In my mind's eye...

 I had it in my mind to make a blue (with yellow centers) log cabin quilt.  Well in poking around in the quilting stash, I found these blocks.

I just need one more to finish the quilt.

Have you ever done that?  I had completely forgotten about these blocks!!!  They are made with variable widths of fabric strips.



Julie

Tuesday morning

 I have a number of quilt tops that just need some finishing and then they can be quilted.  The above quilt top is one.  I just need to applique leaves on the vines, and then it will be done.  Will today be the day?  Well at least it is out of the closet, LOL!!

 I am accumulating a fair few of these leader and ender blocks from Quiltville's latest leader and ender idea.  I still have no idea what will be done with them!!

A friend of mine was deconstructing her old uniform tops, from the hospital.  She is retired, and she threw away the pockets...so hmmmm. What could I make?  So...I fused a thick interfacing on the back, and sewed one of them up...to make a glasses case.  I love it!  Saved from the trash, and just the right size for my glasses, as I have come to need readers in the last few years.


What are you up to today?



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

So I am trying to beat the game!  I am trying to front load my weeks with work, so I won't get cancelled at the end of the week...so I went in yesterday and recovered one open heart surgery patient.  I am going to beat them at their own game!!!
 This was I get my hours, and don't have to use PTO to get paid...

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


Julie

An old scrappy creation

  I have a bunch of the melon part of these blocks ready to stitch down to the white background.  I was intent on hand blanket stitching them down someday, but today, I used the sewing machine and just sewed around the melons.  I kind of do like the folksy look of the hand stitching, so I think I will do the rest of the blocks by hand.



Just another way to use crumbs of fabric...hope you are having a few moments to create something just for you.




Julie

Dear Jane update 10-13-2019

	Oct 12, 2019, 6:44 PM (18 hours ago)
These are Annie's latest blocks for Dear Jane.  Her piecing is so great!!  On we go! I love to share what Annie writes too. Here is what Annie wrote about these blocks.

"Here are the latest of my DJ blocks.  Have been swamped with work on keeping healthcare on the Island, so haven’t been able to spend as much time working on them as I wish.  When the time presents itself, these little blocks offer a lovely diversion and respite from the stress of life.  Suspect that Jane also found she could lose herself in crafting them.  I wonder if she alternated working on the more difficult ones with time spent making the simpler ones as I do. 

The next block in the series, the one called M-3, is living up to its reputation as a challenge.  I’d thought that I could make it entirely by machine, but find that it works better with some hand sewing involved.  The remaining ones in the row appear more straightforward, so I’m hoping to reach a first row finish this week...  we’ll see.   Annie"

 So here is my block for the week.  Here is where I started...

And here is the finished block.  Strange how the background affects the appearance of the colors.









Hope each of you is having a wonderful day!!!




Julie

Mixing up my days...and it is a great thing!

 OK!  I did manage to get the final border on this quilt.  It is kind of this pinkie red solid, which I had no plan of using, but DH said that is the one...and so it was!  I am so glad to get this all in one piece...Yahoo for a finished top!!

I am, by the master plan, supposed to be working on this quilt on Fridays.  But here it is Tuesday, and I am making great strides, because I am off...not at work.  Whose idea was it to do all these quilt alongs anyway, and schedule work to be done on them on days I work, LOL!!!!!??  Could have been me!   It is the Pat Sloan quilt, "Out of this World."  It is available freely on her website...she has lots of fun free patterns by the way.

Anyway, Rosie wanted to model this quilt.  I have the two long blocks in the center all cut out, and then just two more larger blocks to make, and it will be done!  This will be donated to a guy patient on our floor, who might be receptive to a quilt and might need it for comfort and warmth! I think it would be good for a  guy, right?



Hope you all have a great day!

Monday piecing adventures!!

 So, these are my latest "Meeting House" blocks, from a group on face book that is doing a sampler quilt along. My modus operandi for most quilt blocks is to glance at the block, ignore the directions and cut pieces out and piece it my way.  HAHAHA! Look at how that method turned out!  I ended up having to sew this seam, above...actually two seams!  It worked, only a tiny bit wonky, and it will all quilt out in the wash, and if you can't see any mistakes from a running horse...it is all good!  In my defense, the link for the directions went to an empty file, so I kind of had to make it my way.

 Today's blocks, along with some little blocks pieced from the leftovers.

And these little sweet blocks!  are multiplying...I have some cut out for leaders and enders piecing, but end up just piecing them anyway...they are super fun and fast!  Four inches finished, they take five minutes each to piece on the sewing machine. I have no idea what to do with them.





Happy Monday to all!



Julie K

Dear Jane update 10-06-2019!!

 Today was the day to make this red block for my Dear Jane quilt.  It is paper pieced, and the center is itty bitty little.  Making progress one block at a time! I was gone last week, so I missed this one.  On we go, Janiacs!!!

 For my hand stitching today, I am hand quilting on this quilt.  All the block quilting is finished, and the borders have been stippled by hand in the inside of the swag.  I am finishing up the sashing quilting.  Hearts all over the sashing!  I am using a stencil and blue marking pen to mark the hearts.

 Here is the back.  I wish you could see the hearts better!  A weird thing has happened; I knew I had one more cross row of hearts to do, and went to do it today.  And it was already done.  It is kind of freaking me out, because I have no memory of quilting it.  As a nurse, I immediately thought.. HAVE I STROKED?   Hahaha!  The nurses will get this...Well maybe not, but lack of sleep affects memory too...maybe that is it, but it is a happy mistake anyway!!!!!  Very little remains on this quilt to quilt.  It has become a cherished friend to me, with lots of learning and lots of love stitched into it.

 A friend saved these pieces from the "free" table at the quilt guild, and gave them to me.  I have been admiring the pieces, obviously 1930's original fabrics.  They are fragile....80 years old.

 The rings don't really fit together very well.....a huge circle in the center.

So what if I reworked them, appliqued them onto solid fabric to preserve them, and make these blocks of them?

Any opinions???





Have a lovely day!  I am linking to Kathy for slow stitching.








Julie

Quiltville leaders and enders

Bonnie at Quiltville (Bonnie-cakes is my secret name for her!) is having a leaders and enders quilt along!!  These are four inches, finished size.  I love them!!!  Darling cute....



Please see here for the pattern!!!


https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2019/07/2019-leader-ender-challengeshoo-fly-shoo.html


Julie

Making tracks with super fun scraps!!

 Hi everyone!  I am super excited to announce that all the blocks are completed and sewn together for my latest scrap quilt!!  and the first border is on...so I just need an outside border and I am done, done, done!!!

 Here she is...scrappy all the way, pretty much.  I bought the scrap bag of fabric strips and pieces at a now closed quilt shop, for $5.00.  And then I cut this quilt out and I have let it languish (age) a good while.  So I am so tickled to get this quilt to this point.

 I made a few errors on the way...hahaha!!!See above?  And below?

This one too? So my seam ripper was smoking today!  LOL!!  At last it is in one piece, so I am just on the hunt for an outside border.  I have almost all scraps in my stash, and no big pieces will fit the bill....so far.


This quilt is a duplicate of a smaller quilt I made years ago, from a Shar Jorgenson pattern.



Have a great day, each of you!!!!


Julie

Strings...and other things!

 Lori of Humble quilts has been hosting a string quilt along all year.  Strings are my go-to fun piecing, so I work on them very often!!  I really love strings!!!  Above it a row of six inch wide strings...I think I will make a Chinese Coin quilt from this particular piece of patchwork.  I am linking to her blog HERE.

 I just got back from a trip to see my sister in Colorado.  She was one of my teachers, being a lot older than I was, showing me how to sew and quilt when I was little.   She is now in a nursing home, with fairly advanced Parkinsonian dementia.  She recognized me, but now has forgotten I was there.  It is a devastating disease, for sure.   Above are her tools, including an old crochet hook on the right.

Her husband is trying to get some of her things given away to the people who should have them.  Skip this if you want to...but I photographed some of the boxes of things, just so I would kind of have a record, you know?

 Miscellaneous scissor, etc...

 Thread!!!

 And more thread!!  and buttons in tins...did your mom or grand mom have a button box?

 Old, old cigar boxes full of threads...some from the old TG &Y store.

 More...

and more!!  scissors, thread, buttons, hook and eyes, snaps, zippers, chalk hem markers, seam guages, rulers, cutting mats, needles, pins, marking pencils, a zillion shoulder pads (think 1980's)  just on and on and on.




I am glad these all did not go to the good will...I found some of my momma's patterns (cut from corn flake boxes)  and scissors, too, so they are around 70 years old and very precious to me.



Thanks for listening!



Hugs from Julie

Mary Brown/Mrs. Lincoln's Sampler quilt beginnings!

 Good morning to everyone!!  I have started another quilt along...but with a twist.  Almost all of the group is doing the "Mary Brown" quilt...a lovely complex applique beauty!!!  I still wanted to quilt along with this inspiring group,  but felt like I should use a pattern I already had, so I would not have to purchase a fairly costly pattern,  and one that was not quite so difficult.  So!!  I started this quilt!!!  Mrs. Lincoln's Sampler Quilt! Here are my first two blocks.  A mixture of applique and piecing.  I enlarged the blocks from 5 inches to 10 inches, so I would have a larger, bed sized quilt when I was done.  

Here is the pattern; it is by Lori Smith.  Well written and great diagrams are included.




Please see the following bloggers to see their progress on "Mary Brown!"

Karen -   Log Cabin Quilter

Cathy - Big Lake Quilter

Nanette - Doitrightquilter.com

Julie -    

Jennie -  Overthehillandrunning.blogspot.com

Jan -  No blog

Robin -  I Like to Create Blog 

Julie

Dear Jane UPdate 09-22-2019

This is my most current blog for my Dear Jane quilt...pink is my favorite!!

Julie

Ufo's that are not mine!

These blocks were made by a very famous quilter, Tricia Cribbs of Turning Twenty quilts.  She was SELLING them!  And I just loved them, so I bought them.  They are all batiks, and will be such a pretty quilt when they are all quilted together.  

I am working on Dear Jane blocks today.

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

Julie

Dearest Boy, edging closer!

 Karen, Cathy, Carole and I have been working on this quilt, "Dearest Boy" for a couple years now.  We are all at different stages of completion, and here is where I am.  I sewed the blocks into nine sections, and will finish the remaining applique, and the missing block, LOL, as I go along, then sew all the sections together.  There is a fun applique border to the pattern too, and I am considering what to do for that.   Karen did her border a little different, and I love hers!  I think Cathy is working on her border and I know I will love hers too!  Click on their names to see their quilts.

I will add something else to the Baby block square, as I feel the applique is too sparse.  I trimmed one block too small and had to add a bitty border.  I pieced one block incorrectly (too small) and it got a border on it, too. I have learned a lot, and my applique skills are getting better!!

Altogether, I have enjoyed sewing with my friends immensely, and the uniqueness of the blocks was great fun to work with.

I just like this block for some reason!!  Scrappy and fun!

I love that goose...she has attitude, baby!!  LOL!!  and the wreath with the heart in the middle.

I just really like this vase and flowers too.



So I am just delighted to have gotten to sew along on this project!  I have more work to do, but am edging closer to a finish.


I will be sewing along with this group again...but doing a little different project than most are doing.  But I love the process and learning that goes along with a sew-along, so here I go again...stay tuned!!





Hugs to all!!


Julie

Progress on precious days off

 This is a little baby quilt, made from the same fabrics and style as the baby's dad's quilt.  So guess what?  The original quilt was made for my son....and his wife is pregnant.  I am going to be a Gramma for the first time!!!  So"Little Man" will have an identical quilt, just smaller, as his daddy.  They are big UT fans, so I have used UT fabrics, left over from my son's quilt.  (University of Texas)

 The hospital gift shop has a wonderful director, who comes up with the cutest window scenes!  She was selling some of her props, and among these was this little child's rocking chair.  Twenty bucks later, it is mine.  It is so tiny and cute!

 I have made some progress on this quilt, slowly.  I would do this quilt differently if I had designed it....but I am well on the way and it is rolling right along!  It is kind of hard to find a rhythm to sew!

Bright yellow twinkling stars!






I hope you have had some sewing time, just for you, today!!





Julie

Dear Jane update

I finished a row!  I thought I had 6 rows together already, but I had five...but now I have six!!   On our Dear Jane project!  I can sort of see the "trip around the world" look that shines in the original Dear Jane quilt.  The pinks show up...yahoo!

These are my two latest blocks.  I finished the hand applique of the top block, and pieced the little bottom block today.  On we go!  And speaking of that....

Annie sent me these pictures to show!!  Wow...how pretty, don't you think?  Here are Annie's words:

Hi Julie,
Boy, two of these were challenging!  The blue one was prone to stretching so points didn’t match easily.  Think I handled it too much.  The red one was a case of pure brain block.  For some reason I just could not get the design right.  Last night, when I was having trouble sleeping, it suddenly dawned on me to sew strips in opposite colorways, cut them into right angle triangles and sew them together.  No problem!  Embarrassed to admit I made this block twice before I had the 0300 “ah-ha” moment!  Wonder if Jane had occasions of brain freeze, or if her mathematical mind instantly resolved challenges.  Very satisfying to get these done!  Hope everyone else is having a pleasant time with their blocks.  Haven’t even looked at the next blocks.  Take care,  Annie



I think Annie's blocks are just perfect!



Thank you everyone for encouraging us all on our journey!!



Binsa:  https://cobblestonebridgequiltsnthings.blogspot.com/
Lcrrkhs:  http://lcrrkhs.blogspot.com/   Kathleen
Carole:  http://wheelsonthewarrandytebus.blogspot.com/


And Annie, who does not have a blog at this time.




And see this blog...it has lots of information about how to make the blocks!
https://thatquilt.blogspot.com/




Julie

A sewing day!!

I was lucky enough to be off work today and also to get to sew with my friends!!!  I made these blocks in two hours of sewing...and had an hour of eating some yummy snacks too.  I feel so blessed to be part of this group!!!

Hope you had a good day too!

Julie