Quick Baby Quilt

I just finished this baby quilt for my neighbours. I had been busy, working on quite a few other projects, I wanted to make something for the baby that didn't take too long. In other words, a quilt that would be completed before the baby turned into an adult. :) I sewed a border made up of 2 1/2" squares onto a preprinted panel, then quilted it. An odd shaped scrap of cute fabric became the label. I rounded off the jagged corner, then wrote on it with Pigma pen. I didn't know the name of the baby, so I just put their last name on it. (I blanked out the name on the picture for their privacy)

Throwback Thursday; Purple Block Swap

In July 1998, I was involved in a six inch purple block swap with the Quilters Funtalk internet group. I assembled the blocks, using a different fabric to sash each block. I hand quilted most of it, then it sat in a closet for a few years. I eventually dug it back out and finished the quilting by machine. I haven't hand quilted for years, I don't think I would have the patience to do it anymore. There are quite a few things I would do differently if I worked on this quilt now, I don't really like the dark border on it. Also, there are a few blocks that are upside-down, I didn't realize it until the quilt was completed. This square quilt is a little hard to find a use for- too short to use on a bed, too big to hang on a wall. Nothing I can do about it now, oh well. The blocks are all really nice, thanks to the friends in the group.

"In the Great Bear Rain Forest" by Linda H

Linda H just completed this queen size quilt, which she named "In the Great Bear Rain Forest". It is a gift for a friend, a lucky friend, indeed! The quilt pattern is made from Buzz Saw blocks with pinwheels. I think the idea came from a McCalls quilt magazine, but Linda thought of adding the tree border. A really cool label for the back finishes it off nicely.

Throwback Thursday; Mom's Knitting Needles

Last week someone from work said that she would like to learn to knit, I told her that I could help her, but I realized that I haven't knit anything for more than twenty years, would I still know how? I saw a free dishcloth pattern on Craftsy, so I thought I would try it to brush up on my skills , then be able to help my friend. I went to look for knitting needles, but couldn't find them, I forgot that I let my daughter have them. I thought for a bit, then remembered that I had my mom's knitting needle collection here somewhere. I found the needles in a dresser that used to belong to her. It seems the motion of knitting idles somewhere in the brain because it all came back to me when I started the dishcloth pattern. I added ten more stitches to make the dishcloth a little bigger. Mom has been gone for just about five years now, I really miss her, but I'm happy to say, her knitting needles are clicking away once again. I don't know how old these needles are, but I think they must be from several decades ago.

Throwback Thursday; Weaver's Delight

I made this quilt in 1999 from a 1987 pattern in Quiltmaker magazine. I don't have the magazine anymore, so I don't know who the designer was. When I made this, I was still quilting with invisible thread- horrors! Looks like it has held together, though, the thread didn't get brittle over time.

Wildlife Quilt Completed

The wildlife quilt is all finished except for a label. My goal was to finish it before the end of June, so I'm ahead of schedule. I was trying to keep the quilting simple, so I stitched in the ditch along the edges of the blocks, then made wavy lines across, vertically and horizontally. I used tan Invisifil thread for this because I didn't want the thread to show up too much on the picture blocks. I got a little carried away on the border with leaves. On the hiking boot print I used a cream variegated King Tut thread, the dark border has brown to gold variegated rayon thread. For the binding, I used the same fabric as the dark border. The quilting doesn't show up very much on the border, but it shows up quite well on the back.

Just About Finished

I'm quilting the border on the wildlife quilt now, only two more sides to go. The quilting doesn't show up very much on the busy print, but you can see it on the back.

Throwback Thursday; Potholder

Quite a few years ago, my sister, Linda made this potholder for me, which I keep on a hook that's attached to the fridge. Because I like it so much, it doesn't get used as a potholder, only a decoration

. It still looks like new after all this time.

Sidetracked Again

I was trying to move a giant box of scraps in my porch, then it tipped over. I tried to pick it up, the box ripped and the fabric spilled out onto the floor. As I was picking it up, I thought I better take some of scraps, iron them, then cut them into useful sizes. Scraps always seem to multiply, the more you use, the more will appear. The rest of the fabric was shoved into a few smaller boxes. I like cutting leftover fabric into 2 1/2 inch squares, a very handy size. Of course, I ended up getting sidetracked AGAIN. I was supposed to be finishing the wildlife quilt that was shown in a previous post. I saw a pattern in a 2006 American Patchwork magazine. It was a blue and white quilt made from 4 patches alternating with a square. The pieces in the pattern were cut four inches, so the 4 patch ended up being quite big. I thought I could reduce the size and use 2 1/2 inch squares for the 4 patches and alternate with a 4 1/2 inch square. Instead of just blue and white like the pattern, I chose scrappy. Here is what I've done so far, I'll just keep adding rows until it's big enough for a twin size bed.