A little finish!

Number three, a little doll quilt, is now finished!

This was a blog quilt-a-long led by Lori over at Humble Quilts several years ago.  I think it was called Strawberry Lemonade...sorry Lori if I'm wrong!  It has been awhile in the "to be hand-quilted" pile.

That pile doesn't go down nearly as fast as it builds!

On the vintage quilt front I bought this fun large 9-patch Carpenter's Wheel on ebay last week.

It arrived yesterday.  Needs a good airing out and some bath time but it is a fun quilt!

It was made in Texas.  From the fabrics I'd estimate circa 1940.  (this little blue fabric is a fun 30's one though!)

The quilting is amazing!

It has a pieced muslin back...a few spots need some attention before it hits the bath...need to get to it while the weather is good for quilt drying!

btw...this is Dobby's birthday week!  Since he was a rescue we don't have an exact day...he had rotisserie chicken and some special salmon treats...

A little bit of machine quilting

I took a look at my pile of UFO's and decided that unless I either won the lottery and quilted them "by check" or re-learned to machine quilt they would never be finished.

Since the first is highly unlikely I sat myself down this week and started my lessons all over again...

I think the new table is helping a lot.  My arms and shoulders were not nearly as tired after an hour of "play" than they have been in the past.  I am taking it slow...just one new stitch a day for 15 or 20 minutes.  First I did some plain cross hatching then I tried the wavy channel stitch on some "left-over" table-runners and small quilts. (by left-over I mean I sewed together what was left-over on my cutting mat after I finished a quilt...the purple batiks was a Quilt of Valor for a sailor and the blues was from the Bermuda Seaglass quilt.)

I still love the look of hand-quilting but not all (or even most!) quilts need or deserve to be hand quilted.  So just maybe a few minutes at the machine each day will make a dent in my pile (50 +) of tops hidden in the back of my closet!

Also find machine quilting a great way to hide in the sewing room while the rug cleaners work in the other rooms!  Love when the rugs are clean but hate the process of having them cleaned...sigh.  All the furniture is moved in to the rooms with the hardwood floor which means everything is what they call down-here-in-the- south "cattywompus."  It will be weeks before everything is where I can find it again!

No longer a project...

Back in the late 90's how many of you started a Millennium quilt? How many of you finished it? Obviously by that question you know I didn't finish. This was to be the center...now it is headed to the orphan block pile along with 6 blocks of 25 2-1/2 inch squares. That is one way of moving a project off the UFO list!

My friend Maggie made this fun hat for me this Christmas

...finally it was cold enough early this morning to wear it. It has been so warm here the frogs had started coming out of hibernation and were croaking down by the river...that usually happens in March! (For a few weeks it can get really loud!)

My guild is starting its next donation quilt this month. The pattern is very unlike me...very bright batiks. As I write that I have to confess to a secret stash of bright batiks...I just don't use them often. Anyway, the "pattern" is based on an article in an old Quilter's Newsletter on doing a pieced group quilt. We need to find a multi-colored bright batik for the background...

I have 5 yards of this multi-colored rose fabric (makes me think of solar flares!) but the others in the committee want a black multi-colored batik...which would be nice if we could find it! If I don't find anything suitable at MJ's next week then I am going to make a strong case for the rose using a few blocks I made up just in case....

Yesterday I played with some left-over bits (1-1/2 inch finished blocks) to make a little quilt for my new doll bed. Beds look so lonely without a quilt.

Finally decorating for Christmas

A bit more baking and decorating this week.

Above is German Stollen which I make at least once over the holidays. I lived in Germany for three years. Two elderly German women that I met while walking my dog invited me over one Christmas and showed me how to make stollen. Since they didn't speak much English and my German was limited it was an interesting day...however I did get their recipe right! It was a favorite of my Dad and it reminds me of him.


Well I finally got my tree...little as it is...up this week. I only used a third of the ornament boxes.

I love the memories the ornaments carry with them. My sister Kay bought these white santas over 20 years ago and we both still hang them on our trees. The vintage ornament was on my parent's tree while we were growing up.

Also I hung up this little wallhanging that Tonya made for me (note Mac and one of the cats!.) Couldn't believe it when I saw the date on it...'01! Wow....time flies!

Border Decisions...

That bowl of 2-inch half-square triangles I wrote about earlier this month is still full...even after making two more doll quilts/wallhangings. I am having a difficult time deciding on a border for this blue one...

a green border...

a blue...

or do a bit of contrast with a golden brown....

Any thoughts?

New Thought (thanks to first comment!) I've added a purple option...isn't it funny how in my mind this was the "blue" quilt and I had totally blocked the purple hst's...brain-freeze!)

I have another one done in blues, purples and golds with black accent blocks...that needs a border too but I think I have an idea for that one.

Elf Day...

14x18 4-patch

It all started yesterday morning. Freda at Imprera Magna blog asked, "Want to help Santa out?" I mean really, who would say no? Besides she said it would only take 30 minutes...really Freda? Has any quilting project ever taken 30 minutes? That is right up there with "quilt in a day," and diets that let you "eat all you want and still lose weight..."

14x18 strippy

That aside, I put on some Christmas CD's (sorry Bonnie...but nothing like a Bing and Barbara belting out some holiday tunes to give me that elf in the workshop buzz....)

14x18 9-patch

So an hour and a half later I crawl out of my sewing/fabric room with an armload of fabric bits which include a basket of 1930's repro four patches, a bowl (don't ask...) of 2 inch half square triangles, and a Moda jellyroll that was too pretty to cut into and had become a sewing room decoration.

12x18 one patch

I gave myself permission to play and just tried to think of what a little girl would like her doll quilt to look like. Which made me want to include lots of colors...

Now one day later...I have finished 5 little quilt tops! So it was a bit over 30 minutes...but I had fun and knowing they will go to children who need them this Christmas makes it even better. So much fun I may just make another of the green and yellow quilts for myself...got to do something to make a dent in that bowl of HST's!

12x18 Half square