needed another quilt to hang on the front hallway door next to the gaMMMa galaxy quilt because the one I had hanging next to it did not complement it as much as the Peace quilt. I wonder if Eunice, my Studio Tormentor who lives inside my head and tells me what I should be finishing was guiding me. This time, it was most welcomed. Both of these quilts one days will be heading to the darling granddaugher’s bedroom at the GP House. I plan to hang the Peace Quilt outside her door as a reminder that her father when he was only in first or second grade, hung a handmade sign outside his bedroom door with a drawn peace sign and the printed words “Peace in Mike’s Room”. Hubby and I both thought what could have prompted him at such a young age to do this and realized he didn’t like our yelling at Demando to do his homework among other things.

There were still a few days left before leaving for the GP House for the weekend and thought the Rainbow House Flimsy would be a quick finish. While looking for background info on the Birdsong quilt, I saw that this flimsy was made in 2024 also and that it would be good to finally finish two 2024 flimsies.

The only problem I had was  I wanted to use the stripe backing horizontally which ran along the selvedge and would be too short for the 39”x45”flimsy by several inches. I added strips, of a polkadot print found in the scrap box, to the top and bottom. Since I already had the variegated thread still on my sewing machine, I used that to machine quilt with straight and wavy lines. The black print with teeny multi color dots was found in the stash. I’m glad the Rainbow House quilt was a finally finish because it reminded how much I love this rail pattern which uses only six fat quarters. I need to make some small quilts for the darling Granddaughter’s classroom by Fall and this would be a great pattern since it sew quick and very cute with the right fabrics which I’m sure I have in my stash. I will confess that I want to keep Rainbow House quilt because I love the prints so much but maybe will be ready to give it up by Fall.

Last but not least, all during June in the late evening while watching reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore TV Series on YouTube, I was handing piecing the Smitten Says blocks which I started planning on the last days of May. Fabric patches were cut for appoximately 500 diamonds and then basted to make 177 5”x6” hexagons. Originally I was going to use a combination of diamonds and equilateral triangles (like the Simple Smitten quilt) to make the hexagons but decided to use all diamonds instead.  All of the hexagons are now sewn and ready to be laid up on the design board. Then, the  next step is to sew the hexagons together in rows which I definitely will have to do on the big counter high kitchen table at home and, of course, watching more Mary Tyler Moore episodes which ran for seven years. The Smitten Says hexagons were supposed to be my road trip project for our upcoming September trip but I really enjoy EPPs now and was missing it after my Simple Smitten quilt was finished. I already have a new EPP project in mind for the road trip and can start cutting the fabric and paper pieces soon.

I’m thinking I should take it easy in July but July-balaya wouldn’t be a bad Post title and it’s also fun to say.  Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday.

A Sew Nice November

It was a very productive November with four Finally Finishes and one Flimsy made. Surprisingly, only one was planned and the other ones were inspired by the scraps and leftover blocks found in their respective bins. At the beginning of November, I was still under the influence of the Dear Tula #2 Scrap Vortex Quilt and kept finding more projects in the brown/tan/black scrap box. I made a wall quilt and a twin size flimsy which I would have quilted if I didn’t realized that it was the middle of the month and I had to start making a Christmas table runner needed for the living room. I like to start decorating by December 1st and it was arriving quickly in my head. It turned out that even more inspirations were found in the Christmas stash to make two additional quilts with the leftover blocks and scraps from previous projects.

The first project completed and unplanned was the Taupe Baskets wallhanging/table runner. While I was preparing the fabrics for the Dear Tula II Scrap Vortex quilt, I came upon leftovers or block remains from past projects and a fat quarter of the basket print which I don’t remember purchasing. 

I had set aside these fabrics several years ago not knowing what I was going to make with them. I knew that I did not want to cut up the basket print and thought now to use a 16”x18” cut as the main focus for a table runner. I ended up eliminating some of the lighter prints on the left and found some replacements stashed in other bins. A story for another day is I was needing one more dark print, preferably a Japanese Homespun, and remembered that had received some unexpectedly from Mary Etherington six years ago. I made my Scrappy Sixpatch Quilt from the scraps Mary had sent and still had some left. I now have much more which as I mentioned before will be a project for next year.

Here’s a close-up of the basket print which is from the Taupeism fabric line. I did do a search online to find out more about the print but nothing was found. Really, I was hoping to purchase additional prints but in the end I was happy with what I had. Initially, Taupe Baskets was going to be a table runner but is now a wallhanging in my hallway where it is hanging around the other wall quilts made with similar fabrics and colors. It measures 28” x 50” and was a quick and easy make with the meandering machine quilting.

Also found alongside the Taupe Basket fabrics were leftover blocks from the Disappearing 9 patch quilt I made for a Grandniece eleven years ago. I decided to make a number of patches needed to make 35 blocks  or a 65”x91” twin size quilt. Fortunately, most of the scraps in the brown/tan/black bin are from this quilt. I would have finished this quilt if I hadn’t realized that I needed to start on some Merry Makings.

I am pretty pleased with myself for having completed these three during the last half of November which involved a lot of non-quilting busyness. Can you guess which one was machine quilted and bound several days while the darling Granddaughter was staying at our house, a wallhanging made from a block which was at least seven years old and a table runner made from a fabric collection purchased last year?

I won’t keep you in suspense. This table runner was made with Dashwood Studio Candy Cane line along with Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics using a modified version of Villa Rose Designs Clover pattern. I mentioned in previous posts how much I love this pattern and how easy it is to modify it in order to use the fabrics you already have. The table runner measures 22”x38” and is needed for the living room which during Christmas, all the quilts were made from Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star fabrics. The only holdout was the table runner on the coffee table and last year I made plans to finally make a new one this year.

Of course, while combing through the Christmas stash, I came across the 12” Tree block made in 2017 and was designed by April Adam, Janda Bend Quilts for that year’s I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along. This was one of the few blocks I made from this quilt along and had planned to use it with some other orphan Christmas block which I never got along to sewing. Divine inspiration to make it a wall hanging finally struck and I just needed a few strips and squares from other projects to make it a 23” square. April named this block Christmas Tree Farm, which is appropriate since she owns one and I did play Taylor Swift’s Christmas Tree Farm while hand quilting. I just love how this turned out and this will be hanging up in the hallway at the GP House.

Last, but not the very least, is the Reindeer Lane made possible with a past Christmas quilt and fabric purchases.

I was surprised when I realized that this Hoot and Loot Quilt was made five years ago. My original plan to make this with only the eight patch rail blocks and the Hoot and Loot fabric but decided to add the pinwheel blocks which meant 24 rail blocks were not needed. Most of these were made from Me and My Sister Red Dot and Dash fabric line and I thought if I ordered additional yardage from their fabric line this year, Reindeer Games, I could make just a Christmas bed quilt of rail blocks for the darling Granddaughter.

Normally, I like to include a pic of all of the fabrics gathered for the making of a quilt, but in my haste to finish it before the month ends, I forgot to take one. These photos show the new Reindeer Game fabrics purchased, the red ribbon weave, green diagonal stripe, red and green plus, and the Reindeer dot. In order to make this a 56”x72” quilt, I needed to use additional fat quarters of Kate Spain’s Merry, Merry fabric line along with a Robert Kaufman Sloth Christmas print, a Basic Grey text print and some other red and green prints found in the stash. I wanted to include some plain 8” blocks with the rail blocks but decided a pieced block of two coordinating 4”x8”(f) rectangles would worked. Rather than a random layout, I thought a controlled layout with two rows of the Reindeer block, top and bottom,and one row of the rectangle blocks with the Kate Spain houses in the center would work with the fabric I had. Rather than alternate the  red and green rail blocks individually, they are set in vertical rows, creating a lane effect which is why I names this quilt Reindeer Lane. I thought it was also a nice address name for the row of houses in the Kate Spain Print.

Since the Kate Spain and Sloth prints had some gray in it, backing it with a light gray chenille plush was perfect. This is a thin plush, not so luscious, which the Pellon soy batting was used to add some weight. The flimsy was finished right before we left for the GP House to bring back the darling Granddaughter to spend Thanksgiving with us. I didn’t think I would be able to machine quilt it while she was here, but wonders happen during the night when she is sleeping. I usually don’t sew at night while at the GP House but maybe I will now. Machine quilting and binding went well, no problems, the darling Granddaughter should come to our house more often.

I thought I would close this Post with the darling Granddaughter, the Novice Quilt Holder holding up Christmas Tree Farm. It did not go well. Thanks to three photo app and along with the experience of creating graphics of Sandra, mmmquilts, I was able to photo edit this pic. Maybe I should learn AI.

I only have one project to complete in December which is to machine quilt my secret project. Once that’s done, I’m sure I can find other projects which are always popping up in the studio. Now that Thanksgiving have been enjoyed and now over, we will be traveling back with the darling Granddaughter and her father to the GP House tomorrow. Unfortunately, we will be driving after our area has been under a Winter Storm Watch and hopefully the roads will be cleared. I am so not ready for Winter weather and the only way to enjoy the cold and snow is to be inside and happily making quilts.

2017: My Wonderful Year in Review

This is my fourth post in the past six days and I promise you it's my last one for the year. As I was preparing to write my final post for 2017; my year in review post, I was trying to decide which photo to use and when I went to check to see what I did for my 2016 post, I saw that I did not include an opening photo.  So, thankfully, I was inspired by the collage which Shannon of The Fleming Nines did for her review and lucky for me I happened to have completed twenty-four quilts this year and voila' I was able to fill a twenty-five space collage.  Thank you PicMonkey!

And now for the stats:

Finally Finished:

• 24 Quilts: Fourteen were new projects and ten were from previous years 
• 5 Wallhangings:  My Front Door and staircase thanked me
• 1 Baby Quilt Gift
• 12 Baby Quilts for the Blanket Ministry

And a special stats section for the Micah Makes:

• 1 Baby Quilt
• 4 Patchwork Blankies ( I like to mention that I did not have the chance to snuggle with her under her Christmas blankie and you can see why).  My intention of making it bigger for the both of us went to the wayside.
• 3 Play Mats
• Burp Cloths
• Teething Ring Holders
• Baby Owls for Shower Favors

Flimsy Stage:

• 2 Quilts
• 2 Wallhanging

I have other small projects which I did not list but here's a link to my 2017 page  (you can see them here) if you would like to see photos of everything, well almost everything.  I didn't include photos of my road projects since they're in a continual stage.

I also like to mention that I participated in three QAL's (Freefall, Twelve Days of Christmas and A Splash of Color) and finished all of the projects but I failed miserably in the fourth one which was the I Wish You A Merry Christmas.  I really wanted to participate, to support my fellow bee bloggers whom I met in the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop this year but my hands wouldn't do the appliqué and in hindsight, I wished I had because they really put together a beautiful quilt.  

And another important stat is that I met my Minus 100 Yard Challenge and ended it with -105 yards and would not have made this goal without a few fabric gifts sent, donations and the wherewithal to include a rule that fabric gifts and sampler boxes did not count.  I won't be doing this challenge in 2018 but instead will do a 100 yard purge.  I wish shipping rates were more cost friendly because I know who I would like to send a package to.  I might have an idea up my sleeve now that I'm typing this, details are now being worked out in my head.

It's been a most wonderful year filled with good energy, creations and good memories.  A lot of special things happened to me, the most important one being that I became a first time Grandmother to the most precious Micah Rose and now belong to the club whose members claim they have the very best grandchild.  I am considering making a run to be the president of this fictitious club.  And another one would be that I became a better blogger and made new friends who are now near and dear to my heart.  If I were granted a big quilty wish, it would be to gather all of us together and have one great quilt retreat somewhere wonderful.  We would have to inform the local quilt shop and law enforcement of our arrival because there are a few of my blogger buddies and a FB buddy/sista whom I can get in trouble with, oh who am I kidding,  there's a whole lot of them.  

It's time to call it a year, a most wonderful year and I couldn't ask or make anything more.  I would gladly take a repeat for 2018 which my plans are already filling up with good projects. I've  been making lists all week, on paper and in my head,  which I will share for my post for the new year.

Wishing you a Blessed and Happy New Year!  Stay warm if you're in the northern hemisphere.

Sew Long 2019

I should have posted yesterday about my Final Four Finally Finished Quilts for 2019, but used whatever available hours I have left instead to meet this goal which I seemed to have come up with just days before the year ended. When I left for the Grandparent House on 12/26, I felt pretty good thinking that this was the second year in a row that I'd accomplished the quilty feat of finally finishing every quilt top started in 2019 by finishing the two quilts on the right of the above photo.  While I was compiling my year in review, much to my wondering eyes did see on my blog under 2019 Quilts were two tops that I had forgotten I made this year.  I knew to maintain my mental bragging rights, I was going to have to finish the two quilts on the left as soon as I returned home on 12/29 which I managed to do right before the annual NYE celebration with my peeps and our hubbies.

Here's a brief overview of these four quilts which were all mostly made with my favorite 2.5" strips from charm squares, jelly rolls, fat quarters and stash:

Max & Whisker Quilt was the first quilt cut and sewn at the Grandparent House sewing room which I refer to as my Two-dio.  The fabric line is from Basic Grey which I had purchased yardage several years ago.  This quilt measures 40"x52".

The quilting was done with a Connecting Threads variegated thread with orange being the dominate color.  I decided to use the brown stripe fabric from the backing vault instead of the yardage I had of another focus print which I decided I should use for another quilt since I still had plenty of leftovers of all of these prints.  I'm thinking of asking my 45+ year old niece who married for the first time this past May if I should save this quilt for a future bundle of joy but knowing the probable answer I'm sure she would love it for her menagerie, the dog and cat lover which she is.

The Alphabet Quilt, 37"x52", is made from a Jelly Roll and yardage of the Wee Woodland by Keiki purchased years ago, possibly the same time as Max & Whisker. It was maybe the first quilt top I made using a Jelly Roll and I can't remember the pattern or inspiration for this quilt.  I plan on using this pattern again, but maybe making it 40" wide. I suspect maybe the reason why I made it 37" wide for to make sure I could quilt it using a WOF length of fabric But since I have more experience with machine quilting than I did 5 years ago I don't mind quilting on the edge.  I also used another variegated thread with yellow being the dominant color for this quilt.

You can see that I pieced the backing (thanks goodness I made a note with drawing that the one yard piece of the lovely Alphabet print was to be pieced with the brown fabric) and yes I did grumbled a bit.  I'll be saving this for my sweet Granddaughter who will be starting PreK in March when she turns 3 and may need a sleep mat, so I think.

I originally named this quilt Beach Blanket Bingo when I had planned on backing it with either Minkee or terry cloth but since renamed it Malka Stripes when I decided to quilt it when I found some stripe fabric in the backing vault which looked perfect for this quilt.  The fabrics are from several of Malka Drubrawsky's fabric lines and yes it was purchased years ago.  The 8" blocks are made up of eight 2.5"x4.5" patches an offshoot of the Ernie pattern and set in an alternating block orientation layout. The quilt measures 56"x72". I used a Kiwi green thread which I think blended well with all of the colors.

The Liberty Lawn 8 Patch was made from four charm packs and yardage of the Liberty Lawn fabric lines again purchased years ago.  The 8 patch blocks were sewn last year while recovering from my broken left knee and I noticed that the blocks did not line up or click when sewn together.  I knew whatever I made with these fabrics that I would used the Anna Griffin green stripe fabric for the binding.  I do love the look of ticking stripe with florals. This quilt measures 40"x54".

You can see that I quilted all of the these quilts with wavy and straight line quilting which is my go-too favorite and, yes, the only way I quilt and have no guilt or qualms about not trying any other quilting.  I remember reading another quilter's blog who felt guilty about just doing meandering but the way I see quilting it's like your signature.  Sometimes I like to print  and sometimes I like to  do cursive which it seems may be a vanishing skill with the very younger generation.  I think my skills for straight line quilting was honed back in my grade school years when I had to write "I will not talk during class" one hundred times on lined notebook paper on more than one occasion so I'm used to repetition and monotony.

Also, worth noting, is that the Master Quilt Holder was not needed for these photos since I received a new light for the sewing area which can also be aimed towards the area where I sometime photograph quilts.  I thought the photos turned out great and yes it sure did beat taking them outside in the cold.  I'm sure the Master Quilt Holder appreciates the new light.

And now for my 2019 Year End Review:

28 quilts were a Finally Finish of which only two quilts used new fabrics purchased this year which meant 26 quilts were made from stash. (Here is a link to the 2019 Quilts). Eight quilts were UFOs which blocks or tops made either last year or years past. From these eight quilts, three quilts were tag-along finishes which means a current quilt with similar fabrics or background was made this year and was being quilted and it just wasn't good quilt karma not to also quilt a top made many moons ago.  Eighteen quilts were made from stash I been yearning to use, i.e., Tula Pink, Carrie Bloomston, Malka Dubrawsky, Kaye England, Hand Maker, etc. and three quilts were made from fabric/scraps given to recently or over the years.  I also should mention that I have four WIPs which I hope will be a Finally Finish in 2020.  It's still to early to determine if my quilt production will be impacted by all of the traveling we now do to the Grandparent House and there are times when we are there that I think I really didn't need Two-dio space since I don't have much time for sewing when the Granddaughter is visiting.  I will say I definitely am knitting more now.

I had a goal in 2019 to use 100 yards from my stash and to limit purchasing new fabrics.  I'm happy say I used almost 164 yards BUT according to my records I purchased 48.5 yards making my net total 115.25 yards.  I find the purchased number surprising since I didn't include any fabrics given to me or fabrics from a subscription like FQS Sew Sampler Box or purchased under the By/Buy /Days like Valentine, Anniversary, Mother's Day, Birthday and Christmas.  I will say that I didn't indulge myself too much during the By/Buy Days but must have made up for it on other days with this 48.5 yards of fabric purchased.  And there were weeks that went by without any fabric deliveries and I was certain that some of the online sites were going to do a wellness check on me.

I'm glad I made my goal, some of my bins have room, there are empty spaces on the shelfs and my studio is looking less crowded and more organized.  Although I'm not making it official, I plan on doing the same 100 yard reduction in 2020 because I still have some fabric lines in my stash which I still want to use.  And the same goes for purchasing too. This time I'm going to use a checkbook ledger to keep better track of what I bought and used.

As I'm writing this post, I'm doing so with a cold my sweet Granddaughter gifted me from our latest visit and still recovering from last night's NYE celebration.  We've been celebrating with the peeps and hubbies for maybe the past 15 years now and we're getting older now so last night we were a little bit more cranky and complaining about our ailments and wondering who invited our parents.  At least the food was delicious and we still enjoyed Christmas Bingo, Cards and laughing.  BTW, today is a Pajamazon Day for me.

Wishing all of my Blogland Buddies a very Happy New Year and hope everyone has 2020 vision to see a lot of love, peace and happiness. Being healthy and having a lot of time to sew would also be nice too.