Happy Monday!!

 This are my blocks from Barb's nine patch exchange.  I have gotten this far on my design, but need a little more time to ruminate.  or illuminate!  Either way, I am so enjoying working with everyone's blocks.  Thank you for exchanging!

 More and more!

 And progress on this quilt too.  These are the quilt blocks from Terry's treasures, last year.  She had a fun quilt along.  I have been figuring out how to set these blocks together too.

 I am half way done sewing them all together.  The bright colors are so cheerful, and all from the scrap bin.  Love scrapping here!

And the biggest news ever!!  You know, I have sewn at the kitchen table forever.  That means everything needs to be put away each night, and straightened up for the evening meal.  I at last have a sewing machine cabinet!!  And it is just so much fun!  I can't wait to get it set up, where it will live.  It is going in the little sun room, so the bright pretty sunshine can pour in and make stitching a bigger joy.  Yippee!!


BINDING BLITZ!!!

Hope you all are BINDING!!!!  It is getting close to the end of the month, and the linkey party.  so finish up, and we will enjoy each other's finishes.


Have a great day, everyone!


Julie

Woolen Willow designs!

I have had a just terrible time settling down and working on just one thing.  Finally, I worked on this project today, prepping a few more blocks.  This is from Jeni at the Willow...you can see her blog HERE!!  She has made a few blocks along for this lovely quilt. This is a free quilt along. Of course, I am changing things up a bit...just like me, isn't it?  And I am not caught up yet, but I am making progress.



*************************Sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been quite busy with my new job, but this past weekend, I started getting very dizzy.  So dizzy, in fact, that I was not able to function...at all.  I spent two days lying in bed, because I would fall or toss my cookies if I got up!!  I finally decided...go to the doctor, already!!  So I did...and he prescribed Antivert (meclizine), for an inner ear problem. Now friends, I am a non medicine taker, if at all possible.  Maybe three Tylenol in my whole life!  But I took one of the Antivert pills...and slept for about 18 hours!  Crazy...and I give that stuff so nonchalantly to my patients?  Never again!!  That is some strong stuff!  (Or I am a pansy...could be!)

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Back to work in the morning!

Julie

UFO progress

 Good Monday to you!  I am working on these blocks today.  I think I may be finished making blocks, and just concentrate on getting this all into one top.  I am going to do a sashing and border, and am thinking of ideas for those.

Another view.

UPDATE!!!  I think I am going to make 32 more blocks...bigger is better!!

Have a great day, each and every one of you!!




Julie

A Friday off work!

 Happy Friday!!  I finished all the letters for the Temecula Quilt Shop quilt along.  I am undecided, of course, how to set them. I just put some of my little star blocks in there for space fillers. What a fun project!!  Did you make this quilt?  All you have to do is go to the Temecula Quilt shop blog and find the patterns, all through the last part of 2014 postings, and they are free.

 I made another blue block, for the rainbow scrappy quilt along.    This pattern is a free one from Free Motion on the River.  I like it, because of the string background!  Love that part!

 And another blue block...sorry, it really is pretty straight, not like my picture depicts.

 And of course, I save all the bonus triangles and made pinwheels.  I have a lot of these, as these little blocks really have added up over the years!

,)

 Postage stamp progress!!  ( or tale of woe, whichever...you decide.)

 I have been merrily sending all these little one inch finished pieces through the sewing machine...first in twosies, then foursies, then pieces of eight, then sweet sixteens!!  So I smugly just KNEW I had plenty of squares...probably for two quilts (not). What a bonanza I had...I thought!  And then...I counted them.  I was dismayed to find out I only have enough for 1/2 of one quilt.  BOO!!  Boy, did my sails just come crashing down, LOL!!  I was just going to put it away in the closet in disgust...THEN!!!

(And by the way, these were the little containers with heaps of all those squares.)

I cut a ton more!!  Two hours of fast cutting this morning.  I still need a ton more, but at least I kept it out and it did not become a UFO...it is still a work in progress!! Maybe I am growing up, just one little bit. Yippee!!!




Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Sweet Sixteen!!

 This is the quilt I am currently binding, for the BINDING BLITZ!!  This is a quilt for a friend, a vintage top that she wanted finished into a quilt.  My friend Millie quilted it, and I am binding it.  So I am on my way to getting lots of quilts bound this year!

 Here is the January prize for the Binding Blitz.  It is a pattern by a sweet friend of mine, and also the kit below.  She does small quilts, in a traditional pattern, with beautiful reproduction fabrics as her focus.

 So here is the kit!!  All of this is part of the prize for January Binding Blitz.  At the end of the month, we can all link up and share our pretty bound quilts.  I will have a random number drawing then.  So everyone get to binding, LOL!!

And these...are sweet sixteens!  Some of you know I am making a postage stamp quilt.  All the pieces are now being sewn into sixteen piece lengths.  I did twosies...then foursies...then eights...and now sixteens.  Then I will start into rows.  I am at last making some fast, good progress!!!



**********************No Reply!***************************

I feel so bad when I cannot reply to a sweet comment meant for me. So Valerie, Megan, and Dian....thank you for you nice comments on my blog last time...thank you!!

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Hope each of you has a wonderful day!

Julie

Binding Blitz and Pieces of Eight!!!

 Hi to everyone!!  Here on Juliekquilts, we are having a Binding Blitz, for the year of 2015, all year long.  There will be prizes each month, so if you have a  (ahem) binding pile like I do, or you happen to finish up a binding a particular month...join in!!  I have quilt kits, patterns, books and other fun quilty stuff to share for prizes.   Above is a quilt I need to hand sew the binding on.  It is attached...just not sewn down.  We will have a sidebar button that you can put on your blog...it is so cute, and is being made by Vicki Welsh, at vickiwelsh.typepad.com  Vicki, you are the best, and thank you so very much!!  Hey, check out Vicki's blog...she has all sorts of fun stuff going on, and she hand dyes her own fabric, and is pretty much amazing.  The badge will be coming soon.

 A scrappy binding!

 Remember this fun Bonnie Hunter quilt?  Same thing!!  Needs hand sewing the binding down!

 And this big, big, starry night quilt.  It too needs hand stitching.  I am sorry to say that this is not all of the quilts that need binding, by a long shot.  But if I get one quilt bound each month...I will be caught up!  So that is one challenge for me.

At the end of each month, there will be a Linky, so we can all share our finished and bound quilts.  Then the drawing will be for the people linking. So think about it...do you have a binding pile???

 This little plaid table runner is half way bound, and I worked on it on a recent plane trip.

 Now the above picture does not look like much...but all the one inch pieces are now in pieces of four, and being sewn into pieces of EIGHT!!!  So much progress has been made on my scrappy postage stamp quilt.  I guess I am doing it instead of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year, because this quilt was nagging at me to get it done!

 Ahem...again.  I may have a few quilt tops that need quilting.  Just a few.  A LOT!  So I will be joining in on all the UFO reduction quiltalongs I can, LOL!  Yep, this is reality, folks...just snapped the picture just as it is!

 Hey, I made something new!  This is just one block, and I am hoping the lady who made this quilt will make a pattern.  She said she would, so while I am waiting for the pattern, I made a one block wonder table topper.

 Big stitch quilted, and a scrappy background.  And scraps too in the border...I am using scraps up here, friends!

 Hey, guess what?  Marcie Patch has a quilt in this fun Scrap Magazine from McCall's quilting!  Our Marcie is a cover girl!

It is truly a gorgeous quilt.  I will be making this one this year too.



***********************Nurse's Notes***********************************

I have accepted a new job!  It is right where I am, and is a new position.  In fact, I will be creating the position.  I will be nursing one-two days a week as usual, but also I will be doing some patient Advocate work.  Teaching, looking after the patients, making sure the doctors are communicating with them, loving them, basically, working with the social workers too. Hurrah!  I feel that it an answer to prayer, as I have been quite worried about losing so much work time due to being cancelled for low census or too many nurses on the schedule.  I have so many ideas...and I am so excited!  I would love your prayers that I can make a difference in these patient's lives in a great, positive way, and also improve our patient satisfaction scores.  That is what the hospital wants...but I want to reach some souls, you know?  To love on these patients!!!  Because I am creating the role in our hospital, I am doing a great deal of research on patient advocacy and learning how to do it the best, best, best ever.  I would appreciate your good thoughts and prayers!!

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I have so much on my mind, and another thing is all the gorgeous quiltalongs and BOM's for this new year.  What are you going to join in on???


Have a great 2015, everyone!!  Get out those quilts to be bound!!



Julie

Merry, Merry Christmas!!

 I wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!  December has disappeared in a blur of work, more work, and more work!  But!!  I have made some progress on the postage stamp quilt.  It will have 8000 pieces when completed.  Here are some of the "twosies" put together.   This is all the pieces I have for it, until I get more scraps cut up.

 I put all the units in the brown bag and shook it all up!  Then I pick a couple out at random and zip them together.

So now I am making "foursies!)  A very wise woman asked me why I didn't strip piece this quilt...well duh!  I didn't think of that!  So I am just sewing all these little one inch squares together, one...by one...by one!!

And I am loving it!!  Yes, I sew at the old kitchen table.  Probably 40 years old at least.


********************New Year's stuff***********************************



Just thinking here!!  How many quilts do you have to bind?  I am thinking of having a BINDING BLITZ!!

Now 'fess up...is it just me, or do you have a pile of quilts that need BINDING??  Let's have a binding blitz in 2015!  How about each month, we work on binding one (or more) of those quilts, in our stolen moments, maybe at night or whenever we get a moment. I will create a linky thing (help, someone show me how), and at the end of the month we can show our finished, bound quilts.  ( and label at the same time!)    We can enjoy each other's quilts and maybe encourage each other to finish up those bindings!  Bonus!!  Each month you link up, you will be put in a drawing for a prize!  How's that for fun?  So GET READY for the BINDING BLITZ!!!

Blitz = a sudden, energetic, and concerted effort, typically on a specific task




There are so many quilts out there I am itching to make...but finishing the ones in progress is important too.  So here we go!!  Pick out some of those quilts just crying out for binding and start!!!

Now...if you are one of those born organized people who just finish each quilt, one at a time...please disregard.  WISH I WERE JUST LIKE YOU!  But for the rest of us...let's BIND!!!


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I am also thinking of other things in the NEW YEAR...but my plans usually are run off the tracks by scraps, calling my name, to come and play and make scrap quilts!!  Stay tuned, though...you never know what will come across my little brain!



Hugs to all, and I hope you all had a wonderful day today.



Julie

Turning Twenty!!!!!

 You will just never, ever believe what happened to me this past week at work!!  I had a darling patient at work at the hospital...just a sweetheart.  I met her daughter, and she looked familiar to me.  So I asked if she or her mom were quilters...and she politely asked, "Have you heard of Turning Twenty Quilting?"  WELL OF COURSE I HAD!!!  I was speaking to Tricia Cribbs!!  My heart just flip-flopped...I was speaking to QUILTING ROYALTY!!!  To make a long story longer, Tricia is just the soul of kindness and gentleness and goodness...she was so sweet to answer all my silly questions about her life and career, and guess what?? Tricia gave us one of her NEWEST BOOKS to give away on the blog!!  Now how nice is that??  So just leave a comment about anything, really...how about a fun Christmas experience...those comments will be extra fun to read!  And you will be entered in the drawing.  Please go see Tricia's website HERE.  You will just go crazy like I did...she is truly a talented quilter, designer and person.   Please see her blog HERE!!  I just have never had such a wonderful time at work...I could hardly keep my eye on the ball and get my duties done at work!

 Well, I am back at hand quilting this quilt.  I do love it so much, with all it's imperfections. I don't know how to photograph quilting lines... I outline quilted all the blocks, and the outside border...and then I bound it.  I know, I know, I am not supposed to bind until the very end...but it was ravelling and I pinned carefully and thoroughly...and it turned out just fine.  I am doing double line quilting in all the blocks.  It is super fun, although quite slow.  I have a blister right now from quilting, so have to wait for that to heal up so I can quilt some more.

 All the swap blocks are pieced!!  I just love all these pretty nine patches you sent...and these are the blocks I designed with them.  Now what to do to set them all together...?  100 nine patches means 25 blocks...so one will be a pillow, I am sure.

The wheels are turning!!!!  Stay tuned...I am thinking of a unique way to sash them, or set them together.  It is strange that all these little nine patches came from different quilters...they all go together just perfectly!!




And the BIG THING!!  I have been piecing...and piecing...and piecing....on my postage stamp quilt.  Seriously, hours of piecing.  And the rest of the hours have been spent on cleaning and getting ready for Christmas.  Tricia had an amazing postage stamp quilt with her at the hospital...and it just really inspired me to get after mine and GETERDUN!!!!




Have a great day, everyone!!!

Julie

Crumby quilts are fun!

 Would you believe it?  I still have some crumbs left in the old pretzel tin!!  I made these blocks, all straight edged pieces.  ( I have a bag of curvey pieces...for another crumb quilt...someday)  These blocks are kind of like the old mile a minute blocks, I think.  I sewed the sashing and corner stones all together between last night and this morning.  I love it!!  In person, it has much more electricity than in the pictures.

 A close up...the blocks are 6x8 inch finished, made of two halves 4x6 inch, of crumb pieces trimmed to size.  Then I bordered each block, then made the sashing.  I made two other corner stones and sashing sets before I settled on this setting!!  So those will go into other quilts.  Nothing wasted...

And the whole thing.  I will finish it up with a bright scrappy binding, which is already made.   Wheewwwww!!  Now maybe I can think about the Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery quilt!!!  I am so up in the air about what fabrics, etc to use on that mystery...still thinking!!




Thank you for your kindness and wise words and prayers for me on my last post.  Each of you mean the world to me...thank you for sharing your hearts.



Julie

Creative Chaos!

 I BOUGHT a quilt!!  This is from Jo's Country Junction.  Jo was DE-stashing, and I was lucky enough to purchase this quilt from her.  Jo is moving to her dream house that she and her husband have been working hard on all year.  All I know about the quilt is that is it from Iowa. It is hand cross stitched, and hand quilted. The binding is one inch wide.  It is incredible!!  Please see Jo's blog HERE.

 It is a large quilt too.  Can't you see this in applique???  It is soft and just a very pretty quilt.  Can you quilt experts tell me how old it is?  Is it a kit quilt??

 I have been playing in the smallest scraps.  These are crumbs, and the smallest pieces of fabric I have.  I keep them all in an old pretzel tin, and love to sort through them and use them all up.

 After several different designs, I am sticking with this.  The cornerstones were made a long time ago, for another project, but they did not get used. I just love scraps!!  Do you throw them away, or do you hoard them and love them and use them???  NO right answer here, I just think I may be a little bit nutty for them, LOL!!  Are you too??  Hee!

And plaids!!  My friend Chantal sent these to me...They are soft and just yummy pieces of shirts...I am crazy for these too!  Many thanks,  dear friend!!  See her blog HERE.  Chantal makes amazing quilts...beautiful quilts...treat yourself to a visit to her blog.




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Hey, maybe one of you smart ladies or gents know the answer to this.  I get a comment, and it used to always to my hot mail, and I would answer.  Now the comments don't go there consistently.  What is happening?  Anyone know??

********************************Nurse's notes******************************

I have been floated or cancelled almost every shift I was scheduled for the last few weeks.  I had the opportunity to float to the ICU, where I took care of two multiple sclerosis patients.  Now these neuro muscular disease patients always have a special place in my heart, due to my mother's illness with ALS.  So I was blessed!  Turns out one of these patients is my neighbor...and the other, quite ill and ventilator dependent. I just really loved caring for them...and the best thing?  It was busy!!  BUSY, busy...I loved that, and they want me to come work there full time!  So...I have some soul searching to do...do I go work with the sickest of the sick...or remain in my current job with open heart recovery...which is so slow I can't get any hours!!!? I have been at this cardiac nursing thing for 18 years, in this hospital, and before that six years in another hospital.  Pondering here...thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers about this situation...


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Have a wonderful day all!!

Julie

Design wall!! (floor, as usual)

 Good morning!!  I participated in a nine patch block swap with Barb...please see see her blog HERE.  She did such an amazing job with it all!!  Each nine patch was kind of a treasure, a little work of art to me, carefully pressed and sewn by many hands. Yes, I know I am waxing a bit poetic, but that is the way I felt about it, so I wanted to somehow showcase each nine patch.  So I bordered each one, setting it on point.

 Then I thought and thought about how to set them together.  I use almost exclusively scraps in my quilting, as many of you know.  What could I do??

 I then went to the 1.5 inch strip bin and got out some pretty strips of fabric, and started kind of matching the blocks to the strips.  Not really matching...just whatever at that moment in time I thought looked fun together.  So here is where I am!!

I laugh and laugh when I think of other quilter's gorgeous, organized and beautiful design walls...and the laughter comes when I think of myself, down on the floor with the poodle dog, moving quilt pieces and parts around and wiggling around to the music playing!!! I guess I will never be as amazingly organized or put together as most folks, but I sure have fun!!

 I recently received the most beautiful patterns from Marcie Patch....please see her blog and business HERE!!  Marcie has been a huge inspiration to me for many years, and I count her as a wonderful friend too.  Thank you so much, Marcie!!

Last but not least for sure, I have some piece and parts from a famous quilt!!  At least famous to me...it is TAZZIE's Omigosh quilt!!    Please click on the link to see her amazing quilt.  It is a huge award winner, and she sent me some of her little strips and nine patches that she used in her quilt, and some pretty fabric too.  I am still cutting out pieces for mine...stay tuned!!!


Thank you, Tazz!!


Happy Monday to all,


Julie