December 2012

Finishes for 2012

by Karen on December 31, 2012

I like to look at the end of the year to see what I have finished in quilting. I looked back at the end of last year and I see quilts still waiting in line to be quilted – but I am pleased that I finished two queen size quilts! Anyone can tell by looking at this post that I don’t have much of a life other than quilting Smile Mike has been contract working most of this year and we only took two trips – one was a week to Charleston South Carolina and the other was about 2 1/2 weeks to Wisconsin. I had a lot of time for sewing.

Star Crazy was made in 2011 and quilted at the the first half of 2012 – hand quilted 100 x 100 inches

004

Joseph’s Coat was hand pieced in part of 2011 and finished in 2012 and hand quilted in 4 months! 105 x 103 inches

010

I made this pinwheel top at the beginning of the year and it is still waiting to be quilted – it will probably go in the hoop when I finish the quilt that is currently in the hoop – this one is machine pieced and will be hand quilted.

003

Square in a Square or Dizzy as I called it – machine pieced at the beginning of the year and almost finished with the hand quilting but not yet.

007

Pyramids was machine pieced and machine quilted by me with trouble but finished. I forgot to take a photo of this one after it was quilted.

002

Farmers Wife a shortened version made in 2011 and 2012, hand quilted

011

X Marks the Spot – I love this one – it is machine pieced and hand quilted in 2012

013

This Red and Green Traditional Applique was mostly made in 2011 I added the applique border in 2012 and it is currently waiting in line to be hand quilted.

001

this is Pineapple Square – I made the blocks back in 2010 and 2011 and finally put them together this year and added the applique border – it is hand quilted.

010

This Christmas Tree wall hanging is fusible applique ( a first for me) and machine quilted by me

014

So far Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses is this big – I started her this year, lets see how much it grows next year.

001

I also started the Common Bride quilt – I wonder if I will get done with this top this coming year also.

015

Another quilt on the quilting frame right now is the Bow Tie Medallion, made back in 2010 I believe and about 1/3 of the way quilted right now – I will finish this one in the upcoming year for sure.

016

I also made several tote bags and started on pillows yesterday – I guess I have been busy once again this year!

Dear Jane #2 Insanity Revisited is still waiting in line to be quilted also – 2013? we will see I still need to add the scallop border to this one – the fabric is sitting aside with the top. The scallops will be the cream color.

dearjane#2

I think I have enough to keep me busy!!

{ 26 comments }

New phone

by Karen on December 30, 2012

in quilts

I have a new iPhone that I am playing with — trying to see how it works for blogging– so this is practice. I want to make sure I know how to insert a photo

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

{ 6 comments }

Strings

by Karen on December 30, 2012

in quilts

How can I have patience for hand piecing and relax and when I take out the machine I seem to get very little done? Well ok, I have gotten some done but I don’t feel like it is going quickly and I tend to make more mistakes than when I do work by hand.

I have managed to get two smaller blocks done and attached together – that is it and I’m ready to call it quits and go back to my book! This much done – one for the front of a pillow and one partial for the back Smile

006

So messy when I work. Two boxes of strings. I’m trying out my flower thread stand even though I don’t have a large cone of thread – I just wanted to try it out. I intend to mainly use this stand when I use my Janome as my thread tends to get caught on one little piece of the spool – it has a little knick on it.

009

I would rather be quilting but I promised myself to take at least a couple days off to get these fingertips feeling better – they are not real bad, just kind of rough – they actually heal pretty fast as long as I take a break from handwork.

It is finally above freezing today! still have snow on the ground out here in the shade – I’m sure a couple days of above freezing temps and it will melt – I think we are supposed to get rain on Monday that should take care of it as long as it isn’t sleet and snow!

I am going to have two messy boxes to clean up and put back in order when I get done with these pillows!

{ 4 comments }

Strings

by Karen on December 30, 2012

in quilts

I took a break from all other projects yesterday. My fingertips are sore from quilting so much Sad smile always happens as I can’t stand anything between me and the needle on the underside of the quilt. So in the meantime I got out one of the boxes of strings and started to make some pillow tops!

I am going to make two pillows and both sides will be made out of stings. One pillow will have a large block on one side and 4 smaller blocks will make up the other side. I haven’t decided on the second pillow – I will get done with one at a time.

003

I can see by looking at that box of strings that I will need to refold the strings when I get done or they will be a crumpled up mess again – don’t want that after I got them so neat! After I got started I could see that I could make a whole big quilt top from strings – I have so many packed tight into two boxes.

{ 3 comments }

A Little Done

by Karen on December 29, 2012

in Lucy Boston--Patchwork of the Crosses, quilts

Patchwork of the Crosses got looked at yesterday, down on the floor, fabric scattered. Choosing colors for the next blocks. These choices might not stay in this order – but for now. I haven’t taken a stitch though since decided on what was next.

009

Instead I got busy and quilted two more of the blocks quilted on the square in the square quilt and then moved to the big frame and quilted for 40 minutes on the Bow Tie Medallion. Starting to get sore fingertips though so once again I might need a break from quilting and do something else for a week! I did buy two soft pillow forms and have plans to make a couple of extra large blocks with some strings (strips) I will have to see if the featherweight will cooperate with me to get that done. The Janome still needs to be brought it – I will deal with that after the New Year. In the meantime maybe I will get some pillows for the couch made this upcoming week – Plans right now just two scrappy string pillows.

Maybe instead of starting on the Sedona Star quilt I will get a block cut out for applique on the William Morris top instead – applique doesn’t bother my finger tips as I always use a metal stick on thimble or a leather dot. We will see – not sure what the weekend plans are at this point! Maybe we will do something on the spur of the moment – depends on weather of course!

{ 3 comments }

The Big Winter Storm

by Karen on December 28, 2012

in weather

My daughter in North Little is finally back on the internet after having been without it for a couple days due to the damage Christmas Day in her area of Arkansas. I wanted to share some of her pretty pictures that she has taken while wandering through their neighborhood. I imagine the rain today has been melting some of these pretty scenes. This is not normal for central Arkansas at Christmas – we have not have a measurable snow amount the news said on Christmas day for at least 80 years.

Her beautiful dog Patty enjoying the snow.

people clearing parts of the streets with shovels

This scene was blocking traffic from her street – neighbors with chainsaws were helping to clear it out. The city workers have this all over the metro area to clean up. People are still without power – she was lucky and only lost hers for 5 hours or so on Christmas Day. The line for the internet laid in her back yard for 3 days before it was taken care of.