Finishes and something pink scrappy...

I managed to finish hand quilting my little cat quilt and finished putting the binding on the day after my guild meeting last week. This is the finished quilt with the close up of some hand quilting. Not the greatest, I just did freehand x's in the sashing.


I also made more of the 9 patches and have put them all together into this quilt top. I just need to find some backing fabric in the stash and get this pinned for quilting next week. This will be a charity quilt for my quilt guild.


Since yesterday was Saturday.... and Pink is the color for the month of may... I pulled out my basket of pinks and decided to play. We did tips at our guild meeting and Bonnie E brought some from the Fons and Porter magazine and one was making string blocks using muslin as the foundation. Well, I checked out Bonnie Hunters site and saw these String X blocks and decided to play around with that. I almost decided to go completely scrappy... which I think I would have liked better... but I'll stick with the pink X... or maybe O's and make a quilt top with these.

I've made 8 so far and it has not made a dent in my little basket of pink scraps so I should have plenty to make a little lap quilt. They are easy to make and fun to do. What have you been working on this week?

Progress....

In the 'mindless' sewing mode I've been in the last week or so, I've been working on making my 9 patch blocks a little bit bigger. These are some that I found in a bin last fall and have no clue how long they've been sitting there... I'm guessing late 90's as I think I made some when I was living in my townhouse. I was planning to do the sisters choice from Quiltville...but decided to just do a quicker version and do alternating colors in the corner blocks. The 9 patches were done in purple and blues with muslin. I now have 25 of the 9 patches and about 18 have been turned into these little blocks.....



Which will look something like this put together.



I think I'll make another 5 of the 9 patches so that I can set it at 5x6 for a nice size lap quilt (50x60 without borders). When this one is done.... before the June guild meeting I hope.... it will be another UFO crossed off the list on my side bar. Other than not really touching the Joann's Fabrics kit from quite a few years ago, I did pretty well with finishing up some things with this guild challenge. I've already found a bunch more UFO's in the boxes so will be all set for a new round next fall.

How are you doing on your challenges this year?

P.I.G.S. question.....

Over at Jill's blog she is doing a weekly PIGS question. I have been reading along since she started but am just starting to answer. This week's question: This week, we will be discussing Leaders and Enders and whether you multitask when quilting. Do you work on one project at a time or are you better when you are juggling 2 or more?

I have to say, when I started quilting I did one project at a time and it seemed to take forever. Working and life seemed to take over when I got to a point that I just wasn't into doing right then. Since then, I have tons of UFO's and other things I'd like to start. I find that different days I'm in the mood to do different things.... so I tend to have different things available to work on. My Leaders and Enders project was going to be a 'Twinkle Twinkle' quilt for the kids... well, once that started it took over and so that was what I worked on. I also have my UFO list from the guild and have been plugging away at that as the mood strikes. It seems I was in a quilting mood last week as I got 2 quilts machine quilted and binding put on in the evenings=). I also am doing the Midget blocks... but the paper pieced one is holding me up a bit right now. I'm more in the mood for easy - non thinking sewing so the 6 patches and 9 patches are getting worked on now. I did set up a basket close to my sewing machine last month will extra HST and squares and triangles. I have been pulling from there as L&E's when finishing off some things - no real 'plan' for those but they will end up somewhere in a scrappy quilt in the future.

Go check out Jill's blog and see what other people have answered to her P.I.G.S. question this week.

Another UFO - finished!

I got the graduation quilt quilted on Friday and Saturday and the binding put on. I have 2 sides to finish and that should be completed tonight or tomorrow night. I think all the quilts that 'need' to be completed are done. I just did a meander loop on this with a few specialty things - there is a 'Kristin', SHS, 2011, a music note and a basketball that kinda looks more like a pumpkin.



Wow - Over a month in advance too! I also sent the color request to the next graduate in the family next summer.... she chose brights - orange, red, yellow, pinks. I had picked up some 'brights' and about 4 yards of black fabric sometime last year. It is all colors but maybe I can throw a few more orange and red and yellow's in there. After seeing Jill's 'Star Struck' quilt I decided that would be a great one to do for this next graduation quilt. Thanks to Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com for posting such wonderful patterns for free!

I also pulled out the 9 patch blocks I had made years ago in purple and blues with muslin. I made 5 more Saturday for a total of 25. I think I might make 5 more and use Bonnie Hunters 'Sisters' pattern to finish them up into 10 inch blocks. I have this one down as my June UFO - so maybe I can have it completed before then. I was not very good with a consistent seam allowance back then, so I'll have to make some adjustments and get things to 'fit'.

I also grabbed the 'challenge' fabrics I got a couple of months ago at the guild meeting. I forgot a before picture - but I had 4 of the 10 inch squares and 4 of the 3 inch squares. I added some of the batik backing from Kristin's quilt to finish off one block. I'll
put these together back to back for a large mug coaster.


Yesterday... I put off that midget block again (paper piecing... maybe I'll just skip past those for a few weeks?) and decided to make more of my scrappy 6 patch blue blocks for the Twinkle Twinkle quilt. I just need about 5 more of the 6 patch blocks for spacers and then I can start the border. I did find a couple of oops stars and have a little pile of leftover ones. Guess I need to think up a second quilt for these for the other child too!


2PM - Lentil soup is on in the crock pot, kids are quiet napping upstairs, waiting for the plumber to come fix the starter switch on the boiler, laundry is washing and drying...... think I'll go get those last 5 blocks done for the twinkle stars quilt and then maybe start the midget block.