Just buzzing along...

I am finally addressing the pile of quilted tops that need binding finished with hand sewing. I have two finishes and hopefully more soon.
  

Honey Bees 2 is finished. There is also a Honey Bees 1 - it's still in the pile. I bought some bee fabric quite a while back with no plan. (I bet no one else ever does that!) Anyway, I came across it in my stash a while ago and decided to make a couple of donation quilts.

 This finished at 56" by 73".

I love the gold honeycomb fabric.

I quilted this with a meander stitch using Glide Bone #17443 thread on the top and Shadow (dark gray) #1BLK3 thread on the back.

The back is a gray/black print from my stash.

I also finished a table runner - Frosted Window Pane. I bought this as a kit a couple of years ago while on a little shop hop with friends. The shop, The Quiltmakers Shoppe in Manchester, Iowa, is one I really like. It had a wall display of this pattern made up in a number of different fabrics which was great since I don't think the pattern picture sells the pattern. I actually have made the pattern before without the outer border. 

I basted this on my long arm and then quilted it with my Juki sewing machine. I love my Juki but definitely prefer the long arm for quilting. The runner is 16" by 54". For a change, I followed the pattern exactly and we are keeping this.

I used a stipple stitch in the background and a figure eight on the bars.

Since I was using a domestic machine, I used Aurifil thread - Dove Gray #2600 on the top and Red #1103 on the back. 

The back is red but not quite like this photo. It's darker like the reds on the front of the runner. You might be able to see the quilting below.

And.... there is another quilt on the design wall. This one needs borders.

Some starts and some finishes!

We've kept busy this summer and I'm still putting produce - now potatoes and apples - in the freezer. I love fresh, local food so I preserve whatever I can for us to eat during the year. Most of our produce comes from local Amish farmers so I just go get it when I'm ready to take care of it.

I've also been quilting. I have lots of quilts in progress. Here are the most recent starts:

Sweet Kisses is based on a quilt I saw and loved.

This project is a little brighter than I envisioned when I decided to use a couple of fabrics from my stash.

Here's another simple project I've begun from my stash. I love the paint splotch fabric and have used it for backing on a couple of quilts.

I have small drawers that hold little pieces of fabric (less than 1/4 yd) sorted by color. The red drawer was getting empty as were some others.

I went through my large drawers of fabric and moved everything less than 1/2 yard to the small drawers. Of course the small drawers were then overflowing so I decided to make a mostly red quilt with some yellow. Here is the beginning  of it.

The blue drawer was also overflowing. When my Stripology XL ruler arrived in the mail, I wanted to try cutting diamonds. It worked great and now I'm making a scrappy blue diamond quilt with diamonds that are 5.5" between the parallel sides.

Although I keep starting new projects, I do finish some. The next three finished quilts will be donated..

Backyard 3 is from the bundle of fat quarters, Ruby Star Society Backyard by Sarah Watts. Backyard 1 is here and Backyard 2 is here. I found more of the leftover scraps a few weeks ago and I have enough that there will be a Backyard 4!

This 53" square quilt is quilted as puzzle pieces using Glide Light Grey #17543 on top and Navy #32965 on the back.

The backing is a navy with teal and yellow fabric which I found on sale in Woodstock, IL, earlier this year.

I began Bright Scrappy Log Cabins a while back. This quilt finished at 55" by 65".

Many of the strips used in the log cabin blocks are pieced. I love using small scraps this way.

One of my favorite fabrics in this quilt is the Crayola crayons.

I quilted this with a double teardrop that is echoed using Glide Lemon Ice thread #80607 on top and Navy #32965 on the back.

The backing is the same navy with teal and yellow fabric used on the previous quilt.

I bought a kit when I was on a shop hop with friends a while ago. The Villa Rosa Designs pattern came with the kit.

Sisterhood finished at 51" by 61".

I quilted this with a large meander using Glide Battleship gray #10430 on the top and Sterling gray #10877 on the back.

The back is a purple fabric that was in my stash.

Time to get back to the kitchen - it smells so good. I've been making applesauce and apple bars.

Time Flies

How can it be August already? I swear the days pass faster every year.

I do have a finish - Free Spirit Potato Chip. I bought a Free Spirit Kaffe Fassett Jelly roll last August and some coordinating green fabric for a project to be figured out (not something I do often anymore but fun!).

I eventually decided on a potato chip block with a narrow scrappy sashing.

I do love the colors in this 50" by 67" donation quilt. I quilted this with a meander using Glide #17543 light gray thread. 

The back is a green print from my stash. 

I have finished painting the second room of my studio - the cutting room. It was a pumpkin orange color and is now the same yellow as the long arm room I recently painted. Ray decided he'd really help with this room so it went must faster than the first room. I love that the room is much lighter now and I think I finally have it put back in order. Here's a look around the room.

I'm trying to clean out things I don't use/want anymore as I'm putting rooms back in order after painting. I really enjoy the larger feel of each of the finished rooms. 

I found a scrap of fabric with the binding that said "It's a good day to be happy". I decided to make a tiny quilt (8.5" square) using the piece of binding because I like the saying. You might have noticed it hanging in one of the above photos.

I used Kaffe Fassett fabrics since some were on the cutting table.

I saw where someone was making binding with selvages so I decided to play a bit. Here's one piece of selvage fabric (I made three). 

And here are some pieces cut for binding.

I now have a large roll of binding and I have no idea when I'll use it. It is rather neat though!

I had a huge pile of tops needing to be quilted and I'm slowly working my way through it. So far, I've finished three so I now have another pile - three quilts that need binding. Here is a sneak peek of all three. (They each still have basting threads.)

ruler quilting

meandering

single and double loops

I've spent lots of time in the kitchen lately taking care of fresh produce. It takes time but I love knowing where our food comes from and preserving food for the next year. I did find a new recipe that we both like - Zucchini Slice, an Australian egg/bacon/cheese/onion/zucchini dish. I've made it twice so far and I think it will become a staple here. We've frozen it and had it for breakfast and a light dinner. 

And now we'll see what August brings...

Tom's T-Shirt Memory Quilt

My oldest brother, Tom, passed away in January. One of my nieces kept some of his t-shirts for a quilt and I offered to make it. When I found out that there would be a large gathering on Memorial Day to celebrate and commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday, I put the pedal to the metal and finished the quilt with a couple of days to spare.

Tom was a Navy Seabee and served in Vietnam. He was exposed to Agent Orange which was the reason he lived his later years disabled.

The red/white/blue borders on each of the smaller t-shirt pieces, and the inside quilt border are also from one of Tom's shirts. 

My niece gave me a rather rough layout that she thought would work and suggested gray for the background. I was able to draft a pattern from the layout but couldn't imagine gray for the background after auditioning every gray in our house. I went to the Quilt Peddler in Fennimore, WI and Jen, the owner, took one look at the t-shirts and showed me the perfect gray! She only had 2.5 yards, so we decided on a navy outer border, Stars of Valor Navy Flag Texture from Wilmington Prints. I ended up buying the coordinating Stars of Valor Red Flag Texture for the backing.

I decided a simple meandering would work for the quilt and not take away from the shirts. I did add a few hidden words in the meandering - Tom, Dad, Gramps, Fuzzy (his nickname), and Santa (his other nickname). 

I used Dream Poly for the batting - a big change for me since I always use Dream Cotton. I did not want this quilt to pucker so much; I wanted the t-shirts to be readable. I used Glide #1BLK3, Shadow thread on the top and #70187, Ruby thread on the back. The quilt is 65" by 85".

I had four extra shirts and made 16" pillows with them. The pillows are lined and have an envelope closure. It really helped that the shirts were a large size so I had plenty of fabric to work with. Here are a couple:

We had a great Memorial Day - watching the parade, visiting with family and friends, eating some of Tom's favorite foods and treats, remembering and celebrating Tom. People loved the quilt and it went home with my sister-in-law. I'm really happy that I was able to get it finished. Making the quilt helped me - I've never cried so much making a quilt. Now I hope it and the pillows will bring comfort to Tom's family. 

Made with Love