Henry came to visit

Our son had a dental appointment so we got the opportunity to watch our grandson Henry.  He is an adorable ten-month little boy.  He has the best disposition!  I made each of my three sons and their family a q Christmas quilt and then a quilt for each of my two grandchildren.  Henry got his quilt and loved it.  But not as much as we love him!

As you can see from the photo, Grandma has used a lot of thread this year.  The spatula is for chewing when those teeth start coming in.

Forgotten Quilt Top

Here is the quilt top I made from Pat Sloan's pattern Little Wishes.  She issued the pattern as a challenge to use your scraps.  Well, I do have lots of scraps and lots of yardage that needs to be used since it is getting about 25 years old.  I looked around my sewing room and spied several pieces of solids that I used in my grandson's little bears quilt.  However, I loved the black fabric with the white polka dots that Pat used in her examples, so I purchased some almost like hers.  I stitched away and found that I had purchased enough solids to make the border too.  Wow!  I love this quilt!  It is so different from what I usually make, and it feels more modern than I thought I would ever like.  I do like this one!  It is currently at they quilter's and should be ready for binding this month unless my quilter got too busy with Christmas quilts.  For the backing, I used big chunks of what solids I had left.  I plan to bind it with the black polka dot fabric.  Whew!  It used a lot of my scraps, but I still have so much more to use!  That will be the fun this winter!

Catching Up

Our granddaughter had her first stitching lesson about six weeks ago.  She is 2 1/2 years old and I knew she would like to be such a big girl by learning a bit about stitching.  I took a square of a light yellow or cream colored fleece and placed it in an embroider hoop.  I placed several skeins of embroidery floss and a tapestry needle in a bag so that she could have no fear of sticking herself with a needle as she stitched.  The first floss she chose was pink.  I knotted the floss after I threaded it through the needle.  She then stuck the needle wherever she wanted and I drew it out so she could stick the needle wherever she wanted.  When we ran out of floss on the needle, she could choose which floss she wanted to use next.  She chose pink, red, purple and blue flosses.  If you look closely, you will see that she took some very long stitches, so I topped the square with a piece of tulle before adding the inner and outer borders to turn the piece into a pillow.  I think she is so proud of her first stitching.

This next project was made with strips of fabrics and then turned into potholders.  So fun for fall.

How long has it been?

How long has it been since I last wrote on my blog?  I'm sorry it has been so long, and I'll try to do better.

Above, you will see a photo of the quilt I made from the pattern Golden Oldie.  Our stitching group worked on a mystery quilt for about six months.  This pattern was an excellent one to use.  I used greens and blues so that I could use up some of the yardage I had in my stash.  I really like it and use it almost daily as a cover up on the couch.

Also our stitching group had a fun game at our Independence Day party.  Everyone who wanted to participate brought in a yard of fabric.  We made a circle and passed around the pieces of fabric to music just like we would have done with ourselves if we were playing musical chairs.  When the music stopped, each person tore their fabric they had received into halves.  They kept half and then passed the other half on until the music stopped again with each person keeping half and passing the other half after each time the music stopped.  The process continued until we had a piece about four inches wide.  It was a great way to add new fabrics to our stashes.  Our leader, however, challenged us to make a small quilt (she gave us the size she had determined) using at least one piece of each of the fabrics we received.  We could add more if we wanted.  Then the quilts were brought in and then donated to a local nursing home.  My quilt is the Little Quilts pattern for houses, which I called 412 Penny Lane.  It was so much fun to see what each person made.

Sunny day

Here in southwestern Ohio, we had a sunny day today. Yes, it was chilly but not cold; i.e., not as cold as was a few days ago when we were about 20 degrees below zero. Brrr.
I have been working on finishing some projects. You will see the Lozenges quilt block from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville. I made the smaller version because I didn't think I would want to make an entire quilt of those blocks. So, I made just enough for a table runner. I really like the impact it made. It looks so modern even though Bonnie had a photo of an antique quilt made from the same blocks or pieces.
Then, I made a Valentine's Day gift for my granddaughter Sarah who will be two in May. After purchasing a small travel size pillow, I made two pillowcases to fit it. They are just the opposite of each other - light print with dark print band and then dark print with light print band. The prints go so well together. A very happy look!
Next, I finished handquilting my St. Patrick's Day bargello wallhanging. Well, it might not end up as a wallhanging. Currently it is on the back of my black Windsor chair our oldest son made for me. It looks so good there with the black chair. There is a lot of handquilting in the piece and it was such fun to work on it while I was watching television at night. Small handquilting projects are great for that reason!
Lastly, I knitted a pair of socks from Deborah Norville's sock yarn. The yarn makes bands as the colors change. The clear pink goes to white then to a dusty lavender and then to a gray. At least, that seems to be the colors in the change. The socks will go to my mother if they fit her. She has a very small foot (size 5 1/2), so they may be too big. If they are too big, then I'll keep the pink socks and make her another pair with a different yarn.
Currently, I am working on a crocheted baby afghan for our almost 4-week old grandson Henry. It is using antique white Baby Softee yarn and in the pattern called V-stitch Baby Afghan. It is also very fun to work on at night when watching tv or whenever I have a few minutes of free time.
Hope you enjoy my finished projects. I'll try to get photos of the projects I worked on last night (or should I say early this morning) at 2:30 am - pillowcases which our stitching group will donate to select orphanages (a project through the church at which we have our meetings). They are a lot of fun to make and fairly quick too. I have been able to use up some fabrics that have been in my stash for a little while. They are so bright and cheerful!

Another Project Finished and Off the UFO List

This little quilt is named "For the Love of Scraps" since it used so many little scraps, especially the little scraps of muslin left over from the back of a quilt I had hand-quilted.  Isn't that what we quilters do - make quilts out of scraps?  That is what I love to do - make quilts with lots of different fabrics or scraps.  So, this photo doesn't really show off the little wall quilt or table mat very well since I don't know how to rotate it in this blog.  It showed the correct orientation on my computer and printer, but when placed on this blog - well, it's not so good.  Anyway, I am glad this project is handquilted and finished.  I hand-quilted this while watching the first and second night of "The Sons of Liberty" on PBS.  Wow!  What a mini-series!  Then yesterday afternoon I sewed the binding on. The sashing is a very dark green print and the border is a bright blue.  The binding is a dark blue; i.e., until I ran out of the dark blue about 12 inches before the end.  Then I used some plain black binding.  Isn't this supposed to be scrappy?!  Well, bindings count as scrappy too.  The hearts are all blanket-stitched by hand with black embroidery floss.  The edges of the hearts were not turned under before the blanket-stitching.  I just love the soft fringe that sometimes happens to the edges of the hearts when the mat is washed.  It will definitely fit in with the rest of my "country" style.  Also, do you all notice that the print in the border is a little whopper-jawed?  Even though I cut the fabric on-grain, the print was not on-grain.  However, I love its little flaws just like they are.  The entire project seems to be something that was made from a well-loved scrap bag.  So what did I work on during last night's (the third night) viewing of "The Sons of Liberty"?  Another scrappy project that I had completed all the stitching on, but had not quilted it yet - a lozenges table runner.  The pattern is a Leader & Ender from Bonnie Hunter's website (www.quiltville.com) - "Lozenges".  I made the smaller version since I wasn't sure I wanted to complete an entire quilt.  The smaller version worked just great for me and I made enough to sew together to make a table runner with a border around it.  So, when it is completed, I will post a photo of it too.  I just love finishing all of these projects.  Now, if I could just get the bindings and labels on the 7 or so quilts I have stored in the trunk of my car after I brought them home from the quilter's.  It is a good place for storing them since my quilter wraps them securely in pastic.  I know that plastic isn't good for long-term storage, but they won't be there that long.  All of the little projects need to be completed first.  So, on with the quilting!

Another Valentine Mug Mat

My mother really liked the crumb heart Valentine mug rug I made for my DH, so I decided to make one for her too.  Since she loves pink, I chose all pink fabrics except the little pieces of white background.  I used the pattern for Crumb Hearts for the inner block (from Bonnie Hunter's website www.quiltville.com ) and the actual pattern for Tannenbaum Mug Rug (from the same site except I substituted the heart for the inner portion of the mug rug).  The pieces of pink were left over from Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt (also see her website for the pattern).  It is perfect for her.  My mother probably won't want to put a mug of coffee on it fearing she will spill her coffee.  Well, it can be washed, after all.  So refreshing and a little bit of spring in this winter blahs.  Enjoy making little bits of sunshine for others!

Small Project

Around Christmas, I made my husband the Tannenbaum Mug Rug from Bonnie Hunter's Free Patterns section on her blog found at www.quiltville.com. He enjoyed using it so much when he was working on his languages "homework" and his free reading of Mark Twain that I felt he needed to put the Christmas trees aside and use something else. What motif to us? Well, Bonnie Hunter has a Cr

umb Hearts block on her free patterns too. I used the same procedure as the original Crumb Hearts block, but changed the size so that the finished mug rug would be the same as the Tannenbaum Mug Rug. So, I cut the pieced crumb sections to 4 1/2" X 2 1/2" and then stitched on the background triangles. Finally adding the borders (same size as the Tannenbaum Mug Rug), and then machine quilting and binding it. I love it! It is such a great early Valentine. I even wrote on the back when it was made, to whom it was given, for the reason it was given, and who made it. Just a short sentiment! Hope the pictures turn out great. My husband was thrilled to have it, and he said it really looked like a Valentine!

Crumb Hearts Wallhanging Finished

Here is the finished Crumb Hearts Wallhanging.  Well, I think I'll use it as a little mat on my coffee table for Valentine's Day.  It is not in the traditional colors for Valentine's Day, but who says we have to stick with traditional!  The hearts definitely are not traditional, so why should the rest of the piece be traditional?  This little Crumb Heart block pattern comes from Bonnie Hunter's blog in her free patterns section.  You can visit her at www.quiltville.com .  This block was so much fun because it used up those little pieces of fabrics I couldn't bear to throw away.  Even though this was a quick piece to make and used so much scrap that I had to hand-quilt it.  Having something to work on by hand in the evenings when I am watching tv really helps keep me calm.  Quilting in the scrappy hearts was fun because I quilted every which way.  They I quilted down the middle of each sashing strip (scrappy too) and the inner border.  Finally on the outer border, I tried to calm the piece down by using a purple.  Does it really calm it down?  Purple?  Well, it seemed to work on this piece, especially next to the citron colored inner border.  I didn't want anything like brown for the outside border.  This had to have some fun to it, so the purple worked.  The fun purple outer border is quilted with a rope design and then a little from the outside binding.  You'll all have to be so proud of my when it comes to using scrap binding.  I couldn't believe it when I checked the scraps in the bottom drawer of my sewing machine - there was binding already cut in the same fabric as the border.  Was there enough there?  If not, I'd just add to it so that I could bind it.  Well, yes, there was about 4 inches to spare.  Those 4 inches went back into the drawer of scrap bindings because it will probably be added to other small scrap bindings for a REALLY scrappy binding someday.  Won't that be fun, especially when the fabrics don't really seem to go with a color scheme!  That will definitely have to be a wild scrappy quilt! 

My husband thinks I am a hoarder, and he is probably right when it comes to fabric.  A funny thing happened the other day.  I had been working on my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt from Bonnie Hunter and was snipping off the little dog-ears to finally get my blocks pieced together.  Then my husband came and asked me if I needed the little triangle he found on the back porch.  "What triangle?" I thought since I hadn't used the back porch since about September or October.  When he showed me the piece, he asked if I could use it in a block for a quilt.  Of course not because it was one of those dog-ears.  The dog-ear must have adhered to his socks when he went onto the porch, because I certainly had not been there.  He understands that I don't usually throw away fabrics unless they are too small.  Needless to say, the piece really was too small.

Today I'm going to try to finish piecing all of the blocks for Grand Illusion.  Wish me luck!

Using Leftovers

Last year I made a quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville list of free patterns.  The pattern was called Diamond Strings. It was made from strips of scraps that were then sewn to muslin strips on both sides.  Then, triangles were cut with the Companion Angle, thus making squares.  It was very fun to make and used a lot of scraps.  Well, I had these triangles left after cutting the large triangles, and doing as Bonnie does, I didn't waste them.  I just seamed them together to make sqaures and then put a border around it.  Did I want to machine quilt it or hand-quilt it?  Well, hand-quilting would give me something to do while I was watching tv in the evenings, so that is what I did.  I quilted 1/4" inside the muslin triangles and then in the triangles made of strings I just quilted every so often in the strings.  All of that quilting on the inside of the quilt made it necessary for more quilting in the borders.  Thus, the rope design.  I bound it in solid black since that was some scrap bias that I had in a drawer.  It is very small (13" X 16"), and it fits just perfectly under a lamp on an end table in my living room.  So cute!  Now, I can say that I am starting the new year by completing projects that have been around for a few months AND I am using up my scraps! 

Grand Illusion Last Clue

Well, we got our last clue for the Grand Illusion mystery quilt, and I actually have all of the units completed.  However, I haven't gotten all of the blocks put together.  With the sections I have completed, I had to photograph it to share.  I just love how it is turning out!  It definitely has motion!  Thanks, Bonnie Hunter!
Also, you will see a photograph of the quilt I have hand appliqued and hand-quilted.  All I need to do is add the binding.  I hope my new grandchild loves and enjoys it! 

Grand Illusion Link-up for Clue #5

The clue for the Grand Illusion Winter Mystery by Bonnie Hunter was very easy and quick.  I loved that because I was so busy with Christmas that I really appreciated the extra time to myself so that I could also work on another project.  This has really stumped me since I can't figure out where the little double four-patches in green and neutral with one black square go.  Perhaps they are the sashings?  Maybe they are the borders?  Only a little more time to go and I will know the answer.  At first I thought the broken dishes units appeared to be like those in Bonnie's Scrap Crystals pattern, but it didn't have the little double four-patches.  Well, she couldn't very well copy the same pattern, could she!  So, I think the quilt will appear to be like Scrap Crystals.  Now, where do the four little 4-patches with black, yellow, and pink go?

Grand Illusion Link-up for Clue #4

I have tried to get all of the steps completed before Christmas Eve, and I have made it happen! Yes, Bonnie Hunter's Winter Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion, is all caught up in my home. Friday will be the next clue, and I will be ready for it. No shopping for me; it's just cutting and stitching. This mystery quilt has been really easy to put together, especially with the Easy Angle. Love it! This morning, I just finished a "diaper" with lace on the rear portion for a sock monkey I made which will then be given to my granddaughter. A few weeks ago, I made another one to give to my son and daughter-in-law at the shower for their first baby. It was so cute! It also had a diaper, but no ruffles because we don't know if it will be a boy or girl. An old sock top became the hat and a pair of newborn socks finished the sock monkey. You can see my progress on all of the steps in the mystery quilt. The first photo is clue #4 and the second photo is all of my steps together. It is going to be a bright and cheery quilt. Love it!

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt - Clue #3

Grand Illusion

The stack of my 8-patch units from clue #3.

Well, hello to all of you. I have been so busy trying to complete all clues to Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Grand Illusion. So far, all three clues are completed as of 11:30 am today! Clue 3 had me using the seam ripper because I sewed the two checkerboard strips together on the wrong side. All I had to do was rip out the old seam and just sew on the other side. Yea, like that was easy - my fingers were sore from pulling on the threads. Oh, well, I recovered! It is still a mystery to me how the last clue will fit within the same units we previously made. The colors Bonnie chose (and I followed with her choice) are so cheerful! I keep telling myself that the next mystery quilt will be one in which I use my own color combinations, but I don't seem to have the nerve. Maybe next time.

Grand Illusion - Clue #2 Progress

Since last clue, I was waiting for the next one with anticipation. Yes, I was wanting more to do on the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt. However, other things got in the way since the last clue - reading so I can finish the books before their due date, knitting a gift for my stitching group, finishing a sock monkey for a baby shower for my daughter-in-law

, going to the baby shower (fun!), and just being a wife and mother. So, I am a little behind in my progress, but I do have some of clue #2 finished. I have even tried arranging the units to make a block, which I'm sure won't be the one Bonnie intended for us to make. It is so much fun to try to figure out what the quilt will look like. I'm really enjoying the bright colors Bonnie chose and then I also chose. Dark and muted colors are fun but I'm not ready to be in the winter doldrums yet. Keep those bright colors coming! Well, I'm in Blogger and I can't seem to add the photo I took. Sorry. If there is anyone out there who can help me, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Go to Bonnie's Quiltville.com site for more information on the Monday Link-up for Grand Illusion Winter Mystery Quilt. Here is the link:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

Clue #1 of Grand Illusion Winter Mystery Quilt from Bonnie Hunter

Here is my progress so far on the Grand Illusion winter mystery quilt. Bonnie has a way with fabrics and I know that these fabrics will make a beautiful quilt. Can't wait for the next clue! As you can see, I have all of my fabrics purchased for the mystery. My pizza box challenge quilt from the Preble County Stitchers used many of the same colors. In fact, I could have use

d all of them with the blocks. So, I think Bonnie did a super job on choosing fabrics. Of course, I would have loved the quilt even if Bonnie chose just black, brown, and light neutrals. She does have a way with scraps! I've included a photo of my picket fences quilt that I made and donated to a student organization made up of military veterans through Miami University at the Hamilton campus as a fund raiser. It was fun to make and I liked the sage green border especially. I've also included my quilt Resolution Square based on the block used in Jennifer Chiaverini's book THE GIVING QUILT. The quilt is in two green fabrics with unbleached muslin. It is a relaxing quilt and now owned by my mother. The other photo is a set of comfort dolls I knitted for my granddaughter. She is just 18 months old and loves to carry small things. The doll on the left is my granddaughter (who really doesn't have much hair so I made blonde curls for her), my daughter-in-law with her long blonde hair, and my son with his short dark brown curly hair. When my granddaughter saw the long hair on the mother doll, she pulled out a strand and put it on her own head. So cute! Here is a link to the progress of all those who posted on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog.

Finished Quilt Tops

This weekend was very busy with finishing two quilt tops. The first one was our stitching group (The Preble County Stitchers) created and called it "The Pizza Box Challenge". In this challenge, everyone printed out the directions and color requirements for the quilt block of their choice. My choice was Churn Dash or Hole in the Barn Door. I precut 4 1/2" squares of a bright f

loral for everyone to use in the center of the block and then made two blocks as examples; all the stitchers needed to do was add the other pieces in any of the colors in the center section - Now, that would be bright pink, pale pink, orange, turquoise, yellow, and green along with white. After the boxes were exchanged, the ladies then made two blocks using the pattern and color requirements and placed them in the box. The box was returned the next meeting and given to someone else who then made two blocks. When the box was returned, there were my two original blocks and twelve more. So, I just needed some more to make it really sing. After deciding to set the blocks on point, I added sashing of bright yellow with soft green cornerstones. An outside border of the bright floral print brought the blocks together. The next quilt is a Bonnie Hunter quilt pattern called Bow-Dacious. Wow! Was it ever so much fun to make the little bow tie blocks. I got to use my 1 1/2" squares and small scraps of neutrals (mostly white and unbleached muslin). All of those scraps that I thought would be too small for anything just fit this quilt. Four of the bow tie blocks were sashed with blue and then around each of those blocks was sashed with green. A dusty pumpkin inner border and then an outer border of dark green, light green, blue, gold, and pumpkin just brought everything together. I really love making the little blocks that Bonnie designs which use the small scraps. That makes me feel that I have saved some fabric from the trash and ended up with something beautiful. Today I finished the units for clue #1 of Grand Illusion, a Bonnie Hunter winter mystery quilt. If you haven't ever tried a mystery quilt, I encourage you to do so. Bonnie makes everything so easy to understand and so much fun, especially when you get to see what other quilters are doing on their mystery quilts. Tomorrow, I'll post my progress.

What have I been up to?

Well, I haven't posted anything in quite awhile, so I will try to remember all that I have gotten finished since my last post. I have made two table runners; one was a stack and whack square where you place four large rectangles on top of each other. Then you move 1/2 of the top rectangle to the bottom and then seam all of the rectangles back together. Then you cut again going the other way across the rectangle. Move 1/2 of the rectangle down to the bottom block and then seam all of the rectangles back together. Everyone in my quilt group made placemats, but I don't use placemats - so I made a long table runner by sewing the four "placemats" together. Shirting fabrics were my choice of fabrics. I then added a rusty red small border. My husband loves crows (he raised some when he was a child), so a crow on a tree branch was appliqued by hand with embroidery floss and the buttonhole stitch. Of course there was a large space between the crows that needed to be filled with stars (just three to keep the odd number to make it appealing). After quilting in a stipple with my sewing machine, I bound it with a black plaid. I love it. The second table runner is a modern look with grays, whites, and blues - it is in a chevon style. It was quilted on the sewing machine using my walking foot. It really is eye-catching, but not my style. I have also finished some quilt tops. I'll need to post photos sometime. Until then, happy quilting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery,....

Knitted Felted Purse Photo Found

I hope you can view this photo since I'm not sure why it doesn't upload like I thought it would.  Well, I was looking through some photos to attach to my family tree and found the photo of my felted knitted purse that I had mentioned in an earlier post. It was knitted with Paton's wool yarn and then felted. I crocheted the flower, stem, and leaves with a stone colored Paton's wool yarn. It really was different. Those felted purses just call my name!

One Forgotten Photo

After viewing what I had posted, I realized that I had mentioned a purse of which I had not uploaded a photo. So, here goes. The purse is knitted with Paton's wool yarn in an ombre of stone, brown, pink, and rose. The top of the purse is knitted in just brown for a small band and then the handles were I-cord knitted in brown. It was a put into my washer three times but I never put it into the dryer. I also crocheted the flower in stone; there is no pattern available since I just adlibbed as I went. It was then attached and a lining of pink with brown circles was added. I don't have the purse anymore since it became part of a raffle and now lives with someone else. Hope you enjoy. Well, I see that the photo I wanted to attach is not attaching. Hmph. What am I doing wrong? Anyone know what I need to do?