Oopsie! Forgot to blog yesterday!

 I just realized that I never even thought about blogging yesterday.  There is a piano recital this weekend, and with lessons at the church most of the day yesterday and finishing up and delivering a t-shirt quilt to someone, I just never thought about it.  Sorry.

So let's catch up on some quilting, ok?  As of last night, this one is COMPLETE!  Check another UFO off the list!

This pattern is called Beach Cottage and was from a book called Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett.  It uses 2.5" strips.  I had 2 jelly rolls called Urban Farmhouse Gatherings that I had purchased for a graduation quilt for someone a couple of years ago and then went in a different direction, so decided last summer to use them for this pattern.  The cutting was fun, but the piecing got boring, the same thing over and over in all these muted fabrics.  However when I finally put it together, I loved it.  And then, quilted it was gorgeous.  It was a new quilt design that I hadn't tried before.  

This is the backing fabric.  I did purchase a wide back so there was no piecing in the back.  David really likes this one.

That's the only completely finished quilt, but I do have some progress photos to share...........

This is Criss Cross Kisses made with a fabric line called Happiness Blooms.  I picked up the pattern on our trip to Nebraska in February.  It's currently hanging in the TBQ closet, backing, batting, and binding ready.

I just finished this cute baby quilt top last night.  Sarah needs a baby gift for someone who has a Corgi dog, so this was my interpretation of her ideas for a baby quilt.  The ears gave me a little trouble and all 4 puppies had to undergo ear surgery.  It's next up to be quilted and the backing and binding are ready!

I'm in a small group of quilters from my guild who are working on a Quilt of Valor to present in November.  This is our quilt.  It still needs a navy blue outer border, then it can be quilted.  

And I am still trying to use up panels.  I had this one called Reeling It In.  Last year, I was attracted to churn dash blocks, so made the panel blocks into churn dashes.  Since the original panel blocks weren't square, the churn dashes aren't square either.  I put it away because I had no idea how to set them together.  Since this on the UFO list this year, I have been trying to figure out how to finish it.  I'm thinking the big bobber will be the center and there may be some flying geese on either side with the churn dashes as a border............

And just when you thought you might get a blog post without any 4-legged helpers, Esme puts her thoughts into the design..........

So, now you know what's been happening in the sewing room the last month or so.  

Christi

Easter Memories & The Zoo

 I know.  This is what happens when you don't blog for a month............you go all the way back to Easter!

We spend Easter weekend in St. Louis with Sarah.  Her church had one massive Sunday morning service that combined 3 congregations.  It was in a big theatre downtown.  Amazing to hear that many voices singing together!  Her boyfriend, Aaron attended with us.

We also spent time Saturday at the zoo.  It was a beautiful day.  

You wanted to see photos of the animals, right?

Above is a creature known as ESME!  And below is a rare photo of CICI!  She's looking a little grumpy today.

Often times you find the animals asleep during your trip to the zoo...........

But sometimes you catch them playing.......

And sometimes the younger ones try to sneak up on the older ones..........

Actually, Sarah and her cat Lara, spent a week with us in April, working from home, while her car was being repaired.

And some of the animals got trimmed up during the month of April.............

What is this nonsense about us being a zoo?  

Sorry, I didn't really have any zoo pictures of animals to share.  It was such a beautiful day that we just enjoyed watching and didn't snap the photos.  So, I shared pics of some of the local species here.

Have a great day!

Christi

May Day!!!

 Happy May Day everyone!!!  Yes I took a month off from blogging, but that doesn't mean nothing was going on............... Esme has been giving me the Evil Eyes about blogging, so I'd best get back to it.

Quite a bit happened since we last talked, so it will take some time to catch up.  I thought today we'd catch up on the quilt FINISHES!

First Up, an item on my UFO list from 2022, this little Christmas wall hanging.  Now, you may wonder why it took so long (I'd even made one before, so knew what I was doing).  This was a pack of 2.5" squares and I had originally started a table runner, but didn't like how it was going, so never finished it.  It made the 2023 UFO list, so it had to get worked on.  I'm very happy with how this wall hanging turned out, and it's probably destined to be a gift for someone I may get to see this summer.

Next up - AND COULD WE GET A DRUM ROLL PLEASE.............. My oldest UFO is now finished!  I started these barn embroidery blocks way back (not exactly sure, but we're getting close to 10 years).  Sitting at a track meet for 2 days in February at Univ of Nebraska gave me time to almost finish the last block.  The pattern is called Appalachian Memories.  I didn't like the way it was set together.  After studying the pattern for awhile, I realized that what I didn't like was the width of all the sashing.  The pattern called for it to be twice as wide as what you see here.  So I just did the same thing, but made everything half as wide.  All of the brown and tan scraps came from my stash.  Then I started on the quilting.  I did this one all free hand, NO COMPUTER!  It took a little over a week of work (the hubster questioned the length of this activity, but I when I mentioned the 10 years to do the blocks, he decided what did one more week matter!).  It's not perfect quilting, but I'm very happy with it.  I can't wait to show it at guild this month and then hang it up to enjoy!

So, of course, when I was refiguring all the sashings, I forgot to take that into account for the outer pieced border.  They turned out too long.  I ended up cutting them off and remaking them which left me 14 little pieces that I used in this table runner (well twelve of them.....2 were tossed in the trash).  If fits perfectly on top of the bookcase.

My mom received some boxes of fabric from someone and I was "blessed" with the focal fabric you see in this next quilt.  So I pulled some scraps and made a fall version of the Pumpkin Pie quilt.  I even pieced the backing and used up a panel I know longer had a particular fondness towards.  This will be donated to the guild's bazaar at the quilt show this fall.

Do you think it will sell better since if comes with feet and a cat?

So that's all of the complete finishes from April.  Stay tuned!

Christi