Sunday, January 27, 2013

RSVP Raffle Quilt, and Jigsaw Puzzle

Our local in-town sewing/quilting group of 5-10 members, was asked to donate our skills and time to make another  raffle quilt for RSVP - Retired Senior Volunteer Project.  We settled on a Scrappy Friendship Star, each of us took home a piece of "focus" fabric so all the blocks blended.

The Friendship Stars that came back were indeed, uhhhhh SCRAPPY!, and while we all HOPE they will blend nicely together, the great variety appeared scarey and possibly overwhelming - many of us were doubting!  Possibly, you also have occasionally endured the same unsettling thought --  the "how can this ever turn out?" doubt. 

As soon as we started playing with borders, the quilt almost designed itself!  Adding that ribbon border also gave it the almost-finished look we were hoping for.  Lastly, the quilting, done by our friend Chell, absolutely took our project from "a Raffle Quilt" to "Stunning !"  Wow - this is a lesson - finish your UFO quilts!  Remember? "Quilting Makes the Quilt!"  I'm including a link to her site - I'll bet you'll agree it's a lovely finish! (She has better photos, as well!) A binding and label will finish it. 


 

Separate subject - jigsaw puzzles.  I gave DH a birthday (December) puzzle that would take a long time to complete (you know, long, cold dreary January) !!!  Uhhhh -- success!   I shopped at this site.  My gosh, the choices available are astonishing and you can narrow your choices by age, themes, sizes, # of pieces - there was no end of options. This is 1000 pieces, but what they didn't say for this choice was that many of the pieces are interchangeable - this one was NOT easy! Good thing we didn't need the table for 2 months!  BTW, DH loves boats.  Not many gifts can last this long!  LOL



Notice the almost identical shapes of those all-blue sky pieces!!!



Saturday, January 12, 2013

All Day Sew, & Linus Quilt


 Friday afternoon, I attended a local, All Day Sew, for most of the afternoon.  While the wind was howling and blowing and threatening to be a blizzard, about 12 of us were able to enjoy each other's company, warmth, lunch, snacks, and sew with no interruptions for many hours.  Delightful!!  Thank you Gene and Nancy for arranging this gathering.

The blizzard only threatened, but didn’t materialize.

Above, is my mess and Linus "I Spy" Quilt in Progress, with a friend in the background.  I tried machine quilting with my small travel machine, a small, 11 lb. Janome.  While the spiral stitches were good, my hand area was just too small and limited movement.

 Isn't that backing incredible????

Here are some of the cute motifs from Keepsake quilting - these are all 5 inch squares, 50 come in the order, I deleted a few and added several of my own.  They are all EXCELLENT quality, contemporary motifs -- saved me time.  I would definitely recommend using them -- they are called Kids something or other.  This is the 4th or 5th quilt I've made using these squares from Keepsake Quilting. I'll do it again!

Yeppers, that's snow on the ground. Yeppers, it's DONE!!!


Thursday, January 10, 2013

I'm Still Here!

I'm hangin' on!  Wow - time flies when you're having fun - is that how it goes? 

I've been called back to my job again, until my replacement recovers from medical issues.  I AM getting some quilting done -- hope you haven't given up on me!!!  I truly am honored to be able to help out -- these adjustments DO take some getting used to!  Mostly, I'm wishing for recovery for my September replacement.