First Two Finishes of 2013!

Well, I did it!  I finally managed to get the binding on these two quilts so I could say I truly have FINISHED something this year.  lol  Why does the list always seem to be growing regardless of what gets accomplished?

1st two finishes for 2013!

The light is terrible in my house at certain times of the day and our yard is scrubby and very unkempt right now so I was trying to think of other ways to take pictures of these two quilts.  Hmm....  Back to the wood floor for the next photo session!

Finished Antique Medallion quilt
and G'ma's Kaleidoscope quilt

I don't know if you can see the binding in the picture below, but I am extremely happy with my choices.  The pink is a (surprisingly) great complement for the Antique Medallion quilt and the blue binding seemed perfect for the Kaleidoscope.  I actually had to baste one edge of the quilt and then cut the extra backing off just so I could have enough of the blue fabric for to use for binding!  There was nothing in the totes that looked half as good and I wasn't going to settle for less.

Love how the binding turned out!

My husband was out of town today so I invited myself and the kids over to dinner at my mom and dads.  While I was there I managed to finish up two bow-tie blocks for my forever project.  It doesn't seem like much now, but two here and two there eventually add up to a whole bunch of finished bow-tie blocks!

Two more hand pieced bow-tie blocks.

Now I am linking up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday where everybody gets to feel good about working on hand work projects whatever the method or approach.*wink

This and That

I need to get some more bow-tie blocks ready for hand piecing.  Our girls won their game at Regionals on Friday and now they're headed to the state tournament in Spokane this coming weekend!  Very exciting stuff but I know from experience, it's good to have some hand work available for momma during the down times!

5 more bow-ties done

I managed to get all of the hand quilting done on G'mas Kaleidoscope quilt too.  You know how it is.  The closer you get to a finish, the faster you quilt and the longer your sessions!  I am not super proud of my work on this quilt, but I love the quilt for the sentimental value it has for me and I still say it's all been worth it.  The crazy fabric difficulties did not make me hate this quilt at all and in fact, I'm more fond of it than ever.  We won't talk about the fact that my almost new thimble now has more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese......

I'm gonna ignore the mistakes in this quilt and just love it to pieces....

Just yesterday when I realized how close I was to finishing the hand quilting on the Kaleidoscope quilt, I felt major guilt pains over the Antique Medallion quilt waiting so patiently on the railing for binding.  I've been having problems figuring out what color binding to put on it, but I finally went with a pink fabric that's already in the quilt.  None of the other colors ever looked right so when I saw the pink fabric, it just clicked.

Waiting so patiently for attention...

Right now it looks like a rather unfortunate choice, but hopefully when I fold it over and sew it to the back, that little bitty piece of color will look just right again.  Decisions, decisions......

Awww.... Did I do that?

When I was headed back down the stairs from my photo session, I looked up and saw this.  Such a beautiful sight to me.  I am sometimes in total awe that someone like me could ever make anything so beautiful.*wink  Once again I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's.  Lots to check out over there!

Just Another Slow Stitching Evening

I posted about this quilt the other day over at Celebrate Hand Quilting.  There is always a quilt in the hoop around here so that I have something to work on in the evenings when my kids are winding down for the night.  Even just a few hours here and there throughout the week will get me somewhere eventually!

G'mas Kaleidoscope Quilt

I love linking up over at Kathy's Sunday Stitching even if I usually don't get much slow stitching done until late Sunday evening.  Sundays are more of a church/family day around here, but slow stitching is definitely part of my life.  A very essential part, especially since I have teenagers.*wink

Lots to Think About

First of all, I want to apologize for any consternation that I caused by nominating any particular person for the Liebster Award!  Essentially it's a 'chain' award and although I feel like it doesn't require a mandatory response, people can definitely worry about that.  Don't!  I went along because it seemed fun and I was already burrowed into my office for the time being.  If I disappear into my quilting room, then I have to feel guilty because I'm not doing bookwork.  I mean, obviously.  I'm not even in the office.  But posting?  Oh yeah.  Total mind game.  In the office = working! lol

G'ma's Kaleidoscope quilt

Later in the day, my time is my own.  Well, except for fixing dinner, washing dishes, attending the kids basketball games etc. etc.  That's when I do little hand quilting usually.

G'ma's Kaleidoscope from another view

This quilt has been very interesting to work with.  I LOVE the colors and scrappiness.  For once the stark white doesn't bother me at all and I'm really not sure why?  I am quilting it very simply in approx. a 1/4" echo stitching around each block, although a little wider for the white patches.  They are a total nuisance. 

Looking at some of the fabric.

But it's not just the white fabric.  Some of the other fabric has a very tight weave too.  My new leather thimble is getting totally thrashed, my finger is getting bruised and I am just trying to plow through it all with a smile.  I do lots of thinking about my grandmother while I work on this quilt so that definitely helps.  Where did she get her fabric and why?  Was some of this fabric re-purposed?  I almost think so.  Lots to consider...

In the Hoop

When I was digging through all my completed quilt tops the other day, I pulled out this Kaleidoscope quilt.  I made it almost ten years ago in tribute to my grandmother.  She was a wonderful person and I loved her dearly.  After she died, my mother gathered up all of the scraps and pieces of her fabric together for my sisters and I to use in our quilting endeavors or however else we chose to use them.

G'ma's Kaleidoscope Quilt

The scraps were dumped out on the table and we picked one fabric each until all the of the fabric was gone.  After I had the opportunity to consider what there was to work with, I decided to make a kaleidoscope quilt out of templates.  I figured it was a good way to be efficient with all the little bits and pieces I ended up with!  Anyway, the quilt pattern was a little above my pay grade and the piecing did not go well at all.  I basically threw the quilt top in the back of my closet in extreme disappointment and decided to have it machine quilted someday whenever I got around to it.  Maybe even the fifth of never.  lol

Kaleidoscope Quilt close up

Up until the other day, I had never once seriously considered hand quilting it.  The white fabric is one that I added to go with the scraps and it just so happens to be one of those painted on type of fabrics or whatever they're called--very difficult fabrics to hand quilt.  Am I crazy?  My grandmother hand quilted every single quilt she ever made in her life and I think she'd be proud of me for the effort.  The kaleidoscope is a quilt that has been neglected for much too long and now it's finally in the hoop where it should have been years ago.

Full pic of Antique Medallion

Sorry for the blurry picture of the Antique Medallion.  Someone asked to see this entire quilt in a photo after all of the quilting was completed.  Best I can do for now!

Once again I'm linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and 'filling up the well' with some quality time spent on hand quilting today.