Tiny Town Quilt

Here's my Tiny Town quilt with my granddaughter, Chloe hanging out on it. I quilted trees on it but I don't think that did anything for the quilt. But as they say, the best quilts are finished quilts. Haha! 

Stand with Ukraine & Cut, Sew, Press, Quilt

I made this sunflower wallhanging today from a paper-pieced pattern. The money from the purchase of the pattern goes to a Ukrainian charity. I made it to hang on my front door although I have yet to figure out exactly what I want to do to get it to hang.

It was a fun attempt at paper piecing. I used nothing but scraps to make it so besides the donation to a charity, that was rewarding.

I also finished some wall hangings for my sewing room. They are from a Lori Holt pattern and I mostly used Lori Holt's fabrics. 

I still need to sew some buttons on and embroider the needle on the sewing machine wall hanging. That sounds like something to do while watching television.

Winter Quilt Show and Finished Projects

I attended the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend last week and I bought quite a bit of cool stuff. I'm not that fond of wearing t-shirts but I absolutely had to have this one! I picked up some longarm supplies as well. A quilt show is usually the best place to get stuff discounted for my longarm. It's nice to see some of the shows get back to pre-pandemic practices. 

I finished the travel tote bag I started last month. It turned out nice and I like the size of it. Even though I do love the fabrics I chose it doesn't match any of my luggage. So I think it looks funny on top of my teal suitcase. Maybe I will have to make another one to match the luggage or buy new luggage  - haha!

I also completed the largest of the Lori Holt zipper pouches. The panel came with quite a few of these on it so there's quite a few more to go. I just can't decide how I want to quilt them so I'm not getting as far as I wish when it comes to getting them done. 

Valentine Hearts Mug Rugs

I purchased a PDF pattern from Etsy for these cute little mug rugs. I couldn't wait to get started on them the moment I printed out the instructions. Pink is one of my favorite colors so I loved playing with the fabrics.

These were so very easy and fun. I didn't do anything fancy to the hearts or letters, they're just raw-edge appliqué.  

Last year I made many table toppers. So many that I got tired of binding them. This is one of three that I had left to bind. It's rewarding to call another unfinished object completed. 

Speaking of UFOs...

My tiny town quilt is on the longarm. I can't decide how to quilt it so it might be sitting here for a while.

Positive Energy 100 Block QAL

I decided to join a quilt along and I got really excited about it. Then I discovered it happened last year. That explains why the price for the QAL was discounted. Even though it was from a year ago, the files and videos are all still available and the social media posts from the project tell me that many people are still finished their projects. So I'm all in.

After my first week I finished the first 10 blocks. 

And as of today, I finished the second group of 10 blocks. They were pretty easy so far but as I look ahead I see some applique and some bias trimmed blocks to come. I think I will set this project aside for the rest of the weekend and work on something else so I don't burn myself out.

I have a quilt I could longarm now but I'm struggling to pick a quilting design so I think I will let it sit. Instead, I decided to make up this Lori Holt block from her pattern Cut, Press, Sew, Quilt.

This was so quick to put together that I cut out the fabrics to make the Cut and Press blocks. It will be a lot of fun to finish all 4 of the blocks.

Porch Rails Quilt

I purchased a 3-yard fabric bundle a few years back that included a pattern from the Fabric Cafe. Their patterns are made for 3 one-yard cuts of fabrics. During the fall I cut the fabrics and started to piece the quilt top to make a porch rails quilt. I hated how the first block looked. So I took one of the fabrics out and replaced it with a Moda Grunge from my stash. I liked it a lot more.

It didn't take long to finish the quilt top. I don't know why, but I never took the time to quilt it. It was cute so I don't know why I just let it sit. 

Last week I purchased some backing and finally longarmed it. I added another different fabric to make the binding and it's now complete. 

Table Toppers and Upcoming Projects

When every new year comes around I like to try to complete old projects before starting anything new. So far I finished a large applique quilt and some charity quilts that were started last year. 

Now I have some table toppers on my radar to complete. I made them back in spring and quilted them over the summer. And then they sat.

I dug out the binding fabrics and got them done today. It felt good to get them finished.

I will post them to my Etsy page by the end of the week and get them packed away. There's no better feeling than when an old project gets finished.  With these completed, I broke down and started some new things.

This will be a travel tote bag when it's done:

This is Lori Holt's Zippy Bag panel. I can't wait to make these:

And this is a new quilt project:

I do have a few more old projects to complete yet but I felt like I could reward myself by starting some new ones. Haha!

Quilts for Kids Truck Panel Quilts

I was part of a Wednesday afternoon quilt group at the local senior center prior to the pandemic. Once the center closed down, I wasn't sure I would go back. Even though I loved the company of quilting friends, I did not enjoy hauling my heavy machine, quilting tools and projects each week. Our group met from noon until 3 each week and sometimes it felt like I had just got my machine set up when I had to turn around and put everything away. When the center opened back up, I did not return.

My friend Sue always asked if I was coming back as she has been going for the last year. I finally decided to return. In order to make things easier on myself, the first week back I brought my flea market flower quilt and hand stitched the binding on. No machine necessary! It was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

This week I really wanted to finish some Quilt for Kids projects. I just took them off the longarmer and all that needed to be done was the binding. I ended up hauling my machine. It was a lot to lug but I was happy to get the projects finished. 

I had a bunch of truck themed fabrics that had a panel print. I used my go-to pattern to make quilt tops that incorporated the panels. It was fun to work in such bright cheery colors. 

Even though it wasn't a big deal to pack up my sewing machine and take it to the senior center, I'm still going to try to leave the machine at home.