Design Wall Monday

I love starting new projects, and this is my NewFO started, barely, in April.  I've been making a lot of progress on it.  

There are 36 blocks to make, and they all need the last two logs.  Then there's the sashing and cornerstone stars.  At this rate, I just might have it in time for at least the 4th of July as it is a 'patriotic quilt'; I might even have it done for Memorial Day, but that's not likely as I want to finish at least one of my oldest quilts from back in the 2006 era before May is over.  

Project #039

But for today, this is what I'm working on.  Take a peak over at Patchwork Times and see what others are doing if you haven't already.

Stash Report Week 14: 07 April 2013

Whoa ! Where'd the week go?  This was Easter vacation from school week for Nick.  So Marty took two days off work and took Nick and his best friend Tino up to the mountains for an overnight for snow-boarding.  They left the house at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday and got back around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday.  Joining them for this trip was his other friend, Jay and his dad but they went in a separate vehicle.  Two adult men and three teenagers plus all their gear and snowboards just won't fit in one vehicle and it's about a 4.5 hour drive each way.  They had a fine time, and no injuries - praise God for that!

I didn't do a whole lot differently while they were gone.  A few chores, played with the cats, and played with a lot of fabric, fixed a roast in the crockpot, and got caught up on Doctor Who episodes.

There were no changes to my stash report.  Nothing in, nothing out which means nothing finished.   (My stash is not counted as out until a quilt is finished.)  Linking up at Patchwork Times.
Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date: 0 yards
Added This Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 14.625 yards
Net Used for 2013: -14.625 yards 

I finished the piecing on the O Christmas Tree quilt.  It took 2.5 hours to remove all the paper, and even though paper piecing is said to be more accurate, I seem to have a few spots where things are a little wonky - not bad wonky, but still - wonky!  I'm sure most of that can be quilted out when I get to that point.  It will have to wait as I don't have any available pins for basting!  I would still like to have it finished to display by Christmas, so that means I have to get something else quilted!

Over all, I'm very pleased with it, and I'm very appreciative of all the kind comments about it on my last post.

I also worked on specific cutting of fabric in my scrap bins.  Bonnie Hunter had a leader/ender project a year or two ago using bow tie blocks so I thought I'd alternate that with my spool leader/enders.  Not in the same quilt mind you, but as a change of pace.  While doing the Tree quilt, I managed to make quite a few spools, but realize I will need a lot of them for even a lap-size quilt; same with the bow ties.  I'm trying to decide what color I want to use as a background for the bow ties - I don't want to use cheddar, as B.H. did.  Maybe black, or a dark blue which only means that some of my darker bow ties will not be used, but they can go into one with a lighter background.

There are approximately 540 matched sets in this plastic tub.  I still have to choose a background and cut it though.  I have a few more strips on my table to cut as well so will probably end up with over 600.  I'm sure that's more than enough for a single quilt, so maybe two or more depending on the size I make.

I also kitted a patriotic colored log cabin quilt, logs all cut and ready! I've done this one before for a military family at church and really liked it so want one now for myself.   Now I have plenty to start sewing on, but have reached that point of indecision/overwhelmedness as to what exactly I want to start with.  You'll notice I haven't added my April "Get It Done" goals, and I had nothing listed for March! (see tab at the top of the blog).  I have lots to finish, so need to work on a lot of those projects.

Have a blessed week....it may take me that long to get another post posted, lol. 

Quilt #005 Christmas Wallhanging

This one with blue, was begun in Nov. 2000, and is complete except for the decorative aspects, so I haven't given it an exact finish date yet. It is machine-quilted and binding is complete. The previous two were both tied using the 1/8" red ribbons that hold the decorations on. This quilt, however, I wanted to do a little differently in order to be able to remove the red ribbons & decorations, so I was adding tiny snaps, or hooks & eyes, or whatever I could come up with that would allow the decs to hang correctly yet be removed. For now, most of the decs are held on with quilting safety pins until I can get each one's attachment mechanism sewn on. This wallhanging is for our home, and we seem to have an incredible amount of dust, so I wanted to be able to launder it on occasion, even though it would only be displayed for a month or so each year.

The first of these three wallhangings, was taught to me by a lady friend at my church. She's a dear quilting friend and mentor as well as a sweet woman of God.

Editing note: I originally had these three on one post, but every time I looked at the blog, it seemed the written content had shifted and my attempts to fix it only made it worse, so I separated them and adjusted the post date and time to keep them at least in the same area with each other. Please tell me I will learn how this Blogger site works!

Quilt #002 Quilted Wallhangings: The Christmas Quilts

This first one is #002 (with the gold star topper). It was begun in Sept. 2000 and finished in Nov. in time to gift my daughter for Christmas. At that time I didn't have a design wall so had pinned it to some drapes so that odd border isn't part of the quilt.

Quilt #003

The one was also begun in Sept. 2000 and finished in Nov. 2000 and gifted to my parents for Christmas. This past summer, my mom decided I should have it back as she's 'down-sizing'.