Slab Blocks Complete

Deep sigh of relief, the last 9 of my 45 slab blocks are finished.  Now as anyone knows there is lots more to do.  I haven't even cut out any borders or sashing, and  haven't even thought about binding.  I did 3 blocks last night, and 6 blocks this morning, so I think that that is all for another day.  There are 3 quilts to make from them, so it'll be a little while.  There is another great-grandbaby due on the 24th (my husband is hoping for the 22nd on his and a grandson's birthday), and there is a shower for her or him (they opted not to know) in September, so I'm hoping to be done by then so that the older 2 siblings can have gifts, too.

36 Down, 9 to Go - Slab Blocks and Kaleidoscope Quilt Finish

Here is my finished Kaleidoscope Quilt from my leftover Rainbow Quilt Challenge blocks.  It isn't washed yet, so no nice fresh crinkles.  I have recipients in mind.  
P.S.   My couch is leather and quilts slide right off it.  On someone's YouTube video they gave the hint to use the A Clamps from the hardware store to attach to the top and give weight.  A Great Tip!

I've been working on the slab blocks to make 3 quilts.  Two big girl quilts, and on the right side, a big boy quilt.  I've got 36 blocks finished now, only 9 more to go.  

I plan to sew the girls blocks together in a 3 x 5 arrangement, and then to get the quilt to the right size, add a plain border, a pieced border, another small plain border, and a large polka dot border (Minnie Mouse is popular with them right now, and polka dots are cheaper than the actual Disney fabric, I also have polka dot fleece for the backs, one red, and one pink).  For the big boy quilt, baseball is the plan.  I plan on baseball sashing and cornerstones, with a small baseball border, and then a much more colorful large baseball border.   But, being an indecisive sort, the conversation in my mind:  Self - Maybe I should do sashing and cornerstones on all 3.  Self - No, sewing the blocks all together looked nice on the googled pictures.  Self - But what if mine just looks like a mish-mash.  Self -  They are going to be rainbow style, so the colors should give them seperation.  It's hard being indecisive.  

Slab Quilts

My first Slab Blocks.  I'm hoping to do enough blocks (72) to do 3 lap quilt size quilts 48 x 72, plus possible borders.  Four down, only 68 more to go.  They seem fairly easy and a good way to use up scraps.  Light blue, pink and black are for girl quilts, and the dark blue for a boys quilt.  It's a start.  I was going to try the Butterfly strip quilt from Missouri Star quilt company and tried 3 blocks, but decided I didn't enjoy the process.  This block is more to my liking at this time.  Here is a link to the free pattern: http://www.cherylarkison.com/ and http://www.ctpub.com/cheryl-arkison/
And, there is an excellent tutorial on YouTube by SewVeryEasy, on her channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaEl11xk6Qg&t=4s
And, another excellent tutorial by Weekend Project, evidently it was a Canada 150th Anniversary Celebration block.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNJ2_ZNRPTA
A bargain method to do 3 great-grandbaby big girl and big boy quilts.
Here is one by Crazy Mom Quilts with sashing.  That would cut my blocks needed down to about 36.  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2013/07/
Hmmm.
And, one without sashing by Naptime Quilter, (Cheryl Larkison, the blocks creator)
http://naptimequilter.blogspot.com/2013/06/slabs-for.html
I'm a ways away from having to make a decision.     Oops, I guess this is the pattern link:
https://www.canadianquilter.com/pdf/quilt-canada-2017/Quilting-Bee-How-to-make-a-block.pdf 

Kaleidoscope in Progress and Butterflies

I worked on a lot of blocks a couple of years ago for Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and these are almost the last of them, I think I have a few 9 patches left, but that's all.   It's a flimsy now, still needs basting and quilting.  

I got excited when I saw a butterfly in one of my badly kept pots.

And then, there were two!

I got this picture off of Facebook, Tucker and his mom using his new quilt.

Tucker's Big Boy Quilt

Here is the light that I talked about below, I really like it.

Tucker is my grand nephew, and I've been meaning to make him a big boy quilt for awhile, I've actually had the flimsy done for probably a year or so.   I also made pillowcases for him and his sisters (except one, who is out on her own), his is super heroes to match, and the girls are butterflies in various colors.  It'll be a surprise, hope they like them.  I am hoping to spend more time in my sewing room.  Since I moved here 2 years ago, I haven't been very happy with my living room - sewing room, but I think I have it pretty much usable.  I must have gotten spoiled, I have sewn in my bedroom, living room, and dining room in the past, but that was before I got to be a quilter.  I seem to have gotten away from simple.  There are many quilters, more gifted than I, who do amazing things with less, in less room.  Lighting has been one of the issues, and I have recently discovered a great little lamp, which helps immensely.  I got it at Walmart, Ideaworks Super Bright Portable LED Lamp With USB, I don't know how the longevity of it will be, but it uses 4 AA batteries, or has a USB cable.  It is nice and bright, can be put just where you want it, and folds down into about  the size of an old fashioned foot peddle.

Bits and Pieces

I didn't blog these finishes, but since I've had so few, I'll go ahead and do it now.  These 2 Christmas quilts were finished the end of 2016.  This one for my bed, and the other for my daughters.  I did have 3 queen beds, but since the move I only have 1, the others are upstairs being used by my daughter and her kids, so I don't need as many quilts anymore.  This is my Santa Quilt

This is the Christmas Rail Fence, which I gave to my daughter.  It is finished, but of course, this is a picture of the flimsy.  

I've also made a slew of afghans of different sizes, but they all look similar to these.  I enjoy crocheting while I watch TV, and this is a relatively mindless pattern.  They are all the "I Love This Yarn",  from Hobby Lobby, it is luxuriously soft.

• Candace

Redone - Redone - Redone - Redone Sewing Room

I know most of us have sewing rooms that are works in progress, but this one has been a struggle.  I feel ashamed of myself, as I know many don't have this much room, and I didn't for many years, but in my last home I had a larger area and it was by itself, not the first thing you see as you come in from the front foyer.  We inherited the baby poop colored paint from the last people who owned the home, that should be a priority for myself, to paint a brighter more cheerful color.  My last redo usurped a little more area from the dining room, I wanted my quilting in a corner to help support the quilts, and my sewing machine facing so that I could see the TV.  Oh well, we don't use the dining room all that much.  This is officially a formal living room, but is now my sewing room.

It is also my office, you can see my desk.  The door is the door to the foyer.  The large dark cupboard I bought second hand after we moved in.  I needed the storage, and it is also a small not very effective design wall.  You can see the hooks on the front, and they extend around the sides.  There is a big window, but no overhead light, so the lighting isn't too excellent.  I'm still working on that.

This door goes into the family room, which is now our living room.  The rolling kitchen table behind the dog I also purchased since we moved in.  It is now my cutting table and extra storage.  I also have a small closet on the other side of the door, which is an under the stairs type.  I think even though I have much less fabric, etc., than many, maybe I have too much, as I have taken over that closet and also part of the laundry room for my sewing storage.

Another acquisition, this one was not a charge.  It is a nice dresser that I have turned into an ironing table, and again more storage.  The door is another view of the foyer door.  It is a single family private home, but there are locks as the upstairs can be a separate residence, it has a small kitchen, small living room, bathroom and 4 nice sized bedrooms.  My daughter, 2 of her kids and  2 of her grandchildren live up there.

Here is a view of my poor encroached upon dining room.  

Finally a Little Quilting

I'm one of the bloggers who has disappeared for awhile due to life changes.  I have been doing a little quilting lately though, and have 3 finishes to show for my time.  I didn't get a picture of this one finished, it is finished though.  It is an unusual baby quilt, but his mama wanted a star wars themed quilt.  The dog is mine, she is 4 years old now, but we have only had her for a few months.  

This is another unusual baby quilt.  I had made his big (4 years old) brother a Marvel Super Hero quilt, and since they are sharing a room, I went ahead and made baby brother a similar one.  I tried to baby it up a little.  Their family just closed on their first home last week, so hopefully it will get good use and add to the decor.

And, the very plain back.

Before moving into their new home, my grandson and his family stayed with friends for almost 4 months.  They are a family of 5, 6 if you count the dog, and since that seemed to be a very awesome help to them, I thought their friends deserved a huge thank you.  I had made these blocks a couple of years ago as part of Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I sewed them into a quilt and sent it to them.

My granddaughter-in-law said that she cried, it was her very first quilt.

She was comparing the fabrics in her quilt to some that she had seen in the kids quilts.

She has 2 cats, so for you ladies who love your furry felines, here are a couple pictures of hers enjoying her new quilt.  She is a veterinarian, so you know she loves her furbabies.

Candace

Super Heroes and a Crazy Year

First finish since last April other than a few bags and pillowcases.  It's been a crazy year, I'll write more about that later, in case anyone still follows me.

This is a big boy quilt for my 3 year old great grandson, Maddox.  Can you tell that he is into the Marvel Super Heroes?

Somehow I got these out of order.  This is the finished product wrapped up in its matching pillowcase, along with an additional pillowcase for the quilt that I'm making for another youngster in the family.

Basted and ready to quilt.

Not the prettiest quilt.

The front finished.  It didn't call for sashing and cornerstones, but was so busy that I felt like it needed some separation.

The back, also busy.  The back is fleece, with no batting.  We asked the recipient, and he preferred not heavy.

Another project, another ripple afghan.  Just getting started on this one.

Last May, my daughters life changed greatly.  Her marriage ended and she moved in with us, so our lives changed greatly, too.  She had one almost grown child living at home, and another grown child with a child, who was in need of some help, a single mom.  We sold our home so that we could buy a bigger one and now we have a five bedroom, two story home with a bedroom downstairs for us, and 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and bath upstairs for them.  We have all lived here since last July, and things are going well for the most part.  There have been some adjustments and some compromises, but we all try to make it work, so it does.  It hasn't left much time for blogging or quilting, so that has been set aside until now, I'm finally getting to a point where we are "almost" settled.  We have roughly the same amount of space downstairs as we had in our old home, but it's distributed differently.  The formal living room is now my sewing room, and it has been an adventure solving issues as I went along trying to get things set back up.  If moving is a challenge normally, try it when you are also consolidating basically 4 households into one.  Our garage was a war zone, but now due to a lot of work, a garage sale, and a huge pile of stuff to a charity, we are pretty much consolidated.

Jacob Levi's Quilt

The front of the quilt.

The fleece back.

And the label.  We left room at the bottom for the specifics to be added, after the baby is bonr.