2011 in Review // 2012 Goals

2011

I am so glad that I signed up for Little Green Quilters UFO Challenge with Susan at Blackberry Creek Home Arts.  http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/ 

It is good for me to have weekly accountability regarding progress on so many unfinished quilting projects. I feel I have made great progress this year; I only had four finishes, but many quilt tops are completed!

2012

I am going to continue to link up with the Friday updates with Susan. My plan for the new year is to machine quilt a majority of the tops listed on the right. The first six are either minatures or baby quilts. I'll start with those to get some practice before tackling the larger lap, twin, or queen size quilts!

I am looking forwards to the challenge of quilting with my Juki. When I grow weary or discouraged, I have many piecing projects to work on...I hope to make great progress in both areas!

Here's to a productive New Year!

Little bits here and there...

Slow progress on my Christmas Sampler. I've got the setting triangles in place. Next up is the green sashing between the rows.

Here is a 10-minute table runner; it is beautiful!

 I made another table runner using left over Christmas charm squares from another project. I had to try out the Curve Master Presser Foot that I bought for a dollar at an estate sale this summer. It works! No need to pin the curves, just use the special foot!

When I found a piece of flannel at Goodwill, I knew I could whip up a pair of pj pants; I found a nice red fleece top with a red tag ($1.29!), and voila...a new set of pajamas for under $5. Hooray for me!

Another doll jacket. This is Kit modelling a warm white fleece coat, perfect for those cold winter days.

 And look what was harvested from the garden! Lovely lovely carrots, extra sweet now because of the recent frosts. The ground does not freeze here, so the carrots stay in the ground until we eat them. There are still more out there!

What I've been up to this week...

The Christmas Zigzag quilt is still in process. When I posted a picture last week, it was not yet bound. So I made bias binding with striped fabric and sewed it down. I love how it looks! I must finish hand stitching the binding to the back.

This is Juliet. Apparently she canNOT travel to the Midwest for Christmas without a pretty red jacket, so I sewed one up for her! I used gaberdine (it was the right color) and boy, does it ravel! I don't have a serger; instead I zig zag stitched around every piece before assembling the garment. Juliet is now safe from having loose threads tickling her tender skin.

 Daughter and I stopped at Goodwill today. I found a few more carolers for my (Christmas) collection! Poor ladies, the wind is really blowing their dresses. And the gentleman must be chilly for he hugs his arms to his chest! They look so vintage!

 I also found three Christmasy dinner plates. I don't have Christmas china, but I always thought it would be fun to have some special dinnerware to use during the month of December. There are sooo many patterns out there, and most are just not my style. But when I saw these...and only $.99 each...I fell in love. Who can resist birds and holly?!!!

 Of course when I got home, I went online to Replacements, curious to see if they carried this line of china. Yes, they did have one plate, and they want $11.99 (plus S&H) for it. Nope, there are three in my family, and three is all I need. If company comes over during the holiday season, we will just use the regular good dishes!

Here is our traditional Gingerbread House for this year. Daughter and Daddy decorate one every year. I must say, this year they outdid themselves! It turned out just beautiful!

 Even the backside is looking festive!

I am linking up with Susan and the Little Green Quilter's Update at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/ 

The Not-So-Traditional Christmas Quilt

Last year I found this delightful fabric at Joanns. I bought about four yards of it (on sale, of course) simply because I enjoyed the design. I love the addition of unconventional lime green and light blue to the expected red and green Christmas colors!

What to do with such a happy fabric? Well, I have always wanted to make a zigzag quilt, and AmandaJean (of crazymomquilts) did a great no-triangle tutorial over at BeeSquare Fabrics.

http://beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-zig-zag-quilt-without.html

I pulled each of the colors from the focus fabric and made this!

I can't tell you how much I love this quilt! It is so Christmasy and not so Christmasy! It is one quilt that will hold us over through the whole winter.

To see more great Christmas quilt ideas, go check out SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show!

http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2011/11/2011-christmas-quilt-show-welcome.html

I have also linked up with Susan for my regular Little Green Quilters UFO update...

http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/

Little Green Quilters Update

I've put the Autumn Beauty blocks away. I just

could not get motivated to cut the sashing.

Instead, I pulled out the Christmas fabric bin.

I found a small baggie with scraps and started to play!

 I've also been making some blocks using a charm pack of modern fabrics. I plan to make potholders out of them.

I am a winner!

Kansas Troubles sent me a jelly roll and a mini squares pack of their line called Cattails & Clovers. I don't know what I will do with these yet, but the colors are beautifully rich.

And I won a copy of this magazine! It is Volume 4 and filled with fun new innovative blocks by creative designers.

I won a copy of Volume 1 a few years ago.  I used that first one to make my Christmas Sampler Quilt...the one that I hope to get fully assembled in the next few weeks. I will be posting pics soon.

Lastly....I bought my first Kaffe Fassett fabrics! Kaffe Fassett is a textiles designer....fabrics, quilts, needlework, knitting...you name it.

I don't know that I will ever buy more of his fabrics, but I did want to own just a little because he is so inspiring. I am not sure what I will do with these 30 beautiful 6-inch squares! I am just enjoying their colors on my design wall.

I've am linking up with Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/

Little Green Quilters' Update

I have finished my maple leaf blocks! I need 72; it turns out I made 75. My design wall is too small to hang them all, and you can see the rest stacked on my ironing board to the right.

This next week is for sashing. It is not my favorite part of the assembly process, but it will make my chosen layout look great! I just hope I have enough fabric....

In the meantime, I do keep from getting bored by taking out a bit of red and white fabric to make blocks for my red-and-white quilts!

And last of all, here is a very bumpy pumpkin! I have never seen one like it before...

I'm linking up with Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/

Little Green Quilters' Update

I made a couple more of the autumn table mats.

This one went to my mom!

And this one goes to a friend. I used a couple of fun fabrics: the turkeys look worried, but the scarecrows are happy that the pumpkin patch is crow-free!

I hope it makes my friend smile!  Her daughter had major surgery last week to correct scoliosis. All went well and they are home from the hospital.

I made a pillowcase for her daughter; she loves horses!

 And my leaf collection is growing slowly; they look so beautiful!

I am linking up with Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/
You can see more Little Green Quilter's updates over there!

Little Green Quilters Update: AUTUMN!

It seems like every blogging quilter is posting fall, thanksgiving, and halloween projects. So, the purple round robin has been put away until 2012, and out came the fall fabrics and projects that I had tucked away.

First I had to make a table mat using Debbie Mumm fabrics.

 It measures about 16" around. Mine still needs binding, but the construction and quilting took less than an hour!

Blogger Beth's tutorial is here: http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2009/10/holiday-hexagon.html

I put my Autumn Beauty blocks on the design wall. I started this one last year; what fun it is to pull out a project that has not seen daylight for a year!

 What a suprise to find orderly stacks of cut squares ready to be assembled into maple leaf blocks! I even wrote out my instructions! 

I'm linking up with Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/

A Brief Distraction

In late March, a museum in New York City hosted  an exhibition called

Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts.

(http://www.folkartmuseum.org/infinitevariety)

It has inspired many quilters to make red and white quilts;

I am no exception.

I started making what I call 'bow tie' blocks.

If turned the other way, the block is known as a 'spool' block.

 From time to time I pull out a red fabric and

a white fabric from my stash and make a block.

Here is my collection so far...

 Look what happens when I turn them all to spools

and then stack them, offsetting each row.

A very cool effect!

 Each bow tie creates four leftover half square triangle blocks,

so I put those into a 'bear paw' block.

 I love the bear paws!

I think it is fun to get two different blocks from one cutting!

A Day Late....for Little Green Quilters Update....

No progress on UFOs this week, but I did make a couple of things....

A friend from church asked if I could make two crib sheets for her baby granddaughter.

"Sure!" I said. "It can't be that hard!" And it wasn't.

I followed an online tutorial; it was soooo simple!

 The fabric was amazing to work with, for it is high quality Michael Miller fabric.

One fabric featured owls and the other fabric featured hedgehogs. Very cute indeed!

 I used a little extra piece to make a rag doll to send along for the little girl!

 And then there is my garden! Carrots, tomatoes, and dinosaur kale. Yummm!

 This is my favorite of the bunch.

 We can leave the carrots in the ground all winter; they just get sweeter!

I let the last of the beans dry on the vine. The saved seeds will be planted next spring.

 My poor sagging hothouse has been placed over the tomato plants

 in an attempt to ripen the remaining tomatoes!

And my flower bed continues to thrive. The mums are beautiful!

The Civil War kepis are finished and have been passed out to the class.

I did not get a picture of the finished products.



Little Green Quilters Update!

Homeschooling has started up again! It keeps me busy, but not TOO busy...

I did put together this doll quilt, made from the leftover scraps of the quilt in my last post.

It looks sort of old fashioned, I think.

 I've put the Purple Round Robin quilt on my design wall. I would really like to finish this one.

 Here is another project; it must be finished by Tuesday morning for class.

Civil War Kepi production line!

 I went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday and bought myself...a new iron!

It is an Oliso. I have read about them on other quilt blogs, so I tried it out in the vendor's booth;

it is sooo far superior to my $10 cheapy iron that does not get very hot.

And check this out...

It is an "oliso smart iron with itouch technology".

(It has not been released into the marketplace yet, or so I was told.)

And it can act as a clothing steamer too!

I am linking this up with Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com

A Gardening Post

My new hibiscus plant, purchased with birthday money!

 A small hydrangea, also from birthday money.

 With the warm sunny weather,

the rest of my flowers are blooming beautifully!

 The fig tree is FULL of fruit this year!

 The figs practically fall off into your hands.

 Here's the meat of the fig...

so juicy and sweet! Yumm!

 The view of the apple tree from my kitchen.

We have two apple trees;

one tree drops apples in early August,

but this one waits until mid September.

 And....we have a mole. 

It is carving a path right through the back yard.

 Never fear, Rosey is here!

She spends hours like this...

 And when she hears or senses a noise, she checks it out.

Husband has plans to buy a trap soon.

Meanwhile, we find Rosey highly entertaining!