Counting

8 baby bibs

I needed 2 bibs for Easter but these were so fun and quick that I ended up with 6 more than that!  Thanks to Jaime at Sew She Sews for the great tutorial.

5 Blessing Blocks

I finished the Temecula Quilt Co. quilt-along.

1 pouch for my key chain.

156 house blocks.

This is my March report.  Only 210 left to go.  I think I might just make it.

Last, but not least, look who else is counting.

To 13!

A sweet two year old...aka my granddaughter.

I love this time of year

 

It’s a beautiful Fall day here…

Though it is getting colder.  Soon it will be snuggle-under-a-quilt weather. 

 

Luckily the top is finished to my Jacob’s Ladder quilt and will be quilted in time for cold evenings. 

 

Oh, and I finished this little red and gray quilt too.  Perfect for my doll cradle. 

 

Now I’m heading back outside to enjoy some more of this gorgeous day.

Spice of Life

This is my design wall this weekend.  They say variety is the spice of life…well I have a lot of variety.  1. I’m always working on my Florabunda applique blocks…(and someday I will actually finish them.)  2. I started making my “Cold Wind Blows” baskets.  I decided to shrink the pattern by half and make a little quilt.  3. My bow tie leaders & enders blocks are multiplying quickly.  I finish a few with every one of my 4. Jacob’s Ladder quilt blocks. 

Speaking of which…

I only have 7 more blocks to go to finish my design.  Very scrappy isn’t it?  You should see my much lighter scrap bins.  I still have some rearranging to do on this quilt and then decide on a border. 

Besides a little sewing today, I also helped Mr. Sunshine install new outside light fixtures and made applesauce from our apple tree. 

Our house smelled so wonderful!

One very lucky girl…me!

This beautiful quilt is called, “The Quilting Gathering” and is part of the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle series.  I was amazingly fortunate to be the winner of this pattern and kit from Taryn’s generous giveaway.  I just couldn’t believe it!

When it arrived, I started to work just as quickly as I could push other projects to the side to make space. 

 

And now it looks right at home hanging with other quilts on my wall.  Thank you so much Taryn.  I love it and appreciate you!

Two for One

I’m still at work on my latest quilt and cleaning odd pieces out of the scrap bins.   16 blocks are done and lots of pieces are cut and ready.  Here and there throughout the day, I wander into my sewing room and sew up a block or two, or cut a square or two.  Very easy..very relaxing.  And satisfying to see all those little scraps being put to use.

 

Bonnie and Lori came up with the best idea!  And now I’ve joined in.  I keep these tiny squares next to my sewing machine and use them for leaders and enders while working on my quilt.

 

The results are another quilt in the making.  Which is so fun by itself that I have to restrain myself from sewing ahead on just bow ties.  They are 3 inches.  I don’t know if I’m going to stop at doll quilt size or keep going.  We’ll see.

Little Quilt for Autumn

My apple core doll quilt is finally finished.  It’s hand pieced and hand quilted, which is a first for me.  I don’t know if I could ever do that on a full sized quilt but I got a kick out of trying it on this little one. 

It measures 22” x 26” and there are 168 little apple cores… all different.

a tisket, a tasket, a little doll’s basket

I found this little basket for $1 at a thrift sale and snatched it up thinking it would be fun for our granddaughters’ baby dolls.

Then I read Stina’s post and her basket of quilts caught my eye. 

  

So I borrowed her idea.  I decided to keep the basket for myself to display little quilts in. 

Of course I don’t mind if the grandkids want to play with them too, these quilts are for using and enjoying.

I needed to do some ironing this morning but first had to move a lot of stuff out of the way.  My sewing room is a very busy place these days…so many things going on at once.

A First

 

168 little apple cores all stitched together.  No two alike.  It’s going to make a cute little doll quilt… about 24” x 28”.

It’s even kind of fun looking at them from the reverse side. 

But I’ll never see that again..

…because I’m getting it ready for the quilting part. 

I am going to hand quilt it.  Then because it was hand pieced, I will also hand stitch the binding on so I can say that it was 100% hand made.  That is a first for me.

more on the little quilts

  

I finished Cheddar Cheese and Crackers.  This was one fun journey!  And because of that, I think it will always be a favorite of mine.  I wish I had enough stamina to make a large sized one  …maybe someday.

 

Thank you again Lori.  It fits beautifully in my doll cradle.

 

There are a few more apple core nine patches on my wall.  Whenever I sit down for even a minute, I feel the need to stitch two apple cores together…and sometimes that leads to a few more. 

New Kid on the Block

I just finished this doll quilt…made special for my new cradle.  The blocks are 3”.

And I’m still working on Cheddar Cheese and Crackers from Lori’s quilt-along.  Although my cheddar is more Sunshine Yellow.  While putting it together, I kept thinking it was sort of like working a Sudoku puzzle…and I really like doing those.  I’m hand quilting it now.  I’m going to love this little quilt.

For the moment, however, everything is being pushed aside to make room for the new kid on the block…

 

An apple core quilt! 

The apple cores are just 3” long so can be a little fiddly but the more I do the easier it gets and now I’m so hooked on these little guys.

I’ve been stitching them into nine patches first.  My idea calls for 21 blocks.  6 done over the weekend and 15 more to go.  Then sew those all together into another little doll quilt.