Frame Friday

What?!  I'm a day late?  Oh well, here's what's still on the frame eveb though it's Saturday:

My low contrast Chain quilt is in the works.  The panto is called Delight:

And it's pouring down rain today with a little lightning.  The Knockout roses are loving it:

 

Monkey Goes Square Dancing

I quilted up the Monkey quilt with a panto called Square Dance.  The squares went very well with the modern fabric in the quilt and made the Monkeys happy!  Still needs binding ... but at least it's now in that queue.

Another Project Linus Finish

I quilted up this cute dinosaurs panel last night for Project Linus:

I used a recently purchased digital dinosaur pantograph and I wasn’t very happy with the results.  It seemed to me that the stitching was very jagged, almost erratic.  A lot of the turns and zig-zags were a single stitch long, so the overall stitching did not appear very smooth.

Some of the problem could be in the digitizing, but it could also be that I changed the size of the panto from 9 inches tall to 7 inches and I changed the pattern density.  I guess I’ll have to experiment on some scrap muslin to see if I can get it to stitch out better next time – could all be operator error – and I'd like to use it again because I thought the dinosaurs were cute and good for “boy” quilts.  We’ll see.

And the jury’s still out on the homemade numbering pins.  My least favorite chore is picking up blocks off of my "design floor" and I always number the rows so they go back together in the right order.  I have been using post-it notes and reusing them until they fall apart. The “real” genuine numbered pins are so very expensive that I thought I’d give a sharpie marker and flathead daisy pins a try first!  Here are some in my homemade carrier that I can roll up and set aside in between uses:

I know the flatheads that I purchased were very inexpensive and might not be a good choice for the experiment.  I lost one of the “heads” that pulled off when I was at the last Quilts of Valor meeting and I never could find it on the floor.  That just might happen to them all, but I’ll keep you posted if these last very long!  Here they are numbering the rows of my scrappy trails blocks that are ready to be sewn together:

Friday’s February UFO Finish

This quilt was a finish from a homemade kit I had from December – only the blocks had been put together until now:

I had made up some kits for myself before my husband went in for surgery in December (it was successful) and they are coming in handy now to grab a kit and make up a quick quilt.  The Numbers Game in the Yahoo Stashbusters Group had pulled #2 and that was this kit on my list.  It was a fun finish for February!  It will go to a group called Wrap-a-Smile for children around the world who will have cleft lip/palate surgery.

I quilted using a panto called Paw Prints that were fun, too!

Fun is Packing a Box!

I finally finished up quilting a few more donation quilts for Beth in NJ and have enough kid-size quilts to fill a box.

These will be going to Wrap-a-Smile for children undergoing cleft lip/cleft palate surgery around the world.  These are the last two I quilted up for Beth:

panto is Cotton Candy

aren't those cats darling?!

panto is called Floral Garden

And I scored big when a friend told us about The Cotton Loft’s going-out-of-business sale on-line.  The prices are excellent for quilt shop quality fabric.  The hitch is that you take what you get.  If you order 5 yds and they only have 3 yds left, they will ship you the 3 yds.  I got most of everything I ordered (only ½ yd short on one fabric and 1 yd short on another).  It was kind of a surprise package, but they definitely warn you before you order – and they keep the website really current.  It has been going on for awhile, so I expect more shortages if you order now.  I got these for backings:

I sure feel sorry for those readers who live in the parts of the US/Canada that are being pounded by snow, sleet, ice and extremely cold conditions.  I hope you stay inside, safe and warm!  We will be getting rain today and tomorrow and then a big drop in the temperature.  When it gets in the 40s and 50s (4 -10 C), we freeze down here in Florida!  But meanwhile, things are blooming here:

 

azaleas

 

redbud trees

lots of ornamental grasses

Let’s hope the plants enjoy the rain that’s coming …

Happy Valentine's Day

The most beautiful and incredible gift of love is the monument Taj Mahal in India. Built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife it stands as the emblem of the eternal love story. Work on the Taj Mahal began in 1634 and continued for almost 22 years and required the labor of 20,000 workers from all over India and Central Asia.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your loved ones.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

Quilting for Project Linus

Finished up the quilting last night of this one that was made by a member of Project Linus.  Before I turn it back in (they do the binding), I'm going to have to measure those rectangles ... this is a great scrappy or planned scrappy design!

The panto is called Variety.  Since this is a great design for scrappies, I'm going to link it up to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework's Oh Scrap.  Even though I didn't make it, I'm going to use it for my donation quilts.  Such an easy pattern and so cute!

QOV National Sew Day Goes Scrappy

Yesterday was the National Sew Day sponsored by the Quilts of Valor Foundation.  My QOV group here in Tampa met and worked up a wonderfully scrappy Rail Fence top:

Some of the ladies at work

The rows weren't quite finished being sewn together in this photo and the quilt will have a small border all around when finished.  It will be very snuggly!

I also finished up a non-scrappy Disappearing 9-Patch top at the Sew Day.

I had started the blocks at home and took them with me to Sew Day to finish up the top.

 

We had lots of fun, enhanced by the pizza and brownies of course!  And we received back three quilts from our fabulous longarm quilter, Pat B.  Thank you so much, Pat!

Linda F made the two Big Star quilts from her leftovers from other QOVs.  Great use of leftovers, isn’t it?!

Linking up with http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/ later today.  Cynthia is in Oregon and I am in Florida – I’ve already been up and out pulling weeds this morning.  The weather is beautiful, 73^◦ F (~22 C) and sunny.  Tomorrow we’re expecting rain, so those pesky weeds will be sure thrive and grow back – heavy sigh …

Quilting for Others

In continuation of my personal volunteer week (once a month), I have quilted up this lovely top made by another member of my CT Quilters Quilts of Valor Group:

 

the binding will be hand-sewn later by a member of the group

Since the backing was a nautical print, I went with the panto called Anchors Aweigh.  Due to a series of “operator errors” (there was absolutely nothing wrong with the panto!), I had nothing but trouble.  First I couldn’t get the tension right using red thread, so I went back to white, then the motifs were too big and I couldn’t get them smaller, then I forgot to measure to the bottom and had to cut off the anchors … but since it’s done and nobody knows but you and me, it’s still cool – lol!

And then I opened up the first Project Linus quilt and it was lighthouses and sailboats!  So I started fresh and got that Anchors Aweigh panto working properly right off the bat.  Oh sure, it’s always easy if you perform the right keystrokes and do it right the first time.  This was a darling top to work on … the colors don’t do it justice.  I love it!

And this is a Wrap-a-Smile top that I finished up and will get to quilting soon.  It is #2 on my Stashbuster’s list so it needs to be finished in February for the UFO Challenge.  Easy-peasy to plan for, huh?!!  It’ll get done … I love those puppies …

Quilt Show Continued

There were several wonderful patriotic quilts at the Quilter's Crossing Quilt Show.  These were my favorites:

Patriot Stars - Debbie Wallace

Honor by Kari Nicholas - Linda Fentriss

Smooth Sailing - Nat Wright

Smooth Sailing Detail - Nat Wright

And this is the Quilt of Valor that I just took off of the quilt frame.  It was made by someone in my Quilts of Valor group (I'll find out who and edit this later to give credit!).  The backing is nautical so I quilted it with a panto called Anchors Aweigh:

It will look great when the hand binding is done at the next meeting.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Cloudy = Early Spring

Sunny = 6 More Weeks of Winter

Hope you have a cloudy day today!!