Precious babies

I went to visit my mom the other day and got to meet my two newest great-nephews, Flynn and Liam. They were born about 2 weeks ago and are as cute as can be. I also masked up and got to hold each one for awhile. They like to be held! 

I made them these Dog Gone Cute quilts earlier this summer, and they seem to enjoy them! I wanted them to be similar, but not identical so the twins could always identify their own. Looks like they will be growing into them. 

I backed both with the same fabric and quilted them myself, so the final touch was adding the labels after they were born. 

 

Beyond the Stars quilting

 I've been working on quilting the Beyond the Stars Sampler 15 this week, along with doing some fabric sorting and other cleaning. The room the quilt frame is in can be a dumping ground for the leftovers from projects since I store my fabric in that room, too. When I'm working on a project, I save most scraps because you never know if you'll need every bit you have until you're finished. I've been going through those scraps and organizing them into usuable, unusable and won't use. Some pieces are big enough for a pillowcase, so I have a pile of them to make now. 

Question of the day: Would Conrad use a hammock if I made him one? 

Two are finished. What did I think I was going to make out of that Duck Dynasty fabric anyway?

I'm updating this with a picture of the finished quilting. 

Desert Sky finish

My quilt guild, Piecemakers, hosted Connie Lange, a Judy Niemeyer trained teacher, last summer to speak at our guild meeting. She also did a class to help us learn the techniques and ease of paper piecing the Judy N. way.  It was very informative, and a fun, faster way to pp using strip piecing methods. We did some precutting before class so that we could get a head start on the day of class. The precutting was definitely worth it, as it takes some time in itself. By precutting, we were able to start in with the sewing right away. 

I got about two thirds of it done, then set it aside for awhile to work on other projects for classes. When I finished it a few months ago, I accidently turned some around and sewed them together partially in the wrong order. So up close isn't quite right, but at a distance it looks fine, I think. (If you are reading this Connie, don't look too closely!)

I recently quilted and bound it, so it's officially finished. I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle another Judy pattern any time soon, but it was fun making this one and learning the techniques.

Our guild hasn't met since February because of the virus, so I miss that stimulation of new projects shown and friendly chatter. We were to have several fun sounding classes, but they were cancelled. I hope that we are able to meet again soon!

 

Sunbonnet Sue Sampler 1

I designed this very basic sampler to using traditional blocks to teach quilters how to move on from Beginning Quilting and learn new techniques, including half square triangles and blocked sashing. 

As you can tell from the fabrics, this is about 15 years old, give or take a year or two. The students also made Sunbonnet Sue using fusible webbing and then handstitched around the pieces. 

This is probably the oldest one of my quilts that was not quilted until recently. After several years of using it,  I made a different, brighter version of this quilt as I had grown tired of the fabrics. Now where is that picture....

Finished!

Quilting some UFOs

Since I haven't been teaching classes, I have more free time lately. I wish I could say I'm using the time to the utmost. I'm not. But I have been working on getting some quilts from the UFO pile quilted. 

I don't have as many unfinished or in progress quilt projects as many people do because I have to finish them in order to use them for class models. I haven't always quilted them before using them. It is easier to hang quilts unquilted, plus I didn't always have the time to get it done. 

I started a series of samplers that I designed to help teach different aspects of quilting. These proved to be popular, so I continued. This was #5, Row by Row, which I made in about 2007. I always use a different setting and different blocks. Eventually I started designing new blocks as well, but for this one I used traditional blocks.

My quilting machine is an oldie and doesn't always want to cooperate, (or it might be me not being consistent in my movements....), but it's been working pretty well lately. Conrad has really taken a fancy to this quilt, taking every opportunity before and after the binding to sleep on it.  

It is hard to bind with him around sometimes!

Dog Gone Cute is true to it's name!

 I made 2 more dog blocks with the light teal background this week. I am not super happy with the one below, as the ears don't show up as well as I wish. In person the color is better, so I probably won't change it. Now to figure out a setting for them.

 I loaded the Dog Gone Cute with the gray background and got it quilted too. I really like it and need to trim and bind. Not sure what I will bind it with yet. Probably one of the darker grays.

Dog Gone Cute backing.

A new friend?

I know that everyone that doesn't have an assistant is probably a little jealous of those of us who do. I made a couple more dog blocks this week and Conrad took a shine to this one. 

I have 4 more cut out, pinned and ready to go, but haven't been in much of sewing mood lately. Hopefully, I'll get going on the others later today. 

I've been working on cleaning up the backyard...some junk out there that needed to be gone through and pitched. Plus got rid of an unsightly trailer full of junk yesterday, so cleaned up the area where that was sitting too. The garden looks good. My hollyhocks are starting to bloom. 

There are some lighter pink blooms starting too. We had them on the farm growing up and we had so much fun making dolls out of the flowers.

Navy dog without Conrad.

Doggone crazy?

I didn't get a lot of sewing done this past week. Spent some time cleaning, putting up new window blinds and working outside. I did get the gray dogs sewn together and the backing made for it. I want to get it loaded on the machine later. I also made another dog, using a different background and spotted "white" on his face. I really like the way this looks. I plan to make a few more like this. 

Another puppy

One more dog made and a set of footprints. I am working on a layout now.

Playing with a couple of layouts. Ideas? 

 I'm leaning towards this one right now.

Two more puppies

I made two more dogs today. I really like making them and have a plan to make 5 plus some footprints, which are on the pattern as well. It will be smaller than the original pattern. The designer  has a pattern for cats too...they are really cute too and I'm tempted to get it as well. 

Cute puppies

I started working on some dogs from the pattern Dog Gone Cute by Sew Fresh Quilts the other day. They are fun to make, plus lots of different versions. These are the first two I've sewn, but I have 3 more cut out and ready to go. 

I made one of her other patterns last winter...Giraffes in a Row. I had so much fun making them too.

The patterns are for pieced animals and she has a pattern for just about every animal. 

We had a Zoom bridal shower today for my nephew's fiance.They live in Wisc. but the Iowa shower was today. It was interesting and unusual go to a shower this way, but it was fun and I'm glad that we got to have it. The wedding is May 30. They are still getting married on that date, but only 10 people can be in attendance. They are having a reception in July. Hopefully we can be with them to celebrate then. 

Rolling Hills

I recently made the Rolling Hills quilt by Miss Winnie Designs. I loved the ease of putting it together piece by piece. I loved that it used a jelly roll and a background. So simple. I recently had it quilted by my friend, Michael. He is a master at machine quilting and chose this gorgeous design for the empty places on the quilt. 

I need to get some better pix of the whole quilt now that it's quilted. It was too windy when I finished it and keep forgetting to take it outside when it's not windy or rainy. 

My friend Conrad was also very helpful in finishing this quilt.

Or not.

He likes the binding as well as the quilt.

I love this diagonal striped -like fabric for the binding. 

You can see the quilting better on some of these pictures. All done! I was supposed to teach a class on making this quilt, but due to social distancing, I'm not sure when I will be teaching classes again. I will be ready when I do!