Where are you Spring?

I’ve been patiently waiting for Spring, and it just never seems to get here…..They are forecasting a little more snow this week too….I’m ready for 70 degree weather.

I’ve gotten my wool quilt center done, I’m not too happy with myself. I cut a couple of the blocks too small and I’ve been playing ‘catch-up’ with the rest of the quilt. I hate it when things like this happen. The directions weren’t the greatest, but ultimately it’s my fault, because I know better. I hope my quilter Kelly won’t be too upset with me when she gets this quilt in the mail! (Just a heads up Kelly!)

And here it is with one of the borders laying by it. I got the bottom border in the mail last week, so only two more BOMs and I’ll have all of this quilt done. I’ve enjoyed working on this quilt and would love to do another wool quilt soon.

Happy Happy Happy Quilting

Kris

p.s…..you might realize with the happy happy happy that I am a Duck Dynasty fan!

Quilting, Cleaning house and canning meat!

What a way to spend the weekend…Sounds like lots of work to me! I haven’t finished the whole house, but most of it looks okay now. I got rid of most of the dust bunnies anyway….

I sewed for about an hour this morning and got part of my Primitive Garden wool quilt put together. The directions are a bit confusing in places, but I’m figuring it out. I don’t think a beginner could do this quilt well at all. It’s been fun, I really enjoy all of the hand work, and I love the dyed wools….some of the colors are so vibrant.

I’ve also been canning meat today, I try to get some done at least once a year, and the last time I did any was 2 years ago. It’s a good feeling to have them lined up on the shelves in the basement…Yummy! 

Canned meat isn’t the prettiest to look at, but boy does it taste good. This picture was taken right out of the canner, so it looks a bit cloudy, but after it sits for an hour or so it looks much better. I’ve got 7 pints and 7 quarts for today’s work. I have this coming Wednesday off and I’m going to try and can another batch then too.

Happy Quilting…

Kris

almost vacation time! Can’t wait….

Hello, I will be on vacation in 4 weeks and we are going to St. Joe to see our daughter and her husband. I’m so excited to see her because she’s 4 months pregnant and they just bought a house that is completely gutted that they are renovating. I’m anxious to see both the ‘baby bump’ and how far they’ve come on the house. And of course, I’ll get a lot of sewing done too!

This is the first side border of my wool quilt, I’ve got the bottom third to do yet, the middle part is my own design…I didn’t  like the pattern so I thought I’d just change it up a bit….I think I like what I’ve done.

These miniature stars are the cornerstones in the sashing for the wool quilt. They are tiny and will finish at 2 inches. I don’t like the way the pattern has you put them together, I’m having a hard time making the points even. I just might do it the old fashioned way that I’m used to …..I have to make 22 of these. They are so small it’s hard to even hold them while you’re working on them.

And here is my Amish with a Twist BOM for last month, I just purchased this month’s BOM and will have it done this coming week.

And the top is finished for my daughter Karmon’s flannel throw…now I just need to quilt it…..that won’t take too long once I get started on it.

I haven’t started the Vintage Tin embroidery, but I’m getting pretty excited to get going on that one…I love doing hand work!

Have a great week everyone, and Happy Quilting!

Kris

‘In The Beginning’ Baby Quilt

I just finished this baby quilt for my daughter Lesley, who is expecting her first child in August. When I saw this fabric it was love at first sight.  I loved the bright colors and the theme of the fabric which is Genesis and the things God made in the first 7 days. I bought the center panel and the cloth book panel and cut the book into 6 1/2” blocks, and then filled in with a 9 patch block and a star block. The red and yellow fabric were not companion prints, but filled in very nicely.

I bought the new Crab-Apple Hill Studio’s pattern, Vintage Tin….of course lots of embroidery which I love. Don’t know when I’ll get started on this, but I doubt it will take me too long to get it done.

This is the 10th BOM from Primitive Gathering’s Primitive Garden pattern. I just got the next one in the mail, so I guess I’m a bit behind in this BOM….but I should be caught up in another week or so. This flower pot design will only take a day or two to finish. Then only 4 more months, which are all 4 borders and I will be done. I’m sure I’ll be sending this to my friend and machine quilter Kelly Kreft in Colorado. There is no way I want to tackle this on my sewing machine. It makes me nervous even thinking about trying to free motion quilt this myself.

Hopefully it won’t be such a huge winter storm that they are predicting for Wednesday and Thursday. We need the moisture, I just don’t want to be driving during the blizzard.

Have a great week, and Happy Quilting!

Kris

long time….no post!

Well, the only excuse I have is that I’ve lost my camera….I’m thinking I may have left it at my mom’s house at Christmas. We didn’t have Christmas with her until the middle of January, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it must be in her basement….anyway I sure hope it is. I’m going there on Saturday, so we may be back to somewhat regular posts soon! I found our old camera and am using it this time. The pictures turned out okay for the most part.

This is a fun one I’ve just started. It’s 3” finished basket block. Another scrappy quilt, and I’m really starting to like the looks of them. Bonnie Hunter is inspiring me! I subscribe to her blog and I love her use of scraps. I’ve got about 20 of these made so far, and if I make a very large quilt with these, then I’ve only just begun…..The other picture below shows how small these really are with the shot of my hand in the picture.

I used my Christmas present (EQ7) to size these basket blocks the way I wanted them. I was very proud of myself that I actually figured it out!

These are more Bonnie Hunter inspired 3” finished spool blocks. I am using these as my leader/enders when I’m sewing. What fun! I’ve got almost 100 of these made so far. I’m wondering about putting them in the border for my mini basket quilt…What do you think?

I’ve been working on a flannel throw for my daughter Karmon. She’s been bugging me about making her one for quite some time, and I figured I’d better get started. I only have to add the two side borders and it will be ready to quilt. If you look at this picture too long you just might get vertigo! (due to using my old camera!) I’m using leftover flannel from my mom, so didn’t have to buy a thing to get this one done! My kind of quilt! I think you would call it: Wonky Squares…..They are 10 1/2” unfinished blocks. This is a very fast and easy quilt, it would be great for beginners, no matching seams or points to accidentally chop off.

The baby quilt for my next grandchild. I bought this fabric almost a year ago and loved it as soon as I saw it, I bought the center panel and then the cloth book to go with it and cut the book up and used them as blocks around the quilt. The book is basically the beginning of  Genesis and what God made in the first 7 days. I added the 9 patch and star blocks also.

The bottom half…Love the colors and how the animals are drawn.

I’m going to add another red border and then it will be completely ready to quilt. I’m using a companion print for the back and the yellow color for the binding. So even if I haven’t been faithfully blogging, I’ve been faithfully sewing…..

Have a great day!

Happy Quilting, Kris

Vacation equals a week of sewing!

I’ve been on vacation this past week, and didn’t do much but sew. I did take my mom to Kearney one day, but other than that I’ve been being pretty lazy.

We are having Christmas at my mom’s house this afternoon. Quite a few of my family members won’t be able to attend. It’s not the same when everyone isn’t with us. I’ll miss everyone who won’t be there.

I made three table runners for the auction we have….

Bear Claws that look like fall leaves made out of batiks….

Embroidered Snowmen red work…..my favorite!

Canning jars….this was fast and easy.

This is a project that I embroidered a couple of years ago and finally decided to finish it and give to my sister Susi for her birthday. She loves the color red and she appreciates anything I make for her….This is a pattern from CrabApple Hill and is a finished size of 30”x30”. I had all the fabric on hand for all of the above projects, so it was an inexpensive week of sewing. I did order some Weeks overdyed embroidery floss from Joanns. They had it on sale and I love that stuff! It’s very pretty and I love how it’s variegated, much prettier than plain embroidery floss. The main problem is that if it gets wet it will bleed. I had another one of the Winter pattern that’s above almost completely done when I spilled some water on it. The red bled so bad I had to throw the whole thing away. That was very hard to do since it was almost done. I will have to be extremely careful the next time.

And my 9th Primitive Garden Wool BOM is completed! Woo hoo! Only 5 months left to go.

Have a great week everyone! I don’t have to go back to work until Wednesday! I think I might be ready to go back by then. Having 11 days off in a row is very nice.

Happy Quilting!

Kris

Finally! More sewing time…..

Well, it’s after Christmas and things have settled down a bit. I’m still very busy at work, but not quite as many hours. I’ve been hiding in my sewing room whenever I get the chance and I didn’t realize how much I missed my sewing machines! I’ve gotten the idea of making some table runners and I’ve gotten carried away as usual.

This is the one I’m working on now, it’s a bear paw that kind of looks like fall leaves….I’m making it out of batiks, I’m anxious to get these sewn together and see how they will look.

And my jar quilt table runner….this was very fast and easy. It was lots of fun too….someday I’m making a larger quilt with jars. I have plenty of fabric for it too!

As you can see, I quilted the word ‘Ball’ on the jar….

The ‘Amish with a Twist’ BOM I’m doing…..it doesn’t look so good now, but just picture this with black fabric….looking better already isn’t it?And here is my Primitive Garden BOM….I love doing this hand work, This one is almost done, about another 45 minutes and I’ll be ready for the next one.

I’m on vacation next week and three days of the week after that…Oh Happy Day…I am so ready to just stay home and do whatever I feel like doing.

Happy Quilting everyone!

Kris