I WILL FINISH more UFOs!!! (and I really do mean it!)

Circles! And Set-in Seams to Boot

My daughter Lesley wanted a circle quilt for my grandson who will be  born the end of July, so I started researching the best way to go about doing this. I was debating between appliqueing and set-in seams, and I really didn’t want to applique a whole bunch of circles. I found a tutorial and that began my journey with the circle quilt, the baby quilt is done and waiting for the baby’s name to be stitched on…and since I don’t know the name yet, it will just have to wait a bit longer. I just finished piecing a circle table runner for my daughter Karmon…she picked out the colors…I had fun making all different size circles…it’s getting easier and easier to do. Now to figure out what to quilt on this! That seems to be my stumbling block right now. This picture does not do it justice...the colors are much brighter in real life.

Here is part of the circle baby quilt and my Wool Block of the month from Primitive Gatherings, I’ve got 8 of the wool blocks done and I’m now working on the four patch block that goes between the wool blocks. I love the colors in this quilt!

 
Three of the latest wool blocks I've done. 

 

The hexies are coming along pretty well, I’ve got all of the purple ones made, I just need to get them sewn on to the quilt. Again, another decision to make…what color hexies for the next row?

 My favorite fabric for the moment…American Jane by Sandy Klop for moda…Most of it is out of print and hard to find…But I’ve been on a mission and I’ve accumulated quite a bit of it. This pile of fabric puts a smile on my face! I love to get it out and just play with it…I’ve started to worry about my fabric hoarding tendencies…and I’m serious about that! Serious that is,  about the hoarding and all of the fabric ‘petting’. I LOVE my fabric.

My new favorite book: Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt. I love the fabric used in this book and I love the patterns. I've been looking at it every night and getting ideas. It was worth the $30 just to look at it! Thanks for thinking of me Regina and Jamie from Stitch up a Storm in Norton Kansas. Those girls know what I like! 

Still plugging away on my mom's civil war quilt...I've only got 32 more of these 6 inch Hovering Hawk blocks to make for two of the borders...So I'm more than half done with these. I know my mom will be smiling down from heaven when this one gets done! I can hear her asking me if I've been working on it and how much I've gotten done on it...Well, mom it's almost done.

Happy Quilting

Kris

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

It’s been too long!

As you will be able to see by all of the pictures below, I’ve been a very busy person. The big project I’ve been working on is finishing my mom’s Civil War Chroncicles Quilt from 2011. She has the center all done and now I will finish all four corners, there is a lot of work left to do in this quilt. The border alone is 60some 6” blocks, and the blocks I’m working on now are 14”. I’m not crazy about this quilt and I wasn’t from the first time I saw it. I love the fabric in it, but I think it’s just too ‘busy’ for my liking. The good thing is that I get to keep all of the scraps from this quilt and that is a substantial amount of fabric! Below is a picture of what this quilt looks like finished. Looking at this makes me think I have a long way to go yet! I’ve also gotten one of the borders sewn on my Farmer’s Wife Quilt, I’m having a hard time deciding what to use for the outer border….when I decide I’ll post a picture of it.

I have to make four of each of these block and I have 8 made so far…..

My wool BOM from Primitive Gatherings has been fun for me. I’m waiting for the 7th block now.

I’ve also been doing a lot of handwork on my large and mini hexie quilts. I’m planning on adding 4 more rows of flowers to my large hexie quilt and then see if I think it’s big enough to add the borders and applique. I have about 6 more flowers to make and I’ll have enough to get it done!

The picture of the single hexie above is my 1” hexies and the picture of the hexies all sewn together in color rounds is the 1/2” hexies. These two qults will look completely different. I’ve decided to mostly concentrate on the larger ones right now because that quilt is almost done.

And last but not least is the dress my daughter volunteered me to alter for a friend of hers. I HATE altering anything, but I’m being nice and doing this one anyway. It’s is almost two sizes too big, and it’s got boning in the seams in the bust. I HATE boning in dresses that need altered! I have the hem taken up and am almost done adding spaghetti straps, I’ve taken in the side seams in the hip area and now I need to finish the bodice part. I’m not taking this dress apart, I will ‘cheat’ and just take tucks under the armpits. No one will ever see those and it will work out okay I think. I sure hope it will anyway, cuz that’s what I’m going to do!

Well, Happy Quilting! I’ll try not to stay away so long next time!

Kris

My Vow……I won’t start any new quilts until I have at least one that’s started completely finished.

We’ll see how my vow works out….I’m going to do my best to get some things finished before I start another new project. I am getting the itch to start something new, and I just can’t let myself do that. I did finish all 111 blocks from the Farmer’s Wife Quilt. I need to pick out the sashing and the cornerstone fabric soon. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a ‘piecer’ not a ‘quilter’…..I love piecing a quilt, I just am not too interested in doing the free motion quilting to finish it. I have to make myself do it.

 

My mini 1/2” hexie quilt has been very fun to work on. I’m ready to start the 4th color around, I’m enjoying this one more than the 1” hexie quilt I’m working on also.  My hand is in this picture so you can see how small these hexie flowers are. My next  color round will be green flowers. This will be a very special quilt when it’s done….all hand sewn!

This picture is of the larger 1” hexie quilt I’m working on too. I’m not sure how big this one will end up…..it will have white borders with some flower, vine and leaf applique in one of the corners.

Here are the four blocks that I’ve completed in my Primitive Garden Quilt BOM….I just got the 5th block in the mail yesterday and I’m ready to start on it. I’m having a wonderful time doing this quilt. And yes….I really do believe I’m obsessed with quilting, my house isn’t as clean as it used to be, and I could stay locked up in my sewing room for 10 hours a day and not think anything of it.I might come out every once in a while and get something to eat and drink, but other than that…..I could stay there forever!  This is an expensive hobby too. Fortunately, of the quilts I’m working on now three (both hexies and the Farmer’s Wife) are scrap quilts, so I don’t have to buy lots of fabric for them.

It’s time to go back to my sewing room and have some more fun!

Happy quilting, Kris

Vacation is over already….and I feel like I need another one

I really didn’t get too much done this past week except to visit my mom in the hospital every day…..so I made the 30 minute trek to Cambridge Mon.-Sun. So that doesn’t leave a lot of time to sew or make jelly. I did get a bunch more hexie flowers made since I could do that while visiting my mom.  And as you can see….I had to throw in some ‘Husker’ hexies. I am a huge Cornhusker fan! GO BIG RED!

I also got the chance to shop at Cottage Inspirations while in Cambridge. I returned a wool kit that I had bought with a gift card back in January……that gave me $50 plus $20 I had in bonus bucks given to me by my friend Kelly Kreft. It was enough money for a shopping spree, and boy did I have fun. I ended up getting a few spools of Valdani perle cotton and some wool…..the wool is a 5 inch square, with  5 pieces in a pack.

I also found some wool scraps I had while digging through my tubs of fabric. I felted it right away. This was an exciting find! Quite a few years ago, I was making wool vests with appliques on them, so I had bought a few pieces of it back then. I also did some tailoring with it. I think I have a wool skirt I made in the closet that I’m going to cut up and felt. My sister Val and I are going to try our hand at over dyeing also….We are kind of excited to give it a try.

And last, but not least…..I’ve made 5 more blocks for my Farmer’s Wife Quilt. I am cutting out number 99 this morning. Only 12 more to make! Oh Happy Day!

Well, work is calling me, and after the week I’ve had, I’m going with a smile on my face.

Happy Quilting, Kris

I love English Paper Piecing

As most of you already know…I’m working on a Grandmother’s Flower garden quilt using the English paper piecing method. I’ve made hundreds of hexies so far and I really enjoy working on them when I’m sitting in my easy chair in the evenings after work. While in a quilt store a few weeks ago…my sister and I saw a new book titled ‘English Paper Piecing’ by Vicki Bellino….there was a table runner in it that my sister Susi and I immediately fell in love with. It was made using the Aunt Grace’s fabric from the Garden Party BOM I just finished a couple of months ago.  I knew I had to make this table runner…..it just stuck with me and that’s all I could think about. Vicki Bellino designed the Garden Party BOM and she also designed the next BOM I’m starting in June called ‘Vintage Rouge’. I had quite a bit of fabric left over from the Garden Party BOM so I decided to make one for my sister and one for me. I just finished the one for my sister today. I like how it turned out, the little dresden plate flowers in this runner are kind of small and time consuming. I think I’ll wait a few weeks before I start on  the one for me. I only had to buy 1/4 of a yard of fabric to make two of these runners….Not too bad! The flowers, leaves and vines were all hand appliqued, it would be pretty easy to sew them down with a machine, but I think that sometimes doesn’t look as good as the hand applique.

And here is a picture of the runner and my sister Susi who I made it for. She loved it. It made me happy to give it to her!

Happy Quilting, Kris

Retro Flower Quilt will be done this week!

Well, it’s true, the Retro Flower quilt for my daughter Lesley will be at her house this coming weekend. I just finished quilting it and have the binding on…just need to stitch it down now. This has taken me a couple of weeks to complete, I’ve done a little bit every day.The binding isn’t sewn on yet in this picture, it’s very colorful and made from 5 different fabrics. I’m anxious to get the hand stitching done on it.

A couple of close up pictures of the quilting, I feel like I did an okay job….I like the overall look of it, but I’ve got some minor little glitches. I’d say a good job for the first large quilt I’ve attempted to free motion quilt. I think I like the back side as well as the front!The second BOM from Primitive Gatherings…I am really having a wonderful time doing this quilt. I’m anxiously awaiting the June BOM! I love the wool, it’s so bright and colorful.

My hexagon flower quilt is growing! I try to sew a few on every day….I’m really liking it! This one I’m keeping for myself.

My birthday was Friday, I ended up working until  almost 9p.m. that day…..I was delivering bunches of flowers and Sherrie’s Berries to Moms for mother’s day. It was a stressful work week. I do love my job and am hoping it will calm down this coming week!

Off I go to get some binding sewn down!

Happy quilting! Kris

Free Motion Quilting is kinda fun!

My free motion skills are improving. I’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m having a great time practicing and learning as I go. I’ve decided that I will never be a FM quilter who uses stencils or follows a pattern. I’m just kind of the type of person who is going to ‘go with the flow’! It’s getting easier to just go with my instinct on what will work. I’m still not as neat as I’d like to be, but overall my quilts look pretty good, as long as you don’t look too closely. I hope with time, that will improve too.

I’m about a third done with Lesley’s Retro Flower quilt and I’m excited about how it looks, I think she’ll love it when it’s done.. This is what I’m doing in all of the flowers, I think I could do this in my sleep now!

This is the back of the quilt, I think it looks pretty good, and should look even better when it’s been washed a few times.I think Morris is just as bad as Wilber….they both like to lay on my quilts!

I’ve started sewing my hexie flowers together! I’m excited to get far enough along that I can start planning how I’m going to do the applique in the border of this one. It’s slow going doing all of that hand stitching, I try to sew a few together every morning before work and  also in the evenings when I come home from work.  So far I’m sewing 12 flowers in a row and we’ll have to see how big this will be when I put the white border on, I’d like this bigger than a wall hanging, but not huge either.

Happy Quilting! Kris

Vacation Time!

Well, I’ve been busy the last week and a half and I’ve been neglecting my blogging…..Had a very nice Easter, we had a house full for dinner after a very good church service. I’ve also worked some overtime so didn’t have lots of spare time this past week. The wonderful news is that this coming week is VACATION time! I’m planning on doing lots of sewing and then at the end of the week, we’re going to Kansas City to visit our daughter and her husband. I’m ready to see them and hopefully stop at a few quilt stores when we get there.

I’ve become obsessed with hexagons. I made an Aunt Grace’s BOM and I had to make about 8 hexagon flowers for it. By the time I’d finished the last one I was hooked, and thought it would be a good idea to make a quilt with them and use lots of my fabric scraps. I started making them in my spare time about 3 weeks ago, and evidently I must have lots of spare time because the total count so far is up to 100 hexagon flowers. I’m cutting out hexagons from card stock and you can print them from many different websites on line. I’m using 1” hexagons and have pretty big plans for this quilt, I’d like to  do some hand applique in the borders of this one, ideas for this one are swirling around in my head, by the time I’ve made enough hexagons, I should know more what I’m going to be doing to finish this quilt.

I‘m also a huge Nebraska Husker fan and I found this fabric and thought this is just perfect for me. Don’t know if I’ll actually use the Husker ‘flower’ in my quilt, but I just might not be able to resist! GO BIG RED! I like the other ‘word’ flower too, it will be in the quilt for sure. 

I’ve finished my Patriots in Petticoats BOM and I’m glad to see the end of that one. It’s about 100x100 when finished so it’s going to my friend Kelly Kreft in Colorado to be quilted. It’s just too big for me on my domestic machine to try and free motion quilt. I think I’m so tired of this one I don’t even like it anymore. Hopefully when it’s quilted I’ll fall in love again!Since we’re going to KC to visit my daughter, I was going to make a good try at getting her Retro Flower quilt done. I ran out of white fabric and only need one more 6” strip for the top border. I can’t find any within an hour distance of here. I meant to stop in Norton at the quilt store and get some on Friday, but completely forgot until I was almost home. Every other quilt shop is out of the true white. I guess that means it will have to wait another week or so.

My big project now is the Primitive Garden BOM from Primitive Gatherings. I got the first one in the mail about 10 days ago and I just started working on it this weekend. My goal is to get all the pieces on the block before we head to KC, so I can do the hand work (blanket stitching) while on the road. It doesn’t look like much yet, but hopefully I’ll have it done by the end of the week. I think this one will be lots of fun.

Happy quilting,

Kris

P.S. I’ve also become addicted to Pinterest the last couple of weeks! I’ve gotten too many new quilt ideas….Not  enough time in my  lifetime to do them all!

My busy weekend

Well, I’ve had a very busy weekend. I worked overtime on Saturday……then came home and made a table runner and started working on a  Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. I really need to get my house clean, but I don’t find too much enjoyment in that anymore….I’d rather be quilting! I’m scheduled off on Wednesday, so hopefully I’ll get the house somewhat clean and get some more sewing done.

The table runner I made is a bridal shower gift, it’s in the colors of the bride’s kitchen. Turquoise, terra cotta and brown. I’m real happy with the free motion quilting and just basically how it turned out. I used the Retro Flower design that I made my daughter Lesley’s quilt from. I wanted to get some practice in on the free motion quilting and try and figure out what to for Lesley’s quilt. I was very happy with the design I chose…..so this is probably what I’ll end up doing for the much larger Retro Flower Quilt. These pictures just don’t do the table runner justice, it looks much better in real life….

I’ve decided to get busy and make hexagons using the English paper piecing method…..I figured I would call it my FedEx Quilt since I’ve started working on it in the mornings when we have late freight. I’ve decided it’s a bit addictive, I want to take my hexagons with me every where I go, you never know when you might have a spare minute to get one sewn together!

I have big plans for this Grandmother’s flower garden quilt….I’d like to incorporate some hand applique designs in the border. I’m only in the planning stages now, but I’m sure by the time I’ve gotten hundreds more of these made, I’ll know just what I want to do! I’m excited about this because it’s another scrap quilt. I’m using 1” hexagons for the flowers. I found a website on line that you can print different size hexagons for the paper piecing, it works great. You have to cut them out, but it’s well worth it, I just print them on card stock, I get enough hexagons to make two flowers on one sheet of paper. I’ll keep my blog updated with my hexagon flower progress!

Well, it’s time to bring this weekend to a close…..it’s bedtime and it’s off to work tomorrow morning.

Happy quilting! Kris