First May Finish!

I completed my Jelly Roll Race. Got the binding all finished, everything!

It's hanging on the banister, waiting for me to find it a home. Up close, I don't especially like the prints, but when I'm downstairs, looking up at it? I like it.

Linking to Quilt Matters
Thanks,
Lin

January Retrospective

What have I accomplished in January? This is a lot of *why* I wanted to blog in the first place. To hold myself accountable, and to actually see what I've done.
So here goes:
I got the top done for the Jelly Roll Race, 

the Christmas quilt,

made the mug rugs from Superior University,

started machine quilting Mom's quilt from the 60's,

worked on piecing for my Celtic Solstice quilt,

and started a blog (!!).

Pretty good for two weeks, eh? I've only been blogging for two weeks, so I've documented what I've done in that time. I actually started on many of these before that two weeks, but I have managed to accomplish more than I suspected. Hooray!

I have a couple new link ups on my side bar: Sew Many Ways (where I was able to learn a lot about blogging), Lit and Laundry,  and Sew Darn Crafty. Special thanks to Karen at So Many Ways for her kindness in creating tutes on blogging.

Lin

Jelly Roll Race

I've been a productive little bunny today. It is really, really nasty out. Roaring winds, forecast of 3-8" snow. So what better thing to do than sew! 

I put borders on the Jelly Roll Race. I had bought a package of fat eighths of the same fabic, thinking I could do something with it for borders. There were only 9 fabrics, at 9" x 21". A Fat Quarter is a quarter yard of fabric, but instead of being cut at 44" x 9", it is cut 18" x 22". Makes it more usable. By the same token, a Fat Eighth is 1/8 yard, but instead of being cut 4.5" x 44", it is 9 x 21.

So anyway, I cut the fat eighths into 4.5" strips and sewed them together to make a nice wide strippy border. I think it needs a darker border too. What do you think? Please post a comment if you have an opinion. Maybe I'm just pretending there are people out there reading this. I will have to look for something to finish it off. But it's essentially finished.

It is bright, isn't it?? This design wall is working out great, by the way. I bought it at the Grand Rapids AQS quilt show in August. It's CherylAnn's Design Wall. It is portable, so I can take it down when we have to use this room. 

Maybe I should record what kins of sewing machine I have? I have a Baby Lock Elegante. I bought it maybe 5 years ago, and really enjoy using it. It has embroidery capabilities too. This summer I purchased a HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen sit-down long arm quilter. I was able to get a lot of things finally quilted on that, and have great fun using it. I love free machine quilting on it. Not so much just doing straight lines, not as creative. 

I kept a magazine article on using Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets as a recycled batting substitute. I like the idea of using a sheet for the laundry when we're camping that has detergent and fabric softener all in one. So why not save them and re-use them? 

I haven't been able to get my printers to work since before we went to Florida. Very frustrating. I need to call someone now. I did leave a message for the guy at the library,to return my call. I have tried everything I have found on the Kodak sites, computer sites, etc. Nothing is working for me. I'm very grumbly at it.

Christmas is coming!

I got the top for the Christmas quilt finished tonight. Put on the borders, cut the binding. I want to back it with a wintery print. Not explicitly Christmas tho. That has to be a purchase. A lot of this quilt has been from stash. It sorta feels like the quilt is for free that way.

Now I don't have identical fabrics together. Much better. Bob helped me to check that I have good spacing between the repeated fabrics. I'm pleased with this one. I was pretty liberal in my interpretations of "red" and "green." Some of the prints just have red or green in them. But I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow I want to work on the Jelly Roll Race and get that to the point where I can layer it and get it ready for quilting too. I use the ping pong table for spray basting, and it's a pain to get it out and set up, so I want to baste several quits at the same time. I have another one I need to put borders on, then it will be to this point too.

By the way, I promise to never post anything about a quilt or other gift before I give it to the person. So if it's posted, you know it's not for you. heh heh 

Getting a Start on Christmas 1/22/2014

I started on a Christmas quilt for our bed while we were in Florida. Here it is :

This will end up big enough for our Queen size bed. Obviously, I will be moving the squares around so I don't have two identical fabrics next to each other. I made 36 squares, so I have a lot to choose from.

I made this from my stash, 2 winter charm square collections (5" squares), and some new bought fabric, for the stripes you see. This is a variation of a Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt.

I WON! 1/21/2014

I got an email while we were in Florida that I won a drawing I entered. Something exciting. They would be sending me a package. This is what I got when I picked up three weeks worth of mail today:

I also got 2 packages of Superior University from Superior Threads. Each month they send a package of new threads to try out and things to try with them. I'm excited. I was also supposed to get a Junior University package to play with crafts with the grand daughters. But I don't see this package. I'll have to check into this.

Here is a picture of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt I put together while we were away. It needs borders on it. I love precut quilt fabrics. A Jelly Roll is a roll of 20-40 fabrics, all cut 2 1/2" wide and width of fabric  (WOF) long. The rolls that have 40 fabrics obviously make a bigger quilt, so I think they're more fun.

This jelly roll is filled with bright. busy fabrics. It wouldn't be my choice to put these all together like this, but it's nice knowing that they all go together. I like the precuts, because they are usually all from one fabric line, and made to work together.

This is the package of Fat Quarter cuts my husband got me for Christmas:

This will make a marvelous quilt for the bed in the RV. I think almost all RVs are designed with earth colors (another word for dirt??), so these will go perfectly. I need to decide what pattern to use. I have been perusing patterns.

I noticed I made a mistake in the date in yesterday's posting. I can't see how to edit it.

First Post 1/20/2014

I am starting this blog to journal the quilts I make, and other crafts I am involved with, and just other stuff that happens. I may babble on about most anything, but it will mostly be quilts.

We just came home from Florida where they have much warmer weather than we do in Michigan winters. I loved the days we got to bask in the sun. But some nights got down to 39 degrees, so a little chilly. We came home to this:

I really preferred the sunshine.

We stayed in a campground near Ft Myers where there was a very active quilting group. I had a great time with them. They meet twice a week from 10 to 4, so I was able to get a lot done there. In addition, I sewed many evenings in our RV. I got a Jelly Roll RAce top almost done (need borders still), pieced a Hidden Nine Patch variation, worked on Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt.--I used Inklingo for that, for my first time. I really like the method, but find I must be a more accurate cutter to be able to take advantage of the accuracy built into the Inklingo.--I have many more ideas flitting thru my head. I need to make a list of what I want to accomplish for the year.

That's one of the things I hope this blog does for me. Help me stay focused.