Wounded Warrior Quilts

I finished up a couple more quilts for the Wounded Warriors this month.  I really love taking these down to Ft. Leonard Wood a couple of times a year to honor some of these local heroes!!!

The Rustic Stars quilt above was cut out at the same time I was making the quilt for my husband's aunt around Thanksgiving!  She got her's for Christmas and I finally had enough time to stitch these blocks together to make this one for donation.

The blocks in this blue/white quilt were given to my daughter when she was making donation quilts as a Girl Scout years ago.  I did have to make just one more to get a nice even number, but the donator was kind enough to include a copy of the block directions, so she must have anticipated that we would need more.  For some reason, these blocks just never made it to the top of the pile...until now!

The blocks reminded me of airplane propellers, so this border/backing fabric seemed like the perfect thing to bring the whole quilt together. The logo is kind of reminiscent of the Air Force, but the hubby suspects they are drawn to model aircraft that were old army planes (before the Air Force became it's own military branch).  Huh, who knew?

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Design Wall 1/25/16

I am so excited to be working on this amazing project for display at Jackman's Fabrics!

This is the beginnings of "Country Haven," a gorgeous pattern found in Kim Diehl's book Simple Appeal.  I'm working it up in Andover's Little House on the Prairie fabrics and I think it's coming together beautifully!

Here's where I'm stopping tonight.  Tomorrow, I've got a morning guild meeting to attend, but I'm hoping that I'll have the center section's piecing completed by tomorrow night.  I'm anxious to begin the applique and I'm going to try using Kim's "invisible machine applique" technique for the first time!

I'm still a novice when it come to applique and I've decided to just follow the suggested directions for the next few patterns I attempt.  I figure that way I'll be exposed to several methods and eventually I can choose which techniques work best for me (or at least which I can accomplish with the least amount of stress, hehe).

 I'm open to suggestions...and would really love to know...what techniques work well for you?

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Baby Quilts!!!

We've been making baby quilts again!  Most of them are being donated to Soldier Babies, for young or lower enlisted families and single soldiers just to show them our support.  Often these families are far away from home and family and we just want to help welcome their little ones into the world!

Margie

Margie made this quilt, a sweet little scrappy, random charm quilt.  She also quilted it with criss-crossing diagonals on her sewing machine.

Kathy

Kathy made this quilt that will be perfect for a little boy or girl (though it will probably go to a boy since we are always in need of boy quilts).  She began with the circus panel and added the blue border and then the charm pieced outer border.  Kathy passed it on to me to quilt with just some wandering loops and bind with that red polka dot!

2 baby boy quilts

I made these last two after my daughter asked me to make a baby quilt for a friend of a friend who has invited her to stay with them while she is apartment hunting in D.C.  I just love a churn dash and once I finished the first one, I whipped up the second one out of the leftover fabrics that I already had out in my studio...why put it away...use it up!  The quilt on the left with the white background is headed to D.C. for the friend's baby and the one on the right will be donated for a Soldier Baby!

I used this striped backing for both quilts and at the bottom is the label for my daughter's friend's baby quilt.  At the top right, written on the stripe fabric is our typical labeling for baby donation quilts..."Welcome to the World, Little One!"


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Lunch Box Social

I've always loved Kim Diehl's designs and fabric coordination choices.  She's so great at that rich, scrappy, traditional look.  I think just about every quilt from her book Simple Appeal has been on my bucket list since I purchased it, so when I was offered the opportunity to make something up with the new Little House on the Prairie line of fabrics by Andover, I immediately thought they would be perfect for a Kim Diehl quilt!

Yep, perfect fabrics!  Bright colors mixed with muted muddy fabrics equals country traditional!

Quilted with a cotton thread following a panto called "Fancy," a design with a daisy and rooster motif.  Fun!  Ha!

Lunch Box Social

Pattern:  Lunch Box Social (from Simple Appeal)

Designer:  Kim Diehl

Size: 39 1/2 x 39 1/2"

Featured Fabric Line: Little House of the Prairie (Andover)
Panto:  Fancy (Dave hudson)
Quilting Thread:  Madeira Aero Quilt 

Disclosure: I received supplies to make this project from Jackman's Fabrics in Fairview Heights, IL.  The quilt will be hung as a shop sample in their store to promote sale of both the pattern and fabric lines.  In exchange, the quilt will be returned to me and becomes my property at the end of the promotion.  They did not require me to write a positive review of any of the products.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Scrappy Works in Progress

I guess since I tried to relax for the end of 2015 (once all of my deadlines were met and Christmas was celebrated), I'm making up for  time not spent in the sewing studio :)  Since it's a Scraptastic Tuesday, I thought I'd share what's going on here today!

Farmer's Wife Blocks #1-12

My first 12 blocks of Farmer's Wife remain on my design wall.  I've been kinda following the color scheme suggested by the photos in the book and using as many scraps from my Civil War prints scrap basket as I can.  No print repeats or FQs cut into, so far, but that will probably change eventually.  For now, I'll just keep making a block or two, here and there, until I get them finished.  This project has no deadline and I'm in no hurry to get it done.

Literally, just out from under the needle is this quilt top for a Wounded Warrior.  I cut a bunch of extra pieces when I was making Rustic Stars for my husband's aunt hoping that I would find time to whip up an extra quilt for charity.  While my daughter has been training on the longarm, I've been piecing away on this top.  I think I've decided on the blue/white/gold stripe for binding and now I've got to go pick up some fabric to back it with!

Lots of quilts in the queue for quilting (4 for Wounded Warriors and one of daughter's)...back to work...

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January & Q1 Goals

Q1 (Jan-Mar 2016) Finish Along Goals:

1. Crumb Along (Jo's Country Junction)
2. Strippy Spools (M*QC)
3. 4-Patch Revisited (Bonnie Hunter)
4. Spools (Bonnie Hunter)
5. Purple Flowers
6. Lunch Box Social (Kim Diehl)
7. Country Haven (Kim Diehl)
8. Buttermilk Basin BOM 2015
9. That 70s Quilt Re-Do
10. Rustic Stars (Wounded Warrior Quilt)

Buttermilk Basin BOM 2015

Strippy Spools

Country Haven

Lunch Box Social

Crumb Along

4-Patch Revisited

That 70s Quilt!

Rustic Stars - Wounded Warrior Quilt

Spools

Purple Flowers

January Goals:

1.  finish Purple Flowers - on the frame about halfway quilted.

2.  finish Lunch Box Social - just needs the binding tacked down now...should be finished tonight!

3.  finish Rustic Stars - working on star points and block assembly.

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2015 Quilt Year Summary

Just for fun (and my own accountability), here's a summary of the quilty (and a single crochet) goodness I created in 2015!  It's been a good year for getting some UFOs done as well as lots of new projects!  Check them out...

13 Quilts made just for me in 2015!

Women of the Bible

Ye Olde Schoolhouse (PWSC j4g1)

Bath House Blues (PWSC j4g2)

Lozenges

Labor Day Madness

Spooky Pinwheel Parade

Grand Illusion

Pinwheel

Ring Around The Hexies

Desert Sky

Visions of Nylabones - Baylee's Puppy Quilt

Treat Dreams - Suki's Dog Quilt

Elizabeth's Prairie Garden (PWSC j3g3)

7 Quilts made for display at Jackman's Fabrics in Fairview Heights, IL!

Carpenter's Star

Rising Sun

Sunflower Trio

Farm Girl Sampler

Farm Girl Fun

Trimming the Tree

Great Granny Squared

3 Gifted Quilts in 2015!

Rustic Stars

Dream Big & Compose Your Concerto

1 Crocheted Afghan finished in 2015!

Leaping Stripes (Crochet)

13 Charity Quilts finished in 2015!
(by myself and/or the Pedal Pushers of the STL Metro Area)

Charming Stars - donated to Wounded Warriors

Silent Auction Table Project

Well, that feels like a pretty productive year!  I'll shoot for a few more personal charity quilts next year (I only donated 2, myself, but I helped with piecing, quilting and binding several of the group projects).  I'd also like to knock a few more off of the ol' UFO list!

A Lovely Year of Finishes posts of 2015:
January Goal - Finish
February Goal - Finish
March Goal - Finish
April Goal - Finish
May Goal - Finish
June Goal - no finish
July Goal - Finish
August - no posts
September Goal - Finish
October Goal - Finish
November Goal - Finish
December - no posts

I'm sad to see A Lovely Year of Finishes coming to an end, but I still enjoy making monthly goals -- and meting the goals is even better!  I'll continue goal setting in 2016...motivation, man, motivation!

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Dream Big & Compose Your Concerto

I'm finally sharing my last quilt finished in 2015!  I've got a few more smaller projects to blog about, but I can finally set up my year in review photos after this post goes live and I can't wait to see some of the things I accomplished last year all in one place!

Dream Big & Compose Your Concerto was a very last minute quilt.  My husband's aunt was in Paducah and picked up a couple of charm packs that she thought would make a great quilt for one of her Christmas gifts.  I received the charms on Thanksgiving along with a request for a twin sized quilt for a little boy who likes music and "his letters."  Since it was so last minute, I decided to go with a simple split 4-patch (a pattern I wanted to try just to say I did once) and dug in my stash for as much of the border fabric as I could find.  I did end up running out and purchasing the remainder of the typewriter fabric that the shop had so I could use it for backing.  When I borrowed the music panto from my friend, Debbie, I had no idea that I would be making this quilt, but it worked out great!  Can you see the flip flopping treble and bass clefs?  So perfect!

Dream Big & Compose Your Concerto

Pattern:  Split 4-Patch

Size: 64 1/2 x 77 1/2" 

Featured Fabric Line: Concerto (Benartex)
Panto:  Music 

Quilting Thread:  Glide (Candy Apple)

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Great Granny Squared

It's been quite dreary here in Illinois, with all the rainy weather and flooding all around the St. Louis Metro area.  You can see how green and high the pond is looking from all the water.  It's at the overflow stage (but the overflow valve is doing it's job and emptying the excess back into the creek) so we've had no flooding issues here at home.

And since it's so dreary, I thought it might be a good time to show off some Downton Abbey prints (I always think of the English weather as a bit dreary - I know the Dutch weather often was)!  This is the Great Granny Quilt. a pattern by Lori Holt...

...and of course the cute not-so-little label that goes on the back.  In fact, the pattern for this label makes it the size of a FQ (18x22)!  It's pieces with leftovers from the quilt front and then there's lots of cute hand embroidery to label everything and make it absolutely adorable (you're gonna wanna enlarge it to see...so sweet)!

The Great Granny Quilt is all finished off with an English rose inspired pantograph and scrappy binding strips!  Love, love!!!

Great Granny Squared

Pattern:  Great Granny Quilt

Designer:  Lori Holt

Size: 72x85 1/2"

Featured Fabric Line: Downton Abbey (Andover)
Panto:  Rose Vine (Simple Quilting Stitches)
Quilting Thread:  Glide (Cool Grey)

Disclosure: I received supplies to make this project from Jackman's Fabrics in Fairview Heights, IL.  The quilt will be hung as a shop sample in their store to promote sale of both the pattern and fabric lines.  In exchange, the quilt will be returned to me and becomes my property at the end of the promotion.  They did not require me to write a positive review of any of the products.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Trimming the Tree

This was a fun one...Trimming the Tree!

In general, I'm not a modern quilter...far from it!  But...the gals at Jackman's wanted to create a quilt that would show off the prints in the Downton Abbey Christmas fabric line and asked me if I had any ideas.  I began flipping through some of the Christmasy pattern books that were on display and thought that this Amanda Murphy pattern would look great with the fabrics!

This quilted worked up pretty quickly and I did make a few changes to the original pattern:

• I did not piece 2 of the ornaments at all (instead, showing off the design of the fabrics)
• I only pieced the stripes of 2 ornaments (making the picture of Downton Abbey as the focus)
• I opted not to applique the words across the bottom border (again to show off the fabric)

Trimming the Tree

Pattern:  Trimming the Tree (from "Modern Holiday")

Designer:  Amanda Murphy 

Size: 52x74" (approx.)

Featured Fabric Line: Downton Abbey Christmas (Andover)
Panto:  Jessie's Swirls Simplified (Jessica Schick)
Quilting Thread:  Glide (Military Gold)

Disclosure: I received supplies to make this project from Jackman's Fabrics in Fairview Heights, IL.  The quilt will be hung as a shop sample in their store to promote sale of both the pattern and fabric lines.  In exchange, the quilt will be returned to me and becomes my property at the end of the promotion.  They did not require me to write a positive review of any of the products.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!