A Recent Project Finished!

 So, I've always got some projects in the works. 

And every now and then, I actually FINISH a project!

Here's one of the latest:

My youngest daughter selected the fabrics and worked with me on the layout.

I started piecing this a couple of years ago, and got the quilt top and border finished. I even started quilting it a long time ago.

This past week, I finally finished the quilting and the binding.

The quilt is a fun mix of lots of the red and pink fabrics in my stash.

One of the great things about this quilt is that the back is like a whole 'nother quilt! The quilt back is a nice, calm combination of soft greens and dark greens.

When I can, I like to use fabrics from my stash for quilt backs, even if that means lots of piecing on the quilt backs. And when I can, I like to make the back of a quilt more interesting than just one single piece of fabric. That way, the quilt can have two whole moods, or two quilts in one!

So, this is my daughter's quilt: very red, very pink, very green!

Playing with Fabric

One of my favorite things with most of my hobbies is that I get to play with color and design. That's especially true with quilt-making. The colors, the patterns, the combinations ... I love them! I recently found that my local Walmart was clearance-ing some of the Pioneer Woman one-yard fabric packages. I love a good deal, so I bought some!

Here, I'm preparing to make some quilt-y kaleidoscopes. It's hard to tell in the picture below, but each of these triangles is actually a stack of SIX identical triangles.

With the six triangles, I'm planning to make hexagon kaleidoscopes. One of the fun things about these kaleidoscopes is ... The same overall fabric makes so many unique designs. (To see some of my other kaleidoscope quilts, just click the "Kaleidoscopes" label on the blog sidebar.)

But also, the same triangle set has three distinct possibilities. The triangle below can be turned into any one of the tree hexagons beneath it. 

  

And again, this triangle below can be turned into any one of the tree hexagons beneath it. 

 

Kaleidoscope quilt designs are lots of fun. I'm having fun playing with fabric! :-)

Colorful Quilt Top

Last year for my birthday, my mom gave me a gift card to my favorite quilt shop (QuiltWerks!), and I had the fun of picking some awesome fabric to play with. 

My quilt shop had these cute precuts (called "Prairie" from Riley Blake), and I decided to get a couple of packs of 5-inch squares.  

I've always loved the colors and prints that are usually seen in 30's reproduction fabrics. The combination of colors and prints is just so refreshing and fun! Fabrics from the 1930s is what I think of when I see these fabrics (even though I don't really know what does and doesn't constitute a "30's reproduction" fabric print).

I needed to find a pattern that would maximize my 5-inch squares ... This fabric is definitely too cute to waste! I was incredibly inspired by Amy Smart's Ganache Quilt. And, since it's made of triangles and squares, it was perfect for me: I could cut my quilt components with absolutely no waste! 

I took one stack of 5-inch charm squares and cut each piece in quarters -- so I had four small squares of each print. I took the other stack of 5-inch charm squares, and cut each piece in half diagonally -- so I had two triangles of each print. (I don't have the actual pattern, so I don't know how the inspiration quilt was made. But after looking at it, this is what I came up with.)

Since I loved the look of Amy's quilt, I wanted mine to look like hers ... mostly. The thing I wasn't sure about was the background. I'm always nervous about white backgrounds on quilts ... but I still wanted that light and fresh look. So I went with pale gray for the background color.

 

I love how the background seems light, but still practical! (This cat of ours has a radar-sense for fabric. Anytime quilt-block-layouts are happening, she appears out of nowhere to inspect.) 

This quilt top still needs a basic gray border, and I need to figure out what I'm doing for the back of the quilt. (Lately, I've gotten bored with plain backings on quilts, and I love the idea of reversible quilts that are kinda fancy on the front AND on the back. Because, who has time to make ALL the quilts? I sometimes need to combine two quilts into one! So, I'm still deciding what the back of this quilt will look like.) I took this quilt top for show and tell at my quilt guild, and my friend Cindy took this picture below (Thanks, Cindy!)

Hats & Colors

I say it pretty often: I love the times when a fun hobby can become an opportunity to give back and make a difference. 

Playing with yarn and color is one of the things I enjoy. I especially like the yarns that have a very slow color change like this one. 

I think the variety in variegated yarns definitely makes the project more interesting while working on it.

Ah, Layouts!

Part of the fun of putting quilts together is getting the quilt layouts just so. Getting the color placement right. Adjusting here and there. 

I'm getting to the layout part of this project. The picture above shows 12 blocks placed side by side, but I'm still figuring out whether that's my final layout.

Since this is a quilt-as-you-go project, I quilted each block separately. Then I trimmed them all nice and neat.

Full disclosure: sometimes the designing and layout phase is just ... messy! 🙂

But I think it's coming along. Once I figure out my layout, I'll quilt the next components and start assembling!

When Tuesday comes, I'll be linking this post to this week's "To Do Tuesday," the link party at Quilt Schmilt. I'm looking forward to seeing the other projects that are featured there. 

***Edited to add: I'm still figuring things out: "To Do Tuesday" is probably supposed to list a "To Do" list for my projects, and an update on how the list is going. 

So ... for this one, my next steps are:

    1. Finalize a layout

    2. Cut & Quilt the next components (setting squares and borders)

    3. Trim the newly-quilted squares & borders

    4. Prep the attachment/binding-strips and start attaching components

Quilt of Valor Collaboration

As often happens, my friends have inspired me. 

For many years, I've heard of the Quilts of Valor that others have made for local veterans to say “Thank you for your service and sacrifice in serving our nation.” Some of the veterans I know have been awarded a Quilt of Valor. Many of my quilt guild friends have made Quilts of Valor.

Not long ago, I wanted to try out a new pattern (This one: https://www.joscountryjunction.com/ask-jo-the-christmas-star-quilt-tutorial/ ) and since it was a star design, I thought it would look great done in reds and blues. I figured that if it turned out well, maybe I could donate it as a Quilt of Valor.

I was pleased that the quilt top came together smoothly, and I loved how it turned out. Because I didn't have time to quilt it right away, I asked my quilt guild if I could donate just the quilt top to the Quilts of Valor project.

My quilt-y friends are awesome. Not only was I able to donate just a quilt top, but a mere few weeks later, I saw the quilt top again -- this time beautifully finished with borders and amazing longarm quilting done by one of the quilt guild ladies.

This has been a great collaboration for a great cause. And I love this great cause. I've already got two more quilts in progress that have a red, white, blue, star theme going on, so we'll see what's next!

Little Blankets

Lately, one of my favorite tv-watching activities is crochet: it keeps my hands busy and I can still enjoy the show!

Here are some of my latest little projects: little blankets. Our crochet group at church donates hats and blankets to various community groups and mission projects.

I love the fact that a favorite hobby of mine can also be a way to "give back" to the community and show love, even to people I'll never meet!

It's been great to be a part of a group that makes an effort use their time and talents for good. I've received a lot of inspiration from these ladies, and I appreciate what I learn from them.

A Wisteria Wreath

 I've been wanting to find a way to use some of the prolific wisteria vines that grow in my backyard. 

So far, I love this idea! It's basically what I think of as a "grapevine wreath" ... but it's made with wisteria vines. They're pretty flexible and they twist and twine really easily. 

I'm hoping to make more of these. Wreath-making is a great use for something that's already in my yard! And this style of wreath is so versatile, because you can add (or skip!) any kind of flowers, leaves, bows, etc., depending on the desired style or the season!

Granny Squares

Granny Squares are definitely among my favorite ways to crochet! 

This is a recent project that combined some scraps and some random yarns to make a colorful lap afghan.

After making two randomly-colored rounds on each, I gave them a little consistency with a third round in an ombre turquoise. 

I used black for the background, partly because it looks classy, and partly because I had a lot of black yarn. I added a simple edging in a bumpy, bulky black yarn, and it was the perfect use for it!

Backstitching

I love the difference that a little backstitching can make on a cross-stitch project!

 Here's the before:

And here's the after:

This makes 14 letters complete in this project.

A Picture ... It could be worth a thousand words ...

Most of my favorite blogs post interesting content daily, or at least a few times a week.

When I write for my own blog, I tend to want to write long, wordy posts with tons of great pictures. 😀 But my all-or-nothing side gets in the way, and if I don't have time for a long, wordy, picture-y blog post, then I post nothing at all.

So, in the spirit of sharing fun stuff, encouraging creativity, and recording some of my projects, I'm going to try to create more frequent just-a-photo posts.

Here's a start:

My current cross -stitch project. It's been decades in the making, but this year, I'm actually making progress!

Succulents

My latest plant obsession: succulents. 

I'm forever intrigued by the variety, and I'm easily sucked in by the adorable, tiny $2 baby-plants-in-pots that I see at the store. I have to buy them and bring them home and re-pot them into arrangements.

Every now and then, I find a giant plant on clearance; sometimes I discover a variety I haven't seen before.

Always, the possibilities are endless!

I put this arrangement together, and it's enjoying the outdoors; I love that it's blooming!

I recently found out that some herbs (such as rosemary, sage, thyme) like to be in pots with succulents, since they have similar sun and water needs. What luck -- I happen to have some rosemary, sage, and thyme! Must try!

I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing with these, but I'm having a lot of fun anyway, and, for the most part, they're not dying, so -- something's working!