Three Finishes

The pictures are pretty poor, but I finished these yesterday.
















Above is my Carolina (Crossroads) Straightaway from Bonnie Hunter's first mystery. I started it with everyone else, only made one of the two blocks and finished the top on October 11, 2008. It's been a long time, lol.


















My Burger Queen mystery from Stashbuster forum took even longer to get to, the top was finished August 15, 2008















This little Strip Twist, also from Bonnie Hunter, not quite so bad, July 6, 2009. My fuse box is going to be looking good, lol.

A Little Progress

Three basted and ready to be quilted.
The top little quilt is backed with my Ikea fabric. I used it on all five big boy quilts, I must have bought a ton of it, lol. The stripe has also been used several times. I got clearance oxford cloth sheets on sale at Lands End, wish they'd have more on clearance. The dark blue is flannel and should be cozy and warm. I'm anxious to get them quilted and done, a little less closet clutter.

Getting Ready for the Next Three

The next three finished tops didn't have backs or bindings ready yet, so today I got that done.
I have my version of Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads, I call it Carolina Straightaway since I only made one of the two blocks. Then there is a very small Strip Twist, also Bonnie Hunter's pattern, for over the fuse box in my family room, and last the Burger Queen mystery from Stashbuster forum, I apologize, I don't recall whose it was. I couldn't decide if I liked the top picture with flash better, or the bottom picture with no flash. Someone else posed that question on their blog, and I couldn't decide on theirs either. I can't remember who, I seem to have a lot of the can't remembers today.
Now it's back to basting and hopefully in a week or so I'll have three more finishes.













The only other top that I have made is my huge Iowa (Carolina) Christmas, and it is finished except for the border blocks sewn together and sewn on. I was going to send it out, but since money is a bit scarce am thinking I need to do it myself. Since it is already ginormous, I'm thinking of skipping the border and using those blocks to make another quilt. I have a Juki that is a bit bigger than a normal DSM, but it seems like leaving off the extra border might make it a little more doable. Anyone done a huge quilt on such a machine and have any opinions.
Hope you're having a nice weekend.

Just Us Quilters - New Blog List

Niki from Just Us Quilters and Butternut Street has started a new blog list. You can sign up and be one of the first, looks like fun.

Four Finishes (Makes 11 for 2010)

They say done is better than perfect, and I'm not real proud, but I am happy. I always knew that I didn't have artistic talent, but after doing several meandered quilts, I'm starting to think that I'm not even a good scribbler, lol. It's ok though, the recipients of these quilts won't care. The top quilt is the "last" of the big boy quilts, and is for Caleb, who loves music, thus the music border. He plays in a rock band, both guitar and drums.





























The pink and blue nine patch quilts are from Crazy Mom Quilts quiltalong, now 2 out of 3 are done, better late than never, at least that's what I tell myself.















This is my "Unstrip Road" front and back, and it is for DH and I, probably. I hope to finish my Iowa "Carolina" Christmas before the holidays also, but if I don't I'll at least have one Christmas quilt.



























PS. They aren't washed yet, so they will improve after they are, and the soft crinkles will hide a multitude of sins. That's what my MIL used to say about curls, and I think it's true for my quilts, too.

Still Basting and Socializing with Family

Haven't gotten much done lately, but I did get these two basted. The bottom is the last of the big boy quilts, this one is for my 17 year old grandson Caleb, and it is just like the one for my great nephew Dakota. The top one is the back of my Christmas lap quilt which was supposed to be a "Strip Road" from Cyberquilters 4-C-Bees, generously shared by Benita Skinner. Unfortunately, due to lazyness and poor color choices mine has turned out to be "Unstrip Road", I still think I will like it ok when it is finished. Sometimes you just have to think positive, lol. Unless it just seems like someone else should have it, this one if for DH and I.Below are my two nine patches from Crazy Mom Quilts quiltalong. They are little kid sized and there is a boy one and a girl one, not for sure yet who they are for. (I have enough nine patches left to make another adult sized lap quilt, and will either do it with light brown sashing or white.) They are next in line for basting and all ready for me to get to them. Bindings are done for all four quilts, so hopefully they'll go quickly. Still thinking positive.
After that I'll go ahead and make bindings and backs for the other tops I have done and hopefully finish them and then it's on to making or finishing tops. That and getting my sewing room more organized and cleaned are the goals I'm working toward.
As for socializing, one of my great nieces was visiting from Iowa and DH and I had a pleasant evening having her and 2 of my grandsons over for dinner and as the kids would say, hanging out. My DD's fiance's daughter has been here also, and yesterday we took her and two grandson's (1 different and 1 the same as above) to a movie. We saw Grownups, which I thought would be silly, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Before the movie we all met DD, 2 more DGS's (one of which brought a friend), and 1 DGD at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a lot of fun and so nice to be together with family. There is going to be a wedding the first of next year, but we already consider DD's fiance's 2 daughters to be our grandchildren, too.

A Day at the Beach

The young family spent a day at the beach with the other side of the family and I stole a couple of the pictures of the 7 month old little lady.

Whew! Two More Finishes

Now I need to start looking for a big box, as I have all 4 quilts ready to go. The two above are just like my other big boy quilts except different borders, and I still have 1 more to do for my 17 year old grandson which will also have the music border like the one on the right above.
The next group will have to wait a few days before I start basting again, I need to do some housework and go to some appointments.
DH went to the grocery store yesterday and came home with some flowers for me. They are really pretty and colorful and are very cheerful to look at.


PS I just figured up and these make my actual quilt "finishes" for this year, seven. Not so good, but I'm on a roll now.

Two Finishes

I worked and worked and have something to show for it. Yesterday I quilted my big girl quilts and today got them bound. They are for my grand nieces Harper and Jensen and in a few days I should have their brothers quilts finished also and have them in the mail on their way to Iowa.

It's nice to finally have basting figured out and have some finishes and some more soon to be finishes. I had to fight through I can't use pins, I run over them and break needles, can't use spray glue cause my DH had pneumonia and I don't want to thread baste. Finally, I decided that I just needed to bite the bullet and do the thread basting and now even though it is rather time consuming I find that I don't mind it, and sometimes the feel of the quilt itself as I'm doing it is a pleasure.
It's a good thing that I have come to these conclusions, as I have several more tops ready to go, and I am determined to get them done and then organize my sewing room. At that point, I can go ahead with things I'd "like" to do and enjoy the whole process more.

By the way, the two quilts that I finished are 2 different versions of the Turning Twenty patterns, only I used 12 fat quarters instead of twenty and made lap quilts instead. The girls are 14 and 10, and I hope they like them.

More Basting and Shop Hop

Yippee, I have all four quilts basted for this go round, all going the same place and overdue. The top 2 are the backs of the big girls quilts, and the bottom 2 the backs of the big boys quilts.








I'm such a dedicated baster now that I have made myself a little handy dandy basting kit.












We went to the last shop in the shop hop and got their free pattern, a nifty beach bag with built in towel, kind of on the idea of a quillow. They had these black and white fabrics marked down to $5.00 and since I have been eying the black and white quilts on many blogs I thought they'd be a good start.












The blue fabrics are a big piece of fleece and 3 pieces of flannel for my brothers granddaughter's birthday. This is the third set and I think the last. I think that I may have enough flannel left for a tote bag, would a flannel tote bag be weird?

The past couple of months I have been buying fabric even though I told myself I wouldn't, and the two pictures below are part of my binge. The ones on the left were on sale for $2.98 at Hancock's of Paducah, and I ordered several thinking oh they never have much of what I order. Wrong this time, they had them all. The others are some of the scrap bag fabrics from Keepsake Quilting. I'd been wanting to get some Thimbleberries, since I keep hearing about them and haven't had any. They had free shipping, and so I got one of their scrapbags. They are all perfect and if I wasn't going to keep my initial intention to stop buying I think I'd have to join their scrapbag a month club. The remainder of my binge is a bolt of solid chestnut for sashings and backings, and 5 yards of solid tan for the same purpose.