Yahoo! Two finished tops!!

My friend Annie and I made very similar quilts for a wonderful charitable cause. 

A quilter named Ray is making quilts for the Veterans in his church!! Annie heard about this from JO, of Jo's Country Junction.  This following is from Ray himself.

"The church I am a member of, Saint Hilary's Episcopal Church, is holding a Veteran's Day dinner on Nov 10 to recognize and appreciate veterans. Last year we gave 13 red, white and blue quilts to veterans in the congregation. We have more to recognize and want to include visitors, guests and veteran family members with quilts. So many have gone for so long without any recognition or acknowledgement. Just trying to change that in some way."

Mine is above.  We had several different pattern options to choose from.  Annie designed the quilts, and I picked one design that she sent, and we were off to the races!!!  These were the centers of the blocks, that I was making a couple of weeks ago.
 

This one is Annie's!!!!  I love her border the best.  We had so much fun making these together and cannot wait to work on our next ones!!  Isn't that so cool how different they look, using the same block????

Enjoy your sewing!!

Julie K

Garden and progress!! and a FINISH!!!

 

Good morning!!!  Whew, it has been a barn burner around here...lots of work, and more work.  I am OFF today!  Hurrah!!!  And guess what?  I have been slowly hand quilting the above quilt!!  and IT IS COMPLETED!  A few minutes each night has done the trick. I quilted around each applique piece, then did a 3/4 cross hatch in the open areas.  Simple.  Lots of stitching, though!  I am delighted is it done.

It is on the big bed, for a picture.

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I call this the "King's bed."  The quilt is square, so not bed shaped, but I put it on there anyway.  I am celebrating this long-term project being done!

I put together these plaid blocks, in red and blues.  A true UFO, completed too.

The garden just beckons!  Tomatoes and squash are going just crazy with growth.  

Tiny tomatoes are popping through the blossoms!

This tomato plant was purchased from Costco and has tomatoes on it already.  I planted a whole packet of tomato seeds back at the last of January, and the plants are big, now.

A lone zinnia, with many other to come.  The bees like them.

The little garden is really growing, too!!  I am so happy about this little project.  Radishes, swiss chard, peppers, carrots, and peas.  I also planted my last year's Halloween pumpkin seeds around the edges, hoping the vines would trail over the edges and grow pumpkins.  

Hope each of you is doing fantastic today!

Julie

IN search of perfection

 Good day to you all!!  I have been working on a donation quilt with my friend.  We are making the top, choosing backing, sewing binding, and sending it all to a gentleman making quilts of valor for his group.  OH dear.  I thought using all the different reds and making those little blocks, using 1/2 square triangles would be more accurate. IT IS NOT!!!!!  I had such a tough time making all those points meet!  I pinned and sewed carefully and most are not accurate, anyway.      NOT PERFECT!!!  Well, the blue ones are good, anyway, LOL!

Another picture of some of the red blocks.

This, however, is perfection. Isn't that the prettiest thing?  I have no clue what it is, but the supermarket has them on sale.

A tomato!!  Hurrah!!!  I love growing things...and they smell so good.

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

  My little garden is flourishing!

A mystery quilt finale...or almost.

Good morning!!!  Above is my almost finished quilt top from the mystery quilt on Facebook.  Here is the link, if you would like to pursue this one. All the patterns are free and under files.   I took a few liberties and made it my own.  Only one more border to go!!!

(2) EQP Mystery 2022 | Facebook

A picture in progress.

And another picture in progress!!!  I machine appliqued for the first time in my life.  Those little petal blocks were really slowing me down, and so I wondered what would happen if I sewed some of them  on my machine...and it was fine.  Not heirloom sewing here, but this is not for show, and will be just fine and warm for someone on the bed.

 I resurrected these blocks, and sewed this much together.  Of course it needs to be much bigger!

UFO busting here, folks!!!

Happy Monday to you!

Julie

Chunks of sewing time

Good morning to you!!!  I have been working on UFO's.  All these blocks were completed, and laid out in perfect sequence, ready to sew. Why didn't I do this long ago!!!??   Some concentrated time with them, and I have this top together (minus borders) all done.  Hurrah!!!  This is a small quilt, because the blocks are quite tiny.  A border is in order.  I adore it, because it is all scraps.

I finished the next round on the Squirrel Star quilt, so named...because it is a squirrel!!!  I love the pastels, chosen to match the center star colors, which are cut off triangles, saved and now used up.  I tried to choose star colors based on what I had, and also on the inner triangles...something to go with those bright Easter colors.    On to the next border.  My dear friend and I are working on similar quilts, and Annie's are in reproduction colors.

This quilt also had all the blocks all made, and laid out, ready to sewn. Putting the pedal to the metal did the trick, and this is a larger quilt top.  Scraps, every strip!! A true UFO.

 

 I took out this little quilt, and hand blanket stitched the lettering, which took around five hours.  Geesh!!!  I love to do that, but it took a small forever.  Next round is coming up!

 

 

How are you doing on your UFO's?  Any to speak of?  I feel like I have made a great dent in finishing mine up, and that feels wonderful. After all, what is the purpose of all this sewing?  To give to other people...geturdun, self!

 

 

Have a super day!

 

Julie

Growing things!!!! and quilts too

Good morning!!  Oh how the sun and the spring beckons us outside!!!  It is so pretty.  Back in February, I think, I started these tomato plants from seeds purchased at the nursery.  Every single seed came up!!!  I used an old plastic egg carton for my planting soil, and rapidly, rapidly, they grew up!!  I mowed the lawn day before yesterday and put down fertilizer.  

I have transplanted them outside now, only losing one plant, from an tragic accident involving a trowel and a careless moment!!!  I now have bell peppers and jalapeño peppers growing in that same egg carton.  Soon they will be ready to transplant outside too.  And the big news!!!  I am making a real garden spot in the backyard!!!  Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited for this!  As a farm girl, I really miss the growing things, and the animals.

This quilt seems the same, but it is  not.  I added the plain white border on the outside, and cut out 24 blocks to go around the outside of quilt, for the next border.  This quilt is growing!!!

I have a zillion of these blocks cut out, and while cleaning and going through things...this one came up.  In the middle of the night, I sewing these four blocks, and just loved the process of it.  All plaids!! from  shirts!!

 Here are some of my seedlings in a large planter box.  They are just taking off like crazy.  I also have squash in there...maybe I will have squash to sauté and also make squash casserole.  Yum!!!

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

Hospice is going well.  I also float to oncology, open heart, and ICU.  I can have anywhere from one patient to six patients in a day..so just have to keep flexible and go for it, whatever it happens to be day to day.  I love my hearts the best, and also love a new way of caring for hearts in hospice.  

************************1940's!*******************************

I am continuing my study and reading about this fascinating era.  I read every night before I go to bed, and it is great fun!!  I am learning a lot.  Ration cards!  Do you know about this?  In order to save almost everything for the war effort, many things were rationed for people here in the USA.  You had to  have a coupon, so to speak, and redeem it for things you needed.  I found some of these ration coupons in my MIL's things.  The national spirit and coming together for the common good and war effort is inspiring...wish we could all come together these days, too, don't you!!!

I wish each of you a blessed and wonderful day!!

Julie

A ufo finished!

Good morning, or afternoon!  or good night!  I finished the borders on the above quilt of valor.  I am so happy to have it all completed, at least the top.  Hurrah!

I made a squishy out of the tiny trimmings from this quilt.  I take a basket of these to my work and they disappear throughout the day.

 I also completed a needle book.  The center is an amazing, appliqued circle, sewn by a friend, with a sheep in the fabric.  I used to raise sheep, and so I love it, and the lovely, tiny stitches used to sew it.

Hope all is well with you!

Julie