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!

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!

Kaleidoscopes and Mitered Corners

Quilts Revisited ~ So, I've realized that in my quilty blog, there are a ton of projects I've forgotten to blog about. Hence, I'll be posting occasionally in my "Quilts Revisited" series -- projects I'm revisiting because I didn't give them their moment on the blog when I finished them.

Many moons ago, I made a bunch of beautiful kaleidoscope blocks, some of which went into a finished quilt in 2013. The "extra" kaleidoscope blocks just sat waiting for something to do. 

Almost three years ago, the opportunity came to make those extra kaleidoscopes into something new.

I also tried some mitered-corner blocks around the same time, and I brainstormed whether I could use the kaleidoscopes and mitered-corners together ...

After giving it some thought, I decided to put the two together into a reversible quilt. 

Because, after all, I've got so many projects in my head, and it seems like there's not time to make them all!

 And, why have a boring quilt-back if you don't have to? Am I right? I tried a little custom quilting in the borders, which is always fun.

The rest is just my favorite random-meandering free-motion quilting, done on my domestic sewing machine. 

The quilt became a gift to bring a little warmth and cheer to a friend who's had a tough couple of years with health problems and hospitalizations. I guess if I could send a hug through the mail, it would look a lot like a quilt!

Quilts Revisited: The Vintage Dresden Plate Quilt

So, I've realized that in my quilty blog, there are a ton of projects I've forgotten to blog about. Hence, I'll be posting occasionally in my "Quilts Revisited" series -- projects I'm revisiting because I didn't give them their moment on the blog when I finished them.

My great-great-grandmother's Dresden Plate quilt. I blogged about this quilt only a couple of times ... I was working on it in 2016 and blogged about it here, then briefly here in 2017. Then, here in 2018, I started to write about how I had finished it up in 2017. 

Anyway, I never posted the finished pictures, so here they are. Behold, my great-great-grandmother's hand-pieced Dresden Plate quilt!

My great-great-grandmother, Minnie Belle Causbie Foreman, died before I was born. But she was known to be a wonderful quilter, and my mom inherited some of her finished quilts and some of her quilt tops.

A few years ago (ahem, 2013, but who's counting?), my mom sent me the four quilt tops she had inherited that needed to be quilted. We decided that machine-quilting would be the best thing, and my mom trusted me to do the quilting. Even though these vintage quilt tops were hand-pieced, none of us was ever going to hand-quilt them. 

To begin with, I added an outer border since the quilt had none. For the border, I didn't find an exact match to the sashing color, but I decided to go a shade darker, and the effect is nice. I quilted each Dresden and all the sashings and borders with a swirly design that sort of echoes the swirly fabric I chose for the backing. 

 

I do all of my quilting on a regular domestic sewing machine. As I've gotten more practice over the years, I enjoy the free-motion quilting process more and more. 

After all my procrastinating on this one, the quilting went remarkably smoothly. I'm sure it helps that I'd practiced this quilting design on a couple of smaller projects first.

I really LOVE the vibrant colors in this quilt. Such variety!

In a way, it feels a little like I got to collaborate on a project with my great-great-grandmother, which is pretty awesome. She and I didn't get to meet each other, but I got to finish her quilt. How awesome is that?!

I quilted some wording into the border of the quilt, along with the dates my great-great grandmother lived ... it says, "Hand-pieced by Minnie Belle Causbie Foreman, 1871-1972."

My mom has been enjoying the quilt. I'm so glad that, after all these years, she gets to enjoy using this beautiful quilt top she inherited, since it's finished now.

Pink Crochet Afghan

Crochet has definitely been a thing this year. Earlier this year, I made this little pink-and-neutrals afghan.
Here are a couple of pics...

I enjoyed making this little afghan ... super-easy pattern, consisting of all double crochet stitches.

In fact, I liked making it so much, I decided to make another one later in the year in different colors!

This pattern (and other color pics) can be seen on Pinterest here: (this pin, this pin, and also this one), as well as at this link. 

Of course, I made the stripes lengthwise so I could just leave all the yarn ends as fringe (not pictured), starting each row with a new length of yarn, and trimming all the fringe to about 6 inches.

More crochet - Lumberjack Afghan

It has been too long since I've posted pictures!

Seems like there's always some project in the works. (Ha! Actually, several projects, I should say!)

This is an afghan I finished earlier this year, for one of my sons. 

I had fun with the crochet pattern -- it's one I haven't done before. It's super simple, but it turns out looking like a complicated Houndstooth pattern. (Seriously, sc, dc, sc, dc to end. On the next row, coming back, sc in dc, dc in sc, sc in dc, dc in sc. The texture is awesome!)

The original pattern is called Lumberjack Throw by Kathleen Garen, and, as often happens, I came across it on Pinterest. (See this pin.)

A long-time finish

This week, I finished crocheting an afghan that's been in progress for several years. It feels good to have it done!

I actually started it about 10 years ago. For some reason, I got about a quarter of the way done and then quit working on it. After putting it away for a few years, I rediscovered it last fall. (I mentioned it here.)

Progress was a little slow ... partly because every row is over 200 stitches long ... and partly because there are almost 200 rows ... and partly because I've had lots of other projects in the works. (Check back soon for pictures of those ones!)

Anyhow ... This one's done! 

A Finished Quilt!

A few months ago, this quilt got finished!

I really enjoyed putting this quilt together. It was mostly pieced a couple of years ago. (I blogged about it a few times ... including here, here, and here. It seems like I started blogging about this one in 2016 - including posts like this one.)

It's my version of "Hopscotch Butterscotch" from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures With Leaders and Enders.

This quilt has the look that I like to call the "organized scrappy" look ... lots of scraps come together to make a great design. It's a scrappy quilt, and even the fabrics that "shouldn't" go together can look good together. They just work. 

To me, this is one of the reasons why quilts sometimes seem like life: a lot of little parts come together to make the whole, and a lot of surprises may come our way. In life, we can't always see what God's up to, but He has a plan, and He works out all things together for good for those who love Him. 

I love pieced backings on quilts! 

A little extra patchwork gives the back of the quilt its own special look.

The quilting was an all-over stippled design ... it's my favorite.

Straight-line quilting in the border adds a little more definition.

This quilt was a gift for a dear friend. 

A Custom Baby Name Quilt!

I love making personalized gifts.

Quilts are my favorite baby gift, baby shower gift, welcome-baby gift!

I love being able to give a gift that has a personal touch. Something custom. A little bit unique.

So, I loved making this quilt, and personalizing it for a friend's new baby.

Quilting the name in this style was a fun technique. Is it thread-painting? Maybe. I like it. I love how the letters stand out, even without any extra batting, just because of the dense quilting.

This was a fun gift to make, and I've got a few little quilts similar to this for sale in my Etsy shop, all ready to customize.

 

Little Quilts on the Clothesline

I put binding on these little quilts last week.

One's my latest Crumb Quilt (See this post also.)

One's a simple two-fabric quilt that was perfect for practicing a new quilting design. Here are the first few rows of quilting. (It got better as I went along!)

As often happens, I accidentally picked a really windy day for taking pictures!

These quilts are both baby-sized quilts, and ready to be given away!