Carolina Christmas Continued

I've gotten a moderate amount of piecing done this week on Carolina Christmas.

All 192 neutral and gold parts are done.  I have completed 40 of the 192 red and neutral 'petal' units, and have another 80 half way done.  I am saving my bonus HSTs from this quilt.  I have a boatload of them right now because I saved the bonus HSTs from Lazy Sunday too.  Using up my  2 inch bonus HSTs will have to be a project for next year. 

Jo, my ironing board looks as bad as yours does!  Maybe making a new cover should be on my short list for 2014.

To see more Bonnie quilt progress:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/bonnie-challenge-update/

Carolina Christmas

I spent last week cutting trash scraps for Carolina Christmas.  Trash scraps are the winkled up balls of odds and ends of fabric that never properly get sorted.  Trash scraps are the kind of scraps a lot of quilters throw out. Trash scraps include the bandannas the dogs get when they go to the groomer. Trash scraps are lots of work to harvest:  they have to be starched and ironed flat before they can be cut.   I've gotten all the pieces cut for the poinsettia blocks cut.  My goal is to finish all of these blocks before Thanksgiving.

 

I cut some extra 2 1/2 inch neutral squares.  I don't think I've made a quilt of Bonnie's where I didn't need a few ( or 200) of them.  I'll use the extras in this coming mystery.

 

To see more Bonnie Quilts:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/the-bonnie-challenge-update/

Stash Report

I used 2.5 yards this week in Julio's quilt.  I also bought 13 fat quarters (buy 12, get 1 free) because I am so low on yellow and orange, both colors that are going to be used in Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, Celtic Solstice.

Used this week: 2.5 yards
Used Year to Date:  82,5 yards
Added this week: 3.25 yards
Added year to date:  86.625 yards
Net Added:  4.125 yards

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/10/27/stash-report-week-43-2013/

People have been posting beautiful arrays of fabric they are going to be using for this mystery.  I am going to start with my scraps first before I cut into any fat quarters.  Otherwise, those ugly scraps will NEVER be used.  Mix up the uglies with some pretties, and no one will ever notice how dreadful some of the scraps I have are.  Here are my fabrics for Celtic Solstice.

I also started cutting  scraps for another of Bonnie Hunter's quilts, Carolina Christmas.  I am going to join Jo and Nell in a Bonnie Hunter along.  The goal is to finish a BH quilt by Thanksgiving.  I won't finish the entire quilt, but I'd like to finish all of the poinsettia blocks by then. 

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/join-me-and-nell-on-a-bonnie-challenge/

Big Quilt, Little Quilt

I have finished the top for my brother's baby's quilt.  It is made from my brother's, my BIL's and my husband's shirts. 

This is a Swirly Girls Pattern, Patchwork PDQ.  It is super simple.  All the Swirly Girls patterns I have used have had very clear directions.  This quilt is 45x 60 inches. I had a lot of shirt scraps leftover, so I made a smaller version they can use in a stroller or car.

 

I ordered gray minky for the back and will take them both to the longarmer as soon as it arrives. 

Wrapping A Quilt

I spent a long time trying to fold my sister's quilt to fit well into the pillowcase.  I don't like to use  paper to wrap gifts, if I can help it.  It seems so wasteful. I finally came up with this:

 

She may guess that she is getting a quilt.  But if I draw someone's name in the family Christmas drawing, it is a good chance he or she will be getting a quilt from me, and everyone knows this already!

The People Blanket

I made my first quilt in 1991.  I had sewn garments for years and had made a couple of applique pillows (long worn out by now) and several pieced pot holders (also, long gone by now), but this was my first quilt.  I was taking a class an Irish Chain quilt at an LQS (long gone by now as well).  We used Eleanor Burns Irish Chain book for this class.

 I only went to the class because my friend twisted my arm.  She was pregnant as well, so we both decided to make Irish Chain baby quilts.  I bought my first and still favorite olfa rotary cutter for this class.

My kids always called this quilt The People Blankie.  You can see here why!

As I recall, she used tradition soft baby colors.  I used red, white and black because I knew babies liked contrast.  I did not use quilt shop quality fabrics.  I think I bought the red, black and white at Cloth World (also long gone around here).  The backing I know was from Walmart, $1 a yard fabric.

Don't believe anyone who says you MUST  use quilt shop quality fabrics in your quilts.  This quilt had many years of hard use and washings.  DS2 used it for at least 6 years and then passed it on to DS3 who used it.  It spent a lot of time in the car and on the floor.  After 21 years, it is a little faded, but no holes, no fraying or worn places.  I did the quilting inexpertly, but that has held as well.

To see more baby quilts:
http://amyscreativeside.com/2013/10/25/bloggers-quilt-festival-baby-quilts-2/
http://mychellem.blogspot.com/2013/10/lets-make-baby-quilts-week-43.html

Scrapitude, Part 2

I finished part 2 of the Scrapitude Mystery quilt found over on Sandy's blog. http://quiltingfortherestofus.com/blog/  It's too early to know what the block will look like, but I suspect the blocks are 3 by 3 grids of 4 inch units, making the blocks 12 inch finished.  It is a square quilt, so I might add another row to the end and make it twin bed sized for a niece or nephew going off to college.  My own kids have more quilts than they need!

 

 

I currently have 4 nieces and 8 nephews, but my brother is in the process of adopting a year old baby, so that will soon make it 9 nephews.  I have started making a simple quilt for the new baby.  It is going to be made of shirts that came from his dads.  It will be a simple pattern since we just found out last Friday that tomorrow is the day they get the baby.

 

To see more design walls: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/10/21/design-wall-monday-october-21-2013/