Now I Can List Some Finishes

This blue and green Boxy Stars quilt was made for my son, Adam, for Christmas.  All of these quilt finishes reported today are made on the same pattern - Boxy Stars designed by Bonnie K. Hunter and offered for free on her website Quiltville.com.  These quilts are all throws, not quite bed size.  The pattern is made using 2 1/2" strips and I have plenty of them already cut and ready to use.

 

The next quilt was a purple and yellow Boxy Stars made for my daughter, Audrey, for Christmas.  She loves purple so her quilt had to feature purple.

 

I didn't get a picture of the Boxy Stars quilt I made for my son-in-law, Jason.  His is blue and brown, colors he likes best.

 

The next finish is a purse I made for Audrey.  It is made from a pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs called the Barbados Bag.  The first picture shows the front and the next one shows the back.  It is a cross-body bag with a zippered top.  Inside is a purple lining with pockets on one side.  The outside front has two pockets - the zippered one and a larger one behind the purple panel.  The back features two pockets.  This is the fourth purse I have made from this pattern.

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We had the immediate family together to exchange gifts and Richard and I fixed a nice Christmas dinner featuring turkey and ham both.  I made up several recipes I found on facebook.com and most of it I will make again.

 

Another finish that wasn't mine was a Christmas Boxy Stars quilt my friend Debbie made.  I quilted and bound it for her.  She hung it on her wall beside her Christmas tree and it was lovely.  I was so glad to get it finished two weeks before Christmas so she could enjoy it this year.

 

 

Finished My Christmas Tree Skirt

Second verse, same as the first.

I finished my tree skirt the other day.  I waited to take a picture when I got my tree decorated.  I used the same block pattern as my daughter's skirt but I used only four blocks for mine and nine blocks for hers.  She has a much larger tree than I have.  If you look really close at the picture you can see needles from the tree laying on the tree skirt.  Don't have much in presents under there yet.

I also quilted and bound my friend Debbie's Christmas quilt (made just like mine).  I am practicing my free motion quilting so I offered to do her quilt too.  I think I am getting better at it with each one I do.  I gave her quilt to her today and she has already hung it on the wall in her living room beside her Christmas tree.  She did an excellent job at the piecing of the quilt.

We had the Christmas luncheon of our pillowcase group today at Mayberry's Restaurant in St. Albans, WV.  Here is a picture of all the girls that attended.

We had a gift exchange and Mary Igo, that's the blonde in the green sweater, got the gift I took.  She seemed to like it a lot.  It was a Christmas tablerunner I made from a pattern I found in a two-year-old quilt magazine.  In the open blocks I quilted a stencil pattern, my first one.  I didn't get a picture of it, never even thought about it.  I am in the process of making another one and I will get a pic of it.

I am still making Christmas gifts and I will post pictures of them after Christmas.

Audrey's Christmas Tree Skirt Finished

I finished Audrey's Christmas Tree Skirt last week but she didn't put her tree up until now and I wanted to get a picture of it under the tree.  I think it looks very nice and is the perfect size for her tree.  I started it for my tree but my tree is only 3 1/2 feet tall and the skirt is just too big.  I made this one with nine blocks, so I made another with only four blocks, and I think it will be just what I need.  I don't have my tree up yet but I will post a picture when I do.

New Wallhanging for Fall

I made this Pumpkin Wallhanging in two days.  I needed something to hang on my front door (the one that was there was very summery).  I was going thru some old stuff in the sewing room and ran across a pattern for a pumpkin tablerunner.  I can't use a tablerunner because I have cats and cats love to lay on things like that.  So I just made the pumpkin blocks and put a border around them.  I am very pleased with it.  We just drove in to the driveway and the pumpkins were very visible from the street.  I will leave it on the door until Thanksgiving night.  Hopefully, by then I will have made a Christmas wallhanging to take its place.  I found a tutorial on someone's blog to make a snowman wallhanging and I think that is what I'll do.  That way it can hang from Thanksgiving thru Spring, when I will (once again, hopefully) have a new Easter or Spring wallhanging made.

I have been sewing lately.  I know I haven't posted much but I have made four quilted throws (two still need quilting and binding) lately.  I have even started another one.  I will post them when I can.

A Christmas Tree Skirt

While I was making the Christmas Boxy Stars Quilt I started thinking what a lovely tree skirt it would make.  So I made it.  I made nine star blocks and set them just like the Christmas quilt.  If you look closely you can see the slit for the tree trunk.  It is in the center on the right side.  When I bind the skirt I will bind the slit too.  I selected a Christmas paisley print in green, red and gold for the backing.  When I get it finished I will post a picture.  I love using up my scraps!

Christmas Quilt Finished

Christmas Boxy Stars

This is my Christmas Quilt (did you see the previous post, where I talked about this quilt?).  I finished the binding this afternoon so I thought I would post pictures.  It is also made from the Boxy Stars pattern.  While I was making the Green/Blue Boxy Stars I figured out how to use the colors to make the stars show up.  This is the first quilt made that way.  I used reds and greens with white background.  The border is an older Christmas print that has been in my stash for ages.  The backing is a Christmas kittycat print that I had been holding for far too long.  The binding is a solid red with gold sparkles.

Christmas Boxy Stars with the corner turned back to show the backing fabric

While binding this quilt I thought about how perfect the design would be for a tree skirt.  I will use nine squares (instead of twelve) and leave one side open to go around the tree trunk.  I can't wait to get started on it!

A Quilt Finish and September Lunch Bunch

Green/Blue Boxy Stars Quilt

I just finished this quilt.  It is called Boxy Stars and is found on Bonnie K. Hunter's website Quiltville.com.  It is one of the many free patterns Bonnie has given us.  For this quilt I alternated green and blue blocks.  The way I colored this one makes the boxes show up far more than the stars.  This one will be a Christmas gift for someone who may read my blog so I won't name that person.  I liked doing this pattern so much that I actually made two more:  the second one is in Christmas colors and the third one in purple and yellow.  The Christmas quilt is almost finished, I am about halfway around doing the hand sewing on the binding.  I will post a picture in the next day or two when I finish it.  The purple and yellow quilt is currently a quilt top and the batting and backing is ready for pin basting, which I will do as quickly as possible.  It will also be a Christmas gift.

Front row:  Jean Alford and Lynn Gray.  Back row:  Me, Pam Hyre, Mary Igo, Lois Pendleberry, and Kathleen Gross.

This picture was taken today at our September luncheon, held at Panera Bread in Charleston, WV.  This bunch of women (and there are more of them) makes pillowcases for two hospitals in our area for children who are admitted.  We give each hospital 40 pillowcases a month.  We try to meet for lunch once a month to plan for sew-ins where we provide pillowcase kits and show anyone who want to how to make a pillowcase.  Sew Many Blessings, a quilt shop in Huntington, WV, had a sew-in a couple of weeks ago and about 270 pillowcases were made and donated.  We are very happy to have their participation. 

I helped on another quilt

My friend's husband's co-worker is pregnant with her first baby and of course he offered his wife to make her a baby quilt.  She is a fairly inexperienced quilter so I decided to help her.  She chose the pattern and the fabrics and we got started sewing.  In a couple of hours we had the top finished so I brought it home and quilted and bound it for her.  I think it's a beautiful baby quilt and I am proud to be part of it.  The pattern is one of the Downy Quilt patterns, the one that people make to be given to kids in hospitals.  It is a simple pattern that makes up quickly. 

Finally - A Finish! (Not totally mine, though)

This is Diane's prayer quilt.  It was a made by five friends of Diane's.  Linda cut the quilt out and coordinated those making the quilt, Lynn and Kathleen pieced the blocks and put the rows together, Debbie C did all the pressing, and I quilted and bound the quilt.  After that we all signed a block for Diane and had other friends to sign also.  I am counting it as my finish because I did finish the quilt myself.  Those are my feet at the bottom of the photo. 

 

I have a couple more quilts in progress.  Two Boxy Stars quilts, one in blues and greens and the other in Christmas colors.  The one in blues and greens is ready to be sandwiched with batting and backing and the Christmas quilt is still being pieced.  I will post them when they are finished.

More Pictures of the House Next Door

This first picture shows the side of the house closest to our house.  That gray building is ours.  It is actually about 1 1/2 feet over the property line so we were worried if someone else bought the house.  Richard used to replace the clapboards when they fell off the wall but we decided it wasn't our property so we let it go.  You can look thru the holes in the walls and see no insulation at all. 

This picture shows the back door.  This house really needs to be torn down!

Here is the kitchen.  That is the whole kitchen.  Someone removed everything else that was there.  We told a friend that he could take anything out of the house that he wanted, like the copper and stuff like that.  The house is ready now to tear down but no one will come and give us an estimate on what it would cost to do the job.  Next week I am going to seriously work on getting one of those firms out here.  The power company was supposed to be here last Monday to remove the power line but they didn't show up either.

I also had a quilt finish yesterday but I really can't report it yet.  As soon as the quilt is given to the recipient I will tell the story.

We Bought the Abandoned Property Next Door!

We have been trying to buy the house next door to our house for 25 years.  My dad tried to buy it long before that.  It finally went up for auction for unpaid taxes (I was watching for this to happen but I missed it) and the man who bought it sold it to us.  We are working on getting this house torn down as quickly as possible.  

Here is the house from the front.  Richard (my husband) had already cut some of the brush down but that large tree remained.  This morning a neighbor helped Richard get it cut way down.  There are power lines there so I was antsy about taking down the tree.  We had already called the Power Co. but they haven't shown up yet.  

This picture shows the messy porch.  A vine had covered the porch floor and the neighbors from around back of this house had thrown trash on the porch as they passed by.  They have a permanent right-of-way across the property to the street.  No matter what we do we must have access for them.  It's on the deed.  

Here is our house right next door.  You can see why we want to tear down that monstrosity that is the eyesore of the entire neighborhood.  See my new Kia Soul?

Rainbow Connection Finished

I finished my Rainbow Connection yesterday.  I quilted it with a simple crosshatch on my sewing machine.  I backed it with the same white fabric I used on the front of the quilt because I had plenty of it in my stash.  We had a sew day at JoAnn Fabrics yesterday in their classroom and while I talked to the girls I finished the hand stitching on the binding.  My friend Debbie C. took the picture.  I really like this quilt and I can think of many ways to make it.  Such as - Christmas fabrics.  A white background with Christmas scenes for the white areas and rings of different Christmas colors going around.  I would use red, green, blue, gold and any other Christmas fabrics that I have on hand.  I am trying to use up my stash and not buy any new fabrics if I can keep from it, and I have quite a lot of Christmas fabrics that need to be used.  I will probably do that this fall.

I Copied A Quilt

I was reading my favorite blogs recently and ran across Jo's Country Junction - http://www.joscountryjunction.com/ .  Jo and her daughter Kelli have recently printed their first quilt book.  They have quilts in magazines regularly and everything they do looks great!  The new book - Country Girl Modern - includes a quilt called Rainbow Connection.  I knew I could do this one without a pattern so I got right to it.  Above is a picture of my quilt top.  I am going to buy the book when I see it, but I just couldn't wait for the book to make this quilt.  I made it totally out of my small scraps.  I have been cutting my small scraps into 2 1/2" strips, 2" strips, and 2 1/2" squares.  It was easy to pull the colors I needed for the quilt and concentrate on cutting the squares and sewing that part right then.  I didn't intend to finish it so quickly but I couldn't seem to stop!  Anyway, kudos to Jo and Kelli for a wonderful quilt design.  I wish I had thought of it! 

Flea Market Visit

Richard and I went to the Milton Flea Market today.  We weren't looking for anything in particular, we just like to go look around.  We seldom buy anything, but Richard bought a fried pie from an Amish vendor (he hated it!) and I bought a gauze dress to wear in the hot summer.  It is tie-dyed in many colors.  It is a simple design that really just hangs from the shoulders.  I can easily take a pattern from it and make many more.  I have already gone thru my fabric stash (mentally) and picked out a couple of yardages to copy the dress.

I also saw these three sewing machines.  I don't have space to collect any more machines but if I run across a Singer Featherweight I will buy it in a minute!  My friend Debbie wants one too.  None of these machines were locked up but the throatplace was missing on the back Singer.  I prefer my computerized machines.

I didn't bother checking the prices on the two treadle machines but the Kenmore was $150 and included the sewing table and chair.  I would never have paid that.

Scrappy Blocks

I was gifted a bunch of 2 1/2" squares by a friend and I wanted to use them.  I also cut up a lot of my scraps to make even more.  Now I am putting these squares together six across by six down - 36 Patches - to make 12" blocks.  I have now made 37 of these.  My idea is to use solid strips of fabric as sashing and more 2 1/2" squares at the corners for cornerstones.  I have laid out a few squares like that on my bed and took this picture.

 

I  haven't decided yet whether to leave them straight-set like the picture or put them on point, in which case I would have to worry about what to do for the setting triangles.  Maybe solids for that too.  I really like the idea of using the different color solids as sashings.  This has the potential to become a large quilt because I have lots and lots of scraps.  I keep cutting more 2 1/2" squares and my box is full of them so I have to make some more blocks.  When I was at Viking last week Pam gave me two grocery bags full of scraps from cutting out pillowcase kits and other people give me scraps also.  I have a large garbage bag full of scraps that I am trying to cut down into 2 1/2" strips, 2 1/2" squares and 2" strips.  Any strips smaller than 2" go in the strings bag.  I make blocks with those strings.  Some people make things out of the crumbs, which are the smallest of scraps.  I don't bother with those.  I don't have enough time to do the other things so I am not going to work with tiny little pieces.  Anyway, this is what I am working on right now.  I'll do a blog post when I get this quilt further along.  It's going to be very colorful!

Embroidered Shirt

This is a shirt I embroidered for my son, Adam.  It is a skull with a cowl over it and the whole thing is made of words.  It is a larger design than my embroidery machine can do so I asked Pam if I could come down to Viking and use one of the larger machines.  She said OK so I went right down there.  I don't embroider very often, in fact, I forget between times how to hoop my fabric and everything.  I really need to embroider more often.  

My Blue Heaven Finished To Flimsy

This is the quilt I have worked on most of the winter.  It is called My Blue Heaven and it is a free pattern from Bonnie K. Hunter's Quiltville.com.  It is now a flimsy, that is, a quilt top that has not been sandwiched with batting and backing and quilted.  I am piecing the backing from 10 1/2" squares of blue fabric from my stash.  This entire quilt is from my stash.  I will have to buy the batting and pay for the quilting but other than that it hasn't cost me anything.  During the winter it was so cold out in my sewing room that I sat up a table in the living room in front of the picture window with my Opal sewing machine on it.  I did most all of the sewing of the blocks right there in front of that window, watching the snow come down.  I thought making this quilt would use a lot of my blue fabric stash but I really don't miss much at all.  I have three bins of blues just like I did when I started.  As soon as I get the backing pieced I will give the whole thing to Vonda Cochran, my favorite long arm quilter.

Finally - Another Finish!

This is my Grand Illusion Quilt.  It is from a design by Bonnie K. Hunter, who does a mystery quilt every fall.  This one was begun the day after Thanksgiving last year, and I worked on it thru the end of January.  It took me a while to choose the backing fabric and get it quilted.  The backing is a hot pink fabric with tiny white dots.  This fabric is in the front of the quilt.  I used the same yellow as the inner border for the binding.  By the way, it was quilted by Vonda Cochran of Liberty, WV.  She did a beautiful all-over design.  There are so many small pieces that the quilting is nearly invisible.  I did my quilt in the colors that Bonnie Hunter chose.  She picked colors from the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island where she spent some time teaching classes.

I have finished several things but not quilts lately.  I have made myself five pairs of shorts to wear this spring, and a camp shirt for my husband featuring cars from the 50's.  He chose the fabric at Mary Jo's Cloth Shop in Gastonia, NC on the way home from our cruise vacation in November.  I also put the binding on two quilts for my friend Debbie.  I am going to teach her how to bind her quilts as soon as we get a chance.

 

I quit my job at the Viking Sewing Gallery in Dunbar, WV last month.  I have been spending more time sewing, riding around in my new car, and just hanging out with my husband.  I have great plans for spring-cleaning my house (if I get around to it!) and making some new purses and probably some more clothing.  I have three more pieces of fabric Richard picked out for camp shirts so I had better get busy!   

I Got a New Car!

My poor Mazda 626 is now fifteen years old.  She only has 78,000 miles on her.  I decided it was time to get a new car for myself.  About three years ago I was looking at cars and noticed the Kia Soul, which seemed like a nice small car that would be fuel-efficient and still fun to drive around town.  I didn't buy one then but I still thought about it.  When I followed a new Soul down the road here recently I was reminded of how much I liked it.  The 2015 version is even sweeter.  So without any more delay - here is my new car!

I bought it yesterday from Dutch Miller Kia in South Charleston.  I highly recommend my salesman, Mitch Stannard.  He worked hard to help me find the perfect car for me. 

Even More Cruise Pictures

These pictures were taken at the Garden Cafe on Deck 15 on Norwegian Epic.  We ate here quite a lot because they had all kinds of food (and plenty of it!) and they were open most of the time.  It was easy just to go up there and grab a plate.  The first picture shows a lady (in the white shirt) who spritzed everyone's hands with hand sanitizer whenever they entered the restaurant.  They also had little stands of hand sanitizer everywhere.  After we got our hands spritzed we usually went to the right checking out whatever food they had out there.

 The second picture shows one of the many areas where you could choose what you wanted to eat. 

 Sorry this one is blurry.  This is where you get bread and fruit.

 This one is blurry too.  More food to choose from.

The last picture is looking out from the Garden Cafe (at the front of the ship) toward the area where people gather to dance at night.  On the right is a bar and on the left is where you get towels when you visit the pool area, which is straight in front where the orange is.  Actually, that is a huge bowl that you slide down into from high above, and then into a pool.  I would love to have tried it but I am not steady enough on my feet to climb to the top.  I don't know why Richard didn't try it.  We both got in the pool and we did quite a bit of sunbathing.  Well, Richard sunbathed.  I spent more time in the shade because I couldn't read my tablet in the bright sunshine.  Richard came home with a nice tan.  Neither of us got sunburned.

More Cruise Pictures

This first picture was taken in the harbor at Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  It is a tour ship that looks like a pirate ship.  I would like to have taken that tour but we didn't see it until we were on our way back to the NCL Epic.

This picture was taken in the center of the Epic.  The LED chandelier behind me goes on for several decks.  It is a highlight of the ship.  It is difficult to get a good photo because all the light is behind me, leaving me rather dark.  One of the main restaurants is on the deck below me, and the casino is all around me there.

Here is me in front of the Bayshore Mall in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  We shopped briefly there for souveniers. 

Cruise Pictures

These are pictures taken during our vacation in November.  We cruised on NCL Epic, third largest ship currently out there.  It carries 4,000 passengers double occupancy, probably over 5,000 people actually.  It is truly a floating city.  This first picture shows Richard at Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island. 

The second picture is the Epic, docked at Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  We were on the beach at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, where, naturally, I enjoyed a frozen margarita.  Then while Richard enjoyed the beach I went shopping.  We had to have Margaritaville t-shirts! 

The third picture shows me on the tender returning to the Epic from Georgetown.  Grand Cayman doesn't have a dock for cruise ships so they anchor out and small boats called tenders ferry the passengers to and from the ship. 

We had a wonderful time and hope to go again in the future.  I will try to feature some more pictures from our vacation when I get a chance.

Three Finishes I Didn't Report

This pattern is from Blue Sands Patterns and is called The Barbados Bag.  I made the Blue Batik Purse to carry on the cruise ship during our vacation in November.  It was perfect for the cruise; large roomy pockets, and a nice long strap to wear over my shoulder.  I also made a blue batik wallet to match.  It is definitely a summer purse, so I put it away once we got home.

 I needed a new winter purse so I decided to make the same pattern in this pink and black fabric.  I love the looks of it, and I get compliments on it everywhere I go.  I made two wallets to carry in this one.  The main wallet is the pink and black harlequin fabric and the other one is the mottled pink I used for the strap. 

I made another one in purple to give my daughter Audrey for Christmas.  I didn't get a picture of it because I was in a hurry to get it made and under the tree.  Of course, she had to have a wallet to match, too.  She seemed to like it.  I haven't heard her say anything about it since I gave it to her.

I guess that is all the finishes I have for 2014.  I have several other projects in the works and I will report those finishes when they happen.