Christmas Memories

Christmas Memories is finished really early or a little late. I think I'll go with really early!😊 I found a fabric panel which I almost never buy when I was on a little shop hop with a friend last fall. I really liked the pictures so I bought a kit. I didn't care for the pattern that came with the kit but thought the kit would give me fabrics that all went well together. When I got home and looked closer at the kit, I found that I really didn't care much for the choice of fabric so I searched my stash and came up with something I liked better. They had a different fabric in each 'plain' area and it was too much of a hodgepodge for me.

Christmas Memories

In addition to the panel, I did use one piece of fabric that was in the kit; the wreaths in the border were on the edge of the wreath fabric I used for part of the backing.

This 48" by 59" quilt will live with us. I used Aurifil #2600 silver thread to free motion quilt open feathers all over this quilt.

I'm looking forward to more quilting tomorrow - the next storm is supposed to move in about 3 hours from now...

The column quilts are done and so is my sweater

The last column quilts are done. Orange Columns and Medium Blue Columns  join Blue Columns and Yellow Columns.  

Orange Columns is 50" by 56". This donation quilt is quilted with a walking foot. I sewed horizontal lines 2" apart using #2784 blue Aurifil thread.

I cut a strips off of the side and bottom edge so I had enough for the binding. I still ended up 6" short so I used some 2 1/2" squares to make the binding long enough. 

 

The back is blue grunge fabric. 

Another donation quilt, Medium Blue Columns is 56" by 58". I used a length of fabric for each quilt and this was the shortest piece. 

Oops I should have flattened this on the floor. 

The back is the same blue grunge fabric that I used on a couple of the others. It looks different colors depending on the light. I think I might have enough of this fabric for another back unless I decide to use it in a quilt. 

Using Aurifil #2730 blue thread, I machine quilted this with horizontal straight lines every 2", 2", 2", 1/2", 2", 2", 2", 1/2"... I didn't have enough medium blue for a binding so I thought this stripe would be fun. Now I wish that I had put a 'wild' binding on each of the Column quilts.

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I finally finished my Norwegian sweater. 

I had to buy buttons and with our weather, it took a couple of weeks for me to get to a store. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to like the neck detail but I do. I'm very happy with the way this sweater turned out.

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Our weather outlook is more snow. The ice storm last week was horrid but the scenery was nice on a sunny Saturday morning.

The ice coated trees and grass glistened in the sun.

We've had heavy, wet snow and wind this week added to the ice from the ice storm. The kids missed more school. One even told me that he is bored with snow days this year! We have more storms predicted in the coming week. Will it ever end? 

At least I'm making progress on the pile of quilts  that I wanted finished. Only 3 to go and all of the tops are done. One needs quilting, and two need the binding hand sewn. I'd make even better progress if I quit starting more quilts! 

Next finishes - Yellow Columns and Red White Table Runner

Do you recall the Blue Columns that I finished last month? I have three more two-column pieces so with one set, I made Yellow Columns. It looks a lot like Blue Columns! The straight line stitching with the walking foot is straight across this quilt rather than on a diagonal. The lines are still about 2" apart.

Some of the beautiful sunlight is coming through the curtains.

This donation quilt is 52" by 57" and quilted with 50-weight #1135 yellow Aurifil thread. The back is a blue grunge fabric that I picked up last month. I bought plenty to back a few quilts - it will show up again.

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Since I finally bought some Dawn dish soap for the red bleeding on  Squares on Cream, I decided I would work on this table runner. It looks much better but not great. At least it's for me and I can strategically place items on it. I began this as a quilt MANY years ago. When I pulled it out many months ago, I decided I didn't want to finish it - it had lots of problems. Ray suggested I make it into a table runner. It is 54" by 17" and I backed it with some red fabric that I thought was colorfast. That piece of fabric seems to be the evil red in this house! I guess I can say that Red White Table Runner is finally done.

I free motion quilted the table runner with simple flowers in the white spaces and lazy eights in the red/white areas.

I used white Aurifil thread that looks rather pink in places.

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Our weather is still weird but the sun has been out some today and the temperatures are just above zero although the wind chill is not. This weekend we will see 3 of our grandsons play hockey. It's been a real hassle getting to games this session due to the weather. We don't try to make all of their games but we do enjoy seeing some. I'm not sure if this is the 5th or 6th week and we have yet to see Grandson G play. More snow is predicted for Sunday so it looks like it will be another great week to quilt!

Blue Camel, donuts, and crazy weather

We've been staying pretty close to home. We are getting some type of weather warning almost daily. Last week began with snow - lots of snow. Then Tuesday and Wednesday were very cold. We had close to -60 degree wind chills and we broke all-time records for cold. On Friday we took my Jeep to be serviced and it felt almost 100 degrees warmer! It was a balmy 40 degrees and we had flood warnings. The temperatures on the weekend were decent but it was extremely foggy. Last night we had an ice storm. And would you believe we are getting another one as I write this. Crazy weather!

I've been quilting and knitting and baking and cooking. Oh, and don't forget the exercising - that's the way my day begins and it is working well.  Today was my first attempt at making baked donuts! The recipe made 6. These are the 2 that are left (remember only 2 people live here) so they aren't bad! And I will definitely be exercising in the morning. I only made half of the glaze and think that could have been cut down more. 

I finished this donation quilt that I named Blue Camel. It's not my usual bright colors but some trusted young ladies told me they liked it and I needed to finish it for the Children's Hospital. 

I used leftover blue and camel colored pieces from different jelly rolls. It's about 46" by 56 1/2". I think this view shows the dimensions better.

I free motion quilted this with a loopy pattern using 50-weight Aurifil thread - #2523 beige on the top and #2784 navy on the bottom.

The back is navy.

I am making lots of progress on my list of UFOs. I think three quilts just need binding sewn down. I have one ready to quilt and two that need a little work before they are sandwiched. 

SO... I started a couple of new quilts! I think that is normal, right??? My drawer with kids prints is very full and I decided to make a couple of quilts to use up some of them. So I have a couple of simple quilts in mind and have done a little cutting and sewing.

Sounds like tomorrow will be ice and sleet with a high chance of quilting.

Squares on Cream looks good

After quite a bit of work, I was able to remove the bleeding reds and blue on Squares on Cream. I used diluted Dawn liquid soap and some that wasn't diluted. I'm not sure this is a new quilt anymore - I think it's been washed eight times and dried in a dryer once. I do think the colors are colorfast now.

 

This 58" square quilt is now ready for donation. The quilting is done with beige Aurifil. I used a free-motion ruler foot with rulers to stitch some arrows and a walking foot to quilt some longer straight lines.

The striped fabric that I used for the binding was in my stash; it just seemed perfect for this project.

The back is some fabric that I picked up in the UP of Michigan last October.

I designed this quilt last fall. My intent was to use a lot of 2 1/2 inch squares. I decided to use a variety of squares for the 2-square and 4-square groups whereas the 1-square groups would all be red - I was hoping the reds might help draw the quilt together. Well, I don't know if it drew the quilt together but those red blocks are the ones that bled. I guess I had a uniform bleed!

At least the problem ended well. From now on, I'm trying to check my scraps for bleeding. I'm putting the fabric on an old white dish towel. Then I spritz the fabric with water and press with an iron. If the dish towel has any color on it, I know the fabric bleeds. I'm working on a 16-patch scrap quilt and I just found two fabrics that bleed. I'm really glad that I checked!

It is very cold out now and we are expecting another snowstorm tonight. Then the temperatures are to take another dive. We're told to expect -60 degree windchills midweek. Sounds like perfect quilting weather!

Blue Columns is finished

I've always wanted to make a column quilt. I loved the ones Nancy Zieman (Sewing with Nancy) made. When I finally started to put one together, I really did NOT like it. Do you remember the column quilt that was just too much?

I took one of the pieces (2 columns) and the same length of some blue fabric. I then cut the blue fabric lengthwise and inserted the columns. I like this MUCH better - Blue Columns it's rather modern looking.

Oops - I just noticed my feet in the picture

The columns have 2 1/2" squares so this quilt used a few squares but not very many. The quilt has Dream Cotton batting. I used a walking foot and machine quilted diagonal lines about 2" apart. The thread is blue variegated #4655 50-weight Aurifil.

This donation quilt is 53" by 57".

The back is Basic Grey seeing stars by Moda. It is orange stars although I think the picture looks more red.

In other news, I finally blocked my cardigan. I took this photo after I removed it from the mat. Now I need cut the front opening. 

This is my first time using steeking so I'm in uncharted territory and hoping all goes well.

A couple more finishes...

Well, the first finish isn't really done - it bled! I used a color catcher but . . . 

I certainly cannot donate it in this state. This is one problem when making scrap quilts. My stash includes not only my fabric but also many pieces that I've been gifted. I don't wash every little piece of fabric and once in a while it comes back to haunt me. Ugh! I do have a couple of ideas and will be doing more work on this. 

The second finish is Pink Rails. Last April, I made a jelly roll race quilt, Pretty in Pink, for a baby girl. I trimmed the quilt to make it a good size for a baby. With the leftover pieces and a little extra fabric, I put together Pink Rails. I think the texture in the quilt makes the photo look a little blurry.

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This donation quilt is 50" square and has Dream Cotton batting. I used 50-weight #2600 silver Aurifil thread to do the free motion quilting. I did the carnation motif which is very relaxing to free-motion. 

The back is the same fabric that I used for Pink and Turquoise Star. 

We had another snowstorm Tuesday - Wednesday. We got some freezing rain and about 7 more inches of snow. Later Wednesday, the sun came out for a beautiful winter day. Then the temperature began dropping and by last night we had a -30 degree wind chill. Today our schools are out again with the very cold wind chills. Sadly we are being told this will look warm by next week!