I Love a Challenge...Jennifer's Quilt

Especially when it turns out looking like this!.   If you have been following my blog while I was working on this quilt, you know that I ran up against a few little obstacles...sewed a block upside down...sewed a block together in the wrong direction,,,didn't make enough blocks of one group, stuff like that.  But the top is completed and it will be soon on its way to be quilted.  It is a wedding gift for Jennifer who has been very patient since she got married last October.  Would I make this quilt again...probably, I think.  It really is not that hard to put together except that there is a lot of precutting and sewing and you really, REALLY have to be organized and have your blocks sorted as outlined in the pattern.  All of the blocks are 9 patch blocks in various sizes.  I used 2.5 inch strips (mostly bali pops) and everything came from my stash.  I did purchase the wide backing and it was on sale.  The second time around, I would use smaller strips, maybe 2 inch so that it would not turn out so big, but that is the only change I would make.  Maybe I would not make it so scrappy.  Just 3 or 4 solid colors or prints that read as solid.  Anyway, it was a blast.  Now I can move onto my other long-suffering projects.  We had a sew-in yesterday with my friends and I finished 2 sets of pillow cases that I promised my daughter's college room-mate back in October.  Brynna has also been very patient with me, but that doesn't keep her from asking about the pillow cases every time she speaks with Rayna.  So I can scratch them off as well.  It feels good to complete something and move on!  Thanks for stopping by! and enjoy your week!

Trying to catch up...

I have been off the radar for a while.  I had to put the ocean waves quilt on the back burner to work on the wedding gift quilt for a family friend.  It has been an ambitious undertaking but I am almost there.  I think it will finish as a king sized quilt with the last 2 rows that I need to add.  The pattern is named Trinity Celtic Knot.  It looks hard, but it was quite easy once you got started.  The trick is organization of the 9 patch blocks.  So this will be off to the quilter soon.

Riding an Ocean Wave

I haven’t posted much in the last several weeks. I have had a lot going on…Dad having major heart surgery (he is doing much better now); work issues (our CEO resigned to take another job), totally unexpected, so my office was in an uproar and just plain ole stuff. However, because quilting is so calming to me, I made time almost every evening to do a little. I set the egg timer (quilt timer) for about an hour, sometimes 2, so that I could work and not worry about timing and to remind myself to go to bed within a reasonable time. Because once I get started, it is hard for me to stop.

I am working on the Ocean Waves quilt and it is coming together nicely. The blocks are big and take up a lot of space, so getting detailed pictures is a pill, but below is a picture of 2 completed blocks. They measure about 20" each and there are 20 blocks.  A pretty big quilt.  I hope to finish the top by the end of the month, so ring my bell if you do not see a picture of a finished top by May 1.

I am also working on the wedding quilt for Jennifer. Well she got married last October, but I couldn’t make up my mind what type of quilt I wanted to make for her. I didn't want to do another Double Wedding Ring.  I already have 2 on my WIPs list.  Then one of my blog friends decided to have a quilt along for the Trinity Celtic Knot quilt and I knew this was the one. It is a whole lot of cutting, sub-cutting, sewing and re-sewing, but I am having fun with it. It is very scrappy with lots of purples and greens.  And the entire quilt is made with 9-patch blocks.  It requires my full attention because of the many pieces, but it has been a wonderful diversion with all of the stuff going on. The quilt pattern is designed by Deborah Cohen with Arbee Designs. You can follow along on the blog set up to showcase our progress on the Trinity Knot Along here.  My deadline for completing the top and getting this quilted and delivered to Jennifer is July 1. Everything is going along smoothly with it right now after a few false starts. A picture of what the finished quilt should look like is below. Keep your fingers crossed. Thanks for stopping by and I will check in soon!

Recovering and regrouping…

Can you believe that we are in the 2nd week of the New Year? I am still recovering from all of the gift making and gift giving of the holiday season and frankly I am pooped! Now that the new grand daughter has arrived safely and is too cute; and the holiday rush is over and after much reflection, I have resolved to complete the quilts that I started on last year for myself. I gift quilts and I love that part of the craft, but I love them for myself too. So, if you look at my WIP list on the right side of this blog, I am going to work my way down the list. Maybe not in that exact order, but it is going to happen and I will keep at it until I am done. There will be a few new projects, but I just can not resist starting new stuff before I finish up the old stuff. I do that all of the time, so it will be a hard habit to break.

So for a brief update, I am continuing work on the Farmer’s Wife Sampler quilt. This is my diversion project and there is no rush here. The Ocean Waves quilt is moving back up the list. I am done with making the blocks. Just need to lay them out and create the top. I don’t want this one to continue to be a UFO, so it will definitely get done. Then, there is the Nine Patch Pineapple quilt that I started as part of an online challenge. It was definitely a challenge, required my undivided attention and I had to put it aside. I could not keep up. But it is going to be a gorgeous quilt and I do want to finish it. In 2010, I went to a retreat in Smithfield, VA where I had 2 classes with Bonnie Hunter. Lots of scraps, lots of blocks and not enough time. So the Pineapple Blossom and the Holiday Blue Ridge Beauty are moving up the list. And finally, a quilt that has become sort of my trademark for my obsession with half-square triangles. I started this quilt probably 4 years ago. I don’t think I have ever mentioned it on the blog, because, well, I worked on it for so long that I had to stop. It had started to overwhelm me and every time I looked at it, it was just too much. A co-worker  named it Half-square Triangle Madness and the name stuck. You will see what I mean when you see the photo.

So that is the short list of to do’s. Remember I wrote in a previous blog that I am going to start a Dear Jane. I intend to do that, just not until I finish something on the UFO list first. And I am also doing Bonnie Hunter’s Orca Bay Mystery quilt. It has been revealed, so I am taking my time on this – no big hurry. The Trinity Celtic Knot quilt is on the list and may move up faster than others because it will be a long overdue wedding quilt. All of the quilts on the WIP list are in various degrees of completeness, but here are photos of some of them, so that you can share in the fun. I will post a picture of Half-square Triangle Madness as soon as possible. It is a big quilt and I have to think about the best way to photograph it. I plan to do more frequent updates as I scratch them off the list, so stay tuned. Thanks for following my blog and have a great week.

       Ocean Waves

       Nine Patch Pineapple

     Farmers Wife Sampler

     Orca Bay Mystery