Second and Third

Finishes, that is. The first was the Relay Raffle Quilt. Glad to have that one done. I hope to get the tickets printed this week so we can start selling them.

I realized on Tuesday morning that I am invited to a baby shower for a young woman who works at the daycare at work tomorrow. I realized I had this top all ready to be quilted so I picked up some flannel for the back on the way home from work and quickly got it washed and dried. Got things laid out and basted, quilted and had the binding ready for hand-sewing at craft night that evening! So here is a picture of finish number 3

and here is a close-up of some of the quilting. I have so much fun making those little flowers!

It was a busy week at work especially with the need to get next week's work done early so I can head to my quilt retreat! I realized this morning that I really need to get busy on a plan for projects to work on at the retreat. I have thrown some things together but not totally satisfied with things so far. I will do some more planning tomorrow.

This morning I got one of my shop hop quilts basted and ready for quilting so that might get quilted over the weekend. Maybe it will be finish #4! It feels really good to be finishing up some UFOs!

First Finish of Firteen ('13)

Here it is!

I love how it turned out! These quilts are very fun to make and I will be making more once a few other projects are finished! This type of quilt really adds fuel to the question some husbands ask - "So you just cut up fabric so you can sew it back together?" - because that is really all I did. Cut up one piece of fabric into little triangles and then sew them back together! I now look at fabrics in a different way wondering how they would work for one of these quilts.

I finished the binding on this one on Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I finally got the label on the quilt I made for one of my crafting ladies so I could bring it over for the big reveal. Nothing like leaving it until the last moment. I will hopefully get a post done with all the pictures later today.

Yesterday I did another last minute project. This one is for the the round robin group I am in with my sister and niece and other friends. I posted pictures of our last reveal in November and we were supposed to have our beginning block for the next one done by the end of January. Mine is appliqued so I had my work cut out for me (literally). Here is the finished block...

The idea came from a wall hanging I saw in a quilt shop on a long ago shop hop. I managed to get some of the fabrics and it was one of those 'someday' projects. I saw the pile of fabric when I was trying to decide on my block and thought this was a great opportunity to do something about it. This should be a fun whimsical quilt once all the other folks add some borders. 

My next project is my Relay for Life Raffle Quilt. I have it all cut out and a good start on sewing the blocks together so hopefully the top will be done in the next week. When that top is together I need to add some borders to my niece's block for the round robin.

Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop 2011

It has been a busy week around here. Didn't spend much time in the house though. Monday I had a number of errands to do but I spent a little time out in the berry garden first. Tuesday I spent the whole day outside working and then it was craft night.


My niece, Katie arrived in time for craft night and in the morning we headed out bright and early to start our shop hop road trip. We made it to 17 stores before closing time at 8 pm and then drove a couple of hours back home. Yesterday we headed out again to be at our first shop at 9 am when they opened and made it to 20 stores before closing time. Thank God for GPS to help us find all the shops without too much trouble.


We made a few purchases on our travels. We each bought a couple of paper piecing patterns from one shop. They are from MH Quilt Designs. We also bought some fat quarters. But if you want to make it to around 20 stores in a day you can't dawdle!


We were still frustrated by some of the blocks we got from the various stores. Not sure what some of the store owners are thinking when they design them!


We saw several quilts we thought were pretty cool. One was an awesome applique quilt but I held back from buying the pattern since it is all hand work and I have so many hand projects waiting for completion. Though I am thinking I will order it because it is just too hard to resist!


Another quilt we saw is called Geese Atop Your Cabin at Gee-Gee's Quilt Shop in Yelm. Katie and I both saw it when we used the restroom at the store! When we got out to the car I asked Katie if she had seen it and she had so she pulled out her graph paper and colored pencils and drew a block so we wouldn't forget it. Today we decided to make one or two blocks to try a couple of color combinations. I sewed and she pressed and trimmed and here is what we came up with:

As you can see in the last picture the triangles are just folded squares that are caught in the seams. I am pretty sure there will be several of these quilts in my future. Probably the first will be using up some of my 1.5" strips and using either black or white for the centers or triangles. After that will probably be a black and white quilt with various bright colored triangles and centers.

Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop 2010

I have been working this last week on my blocks from the shop hop. I have most of them finished,

just three more that have more hand applique to go. Several of the above blocks will receive some embellishment after the quilting process (it is much easier to quilt before you add yo-yos). If you would like to see the individual blocks there are here.

As you can see there are 21 blocks so far and with the three more waiting for some hand applique I will have 24. We actually went to about 30 shops but several blocks got tossed because they were just plain ugly! I am not sure what the shop owners were thinking! I will use my leftover fabrics to make at least 6 more blocks probably to make a nice sized quilt. I hope to get that quilt finished this summer.

Today I am picking up my niece, Katie, for another road trip. This time over to my sister's in Idaho so the 4 of us (Karla -my sister- and her two daughters, Katie and Brita, and me) can get the wedding quilt top put together. We hope to get the top done tomorrow and Friday because on Friday my oldest daughter and my two grandkids and their dog will be arriving so little sewing will happen! Then on Saturday my second daughter and her fiance will arrive for the day bringing my sister's second son. It should be quite the party! We will then only be missing my husband, my sister's oldest son and my son, though they have been invited!.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Western Washington finally has summer! It went from being in the 50s last week up into the 90s yesterday. Luckily my house stays pretty cool though with the windows closed the sewing room can be kind of stuffy. In spite of that I got the rest of my WIMM Round Robin blocks finished so I can bring them with me next week when I head to my sister's to make the wedding quilt. I can't show pictures of these because this is a secret round robin with the reveal later this fall probably.

After those blocks were done I grabbed the red/black/white top that I made from the leftovers of my granddaughter's quilt and added some borders. I decided to use a fluffier poly batting and just tie the quilt and it is so soft and fluffy. It will be a great baby quilt.


I made up three little broken dishes blocks from leftover triangles and got those put away and today I am going to make shop hop blocks.

Working on it

Here is a picture of the big girl quilt on the sewing machine being quilted. This was taken yesterday.
I finished the quilting and got the binding on by 1 pm and figured I could get the hand-sewing done last evening. Well, that didn't quite happen.

You see, I went outside to take advantage of our unusual sunshine and first cleaned up my husband's roofing mess and then used the 'walk-behind' mower to take care of the inner yard. About that time my husband got home and we loaded up the trailer with the cans full of roofing materials and took them to the dump. When we got home I did some mowing and then decided to roto-till the areas of the berry garden that aren't covered with serious weeds. When that was done I had to water my hydrangeas, rhodies and lilacs along with my tomatoes. My body was done with outside work then but when I got in I saw the strawberries and knew I needed to get some cleaned for strawberry shortcake snack. Then I was finally able to get in the shower. It was so nice to be clean!

I did get about 1/3 of the binding hand sewn last night and I plan to work on it while I have my coffee in a few minutes but then I need to make chex party mix and some cookies for my little boy and also for my niece, Katie, and I on our Quilt Shop Hop road trip tomorrow and Friday.

2 of 9

Another finished quilt! This is my 2008 Western Washington Shop Hop Quilt. I quilted between the blocks and then got creative in each block. It isn't great machine quilting but this was a good one to try some new things. There are pictures of some of the individual blocks and their quilting here.

Meanwhile, I finished the second coat on the trim on the front of the garage yesterday and did the touch-up. Today I did a coat on the trim on the back and I am thinking I am done. I might feel more ambitious tomorrow morning again to do the second coat on the back but I wouldn't count on it if I were you!

Almost two more

I finished the quilting on the shop hop quilt and basted and quilted the baby quilt so I just need to tie off threads and do the hand sewing on the bindings and I will have two more finished. Tomorrow I will work on my Quilt Block Exchange blocks for September so they can go in the mail on Monday!

Forward into the past?

I was so pleased with getting this year's shop hop blocks done and made into a top that I decided to finish up last year's blocks and maybe get them into a top this summer also. So yesterday and this morning I got to work on them. I got 5 made yesterday and finished off one at craft night that I had started last year (just needed some yo-yo mice and now that I have the yo-yo makers that went quite smoothly). This morning I got three more blocks done and once I finish the applique and English paper piecing on two more I will have 20 blocks done and I can look into putting them together. I have ideas for the sashing but haven't made any decisions yet. That will probably be something I take along tomorrow to my daughter's to work on. You can see all of the blocks here.

Along with those I will bring supplies to work on the various swap quilts that I need to finish and get in the mail. I just need the label on the DQS4 quilt and it can go in the mail and I am handsewing the binding on my FSQS-Summer quilt but it might need a bit more quilting. Then I just need to write on the label and that is ready to go. I am taking the quilts and addresses with me so I can get them in the mail from Pullman. I have ideas for my two July Minis so if I don't hear from my partners before I leave they will just have to be happy with what I make!

Speaking of going to my daughter's - I am getting fairly excited. Just one more week until her due date so we should have that new grandbaby soon. Not only that, I get to spend 2 weeks with my grandson and I get to annoy my son for 2 weeks - that last might just be the best part! We will also be working on getting her basement a bit more organized so that it stays tidier. I will be bringing my camera and my laptop so I will be able to continue posting so keep checking for pix of my grandbabies!

Had to finish

I just couldn't stand it anymore. I had to get the top finished! I decided not to spend money on fabric for sashing when I had plenty of the coordinating fabrics to get it put together. I will probably come up with a border because I think it needs it but probably not this summer yet. But then, I didn't think I would get the blocks together this weekend either!

20 blocks plus some

I have all 20 of the shop hop blocks done. This one is what I made in place of the ugly mouse they wanted me to make. This little guy is from the Bugs in Jars quilt pattern I used for my grandson's quilt. He is much cuter that the one on the pattern! He still needs his little eye and whiskers but that will only take a few minutes.

This next one is another I made 'instead'. This spool was much better than the cat they shop planned for the block. But I have to think of my grandchildren! That cat would have given them nightmares! I am not sure what some of the shop owners are thinking when they design their blocks!



And this is Martha Washington's Star - get it? Martha WASHINGTON? This pattern and the spool are on my block a day calendar that I never remember to change! Let's just say the spool is on January 10 and that is the one that has been showing for say about 6 months!

So if you want to see all of the blocks I made for this year's quilt you can go here. You will also find the quilts I have put together from previous hops.


And last, but not least, is all the leftovers from all the blocks. This baby is about 15" X 18" and might just end up on the back of the shop hop quilt - or maybe it will be a doll quilt. Right now, I am leaning toward part of the back.

Three more done

Here are some more of my shop hop blocks. This first one is from Undercover Quilts in Seattle. I didn't go to the shop but Tanaya did. She was one of those who were planning to go with me on Sunday but couldn't, so she sent me the two blocks she got from shops close to home and work. I like this block and its one I would actually do again.




This second one is from The Quilting Cottage in Rochester WA. It was paper pieced and they actually gave you the patterns printed out for all four sections. It was a downloaded pattern from quilterscache.com which is a great resource for free patterns.







This block is from The Quilting Loft in Seattle and is the second one from Tanaya. It is really very simple to make and doesn't look like much on its own but I think it could make a great quilt, especially scrappy.

Doesn't seem like much has been accomplished since my last post but I have had lots going on around here. I am hoping to get the rest of the shop hop blocks done this weekend so I can set them aside to get some other things finished. Like a certain baby quilt. We have decided that we will head over there for the 4th and I will stay there until the 18th when I can hitch a ride with my sister back home. My darling son's comment to his sister was, "Have you done the math? She is going to be here for 2 weeks!" Gotta love the boy!

Another Block

I really got three blocks done yesterday and this morning, but I won't bore you with all of the pictures. This is from Gee-Gee's in Yelm. Katie and I bought the finishing kit for this one because the lady said there was enough fabric to finish two blocks in the packet. This was true of everything except the maroon fabric which was the reason we bought the kit. So I switched the maroon with the green dot so I had enough to complete the block. That meant I also had to switch the pink and light green. It worked. Now I can get my extra maroon squares to Katie and she can do it the way it was supposed to be done if she wants.

Shop Hop 2008

Here are three more of my shop hop blocks that I got on Thursday. I had all 8 finished by Saturday night. This first block is paper pieced and came from Harbor Quilts in Gig Harbor. They forgot to give information on what colors to put where so I had to just guess at what I sort of remembered from my stop at the store. The second block was from Heirloom Quilts in Poulsbo. It was supposed to have a black sailboat appliqued in the center block but I didn't like their sailboat so I paper pieced one I found on the net. I know, I used to say I didn't like paper piecing but after forcing myself to practice it I am starting to like it.

Finally, the third block is from Esther's Fabrics on Bainbridge Island. I am not totally satisfied with this block, it was supposed to have a 10 appliqued in the center block (in tan) to commemorate the 10th shop hop. That doesn't thrill me so I add a flower out of pink and tan.

Unfortunately, neither of my internet quilty friends could make it on Sunday for some shop hopping so I got in touch with Katie, my niece. She was up for the hop and we managed to hit 10 more stores before closing at 5 yesterday. I sorted them out last night in the order I will probably put them together. I usually start with the easiest and most straight forward patterns and move to paper-piecing and applique and then finish off with those blocks that they either didn't give you much to work with or that are just hideous or not worth the effort as they designed them to be done. There were two of the last ones. One has a very involved applique design of an ugly cat in a boat with bolts of fabric. The cat is just hideous! I will probably do some sort of boat on it but who knows! The other is supposed to have a Japanese temple and gate on it with added beads and coins. This would require fusing to do the applique which is not something I like the results from so again I will do something else. Finally one was supposed to be a paper pieced crazy quilt block. I don't believe in paper piecing a crazy quilt block - somehow, crazy and paper-piecing don't seem to go together. I will make a crazy quit block but it will use leftover pieces from all the other blocks!

This morning I plan to spend awhile outside and then I need to clean up the kitchen and do some desk work and then I will work on yesterday's blocks. While we were shop hopping I saw some really great fabric I could use for framing the blocks (a great dark brown and black print) and for sashing (a nice teal and tan print) so I might have to go do a little shopping this week.

Last night I got the quilting finished on my Doll Quilt Swap quiltlet. I think the binding is just going to be folded over from the back so I just need to trim that down and I can get it finished up soon. I also need to get a label on my mini quilt so it can get in the mail tomorrow maybe. Then, my last remaining outstanding swap item is the Four Seasons Quilt Swap and I will get started on the quilting once I finish the other hand work.

Empty Nest

So the shed looks great though when the grandkid comes over we will have to get a few new balls, etc. for him to play with but we can enjoy the tidiness until then.

I got my mini quilt and its near identical twin finished except for a label, I am also going to finish the bonus thrifty mini quilt I made so it is ready to go to whoever it will go to someday. I almost finished quilting it while my oil was getting changed today. I will finish that tonight and maybe get the binding on too and then I will finish the quilting on the doll quilt and start quilting the Four Seasons Swap Quilt. I am getting close to having all of these done!!! Then I really need to buckle down and get the baby quilt done.

I am slightly distracted because it is Western Washington Shop Hop time. I went to my local shop on Wednesday after we took our son out for his last dinner while living at home. Then yesterday after doing a bunch of weed-whacking I decided to go to the rest of the shops over here on the peninsula. So I did 7 more. I have two blocks made so far. The plan was to spend Sunday with a couple of internet quilty friends who live in the area going to some more shops but one has had to beg off due to a very bad shoulder - I hope she gets better. I still have one person to go with and I am sure we will have fun. Not sure how many shops we will be able to hit but we will do our best!

The husband and I were having our chicken noodle soup and strawberries out on the deck - yes, the weather has finally warmed up appropriately for the first day of summer - when we heard a bit of a ruckus next door. It wasn't the neighbors, it was two crows fussing at a BALD EAGLE on the roof. Yes, right there on the roof! I think it was scoping out the neighbors chickens that were running loose in the front yard. Wish I had time for a picture but the whole thing literally only lasted a few seconds. I was glad when we saw the chickens over there or I might have thought he/she was scoping out Miss Lucy!

It is official now, we are empty-nesters. The boy moved out yesterday, heading for his sister's house where he will live during his first year over at WSU. He will spend a few weeks getting the hang of caring for his little nephew so that when the baby comes he will be able to handle being in charge of the little guy. I will head out as soon as there is news of something happening but I might not get there before they need to head to the hospital and she wants me to be at the hospital when the baby comes so someone needs to stay with the boy!

I'm Baaaaaack!

I'm sure everyone thought (or maybe hoped!) I had just given up on the blog thing, but no, I was just out of town. Last Wednesday I drove to Sandpoint ID to my sister's home to spend some time with her family, my brother and his wife, and my daughter and grandson. We had a great time together playing with little Layden, playing pinochle, visiting and eating good food (my sister fed us a couple of family favorites). On Friday, Karla and I packed up the minivans to head to our quilt retreat on Lake Coeur d' Alene. Chelsea and Layden also started heading south and we met at JoAnn's to look for Halloween costume fabric. Chelsea got taffeta for $2 for Oli's vampire cape and muslin for her costume. You can see the cape here.

Karla and I had a good time at the quilt retreat. I worked on my 'Out of the Darkness' quilt but I ran into a snag when I discovered I was missing a few pieces of one of the green fabrics and I didn't have any extra fabric with me. So, instead of finishing that I moved on to put the borders on the two wall quilts and then worked on this year's shop hop blocks. Because the shop hop focus fabric is a Washington print, I may use that quilt as a gift for Jakob's host family in New Zealand (our 17-year-old is going to NZ as an exchange student for a year beginning in Jan/Feb 2008).

On the way home from the retreat yesterday I stopped at my daughter's house to drop off a rug (my sister had a new braided wool rug for my living room at her house so Chelsea and Oli got the old one) and a 60" X 80" folding plywood table topper to use for a work surface for quilting. I also dropped off some smaller pieces of batting from my sister that she can use for her Project Linus quilts. Layden was very pleased to help unload the batting and a few spools of thread - very cute!

I was very pleased last night when I got home that I found more of the missing green fabric in my stash since I am hoping to finish the OOTD quilt top while my sewing table is still fairly well cleaned off! Here is what I have done so far - maybe tomorrow I will have this part finished with the 10 blocks I did a year ago attached?

Shop Hop 2002

This UFO/WIP is my quilt top made from 2002 Shop Hop blocks. I also threw in a couple of panels that my sister gave me and a few extra blocks that I made.

This was my first shop hop. My nieces, Katie and Brita were along. Brita was too young (according to the rules) to get the official block but received a square of fabric at each shop. At one shop she was also given a fat quarter. That fat quarter was the beginning of her first quilt. At each of the rest of the shops we helped her look for fabrics that would go with it. She had her first queen size quilt done in a few short months! She was just 10. She has now done several more and has learned how to use the long arm at their local quilt shop and has finished several quilts for her mother and others.

I think we went to 16 shops that year. I have 27 blocks in the quilt besides the panels. I put the top together at a quilt retreat and I had it all laid out and then went to breakfast or lunch or something and when I came back I was sure I was short a couple of blocks so I made more and then when I looked at it again I had two too many! Shows what lack of sleep can do to you.

Shop Hop 2004

This is the quilt top I made from the blocks from the Western Washington Shop Hop 2004. It was the third year I went on the hop. This time there were four of us. My sister, Karla, her two daughters, Katie and Brita, and myself. We started on Wednesday evening by driving up to Lynden. We spent the night in the hotel with a windmill. Very cute place.

Thursday morning we got to the first shop about the time they opened and hit the other two shops in Lynden before heading toward Bellingham. We stayed focused (very key if you want to get to very many shops because most shops are just too inviting for fabric junkies). We did all the shops along the I-5 corridor down to Puyallup on Friday and spent the night at Katie's little house there.

The next morning we were up and at 'em again and went to all the shops between Puyallup and Vancouver (except the one in North Bonneville, which was just too far out of the way). That year there were two shops in the Olympia area and we barely made it from one to the other before closing time. That night we slept at my house.

Saturday we were a bit more leisurely and did the shops on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. In the end we made it to 61 of the 64 shops in the hop. We had such a fun time. Lots of great memories. The random elephants in Lynden, drawing postcards to send to my daughter who was in Pennsylvania that summer, Brita's problems hanging on to her shop hop passport. Probably one of my favorite memories was going to one shop where the lady was explaining their 'improvisaaaational' block. Karla said to her 'so that's an artsy-fartsy way of saying crazy quilt'. The lady just didn't know how to respond.

My quilt ended up with 4 improvisaaational blocks because 61 just doesn't come out even for laying out! Once again I ended up with a huge quilt. As always, the blocks just don't come out the same size from the directions you are given so I have found that bordering all the blocks with the same color and cutting them all to the same size works best. These I bordered with a rich purple Moda Marble. Then I used solid black on the bottom and right side to make the blocks look like they are floating on the gold. This quilt top is awaiting quilting and then it can get moved from the UFO/WIP list.

Hawaii

Since I took two off my UFO/WIP list yesterday I figured I would add two back on with these two quilt tops.


I think I will put these in the What Was I Thinking column. Or maybe the Caught Up In The Heat Of The Moment? Too Much Shop Hopping?

The story is that Katie and I were out Shop Hopping - probably in 2003. At one shop they had some quilts made from Hawaiian prints and they had charm packs. And for some reason I was inspired to buy a charm pack.

Anyway, I brought the charm pack home and whipped up these two quilt tops. Looking back, I don't think I have ever been terribly excited about them but they are what they are. I think that I will get an appropriate backing and get them machine quilted so that they are ready for whatever their fate.

Maybe I will even get that done this summer. But first I have a baby quilt to get put together before September and I ordered some fabric for that last night.

UFOs and WIPs

I have decided that I need to inventory my UFOs and WIPs. Not sure how I would define these or differentiate between the two titles but I know I have a lot! I think I will start with those that are closest to completion so that would be my 2003 Shop Hop Quilt. The Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop happens each June. My nieces Katie, Brita and I went on our first hopin 2002 and I have been each year since except last year. The 2007 Shop Hop is going on right now and I went to 6 shops yesterday and may or may not go to more today or later this weekend. The idea is that you get your 'passport' and at each shop you get it stamped and the shop gives you the pattern and three fabrics for you to use in their block. Some shops have finishing kits available for their blocks also. Each block is supposed to end up as an 8 1/2" block (this doesn't always happen due to pattern errors or quilter error, however). Anyway, Katie and I went to 39 shops in 2003 but I only used 35 for the top and there is one that will be the label on the back. The other three blocks must have been deemed not worth making either because they were ugly or the directions were too sketchy! The 'box' block is waiting for me to find a certain button that will turn it into a Jack in the Box. The button is navy with a smiley face and was in my mom's button can when I was a kid. It is somewhere in my sewing room, but where, I don't know!

Anyway, I got this back from my good friend, Deb, in Montana, who quilted it on her long arm, on Tuesday, and now I am working on finishing up the hand stitching on the binding while watching TV in the evenings and when that is done I will work on the label. So as you can see, this UFO/WIP is very close to completion!

Stay tuned for more UFO/WIPs as the days go by. This one is only 4 years in the limbo that is my sewing room. I have some that have been lost for up to 30 years or more!