Birthday gifts!!

 I received a tiny quilt for my birthday!  I am so spoiled, just rotten, I tell you!  These tiny triangles are 1/2 an inch finished.  Can you even imagine working with something so tiny?  As you can see, it is just perfect.  I love it!

And home made soap!!  It smells just heavenly, and is all natural...nothing to make it smell good except natural spices.  Delicious! All this was a total surprise to me.


Thank you dear friend!!  I am thoroughly enjoying these!!


Julie

Scrappy Pink and Cream rules!! (at least for today...)

 This is a Rail fence quilt...Julie style!  I started out as a leader and ender, as Bonnie Hunter set forth in this years leader and ender challenge.  But?  I just can't leave it alone, once I have set forth on a project, LOL!  All these blocks are done...a great many of them with individual pieces sewn together, and some of them using strip piecing. 

 Close up!  I have found a couple of lay out errors in the picture, so I am grateful for the opportunity to fix them...I make enough mistakes without knowing, without doing it on purpose, as the quilters of old did..."Perfection is for God alone!"  So many deliberate mistakes were placed in their quilts, so as not to offend God.  I don't think he was offended, LOL!  Nothing is perfect!

Especially this mess of blocks!  I just stirred and mixed them all up and laid them out as above, and asked Rosie the poodle not to help rearrange them so much until I could get a picture, LOL!  She is such a good helper!




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

More terrorist attacks, this time in Barcelona , Spain.  My prayers are with the victims and families and citizenry, but special prayers are for the health care workers...I wish for wisdom for the doctors and nurses, and fortitude and strength to face the onslaught of those gravely hurt from the attack, throughout this long night.


***************************************************



Hope each of you is having a wonderful day!!

Julie

And a little (lot!) more applique!!

 I am making progress on this quilt...I am on a bit of a roll with it, as a matter of fact! 

I will have some time to sit and applique coming up, so I did a lot of prep this morning.  The unfinished blocks look like spiders, somewhat, don't you think??



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


Nurse's notes:


I have been in charge again lately on my floor, but yesterday, we had so many patients coming in that I had to take patients AND be in charge.  One stable heart attack patient (younger than I am), and one bypass surgery, straight from the surgical suite.  I loved the day yesterday, and was quite energized throughout today, too!!  Coffee?  Or estrogen?  I am not sure which chemical it is, but what a lovely day, with lots of accomplishments today!!  I am off to make supper and clean a bit.



Hugs to all!!


Julie





Have a super day!

Julie

A little applique and a little piecing!!

 Just playing with some applique here, pinned together for now.  Scrappy and fun!!

 I made two more blocks for the batik quilt. 

 Rosie is such a good helper!!  Playing here...

She looks at me with the most earnest eyes!!!  I need to take a video so you can see her tail wagging a mile a minute!



Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Progress on the accidental quilt!

I had to hurry and take a picture, because Rosie the poodle really wanted to help with this quilt, but when she helps?  The blocks get "rearranged!"  This started out as a leader and ender project, but as these things go, the leaders and enders take over.  I strip sewed some of these little three inch blocks,  and leader and ender sewed some.  Anyway, here is where I am...so still a long time to go before I have a finished quilt top.  I am using strictly strings, cutting them to size, for this quilt.  Except for the neutrals...I did not have enough neutral strings to use for all of the quilt, so used my stash neutrals.

Onward!!

Julie

I accidently started a new quilt.

 Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville has a super fun idea going on for her "leaders and enders" project for this year.  It is the rail fence quilt!  I have made several, using up strings and scraps.  Above it the same kinds of thing, but with the center strips a color, and lots of neutrals for the other strips. I think another name of this may be Basket Weave strings, yes??

 Here is a string rail fence quilt I made and hand quilted.  It is a super heavy quilt, because I pieced the strings on muslin! 

 A little closer view.  All the strings are just that...strings. None cut to a specific width.

Rosie is now modeling for you, for you to get the full effect of this quilt.  She says she likes this one!!


I have made several rail fence quilts and given them away to patients...so here goes one more, as it is a fun and fast pattern!!




Hope each of you is having a super day!!



Julie

Utterly Spoiled...such fun!

 I am the recipient of some birthday gifts, a little early!  My friend Lyn, from Australia, MADE this baby doll!  Isn't she cute?  She is a nurse, with a little nursing cap perched on her darling head!  It looks so professionally made...and so dear to me.  What a darling baby doll!!

 Lyn also made a Poodle quilt!!  It is made from the most darling poodle fabrics, and if you zoom in, you can see them.  Precious!

 And there is even more!  A whole box of such fun things...thank you, Lyn, thank you!


Please see her blog here:

http://oldburycottage.blogspot.com/

 My friend Tricia sent some really fun patterns from magazines. Love them!! Especially the Prickly Pear one...it is right up my alley.   Thank you so much, Tricia!  Please see her website here:


http://www.turningtwenty.com/

 I ordered a pattern for the Timeless Traditions pattern, Sweet and Simple.  It is a lovely applique quilt.  I received two books, though!!  So I will check and see what I was charged for, and return one if I did not get charged for it...such a fun pattern.

And this little block has an inner border, and of course, I am stuck on the outer border. Seems like a repeat of the border dilemma I usually have, LOL!!




Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Slow stitching Sunday

 I have been slowly hand quilting this quilt.  It was a online quilt along by Jeni Gaston. It just makes me happy to stitch on it, because look at the fun blocks Jeni designed!  An eagle, for our country!  A heart...love that!  A pineapple, for welcome!  Bees!  For our future...to pollinate our food.  Flowers are my favorite thing, too.  It is just super fun to work on.  It is also very crooked.  Some of it is quilting out, and I sure hope more crookedness quilts out too!  I have no idea why it is, but the background is very stretchy Madras fabric, so perhaps that is the culprit.  I do like that texture, from a different fabric...just something different and hey, it was in the stash and is all used up now, so I win!  Hahaha!!

 This is our quilt guild's donation quilt for 2018.  It is a very pretty thing, but the picture really does not show it well.

 I was asked to hand stitch the binding down, so I am working on that.  I also donated fabrics to this one.

I hope each of you is having a wonderful weekend!!


Hugs from Julie

Making a WEE bit of progress!!

 Since the last bin I emptied had these blocks in it, and there were four of each block,

 I set the four nine patches of each fabric like this.  So?  I am now deciding on a sashing of some kind.  The yellow, I think, (I hope) makes the blocks a bit more cheery!!

Does anyone want these twenty blocks?  They are from another bin.  Just say the word, and I will have a drawing for these, too.  Lyn won the last quilt top, so it will be on it's way to her.

When I am at work, it is just crazy, and 14 hour days are the norm.  That is why you don't hear from me for awhile!!  But I am off today; so vacuumed, swept and mopped and laundry is in the works.  And a little quilting!

Hope you are having a great day!!!

Julie

Emptying those bins!

 The nine patch bin that I emptied (that I spoke of last post), had this many blocks in it, when I sewed them today.

 All 1930's fabrics and solids.  I am going to dream about the solution of setting them together in some kind of fun manner.  Pretty colors!!  Not at all as scrappy as I am enjoying lately, but I remember loving these fabrics so much, a decade ago!!!

I would like to offer this little quilt top to any one who would like to finish it to keep, or for charity.  It also is made of 1930's fabrics, except the juvenile print border.  If you would like it, just speak up!!  If there is more than one person, I will hold a drawing tomorrow. 





I hope you have a super day today!!!


Julie

Emptying those bins and making progress!

 I finished binding this quilt...so I am happy!  It is quite large, and I called it when I made it "Starry, starry night." I am so glad it is finished and able to be used now! 

 I think this pattern would be fun in Christmas fabrics.  These are charm squares...well, not really, because a lot of them are repeated, but at the time, they were all the blues I owned!

 I finished hand quilting this wall hanging, and just have the binding to hand stitch.

 The same goes on this heart quilt.  Hand quilted and just waiting for the binding to be attached.

 I am working on this one...still some hand quilting to be finished, and the binding.  So I am in the same place on a lot of these little quilts!

 I have a lot of projects started, (surprise, surprise!!) and this one is from 2006.  At least I think it is, because the fabric selvages say "2006".  I thought to make nine patches, I guess, and had all the strips cut.

This morning, I sewed the strips together and sub cut the nine patch pieces.  So they are ready to sew.

And a nearly empty bin!  Hurrah!!



Now this is all inspired by Sharon, of Grass Roots Quilting.  She is a wonderful quilter, and she posted about her "bag quilt".  You know what I mean...those projects cut out and put in a bag or a bin, for someday!  She unknowingly encouraged me to get out one of those bins and get it emptied...please see her lovely project, from her bag!  So thank you, Sharon!



See her blog HERE.

http://grassrootsquilting.blogspot.com/2017/07/bag-quilts.html




Hope each of you is having a wonderful Monday!!


Julie

"Releasing" fabric back to the stash!

 I finished stitching this primitive quilt, just a wall hanging size.  Hand quilted and hand applique.  The whole things was made from my imagination and some stems already cut to size.  I free hand cut the flowers.  Just a silly fun thing, LOL!!

 Here are the borders, and it is on the roll top desk for a while, so I can see it, as I zoom by doing house stuff.

 This is in my dining room!  My friend Lyn made this for me, and I just love it, and use it all the time. I decided it need to be up in here, as it is just perfect for the July holiday.  Thank you, Lyn!  Like that antique wall paper?  Old, old, old!!

What I meant by releasing fabric is just this:  When I first started quilting, I thought every piece of fabric needed a plan, and was bound and determined to kit everything up and go for it!  Well......years have gone by.  I really thought I would make a certain quilt...but... years have gone by!  I furthermore cut all the fabrics into strips!  What in the world was I thinking?  Anyway, I have salvaged what I could, and released the rest of the fabric back into the stash.  That feels good!!   It means an empty project container, and yahoo!  That is good!!


Back then, I cut all my patriotic fabric up into strips too.  Idiot child!!  I sure wish I had those fat quarters back...OH well...I will come up with a plan, LOL!




Have a great day, everyone!!

The completion of the circle!!

 All of my circles are sewn together, and a small "pull" border attached. I have seen many an antique/vintage quilt that was very pulled out of shape on the borders, especially at the corners,  so I kind of like a small strip of fabric to protect the quilt edges.  Any opinion on this?

 Here is Rosie the poodle, face down and bottoms up, playing on the quilt top.

This is the block, just for Rosie.  This fabric was my mothers, and doesn't it just scream '50's?





Audrey, this was a super fun project, and thank you so much for your love and persistence in encouraging everyone to sew some "Circular Thinking quilts!"   She called her quilt "Quilty 365", and I love all the circle quilts that were made.    Please see her blog here!!



http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/



Onward!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!


Julie

Scrappy progress!

 Well, I thought I had all these blocks done, except for one.  I could not find them all!  Now honestly...where could they have gone...seriously!!??  So, I cut out four new blocks...see the bright green paper plates?  This is a good idea, as I can stack them up by the sewing machine and keep all the pieces straight, and then reuse them over and over with other blocks pieces and parts.


And then??  I found the blocks!  So...this quilt will have 24 blocks, instead of 20.  A little longer, just right for a hospital bed.

This quilt is one that I just started cutting out, from little tiny pieces of wool and felt.  My wool and felt are in one little box, so it gets used together.  No pattern...just started cutting out flowers and this is what I came up with.  No plan to make this quilt either...it just happened.  I love having the time for that!   Great fun!!  No rules!   and I love that...




Have a great day, everyone!


Julie

Circular Thnking!

 Alrightly, then!!  Here is my circle quilt, in all it's circular glory.  I still have three more circles to applique, and then I am calling it quits.  I loved making this quilt!!  Of course I still have to sew the blocks together, and then a border too.

I just have to have a heart circle block in there!

And some slightly off center circles, for those kind of days...

 Here are all the blocks stacked up after trimming.  It took about 3 and a half hours to trim them...wow!!!  Holey aching feet, Batman!

Some blocks are pieced circles...and many have favorite fabric scraps from my deep stash.  LOL!  Just musing here...MOST of my stash is just scraps!!  Which is perfect for this kind of project...I love my scraps!!




Hope each of you has a magnificent day!!


Julie