Valentines Pillow Cover

I had 6 leftover blocks from a Valentines quilt I made a few years ago. I took three of the blocks and added 2-inch strips of white fabric between them and ended up with a 15" x 29" panel. I added batting and a piece of muslin underneath, pinned the layers together to prep it for free-motion quilting on my sewing machine.

One of the ladies from my church quilt group came over to quilt on my longarmer today. I thought it would be a good idea to work on a small project to keep her company so I quilted the pillow cover while she was here. I also had enough time to make the back of the pillow cover. I used some leftover red Valentine fabric for the binding and finished the project by the end of the afternoon.

I purchased a 28" x 14" pillow form which fit the pillow cover perfectly. I like the result. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the other three blocks. Maybe I should make a table runner to match.

Gypsy Wife WIP

I finished all the sections of the Gypsy Wife quilt last week and today I put them all together. I love how it worked out. I worked hard on precise piecing and the extra effort really paid off. All the sections fit together without any fuss.

I purchased a fat eighth bundle to use in making the quilt and there was not much left over when it was done. The strips within the blocks were low volume fabrics that were mostly from my stash - I only bought a few cuts of new stuff for that but I totally stayed within the bundle for the blocks. It was quite a challenge to make the colors work the way I wanted them to.

I am happy with the final result. It's going to be great fun to pick out the backing. I think I will use an ecru solid for the binding since the quilt does not need any more color elements.

So

This week was a brutal one. On Monday we got more than 6 inches of snow which was pretty to watch. Considering that it hasn't snowed much this winter, I think my husband was excited to use his new snow blower. I enjoyed watching out the windows. Schools were cancelled and I half-expected my grandkids to walk over to go sledding on the hill in my back yard. They stayed home and enjoyed cuddling with their mama.

We experienced the polar vortex on Wednesday and Thursday. The temperatures with wind chill hovered around -50 for those two awful days. I went outside last Sunday to get some groceries and attend a meeting at church and I did not take a single step outside again until Friday - a whole 5 days later. We went to the mall and did some serious walking just to get out of the house.

Since I was stuck indoors, I pretty much never left my sewing room. It was kind of nice to have no expectations except to make dinner at the end of the day. Even then, some nights Jeff cooked so I really enjoyed hunkering down in there.

I worked all week on the Gypsy wife. Even though there's a quilt along starting tomorrow, I couldn't help myself. I have many of the blocks done. I am really having fun with this quilt top. I took the time to map out my color arrangement and it is turning out as I hoped (so far). Waiting for the start of the quilt along was not in the cards.

I'm not making much progress on My Small World. The next block I have to make has lots of applique so I am putting off the inevitable for now.

Gypsy Wife Quilt Alongs

I decided to join in a quilt along that starts On February 2.  As soon as I decided to do the quilt along I instantly ordered the pattern book and a quilt bundle.

The quilt bundle is Alison Glass' kaleidoscope bundle and the fabrics are all wovens. My plan is to do the gypsy wife in a color palette moves across the quilt like a rainbow. Reds/pinks will be to the left and blues/purples to the right with oranges, golds, greens in between.

I will use my low volume fabrics for the strips that run through the quilt and between the blocks.

While prepping for this quilt along I happened to find another group doing the same pattern. That quilt along started on January 1 so I decided to start making blocks. In this second quilt along there are prizes given away by sponsors. How fun to have an added incentive to make this! I made the first block for the contest and I just love how it turned out. Maybe I will get lucky and win some nice prizes.

Legion Post Curtain

The American Legion Auxiliary ladies at the local legion post asked me to make a curtain for a divider window. The legion hall holds banquets for the general public and the ladies of the auxiliary offer catering services. Back in the kitchen where the window is it can get noisy and it would just be nice for the customers that are renting the hall to see a pretty curtain over a bunch of people in hair nets washing dishes.

So I went shopping for some home dec fabric. I found a nice 60% off sale and purchased 5 yards of fabric. It is pretty heavy but not too heavy that it won't drape nicely and it is machine washable. The auxiliary ladies only requests were that the curtains had to be on rings so they could slide easily and the rod had to be about 10 inches longer than the window so they could slide them out of the way.

I didn't like the large size of the grommets available for draperies at the fabric shop so I headed to Ikea. There I found some nice medium-sized rings with clips that pinched the fabric to hold the ring on. I didn't want the clips showing so I added a strip of fabric to the back of the curtains to hold the clips. Surprisingly, it took me less than an hour to cut and sew all the curtain panels.

Once they were finished my husband and I headed over to the post where he could install them. When we were at Ikea we also purchased the curtain rod to hold the curtains. The rod had a nice industrial feel that matched nicely with all the stainless ovens, stoves, freezers and refrigerators in the hall. We got to the hall and surprisingly, it took about an hour and a half to install the curtain rod and hang the curtains. That didn't matter, we were just happy they turned out so nicely. Hopefully they will add a nice bit of charm at the next catering event.

Floral Patchwork Quilt

I finished the binding on the floral patchwork quilt today. It is such a pretty little quilt. The backing is the same floral print as the border so the pretty flowers are everywhere.

I will hang on to this quilt in case I need a quick gift or donate it to church.

I also have to show off Jeff's work. He installed this beautiful barn door between my kitchen and laundry room. Now that the original door is gone from the laundry room, it's like an entire wall has opened up in there. So much more room. Jeff had to rip down some of the wallpaper in the laundry room to install the new trim around the doorway so I think I just got a good reason to remodel the laundry room - ha! Or at least redecorate it.

What's on the design board?

I'm working on a quilt called Treasured Friendship. The pattern can be found in the Summer 2018 issue of Quilts & More Magazine.

A fabric panel is used in the quilt with friendship stars. The panel has to be cut into 6 and a half inch squares and placed in the centers of the stars. I purposely chose to wait to cut the panel in pieces because they have to stay in the pattern that they were in before cutting. I figure if I put the entire quilt on the design board before putting the center squares in, I won't mess it up.

This is a very modern quilt top with a very modern panel. I like the color combination because it's not what I usually use. It's nice to get out of my comfort zone now and then. I'm hoping to do more art quilts this winter and this feels like a jump start.

Chloe's Ornament

My granddaughter made this ornament in art class and she gave it to me for Christmas. She was very excited to explain the technique she used to get the paint to adhere this way. Her excitement for her art is incredible. It's her favorite thing.

I was admiring the ornaments on the tree today partly because I know it won't be long before the tree comes down. The last day of the year always brings about some melancholy for me and this year is no different.

As I take stock in all of 2018, I am reminded how lucky I am. I went on 5 trips/vacations this year. I bought a longarmer this year. My husband stayed healthy this year. There were many years he wasn't. Two years ago he was discharged from an inpatient stay at 4 pm on new year's eve. This year had its terrible moments as well. My granddaughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and my daughter lost her job. Nothing ever comes easy for her. We try to help as much as possible and I am grateful that they live at the end of my block.

Usually I take some time to make some quilting goals for the new year but I haven't given it any thought. Maybe I will work on that next week...or next year - haha!