two finishes

Hello again!  I am excited to have two completed quilts to share.  

The first one is my Hospital Sketches quilt.  This was a Block of the Month that Barbara Brackman did over on her blog Civil war quilts.  I loved appliqueing the blocks and designing my own border.  

I also loved handquilting it.  It took just over a year to quilt.  It helped me to get through Covid by giving me something to look forward to working on each day.  I quilted rather unpredictable free flowing feathers from small feathered rosettes at the intersections between the blocks. 

I love the texture that handquilting gives.

As always, I quilted in the year and my initials.  I will miss working on this - it was such a fun project at every stage.  

My next finish was machine quilted.  This quilt doesn't really have a name.  It is assembled from 6 inch blocks made from a variety of library books 7 years ago.  They sat forgotten in a ufo bin for a few years.

Then I saw a picture of a setting online done by Carrie Nelson and I knew it would be perfect for these blocks.  

I enjoyed making all of the flying geese for the setting.  The quilting was fun and fast.  I quilted diagonal rows of feathers over the blocks and straight lines intersecting over the flying geese.  The final narrow border got some feathers as well.  

I had a hard time choosing between red and blue for the binding fabric.  In the end I went with blue.  This quilt is for the sunny sitting room upstairs.  With its flannel back it will be cozy for winter naps :0) 

Yesterday I taught only in the morning and with half the house empty with people away I knew I could get away with minimal cooking.  It was the perfect opportunity to use the kitchen island to thread baste the next quilt for handquilting.  This one is Radical Rose and Reel  a pattern by Dawn at Collector with a needle.

This is the third quilt I've basted on this island.  It really works well.  Maybe I will put the first few stitches into it tonight :0)

Happy Quilting!!

a small gift

I made a fun little project recently.  A gift for my cousin's birthday.  I used an applique shape that I had drawn for a previous project and outlined it with some big stitch quilting.

I love the background fabric.  All different names for Jesus from the Bible.  I knew she would appreciate that.

I finished it with a red zipper :0)  (red lining too but I didn't get a picture of that)

I also spent an afternoon getting this "6 inch blocks with flying geese quilt" basted for some machine quilting.  So far, I have done a bunch of straight line quilting in the ditch alongside the geese.  I'm hoping to put some kind of free motion feathered design over the blocks but I am still figuring that out.  Free motion feathers are fast and fun.  I put flannel on the back of this quilt - it should be good for snuggling under.

I've also been playing with scraps and making these Peony blocks.  I'm not sure where this is going but its been fun so far!

 I actually started a job a couple of weeks ago.  I've gone back to teaching - working as a substitute teacher mostly in Home Economics classes.  (they don't call it that anymore but I do)  I'm not sure how this will affect my time for sewing.  So far I still seem to fit some in everyday :0)

Happy Quilting!!

A finish - Totally Tulips

 I finished the quilt for my youngest daughter.  From start to finish in less than 6 months is super fast for me :0)  This is my version of a pattern called Totally Tulips by Missouri Star.  It was fun to piece and I also really enjoyed machine quilting it.  The color scheme was all my youngest daughter's choice - I'd have never chosen it but I am very pleased with the end result.

With a mix of straight line quilting and feathers it was quick to finish.  I was stuck for a few days about what to quilt in the flowers and after doodling around I came up with this branched feathered design. I was aiming for fun and whimsical.  

It is a really long quilt.  I make them long so they stay tucked in at night!  It was hard to get a picture of the full quilt.

The sunlight highlights the texture

Here it is on her bed.  

And with a happy recipient :0)

 I should make more quilts with larger pieces - I discovered that they are more fun to machine quilt.  

Happy Quilting!!