Adam's Quilt Finished

I finally finished Adam's gray quilt for the new (remodeled) house.  The photo looks like it is in black and white but it is not.  The house has gray painted walls and I made the quilt in shades of gray with black and white to match the bedroom.  The pattern is called Meter Maid (dumb name for a beautiful quilt pattern).  I had already made it once in all scrappy colors but this one is even prettier than the scrappy one.  I made the gray one extra large for a twin bed because this bed is very deep pockets and I wanted the quilt to cover it.  Adam slept in the new house last night and used the quilt.

Civil War Blocks

Last August, my dear friend, Diane Black, passed from this life.  Her family gave me these block kits she had bought at the 2013 Mystery Harvest Shop Hop.  It is a Civil War quilt, which is totally out of my comfort zone.  Of course, I had to make up the blocks. 

Each shop featured its own block.  I have pictured most of them here.  They turned out beautifully.  I can't get the setting triangle and border fabrics because it has been too long, so I'll have to figure some way to set the blocks.

 Each block was a total kit with all the fabrics and complete instructions.  The last block includes a little bit of embroidery and I haven't done that yet.

 This is the first kit quilt I have ever attempted.  I am primarily a scrap quilter.  I will probably use some of these directions to make entire scrappy quilts from the individual blocks.

 I particularly like the red and black block above here.  I think it would make a gorgeous scrappy quilt. 

 Any of them would make a wonderful quilt.  I am sorry that Diane never got to make up these blocks, but glad that I got to do them.

Adam's Flimsy is Finished

This is my son Adam's quilt top.  We are remodelling the house next door to ours and he is going to live there.  The whole house is in shades of gray along with black and white.  We are making a one hundred year old house into a modern home.  The walls are all light gray and the laminate flooring is darker gray.  The trims are all painted white.  So when I decided to make a quilt to match the house I used shades of gray, black, and the background fabric is white.  I got it to flimsy status just today and hope to take it to Vonda Cochran, my favorite quilter tomorrow.  The backing fabric is a light gray with a swirl.

I have been sewing this year but not finishing much.  I made a pair of leggings for myself but I need a tunic top to wear with them.  I intend to make more leggings for me and my daughter Audrey.  I still have last year's mystery quilt from Bonnie K. Hunter in the works.  I just need to put a couple more rows on it and make the borders and I will be done.  I also have the year before mystery quilt about one third quilted for my husband.

A Last Finish For 2016

I saw this block on Facebook where nearly everyone was making it.  I'm not sure but I thought I saw where it was called Arkansas Crossroads.  If you know it by another name please let me know.  I knew I could make it without a pattern and I had all these 2 1/2" squares already cut so I started in making a four-by-four grid of 16 blocks, then added the points in the middles.  The bottom photo shows the backing fabric, which I turned over the edges to bind the quilt.  None of them on Facebook had sashing so I had to make mine different.  I love this quilt and the pictures truly don't do it justice.  I am keeping this one for myself.

I WON!

I have been trying and trying to win something from one of those sweepstakes run on facebook all the time.  Today I won an Xbox One S from Pizza Hut!  This is the email I got this morning:

Automobile Accident

No, I wasn't in one.  But one happened in front of my house this afternoon, and one of the vehicles hit the house across the street (that I own).  My daughter Audrey and her husband Jason live in the house that was hit.  Audrey was actually in the room that the car hit when it happened.  You see, we live on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Bream Street on the west side of Charleston, WV.  I live on the southeast corner and Audrey lives on the northwest corner.  The trouble is that this part of Bream Street is one-way, and the car came up the wrong way going pretty fast.  There was a pickup truck coming down Seventh Avenue and they met at the intersection, with both of them heading for Audrey's house.  There were two posts set deep in the ground on the corner because this has happened before, but the car sheered off the left post and hit the corner of the house.  The truck bent the other post over but it kept the truck out of the house.  The brick of the house seems to be ok but it took out the gutter downspout and broke a window.  I've already filed a claim with my insurance company.  The wrecker truck pulled up onto the retaining wall at my house and cracked it.  Refer to the pictures.  You can click on them to make them bigger.

WV Purse

I know I haven't been blogging recently but I am still working in my sewing room.  I have been working on a couple of quilts that are not ready to share yet.  I have also been quilting on my Allietare quilt.  I did make two West Virginia purses, one for me and one for my daughter, Audrey.  I used a different batting for these - In R Form which is made for purses and bags.  It makes the purses more sturdy but harder to make because I have to turn the bag right side out and it is difficult with the stiffness.  Still the purses have body and I really like it.

I have had a few setbacks this summer, including burning my hand and hurting my knee.  I browned a roast in my electric skillet and realized I had too much grease so I tried to pour some of it out in the sink.  The roast then popped over into the grease and the grease ran across my left hand, burning my entire palm.  It took a couple of weeks but eventually all the burned skin peeled off and I ended up with all new skin on my hand.  I wasn't able to sew for quite some time.

Then a month ago I was stepping into the shower and my foot slipped across the tub, injuring the muscle directly behind my knee.  This muscle is what keeps the knee stable so then my knee would just collapse when I put weight on it.  My doctor sent me to physical therapy and they really helped me.  I was not able to get up out of a chair without Richard's help.  He walked me wherever I needed to go, like the bathroom.  He even showered me and washed my hair.  He got all my meals (I think I gained weight).  We borrowed a wheelchair which I used for about a week.  Then we borrowed a walker from my 89 year old great aunt and I used it for about two weeks.  Then, my dad had given Richard a cane so I used that for a while, but physical therapy fixed me up and now I am walking normally, with no pain.  I didn't sew during all of this because you have to step down into my sewing room and I was not able to do that.  It was even worse trying to step up.  I still have some trouble stepping up.  But now I am back to sewing and trying to get some things done.

My Kitty Sam

It is with a heavy heart I have to say that on Monday we helped Sam to cross the Rainbow Bridge.  He had been ill for about six months and the vet told me he probably had an intestinal cancer.  He had lost a lot of weight and couldn't control his bowels.  He was fifteen years old.  This is the third time I have had to have a cat put down and it doesn't get any easier.

I still have Sam's sisters from the same litter, Sascha and Rosie.  They seem to be in good health.  We also have Ace, the cat that Adam had to begin with but has lived with us for a lot of years now.  I think he is twelve or thirteen years old.  He seems to be in good health also.  He is actually Richard's cat - he chose Richard to be his human.  It will break my heart to lose any of them. 

Finished my Cheddar Nine-Patch Quilt

I started this quilt last fall while I was making the quilts I was giving my family for Christmas.  I set this one aside in order to get the others done in time.  I finally quilted it and finished the binding just today.  I call it Cheddar Nine-Patch.  Bonnie K. Hunter showed her quilt on her blog some time ago.  She made it for a new nephew, I think.  She offers the pattern for sale on her blog, quiltville.com.  This was a lot of fun to make and used up a lot of 2 1/2" strips and squares.  I love scrappy quilts.    I was short a little of the cheddar fabric for the backing so I used half-square triangles made from cutting off the corners of the blocks.  The picture of the backing is before sandwiching and quilting.  The little feet in the pink fleece socks are mine 

                                                                           

Finished my Allietare Flimsy

I finally finished my Allietare quilt to flimsy status.  That means the top is together, but still needs to be sandwiched and quilted.  Bonnie K Hunter started posting clues to this mystery quilt the day after Thanksgiving last November.  She posted the clues on her blog, one each week until New Years.  I changed two colors from what Bonnie suggested.  She used Tuscan colors inspired from her trip to Italy last year.  I changed her red to blue and her gray to dark red.  My quilt is a little darker than those who used Bonnie's colors.  I also think mine looks rather more masculine than most.  I used a black piano key border instead of Bonnie's suggested border.  She showed how to scallop the edges.  I decided not to scallop the edges for this one. 

 

I showed the quilt top to my husband and he claimed it for his own.  He sleeps in a twin bed with the thickest mattress I've ever seen.  The size of this quilt makes a generous cover for his bed.  I am going to quilt this one on my Husqvarna Viking Opal sewing machine.  This will be the largest quilt I have quilted so far.  Now to choose a backing!

Another Boxy Stars? How Can I Be So Obsessed With A Quilt Pattern?

My group held our annual retreat last weekend and I worked on another Boxy Stars quilt.  I had all the components cut and ready so when I got there I got busy.  I got all the sections of the 20 blocks I needed done but not put together in the blocks.  So yesterday I finally sat down and put it all together.  I couldn't decide what to use for the border so I put it away last night and thought about it.  My husband suggested I use the green fabric that I had used for a constant in the blocks as a border.  I checked to see if I had enough left and I had just enough and about two inches left over.  I decided that fate had stepped in and chose the green.  I just got the borders on the quilt and thought I would go ahead and put it on the blog.

This time I thought of the stars as flowers and chose fabrics accordingly.  I used the green as leaves around the flowers.  I love the way the quilt turned out.  I think I will quilt if free motion with white thread.  I still need to choose a backing.  I'll post a picture when it is finished.  I love making this pattern!

Got my Allietare Blocks Together

This is my version of Bonnie K. Hunter's Allietare (mystery quilt).  I put my blocks together and just today I finished putting the rows together.  This mystery was started the day after Thanksgiving when Bonnie posted the first clue.  I worked on it diligently and kept up (for the most part) except for Christmas week when I fell a little behind.  The next clue was an easy one so I quickly caught up again.  Bonnie posted the last clue (the reveal!) on New Year's Eve and I got busy finishing it up.  So here it is - my Allietare.  (Allietare means "celebrate" in Italian.)  I still need to decide what to use for the narrow inner border and then the wider outer border.  I am thinking gold for the inner border and the dark, mottled red from the quilt for the outer border, if I can get more.  The red was the only fabric bought for this quilt; everything else came from stash.  I think I would like to also use the red for the back of the quilt.  I bought that fabric at JoAnn Fabrics so I hope I can get more. 

Our annual quilt retreat will be held on January 29, 30 and 31 this year.  Debbie Canterbury and I have decided to make another design by Bonnie Hunter called Boxy Stars.  I have made several from this pattern but I see so many different ways to make it that I just can't stop!  Debbie is doing hers in red, white and blue and I am calling the stars flowers and each flower will be a different fabric.  I am using green for my accent color, green for leaves.  I already have mine kitted up and ready to take to the retreat, which will be at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, WV.  We are very happy to get to go again this year because Viking will not sponser it any more.  Linda Banker has decided to do it on her own and Debbie and I have promised to help her all we can.  Really looking forward to it and hoping the weather cooperates.  We don't mind if it snows but please not until we get there!  In fact, snow a lot then and snow us in so we have to stay a few extra days!

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.