Rectangle Wrangle is now a completed top!

Sorry I couldn't get the pic any bigger, but I think if you click on it, you will get a closer up pic. I wasn't very fond of the border Bonnie had on hers, so I changed it up a bit. This is Bonnie Hunter's Rectangle Wrangle pattern. I really love how this turned out although it didn't seem to make a dent in my scraps!! Now to get it all quilted!! I really hope Nick likes it!!! Not going to be starting anything else soon..I am determined to finish up some UFO'S!!

Guilford County Block

I am hosting a block swap over on Marie Bostwick's site using Bonnie Hunter's Guilford County block. We are doing it in pinks and browns and I am just so excited to see how these will turn out!! Some of the ladies did test blocks and the measurements didn't come out completely correctly. I just made a test block and other than some stretch in the upper left corner, the measurements turned out well.

We are looking into some alternative ways to make some of the units to this block and I can't wait to see what we come up with! Almost done with a few more projects and will share those soon!!!

Rectangle Wrangle

I started the blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Rectangle Wrangle back in October, but only made a few and then put them aside while I worked on some other things. I got them back out and finished making the 84 center blocks. I LOVED working on these...each one was so exciting to see how it would turn out! Here the blocks are, all laid out, but not sewn together:

It's wonky because some of the edges on some of the blocks are turning up. They just wouldn't behave and lie flat!! This is a big quilt....it will measure 86" x 98" when done. Good thing, because it is going to the friend of my daughter Jess. His name is Nick and he's a big guy. He's getting it because he made me this great sculpture:

I just love my bird!! Hope he likes this quilt as much. After I put it together, I still need to add borders. Bonnie used Ohio Stars as her border for this quilt, but I'm not fond of that for this quilt, so will have to come up with something else. I ended up with a LOT of teensy 9 patches to add to my leader and ender quilt making these blocks. The only bad thing is I thought that since it was a big quilt, my scraps would diminish, but they didn't!! How DOES that happen?? I'm getting excited because I have quite a few projects that are nearing completion. I've been working on and off on so many projects that I wasn't getting any finishes, but it looks like they'll all be finishing around the same time!! Yay!!!! Well, off to bed now. Check back in a few days and hopefully I will have this quilt center all sewn together!!!

First Finish of the New Year

My Starry Nights in Winter quilt is all done! This pattern is in the book, At Home with Country Quilt by Cheryl Wall. You are going to be seeing a LOT of quilts here from that book. I am in love with them ALL! I took longer than normal quilting this one, as I wanted to on some different types of quilting.

You can see the quilting a little better in this pic. That is my one and only goal for the year...to improve my quilting. So, while I will still have quilts that I just do a quick meander over, you hopefully will be seeing more quilts with more detailed quilting on them! Practice makes perfect, right? On my sew date with Shellie and Judy, I grabbed a few ufo's in case I had some time to work on them. The first one I grabbed was some apple cores that I had cut out in Oct 2011. I started putting them together and decided that I was going to make a baby quilt out of them for my first grandbaby! Yes, my oldest daughter and her husband are expecting their first baby in July! Woot!! I have a HORRIBLE time with "cutesy" baby quilts. So, this little baby is probably going to end up with quilts that are all just small scrap quilts! lol This is an awful pic, but here is the top:

Now, off to grab another UFO and get stitching on that. I am hanging with Patrick today, so am restricted to whatever stitching I can do downstairs. As soon as I am able to work upstairs, I will get the baby quilt top all quilted and have another finish...woot woot!!!

Double Trouble

That's the name of this wallhanging that I made for my daughter and son in law, Jess and Greg. The pattern is by Gail Stalley. I modified the cats to look like their cats and they just LOVED it! With the pre holiday preparations, that is really the only thing that I worked on the past month. Finding any sewing time was hard to do! I am now off until New Year's Day, and have grand plans on getting some things finished. Yesterday I finished all the machine applique on my Starry Nights in Winter top and got the backing pieced and it is all sandwiched and ready to quilt.

In this pic, the applique is just pinned and fused down. Hoping to get it quilted and done tomorrow. Not sure what is next on my list. I have 3 or 4 quilts all ready for backings to be pieced and to be sandwiched. I have LOTS more tops in various stages to be worked on. I always have the urge at this time of year to get more finishes on my list before the New Year, do you feel that, too??? Today is a sewing date with Shellie and Judy and I have no idea what I am going to work on. I am going to try to be good and NOT start anything new, but hey...ya never know!!!! Hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season and I will post pics of the sew date later!!!