Finally done!

This is what I have been busy doing. I've been finishing my Louisiana BOM. I pieced all the pieced blocks together first then I fused all the applique blocks. I kind of fizzled out after that and I wanted to put them away but my friend encouraged me to continue and challenged me to finish the machine applique in a week. I took the challenge but had my doubts. I had a lot of other things to do this week including planning a birthday party and make cakes for my honey and my son. I grabbed every spare moment I could and I finished these up today (one day late). I'm so glad to be done. I'm listing all of them here even though I listed the first three months before in other posts. I wanted a record of all of them together. It is also easier to view them all.

The designer of this BOM had little paragraphs written about each of the blocks and what the names meant. I will scan these and they will all go on my label. To me that is the best part. You get a little history with the blocks and it is all about my home state.

This is the January block. The pieced block is called Shrimps on Point and the appliqué block is called Mardi Gras Krewes.

This is the February block. The pieced block is called Peach Festival (the color in the center is peach even if it looks orange in the photo) and the appliqué block is called Gaston Gator.

This is the March block. The pieced block is called Catahoula Leopard Dog and the appliqué block is called Crawfish Gumbo.

This is the April block. The pieced block is called Mardi Gras (the colors are green, gold and purple, the colors in photo are deceiving) and the appliqué block is called Go Ragin Cajuns.

This block is the May block. The pieced block is called Cajun Spice and the appliqué block is called Hot and Spicy.

This is the June block. The pieced block is called Sweet Potato Pie (the color is a bright orange not red) and the applique block is called Bayou State.

This is the July block. The pieced block is called King Cake and the applique block is called Pierre Pelican.

This block is the August block. The pieced block is called Cajun Two Step and the appliqué block is called Cotton Boll.

This is the September block. The pieced block is called Sun Flower Trail and the appliqué block is called Dixie Land Jazz.

This block is the October block the pieced block is called Blueberry and the appliqué block is called Sportsman's Paradise.

This is the November block. The piece block is called Fried Green Tomatoes and the appliqué block is called French Quarter.

This is the December block. The pieced block is called Strawberry Jam and the appliqué block is Magnolia Blossom.

That's all of them! I'm so glad to be finished these blocks. I will put these away and set them together at another time.

I'm home from retreat! What fun it was. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I did manage to get a little sewing done. Not as much as I had hoped but it is not all about sewing, at least for me, I love to visit and catch up on what my friends are sewing. Also, getting to know some of the new comers better.

These are the strip blocks that I got done. I think there are about 45 of them. I need 98, so I still have a way to go.

For the fun of it, I like to go around and gather a few of my friends scraps that they were going to throw away and make some small (4-1/2") crumb blocks. They are always amazed at what can be made from something they were going to throw away. I have some from last years retreat also, but I think those were in bright colors. Won't it be fun to put them together in a quilt and have memories from the several retreats? I love it. By the way you can find out about crumb blocks on Bonnie's web site. I think it is great.

I did get the borders sewed on this panel that I brought. Everyone thought I had did the actual redwork embroidery on these blocks. I guess that means it is a good panel. It was a kit and very easy.

This is a quilt that my friend Eva finished. There are a lot of flying geese in this one (you can click on the picture to make it larger). The fabric is the "Hawaii fabric" that we all got in our mini group from a friend that visited Hawaii. She challenged us to make a quilt with it and all the quilts looked so different. I think I have pictures of mine in the archives. Anyway I love that she finished it and I love the way it looks.

This friend has been working on this quilt at retreat for the last 5 years. It is for her daughter. She started it when she started undergraduate school and now is finished school. The quilt will be finished soon I hope. There is a story that the quilt tells, The blue and green fabrics have a rose print which signifies her love for her daughter, The blue flying geese going up signify "To reach for the stars", and the green tiny flying geese signify "To keep her feet on the ground". What a lovely sentiment. She does have many more rows to put together. It will be a big quilt.

That is all, I have to unpack and housework to do.

Orange Crush Mystery Step 1- Done!

This is the 150- 4 patches for step 1 of the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt on Bonnie's site. It is so fun. This is the first mystery quilt I have ever done. I fell in love with the idea of using orange fabric. It is not a color I use too often so I was surprised that I wanted to do this. But I am now anxiously awaiting Step 2. If anyone is interested I suggest you check it out. It's not too late.

I am leaving on Thursday for a quilting retreat with my quilt guild. I am chairman of the event and it has been some work to organize this. My co-chair has helped me every step of the way. I could not have done this by myself. Now that it is almost here, I'm looking forward to getting away. The funny thing is I didn't think I would find much to work on. I have several UFO's and BOM's but, when I go to retreat I like to sew on something that I don't have to concentrate real hard on. Some "no think" sewing and I haven't been doing much of that lately so I had to go digging in my UFO's to find a "no think" project.

I found a project I had started a while back. It is from Bonnie's website. The Basketweave Strings are foundation pieced and so easy.

I also found a small kit with a preprinted panel that just needs borders. It is a Benartex pattern called "Kaye's Kitchen Panel".

There is also a paper pieced tree block that I need to start working on but it is more thinking than I want to do. Paper piecing doesn't come easy to me. I bought this kit from my guild's Christmas auction a few years ago. I love the look of the scrappy trees. Maybe I will bring this one. Just in case I get all the other things finished and run out of things to do! HA! I think this should be enough to keep me quite busy this weekend. We will also be having a charm strip exchange in batiks. I don't have many batiks so I'm going to participate in this. It will be fun!

This is what I did today. My Thimbleberries BOM for March. It was not an easy one to do. There was a lot of pieces in this one and I find it very hard to piece half square triangles when you have to start sewing with the bulk of the two seams. I'm glad they are done.
I think I will color the center of one of the blocks and leave the other one like it is. Change it up a bit. One is supposed to be for the front and the other is to go on the back but I'm making two quilts instead. I would hate to put those blocks that were so much work on the back.

My son has his two cousins visiting right now. They will be here until Saturday. All the boys are about the same age(15-17). You should see my house. It's a wreck! But they are having fun. Video games and TV and movies. They are good boys. No trouble. They have a little sister that is 2 years old and the cutest thing. I bet she is missing them something awful right now.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

These are the BOM for March. The two at the top are for the Louisiana BOM and the bottom is for the Seasonal Delights BOM. I decided to get them done while I had everything out already. Now I'm glad I did them. I just have the Thimble berries BOM left to do for March. Don't know when I'll be able to get to those but I will do it before the end of the month. The crawfish was very challenging. It is fused and machine appliquéd. It had a lot of small areas to stitch. I'm happy with how it turned out. The fabrics in this kit are fabulous hand dyes and batiks. It blows me away every time I open up a monthly packet. Today I'm sewing up blocks for a new beginner quilt class I will be teaching in May. My SIL came over last night with her sewing machine she got for Christmas and I was able to show her how to thread it and make bobbins. I taught her a few other things about her machine too, like how to set it for some of the decorative stitches she has. The best part is I talked her into taking my beginner quilt class. It will be so much fun. Two of my SIL's and a friend of one of them. Will we get any work done! I hope so. I want another quilter in the family besides my MIL. We could have our own mini quilt retreats when we get together, without the men of course. That's all for today. Have a great quilty day!

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Here is a lovely yellow tulip in my flower bed. I am so enjoying them. The winds we had the other day kind of messed them up. I have some without petals and some of them broke off at the stem. I was a little upset about it at first but as my husband said "That's nature babe"!

This is a Thimbleberries BOM from 2005 (I think). I have been working on them this year and trying to get them finished. This is January and February. You got two blocks each month because one of the sets of blocks is supposed to be pieced to make the back of the quilt but I'm going to make two quilt tops out of it. They are a little hard to work on (alot of pieces in some of them) and I'm trying to sew my very best and make these the right size. You know how sometimes you finish your block and it doesn't measure what it is supposed to, what! that never happens to you! Well, it sure happens to me! A Lot! Well, on these I'm trying really hard to sew and exact 1/4 inch seam. It is stressful at times but I'll be happy with the finished results.

This is some other BOM's that I'm trying to finish. The two at the top are for the Louisiana BOM I purchased in Shreveport a few years ago, and the bottom one is for the Seasonal Delights BOM I have. These are the February blocks The January blocks are on January 19, 2008 if you want to check them out.

That is what I've been up to. A friend and I also dyed some fabric last weekend and I'm needing to iron them after washing then I will get some pics of them. When I do I'll post them. That's all for now.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

My daughter's duck. She had two of them at one time. Her husband had bought them for her for Easter a while back. The female died last year and her companion (this male duck) was a little worst for wear for a little while but he bounced back and is doing well. They brought him over this weekend for my niece to see. When they put him down he went straight back home and to his pen. (They live right next door to us) We found this funny that he would know his way back home and right to his home instead of wandering around in the yard. He is a beautiful duck. I love the color of his beak and his feathers are a lovely white. His name is Deuce. The female's name was Daisy. My daughter is allergic to cats and dogs and most other animal dander so she has really enjoyed being able to take care of the ducks. The female even laid eggs and they would enjoy them for breakfast (well my daughter would, my SIL didn't want to eat them).

Today I'm making binding for a Home of the Brave quilt I finished quilting this weekend and I'm also making the binding for the other three that my mini group just finished putting together. I'll try to get pictures of them tomorrow. I'm also going to work on my UFO BOM's for February. I did one of them week before last it is a Thimbleberry BOM from 2005. I have three other BOM UFO's. Two of them have two blocks for each month. It is alot of work. But this method of doing only one month at a time like they were intended to be done works and takes some of the pressure off.

That's all for today.
Quilt til your arm falls off...

Here is the Heart and Friendship quilt finished top. I just sewed the borders on and I'm happy to say it is ready for quilting (just as soon as I find a backing for it. I'm real happy with how it turned out and I didn't have to buy any fabric for it. It is all from my stash. Boy does that feel good.
The hearts have been in my stash since 2001. I ordered them from Keepsake Quilting. I didn't know what I would do with them except that I knew my daughter loved bright jewel tone colors but never got around to using them. I have the hearts in 1930's fabric also and that quilt will be finished next. That quilt has nine-patches instead of friendship stars but is put together the same way.
Because I used my stash and I wanted to use the turquoise fabric for sashing and I only had 1-1/2 yards I had to make my sashing 1 inch instead of the 2 inches I intended to use but it all worked out because I love the way it looks. The 2 inch might have made it look chunky and I like the way the blocks are the focus. What do you think?
I also have 5 more 4-patch blocks that I was going to add to the bottom row but it would have made it out of proportion, long and skinny, so I chose to not put them on. Now I have 5 orphan blocks. I'm not sure what I will do with them but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Well it's time for me to go. Hope a great day everyone!

Quilt til your arm falls off...

This is a picture of the blocks I have been working on since before Christmas. There are 70 friendship stars and 70 appliqued hearts. There will be sashing in between the four-patched hearts and stars. I'm looking for just the right batik to go with these brights and jewel tone colors. Maybe it will be too busy with a batik. Maybe I should go with a solid. What do you think? Any suggestions? It is a very busy quilt. I have another one I am working on that is exactly the same except it is in 1930's fabrics and the friendship stars are nine-patches. I am looking for a fabric for the sashing on that one too. I will try to get a picture of that one on another day. I love all of the colors in this. The quilts are for two friends of mine that are stepdaughter and stepmom to each other. They are wonderful people. Always friendly and uplifting. Good friends. That's all right now. Have a blessed day.

This is what I was working on yesterday. The two blocks at the top are January Louisiana BOM's and the bottom is a BOM I bought from a friend. It is from the book "Seasonal Delights". I have 4 BOM UFO's and I promised myself I would get them done this year. It is past time. I will do all the January in Jan. And Feb. in Feb., you get the idea. The other two BOM's I have the Jan. blocks are done already so I didn't take pictures of those. I will take them out in Feb. and take pics then.
The Louisiana BOM has two blocks each month, a pieced one and an appliqued one. The applique this month is called "The Mardi Gras" it is a Mardi Gras mask. The pieced one is called "Shrimps on Point". They are all LA related and very nice. I'm looking forward to getting these done. Today I have a small quilt to quilt on the frame and my small teaching quilt to sandwich. I better get busy. Bye for now.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Piercings...

Friday my daughter went and have her eyebrow pieced as you can see in the picture above. She likes this and thinks it is cute. She knew I wouldn't like it so called to tell be so I wouldn't freak out when I saw it. I of course think she if beautiful no matter what but I just don't understand the need to put the extra holes in the face (or anywhere else on the body- I didn't mention she also has her belly button pierced--another surprise a few years ago). I wish I understood. It seems to be common these days in the younger generation. I must mention that I do have my ears pierced (only once), my daughter has been after me for a while to pierce another hole in my ears. The answer is no! I have enough trouble picking out earrings for the one hole, I could only imagine having to choose two or three. I think a nice pair of earrings in the ear is ok. It looks nice and becoming but on the eyebrow... Oh well, she is of age to do what she wants with her body and does not need my permission but somehow I know she seeks my approval. She would like me to like it or say it is ok but I can't like it if I don't. I love her anyway and she knows it. Did I mention that I think she is beautiful...

I am sewing the binding on a UFO quilt that I made the year I started quilting in 2001. It is called Log Cabin Wreath and was a pattern in the book "Creating Curves with Log Cabins" by Marti Michell. The top was done and just needed to be quilted. I quilted it yesterday and the picture below is of the quilt with the quilt markings still in it. I quilted it with monopoly thread and the quilting will not show up much so I thought you could see the quilting better before the lines were washed out.

Quilt til your arm falls off...