Blue Saturday

I`ve been doing some work with my fabric scraps, focusing on blue this month (not light, light blues or green-blues, or dark/navy blues; just blue blues) with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Eight scrappy log cabins with black/white prints for contrast. Each of the blocks finish at 8.5 inches, so four will finish into a 16x16 inch block.  I have lots more blue so I may do four more of the 8.5’s so I can have three big blue ones. And then I will do a few of these with each color of the month.

Off to work on my Bright Birch Trees quilt for my grandson. That is the name of the pattern, but the quilt will be renamed as it will be in shades of grays, pale blues/greens, ecru, etc. At least the background will. The trees themselves will have a bit more color. I will have to see how it looks as construction begins....

Linking up (hopefully; the new software keeps throwing me for loops) to ScrapHappy Saturday at So Scrappy.

Finish-it-Up Friday - and TGIF

TGIF - in this case it has a dual meaning.  Not only Thank God It`s Friday, but also Thank God It’s Finished.

Being retired, my schedule does not include an outside-the-home job. However, I do have a very busy Etsy shop, plus it’s tax season (meaning I had to install new tax software AND update my iMac to the latest operating system, then update myriad other programs....), and endless errands, appointments, and - stitching and sewing. I try to schedule sewing time in every single day. But that does`t always happen.  Sound familiar?

Anyway, this is the quilt for my son Shane that I finished several days ago.  He wanted bold and graphic, fairly masculine colors.   The finished size is about 55x70 inches - a nice lap quilt. It is one of my goals for the 2015 Finish Along that I blogged about here.

The backing is scrappy.  I used some of the leftover fabrics, a yard of Katarina Roccella Spirodraft from her Indelible line (LOVE it!) and assorted other texty and coordinating bits. Honestly, I like the back as much as the front (if not more).    :-)

Among other projects, I am now working on a quilt for my DGS. Should have a progress report next week.

I’m linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and her Finish it Up Friday.

WIP Wednesday and Animal Welfare

Today is Wednesday, and I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.   I have several things going on at once, which is probably no surprise to any of you stitchy or crafty ladies. We all do it, right? So I won’t apologize for that. However, I only have pictures of one of them at the moment, so I will have to start doing better on that front.

I will have a finish to show you on Friday (never had the time to link up last Friday), so I have been busy.

This will be a mini-quilt, approx 22x27” made from a Marmalade charm pack from Bonnie and Camille. I`m doing a little QAL (quilt-along) with Heather Mulder Peterson, using her pattern Pretty in Pink (mini).

I also have lots of blue scrappy log cabin blocks to show, but that will come on Saturday for So Scrappy Saturday.  And I have finished cutting out the background blocks for my grandson Easton’s quilt, and will begin working on the trees that will go into that. Pictures next week.

Meantime, last Sunday at our family sew-in (or Sewarama, as my DH calls it), which we hold every Sunday in my studio, my cousin Kim and her DGD Trinity, we were all busy cutting and sewing.  Trini is 10 now, and wanted to work on the Koala Mittens and Joey Pouches for  the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Australia.  While their recent posts have said they have enough Koala mittens, Trini wanted to work on the joey pouches and the mittens, so how could we say no?  The made 3 joey pouches and 4 pairs of mittens.  I will be mailing those off to Australia this week.

And speaking of Animal Welfare, I am going to have to start banning the Supervisors (better known as our cats Alfalfa and Darla) from the studio if they don`t shape up.  Alfie seems to feel that part of his responsibilities include removing pins from the design wall. It has gotten so that I can`t use pins except high up where he can`t reach them.  

Alfalfa (Alfie), age 1.5

Both he and his sister Darla (below) enjoy the colorful pin heads, and will remove them from pin cushions if we leave those lying about. I know, I know, it’s dangerous!  Which I have told them. You can see just how concerned they both are. 

Darla, age 1.5  

I know what Alfie is thinking. Revenge. He will call a 4:00 a.m. “staff meeting” as payback.

2015 Finish Along, Quarter 1 Goals

This year I plan to focus more on my stitching (sewing, quilting and hand embroidery) than I have in past years. I just feel the need to hunker down and create.  Except for family, my other activities will take a back seat. In addition to creating new quilts/clothes, etc as needed for gifts, I am also going to focus on UFOs from previous years.

To help me organize myself and stick to some sort of schedule, I have joined Adrianne of On the Windy Side in her 2015 Finish Along.  I truly believe that declaring goals and being accountable for them online helps us take the steps that eventually lead to reaching those goals. At least it does for me.  :-)

So, these are my goals for Quarter One of 2015:

HST Quilt for Shane

 As you can see, the quilt top is already pieced. Actually, the backing is also pieced (it’s very scrappy) and the quilt is now basted and ready to quilt. I am thinking I will just quilt diagonal lines in some fashion and hopefully start it today or tomorrow. The goal is to have this one finished over the weekend. This quilt is for my son Shane (an adult) who paints with oil paints. The feature fabric is Paint Pallette from Draw Near by J. Wecker Frisch.  Shane  wanted geometric and bold/bright.

Birch Trees for Easton

My grandson Easton will turn 16 at the end of this month. Naturally, he is all about getting his driver’s license and other teenage things. But Easton is also a nature lover and a sweet, loving young man who appreciates family and special things. At Christmastime we sat down together and he was excited to pick out the pattern and colors for a quilt. I had narrowed choices down to about a dozen patterns and a dozen possible colorways, and these are the ones he chose. Very masculine and outdoorsy. And I had already bought the pattern (Bright Birch Trees by Amanda Jean Nyberg), so we were totally on the same page. The Kona Cottons I bought from Canton Village Quilt Works when they had their 25% off sale at year end. The backing will be that wonderful Carolyn Friedlander Etched Trees in charcoal from her Botanics line. I am excited to begin on this quilt as soon as I finish Shane`s.

Bruce’s Banjo Lap Quilt

My DH Bruce has been waiting patiently for me to make him a quilt. When I saw the above banjo fabric (Suzy Ultman, Jazz Between Friends for Robert Kaufmann), I knew it was the one. He loves bright colors and picked the Pow-Wow pattern by Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew, which I thought was a great choice to show off the fabric colors. The backing will be the plain blue and scraps of anything else left over.  :-)  I originally hoped to have this done by Valentine`s Day, but maybe end of February is more realistic. We shall see!

Crazy for Needlepoint

My final project/goal for the first quarter is to finish up this UFO from 2012.  I have two 8” squares left to embellish (bottom right) with crazy quilt embroidery. And actually, both of those remaining two squares are already started. Then I will square up my blocks and sew them together and to the vintage needlepoint flower centerpiece. After that (or maybe before that), I need to figure out how to stabilize that needlepoint piece to give it proper support.  It is relatively heavy for its size. Finally, I’ll back and bind it and add a hanging sleeve. But the interior construction will be key to the stability and overall appearance of the piece.

So there you have it. Three new quilts and one old UFO. I think it is do-able and a good mix of new and old. I would love to hear your thoughts, my friends. And I sure love looking at others’ goals, too. Thank you so much, Adrianne, for being our coordinator this year!

Here’s to a great 2015!!

Hugs,