Last Finish of 2011

The boy had a friend over yesterday afternoon. They played so nicely together that I was able to finish quilting the Arrowheads block quilt and get the binding sewn to the front. This morning I finished the last bit of hand sewing the binding to the back. So it's done!

No fancy quilting on this one. I just quilted in the ditch between each block then around each "arrow" part in the blocks. It was good practice for me to stitch in the ditch with Hattie. It isn't easy to stay in the ditch when you aren't using a walking foot. I did pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Finished Size: 51.5" by 43"
All fabric used was from stash and even the batting was leftover from a previous project. The little bit of cat fabric I had left from the top has been cut up and added to my stash of 4" by 6" rectangles to be used in a charity quilt. Ahhhh!

UFO Bust Report

The Arrowhead quilt top is done and it is basted.

I've quilted in the ditch around each block but now can't decide how to quilt the rest. I don't want to spend too much time quilting it, but I want it to look nice and hold the layers together well. I'll probably end up doing a bit more ditch quilting within each block and maybe something decorative in the center four patches.

Check out this cute backing fabric I found in my stash.

This was a donation from my mom to my charity backing stash. It's perfect for this quilt!

Hop over to Susan's to see what the other Little Green Quilters have been up to lately.

I thought it would be appropriate to include in this post my UFO list for 2012. I found it very helpful to keep track this year so I plan to continue.

1. Arrowhead block quilt
2. Noodle Surprise quilt
3. Robbie Joy Ecklow class quilt
4. Bird Panel
5. Yellow brick road quilt
6. Flannel squares charity quilt
7. Modern Monday Sampler quilt
8. Oh My Stars! quilt
9. Utensil Fabric inspired art quilt

Some of these fall more under the category of "works in progress" or "quilts I'm planning to make," but I think having just one list will work better for me than having three lists.

Happy New Year to all! I will definitely post again on Monday for Modern Monday but maybe not over the weekend. It depends on how much progress I make on quilting the Arrowheads quilt. The husband has gone skiing for the weekend so there is no way to predict how much sewing time I will get.

Arrowhead Blocks Completed

I'm trying to reduce my 2012 UFO List by finishing things before 2012. I started this one in July in a guild class. I enjoyed the class and learning the technique, but making 30 of these blocks almost got the better of me.

All the blocks are finally completed! I doubt that it will be quilted and bound before 2012, but I hope it will be my first finish for 2012. If you are curious for details about this block and the book it is from, I blogged about it in July. Here is the direct link to that post.

Mystery Block Quilt of Valor

I finished the second Quilt of Valor using the mystery blocks from my guild's October retreat.

I had planned to quilt the center with all over feathers. I did a few practice ones and found something that worked well, but it was very time consuming. As I was basting this together I decided that I really couldn't afford to spend that kind of time on this project. So I just meandered all over the center instead. This meant that I was able to quilt it in about 2.5 hours.

Finished size: 58" by 70"
Blocks were made by San Luis Valley Quilt Guild October 2011 Retreat Attendees
Center quilted with Signature thread in Sand Dollar color; border quilted with Cherry

On to the next project!

Modern Monday Quilt Along

I just love this block!

The inspiration is Santa's belt.

Go over to visit Caroll and see if she had time to make her block last week. Then pop over to Jenifer's to see what we will be making this week.

A Finish

The first Quilt of Valor I showed you on Tuesday is finished.

I refrained myself from quilting it to death.

The details:

Finished Size: 60" by 70.5"
Fabrics: Two Valor Sampler sets of 2 1/2" strips from Connecting Threads, yardage of one of the red prints from the Valor Sampler for the outer border and backing, and Navy Kona solid for the inner border and binding.
Thread: Signature cotton in Sapphire color for the quilting.
Block pattern: Idea from this Missouri Quilt Company video

My plan for today is to get the second Quilt of Valor from Tuesday's post basted and the quilting started. I'm going to try to quilt all over free form feathers on it. I need to practice first to see if I can figure out how to do these. If so, that will be the quilting pattern I use. If not, I'll have to figure out what plan B is.

Happy Holidays everyone! I'll be back on Monday with my Modern Monday block. Click on the link to see the block for this week. I've already made mine and I love it!

Work in Progress

The first Quilt of Valor I showed you yesterday is now quilted. Here's a sneak peak.

Now I'm off to make binding and sew it on!

Quilts of Valor

Over the weekend I was able to finish the tops of both of the Quilts of Valor I'm working on. This first one just needed borders.

The next one was just a pile of blocks when I started. These are the mystery blocks from my guild retreat in October.

I used the same red fabric for the outer borders on each of these. I will also use this red fabric for the backs of both quilts. I may even have enough of the red to bind both quilts! I bought 9 yards from Connecting Threads. It was one of the fabrics used in the top quilt which was made with two 2 1/2" strip bundles from Connecting Threads.

The top quilt is already basted. I hope to start quilting it today.

Modern Monday Quilt Along

Last weeks block was a nine patch.

Go over to visit Caroll and see her nine patch. Then pop over to Jenifer's to see what we will be making this week.

Frost

Yesterday morning was one of those fogging, frosty winter mornings where everything is covered in frost. It looks magical! I took a few pictures but it was also really cold (like negative numbers cold) so I didn't stay out very long.

No time to chat this morning! I've got to get sewing!

Grades Turned In!

I turned in final grades for my classes yesterday. And today my husband and boy are spending the night at a friend's house and going skiing tomorrow. I'm going to sew, sew, sew! Yay! Hopefully I'll have lots to show you next week. I've already been sewing some this afternoon and finished up a top. It just needed borders.

Today was my December guild meeting. Check out this awesome Halloween quilt one of our members brought for show and tell.

She did the embroidery by hand.

We also did our gift exchange. I got some chocolate, a water bottle and a book.

I actually almost purchased the book on two separate occasions because I love to make bags. So I was really excited to finally get it!

Finals Week Sewing

Not much sewing going on this week because it is Finals Week at ASC. I did take a break from grading this afternoon to try out an idea. As I was making pillowcases a few weeks ago I got to thinking that the pillowcase pattern I was using could be altered to make a nice gift bag.

It worked out pretty well.

Next time I will make cut the top accent strip wider. I cut these at 6.5" and it was a little difficult to roll up the main fabric for the second seam joining them. I think 8.5" or 9" would work better.

Goldie did a funny thing today.

It has been cold here lately. She has not wanted to go outside. She has been a bit stir crazy lately (read bad). It was sunny today and got up to 35 degrees this afternoon, so I put her out. About 30 minutes after I put her out the doorbell rang. It was one of my son's friends on her way home from the bus stop. Goldie saw her walking by, got her attention, then ran crying to our front door. The little girl felt sorry for her and rang our doorbell so I would let Goldie in. How pathetic is that? (Or pretty smart) Goldie was good and scarce for the rest of the afternoon though. She hid in the boy's room so that I couldn't find her and put her back out.

Modern Monday Quilt Along

I did find time to get caught up last week.

The bowtie block (top one) didn't take long at all. As for the bottom one ... it wasn't hard but was a time investment. However, I'm really glad I didn't take the easy route that Jenifer offered. This block took some time but I think it was time well spent. Here are all 12 of my blocks.

I like this quilt more every week!

Hop over to Caroll's to see which version of week 12 she made. And then pop over to Jenifer's to see what we are making this week. Jenifer has changed her blog address so you should change that in your reader or blog list if you are following her.

Last Weekend of Performances

This is the last weekend the play my son is in will run.

They took archival photos last Tuesday after the performance. Above is the one for his scene, Boy Scrooge with his sister Fan.

So you know what I'm doing this weekend. I have managed to work on a few ornaments. I have hand stitching left to do on two of them. I hope to get them done this weekend so I can finish them up and mail them off next week.

Another Quilt Along

I really don't have time for this right now, but I'm joining another quilt along.

Click here for the details. I'm going to use my Terrain half yard cuts with solid white for background. I may throw in a few solids too.

I'm currently swamped with grading so I don't know when I will actually get to start working on this project. I'm hoping that it will be more likely to happen if I publicly declare that I'm playing along.

Fish Quilt Swims Home

I made this quilt top in 2008.

The photo was taken February 23, 2008 to be precise. This was before I started blogging and documenting my work in photos. I don't even have a picture of the finished quilt and mailed it off to it's new home before I realized this. Oh well!

I made this quilt intending to give it to charity. My mom cut out all the fish pieces for me and gave them to me as a kit. Isn't she nice! It's pretty big, about 67" square. For various reasons, it didn't seem appropriate to give it to any of the local charities, so I just kept it, trusting that I would find it a home.

A few days ago I started noticing this button in various places online. It lead me to Gene Black and his search for angels. This quilt is now on it's way to Gene for his project.

More Gifts and Boy Scrooge

Last week before my parents arrived I made up some flannel pillow cases to give as gifts.

This flannel is soooo soft. I enjoyed working with it.

And another Boy Scrooge photo because he is so darn cute in his costume!

And a family photo which will probably be this year's Christmas photo.

Modern Monday Quilt Along

I'm sorry to disappoint anyone coming to see my Modern Monday Quilt Along block for last week. I was a stage mom all last week and all weekend. Here is my little actor in costume by the stage door.

He is Boy Scrooge in the Adams State College production of A Christmas Carol. I was at the theater every night last week and most of the weekend too. I've gotten no sewing done other than a little hand work, a very little.

Maybe Caroll has her block done. Even if she doesn't, she is always up to something interesting so it's worth a visit. To see the block for this week go over to Jenifer's blog.

I hope to have more sewing time this week, but I'm not holding my breath. The boy has two performances during the week and then another four next weekend before all this is done. I don't regret a moment of it as he is having so much fun! This week is also the last week of the semester which means next week is Finals week. Translation: I will have a lot of teaching/grading work to do for the next two weeks.

Winter Solstice Quilt

I finished my second Jelly Roll 1600 quilt recently.

The details:

Quilt name: Winter Solstice
Finished Size: 50" by 61.5"
Fabric: Wilderness by Connecting Threads
This is two sets, 24 2.5" strips per set. Six of the extra eight were used for the binding.
Quilted with Essential Pro 70 wt. polyester thread (by Connecting Threads). The color is Kiwi.

For backing I used a cute tree fabric I found on sale somewhere.

My parents are in town for the next few days so my posts will be less frequent for the next week.