A blue Christmas Quilt Top

Look what new top I have to quilt *VBG*. I got this fabric years ago when I worked at Joann's. They came in some goofy snowman cookie jar. Problem was most of the jars were broken so we were "supposed to" mark them down an throw the fqs away. What a waste. One day my friend gave me a bunch of the fqs *SHHHHH* and I've always wanted to make her a quilt of them. Well last week I bit the bullet and started the blocks.I think I threw in 2 extra blue Christmas FQS. And like potato chips, you can't make just one and before you knew it I had 30 blocks made and a bunch of strips leftover I can mix with other blues for a scrappy binding



4 blocks for a blossom




Of course you can't waste the bonus hsts and I made a wall hanging for one of the doors in the house. and FINALLY all the fall ones have been replaced by winter/Christmas ones :)

More HST fun :)

As soon as I finish quilting my secret santa gifty to get ready for it's big trip across the pond, I'm going to quilt this cutie. It's all the hsts from cutting the corners on the pineapple blossom for the bf. Here's the top all laid out last night :)
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Going to be a regular heatwave today with a high of 47 so I'm off to load another quilt on the frame - gotta quilt while the quilting's good :)

Wicked Storms and Quilting

With all the lightening and high winds last night we had alot of flickering lights. Enough so that DH and I went and pulled the 2 generators out of the shed and made sure both would start if the power failed. My kitty, Nancy was a nervous wreck. DD's kitty, Cyd, came in only after DD and I went out to the covered patio to watch the storm while drinking our iced coffees.And Moose, well not bothers Moose except an empty food bowl.

Hubby was more amused by my antics of unplugging the Viking sewing machine and leaving my pc plugged if I was so afraid of power surges from lightening strikes. My answer, I have a laptop :P as a back up.



So DD asked me to make her friend a quilt for her friend's Sweet 16 next month. Sure sweetie between 7 Girl Scout quilts, 2 baby quilts and your prom and graduation and the guild 25th anniversary luncheon let me jump right on that for you ...grrrrr.And Mark thought teenaged boys were bad. Well I had the black and white jelly rolls and as a background I ordered this lovely batik for the quilt. I think I have 10 done and need another 32. Problem is there's more black than white in the jelly rolls. and I made a bk/w/r quilt or at least the blocks last year and wiped my stash out. But I'm still looking, I did find 2 fabrics last night. I bet there's more somewhre *wink* But where are the blocks???? In the meantime I started another Pineapple Blossom ala Bonnie.It is a striking color combo. Now to find more fabric and the other blocks.





And it bothered me till I went and found the blocks. We did this on Cyber Quilters last year with Marge Gordon of Delaware Quilts so I pieced all the blocks into a top yesterday in case I run out of time with the Pineapple Blossoms, I have a backup. I'm seriously considering loading it on the frame for quilting even before I finish these blocks. It's always nice to have a quilt for an emergency gift. I can think of a half dozen friends who would love to get this quilt.

So remember last week when the man I love told me I needed a quilt for the next day and we "thought" I need it for tomorrow night??? And I said I still loved him? It turns out that quilt was for a party we didn't go to last Sat. and I still need another one by the end of the month. A toddler sized one but I'm debating if I should kill him today or wait until we go to The NJ State Quilt Show tomorrow.

Quilt Finish and Kitties

This is Cliff. He was our first outdoor kitty. He was a matted mess when he first arrived. He is such a sweety but very skitish. Doesn't like to be inside AT ALL. He will let me brush him, cheeck him for fleas and ticks- put frontline on him. Rolls over to scratch his belly. All around sweety. But just don't bring him inside. I never saw a cat cat climb curtains before I brought him inside.
In the summer he around alot, now in the winter he comes in the morning and around dusk to be fed unless it's warm then he sleeps on one of our benches. He and Cyd roam the neighborhood together and pick on Nancy.








This is Nancy...our neewest outside kitty. A small dainty version of Cyd. Cyd at 8 lbs is pretty dainty also but this cat seems to be quite a bit younger. She has the most instense green eyes. (Pic is taken through the screen as not to scare her of DS's lap)








Finally, It's all done. I had originally had this one row bigger but something happened while quilting it and the machine actually ate a hole through the front. There was no saving it. I tried for 30 minutes taking the machine apart on the frame. Off the frame- it was jammed good. I finally cut it out and spent an hour with tweezera and a small brush getting it all out of the "work" of the machine. So I was mad enough to chop a whole row off. But it's still a good size for me to cuddle in my chair and read with.








With the extra strips I made this binding. I love it !!!

We have a flimsy :)

I finally finished the last of the 30's pineapple blossoms last night.
I pieced the top together this morning. It will be the second one coming to the frame after the one I have on now. But of course it's for me so I'll wait. The one on the frame is a CHristmas present for the little girl next door. Then I'm piecing another one and putting blocks together for another top. That will be next.. Not a Christmas present but I want to finish it asap. With any luck I'll have 3 done by New Years .

The quilt top I'm piecing is very simular to what Leah made on
Dec 1st. Only I'm using up more of those 2 1/2" squares. Like 24 blocks of 25 squares alternating them with 10 1/2" squares of ORANGE *gasp* my least favorite color in the world. But it's for my sister and ORANGE is her fav color and I found a few yards of it so - I decided to get it out of here. DD in her infinate wisdom said that I should have used that design for the Girl Scout quilts using the girl's fav color as the alternating blocks as all those little squares are so cool to look at *sigh*. Now she tells me after I have 150 of 300 blocks made of pinwheels.What to do, what to do....That will wait till after the holidays. As my main goal is to get these quilts finished and then decide on what I should do . Plus I still have to make 80 more 9 patch blocks for Bonnie's mystery next week.
Going to be a busy weekend. Cyd has a vet appointment in the morning. Hubby's being installed as the Grand Master of the Masonic lodge tomorrow afternoon and there's a big party going on all afternoon starting at 2. Then the snow storm and if the weather cooperates, we'll have dd's family bday party Sunday night. If not I plan on sewing or at least quilting Sunday night. There's always Scrappy Mountains Magesties to finish hand quilting. Another 5 hours or so and then I can bind it :)

Question for my blogger friends

SO here's my question and I'll leave it till tomorrow to figure out. I made this for a secret santa gift. I love it as a table topper but it would be just as nice as a wall hanging, so the question is....do I put a hanging sleeve on it as I do the binding? Or leave it alone???

I'm off to actually sew something today and make 2 labels one for this pineapple, and one for the monster :)





I didn't spend much time actually sewing yesterday , well except for finishing the monster's binding and the hand quilting on the Christmas pineapple. Well I guess I got more done than I thought *VBG* But I did actually cut alot of squares for backings, 2" strips for rag rugs and 2 1/2" strips for something ala Bonnie in the future.

Sat Sewing

I've been working on making 21 blocks of those pinwheels I showed a few weeks back- yep I'm going to cheat and get these quilt blocks done. It's been making me crazy and I'm finishing the first of 10 colors tonight :) . I also managed to finish 2 of the pineapple blocks in the 30's fabrics making 5 total and 4 more to go. We're going to see at 6 how big it is and maybe just add borders but most likely the 9 will be the way to go- that would be 72" square.

I've managed to catch some kind of bug :( so not really feeling like sewing, especially since Moose is taking over whatever chair I want to sit in, computer chair, sewing chair or even my recliner. But I will push on to finish the last of the 4 blocks to finish the color and start cutting parts for the next one.

I've also been working on the bag of scraps that Toni, the Quilting Pirate sent yippee! Those little 16 patches are great leader/enders and since I'm making pinwheels and not depression blocks I have extra hsts for pinwheels so I guess I know what my next quilt flimsy will be.....lol

Tea water's boiling, have a great night

Tah Dah

I FINALLYfinshed my top for my sil's bday next year! I did an extra row of sashing that needs to come off but I can forget about it till after the holidays. Snoopy dancing in NJ that's for sure. I really like the pattern and though not my first choice of colors, these strips from connecting threads were fun to work with and the colors kinda grew on my. Now I have a unopened pack and a bunch of leftovers from the other 7.

It was a glorious day for most of the day- I do believe we got to the high 60's so I took the Christmas pineapple and sat outside on the deck, hand quilting it. I got about half of it done and will work on it this weekend.






So as I was doing the tons of dishes this morning, I looked out my kitchen window to see......





I'm thinking she'd rather catch her own dinner :D

Not getting the right stuff finished :(

I did sew the Quilt along blocks together this morning. :) Yesterday I saw 15 SB Sue blocks embroidered in pale colors that would go perfectly with these 30's repros. Do you think I can find them today to put in a container with the quilt along blocks?? Of course not :(

Haha !!! I found them *wink* I 'll figure something out to use these as centers of some blocks






So since the 30's stuff was out of it's box I finished another pineapple that was started.





I still need to sew together the bonus triangles into something. I might do a Depression Block this time *VBG*. We shall see. But alas I need to clean this mess up for tonight. When I get back from donating plasma, I have baking to do and basting of the Christmas Pineapple from yesterday. And of course I can't find my bonus hsts wall hanging to put borders on it. And Leah aka Wonder girl is done with her quilt AND quilting her baby quilt from the bonus hsts...Leah you rock!!!


I wish all my blogger friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. I know I have alot to be thankful for this year.

Helping Katie Bust some stash ;)

My guild buddy, Katie, is making one of Bonnie's patterns in all Christmas strips! And she was kind enough to give about 20 2 1/2" strips to make a wall hanging/ table topper for a Secret Santa gift.So since I didn't have any Christmas fabric and she had lots, I'm helping her bust her stash - I need to have this all quilted and bound and packaged ready to mail a week from next Monday :O . I plan on basting it tomorrow and the bonus flying geese wall hanging from my other pineapple blossom quilt ( which still needs 3 more blocks made do to some MAJOR boo boos I made yesterday :(. Hopefully that top will be completed tomorrow. Or Thursday morning at the latest.

Any how, I plan on hand quilting this wall hanging while the men watch the boring football games on Thursday. I'm charging the 'ol ipod and will be good to go.

I haven't done much of anything the last few days as I've had a major migraine. Want to know a secret?? If you forget to pick up the medications last week and don't take them for 5 days- some of them cause migraines when missed!! Hopefully after 2 days the dr said it should go away but I should sleep as much as possible- cool huh! She said sleep in a dark quiet room- wonder what hotel I should check into-lol.

This weekend I will dye the fabric I promised my winners as it's been a wash of a week. First thing tomorrow I plan on sewing my 2 quilt along blocks together I cut out this morning before I went to Katie's to pick up a couple more strips. OMG! She inheritated a bunch of early 70's fabrics from a friend who's sister died. We had so much fun going through the boxes and boxes of "stuff". I mean the muslin was so "nasty" for a lack of better word- I don't like sewing with muslin now- that stuff was rough to the touch- so many panels and pillows- remember the front and back printed sew together and stuff??? She had Strawberry Shortcake and friends, Holly Hobby ( I loved her as a girl reading the little House on the Prarie books) Smurf and Smurfette- we laughed and laughed. If I am to die, hubby's calling Katie too!!! At least she'll get a juki and grace frame out of the deal-lol.
But it's so sad all those blocks and things that never got finished.

I wonder if Leah, the wonder girl finished her quilt ( I bet she has).

Bonus HSTS = Flying Geese

I want to be Leah when I grow up *VBG*
That girl is so focused it gives me a headache to think about it. The other day she got her connecting threads order of fqs and she has cut all the strips, pieced the blocks- pieced the blocks into a top and basted the whole quilt already *gasp*! I guess that makes me a slacker-lol. And she also trimmed all her hsts and started sewing them together also. Which made me trim my hsts that I had up until this point( and my back is letting me know about it) and then I started playing. This is what I came up with- flying geese. I really like it and will start sewing my hsts together as a leader ender while I finish the last 7 blocks Monday. I've been working on adding sashing to my blocks- that's it!!! She didn't do sashing!! I'm not such a slacker afterall - makes me feel better-lol.

But I'm going to a holiday event with hubby tonight and need to clear up the table for the kiddies to be able to eat dinner tonight.

They're calling for the first snow tonight!! Flurries but still the white stuff- Christmas shopping yesterday and snow tonight! Yikes!!!!

Still Stashbusting :)

I've been working on the hsts and more pineapple blossoms :)
If I get done what I cut out tomorrow, I'll have only 7 more blocks to make then I get to worry about borders. I so love these Jelly Roll thingies from Connecting Threads. Look: I've already made one from the strips hubby ordered me :).
Not sure if I should just keeping more for a throw or just keep it as a wallhanging saving the rest for a quilt...hhhhmmmmmm.

I missed Leah's birthday :( We should all go wish here a belated Happy Birthday :)
She does great scrappy quilts too.
She, Paula, from CoffeeTime Quilts and Meloney are all testing a mystery for New Years Eve. I'm shopping stash to see what I need. The designer they are testing for always has the nicest, beginner friendly designs. So if you belong to any of the groups Ann Smith belongs to, you know what I mean. If you don't you need to join a group and join in the fun.

Tonight we'll draw a name for a prize for my 100th post and I'll email for the address if I don't have it already.

On the accident front, Allstate is "supposed" to be issuing hubby a check this afternoon for the car. Then I want it off my property pronto. Kinda like what they did to me with the tow yard ;)
Now to worry about medical bills.....once I see how much they are, I'll get back to Traveler's for the bodily injury offer they made. But I'm so glad both of the mosters are ok. Any extra $ wil be a bonus for them.....

Iron's beeping again time to press more pineapple corners

Jelly Rolls and Pineapple Blossoms

Ok so I don't have a blossom yet but I did 4 blocks today to see how they would work in Bonnie's pattern. Oh my goodness I'm in love and just added a bunch of jelly rolls to my Christmas list. Hope Santa doesn't mind *VBG*

I managed to get 20 more cathedral windows prepped for this weekend. All that ironing
sigh....

So now I get to clean up all my sewing mess before I leave in the morning so hubby doesn't put something away ( read that where he "thinks" it goes). I kinda like to know where my stuff is. I got the rulers in the mail to make the string 8 pointed stars on Quiltville. For some reason I thought I had the easy eight ruler but either hubby put it away ( see above-lol) or I never did have it.

Oh and my frame is finally coming tonight- isn't that the way it always works? When I'm not able to play and have been waiting for 3 weeks ...sigh. But I'm looking for something I have a bunch of besides muslin ( I need that for the cathedral windows) to start getting ready for weaving. I'm so excited :) kinda like when Mary Ellen gave me Liberated Quilting when she was moving and didn't want alot of her books anymore. Oh and yesterday I was telling Leah about the discout for yardage orders on kona cottens from Hancocks of P and I saw the Gwen Martson designed a liberated log cabin pattern for Kauffman fabrics that is on Hancock's site.....

I've had quite a few visitors in the last week....thanks for stopping by I promise to look around more of the newer blogs next week when I get back. But some like sewbaby I can't comment on their blogs :(

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Ok I worked some more and made another 4 blocks and added sashing and cornerstones :) and we now have a blossom. But alas now when I'm a roll of strip piecing them I really must clean up and pack. Dad wants to leave at 7am *gasp* good luck waking ds up at that time on the weekend *snicker -snicker*