Troublesome Purple and Green Mystery Quilt

This quilt was a New Year's Mystery quilt designed by a local quilt teacher and it was full of trouble. To begin with she gave us the wrong cutting directions so some parts had to be recut.

If you could measure this you would see that the four patches are 1" finished and the other squares are 2" finished. When given the directions we were told to cut 1.5" strips and 4.5" squares and to use the 1/5" strips to make four patches like 40 0f each color way.  

When we got to class and she discovered the mistake she told us to re do the four patches using 2.5" strips.  Now for some people this was a huge problem as they did not have more fabric than what she originally told us to use, so they did not have enough. Her solution was to tell us to cut down the 4.5" squares into 2.5" squares. I had extra fabric as I bought enough to make the quilt queen sized, just in case I really like it, but after all the time it took to make the four patches I decided to just cut 2.5" squares and call it good rather than redo the four patches.

As we worked through the steps and put the blocks together I thought it was nice and I liked my color combination.  I made the number of blocks she said for the lap or throw size and put them together.  What I ended up with was a baby quilt, 32 x 36" without borders. 

I said no way, not for all that work, unless I was putting it away for a future grand baby, so I decided to make more blocks until I was happy with it.  I was definitely not going to make enough for a king size quilt. I added enough blocks to make the quilt 8 x 7 or 64" x 56", before adding the borders.

I also changed my mind about the border fabric that I had originally thought I would use and decided to use the fabrics I had used in the quilt to make a mitered border and I cut and sewed each on individually.  Later I discovered that I should have sewn all the strips together and then just mitered one time, which probably would  have helped solve the problem that Shirley had with quilting it.  She is a wonder and was able to stretch the corners and make them square for me. I think if I had done them all at once as mitered corners instead of border by border they may have been okay. Lesson learned for the next time.

Now Shirley is working her magic on my quilt and when it comes home I can bind it.  Even though this quilt has been trouble since the start, I still really like it.

Shirley did an awesome job quilting it.

Spring Sewing

I have been busy with a long term sub job but also finding time to sew.  Since my last post I have made quite a bit of progress.

I finished the borders on two quilt and made the backings for four quilts.  I also took a Mariners Compass class and discovered that it is a lot easier to make than it looks. I have been busy sewing away on blocks.

This is a very old round-robin that I was in, one of two and the second one my quilt along with others was lost along the way.  I am not sure it I will ever do another unless I know the people participating very well, and have built up a lot of trust with them. I was a part of the group that I did this one with for a long time and had done several block swaps with them, but the second time I participated in around robin things were not good.  I am not sure what I will do with this quilt once it is done as I am not sure if I really like all the borders that were added to my block so I may gift or donate the quilt.

I do not have a picture of the other quilt but will post one in a future post.
This one is quilted and awaiting binding so I can get it the mail to its recipient. Shirley Jackson did a great job with the quilting.

I have completed ten Granny Square blocks. I was aiming for nine and got carried away so the extra one will go on the back of the quilt. I need to trim and sew the blocks together with sashing the same color as the background and then add a border. I am debating between a seminole style border or appliquéing vines.

I also started a quilt that has been on my bucket list forever ad that is the Mariners Compass. Below you will find one finished compass and three other compasses that are in progress. I am debating on whether to make it three by four  or three by three. I guess that will depend on how many compasses I decide to make.
This first one is laid out on the two fabrics I will use as backgrounds for the blocks and the center is not yet appliquéd.

The other three blocks that are in progress:

This one is the same as the first one.

I think this one is my favorite.

I have a few more to make and will be using one or two other fabrics in the compass points, but these doe aa great job of showing off the fanris if I do say so myself.
I also finished my second set of black and white split nines to swap and need to get them in the mail asap,

Ending 2013 and Beginning 2014

I started a long term sub job the beginning of November and my quilting went on hold.  I did manage to finish several pillow cases to mail to my son's unit in Cuba along with the pillow cases that were made by a love a lovely group of quilters who hang out in The Quilting Room on Facebook.

The troops appreciated them and my son sent me a picture of some to them with their pillow cases.

I also finished piecing a ton of half square triangles to make pinwheels.

I ended 2013 and began 2014 sewing the binding on my Day Dreamer Mystery.  They say whatever you do on New Year's Day you will do the rest of the year, and I made sure I was sewing. I feel that I was very productive in 2013. I completed several quilts moved several to bindingville, others to topsville, and made progress on more.  I also made a couple of bags, and other smaller items.

I have a pile of quilts all in need of hand stitching the binding down and one is at the quilter.

I also did a second long term sub job from mid January to early March which again cut into my quilting time, but the money feeds my fabric habit. :)

Since my last post I have completed the following or have them in progress:

I quilted this small baby quilt, and yes I did the quilting. I cannot do large quilts but I do very well with small ones.

I finished several rag time baby quilts for the babies being born to staff members at Tom's school. Here are just a couple of them:

 Hubby did the snipping on all four of the quilts.
 Here is the quilt I finished binding on the cruise.

This is Daisy Days. I started this quilt a long, long time ago. It is all hand appliqued.  I am not sure about the outer border. I may take it off and add a green border or I may add some more applique: green vines and flowers. 

 

I also  finished this twin size quilt top which is currently at the quilter. I am also making another larger, queen size, one with a different border, that is lighter in color. The pattern is called Argyle Beauty.

I made this cut bag with four zippers, called the Sew Together Bag.  It is by Sew Demented and the pattern can be found on Craftsy.

Outside

Inside which has three zippered pockets and is enclosed by a long zipper.

I have also made several buckets using the pattern Bucket Brigade, by Atkinson.

I made this one for Tom to keep his wire in that he is using to make jewelry.

These two are for me. The little one is going by my machine for scissors and my ripper.
The large one is going to go next to my chair for holding handwork and knitting.

I am using batik scraps to make a granny square quilt.  This is the first block.  I have the strips sewn for eight more blocks.  I need to cut them and sew them into blocks.

UFO Progress in November and into the start of December

Lightening Quick

Well in October a friend issued a challenge to get things done. Finish up those UFOs and I took her challenge to heart as you can see in my previous posts.

OFf KUiLTeR

 The first two quilts were ones that I had quilted a while ago that were waiting on me to make the binding, or as is the case with the second one, figure out what I wanted to bind it with.

Flip Flops of Summer, which also has some embellishing to be done before it is done.

November was a very busy month. I am doing a long term sub job and have not had much time to sew, though I did put what time I had to good use.

Rainbow Stars

Q is for Quilter

 I have finished a ton of pillow cases, and there is another story for a different post about pillow cases.

I also sent five quilts off to the quilter and had them return.  Last weekend I machine stitched the binding to the top of those five and two others so thy are all ready for me to hand stitch down.

Snowman Quilt

I also finished piecing all my Eat Your Fruits and Veggies charm squares and cut them into HSTs (half square triangles) so they are ready to be made into pinwheels.

Here it is December and I am trying to at least finish the binding on a couple of the quilts.  I also need to quilt a couple of baby quilts and get them ready as one baby is due in January, shortly after Christmas Break. And yes I know that the politically correct people refer to it as winter break, but I am old school and it is Christmas Break.

Day Dreamer

I am including pictures of all seven quilts that I have the binding attached to the front and a few of the HST I made.

These are the half square triangles waiting to be made into pinwheels.

I also made this cute little case for my new iPhone to protect it from the cold and scratches when it is in my purse.

More UFOs Moving Along

I have been busy working on moving my UFOs toward topsville and donesville.  I have two quilts at the quilters presently, that I need to make binding for. One I have the fabric for the other I need to figure our what to use for binding. I have cut and pieced binding for two other quilts as well.

I am working on the binding on another quilt and hope to finish it by Thursday, if not before.

I finished several more tops in the last couple weeks. One is called Summer Solstice and is partially paper pieced.  I did not do the full paper pieced border, just the corners.  I decided I was not going to keep paper piecing since it is not my favorite activity, plus I was not sure I had enough of one of the fabrics to finish all the blocks.

Before adding borders

I started with the four blocks put together, then finished paper piecing the corners and bordered it this month.  I decided I just wanted to finish it simply, rather than do a more elaborate border.

After adding borders.

Backing pressed and folded and ready to go.

I finished sewing the rows together for Barbara's Attic which is a Debbie Caffery Mystery I started a long time ago. I had misplaced a set of blocks and could not finish my rows. I finally found them in a box with another UFO and was able to finish my rows earlier this year.  I sewed some of the rows together earlier this year and finished them this month. I am debating putting a black border around the outside or just leaving it as it is and binding in black.

Barbara's Attic with the rows laid out.

I bound this table runner this month.  Here are the before and the after photos.

Before

After finishing the binding.

I completed another two tops as well. One Is made form left over hearts form the Crazy Hearts quilt made for my cousin, Janie, and the other is a second OFF KUiLTeR, using blue as the background this time. Both still need borders added.

This is a pile of the blocks before I started the original quilt. I still have a few left over to make a table runner or dresser cloth. I may use them to make place mats or large hot pads.

Crazy Hearts

Before being sewn into a top.

OFF KUiLTeR

I also finished piecing two baby quilts and bordered them.  The pattern for one is Pick Up Sticks and the other is a modified Pick Up Sticks because I goofed on the angle I was to cut the strips apart so I used them to make a variation of the design. I do not have any pictures of the blocks before I started putting the quilt together.

The smaller one with two of the borders added, though I may add one more outer border once I see if I need to make it larger.

The larger one waiting on outer borders.

Lastly is my favorite quilt. It is called Daisy Days and is one I have been working on slowly for a long, long, long time.  It is hand appliqued and It took me a long time to finish four twenty inch blocks.

I started these four blocks and and added sashing, and four borders, one of which is pieced.  I am thinking I may do some more applique on the borders with the vines.  I am also trying to decide if I want to have it machine basted so I can hand quilt it or have it machine quilted.
Here is the finished top, though I am not sure if I like the outer border.  I may need to add one more border or change it out out. What do you all think?