"I am behind my time..."

Just like ole Bob Cratchit, I am a little bit late.  This is my first post in 2019.  Coming out of the holidays and into the new year, dreary winter weather, and not as much daylight as is good for you, are all things that never fail to put me into a real funk in January and February.  The low mood wasn't really bad this year, but adding being super busy to that, well, you get the picture.  Spring IS right around the corner which should be reason enough to perk up, but one day of sunshine in the last two weeks isn't helping.   Nevertheless, here I am!

I have been busy and getting into my sewing room some, but I thought I would summarize 2018 before sharing what I've been up to lately.  I HAD 17 FINISHES LAST YEAR!  (If you click on any highlighted quilt names you can read more about it.)  I noticed I had a slow start in 2018, too, with my first finish being in March.  Hmmm, I see a pattern here.

MARCH finishes --

"Zen Chic" 

Two "Tom & Jerry" quilts 

APRIL FINISH --

Two doll quilts for "A Doll Like Me" 

MAY FINISHES --

Josh's T-Shirt quilt  and  "Hypnotic"

JUNE FINISH --

"Riding in Cars with Denise" 

JULY FINISHES --

Doll quilt for "A Doll Like Me",  AJ's quilt, and "Disaster Averted"

AUGUST FINISH --
  
"A Quilt for Joan" 

SEPTEMBER FINISH --

"Love and Friendship"

OCTOBER FINISH --

"Retro Frames"

NOVEMBER FINISH --

"Gemini"

DECEMBER FINISHES --

"StL Cards".....  

.....and "Tickled Pink"

This is one I haven't shared before.  I sneaked it in at the last minute between Christmas and New Years.  I needed a little "Sewing Room Therapy" so I made one last charity quilt for the year.  I keep a box of bright 5" squares and some pieces large enough for backings just in case I feel like sewing but don't really have a plan.  This is the result. A quilt for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

I'm thinking 2018 was a very good year!

GO, Cardinals!

When my sister told me she was involved in organizing a fundraiser to help with her BFF's medical bills I (naturally!) offered to make a quilt to be raffled.  I wanted to make something that would appeal to a large audience so I decided to make a gender neutral baby quilt. Then, I got to thinking about the fact that this fundraiser is being held in Cardinals country.  St. Louis Baseball Cardinals to be exact.   A lot more money could be raised from a Cardinals quilt, right? 

Really simple blocks came together fast .....

..... AFTER washing that red batik seven (yes, seven!) times to remove excess dye.  

Gotta love those color catchers, but it wasn't until the last wash cycle when I added Synthropal that I saw the results I wanted.  Next time I work with red fabric I think I'll use it the first time.  :-(

Once it was basted I wasn't sure what thread to use.   My quilting is decent, but I don't really want it to show up that much!

It's hard to tell when you look at it on the spool, but this variegated thread is blue, red, and yellow so I thought it would work well.  The quilting shows more than I wanted it to.  I just had to work slowly and do the best I could.  Well.  I always do the best I can, but, you know....

Not too shabby!

It ended up about 60" x 70", the perfect size for a snuggle quilt.

Of course, I had to add a little fun to the back .....

..... and get a few semi-creative shots!

So, off it goes in the mail this week to my sister.  Fingers crossed!

Making a Dent - Another Finish

One of my goals this year has been to use up some of the 2.5" batik strips I cut last year.  In May I completed "Hypnotic", a 72" x 72" beauty (if I do say so myself!) for Stephen and Kailey's wedding.  I blogged about it here.  Then in November I finished piecing a gorgeous 98" x 98" top (if I do say so again!) for my sister, Debbie.  I blogged about Debbie's quilt here.  This top is currently with a friend waiting to be quilted so it won't make it off the UFO list this year.  

As the year is winding down I have a third batik quilt finish to share.

"Gemini" by Janine Burke for Blue Underground Studios has been on my "to do" list for a while, and I had fun working on it.  

The actual construction of the blocks didn't take long at all.  I made two-color rectangular blocks, and cut them in half .....

.....then mixed them up and sewed them back together.

You can't really make a mistake putting blocks like these into rows.

Shirley, did another great job quilting this one for me.  

Don't you love the Grunge fabric I found for the back?

I didn't make as big a dent in the box of strips as I'd hoped I would, but I definitely did make a dent.  Here's the box of strips "before".

Here's the box "after".

"Gemini" will be gifted soon, and I'm excited that I'll be able to do that in person in just a couple of weeks.  Now to decide what the next batik quilt will be.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland.

Debbie's Quilt - Part Two

I'm determined to keep Debbie's quilt from the UFO list when I update it at the end of the year.  I don't know if that's been my driving factor lately or if I just can't wait for her to have it, but it's "this close" to being done.

My design wall isn't wide enough to lay out all the blocks so I ended up setting out two piles of blocks next to my machine, the "A" blocks and the "B" blocks, and sewing them together fairly randomly.  The rows extended at least 6 inches over the edges, and I would have needed a step-stool to get all the rows up there at the same time!  

The larger it grew the more "fun" it was to work with.

I could only get a photo of the whole thing when it was spread out on the living room floor.

Now, two of the borders are on .....

..... and the backing fabric is ordered from Fabric.comhttps://www.fabric.com.  Isn't it perfect?

It looks like I'll be able to send it off next week to my longarm quilting friend, Shirley Jackson.  There is no way I could man-handle that thing to quilt it on my domestic machine!

I will be happy to have this quilt finished, Debbie will be happy to have it on her bed, and it might just be another sister's turn for a new quilt.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Linking up with So Scrappy
Linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Debbie's Quilt

I got into a crazy mood a while back and started cutting up a lot of my batiks into 2.5" strips. Having a health supply of pre-cut strips readily available would be handy and they might get put to good use.   So I cut .....

..... until I had this!  Gulp!  

(I hate to admit it, but this didn't make much of a dent in my batiks stash.)  Earlier this year I used some of the strips to make a wedding quilt for Stephen and Kailey.  You can read about it here.

I used a few strips and made a big mess.

Last year my sister, Debbie, asked me to make a replacement quilt for the one I'd made for her hope chest back in 1981.  I didn't quilt much then so I'm pretty sure I used broadcloth for the backing.  Maybe that's what held it together all these years.  Polyester never really dies, does it?  I would say my work has evolved quite a bit since then. I've changed a little bit as well!  

I figured since she had made that quilt last for over 35 years she deserve a new one!  Plus, I was happy to have another opportunity to use more of those strips.  Bonnie Hunter's "Strip Twist" pattern would be perfect for this one.  Strip sets made then sub-cut into 144 squares .....

..... then cut again into 288 triangles .....

..... and then sewn back together into 144 squares. Squares with a little different look to them, though.  

Now the fun starts.  Or even more fun, I should say.  Laying them out on the design wall and sewing them into rows. Like this --

The goal is to have it finished by the end of the year so I can give it to her when I'm in St. Louis for a family wedding. I'm pretty sure this one will last for at least another 35 years.