Some finishes and other news

When I was looking through some fabric recently, I came across a fat quarter bundle that I recently inherited from my late friend Colleen. I decided to make Triple Star and I found some background fabric to use with it. I've seen various pictures of Triple Star over the years and decided to draft a pattern. I have no idea who designed the original nor its measurements. My quilt is 62 inches square. 

I used a meandering stitch and Glide #24655 Light Tan thread to quilt this.

The back of this donation quilt is a speckled tan from my stash.

There was quite a bit of fabric left from the fat quarter bundle and I figured that if I added a little fabric (the leftover backing from Triple Star), I could make two more quilts. Squares with Light is a 49" by 55" donation quilt. 

I quilted this with Glide #24655 Light Tan thread and used ruler work. I made simple diamonds within diamonds. 

The backing is a speckled brown fabric that I bought in February.

The other quilt from the scraps is Squares which is also 49" by 55" and a donation quilt. I had to piece two squares, using the same fabric, to have just enough to make this quilt.

I again used Glide #24655 Light Tan thread for the quilting. On this quilt I used diagonal scribble quilting in opposite directions on every other square. 

The backing is the same speckled brown fabric that I bought in February.

And just like that I have used all of that fabric! 

In other news: 

I just returned from a quilting retreat with three friends. We had a great time - a little sewing, delicious food, great weather, and a wonderful time visiting. I'll share projects when I have enough done to share - recall, I said we did a little sewing. 

Ray has spent a lot of time at doctors since the end of January. He has recurrent prostate cancer. He had cancer 10 years ago and his prostate was removed. Evidently a small cancer cell was left behind even though they had clear cells all around the cancer at the time of surgery. The urologist suggested that a small cell might have been dropped as the prostate was removed. Ray had a PET scan in March and cancer cells have been located in a hard-to-treat location. Our 'local' hospital cannot treat the cancer as they would like. So we will meet with an oncologist at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center next week. UW has some treatments that our 'local' hospital doesn't have. We pray that they will have an effective, direct treatment that can be used. In the meantime, Ray is doing well. We are both anxious to get treatment started so we can move forward.

More fabric!

It's been an interesting month around here. Before Thanksgiving, we both got sick, after testing negative for Covid 3 times, we stopped testing. We've talked with many friends who said they or someone they know had the same thing and tested positive - some on the fourth test! 

Anyway, we missed our Thanksgiving gathering but were able to finally enjoy a turkey dinner late last week. We are both feeling much better and were able to attend some hockey games to watch grandsons play this past weekend. We also visited my friend Colleen's husband and came home with MORE fabric. One day soon I'll have more quilts to share but today I'll just share my 'new' fabric.

Mostly reds:

Pink and purples:

Blues and blacks:

Batiks:

Neutrals:

Children's prints:

Bright prints:

Children's panels:

Two small jelly rolls and a charm pack:

A bundle of brushed cottons:

A Thimbleberries bundle:

Colleen's husband said more is coming so I guess I'd better keep sewing - I'd just about had my fabric storage back under control from the first gift of fabric. I'm so glad that I am able to  go through fabric and only taking what I want.

Today we are recovering from our hockey weekend. We are both tired and my back is sore. Hopefully all we need is a day or two of rest and we'll be good. I really need to get moving on some Christmas things soon!

Three more finishes!

I have more finishes! These quilts were in the pile needing the binding hand stitched. At this time of year, we seem to spend more time in front of the TV - sometimes watching grandsons play hockey on LiveBarn. It's a good time to do a little handwork.
 

Kite Flight was inspired by a Robert Kaufman pattern with the same name. The pattern uses a jelly roll of solid fabrics. My colored fabric was cut into strips from the same multicolored piece. 

I used Glide 40-wt thread to quilt this quilt with large loops and double loops. 

The back is a dark fabric with multiple colors. This 53” square quilt is now in the donation pile.

    

Colleen’s Brown Southwestern Quilt is 54” by 65” and will be donated in her memory. When I found the 5 fabrics stored together in Colleen’s stash, I decided to use them all in one quilt.  

The fabric that looks kind of pink is actually red.

I really thought a dark brown would tie them together but when I auditioned a variety of possibilities, I realized I needed something different and black seemed to be the best. 

The back is a light brown print fabric that I bought this past summer in Winchester, VA.  I quilted this with double loops using Glide 40-wt #24655 light tan thread.

I think I began Tiny Houses in July, 2022. It was one of those quilts where I worked on the blocks in between projects and as leaders and enders. 

 

It was fun going through my scraps and putting fabrics together for each house. 

This 54” by 56” donation quilt is stippled (like meandering but smaller in scale) because I wanted it more densely quilted with all the small seams. 

The back is a dark fabric with colorful rings from my stash.

November has been quite a month for finishing quilts. I began the month with a pile of quilts to be quilted that needed binding and a pile of quilts that needed to be quilted. Both of those original piles are gone! Of course, new piles are appearing…

 

My soul is fed by needle and thread

Fall Retreat

Our annual fall retreat is close to home and always the same four friends - although sometimes someone is missing and many times people have to come and go. We've been doing this since 2016 and it works for us. I stopped taking pictures of the people and projects a few years ago. However I did take a few photos on my walks around the property. The corn around us was being picked while we were there. The fields are down in the background of the first two pictures.

We stay in this neat older farmhouse where each of us enjoy our own bedroom, and plenty of common space for quilting, knitting, crocheting, reading, relaxing, cooking and, of course, visiting.

I worked on various projects this fall and finished two quilts that just needed the binding. 

Colleen's Farm Animals is a cute 49" square quilt. All of the fabric except the backing was Colleen's. I used a blue with bright color flecks for the back - it was purchased in Holmes County in August. I quilted this with a spiral loop using Glide 40-wt #10877 sterling thread on the top and #30281 blueberry thread on the back.

There is so much texture in this quilt that it's hard to see.

I also finished Pastel Shells. (Ray calls this the Easter Quilt.) I bought the shell fabric, a pastel jelly roll, and the backing fabric (dragon flies) while traveling in August. The border and binding are a Grunge fabric from my scrap basket. This 52" square donation quilt was quilted with meandering using Glide 40-wt #10877 sterling thread.

I also sewed two tops together - I already had the blocks made for both. 

The first is Tumbling Blocks. It still needs a border.

JGQR2C is really the last of J's graduation quilt rejects. When I was cleaning up the red and grays, I realized I had enough pieces for one more quilt. This fabric was for the 2nd graduation quilt that I rejected. It is the third quilt made with the fabric for that quilt.

I enjoyed the retreat. Although I didn't accomplish as much as I used to and using a sewing machine is hard on my body, I am very grateful that I still can sew and spend time with friends. 

One evening I walked outside and saw the remains of the sunset with some fog in the low areas. A beautiful ending to a great weekend.

Finishes!

I've  managed a couple of finishes. You may recall that I received many fabrics from my friend Colleen's stash after she passed away.

I finished Colleen's Cats. This 50" square donation quilt has a backing of Orange Plaster of Paris by Frond Design Studios. I quilted this with a large paisley motif using Glide 40-wt thread #32975 light turquoise on the top and light tan Glide 40-wt thread #24655 for the back.

Colleen's Colorful Turtles is also done. This is a 51" square donation quilt quilted with a loop de loop motif using Glide 40-wt #17443 bone thread. I bought the backing in Holmes County, OH, on our Virginia trip in August. It is green with bright color flecks. The binding is from Colleen's stash.

Cute turtle!

Coming very soon - more finishes!!!