Good morning!  This is my latest block for my stripy quilt.  I am hand appliqueing the pieces down, and worked on that yesterday for quite a while.

 I made some little viney applique pieces for the failed block of last post.  I think they look a bit like Medusa's snakes on her head.  Maybe I should add some flowers or something, LOL!

 I sewed the last five blocks for this blue quilt.

And added another block for the strippy, vertical, orphan, red, white, and blue, Barrister's block inspired quilt!!  That is a lot of adjectives, don't you think?











Have a great day, each of you!



Julie

Technical difficulties.

 This is a little early, but I am posting because I am frustrated.  This block is for our ongoing project, "Dearest Boy."  I made the hexagon blocks EXACTLY the size of the pattern provided.

 This is the pattern page.  The four hexie blocks are supposed to fit within the block size, as pictured in the pattern.

 This is the pattern page.  I made the hexies EXACTLY the size of the pattern...hope you can see my yellowish hexie...the right size.

BUT the hexie block just won't FIT IN THE 10.5 INCH BLOCK, which is EXACTLY the right size!!!

Here is one block.  I guess I will just try to make something out of just one of them, in the square.




Does anyone have any suggestions of how this went wrong?




Thanks for listening...but these have taken me a long time and I will not have time to make another block by the date it is due...grrrrr!!





Julie

This one is not on the list...but I love it!!

Slowly, this quilt is coming together.  I am using orphan blocks, some newly made blocks, and imagination...and a picture from Randy's blog.

I try and post when I have made some progress...a lot of years ago, we wanted to know about process...so that is why I post not only finishes, but along the sewing road as well.


www.barristersblock.blogspot.com



I am trying to work on it in between cleaning, holiday preparations and cooking...and the ever present laundry.

This has made me realize just how many orphan blocks I have...so I gathered them all up, separated them by size...and off I went!!!  I am sure I have enough blocks for another quilt...just not Americana style.





I hope you have a great day, today!!!  That mystery quilt is still calling to me!!





Julie

Just a bit of wee progress

 I made this block, for my strippy, red ,white, and blue, and orphan block  quilt.  HAHA!!  That is a lot of adjectives for one quilt!

 It is true fall time here.  The leaves are falling thick and fast, and the wind whipped them almost all from our trees.  So...the above little quilt is a fun and appropriate one for this season.  My friend Lyn gave me the tiny quilt stand, years ago, and I have had so much fun and enjoyment of it!   My friend at work, Dianna, gave me the heart rock. She found it in her yard, and thought of me.  She is a sweet lady and excellent nurse!

I have made several little quilts for the seasons, for that little quilt hanger. I have a snowman one somewhere, unless I gave it away when someone said they liked it, LOL!!!





Have a great day, each of you?  Are any of you working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt??  It is called Good Fortune!


Here is the first clue!!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-fortune-part-1.html





Julie

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Just a day late and a dollar short...or five blocks short, LOL!  I have used all the pieces I had cut out, so long ago, in making these blocks.  So, it will be short work to makes another five blocks, now that I am in practice!  I am being careful to not tug on the bias edges.

 I am making blocks and using other orphan blocks to make this strip quilt.  I absolutely love it!

This is the muse...the picture that Randy shared on her blog.

Randy blogs here:

www.barristersblock.blogspot.com






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


I work tomorrow, which is Thanksgiving in the USA.  I wish every one of you an amazing holiday and lovely time...and eat a lot of turkey for me!!  I made one today, so I have lots of leftovers!!!  What is your thanksgiving go to food...what do you love to eat on this day????  What are you thankful for?


I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life, and you are all high on my list!



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


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


Julie

Paradise, and a chance to help

I am down to sewing the large cream colored triangles onto the blocks...it will go in a hurry, now.  These blues are so soothing, and the fabrics are my old friends.  I do not have many of these blues anymore, having been all used up in quilts over the years.  I think I have more than eighty blocks, now!!  All those bias edges...yikes!

I am sure that many of you have heard of the devastating fires in California, of late.  I heard an interview with the mayor of Paradise, California, which was over 90 percent burned to the ground.  Elderly people are living in tents in the Walmart parking lot...you get how absolutely devastating this is, and is still ongoing.  Many are reaching out to help, and at the forefront, are our beloved quilters.  Quilters are just the nicest, best people.  Below are a couple opportunities for you to help, if you can, with this hard hit community.

Lori blogs here:  

http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2018/11/paradise-how-we-can-help.html


Lynn blogs here:


https://sewnwildoaks.blogspot.com/2018/11/stitch-paradise-back-together.html?fbclid=IwAR3r29zHPFwwAHx7R4dUSAXXYIYD8LcQew-TlcC7j2WkiPgEaFtSNwJEknI

Thank you so much for taking a look to see what we can do, together.






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


OR HOW JULIE GOT TO BE IN THE BACK OF A COP CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Settle in...it is a bit of a story.

I have been pretty sick with a cold/flu thing, for the last couple of weeks.  Good news is, I lost 6 pounds!  So now that I am feeling a bit better, I thought I would go get a hamburger at Kincaid's.  It was delicious!!!


On the way back, we were buzzing down the road, and there was an elderly lady, pushing a wheelchair, with a suitcase in it, and a pair of crutches, struggling along the sidewalk.   Tears were streaming down her face, and it was obvious she was struggling.  She had one of those blue soft casts on her right leg.

We went for a bit, then I hollered..."turn around!!"  We went back and I hopped out, and with my best and brightest nurse's smile...said, "Hey, can I help you?"  She just dissolved in tears...had apparently been walking back from the hospital, where she had a broken bone in her foot!  Yes, the same one she was gimping along on!!  The hospital was a long ways back...miles, in fact.

I asked her how far she had to go, and she said, not far now...past the park.  So I just got her in her wheelchair, thinking it was not far and starting pushing her and carrying her stuff.  I thought it was just a couple blocks, so thought it would be not far...our truck was full of stuff and so I could not fit everything she had in there.

BUT!!!

We went a few blocks, then she said, it is not far, went a few more blocks, me pushing the wheelchair, and dear husband following along behind, and then it was a mile or more...and then she said through the park, so off we went...long story short, it was a LONG walk, LOL!!! about two miles? I got her close to her home, and by that time, it was obvious that she didn't want me to know where exactly that she lived, and that she had even more obvious mental illness, as well as physical ailments.   She was quite dirty and ill kept, and just skinny and sad.  Talked a mile a minute, kind of word salad, as some mental patients do.


AND THEN!  she said she was fine to go the rest of the way.  I think she maybe lived in that park, in retrospect!!!

Dear husband was frantic by that point, because he didn't know where I was, pushing a wheelchair through a not-too-safe urban park...and then two cop cars showed up!!  They actually were driving through the park.  Since the lady had gone on, they offered to take me back to the truck...by the way, they were just kids!  Early twenties...don't I sound old??

So they put me in the back OF THE COP CAR!!!  Ha!!!  So now I have been in the back of a police car!!  It was weird...can't open the windows or doors...slick, no upholstery.  Just weird, I tell you!!  Such kind policemen, both of them.


He got me back to the truck, the lady was OK, and I have a story to tell.  And that is the end!!! Well not quite the end...the police helped with a social services referral for the lady, which I think was really needed.


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


Have a great day, all!!

Julie

Slow scrappy Sunday Stitchin'!

 I have been slow stitching on this quilt, hand quilting it.  I had my doubts, but fell in love with it right when it came out of the dryer.  The applique did well in a rough cycle, wash and dry, so I love that part, since the applique is made out of strings, as well as the blocks, and I was wondering how it would fare.

 I quilted through each string, and some strings have zig zags in them.

 Yay!  The applique held up!!!  This quilt has no batting, but has three layers, being pieced on muslin under the string blocks.

I have a lovely orphan blocks, that I am working on, to make a small basket wall hanging.  PINK!  Bubble gum yummy!


I am linking to Kathy, HERE, for slow stitching!


and Cynthia, HERE for Scrappy!!!



Hope each of you has a great day,



Julie

Dearest boy, block number next!

Here is my newest block.  This one was lots of fun to piece!  

I really don't have much of a theme going...just using scraps as I go. I guess scrappy is my theme, as is for many of my quilts.  

Please see the following quilt bloggers, who are also working on this quilt.

Karen:  Log Cabin Quilter

Cathy:  Big Lake Quilter
Julie:  Juliekquilts (me)
Carole: Wheels on the Warrandyte bus
Doreen:  Aunt Reen's Place




I wish each of you a wonderful day!!


Julie

Forward progress!!

 I have all the centers of the blocks below sewn together.  I need to press them, then add the large triangles.  So here is my pile on the ironing board.

 These are what the finished blocks look like. They are 8 inch finished.

Before the blog, I loved quilts, even way back when.  I got this little kit at a local quilt shop, and just loved putting it together.  I had no idea why my borders did not fit, but I finished it anyway and just loved it!  LOL!  I think I could maybe do a little bit better now.  I don't think I have shown this on the blog before.  It is a fun fall time quilt.







LOG CABIN LOONIES!!!!!!!!!!



Congratulations to Mary R, at urban quilter, who won the fabrics from the last log cabin loonie post.  Just need your address and I will get your gift on the way!


Also, Kathy won a fabric gift too...I already sent yours, because I had your address in my book, already.




Have a super day, each of you!


Julie

A gift!

 Deanna, who blogs HERE:  www.weddingdressblue.wordpress.com  gifted some blocks to me...a long time ago!  She challenged me to make a quilt with all those blocks!  I am finding myself using them to make a variety of quilts...and it is so much fun!  About are her house blocks. I squared them up, and have an idea to finish this small quilt, above.  I like those arrows!!

 Deanna sent five of these blocks, and three went into this table runner.

 All these above blocks will go into my row by row vertical quilt, that Randy at www.barristersblock.blogspot.com inspired me to make.

And now for this.  I made these blocks a lot of years ago...I can tell by the calicoes and such in them.  I found enough pieces cut out to make 80 blocks...a big quilt!  So I have been sewing on it...I feel so virtuous!  A true UFO!!!  Whoop!!!


Whoop for me!!  Out loud...I dare you!!



Hugs, Julie

Slow Sunday Stitching

  Slow stitching.  I find that I am frantically running around the house, on my days off, catching up on housework, laundry, dishes, cooking...you know the drill.

Those quiet moments, when I have something to sew on, by hand...still my brain and heart.  I find myself so much more relaxed, thinking better and more clearly.

Try it?  You will love it!

I am stitching on this circle quilt...it is a scrappy thing that I started last year, and still have many slow stitches to take, to finish it.

"A great journey starts with a single step, " or a fun quilt begins with a single stitch!

I am linking to Kathy's blog, below...so go see what slow stitching other quilters and crafters have going on.



https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/11/slow-sunday-stitching.html


Julie

Some old starts, that need to be finished! and LOG CABIN LOONIES!!

 If you have been hanging out with me for a while, you recognize these quilts.  I made the tiny flowers first, but then enlarged the patterns to make the larger quilt.

 Lots more work to go!!  I do love this one, and it deserves a finish!!

This one just needs to be quilted.



Log Cabin Loonies!!

I have really enjoyed seeing all the log cabin quilts you have made...I am thinking that with the holidays coming, and flu season coming (read lots of hours of work at the hospital), that this will be the last of the Loonie posts for a while.  I have made a TON of progress on my log cabin quilts...nothing done to actually show, but lots of cutting and sewing, etc!!  Your quilts have all inspired me!!






So...link up below, and I have a fabric tower to give away, as the last gift...for now, LOL!  By the way?  I have given away a lot of fabric from my stash...which was one of the primary intentions, anyway...to share with all of you.









Julie

Instead of Jared takes a wife...Julie makes a mess!

 I just thought, a bit smugly, really NOT thinking at all...Oh, I know how Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville makes her quilt, "Jared takes a wife."  Of COURSE I did....NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I cut out THIRTY blocks, all the wrong size...see above!!!

GROWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Now here is an example of the correct way to make Bonnie's block.

And here they both are.  I have now two quilts, similar but not quite similar, going.

The funny thing is, I should have made a test block, but once I got sewing...everything went wrong.  The needle unthreaded multiple times...nothing fit together...the bobbin ran out...then the thread tangled terribly on the bottom on the patchwork.  When this stuff happens, I need to STOP and see why I am being stopped, LOL!!


http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/jared-takes-wife.html


Bonnie provided the pattern free, click above on the link.



And how is your Tuesday????




Hugs to all!

Julie

Dearest Boy update

This is my interpretation of our current block.  These are supposed to be trees, but I preferred to make circles for the trees instead.    I tried to make the trees as shown, but could not make them fit within the block very well, so...I improvised!  I very much like this block!!  I appliqued a circle in the middle in the tree trunks, instead of each individual trunk, and I really like the way it turned out. It is not trimmed yet.

Have a super day, everyone!

Julie

Those goals, again!

 I want to make a quilt of valor this year; it is on my list!  Here is my start.  This was strip pieced, then sub cut to make the pieces.  It is kind of strange to me, to work with much big pieces...I guess I am a tiny scrapper in my soul!!  I am liking it so far.

 This is my flower for block, for Linda Brannock's quilt, Flowers.

I cut it too short!  I have done that a few times...but I will make it work, anyway!!  Have you ever done that??





Have a great day!


Julie

Log Cabin Loonies!

I






























I just love this block...a log cabin variation!  A super fun block.  There are endless possibilities, sewing with a few strips and scraps.

These log cabin blocks are HAND pieced by Els!!  Wow...they are so pretty!  Thank you for sending this email to me, Els!!

Here is a fun log cabin variation, emailed to me from Ella.  Such a fun variation...thank you for the fun block idea, Ella!!

This is a poor picture of a pretty group of fabrics for this weeks gift.  Link up below to be entered in this week's drawing, for Log Cabin Loonies!  Show us your stuff!

Congratulations to the Frog Quilter, who won the fabrics from last Log Cabin Loonies!!

/>

Julie

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Working on my year's goals

I have added the bottom row on the "Sweet Land of Liberty" quilt, with Lori of Humble Quilts.  This is a Cherie Payne design, but since I did not have a pattern, it has become a rogue quilt!  I had to add one more cabin on the bottom row...one of these days, I would like to live in a log cabin in the big woods, so I just had to add it!  All the piecing is pretty much done.  I still have that big empty spot up on the left, but it will fill in soon, I am hoping.  When the elves come at night, you know...did you ever read that children's book, about the cobbler and the elves?  When the cobbler was asleep, the elves would mend his shoes that were taken in by day. 

Sounds like a good thing to me, except they can work on my quilts!!!

My most productive time is in the mornings, early, so I am really trying to use that time for sewing, along with the housework stuff.

Julie

A quilt top finish

Forgive the streak of sunshine across this finished quilt top...but it is finished!!  Whoop!!  I added some silly things to the border...one fabric just seemed to make it dark and off looking, so scrappy is always the answer to life's questions...maybe?  LOL!!  This one is on my list to get done, and is mostly blocks from Moda Blockheads quiltalong of last year.

I cannot thank you enough, every one who commented on last post.  It really helped, because I was working through Google to fix my comments, which were not coming through to my email.  With each intervention I tried, I could see if what I was doing worked or not, based on your comments coming in.    So I really appreciate you!!  Chantal and Cheryl and many others tried to help, but finally I got it to working...I am not really sure how.  I went to comments and had to add myself to the list of contacts, and then instructed blogger to email comments to that email address.  

Goodness!  I was just about ready to throw in the proverbial towel!!!

If you read some of the comments about how long each of you has been quilting...wow!  What a lot of very experienced and awesome quilters we have!  I am so grateful for each of you!

Julie

Say anything!

If you could please say a word or two, it would help me fix my comments. Tell me how long you have been quilting!!!

I appreciate you!  Thank you!!


Julie

Fall table runner

 Today, I worked on this table runner.  The binding is my fun night time treat, to hand stitch that binding to the back of the quilt.  I think it will look cute with some miniature pumpkins on the runner!

 I went to a quilter's rummage sale today.  It was named a "Fall festival",  and each person who wanted to rented a table for 25 dollars and sold whatever they wanted to.   There were treats and yummy goodies too!  Above is a pencil holder...perfect for my work.

One lady started a conversation with me, and she said...everything on my table is a dollar.  The large piece of fabric is 4 yards, for one dollar...she said she was cleaned out her sewing room and was going to buy more new things with her earnings!


Another lady, a very much older lady, was selling big bundles and kits and yardage and bolts of fabric.  We started talking, and she said that her best friend had died, and her friend's children were throwing out all her quilting supplies, and so the lady went and rescued it and was selling it for the money to help finish some of her deceased friends quilts in progress, for quilting and batting and the like.  Her eyes were so full of tears, and I just hugged her tight, and said thank you for being such a lovely friend.  She told me she loved me!!  What a sweet lady, don't you think???  She had lots of bundles of plaids, so I purchased some of those.





Julie