An End and some Beginnings

Today I decided to do the middle of my housework! Ray is gone to a photography class and there isn't much I need to do. I am vacuuming - well, Rosie Roomba is actually doing that; I just pushed the button.

First, I have a finish. I won a charm pack about a year ago at Lucky 2B Quilting. I bought a second pack and the backing to go with it. These colors/fabrics really don't go in my house but this will be perfect for the table on our screened porch this summer. Gooseberries is 52" by 54".

I didn't take a picture on the porch because we had snow last night and some wind - the table is covered with snow. I used Aurifil thread and Dream Cotton batting.

I knew I had enough of the backing for the binding but I couldn't find it. So the binding is navy. I did located the extra fabric - about 10 minutes after I sewed the binding on!

I free-motion quilted this. I started in the center (the turquoise square) with a circle and wavy flower-like petals around it. I continued from there in all directions adding in partial flower centers and the petals. I think it gave some great dimension and crinkliness to the quilt.

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I sewed a blue binding on a Child Bricks - I hope to have it finished soon. It was square so I trimmed the batting and binding away after I sewed the binding on.

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I have a retreat coming up in a month and I wanted to prep some projects. Everything that is left from my clean-out-this-stash project either needs to be quilted or is waiting for binding. So it is time for some new projects - yay!!!

You may recall that my friend Nancy gave me her stash a while back. I was to keep anything that I would use. I kept lots.! I think this will be a simple baby quilt that will go together fast.

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The fish fabric is also from Nancy. The green, yellow, orange, and turquoise (which doesn't show in the picture) is from my stash. Yes I still have a large stash! I have a simple quilt in mind that I'll call Fish Sticks. 

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I have seen a quilt on Facebook a few times recently and I want to make it. It is from the blog, Quilting is More Fun that Housework. Here is Cynthia's picture:

Cynthia gives a tutorial on her blog. I'll be following it with a few changes. I've pulled fabric from my stash, cut some fabric and decided I have to wait for the retreat to begin sewing.

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Then I decided to spend some time on my leader/ender project. I am making a flannel quilt(s) called Hugs. Leslie, The Cuddle Quilter made a couple quilts a while back and I loved them.

I have enough HSTs for the first quilt and am well on my way to having enough for the second. I'm not sure - I might make three of these with different variations.

I still need to sew some of the triangles into squares. 

 

Today I decided to start making units of two and then four. The sun was beautiful coming through the window.

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Hope Ray enjoyed his photography class as much as I enjoyed sewing today! He'll be home before long - we are headed to the Firemen's Steak Fry tonight.