Home again

I am home again after a week away, MIL is on the mend and things are getting back to a normal routine. That means a little time in the sewing room, well after the normal chores were completed. Since my last post was made while out of town and I had not taken a photo, I was unable to show this sweet birdie pincushion that my SIL made for me. Isn't it cute? I love it! Thanks so much Sherry, I have found the perfect spot for it and I will see it daily. A fun reminder of our time together.

I finished the stitching on my bee hive pillow, adding some little daisies in the green circles. Now I just need to turn it into a pillow perfect for the new lower level sitting area.

A few more Stonefields blocks were stitched on my trip. Hopefully I will get some time today to prep a few more.

It was delightful to have a few minutes in the sewing room making these little pinwheel blocks for the Quiltmaker bitty block quilt along. These blocks finish at 4". I look forward to using up some tiny scraps each month and so far have kept up with this QAL. It should be a fun little quilt when finished.

Finally I took a picture of the shopping results of my trip. Since the drive is 9 hours to my inlaws, we often stop at a quilt shop to break up the drive. And there are some nice quilt shops near their home so I was able to go to a couple during breaks from our hospital visits. Looks like I was feeling a bit down as I certainly was not buying many happy colors on this trip. But lots neutrals that are lacking in my stash, mostly a grey/taupe color that I have started adding to my projects and want to try out as a background for appliqué. Looks like I have a great selection now!

 

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Woolie fun

In my last post I mentioned that my SIL was coming for a visit and some quilty fun. Well the time has come and gone and I hope she had as much fun as I did. Sadly I forgot to take a photo of all our projects or purchases but I did manage to get a couple before she left. My SIL loves bees so one of the projects was this little wool appliqué candle at by Bareroots. (I think that is the designer, the pattern is not near me right now.)

We each selected the wool colors to suit our homes so mine is the one with the aqua background and hers is navy.

Once that was done we each decided to prep a larger pillow project adapted from a Bee quilt pattern that she brought with her. It was so fun to put our own spin on our work and I love how they turned out.

My bee pillow top is almost all stitched and as you can see I have also stitched some butterfly blocks for the Stonefields quilt. Sadly on the last day of My SIL's visit we discovered that our MIL needed a sudden surgery so I am now out of town dealing with some of those issues. Thank goodness for hand stitching to help during difficult times!

 

 

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A few new quilts on display

Since my last post I have made a few quilty finishes for my home. My SIL is coming for a visit later this week and between that and the change in season, it was time for a little sprucing up around here. I love trying to come up with ways to display my quilts in my home and love seeing others quilts on display so I thought I would share my new additions and where they can be seen in my home.

First up is this little mini quilt, really just a 16 in block. Sadly I can't remember where I found the pattern, just one of those things that I whipped up one afternoon between bouts of machine quilting.

I am using it in my living room as a little mat under my "crab basket" teapot that I purchased in China. The grandkids just love that teapot! You might also notice the middle pillow on the sofa, another recent finish while practicing my free motion quilting.

I have finished the quilting and binding on my Botanica quilt. I just need to add a label and it will be ready for my guild's quilt show in June. I hope to hang it in my newly finished lower level sitting room but til then I love how it looks draped over an extra chair in the diningroom. I love being able to highlight one of the blocks in this way.

Finally I made another mini quilt in bright colors. This one is February's Aurifil 2015 Designer Mystery BOM by Fig Tree Designs.

My lower level studio is almost ready for me to move into and I have decided that I will hang lots of mini quilts in the room. I love the bright modern fabrics but since most of my home is more traditional I will be decorating the studio with lots of bright quilts. It is such fun making these minis to hang. Here is this one in my current studio room, I couldn't resist hanging it right away. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I just hang these little quilts using straight pins into the wall. So easy and they leave very little mark when you take them down!

 

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The quilting is almost done!

Seems like all I have been doing lately is free motion quilting on my Botanica quilt. This is an old BOM pattern by Robyn Pandolph. Sadly it does not seem to be available for purchase anywhere and I am unable to find my pattern. Someone has contacted me with a wish to purchase the pattern so if you know where it can be obtained please let me know so I can pass on the information. Here are a few of my progress photos.

This is 2 1/2 weeks of quilting 2 - 4 hours everyday. I am finding that the quilting really causes my carpal tunnel to act up so I try to only do about an hour before taking a long break. Overall I am happy with the quilting, it certainly won't win any awards but the quilt will soon be finished and I think the quilting enhances the appliqué. What I am most unhappy about are the straight lines in the borders. I really need to find a ruler foot for my sewing machine so I can do some ruler work rather than just free motioning the lines. I think a little investigation is in order!

I finally found the missing blocks for my grandson's quilt and have been making a few more blocks during my "break" times. The blocks had somehow made their way into an entirely different project basket. They must have been scooped up while putting away the other project. So, so happy that I found them before finishing the quilt. This is an easy project that isn't needed til the fall so it is perfect for when I just want a bit of easy sewing.

I am very excited that next week my SIL, who is also an avid quilter, is coming for a visit. I am so looking forward to hosting her for a mini quilting retreat, now to get busy tidying the studio!

 

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