Thursday, June 15, 2023

Round and round I go!!

 

I have been making flying geese to go around the Squirrel Star quilt.  So named because...it is a squirrel!!!  It is sort of a springtime, pastel quilt.  I have sewn a zillion flying geese for it and have more to go.



I went to an estate sale this spring, and the lady selling her things and was moving to Switzerland.  In her things were some 100% cotton sheets, still in the yellowed, old packaging.   I bought a couple.  I took one out of the package, washed it, and WOW!!!  It is the softest, thickest sheet I have ever imagined, much less felt.  It is wonderful for piecing!!!  They were a very odd size, and the one I washed was smaller than a twin size.  I am loving piecing with it!!!  I translated the writing on the package, to find out what it said.  I have never seen such a high-quality sheet in my life.





I was just playing here...fun piecing!
I added another round on the Unity quilt.  I made this round simple.  I could not make the scraps I had work right in making the round in the pattern, so I just did this.  It will be just fine!!!


Hope you are doing fine too!!



Julie

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Quilting this and that


Remember the Unity Quilt that Bonnie Hunter designed, near the beginning of the pandemic?  Here is my start on that!!  I really concentrated on pressing and accuracy.  I just love it!!  Again, this is a collaborative quilt with Annie.  Super fun!



I have been making a few little taco pouches in-between things.  Here are my efforts.  You can find the free pattern here:  


I am surprised at how simple these are.  A very fun sew!!!


 Jo, at Jo's country junction, has been sewing tiny stars.  She did a video all about them.  I remembered my tiny stars, and just pulled them out to admire these tiny blocks, and to cut a few more of them.   You can find her video here:  


Sew with Jo: Making STAR BLOCKS and chatting with you about scraps and thrift store finds!! - YouTube


My stars are four inches finished, and Jo's are three inches finished.  Itty-bitty!


Have a wonderful day, each of you!!!

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

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




Saturday, May 27, 2023

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.

\
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






Saturday, May 13, 2023

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!

Monday, April 24, 2023

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

Saturday, April 22, 2023

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



Progress of the week

Good morning to you!!  It is bright and sunshiny here in Texas.  The redbuds are in full display, and the lawns are greening up, with new le...