Obsessed with Hexies!

Ok….I will admit that I tend to be a bit OCD….I’ve started working on my Hexie quilt again and I just can’t seem to put it down, it goes everywhere with me. Oh well, I’m having a wonderful time with it! I have no idea how big it will end up being…it’s about a yard across so far. These are very small 1/2” hexies, the flower’s finished size is about 2 5/8” across…lots of work and very slow growth in the size of this quilt…It will be worth it when it’s done! Anyway that’s what I keep telling myself. So…what color do you think the next row should be?

My ‘Love Covers’ embroidered blocks are all done….This didn’t take me long at all, 14 small blocks and 12 large blocks. I have all of the fabric collected to finish this, I’ve put it all away and will get this done another day! Very happy with how these blocks turned out.

And here are the ‘rejected’ circle blocks that were my practice pieces…I’ve decided it would be a nice table runner…it’s on the longarm right now and I’m stumped on what to quilt on it….Hopefully something will come to me.

This is the circle quilt for my soon to be born grandson….I will add white borders and put his name on it… I can’t do much more until I know what his name will be. I really didn’t think it would be this easy to do set-in circles, but it didn’t take long at all. Very happy with this one!

These are a few of my purchases while I was in Iowa with my sisters; the wool pattern is one I’ve wanted for years. It’s funny how when on vacation I’ll buy things I normally wouldn’t buy any other time because I think they’re too expensive…I guess I tend to splurge a bit when I’m in another town. I have a big plan for the fabric…I’m trying to hold off on starting on it though. I really need to finish a few other quilts first! My vow to get my UFOs done is starting to blow away in the wind….I’m straying off the straight and narrow path! I think I might need some kind of an intervention…Help!

Here I am with 3 of my sisters…Val wasn’t able to be with us because of some school obligations. We sure missed her, but we had a wonderful time together. I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I love you Susie, Barb, Val and Wendy! And as our theme song goes….’Sisters, Sisters, nothing can come between sisters’! Except maybe some Quilting! Just kidding!

Happy Quilting!

Kris

Long-arming, Embroidery and Circle Blocks

I bought an embroidered/pieced/colored quilt pattern a couple of weeks ago called ‘Love Covers’ by Tricia Cobbs. It’s got quite a bit of embroidery and very bright colors, I like the Scripture in the embroidery so I was drawn to it…..I’ve got all 12 of the large blocks embroidered and have 2 done of the 14 small blocks….You also use Crayola crayons to color in the blocks…It’s been fun so far…I’ve got quite a bit of bright colored fabric collected to get started on piecing the blocks…Fun!

My Prairie Rose BOM by Jo Morton is done! It’s quilted and off the frame now. While I was quilting it I thought I was doing a horrible job and was kind of in the dumps about it, but now that it’s off the frame I really like it. Now I only need to add the binding and it’s completely done!

Here are my Wool Spring Gathering BOMs from Primitive Gatherings…the top one is the latest one and the center block will go between all of the wool blocks….I’ve done 6 of them now.

This is the start of my grandson’s quilt…He is due July 29th, and my daughter wanted a circle quilt….It’s really not too hard to do…I found a tutorial on-line done by Dale Fleming and it really makes sewing the circles easy…I did not want to applique them so I thought I’d give this a try. My circles get better with each one I do.

Happy Quilting

Kris

Finishing UFOs…..woot woot!

I made a promise to myself that after the first of the year, I would finish projects that were half started and almost done…or else. I’ve kept that promise and am very happy with the results, many projects are completely done! I even allowed myself to start a new project last week.

Amish with a Twist is ready to quilt….last I knew my sister Wendy was going to take this one. I’ve tried to make a quilt for each one of my sisters, and Wendy is the only one who hasn’t got her quilt yet. I’m really at a loss as to how I’m going to quilt this one…I may need some help from my friend Kelly Kreft….

‘Grand Illusion’ Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, pieced, quilted and bound…started this one the first of December and it’s completely done….I’m very proud of that. I changed it up a bit, but it’s pretty close to what Bonnie Hunter suggested. This is a very large square quilt.

And another quilt that I finally quilted and bound…My 2011 Calendar quilt, this is so much fun for me to just look at…It has a different strip of fabric for every day of the 2011 year, whatever I happened to be working on that day was the strip I sewed on to this quilt. I did the applique flowers  and embroidery since they were in some quilts I did that year too….I think I’m going to be doing this again in 2016. My grandson Walker is helping me hold up the quilt.

 

Block #5 in my Wool BOM from Primitive Gatherings….I love this quilt!

I’m still doing a bit of crocheting too…I have a grandson on the way so I’ll have to start making some boy hats as well.

A flannel baby blanket that a friend wanted for a baby gift, I really need to get busy and make a few of these to have on hand….I usually do, but right now it’s pretty slim pickings. I have a stack of flannel literally at least 3 feet high, so that’s not the problem.

This is the new project I’m working on….coloring and embroidery…what a fun combination! I love the scripture verses too…don’t know who will want this one, but I’m sure someone will, and then again I might want to keep this one for myself.

This is the border for my mom’s Civil War quilt she started before she went in the nursing home…she asked me to finish it…Not my favorite quilt, but I will eventually get the job done. Mom had done the center of the quilt and I finished the 4 corners…I wish she were still alive…she would love to see the progress I’ve made on this quilt. Now to make 68 of the Hovering Hawk blocks for the borders…Lots of half square triangles…I WILL FINISH THIS!

My haul from the quilt store this week….75% off! What a find….got enough for 5 quilt backs…This puts a smile on my face.

Happy Quilting

Kris

Just a few pictures

Wool table topper ready to quilt….

Embroidery project all done….

Wool BOM for this month done….

Prairie Rose BOM is getting closer to being done…but I’m not enjoying this one at all….just need to finish it

And I’ve decided to do Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery quilt for 2014….I think it will be fun.

 

 

Happy Quilting

Kris

UFOs….finishing a few of them!

Well, I’ve been doing my best to try and finish some of those projects I started over 20 years ago! I have a few more than I thought, and they’ve been bugging me for the last few months, so as I was cleaning my sewing room and finding them, I kept them all out and have been doing my best to work on them. I’m still starting new projects…I just can’t help myself!  I’ve completed my 4th wonky log cabin quilt this past week…It’s probably my favorite one, it’s got the fireside plush on the back and it’s so soft and warm…It was made for my daughter Karmon…..my grandson Walker is helping  hold it up in these pictures.

Thank you to Kelly Kreft,my friend from Colorado for sending me the pattern for this fun snowman embroidered wall hanging….it will measure 16 x 20 when it’s finished.

The picture with the redwork is from the picture on the pattern…..I really wanted to do it in redwork, but even with a drawer clear full of embroidery floss,  (and I’m not exaggerating on that either,) I couldn’t find the red I wanted…so I’m making do with black for my first one…I’m changing up the embroidery stitches on a few of the panels too…I think this will be fun and easy. I guess it came out of a magazine quite a few years ago.

Here is the quilt I’m making for my niece’s baby who was born a week ago…It’s on the frame and should be done in about a week…

A new project I  started this month…a BOM from Primitive Gatherings…It’s a 14 month BOM….so you’ll be seeing new blocks from this one for quite a long while…I just love wool!

This is the 7th block in a BOM I should be done with, but I’ve been too busy doing ‘other’ things that to me seemed more important! Now it’s time to get this done…

A tub full of 3 dimensional flannel bow tie blocks…I had most of these sewn together and then decided I really didn’t like how they looked, so I tore them all apart and will try another layout….this is a UFO from at least 25 years ago….and by the looks of some of the blocks you can tell that I really didn’t know what I was doing!

My great find at a store in Norton this week…all silk ties for .75 each! I was quite happy with the price and the colors….brighter ones, which I needed for the tie quilt I’m ruminating on!

Okay….so I showed you a few of my UFO’s and some newer projects….I am going to whittle down on half started projects…I am! I am! I am!

Happy Quilting!

Kris

Red Willow County Fair and the arrival of ‘Big Red’!

And this is the wonderful news….Best of Show at the Red Willow County Fair! So I believe these will be Nebraska State Fair bound! And to do it twice is even better! This isn’t the best pictures of my redwork sampler…it’s much better in person….but it makes me happy! I love redwork….and I love quilting even more!

I’ve been so busy at work that when I come home after being in the heat all day I just want to sit in my chair and crash…which I seem to do quite often. I’ve still been getting quite a bit done in my sewing room, but not as much as usual. I had the day off yesterday and a friend and I went to the Nebraska Quilt Show in North Platte ….It was kind of disappointing…only 8 vendor booths there and I only really liked two of them…so I didn’t spend too much money, which was a good thing. I did buy a cute pattern of the nativity and I’ve got one done already….it’s so darn cute…just need a black frame to put it in now….It will be around 5 x 12 inches in the frame. Hopefully I can find something at Hobby Lobby that’s not too expensive. I think these would make  really cute gifts and they will use up my scrap wool pieces, which is good and bad since I tend to be a ‘wool’ hoarder!

And in other news….My Nolting Pro 24 longarm has arrived…I’ve had it now for about 3 weeks and I’ve found it’s a whole different ballgame compared to free motion quilting with a domestic machine….I can tell I will really have to practice, practice, practice! And of course she is red in color! Woo Hoo! Her name is ‘Big Red’, but her nickname is ‘Red’,  she was named after my favorite team….Go Huskers! GBR!

And here is my Evelyn’s Album wool quilt….almost done! Just working on the borders now, so not too far away from being ready to quilt. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to use red or the tan for the border fabric…I chose tan and then tea-dyed it a little bit to take the yellowish tint out of it…..I like how the wool vines/leaves and flowers stand out with the lighter color.

Here is one of the 61/2 inch unfinished hovering hawks blocks I will be needing to complete the border of my mom’s civil war quilt. I’m finishing this quilt that she  started before she went in the nursing home……I promised her I’d complete it, only 56 more of these to make and I will be ready to sew them together to complete the border. I need a total of 68.

And here is the results of my first attempt at using ‘Red’…this is a quilt top my mom had made that I told her I would quilt for her. It turned out okay…not perfect by any means but it was good practice. Nothing fancy, but it was fun!

Well….off to do some more sewing

Happy Quilting! Kris

I’m sewing and loving every minute of it!

I’m on vacation this week and I’ve been in my sewing room 10 hours every day….It’s been wonderful! I finished my Vintage Tins quilt….and have started a new B.O.M. called: Prairie Rose with fabric designed by Jo Morton. I also dug out my Farmer’s Wife Pony Club Quilt blocks and have started in on those….I’m over the halfway point now, I think the reason I enjoy doing these blocks is that anything goes. I’m using all kinds of fabric scraps and just having a fun time deciding what to use for each block…some I’m not so happy with the colors choices once they’re done, but I’m not changing any of them. I think once they are in the quilt, it will all look good together. I think I’ll end up sashing it in black. I’m still crocheting in the evenings before I go to bed…I’ll be sending about 50 hats to my sister in Iowa so she can sell them  in her store.

I love my vintage tins quilt…instead of using all black, cream and white, I threw in some red and golds….I am very happy with how it turned out. That was a lot of embroidery too!

These are the first three blocks of my Prairie Rose BOM….I love the fabric…it reminds me a little of civil war fabrics and I’m in a  love relationship with civil war fabrics right  now! As soon as I walk in a fabric store they start calling my name.

These are the latest blocks I’ve made for my FWPC quilt….there will be 90 of them and they are 8 1/2” unfinished. I think I’ve gotten 50 of them made now….

Have a wonderful day! and Happy Quilting

Kris

Small Projects! (Handwork is my friend)

I’ve been working on some smaller projects that I’m not sure what I’ll do with yet….Maybe put in the family auction at our Christmas get together….Or maybe keep a few of them myself! I am going to be making a few more before Christmas so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

This is a small wool applique wall hanging. I love how this turned out, the pattern was in a recent quilting magazine I got and it had a ‘flour canister’ full of tulips. I decided to change that up a bit and did my own thing. I free motion quilted it and bound it this weekend. I love the vibrant colors.

This is a Christmas table runner also out of a recent magazine. I’ve embroidered the reindeer/christmas blocks and then pieced and free motion quilted the runner….Much cuter in real life than this picture.

The second block of my Evelyn’s Album Wool applique BOM…I love doing this! Hand work is my friend!

Happy Quilting!

Kris