110 Blocks Finished, Yay!

I finished my 110 blocks this am and it's only 5:30 am now, so you know I got up early.  About 3:30 I think it was, but I'm about to go back to bed for awhile soon.  When I thought of 110 blocks I couldn't think that I would finish very soon, but it only took a week or so and they are done.  When I started I thought to use only 30 style pales, but after about 40 of them I could see that not only was it boring (I like to have a variety to sew) to sew all the same types, but I knew that coming up with 440 different ones would be hard, I don't have a large stash.  Pretty soon, anything went as you can see and I tried not to use any one fabric more than 4 times.  I used the charm squares from the swap that I mentioned before, a moda charm pack, muslin scraps from the approximately 25 year old bolt, and then went to my scraps.  I got enough squares without going to my yardage and larger pieces.  I plan to use binding scraps and sheets that I already have for the back.  The only thing that I purchased was a king sized batting.  I couldn't feature piecing a monster batting that large.   The quilt will be 10 x 11 blocks and this is about 1/4 of them, 5 x 6 blocks.  There's really no hurry, except that I like to see the finished products, and I have company coming that I am very excited about, but hopefully in a few weeks it will be finished and my Sunrise Sunset (kind of Halloween because it has orange in it, according to my husband) can be put away until fall and this will replace it on my bed.   We just got a new mattress and box springs and went from two queen sized beds to three, so I also plan to do one of Bonnie Hunter's "Star Strucks"  for the bed that is now is DH's office.  The quilt in there is what we had been using since about January, but it is really a bit too small. 

New Quilt Started

I was all happy to have finished my 'year round' quilt for our bed, my Sunrise Sunset and then DH made a remark about orange and Halloween and kind of spoiled it for me.  Anyway, I decided that that will be our Fall quilt and I have started a new year round quilt.  It happened that about that same time I saw a tutorial on MaDan's Quilting for a 5" Charms Scrappy and I liked the cozy country look of it.  Here are 9 of my first 10 blocks, only 100 left to go.  I plan to make it 100 by 110 inches with no borders and since the blocks finish at 10" that means 110 of them.   I had some nickel squares from a swap that I took part in about 10 years ago and the muslin is some that was left from a bolt that I bought about 25 years ago.  I also have 2 charm packs that I bought about 3 or 4 years ago and some 'brand new' fabric that I have had for a few months.  I'll need 440 5 inch squares so when I run out of what I have already mentioned I'll go to my scraps.  It'll be nice to have a new quilt and use up some older fabrics, too. 

Paintbox Gingerbread

Number 12 for the year, Paintbox Gingerbread, more fancied up than the original Paintbox.

Sunrise Sunset Finished

All finished just needs to be washed and put on the bed.

More true colors.

And the back of course.

No. 10 Mary Ann's Quilt

Finished about 58 by 80 inches.  Hopefully it will brighten things up a bit for her.

Thank goodness for my embroidery machine, it makes labels nicer and easier.

Kind of a wild pieced back.  Originally it was for a little smaller quilt (one of Kerri's little girls, but then I decided to use flannel for theirs) and I had to add the red strip to make it a bit larger.  
Kind of funny, now I've made 10 bags and 10 quilts for the year.  Not too bad for a slow start, even if most of the quilts are easy ones.

Bags Finally Done

The good news is they are extra sturdy and should last a long time.  The bad news is they may not be bags that you would want to last a long time.  They are done and I hope that they are liked, but they have some definite flaws.

I thought I was making Mackenzie's the same size that I had made Logann, Maisyn's and Kolbie's, but I thought that I had used the 12 1/2" square ruler and then added a bottom, I must not have added the bottom.  Mackenzie's is deeper than I thought because I added 3 inches for the bottom and it may take her a couple years to grow into it.  I was so proud of this fabric, it is velvety, but it was a nightmare to work with due to the stretching.  I hope a few things, one being that the straps aren't too long, but I thought that a diaper bag would need a little longer straps to deal with the baby paraphernalia.  I hope this is one of the cases where "done is better than perfect". 
Now, one more quilt to finish for my "July Quilts".  At the last minute I decided that my brother's x-mother-in-law needed a quilt.  She has had a rough few months to say the least.  In November she lost her only daughter, only child I think, then she also fell and injured her shoulder twice.  She rented a home from a church and the second fall was when the back stairs railing collapsed.  A month or two ago the church evicted her (I know there may be more to the story, but it seems to me like kicking her when she's down) and she had to move from the home she had been living in for almost 15 years.  The quilt is another strippy quilt and is basted and ready to be quilted.  I also have my own two quilts waiting, my Paintbox and Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  

Crinkly Quilt Pile

Six quilts washed dried and crinkly, ready for delivery.  The top is Mackenzie's, then Breanna's, Kolbie's, Maisyn's, Logann's, and Kerri's.

On the Heels of No. 8.......

On the heels of number 8 is number 9 finished last night.  Kerri's "Strip Twist".   It finished at about 60 by 81 inches.

Another flannel back, should be nice for the Iowa weather.

And her label.  I think you can see that I like this rose embroidery, it was a freebie from BFC Creations.

No. 8 Breanna's Quilt Finished

It's not award winning, but it's finished and it is kind of cute.

It finished up at about 59 by 77 inches.

The back is cozy flannel.

And the label. 

Whew.... That Was a Challenge

Two and a half days spent mostly basting and I have these four to show for it, Breanna's, Kerri's, my purple paintbox and my Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  Wow was that Sunrise Sunset a challenge.  The wool batting seems to have made it heavier and harder to baste than my Iowa Christmas or my brother's Fourth of July quilts, which were also large queen sized quilts.  I hope that it isn't too much of a challenge to quilt on my Juki.  The plan from here is to finish Breanna's and Kerri's quilts and then to work on the bags for Marcy and Mackenzie.   I'm hoping to finish them and then to hopefully have time to finish the other two before the July visitors come.  Kerri and her 4 little ones will be coming and Nathan, Marcy and their little one will be here.  Vince and I are hoping that it can work out for all of us to go to Camp Blanding while they are here, that'll be fun.