Moving Things Along

Directions From a Local is a true blue finish! The hand quilting went very quickly and then it was just a matter of getting the binding properly attached. A quick look through the stash totes, and no worries, plenty of fabric to choose from for binding possibilities. 

Directions From a Local is finished!

Not surprisingly, I ended up sewing scrappy pieces of odd blue fabric together for the binding as that color seemed to have the very best effect. Some of the fabrics had been in the totes for a very long time and I had begun to question why they were ever acquired. But that's exactly why we buy the odd/interesting/unusual fabrics as our instincts nudge us to. So they are there waiting for us when the perfect opportunity crops up!

Love the feel of this quilt

Most of the fabrics used in this quilt are not solids, but a very subtle print or tone on tone. One fabric in particular, the brown and white gingham, is not 100% cotton and seemed to want to warple and wave at the slightest provocation. Still, I absolutely love the vintage look of it mixed in with the quilt.

So happy with the fix-it corners in the middle...

The choppy, cut up corners of the log cabin are a result of sewing the first part of the quilt together without ever measuring strip lengths. Just sewing them on and cutting the excess off at the corners. Eventually there came a time when the quilt began to misbehave entirely too much and it just had to be addressed. I am so in love with how that turned out, there is absolutely nothing to regret!

Hard to see, but some of these fabrics are very sweet...

This quilt was started as an attempt to recreate or rather, interepret, one of the lovely quilts in 'Unconventional and Unexpected' by Roderick Kiracofe. You are probably so very tired of hearing me talk about this book, but it is one of the best buys that I have ever made, quilting-wise. Still finding lots and lots of inspiration within the covers of this book, sometimes just enough to pull me out of a slight mojo slump.

Probably could have added more stitching, but I wanted
to keep it loose and drapey....

I am still kind of in awe that these colors came out of my quilting room, much less, that they all came together in such a successful manner. Playing with color is one of my very favorite things about quilting. Building a different 'to us' color palette often feels easier when trying to base it off an already finished quilt and using it as the ultimate guide.

Whimsical touch to add the 'white line' piecing

Creating a 'mood' in quilting just feels ridiculously fun too. 'Cuz of course, that's exactly what we're doing. Oh sure, it can be a bit anxiety inducing during the attempt {so many decisions}, but after? If it turns out well? High fives all around!

So happy with the Turn Right arrow effect

The next quilt in the hoop will be Vintage Coxcombs. It's been a finished quilt top for a couple years now and one that lately I've been itching to get into the hoop.

Vintage Coxcombs getting sandwiched and pinned

I actually took the time to pin it between all the rows for machine, stitch-in-the-ditch sewing. Ughh! Takes so very long and it was while I was feeling pretty rotten too. Totally underestimated how much energy I had and how much time it always takes. My general optimism about how easy it would be to get it all ready was probably rooted in the idea that it is completely unacceptable to have an empty hoop. My goodness, however would I survive without a hand quilting project warmed up and ready to go?

Still happy with the pieced backgrounds

The unfortunate saga continues as I discovered when eventually getting back into the sewing room to actually sew. Somehow I totally forgot to engage the dual feed with my special Stitch-in-the-Ditch foot, which basically eliminated the entire walking foot effect as hello? There was no 'walking foot' apparatus engaged. Oh yes. You guessed it. I ended up having to rip out some of my machine stitching and start over. Fun stuff.

Going to keep the hand quilting very simple on this one...

Thankfully I didn't have to rip everything out. Apparently the benefit to quilting with low ebb energy is that I was moving the quilt slower through the machine than normal. Wonder of wonders, that helped everything behave better than it should have/could have. While the stitching didn't end up looking fabulous by any means, the quilt is in the hoop now and there's no looking back. I refuse to be a slave to perfection and choose instead to just pick my battles. Stitching lines meandering a bit over the top of seams? Fine and Dandy. Wavy outside sashing? Time to pull out the seam ripper!

My husband and I are both feeling loads better these days and even got to see our grandkids over the weekend. He will be taking a bit longer to recover to absolute full health, but if spending time with the granddaughters doesn't help accelerate the feel-good endorphins, I don't know what could! Still working on some hand applique when time allows and feeling very optimistic that this is the week we mostly return to a 'normal' routine....

Long Rambling Thoughts About Making

Make Beautiful Things is a very bright, bold looking quilt for me. It was started initially in response to an AHIQ 'words' challenge. Sort of a 'What would our quilt say if it could say anything at all' prompt. The solid yellow and dark brown fabrics were chosen quite by default, if only because they had sufficient yardage available without going out and buying new.

Make Beautiful Things is finished!

Most usually, I am adding words after a quilt is started. There I go, plodding along with my latest masterpiece and the quilt suddenly insists that it needs certain words added. That is something that happens fairly regularly around here as I find joy in the quirkiness of including words or a phrase in fabric. This time, the words would essentially BE the quilt and so it made it all the more important to find the very best wording.

The Rising Sun blocks make me happy

As the years have flown by, most of my local quilting friends have all moved on from quilting. They have aged, {died in one case} or perhaps never became interesting in challenging themselves to grow in the same way that feels important to me. Though I am very blessed to have a wonderfully supportive family rallying behind my interests, it's not like they are invested in the details of what it takes to arrive at the finish line. They are much more interested in the finished product and where, or to whom, it might be going. lol

Very simple but effective

It might seem to some like the projects careen from one idea to the next without a lot of thought, but the truth is something altogether different. There is almost always a story or theme behind every quilt. A color palette that I am ardently pursuing, a pattern, design, block {or style?} that is currently intriguing, an antique quilt that is needing interpretation, a particular challenge that I'm earnestly trying to meet, or perhaps even a stack of orphan blocks that are feeling miffed about being left behind. Whatever the case, you can be sure that I am doing my very best to make the finished quilt absolutely as beautiful as is possible.

Hand quilting makes everything even better

The quilting process is incredibly personal as it pertains to the 'journey'. Decision after decision is made that stems directly from personal experiences, current skill level, preferences, and/or the lack {or plenty} of supplies on hand. This quilt for instance, includes some largish Rising Sun or Twirly Wheel blocks that were languishing in the orphan totes. Would any of you have similarly unused colored/patterned blocks tucked away in your quilting room? Maybe the blocks or the colors, but probably not both.

Hmm.. love it with sunflowers too

The quote, 'I just want to make beautiful things even if nobody cares' {attributed to Saul Bass}, really jumped out at me as the starting point for this specific quilt. It says so much! Yes, I have good, quilty friends here on the blog who 'care'. My family 'cares'. Sometimes even the people who receive a quilt from me 'care', even if only in the abstract.

My motto

For me, the quote zeros in on something integral to making authentic and/or original looking quilts. It's become a motto sorts. Basically, I don't care if you or anyone else likes my quilts. Not to be rude, but it's really that simplistic. Oh, I get a great big smile on my face when people appreciate whatever it is that I'm doing! It feels really good and I'd be a liar to say that it doesn't matter at all.

When we make for ourselves and the furtherance of whatever journey that WE are on, then the decision making process can become greatly simplified. It only has to make sense in our heads to be 'right' which saves a lot of time lost spent testing the winds.

Do I wonder sometimes if what I'm posting on the blog here will be well received? Of course that happens! I just don't let it bog me down either way. It feels much, much better when we quit over-complicating progress with ideas and worries such as, 'Nobody likes yellow quilts!' or 'Oh yeah, these blocks are so obviously imperfect that I should be terribly embarrassed to think of using them!' or worse yet, 'This is a really dumb idea!'. Uh huh. Because every idea can be a dumb idea. Or NOT. How do we know until we try?

Don't misunderstand. You will still THINK these things and you might even be right about some of them. Many people do not and will never like predominantly yellow quilts. That's a fact. What is important is that you don't let these 'facts' diminish your desire to play with the color 'yellow' or whatever weird color that is currently tickling your fancy. Over and over again if that's what makes you happy! I can tell you that if you love a color and it shows to the point that somehow you make an amazing looking quilt with it? {'Cuz you will if you love it that much.} It won't matter if that's my least favorite color in the whole world! Suddenly, I'm gonna start thinking of ways to incorporate that very same element into my own quilting!

Gonna have to keep this one!

If I would have started out by capitulating to all these silly {mostly imaginary} external pressures, this quilt would never have been. It would have died in its infancy and those fun Rising Sun blocks would still be buried in the orphan totes or maybe even in the garbage! Where's the fun in that? I just want to make beautiful {to me} quilts even if nobody else will ever be moved by them, understand them, appreciate them or possibly even be inspired by them. By starting from a place of  'even if nobody cares', then we free ourselves exponentially to the making of more and more beautiful things. It's like a perpetual motion motion. We make. We like. We respond positively and enthusiastically. We make more. Others like it too? That's just bonus and oh yeah. Inspiration flowing to them. See how that works?

Funnily enough, this is a quilt that I stare at sort of in amazement. I did this? Made this? SO not me and yet, very, very me all at the same time. I'm constantly learning and growing and pushing myself and slowly, slowly the quilts show signs of that forward progress. When this quilt was laid across the foot of my bed, there was this huge feeling of achievement. Wowsers! What a bright, happy quilt! The challenge was the perfect impetuous to try something a little different and overall I'm beyond delighted with where it ended up.

Easier to stitch the letters to a background fabric first

Next up was the Coins and Baskets quilt. Yes, it's finished too. It was another challenge from our AHIQ friends that involved 'coins'. This one seemed super easy at first and the ideas flowed very quickly. For some reason I immediately fell in love with the idea of using up older fabrics from the stash. Where have you heard that one before?

A mix of hand quilting and stitched-in-the-ditch

Eventually, it became obvious that the original spark for the quilt was proving to be a spectacular fail. Of course, that doesn't slow me down for long as frustration is an unacceptable resting place. The ideas were parceled out into two separate projects for two completely different looking quilts. Other ideas got dumped, as well they should be.

Last minute words that seemed like a good idea

Can I just say that improv. coins are sheer fun to cut out and sew together? There will definitely be more of these in the foreseeable future! I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of grouping together several narrow rows and then creating an every-other block out of the result. Of course, something needed to be done about the rest of the quilt, but as you can see, my beloved element {baskets} to the rescue!

Really glad it has the brighter greens included

It was a fairly interesting quilt to make once the proper direction were sorted out. You can read more about that here. Lots of quick, simple decisions with the minimum of stress. Will that fabric work? yes. How about green for most of the baskets? Yes. Things like that.

Count Your Blessings is the obvious new name

Though I wanted this quilt to look good, it always felt like it had unspoken limitations. Sometimes its not a bad thing to know absolutely that the current project is never going to win the beauty pageant. We do our best to make it into the running and then just finish it out. By starting with the old gold, rusty reds, browns and black, {not to mention the improv. coins}, my default position went immediately to the 'primitive' vibe and never veered off of that particular path.

Always good to get in another finish....

I talked at the start of this post about making 'beautiful things'. You can believe that this quilt got plenty of attention too though I never believed it could end up looking 'amazing'. Close-up, there are some lovely fabrics used and I for one, happen to think that the baskets are very sweet. I even allowed myself to be persuaded into adding words onto the quilt--at a point where it probably seems ridiculous!

This quilt washed up very nice and wrinkly, giving it the proper cozy feel that every good snuggle quilt needs. It's being gifted to a friend as a comfort sort of quilt. Hopefully no-one would ever assume it was meant to be an heirloom {hands-off the precious textile!}, but rather, sit and drink coffee or tea while having it draped comfortably across their lap. No doubt you've gleaned that this quilt isn't nearly as exciting to me as the previous quilt, but I'm not a bit reluctant to claim it as one of my 'makes'. I gave it lots of love and now it's going out to spread some love. What can be better than that?

The Improv. Woven Basket Overload

This one feels like a good finish. You know how we always seem to have a question or two about things that could have been done different? We ponder, have a little debate with ourselves {and the quilt} and then settle into whatever decision we've come to. At that point we determinedly move forward, crossing our fingers we've followed the right path!

Improv. Woven Basket is completed!

This was one of those quilts that really felt like it could have any number of endings and my mind could never totally grasp the absolute 'best way forward'. Time and again I would make my decision, landing on the side of simplicity. Two-fabric basket. Lollipop flower motif. Utility style inner border done in fabrics that read as a solid. Unassuming border background with high contrast, but very basic leaf shapes. More of those lollipop flowers. And lots and lots of fabric repeats throughout.

2nd finish of the year

It was started back in August of 2016 on sort of a whim, just because I couldn't get the idea of a huge stringy basket out of my head. Once that was done I let it languish for a bit with pretty much zero idea how to fill the center of the basket. Until one weekend in October when I just went nuts with trying to put into place what my brain was telling me was needed!  Wow! That was a crazy weekend. It's a wonderful feeling to feel so much motivation to work on something, but then when it's done, I always sort of deflate and put the project away for a good long rest. It wasn't until February of the next year that I finally attacked the inner and outer borders.

A look at some of the stitching

Not because I was so terribly interested you understand, it was just something to throw up on the wall and contemplate at the moment. Part of my ongoing list of things to eventually check off! But as so often happens, just bringing a project front and center starts usually getting things moving and grooving along again. Fresh eyes can bring new perspective.

Approx. 73" square

I was deeply suspicious of the almost-too-simple inner border, but the more I looked at it, the more I just adored it. Such a wonderfully clean line between the basket and the outside border! And once I added that bit of cherry red there at the top? It didn't matter anymore if something else might look better. I wanted the framing this added to the quilt-- the movement that those blocks of color created by making my eyes do a slow circuit around the entirety of the quilt.

It has captured my heart, I confess...

In the little drawing {that I had doodled at the start of my improv. basket idea}, the outer border was about the only thing that ended up being the same as in the final quilt. The funny thing was, in translation, everything seemed to have a need to be brighter than anything that I had previously envisioned. In auditioning fabric colors and prints, I kept tossing out less vibrant greens and going to scrounge again and again in the stash for some more interesting fabrics for the leaves. Nothing seemed too outrageous for this particular quilt! This is definitely where I am seeing the shift in my quilts from 'before' and the choices I keep making these past couple years.

Gonna be hard to give this one away. May have to keep it!

Over and over again I am choosing brighter, lighter, or busier fabric prints. Not for every fabric in the quilt {obviously}, but most definitely for a chosen few. It's become a quest for me to find those specific fabrics deep in the stash totes! Why am I not buying more of these? My fabrics are so boring!!  I love the layers of interest it creates and the happy, sparky look it can so easily generate. The dull, plain light tan fabric in the outside border fabric was one of those 'crossing my fingers' moments. Would it be too muted and bring the whole quilt down? Or would it be the perfect foil for making those simple flowers look even better than they should be allowed to look?

Nothing like hand quilting texture to get me excited....

When the quilt top was finished, there was a 'flat' quality to the quilt that I didn't like. It troubled me. Should I add words or a date? Should there be another border? All these things were carefully considered until finally I just decided to let it be and see if the quilting stitches would create enough texture to solve my problem. 

Oh the angst in deciding how to quilt the inner and outside border! It honestly wasn't until I had those parts in my hoop and was threading the needle that a definitive plan started forming in my head. And I still had to rip out offending thread colors until I found the ones that made me happy.*sigh  

A quick dig through the stash totes found just enough of two purple fabrics for the binding and then a good long soak in the tub before drying. Just a little bit of the darkest colors bleeding, but when it went through the washer, my color catchers came out white as could be! Yay!

Now that it's done, I am so delighted by all the decisions that resulted in this sweet looking quilt.*whew! You just never know till you know, right? I look at quilts like this and I wonder, why would I ever want to go back to making other peoples patterns full time? In spite of the uncertainty and minor struggles that usually ensue, this process is wonderfully addicting. So exciting and enthralling! Figure out what makes a quilt capture your heart and start doing it! There is NOTHING that compares to looking at a quilt that is totally yours from start to finish. I heartily recommend it to all....

And To Think, When I Was 16 I Hated the Color Purple

Basket Love is the fourteenth finish of the year! To some, it probably looks like I'm racing through the quilts and never stop to take a deep breath. Others see it for exactly what it is--Quilting is my happy place. Well, right after the husband, kids and grandchild. Never want to minimize the importance of those particular persons in my life!

Basket Love is finished!

But quilting and more importantly, working with my hands, keeps the endless worries and cares at bay. Long ago I made hand quilting an important and necessary part of my daily and weekly routine. The stitching isn't usually super complex or detailed, but it is extremely peaceful and meditative. In our fast paced culture and lifestyle, that fills a valuable space in my life. At this point, I honestly think I could hand stitch a whole cloth quilt and be happy. Oh wait! I already did that once before!

A little longer than I intended, but I think it works!

Also, I genuinely love to play with color. So much potential. So many unexplored ideas! The slightest deviation from something tried before makes for the most interesting change or look in a quilt.

Basket Love was started in May of 2017 as an extension of a AHIQ 2-block challenge. Mostly I just wanted to play with some more baskets and the idea of incorporating string/coin columns helped fill the quilt with minimal effort. Plus, the previous attempt at the challenge had left me feeling a bit let down. Totally my own fault but something to be expected after a series of missteps and a boring color palette failed to generate much enthusiasm.

The greens look different depending of the light

This particular blend of colors really intrigued me. Previously, I had scoured the stash totes for all the sour, sharp and/or muddy looking greens that I could find, and just sat there, looking and looking at them. It was way.... past time to move these out of the totes and make way for other newer, prettier fabrics. Was there any possible way to make these fabrics look well loved and appreciated though? Once upon a time I had paid good money for these fabrics because I just couldn't resist! Eventually other colors joined the stack and the bedrock of a quilt started to form. Imagine how incredulous I was when the quilt started getting more and more purple included. When I was 16, that was the color that I loathed with all of my heart!

Simple stitching as always...

The basket idea quickly coalesced into the perfect launching pad for these fabrics/colors and I was off and running. Quilting has a way of making us appreciate all the colors under the sun, right? When the supply of  'good' greens ran short, I dug even deeper and found more fabrics to add in. These later additions didn't feel quite as friendly, and I found myself working hard to spread out the brighter, happier colored green fabrics throughout the vertical string rows. Waste not, want not. Our quilting ancestors didn't give up in despair, they learned how to make do with what they had!

Probably gonna have to keep this one.
No one will ever like it as well as I do!

This quilt top went together very quickly. While it doesn't feel like the best, most vibrant, or even the most charming quilt ever made by 'moi', it does make me very happy. There's just something about the slightly imperfect balance of the setting triangles, the mishmash of basket sizes and coping strips, and all those improv. strings that fits together into one perfect whole. At least in my mind. And the hand stitching is icing on the cake, even in the areas where you have to get close to better appreciate the texture.

Love the carefree look to this quilt

All serious quilters understand what matters most. It's when a quilt made by our hands speaks loudly to our head and heart! I have to say that I also truly loved the challenge of working with long overlooked fabrics in the stash totes. Love, love, love when it works to the good in a quilting effort. Trying to manipulate oldish, stale looking fabrics into something that looks very purposeful and important. Boom! Dontcha want some nice fabric like me? lol  Cracking myself up over here....

The secret ingredient is always and ever the same though, isn't it? Usually just gotta add in a a few 'much newer' fabrics to hold the main stage--have that important 'contrast' so as to be used successfully in a limelight sort of effect. Then the less favored fabrics can do the steadfast and reliable work of filling up the background. What happens when a quilt is full to the brim of only fabulous fabrics? We've all seen it and yes, it sounds crazy. I call it an over-saturation to the senses--too much of a good thing. But maybe that's just me. I've always had a soft spot for those older make-do, utility sorts of quilts anyway. You already know that if you've followed me for very long! The best quilts are the ones that somehow manage to say 'Don't take me too seriously, I certainly don't!'......

May AHIQ Update

Just wanted to update before the big holiday weekend engulfs me completely. Too much to do and not enough time to get it done in! Finally managed to finish the applique border on my Improv. Woven Basket. It finishes out at approx. 73" square, so I think it's probably large enough to leave it be now. It seems I have had a steady diet of applique work lately. When I get one project finished up, the next two crop up right behind it!

Improv. Woven Basket quilt is finished!

The basket started out as an Adhoc. Improv. strings challenge to myself and then the appliqued flowers jumped on board. It's ended up being so much brighter than I expected with the flowers in the borders having a sharp, intense look to them. I think this is a quilt that will be wonderful looking with some hand quilting texture. Right now it feels good, but like it's missing something. Possibly, just an appliqued year up on that middle, pale lavender border unit directly above the basket handle. Will be pondering this for awhile I'm sure.

Then there's the brown/red/gold coin sashing that crashed and burned on the last attempt. I went very old school this time with some classic looking baskets in antique-y colors for the alternate blocks. Still haven't managed to find time to piece the rows, but the handles are appliqued down on the basket blocks and that was basically the only thing holding me back. Now I don't have any time to spend in the quilt room so they're on hold once again.

Coins & Baskets

All these baskets are making me want to make more baskets, which is really not surprising at all. I do rather have a fondness for them.*wink  The coins in the above quilt have been interesting, but I think because the project has had a couple false starts, I just want it done and over with. My mind keeps spinning around with the what-if's and too, the colors could be a little more fun. I'm actually quite relieved to see the vintage/antique direction it's taken, but just not in the mood this season.

Basket Love

So I just went and did it. Started another adhoc. improv. project. This one will have vertical columns of coins as I've never done that and they just keep coming back to haunt me. Also, there will be columns of improv. baskets, all very simple, in various sizes. This satisfies the '2-block' challenge that Kaja set up and lets me continue to play in this series of ideas that all seem to be generated by the one before. {Would you believe I'm also thinking seriously about making another big basket quilt?}. I dithered and dithered and dithered some more, about whether or not to make all the baskets the same size, finally deciding they had to be 'make-do'. Don't want this quilt to look too purposeful.

The basket columns will end up being a bit of a puzzle piece trying to get them all to fit properly but I'm looking forward to the challenge. This project feels very fun already. haha  Remind me of that when I'm trying to get the baskets to play nice together next month! Just need to get these free-hand handles stitched down to the background fabrics and then it will be full steam ahead. 

All the squares for the baskets background were cut without a ruler, then matched up to a similar sized square in the basket fabrics, crosscut and then one half of the basket square {a triangle} was used for a basket handle. I just grabbed the scissors and started cutting so there are short ones, fat ones, and skinny ones! There are no repeats in basket fabrics used, but for every background fabric {the brown} there will be two similar backgrounds. Are you confused yet? Don't worry. There is a plan that may or may not be jettisoned as soon as the project progresses! 

As an interesting aside, I had a touch or two of anxiety while free-cutting the squares for the baskets, but overall I feel very optimistic. No matter how it shakes down, I can make this work. As Monica observed in her recent post, some of us work better within some boundaries, whether self induced or not! Thanks to Ann and Kaja for another interesting Adhoc. Improv. challenge!

A Pre-Holiday Catch Up

Got my computer back late yesterday evening but refused to plug it in until all my Christmas cards were addressed and mailed. Which finally happened today. And wouldn't you know it, a ton of addresses needed updating. Why do people move? So annoying.

The new wall hanging

The good news about my computer is that it should be fine until next summer now.*sigh  I was not looking forward to fighting for computer time on anyone else's computer in this particular house. Or learning new programs, operating systems or important laptop tricks.

As you can see, in the last two weeks I managed to finish up my Vintage Basket AHIQ wall hanging.  It's going to go on the wall in my quilting room and make me think very creative thoughts. Of course it is....

Not my favorite batting, but it turned out alright for this small quilt.

And I also finished up my Tipsy Geese baby quilt. I machine quilted in the ditch on all the vertical rows and then came back and started stitching in between over the top of the geese. Bad mistake. Ended up using my seam ripper because all my geese were bunching up in the mid section of the quilt. There's just something about machine quilting that means there can never be too many pins in the sandwiching process. I know this and yet I continue to be optimistic there can be a compromise made.

Looking at the initial phase of quilting.

So I threw it in a hoop and randomly hand stitched {half or less of} every set of geese. Not that I had time for that, but what do you do? It obviously needed more stitching. Did I ruin it by not hand stitching every single one of them? Sometimes I think my get-up-and-go is not in keeping with all my expectations. I love it and yet, I was itching to add more hand quilting. In fact it was all I could do not to spend more time on this little baby quilt! But really, the time had run out. And it's fine. Perfectly acceptable.

Tipsy Geese is done!

I was only able to incorporate one of the oddball geese units into the quilt. Love how it finishes off this top corner though. And in case you were wondering, this quilt is for a baby boy who is almost six months old now. I personally don't think it's ever too late to gift a child a quilt, but wonder what the mom will think when it shows up out of the blue!

Such a sweet geese unit to finish off the corner....

I totally forgot about getting a label onto the quilt until today when I was packing it into the box for shipping. My daughter totally put the guilt trip on me until I hurriedly wrote one out and got it attached. Which made me arrive at the post office at ten minutes before closing with a mailing box and also needing 120 stamps. Oh, and can you wait to close until I get them all on please? hehe  I almost put the babys name on the label but decided not to at the last second. Cynthia's oops with her beautiful quilt was still very fresh in my mind. Just hope I got the husbands name correct on the mailing address as that could be a bigger oops.....

All my boy, baby quilts end up with the same colors....

In the event I might possibly get bored, there is a new project in the works too.

A new project

One box of dark colored flannel strips and another of medium to light colored flannel strips. All I have to do now is sew a light to a dark until they're all sewn together and then I'll sew those sets together until I have new sets of six.

Accumulating the strip sets

It should look something like the pattern below only I'm eliminating the border altogether and making the quilt a bit wider. Funny how a pattern from January/February of 2005 can still be extremely relevant today. I desperately need a no nonsense, non thinking, chain piecing project right now and who cares when it gets done. And uh... I actually cut out enough strips to make two of these. Which is good because I need a couple more comfort quilts to give away in the next little while.

A Fon's and Porter pattern

And I'm still getting to those pesky circles. Whose idea was this anyway?

50 circles sewn and 4 more ready to go

All going well etc., there will be a linkup party on the first of every month for the next year.  Okay, must go now. I still have a major Christmas shopping list to get figured out as tomorrow is the day to try and finish up. Oh how I hate going the last Saturday before Christmas, but that's the way this year has been. I am very grateful for all of our blessings, good health and wonderful family and friends. If I don't get back to you before the holiday is over, Merry Christmas to you and yours!