Some Finishes and Some Fun Gifts!

I've finished two quilts this week.  One of the quilts, I made the top back in the summer.  It's the 2nd quilt like this.  The first was for one baby, and this one will go to my new granddaughter.  I quilted this differently than the first quilt.  I used my walking foot for the quilting. 

Little Lamb baby quilt

I used a backing fabric that is similar to a Shannon Cuddle Luxe.  I followed the tips & tricks from Shannon Fabrics for sewing with Cuddle Luxe fabrics.  The tips are for sewing the fabrics together, not for quilting, but it worked nicely. Here is the backing that I used.  I think it looks like sheep fur. (the fur is all white, the brown is the light from my sewing machine).

backing on Little Lambs baby quilt

I also finished one of my Family Reunion quilts.  I just needed to to sew the binding onto the quilt. The pattern is String Crossroads.  I changed up her pattern to substitute 4 patch blocks for the string blocks.  I like how it turned out.  I still need to sew the binding down on the 2nd one (I made 2 quilts, one for me and one to auction off to raise funds to cover Reunion costs).

1930's reproduction fabrics

Friday was my birthday.  It was a fun day!  I had friends take me out to Red Lobster for lunch, then to a quilt store for some fabric fun.  Dinner was at Olive Garden with my husband and oldest son and a close friend.  I was surprised with lots of fun gifts.  Here are a few.

Marilyn made me a Iron Caddy for when I take my iron to sew-in's, etc.  I'm showing it open, too, because the fabric she used is sew cute!  I had to read all of it.

Iron Caddy

fun fabric

insulated fabric inside

I also got 2 Bluebonnet towels (Texas State Flower) from Kathy.  

Bluebonnet towels

Kay gave me a thread caddy, thread and a cute sewing themed door knob sign.

thread caddy, thread and door knob sign

My youngest son sent me flowers for the first time.  

I also got to show off my new Accuquilt Studio 2 after lunch.  I also got more Birthday cash to go towards it and the dies I've bought.  

Now to stitch the binding down on the Autumn Chains king size quilt (and make a hanging sleeve).  This has to be done before the quilt show March 11 & 12, 2023.  I'll be starting that as soon as this posts. 

Misc

I've been busy sewing, but, not much to show for it. 

First, one of my groups, Quilt Along,  had a mug rug exchange.  These are the mug rugs I made for the exchange (we were to turn in 3 mug rugs, and get 3 mug rugs back).  I made 4 (one to keep for myself).

2 of my matching mug rugs

I got the idea from Jennifer O's blog, Sewhooked.  She makes lots of paper pieced patterns available (some free, some for a small charge).  She offered this pattern for free, back in February.  I'm not much into hearts, but, figured that I could change it up, to suit my needs.

free pattern I got my idea from

It was fun to fussy cut the treadles.  I added the 'plate' to the side, to give room for a snack, too.

These are the mug rugs I got back.  I got 4 back, since I'd sent the hostess a gift, and she made me an extra mug rug, wasn't that sweet.

hand applique on this one

cute Snoopy

love these colors, and the quilting

front of mug rug, with lovely quilting

back of mug rug (red is my favorite color)

All of these have been in use since I took them out of the package. 

My Treadle On group is having a Half Square Triangle exchange.  I made 4 sets of 8 HST's for the exchange. 

2 sets on this Post WWII hand crank

2 sets made on 1927 Singer 15 hand crank

The weekend of April 7-9, I was invited to join the Camp Tuckabatchee Quilters for a retreat.  The Camp Tuckabatchee quilters host the quilt show with the treadle races, that I was at, just a few weeks ago.  So nice to be invited to join this group.  I could only attend for Friday, and had to leave Saturday morning, since I had my Ladies Crafting, that I run, at my church, on Saturday.  Next time, I get to stay the whole weekend.  Here are some of the things the ladies were working on at the retreat.

One lady had been given quite a lot of completed cross stitch blocks, and asked to turn them into quilts for her granddaughters.  

cross stitch blocks

more stacks of completed cross stitch blocks

Another lady was working on a former members UFO's.  The former member died several years ago. 

9 patch and snowball blocks

Someone was quilting this cute kids quilt.

kids quilt

I didn't get pictures of the other projects.  More ladies were expected to show up, after I left on Saturday morning.

I was stitching corner triangles onto squares, for the next Family Reunion quilt.  I want to get the blocks all done before the next reunion (2018), so that they can be signed at the reunion.  I'll make 2 matching quilts again, so that I get to keep one, and the other quilt will be raffled off, to help pay for the reunion. 

I found this quilt, at The Eclectic Abuela blog. The quilt is called String Crossroads. 

next Family Reunion quilt(s)

I've finished the 1 corner units, for the border (80 units per quilt), and I'm working on the 2 corner units (196 units per quilt).  I cut 2.5" squares for the corner units from 83 different fabrics.  I kept adding fabrics, so that the quilt would look scrappy enough.  I'm using 1930's reproduction fabrics, with Kona white for the background.  It is taking forever for me to mark and stitch all the corners, but, I'm getting bonus HST units for another quilt, so, it's worth it.  The bonus HST's will go to the OMG quilt that I started a few years ago.  I ran out of pre-cut pieces for the 9 patch units, and hadn't worked on this quilt since.  One of these days, I should really get the pattern, since I'm just 'winging it' so far.

units that need to be made for the quilt

Some of the units I'm working on.

1 corner units for border (80 units per quilt) (DONE!) 2 of each fabric in the quilt

working on the 2 corner units (the solid white squares still need the first corner stitched on).  This is taking forever!

I'm going to stitch at Sewing, Etc. tomorrow, with a friend, and will be working on these.  Sometimes it feels like I haven't even made a dent. 

When these squares are (finally) done, I have to start the string blocks (200 string units per quilt).  Good thing I started these quilts a year early.  You'll be seeing these quilt parts for a l-o-n-g  t-i-m-e!