Finishes For 2011

First thing I finished for 2011 was a little mug rug.  See the date on the picture, didn't happen until February as I was busy trying to complete the quilt in the next picture.

The biggest finish I had was my king size quilt.  I made this longer and wider than I could quilt on my longarm quilting machine. 

Next were 4 little table toppers.  One I gave to my sister in law and one I kept for myself.  The other two went to friends.

I then make a rag quilt for our preschool classroom.  We use this outside to sit on so we can read books.

The jigsaw quilt went to my grandson's preschool teacher that retired.  

This little quilt was made from 1970's flannel.  It was scraps I had leftover after making pj's for myself.

Three table runners made for our quilt retreat.  I made up the simple pattern.  Fun to do!

Twenty coasters I made for a Breast Cancer Survior's dinner.

And last, but not least, the Advent Calendar I made for my grandson and granddaugher.

Not bad, but not near as many finishes as I did in 2010.  I finished many tops but didn't get them to the quilt stage.  So stay tune for tomorrow's post......

Slow

I know I have been doing other things in addition to sewing, but these quarter square triangles are going SLOW.   I know I've been slow at sewing them as I want to be sure that I don't have to redo any of them.  (I have had to redo about 3.)  At first I was pinning, then I gave up with that and have been winging it.

I also have been trimming off the dog ears as I go as I don't want to do them ALL at the end.  I have 60 totally ready to go. They are at the top of this picture. The pile next to the rotary cut still needs to be done.
 

 All of these are waiting to be matched up and sewn.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Soon

Soon all of my little halves of quarter square triangles will be little squares!  And this is what they will become.

I still have lots of halves to put together and I thought of making blocks as I get 4 done.  Then I realized I wanted to be sure there was lots of variety among the blocks.  So I'm sewing them together like step 1 and will wait until I get to step 6 to finish them up.

I'm really thinking it would be so cool to make a scrappy Ohio Star quilt.  This method is so easy.

300

I have 300 of my quarter square triangles sewn together and pressed.
The last 148 are sitting by my sewing machine and on my cutting table.

I really am a messy sewer.  I have fabric all over the sewing room as I'm trying to do many things at once.  I had the great idea to cut red strings as I was cutting my black and light prints.  Yesterday I was going through 5 inch squares that I already have cut, my bins of black, whites/lights, and reds, and my scrap bag of fabric to be cut.  I'm sure that's why it takes me so long to finish a quilt.  I jump all over, rather ADHD like.  Part of it, I know, is because I'm so excited and the other part is because I really want to catch up.  Does this ever happen to you?  Does your sewing room look like it's been ransacked by someone?  Heavens know you wouldn't do that to yourself on purpose!!!! 

Merry Christmas!

Random

My husband and I watched a movie last night so I worked on this flower and finished it!  It's so nice to have some hand work as I have a hard time just watching sometimes.  It really depends on the movie.

I also have 100 half units done for Part 1 of the Orca Bay Mystery Quilt.  Only 348 to go!  LOL

More

I have 25 more little halves cut out and sewn.  A total of 75.  Yeah!  I did get even more blacks and lights out and cut last night.  I want to have as much variety as possible in this scrap quilt.  Plus it's nice to get some of that old fabric out of the bins, cut up for use and ready to go.

I've been cutting extra 1.5 inch strips as I want to make a log cabin quilt next year.  It's one of those quilts that on my list of patterns I'd like to make.  I'll make them like I did my string blocks, one here and one there, whenever I'm at a lost as to what to do for 15 minutes.  And I'm going to make another string quilt too.  Those are so much fun to do.

Fast

I am surprised, in a good way, how fast the little pieces go together!  I have 50 of the little half units done!  Last night I took a minute and put a quarter square triangle together.  It went together as slick as can be.

The block measures 2.5 inches and will finish to a 2 inch block in the quilt.  I can hardly wait to see how this comes out.  I pressed some more fabrics last night to get some more variety to my blacks and lights.

Hope This Isn't A Sign

I went out today and bought the two rulers I needed to make the Orca Bay! Mystery quilt.  The Easy Angle ruler and the Companion Angle ruler to make my quarter square triangles.  I like that you use these rulers with the strips instead of cutting squares.  (Cutting squares is the method I have always used before. Or to quote Bonnie: "draw-and-sew-and-cut-and-press-and-draw-and-sew-and-cut-and-press.)  But considering how many I need to make, I decided to try it her way.  I love trying new techniques so why not?

The first 10 that I cut and sewed together, I sewed on the wrong edge.  I hope this isn't a sign!  The next 10 went just fine.  I'm chalking it up to the learning curve.  I didn't rip the first 10 apart.  I'm leaving them all together and they went into my "mistakes I have made" "one of a kind blocks" tub.  I've used those blocks to fuse onto gift bags and they make a cute decoration.

Now I only have 438 to go..... This step is going to take me a while.

Finishes

 This first pillow is a kit and pattern from Prairie Star Quilts,   I love working with wool felt.

So I decided to make this one for my Secret Santa at work.  Hope she likes it.

I also have 60 blue string blocks done for the Bonnie Hunts mystery quilt: Orca Bay.  Making lots of progress this week.  I love when that happens!

Not Much

Not much to tell.  I have 5 more of my little blue string blocks done.

Went Christmas shopping yesterday, didn't have much luck.  Not sure what I'm looking for, which makes it hard to find. :-)

Heading back to the string blocks.......

Busy Weekend

I'm sure all of your weekends are busy too, with Christmas just around the corner.  I have a few things to share with you.  First of all, I have 30 of my little blue string blocks done!  I need to make 72 of these, so I'm getting there.

Saturday was Quilt Day and I have to share with you the friendship quilt that Jeanine coordinated the group to make for Rachel.  Rachel is our friend who was out of her home all summer and fall due to flooding in this area.

Jeanine did a fabulous job of placing all the friendship blocks together and then quilting it.  Rachel wasn't able to go to our Quilt Retreat this past Fall, so it ended up a perfect time to have the group make blocks for her.

I've had startitis really bad this weekend.  I've started another Advent Calendar for the teacher I work with and  started a wool wall hanging for myself.  Plus I found my fabric I bought for a new tree skirt. (I haven't cut that one out, but I plan on it.)  Love this time of year!


P.S.  Jeanine has more pictures here.

Catch Up

You may or may not have heard, Bonnie Hunt at Quiltville started her 2011 Mystery Quilt, Orca Bay, on November 18.  This mystery quilt is based on her trip to Cordova, AK.  My husband and I also were in Alaska this summer so I really wanted to do this quilt.

Since I was in the middle of Thanksgiving preparations, I didn't start it with everyone else on the 18th..   This past weekend, I was able to start it. But I didn't start with step one, I started with step two, the 3.5 inch string blocks.

  Once these are done, I'll go back to step one and then follow the steps in order.  I think one of the reasons I was so ready to start this quilt was all the snow we received on Saturday, 6 inches to be exact.  Thought I would share this picture of the deer at the end of the lane.  It was a really beautiful snow, especially since I didn't have to get out into it.

Deer at Dusk

Finished!

I finished the Advent Calendar this morning.  It feels so good to have it done, but now I need to get to the Post Office on Monday and mail it out.  I am very happy with the numbers considering how much I stressed over them.

Pinned

I have all the squares pinned onto the backing.  Lots of measuring to be sure everything was lining up like I wanted.  Now for the sewing.  I'm worried about shifting....

Tonight I'll be off to pick up a dowel and some ribbon to use for hanging the calendar.