What I’m working on

 The disappearing nine patch that I started a couple of weeks ago is now a finished top. I love how fast this pattern goes together. I can take it with me tomorrow to our sewing group, weather permitting, and get it pin basted and ready for quilting. I need to stay stitch around the edges to make sure none of the seams pop open before that. I’ve also finished another section of the Noah’s Journey quilt. It’s cold and blustery and snowy outside today, so it’s a good day to do some more work on Noah. I’m hoping to get the piecing done in the next week or so. I’m halfway through the last of the embroidered blocks, so if I can get lots of quality sewing time that goal of having this finished by the end of next week should be more than do-able. I’m linking up to Mid Week Makers and then I’m heading back to my machine.

Quilty Catch up

I’m finally getting around to writing that post about all the quilts finishes I’ve had in the last month or so. Some friends and I are doing a UFO challenge and then there have been a few others as well. My chosen quilt for November was very old Disappearing Nine Patch. The block piecing was started way back in 2010. I sewed the blocks together a couple of years ago and then quilted it the spring of 2019 before I sold the long arm. This quit has a twin to it. They are going out as Christmas gifts this year to a couple of boys. I found a good place for taking pictures.... the back of the wood pile. A couple of clamps hold the quilts quite nicely. This one has a fun back to it as well.

I mentioned a while ago that I have joined a group of ladies making quilts for the Prayers and Squares ministry. I’ve been working on some quilts for them. I did up a top using some scraps of mine and sewed them into a 36 patch quilt. It’s been set aside waiting for quilting and the appropriate person. We had a couple of requests lately, one of whom is a child who likes unicorns and purples. One of the ladies in the group picked up this panel in a store and the we brain stormed what to put with it. We decided on pinwheels.

This is another quilt the top of which was donated to our group from the Owen Sound group. It’s been quilted and bound and needs the ties put into it.

The other finish that I’ve had lately is my Summer Kitchen quilt. One of the bedrooms here is minus a door. I hadn’t finished the piecing on the quilt before we moved, so it got sized and designed specifically to cover the doorway. I had some leftover embroidery blocks and also some stars, so I pieced those into the back. I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine and wasn’t that a challenge. It’s the first one I’ve quilted since selling the long arm. These pictures are actually from before it was layered and quilted.The backing fabrics are leftovers from those that were bought for the top. I’m trying to not generate too many more scraps. 

That’s it for my catch up post. Hopefully from here on I will record quilt progress as regularly as hand work progress.

Friday finishes..

 This is the first time in months that I have been able to do a Friday finish post. That's because it's the first time in months that I've actually finished anything. I've started lots of things, but not finished. I'd forgotten the way a finish feels so good.  And not only did I finish one quilt, but two!! I can definitely give myself a whoop whoop!
The first one here is my Scrappy Dresden Plate. This first picture gives the over all look of the quilt, but doesn't really show the quilting that much.

 This one, to the left here, shows the quilting a bit better.

 Here's the back, showing some of the fun feathers that are in all the white background areas and the borders, and also the design that went into the plates themselves. Have I mentioned lately that I love feathers on quilts, and love doing them?

 And here's a close up of one of the corners, showing the feathers in the background, and the fun striped binding, with the faux piping, which is my go to binding for all my projects. It's fast, and easy, and completely machine finished.

 And doing the binding on the Dresden Plate is the reason I finally got this next one finished. It's a Disappearing Nine Patch, that has been quilted and waiting for its binding for months. And the binding was even made months ago, just never put onto it. I figured that, since I already had the walking foot on my machine, it was the perfect time to get this one done. It was quilted with wavy lines going across the diagonal of all the pieces.

And, once again, completely machine bound with a diagonally printed stripe with the faux piping. I'm celebrating these finishes by linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts who hosts a weekly Finish it up Friday, and to Confessions of a Fabric Addict who hosts the weekly Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

Sunday Stash Report

I haven't done any posts since last Monday. I've been madly sewing and quilting all week, trying to get as much as possible done before going back to work yesterday, after 5 weeks off. Man, that had to be the fastest 5 weeks of my life. And, after going back to work yesterday, lets just say I was right about not wanting to go back, and leave it there. Otherwise this will turn into a rant about work, and I don't want to do that; I'd rather talk about fun stuff, like everything I was able to get done last week. I managed to get the Summer Rental finished. There were 2 customer baby quilts to do, and both of those are done, and returned to their rightful owner. I finished the Crumb along quilt. And then, I found the Disappearing Nine Patch blocks that I had started a couple of years ago, and threw them up on the wall, rearranged them, and sewed them together. There are enough left for another quilt. And then, I had another leader and ender project that was ready to go to the next stage, so I started to take it there. And then I made the backing for, and loaded onto the machine, the Sweet Treats quilt. Whew, no wonder there was no time for blogging in there. I'm tired just reading that list. The good news from all that , especially since I didn't do a stash report last week, is some fairly significant fabric out numbers.

Fabric used last 2 weeks:                        15 yards
Fabric used this year:                            134.7 yards
Fabric purchased last 2 weeks:                  6 yards
Fabric purchased this year:                    162.5 yards
Balance:                                                  37.8 more yards purchased than used.

I'm linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times Stash report, and then I have to get something to eat, maybe spend 15 minutes or a little more sewing, and then it will be time for work.

Design wall Monday Feb 1

I've been working on a disappearing 9 patch all week. Actually, there will be 2 of them, twin sized quilts commissioned by a family in Texas for their 2 sons. I'm leaving it up for a while to stare at, and see if there is any tweeking of block placement necessary. I used some of the fabrics that I had for my daughter's wedding quilt, which is themed on their favourite things, hence the pizza, BBQ stuff, s'mors golf balls, etc.

Very productive week

I've finished all the 9 patch blocks I need to do 2 twin size disappearing 9 patch quilts. Phew, that was a marathon of a sewing week. Loved ever minute of it. And I got to use up 540 5 inch squares, for a total of 10 yards of fabric, gone off my shelves and out of various drawers and bags. Woohoo!!! I have to finish cutting the nine patch squares, and then I can get them up and start arranging them on the design wall. My goal is to get that done today. I also have almost the entire centre section of that wedding ring quilt ready to sew together. And, also this week, I did get the bricks and stepping stones sewn into a top. Altogether, a very productive week