Show and Tell Challenge Finish

A few weeks ago, Jo and Kelly at Jo's Country Junction, had a challenge to finish a Bonnie Hunter quilt they wanted to show at their quilt retreat. They meet their goal. Their quilt is beautiful. I missed my goal date, but I did not stop. I finished it. It is quilted, washed, and labeled. I love it. It is a great quilt. I am glad I did this quilt. It has a million pieces. It took forever. Each step drove me crazy. But, I am glad she is going on my stack of quilts and staying here with me.  

I named her "Sunny Garden". I love all the yellow, it is so sunny!! My daughter did the binding. She spent the better part of three days hand sewing the binding down. I am glad she had a part to play in this quilt. I am going to send a link to this post to Jo and Kelly, and to Bonnie Hunter, so they can see that I finished this quilt. HA HA. 

TTFN

Show and Tell Challenge

Over at Jo's Country Junction, Jo and Kelly are having a short challenge, Show and Tell Challenge, based on their need to get some Bonnie Hunter quilts done before their retreat. Those of us that have an unfinished Bonnie Hunter quilt are encouraging each other to finish or move further along those quilts. I have only one so it was an easy decision for me. I have been working on Double Delight for a while. I liked up last week with my sandwiched but unfinished quilted quilt. I have now finished all of the quilting. 

This first picture shows the quilting I already done. I had quilted straight lines through all of the nine patches. 

I wanted to do something in the bigger blocks. This is what I came up with, but after two blocks I did not like it so I stopped. When I got the quilt out again, I decided I liked it and just went with my original idea. It is not perfect. The lines are wavy and none of the flowers look the same, but that is what I like about it. I need to stretch my quilting wings and this is the way to do it. 

Here is the quilt under my machine. I just love being able to do this at home.

Then I decided I needed something in the big triangles. I wanted something simple. I love how this turned out. 

Now I am off to trim up the edges, make and sew on a binding, then a label. After all that, a turn in the washer and dryer. I will be so excited to have this quilt done. Thank you Jo and Kelly!!

Oh one more thing, these were my quilting buddies. Buster the dog and Alfie the "broken" cat. How can she sleep like that? Just to mention about keeping it real, look at the floor. 

Because we are talking about Bonnie Hunter, don't forget her Leader & Ender Challenge 2015, this year, Tumblers.

 I have joined in with this and have quite a few done. I am using a stack of 5" rainbow charms. I love it. I am not sure on the layout yet. You can see in each of the three pictures I moved the bottom row over just a little bit each time. So for know I am just sewing them together in color order. It is not that hard to unpick a seam. 

TTFN

Rainbows, Christmas Blocks, and Bonnie Hunter

I love rainbows. There are two reasons. The first is the religious reasons. After that it is just because they ARE rainbows. Beautiful, colorful, miraculous, fascinating. We have been having a lot of late afternoon storms in my area for over a week. I took this panorama picture behind my husbands shop yesterday. I have so many pictures of rainbows now. 

As I was cleaning a stack of papers yesterday I find a wonderful large block pattern. It was an insert in a package from American Patchwork & Quilting. I decided the blocks would be great for a Christmas quilt. Below are the first two blocks. They are very large. They are 15.5" unfinished.

 Over at Jo's Country Junction with Jo and Kelli, they are having a little Show and Tell Challenge. The challenge will run for a few weeks, so I need a quick-ish finish. To use her words, "The goal is to get a project further along or maybe even to get it finished-either a Bonnie Hunter project or a project that Kelli and I have designed." So I broke out this quilt. I started working on it about three years ago. I finally have it finished and sandwiched. I started quilting it, but got frustrated and put it away. Well, this looks like a good way to break it out and finish it. 

This is the top.

Here is the back. I used up a bunch of larger scraps to make the back.

Here is my idea for the quilting. I drew this design into every main block. I am not sure what I will be doing with the other blocks yet. 

Here is a quilted block. I still like the design, I just need to relax and do it.

TTFN

15 in '14 Follow Up

At the beginning of 2014 I made plans,, with no pressure, to finish some UFO's. I decided that I wanted to at least move each project to the next step. Some I did great on, but I also know how life is and with starting school I hit a road block. I still feel like I made some headway and that makes me happy. Here is a follow up post on these 15 projects.

2010 Designer  Mystery BOM

I was able to get all these blocks into a top. I love it. I added this to my every growing box of tops. Man, one day I will have to make them all into quilts. 

Birdie Stitches

This one also made it into a quilt top. I love the very thin sashing. It helps separate all the colors in the edges of the blocks. 

Black and White Garden

I was able to finish each of the blocks for this quilt. I was able to get all of the stitching done on all of the flowers. Now I just need to all of the blocks sown into a top.

Double Delight

I was able to get all of these pieces made into blocks then into a quilt. I have since added a border and started quilting it. I hit a design snag with the quilting so until I feel like I want to tackle it again it is in a drawer.

Quilts for Kids Their Kit

I was able to finish this one. I loved the way it turned out. So cute!!

Quilts for Kids My Kit

This one also turned out so cute. I did the binding differently and the bottom curled up a bit. I did not know about it until it was washed. Darn!

Round and Round Quilt Along

I was able to get a few rounds sown on this top. Once I get this last round on I think it is just two rows added to the top and bottom to make it rectangular. It reminds me of Easter.

I made no progress on the following projects. That is ok!! I accomplished a lot last year even if it did not show in my 15 in '14 plans. Each of these projects will one day be finished but until then I will not stress over them. 

2011 Designer Mystery BOM

 A Year of Paper Piecing

 Apple Core

 Count On It

 Hello Moon

 Hello Sun

 Tetris Quilt Along

Trip Around the World

TTFN

Manic Monday~9 Getting a Lot Off My List

 I have had a busy few days. My dad is a volunteer firefighter. His group had a BBQ/Auction this weekend. He asked that I make a quilt to put in the auction. So being me I made two. They are very simple quilts. I bought two fabrics that had sections in them. I cut the sections apart, added sashing, and then put them back together. I added just fleece to the back with no batting. 

This one went for $65.00.

This one went for $65.00. Not bad. I paid about $45.00 for the fabric for both of them and the fire department made $140.00. I love that!!

I made more quilts for my church. We had a Humanitarian Night. All the ladies got together and put together backpacks filled with school supplies for our local schools. We tied quilts for a local Food Bank. We also made stuffed bears for a hospital nearby to give to hurt and sick kids. This bellow is one of the quilts laid out on my bed before I finished the top. Now I need to get the binding on all of them, wash them, and drop them off.

I had taken a picture of my two blocks all finished and stacked before I made the top for Double Delight. I wanted to added a picture here for the fun of it. That right there was a lot of work. I have it sandwiched and have started the quilting. I needed to stop for the above quilts. I am hoping to get back to it soon.

In my PQA group we did another fabric swap. These are becoming really popular. We have more planned. I received the fabric and finished cutting the strips for our fall set. I still have to cut the patriotic set. But I thought you would like to see some of the rows laid out. 

Here they are all rolled up and tied with a  ribbon. HA HA they look so beautiful!!

One of my favorite flowers is in bloom in my yard. It is a Trumpet Plant or what we like to call a moon flower. We love them and they are huge. Almost the size of a dinner plate. 

I hope your day goes well and you get  a lot accomplished!!

TTFN

Maniac Monday~8 It is a Top!!

Since Wednesday I have spent a lot of time in the sewing room. I have enjoyed myself so much. I have missed the process. The vision I see in my head of what I think my project will look like. The multiple identical steps. The seemingly hundreds of little steps until you get to the part were with each seam the whole thing starts coming together. Then before you know it the top is a top. It is a quilt!! I cuddly blanket that many naps will be taken under. How exciting!! I love this quilt. I am not sure about the colors but I love that I can look at this one and say, "Yeah, I made that!!" I am not sure if I need to add a border or leave it as is. I only have orange fabric left. What do you think? Should I add the orange or use the orange as the binding? I am leaning more for the second idea. Thank you for stopping by!!

TTFN