Just Sew Quilter

Friday, March 23, 2018

Blog Hop Coming Soon

Whew, time goes SEW quickly--how can I have let more than a month go by without posting?

First of all, the Blog Hop hosted by Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks, 30 Blocks in 30 Days, begins April 1, and I will be the featured blogger on April 8. Stay tuned for that project.

I have a bunch of things in progress, but no "finishes" for awhile.

The one below is a 3 Dudes Quilt, done Man Sewing Style with the black inserted between 2 1/2" strips. I love the colors. Got the top put together at our quilt retreat at the beginning of March (more on that later). The blocks had been finished for a year.

We spent a weekend at our daughter's in St. Louis a few weeks ago.

Below is Amelia (right front) waiting her turn for a balloon person. This is her friend's birthday party.

Here is Amelia's little sister Camella playing in a car at the party.

A friend asked me to quilt this for her--so I did. She was going to finish it with a self-binding. It's a lap quilt or even wall-hanging.

Here are some of the projects done at our quilt retreat at Threads of Time, Danville, IL.

I had the blocks for the pink quilt all done and finally got the top put together there. Betty Sue did the 2 wall hangings on the left.

The Hunter Star is mine--blocks mostly done (all done before retreat was over), and the bunny placemats were done by Michelle. The Hunter Star was a lesson at our Cerro Gordo Quilters meeting. It is done the Missouri Star Quilt Company way, and I used a charm pack I had plus some matching fat quarters and 6" strips, so there is quite a color variation. Still pretty, but a 2-color one is more stunning, I think.

I also finished the yellow quilt top below. Kathy did the 2 flower wall hangings. The yellow top is a pattern and charm pack from Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler one month in 2017.

So, I did get several tops down--now I have to quilt them all!

Below are photos of some of us at our retreat.

Sometimes there were "phone" wars to get silly pictures of each other.

Sometimes we really worked.

Here we all are. SEW much fun! Threads of Time is a great place to have a retreat!

We love it there!

Don't forget to follow along beginning April 1. I'll post the schedule before then.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Southwest decor

It's always interesting visiting others... I made the wall hanging shown for my sister-in-law Chris to hang in their condo in Tempe, AZ. The wall hanging is a Row by Row from 3 Dudes Quilt Shop, 2015, I believe. (I am saddened by the closure of that shop--loved it!) Next Chris arranged the items on the table below it to help with her decor and asked me to make pillow covers for her. I did (you can't see the 2nd one in this photo).

Then we visited a cousin out west of Surprise who uses saguaro ribs to make furniture and she gave the above pictured skeleton to Chris, who loves these things. So, Alan (my brother) and Chris are in this picture with Chris hugging her saguaro, and now the decor is complete. How neat is that?!

Monday, February 5, 2018

My Turn for Put a Little Love in Your Quilt

Thanks, Carol, for hosting this hop. I haven’t participated in a hop for a few years, and this one looked like just the right one to jump in on.

Who doesn’t LOVE heart decorations for Valentine’s Day? Aren’t these pretty?

My two youngest granddaughters are instant LOVE. They are reading together on the couch this morning. Fun!

My first contribution is this little panel called “Love Notes”. My apologies, but I can’t remember who designed the pattern, and I am not at home to look. I love the heart-shaped notes, and I found the “Love” fabric in my stash for the binding. Sweet!

I collect nativities of all shapes and sizes, including wall hangings, and this “Christmas 101” pattern by Jan Patek is one I have wanted to make for a long time. In fact, I liked it so much that I forgot I already had the pattern and bought it again! Last year, I determined to get started, so I managed to get all the shapes traced and ironed onto Heat and Bond light. I also cut out the background squares (twice, because the first time I forgot to allow for the seam allowances). Then it was put away until after my Christmas projects were all done. I was working on finishing it up when Carol announced this blog hop—yea! Perfect timing! I added Mary's heart so I could use this for the hop. Photo ops are great in below zero weather in Illinois, so you have to put up with my unusual background.

We had scrumptious strawberry shortcake at Horny Toad in Cave Creek, AZ, a few days ago. Who wouldn’t LOVE this?! It’s large enough for 2 to 4 people to share, even though just the 2 of us pigged out on it. Delicious! We can always count on its being good there, and it really is as big as you see it in the photo. Horny Toad has great sandwiches too—I won’t talk about how big their burgers are…

Lastly, don’t you LOVE the carving our brother-in-law John did for us? He took a piece of wood from our apple tree (in Illinois) last summer, and he carved an apple tree for us. My husband and I are the ones in the photo.

Thanks for visiting! Here is the list of hoppers—please visit each one to see what lovely thing each has made.

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Just Sew Quilter You are here!

Ms P Designs USA

Made By Marney

Beaquilter

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

February 7

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Put a Little Love in Your Quilt Starts Today

It started! My day is tomorrow, but here is the line up for this incredible Hop hosted by Carol Swift of Just Let Me Quilt:

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

February 7

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Sunday, January 28, 2018

It won't be long...

It's nearly time for the Put a Little Love in Your Quilt blog hop, hosted by Carol Swift of Just Let Me Quilt.

I hope you all have it on your calendar. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has made.

My turn is Day 2: February 6.

Here's our schedule:

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Val's Quilting Studio

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

February 7

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Put a Little Love Blog Hop coming soon!

I've geared up for the Put a Little Love in Your Quilt blog hop, and am ready to go when it's my day!

The schedule is below...

I made some coasters for my sister-in-law Sandra whom we will be visiting very soon. Several years ago I made her 8 placemats. These sort of match--the print fabric is the same, but I had to try to match closely the other 3 colors out of my stash since I had no more left of the original fabrics. I hope they are pretty close...

I've been working on a few jigsaw puzzles in the evenings; here's one. It's only 500 pieces. I had to get warmed up on puzzling--when we go to my brother Alan's place, there will be a puzzle waiting for us to do.

Here's the schedule for Put a Little Love hop:

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Val's Quilting Studio

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Just Sew Quilter (that's me)

February 7

February 8

Just Let Me Quilt (our fabulous host Carol S.)

This should be a lot of fun! I haven't done a hop for a long time.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Blog Hop and WIP

We had a lovely family Christmas Dec. 27 - 30 at our daughter's in St. Louis. Here is the whole bunch, minus Natalie who took the pic.

I'm participating in this hop--have a heart on one thing (see photo below) so far.

My goal for this week is to finish this wall hanging. I love nativities, and I love this pattern so much, I bought it twice (yikes)! There's something to be said for keeping a list of you already own... Anyway, the only applique left to do is all the black (lots of little things), and then I will be able to put it together and quilt it. The end is in sight! Yoohoo!

Happy 2018--may it truly be a prosperous year!