TGIF

It has been a long week. This has been the first full week I have worked in the office since November when were sent home to work because of the pandemic. I am so glad it is Friday! I worked a bit more on the music improv quilt, but I was tired so I didn't get a whole lot done. What I did get quilted was this block

and the white parts of this block

this picture shows the position of those two blocks in the quilt

So overall I am now at 37% quilted and this picture outlines the area quilted.

I don't have any plans for the weekend except to do some cooking for meals for next week, of course work on the music quilt, and maybe a bit of baking. I have some bananas that need to be used so I think I will make some banana bread. The weather is calling for warmer temps - 50-60 - but rain. I noticed the daffodils next to the house coming up.

and the snow is melting away. The piles along the driveway will take a little longer to disappear.

Have a great weekend!

Continue to make progress

I quilted for three hours last evening and I am now 33% done with quilting this quilt. I finished the black parts of those two blocks, then quilted a block at the center top and borders on two sides - the purple outlined areas.

Yesterday on my lunchtime walk I saw a heron and two ducks hanging out with the thousands of Canada Goose. Here is the heron. I tried to get a little closer, but the bird was not having any of it and would fly off if I got within 20'. 

This morning there is a female cardinal trying to figure out why she can get thru the windows. These windows have a reflective coating on them so I don't know if she sees herself and that is why she is confused.

Progress on the music UFO

I made good progress last evening. I quilted the strips in four blocks that needed white thread. It's a pain to keep changing thread colors so I went ahead and quilted with the white before I had to change the thread color. The blocks in pink have only the white strips quilted; the blue outlined blocks are done. I am now 22% done with the quilting. The machine is all set up with black thread so I will be quilting those two pink outlined blocks tonight.  I will probably quilting the black in the block adjoining those two blocks and save myself another thread change.  It will be easier to see to quilt too since I had to replace the burnt out bulb in the sewing machine.  It had been burnt out for a couple days.  That task is always a challenge so I was dragging my feet. It didn't take me too long this time. The key is to wear a glove with a gripper surface so the bulb can be shoved in and twisted with just my pointer finger and my thumb.

Next project

My next project is another oldie, but goodie. I know this one is over 10 years old. I had gotten as far as quilting the area in yellow then stopped probably because something else more important came up. I got two more blocks quilted - the green outlined blocks - so I am now 15% done with the quilting. The size of this quilt is a little bit smaller than the last one - 82 1/2" x 97". The last one was 89" x 98".

This quilt's theme is percussion/drums. Here is a close up of those two blocks.  

9th finish for 2021

I can now cross another UFO off the list. I managed to get this quilt quilted, got the binding sewn on and it even has a label! It finished 89" x 98". I struggled finding fabric for the binding. I wanted a color - not black. I found two pieces of Kona, one on the blue side and one on the green side, but I didn't have enough of either.

So I dug around some more and found this lighter blue that I had plenty of. Yes, it is a minion fabric - read on.

SO here is the finished quilt. It was after 6 PM so the sun was gone. The lighting is not very good.

Here is the back. I used this fabric because 1. it was one of the few fabric I had that I have enough length of and 2. it's cute! So now you know why the binding has minions.

Onward to the next project!

Square inch by square inch

Last evening went by quick! I had to shovel as soon as I got home; another 1" - 1 1/2" had fallen yesterday morning. It was light and fluffy so it was easy to shovel.

I had to cook some protien for lunch today and then I finally could get to the machine and quilt more on the tropical quilt. I now am 70% done with the quilting. Slowly this is getting done.  In this picture it doesn't look I quilted much - the purple outlined area, but being that the picture is in perspective it makes the area I quilted look smaller.

My plan this weekend is to finish quilting this and hopefully get started on the binding. While I was out walking yesterday I saw a momma Canada Goose watching over her babies. I was very surprised to see babies this time of year! I have no idea what the poor thing eat since there aren't many bugs right now. And then they were in that freezing water! There is a small area of open water at the pond despite the freezing temperatures. I wonder where they go at night and how do they keep warm? At one point momma flew off and left them alone. I would think they would be prime bate for a hawk which there are hawks around here.

Plugging along

I managed to get thru my first day back to work since November 17th. I did go walking at lunchtime. I was still sore from shoveling and when I got home I was tired. I did manage to get a little more quilted on the black and gray tropical print quilt. I am now 67% done with the quilting. That area is marked in pink.

The drive this morning was slow.  We had gotten less than an inch of snow, but the roads were slick and I haven't done much driving in the dark over the last few months.  I am glad to have windows in my cubical. Here is the view today. You can't tell, but it is snowing hard right now.  Looks like my drive home could be slow too.  Oh well, I would rather get home in one piece, but driving stresses me out even on a dry, sunny day!  LOL!!

Oldies, but goodies

I have been spending time going thru the piles of quilts I have. I asked the lady that needed a baby quilt (she picked this quilt)

if her church had any organizations that could use some quilts for the poor or homeless. She said yes so I went thru the piles of quilts just sitting in closets and on shelves and sorted out which ones that needed a new home. Here is the pile in the car. Since I am at work today I can hand them over to her today.

While going thru the quilts I founds some oldies, but goodies! This one is lap size and I made it for my Mom in 1981 for her birthday. It is one of my early quilts. I hand quilted it. The blue border is faded in places.  My Mom got interested in quilting because of this and made a lot of quilts until she passed away.

Look how bad the quilting it! LOL!! I am self taught and I have gotten better.   I am still no pro at hand quilting, but this is a hot mess! LOL!

This one is now such a rag. My x-husband had it until I saw it months later.   I have no idea what he did to this poor innocent quilt! I was so mad that he had trashed it I took it back.  It was hand quilted.  I have had it now for 31 - 32 years, but I don't know what I should do with it.  

I had forgot that I had made a Valentine quilt. This quilt was made from blocks I won in  February of 2000 when I belonged to a quilt group where I use to live. I finished it in September that year.  Mine is the lavender square block with the pink heart near the bottom.    The reds clashed so badly, that after I had the quilt done I dyed it in Dylon Tea Dye which toned down the harshness.  This one is being let go and is in the pile for donation.

Busy day

I got the email from work everyone is to report back to the office tomorrow. So I had to fix food for lunches, do laundry, and will pack up my computer and work stuff in the car. I got a new grill pan

so I cooked some of the chicken I got Saturday on my road trip, roasted some broccoli, and made meatballs to put in the freezer so I have them for next week.

Shoveling snow was also a task for the day. There was about 3" and the top layer was crispy. It took me about an hour with pacing myself.

I didn't have much time to quilt, but I did get a little done - it's the area outlined in green. I am now 67% done.

More progress made

I am now 61% done with the quilting on this old UFO. I have gone thru 46 bobbins - whew!

I did order a little fabric that was on sale. The big piece at the right, Grunge Fog, is backing. I have another UFO that wanted a nice backing for. I think the mail service is back on track because I ordered this on Friday morning and it was delivered Saturday - yes, the next day from a dinky place 75 miles away that has one stop sign!

What I have been up to

I have been working on another UFO. It is another one that is at least 12 or 13 years old and no this is not my oldest UFO that still needs finished. I originally made it for a wedding gift, but after reading the blog of the bride I decided she probably wouldn't like it. She is very particular. SO I decided to finish it and if I get it done in time, it will go to someone I know will appreciate it. I had seem a picture of a quilt that the center was made up of squares cut from a large print and just sewn back together. There was a nice distinction between the squares, but that is not what happen to this quilt. I started out with this fabric

Here is what it looks like. It's not horrible, just not what I was aiming for. LOL!!

To finish this quilt I had a cone of King Tut thread in the color Equinox. It is an odd gray green color.

It looks pretty good on this quilt. I have run thru 31 bobbins and have 43% of it quilted. The quilt measures about 89 x 98 so it is another big one! I did get the center area quilted so the rest will be easier. I have marked off what I have quilted so you can see where I am at.

I do like the fabric I used for the border. You don't see a stripe like this very often.

I will show you what I used for the back once this is done. I just know that I am tired! That was a lot of quilting in a couple of days. Then on Saturday I took a road trip 50 miles one way to the town where I use to live to go to the meat market - yes, they have great meat and some of what I bought was on sale - and I needed to go to the credit union. That trip took 3 hours; driving always tires me out so that didn't help when I was trying to quilt as much as I could.  I am stocked up with protein for the next two months so it was well worth the trip. 

7th and 8th finish for 2021; cross off two more UFOs!

I decided to work on two more small UFOs that have been hanging around for over a decade or two. They are now done. I pieced this Amish looking top a long time ago. It was 42" square.

I decided to add more of the navy blue to make it rectangular and then it would be the right size for a charity baby quilt. I dug thru my solids scrap bin and found a piece of navy big enough.

In person, this piece is ugly so I figure I couldn't make it any worse.  I decided to quilt it with some variegated thread. I had kept the binding with it all these years which I am glad I did because it would be hard to match the red. It is done and it finished 41" x 51". I just threw a print on the back and called it a day.

Finish number 8 was some blocks I had pieced with fabric I had stamped.

I remember I needed to stamp more fabric, but couldn't find the lips stamp so the project came to a stop. I recently found the stamp when I was cutting my scraps, but I was no longer interested in stamping more fabric.

I decided I would use the one piece of stamped fabric I still had and just square up the unit of 6 blocks and add a border. Here is the section squared up.

Here is the finished quilt. It ended up 37.5" x 46.5" and will be another charity quilt.

Now I have to figure out what is next!