My Red String Runner

I found the tutorial for Red String Runner at Quilting by The River. I was drawn to it right away.  Perhaps because she made it in my favorite color.  Then when my Mom asked me to make something for her I decided to give this runner a try.

Look at that corner!  Could it get any perfect.  Just looking at it makes me smile.

I did have to get a refresher on how to bind the other odd angles and I found a good video for that here.

It is raining today, but I went on the porch and took pictures anyway.  It gave me a chance to fiddle around with the manual settings on my camera so I could capture the colors I wanted.

I really like this quilted runner.  When I showed it to my husband though he said it was too small and wanted to know why it wasn't big enough to lay under.   Then he proceeded to tell me how to make it better - Make it bigger, add more bright colors etc.  As if he quilts... 

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Beach in Color

I sat down today and added color to my beach drawing.

This is what it looked like in Black and White back in October.

I also have my Pathway drawing complete.
I finished it in December and it has been sitting in my sketchbook.

Not sure if I will add color to this one.  I am liking it in black and white for now. 

I'll see how I feel about it again in a couple weeks.

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Lovely Red Work

I took a break from working on my own quilts to work on a guild mate's quilt.  She has made some wonderful Red Work blocks sashed with 2 inch squares and has asked me to quilt it.  She wanted me to quilt in the ditch around the red work and do something inside the sashing.  Later she will hand tack the large red work images herself in a matching thread.

 Here are some close ups a few of the Red Work blocks.

Now I need to work on some postcards that are long over due, then I can get back to my pile of newly basted quilts.
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Basting and Binding

Today I decided I better baste more quilts because I finished quilting my Spot quilt the other day and that has left me with zero quilts in the "ready to be quilted" pile.  I like having a few quilts basted and ready to go so I rolled back the rug and got to work.  I was baby sitting today though so I had to baste during nap time and in the evening. Through out the day I got three quilt tops basted. 

This first one is the top I finished last November.

I basted it in the morning during the baby's morning nap.

This next one is a top I completed for the Le Petite project last year.

I basted it during the baby's afternoon nap.

 I had to wait till later in the evening to baste this third quilt.  I tried to do it after the baby woke up, but he wanted to crawl all over it so I had to wait till after his mom came and pick him up.  This top currently ranks as my second oldest UFO (un-finished object).  Number 1 is still my log cabin quilt, which you can read about here.

I was on a roll today and would have also basted my Slide Show quilt top (which got it borders on yesterday) and my Starry Eyed Quilt top but I didn't have enough pins left for another big quilt.  

   

This is my Spot quilt that needs the binding hand stitched down.  It wasn't quite ready for Christmas like I had planned, but it will definitely be ready this December.  It is also a Le Petite project.  When the binding is complete I will only have one Le Petite left to quilt (which is the ric rac one above) and when that one is finished I will have all 12 Le Petite projects totally completed.  Yay!!!

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My Mariner's Compass

Here is my almost finished 3D Mariner's Compass.  I just need to add the binding and figure out what to put in the center.  I am not really liking the fabric choice I made for the top four points.  Mixed with the other fabrics I feel it is too light and all in my face.  I suppose that is what I get for picking fabrics from my stash late at night without good lighting.  I tried to add a big purple circle in the center, I even had it appliqued on and quilted down, but I didn't like it. So I picked it off.  Now I am not sure what to put in the center.  Maybe a smaller circle in white?

I really like the small cross hatch quilting.  It took me awhile, but I love it.

I ended up sewing down all the points too, so it really isn't 3D anymore, but I didn't like the way they flared out.

I love the back.

I only had a fat quarter of the purple I used in the points and I want that for the binding as well, so I will have to head to the fabric store to see if I can find more.

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Night of Quilting

Tonight I am spending quality time with my walking foot.  Earlier today I took my first ever quilt class.  It was with my quilting guild.  They had offered a class on 3D Mariner's Compass.  I had never made a mariner's compass block before but really wanted to so I signed up for the class.  I don't usually like to pack up my machine and all my accessories but I thought I would give it a try. It was fun to sew with all the ladies from the guild.  During class I got my small quilt top finished.  This evening I have been working on quilting it.  When it is finished I will show the whole thing.

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February Guild Block

This is the block I turned in today at my guild meeting for our BOM.

The rules for February were for a 12.5 inch block that had to use two colors, one being red, and had to have a heart somewhere in the block either by applique, piecing, or showcased in the fabric 

There were 20 blocks turned in.  Unfortunately I didn't win them this time around.  

Perhaps next month I will be lucky.

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Small Pastel 9 Patch - Finish #4

Last night after dinner I was trying to organize my sewing space and put things away when I came across some charm squares leftover from various charm packs. I wanted to use them in something, but wasn't quite sure what. Then it hit me to turn them into a quilt for my quilt guild's local charity project. This year the guild has decided to provide security blankets, aka small quilts, to the Pee Dee Coalition for abused children.
I decided to cut these charm squares in to smaller 2.5 inch squares.

Within 20 minutes I had a new stack of squares.

Not long after that I made 12 small nine patch blocks, surrounded them in white sashing, and added a bright yellow border. And with that I had myself a new quilt top completed before bed time. I even had time to baste it and do half the quilting before hitting the hay.

This morning I finished the quilting and added the binding. It is ready to turn in Thursday. I am excited about that as I was unable to attend the work day this month where the guild had set aside time to make as many small quilts as they could. I am glad that I can still participate and bring in a small quilt for the Pee Dee Coalition.  

 The quilt measures approximately 29 x 37.

 It took me about 2.5 hours to quilt this little quilt.  

Nothing too fancy, just some stitch in the ditch, some swirls, and arcs.

It was fun to work with these fabrics.
I hope it will bring some happiness into the life of the person who receives it.

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January's AYOS and 3rd Finish for Year

It was a little difficult at first trying to get my neighborhood quilt basted.  All my animals think anything soft on the floor is for them.  I got the dogs away, but the cat took a little longer.  Eventually I had the kids come take him and love on him so I could finish the basting.

 I was still trying to fight off my cold, so I didn't do much of anything other than sew at the machine all weekend. I quilted a little Friday night, all day Saturday, and all Sunday Morning. I took a little break in the afternoon to play some computer games then I stitched the binding on last night. This morning when the sun came up I went outside to take photos.  I really enjoyed quilting it.  I keep rubbing it.  It has some nice texture going on.  I so love this quilt!

I have been enjoying solid quilt backs lately that show of the quilting, so I went for a soft pastel blue for this quilt.  I love it!  It showcases the quilting beautifully

One more photo.  It's hard not to take lots of photos of things you like. 

Have I told you yet that I love this quilt?

 :)

Belle always likes to be close by.

Also,  this is my 300th post.  Wow I didn't even realize I had that many posts.  I originally started this blog three years ago come April as a means to keep out of town family and friends updated on what I was working on.  Along the way I have found many more new friends.  Thank you all so much for stopping by and reading about my little crafting world.  It has been wonderful to read all your comments and get to know so many of you through the internet.  Here is to another 300 posts!!

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Around the Neighborhood

I spent most of my day at the sewing machine today.  I have a bad cold and figured I could either be miserable on the couch or miserable at the machine.  So I picked the machine hoping to make the day go by faster, which it did, and I got my top done for the first project of Another Year of Schnibbles.  The pattern this month is Full House, but I choose to do the Around the Neighborhood Version shown on Carrie's website.  I used two Frolic charm packs by Sandy Gervais and some Kona White.  I was 4 charm squares short for the cornerstones in the border so I used some brown from my stash to finish it up.  I already have an idea of how to quilt in the white so I need to find a good backing and get this top basted.

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2 Shirt Quilt Tops Complete

Only 4 more to go.

Since these quilts are going to Aunt Darla's kids I asked her which background she preferred for these 9 patches.  She chose the black so that is what I went with.  I must say I like how it turned out.  This top was made entirely out of shirts except the thicker outer black border.  I used all the solid colored shirts for this one and will make one more top similar to this one.

This next one had been almost done for a while, I just needed to add the piano key border to it. Which I did a couple weeks ago, I just hadn't gotten around to taking a picture of it.  It is made entirely of the shirts.  Even the off white sashing was a shirt.

I am going to make two tops more with a mixture of solid shirts and stripped shirts, and if I have enough strips left over the final one will be another string quilt.

I am getting excited seeing some actual progress on these tops.  Taking apart the shirts and cutting them up into all the shapes I needed has taken awhile so it is fun to see some good progress.

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Mini Vacation

Not much sewing went on this weekend.
We went down to the beach to celebrate my son's 12th birthday. 

 We spent the night in one of the hotels on the beach and enjoyed all their pools-both indoor and out. The weather was pretty nice for January, it was in the low 60's but the outdoor pool water was freezing!  That didn't stop my kids from jumping in though. Their cousin came to swim with us too and they all took turns jumping into the freezing water and then hopping in the hot tub.
They said they want to join the polar bear club.

I only caught toes as my youngest went under but I really like this photo.

We were on the 11th floor and we had a great view of the the 10th floor outdoor pool.

Here all the kids lined up and planned to jump in all at the same time, but three chickened out. They eventually all jumped in one at a time and the then immediately hit the hot tub.

View from our balcony.

 

Later on we took a walk down the board walk.  I am definitely not a professional photographer, but I wanted to try some trick photography.  My son is "holding" his siblings in this photo, but I either ended up having him blurry or them blurry, I couldn't seem to get them both in focus at the same time.  But it was fun to try and it was something I didn't have to beg the kids to pose for. 

It was as super short vacation, but it sure was fun! Definitely a great birthday present enjoyed by all.

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FQSQA #9

#9

Done early this time around.  I like this block.

FQSQA #7 & #8

These are the latest two blocks for the Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along.  I really like this first one,

#7

#8

This second one I am not liking so much.   To me it just look like a messy arrangement of colors.  It is hard for my eye to focus on the star.   The block was suppose to have dark fabric squares in the corners but I omitted them hoping to tone down the craziness of the block. Perhaps I didn't pick the right colors for this pattern.  I am thinking if I would have stuck with two color families (with a light and dark from each) I would like the block better.  I saw one on the flikr group done in shades of black and gray and it looked pretty good.  We shall see how it looks combined with all the others at the end.  If I am still not happy with it, I may just make a new one in shades of blue and green.

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60 Nine Patches

 I finished cutting up all the shirts except the two black ones and one white one.  I am not sure what to do with those two yet.  Perhaps I can use them for shashing if there is enough.  Out of the other 9 shirts I cut a bunch of 3.5 and 4.5 squares.  I took the smaller squares and made 60 nine patch blocks.  These will make two different quilts.  But I can't decide if I want to shash them with either white or black.  So I took a photo of them with both backgrounds to get a feel for what each one would look like.  Seeing them side by side I am leaning towards the black.  But my hubby said he thinks black is too dark so I am still on the fence.

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