Happy Mother's Day!

Be ye Mother, Daughter, Auntie or whatever, enjoy a day for yourself !

To often we rush around taking care of everybody else

Today is for Self Care! 💖

 

Yikes it's Almost May!

March wizzed by and April too!  But I keep sewing.  It's my go-to zero calorie comfort food and fun pass time  So here's are some of my latest projects...

I got this top quilted in mid March using my new favorite all over pattern I'm calling Modern squiggle.

I like the cheeriness of this one so much I am hesitant to give it away, but it will make a good hospice quilt.  Here's the back...

I always try to match the backs to the fronts in color and style as much as possible.  I think this one really works with the front.

Another finish this month is a quilt I made for a special Summer program up at UC Santa Cruz.  Some Science educators have put together a special STEM Summer camp program targeting 8th Grade girls to hopefully create more interest for them in studying Science.  They ask our local quilt guild if we could make Science themed quilts for the students which they could then take home as a souvenir for their Summer Camp experiences.  This is issue very near and dear to my heart being a retired Science teacher.  And of course being a quilter I have more than a bit of fabric to cover the topic.   I decided to start with Chemistry because I had this great panel with Chemisry graphics.

I love these fabrics, so cheerful and fun!

The next 2 quilts are still in the planning stages.

The one on the left is all about Butterflies. That will be easy peasy.  I have soooo much butterfly fabric.   The one on the right has this crazy yellow fabric. It's printed with the names of famous Scientist next to little icons associated with what they are famous for. Like an old fashioned telephone for Alexander Graham Bell. There's a date of the year they were born under the icon.  There are about 30-40 names.  Only 3 are women Scientists.  That kinda says it all!    I'm having trouble finding a mate for the yellow fabric.  Should it be pink for girl power or maybe a light blue to compliment the yellow?  Any suggestions?

I have  few a few flea market finds to share.  We always get such great donations.  It always astounds me what treasures people give away.

This top is so exceptional I snatched it right up.

 

It must have been paper pieced (a technique I have no patience for)  The design is so much fun!  I will quilt  it and donate it to the Live auction next year to benefit Hospice.

This quilt top was donated by a well known quilter in our guild.  

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But it was a bit to small for a Camp Erin quilt so I added the two outer borders to make it the right size.  About 55" by 65".

We got lots of packets of vintage block donations this year.  I saw these and grabbed them.  I'm really going to try and do something with these blocks.  They are in really good conditions for 30's blocks and so pretty!

I hope Spring is going well with you!

Take care, cw

 

Still here, still Sewin'

I'm still away from home but my trusty travel machine is keeping me busy.  I found some pins to help sew those rows of of 4" hexies together (see last post).  I think I've found a good border fabric for it too, so I hope to get the top done this week.

  I don't have a lot of wall space in my temporary diggs for a design wall so I abandon the Batik scraps that I was exploring in my last post.  I went back to my stash for another bundle of pre-cuts and finished this top in pretty short order!

Then I took all the scraps from that project and made a scrappy table runner.

The lighting wasn't very good for the pic above but in the pick below you can really see how pretty the fabrics are.  Gotta love those fabric bundles!

Even tho' I'm away from home I was still able to make it to my local guild Quilt Show.here's a couple of my pix.

I think this was my favorite!  To bad they did not have more info. about it.

Well that's all for now.  Have a great March!

Take care, cw

 

Happy New Year!

December was a blurr and January is fast approaching the same situation.  I hope all your holidays were cheery!  Mine were!  All my kids and grand kids were here.  It's always super fun to have everyone for the holidays but it does wear me out. 

I have not had much time for sewing but I did manage to get most of Ari's quilt top finished (first pix in my Dec. post)  and  about 80% quilted.   Enough,  so I was able to take it off the frame and display it on her bed when she arrived!! 

The inner and outer most borders turned out more complicated than I had planned but I think it was worth the effort.  Ari really liked it!

I had to kind of fudge on the corners.  I ended up hand sewing the

corner wedges and trimming them after to fit.  There not perfect but from a distance they're not bad. 😁😁

 

I had a lot of fun quilting it too.  Lots of different patterns.

After finishing the quilting there's just the binding.  Ugh, with a big quilt like that 87" square it'll take more than one evening in front of the TV to get it done.

I've been trying to keep with my NO Starting New Project , but we are away from home now so I indulged in bringing a packet of pre cut 4" hexies I bought on sale years ago.

I got the rows assembled only discover I had forgot to bring straight pins!  The rows are kinda wonky.  I didn't think I could sew them without pins so back into the basket to take home.

Of course I brought some back-up projects and I broke out a basket of Batik scraps. 

 My favorite idea of "Fun" sewing.  What's "Fun" sewing you ask?  To me that's something I can sew without worrying to much about whether everything is going to match, points meet, etc. etc. etc.  Sewing without stress!

What's your mode of "Fun" sewing?!

Last but not least...

New Years Day at my house...

My brother-in-law and his family (who live at the beach) have a New Year's Day tradition of jumping in the ocean (fyi it's 60 degrees) on new years day!  Brrrrrrrr!  But because the end of the Santa Cruz pier fell into the ocean recently,  leaving debris floating and washed up on all the local beaches, jumping in the ocean didn't seem like a very safe idea.  So I invited them to our house to jump into our 60 degree pool instead.  Of course the added bonus was once the ritual was complete they could quickly jump into the nice warm jacuzzi!

Here's the stop action:

Getting psyched to do the deed...

...and taking the plunge!

My kids and G-kids, My brother in  law's daughter and her family and a family friend.  10 people moreless jumping into the pool all at once...

And then quickly scrambling out of the pool and into the jacuzzi as fast as they could!

It was sure fun to watch!

And after I finished setting up the brunch table I jumped in too!

I tried to post the video but the video button didn't seem to work 

(or more likely I just didn't do it correctly) 😂

 I hope your New Year's are full of joy and wonder!

take care, cw

S

 

Happy December!

 November whizzed by.  I moreless kept to my diet of quilting more than sewing.  So I finished binding the 3 quilts I pictured in my last post.  Ignored the UFO's that I showed last post and quilted another of the tops that I showed.  Here 'tis all bound and ready to go!

Lots of fun fabrics in this one a real mis-mash of prints but I think it works?!

And since I felt like I was on a roll I quilted and bound this top .

I found this in the Guild Flea Market..  I thought it was really cool.  I always wonder why finished tops  like that get donated to The Flea Market.  So much work went into it and it looks great to me!   Hard to say.  I figured I'd finish it and donated to the Quilt Show Auction.

Now I am sewing again.  I want to get both my G-daughters new bed quilts done for xmas.  Sadies's is all bound and ready to go but Ari's is in pieces.  Here's what I've got so far...

It will probably change, who knows?!

Happy December!

take care, cw

Happy Halloween!

I bought this panel on impulse for a friend who is a real dog lover.  When ever she takes her dog on walks she brings a bag of dog treats.   Every dog they meet she gives a treat.  I thought this would make an appropriate porch decoration for her front deck!  

I'm trying to follow my own advise and get more tops quilted and done and spend less time picking new projects to sew.  It's not that I don't like quilting, it just takes more focus than sewing.  I have to be in a particular Mood.  

To that end  I managed to quilt three lap quilts last since my post so I'm feeling pretty happy about that!

These first two quilts are both basically made from four large blocks.  They were both flea market finds.  The one above was just a matter of trimming. them up and adding a border. 

The one below came with the star block and some extra fabric so I put the star block in the middle and arranged the four blocks around it.

I first posted about these two back in February (here ) So, turn around was less than a year.  That's pretty good for me!

Once again I forgot to take a pic of the finished product,on the lower one, but you get the idea..

This next one was a  'impulse start' in Sept.  but I finished the top in about 4 days and .quilted it this morning.  

I KNOW, it's a lot of Orange!  I'm trying to expand my personal palette.  I'm thinking about binding it in black to tone it down a bit?!

That's all for the 'almost finished' projects.

I've also been trying to screen my UFO's for things that just need  assembling or borders..

These three tops just needed borders and I got that done this month.

Well the one on the left is the orange quilt from above (is that considered double dipping?) The other two are ready for the quilt frame!

I've got stacks of blocks that need assembling.  But some are closer to getting done than others like these two:

These are more orphan blocks from the flea.

But what a pleasure to assemble these delightful blocks

These are pretty too but it's gonna take a little more work to figure out what to do with them.

Well like I said in my last post it always feel like two steps forward one back.  But it is an enjoyable way to pass the time!

Happy Halloween,

take care, cw

 

Howdy from the other side

 It's been more than awhile since my last post.  My plan was to post once a month. Ha!  We make plans and then Life happens and we adjust our expectations...

The good news is my new Grand baby is happy and healthy and already 6 months old!  Her name is Ellorie. A name you don't hear to much but it suits her.  She is such a happy baby and a joy!  I've already posted about all the quilts I made for her back in Dec. and Jan. but the two quilts I mentioned in my last post got finished!  Here are the pix:

I love these Tiger theme prints and it made for an easy composition.

Like wise these whale prints made for a fun quilt!  I could not find a Full pic but here it is on the quilt frame.  I Did get it finished...  Sometimes I'm so excited I finished something I just want to get it  deliver right away and I forget to take pix.  LOL

I've also been working on quilts for my other to grand daughters. One is still in the planning stages but this one needs only sewing down the binding!   Lots of fun fabrics in this one.  Can you tell...  Sadie, like unicorns?!

I've finished several tops since my last post.   This first one has been hanging around for ages waiting for the final border.  I think I started it when I bought Sujata Shah's book back in 2018 plus or minus.

Of course I did not have Quite enough of the border fabric so I added some fabrix from the blocks to span the gaps.

This next quilt was made from left over BOM's scavenged from friends or made by me.  I think they all jive pretty well?!

These last two were more recent Starts but they did not stall-out like the first two.  I started them both since my last post.  OK,  it was 6 months ago!  LOL

All flannel scraps and strips and patches...My favorite!

They will all make good donation quilts!

Now if only I can get myself to spend more time in quilting mode instead of sewing mode.  Big Sigh...

I'm always going two steps forward and one back.  Oh well...

Another Happy family event since I last posted;  my sister's daughter, my only blood related niece, finally got married!  After ten years she and her college bow finally tied the Knot (much to my sister's relief!)  

I volunteered to provide the flowers as a wedding gift.  Turns out I got off easy.  They liked the idea of buying potted orchids for the table decorations and they had no bridesmaids or groomsmen so all I had to do was make a few boutonniere and her bouquet!

It's always fun to make a Brides bouquet!  All those gorgeous flowers!

I hope you are all well and safe from all these natural disasters that are going on.

Take care, cw