It was not the best of weeks here. Wednesday I woke up covered in some weird rash and itching like mad. The Dr gave me something for the itching but that along with the back medication put me to sleep. I will say that I am well rested...........

I worked on my small Irish chain quilt but it is not yet done.

I finished quilting the bottom piece for my basket. I did the machine quilting on the top piece and sketched in a bit for the hand quilting on the embroidery. I cannot draw anything but I did try a bit of freehand design using Kaaren drawing as a guide. Thank you Kaaren for giving us a lovely design every month to stitch. You can visit her at The Painted Quilt and join in on the fun.

I want to stop at Murray's tomorrow for some rickrack and bias tape to finish the edges. There is one small scrap of the fabric left so I must improvise the binding.



I even got the applique done on the second wallhanging. It is layered and basted and ready to quilt.
In between when I did not have time to go upstairs and sew I picked up the Jan Pakek July block to applique. It is all finished.......... Perhaps today I will get the August blocked prepped and ready for my basket.


Judy at Patchwork Times has many more friends sharing what is on their design wall today. Check it out for inspiration.

Judy at Patchwork Times has Design Wall Monday....... A great way to see what is going on in the world with other stitchers. Judy also has a special Memorial Day offer that you need to check. She is posting a pattern just the right size for QOV. If you make the quilt and mail it to her she will finish it and send it on its way.

This weekend I started my Mini Irish Chain. I only got one row done but other things did need attention first.

I got out my redwork piece from the First Friday Freebie hosted by Kaaren at The Painted Quilt. Karen used her piece on a notebook cover. I have something else in mind.

Several years ago I found several of these baskets. They are just the thing to put all the pieces of a project into to take downstairs to work on. It keeps everything together and if I need to prep more things I just take the basket back up stairs. Keeps me from dropping little pieces of applique.



I am making a quilted piece to put into the bottom of the basket..................


Then making a cover to put over the project in the basket.



It was a productive weekend even though I only got to play in the studio for a few hours.

Yesterday Lem took a picture of the wisteria in the back yard. It smells so good when a breeze blows by.



Last night I took the final quilting stitch on the first of two of these little darlings. I then began the second one. This morning I finished prepping all of the elements for the second wall hanging.
I will put the first one aside till the second one is appliqued and quilted. There is another project I need to work on.


And here are the fabric choices for the next project. Kaaren at the Painted Quilt mentioned a group she belong to that made doll quilts or miniature quilts. I have recently become interested in these little lovelies so I checked it out. Of course I had to join too. I would not want to miss out on any fun things. They do challenge quilts. This gives you the opportunity to work at your own pace. The current challenge is an Irish Chain. After work yesterday I unpacked a few boxes to find the fabric I wanted. This is what I found. You can't tell from the picture but the cream fabric has stars sprinkled on it. Now let me add that to the list on the sidebar that is growing like Topsy.

A week later and I am ready to quilt this project. In fact I have already begun. It took longer to baste it than I thought it would. I even began quilting it last night. I could possibly finish this project this week. Wouldn't that be grand.

As I mentioned earlier, I really want to get this small piece begun and even finished if at all possible.


I got all of the pattern pieces cut out and ready to stitch.




And even got a piece or two stitched in place...............





This is what is on my design wall today. Go over to Patchwork Times and see who else has reported to Judy what they are working on.

I am not really sure where the week went. I had lots of ambition but that is all. There were things to do but I seemed unable to do any of them. Perhaps it is the changing season but for some reason all I could do is sleep. Went to bed early but got up late feeling like I had not slept at all. I do hope that doesn't happen again.

Saturday I got out the CW buckshot pincushions I began in January. They are all stitched but need to be stuffed. I had stuffed one earlier but I am not pleased with how the top finished so I put them aside while I thought of a better way to finish the top. I now have an idea and Saturday I got out all of the things needed to stuff them. I ran out of pellets after and I will need to use pellets for the last two of them. Then I ran out of stuffing. I did pick up more on Monday and perhaps I will actually get the pincushions finished some time soon.



I also finished my Nine Patch Quilt. It still needs to be washed and the label added but I am pleased to say that it is done at last.






I finished the March embroidery that Kaaren at The Painted Quilt is so good to provide for us. I have a button on my side bar and if you like embroidery look at the lovely ones she has provided for free.


I got the house done for the July Jan Patek 2008 BOM. Now to add the roof and chimneys and applique it to the background.


I finished the April embroidery from Kaaren. She made a notebook cover with her design. I am making a basket cover using mine. Her words at the top or different. I changed them for my project.



At last I got the flimsy made for the next Country Cousin block, the fabrics have been selected and I have started cutting out the pieces to applique.


Maybe next week I can get more stitching done.

I am anxious to start on my Pear Tree Applique. I need to make two of these. One for myself and one for a friend.



First to look for the larger pieces of fabric needed.

Backing



Main Piece




Top half square triangles




Tree



Pears




All together now.




Then to dump The Bag to look for pieces for the smaller ones.



small pieces



This is going to be so much fun. I just might put it on the top of the list.

I really must clear off the cutting table. It is getting layered with projects and needs a good clear off.




I am tracing the stitchery from Kaaren at the Painted Quilt. There is another one coming out soon and I could possibly get this one done before it does.



I have finished the March Stitchery and need to get it made into a pillow.




I am cutting the pieces to applique the July Jan Patek 2008 block and block eight of Country Cousins is here somewhere waiting for the flimsy to be traced, the fabric to be selected and the pieces to be cut.





and block eight of Country Cousins is here somewhere waiting for the flimsy to be traced, the fabric to be selected and the pieces to be cut.



By getting these things prepped and ready to stitch I can sit downstairs in the evenings with Lem and Wade Hamilton and sew. I liked to have several things ready so if I run out of thread or have a problem with one I can just pick up another one and keep right on stitching.

Last night I took the final stitch in the binding on my Nine Patch Quilt. It is 70x70 but because of the size of the pieces it is a heavy quilt. It now needs to be washed since it has been in progress for such a long time. I am delighted to be done. This was a leader/ender quilt and it has been on my list for many years.

After taking the last stitch I picked up my March FFF from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt. While working on the Nine Patch I realized that the fabric I had purchased for the binding would be lovely with my stitchery. I plan to make a pillow with mine instead of framing it. After all, the piping is already made since it is left over form the quilt. I will have to piece the back but the fabric I purchased to finish the Nine Patch will be all used up. Oh how nice that is.

Finally the piping is all sewn on.



I was so glad that I had purchased a piping ruler several years ago.




It certainly makes trimming the piping so much easier.


Then to cut the binding and add that to the quilt.





At last the binding is complete and I can call this a finish at last. Of course I want to get it washed next.




As you can see all the nine patches are 1 1/2 inch blocks.

I really must do something about the lighting upstairs. It seems that all of my pictures are so dark. I will take another picture this afternoon to replace this one. I promise. I just didn't want to miss the Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times. It is good to see what others have going on.

Here is the June 2008 block for the Jan Patek BOM of that year. At least some progress is being made on something.


I took this picture out of the window upstairs in the studio on April 20th. It seemed to be the first sign of spring and I did not want to miss it.


Same tree six days later. If we get a few more warm days it could be even fuller.

Pickle met on Tuesday. Peg gives me the quilting magazines that she is no longer interested in. Isn't she such a good friend. I can always find things I want to make in them. The ones I do not want I pass on the the library here in Orleans.

There were several quilts that caught my eye so I marked the magazine with a post-it note. I can write on the top of the note just what I am interested in for a second look later.
magazine cover


This year I have been trying to clear up some major projects I began in years past. I am soon going to finish two quilts, that is if I can get about three good sewing days instead of having to do the ubiquitous house blessing.

I have the GFG to the point of needing to be quilted. I plan to postpone that till the fall. Then I can order the backing and enjoy the winter quilting it.

While waiting to get to the interfacing I picked up the Jan Patek 2008 blocks and I will get another one of those done this week.




After work today I will shop for interfacing to finish the last 4 blocks on Country Cousins.

Two embroidery patterns from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt need to be stitched .........

BUT.........................

There were two small pieces in the December 2009 American Patchwork Quilting Magazine that peaked my interest. They are the perfect thing for our new home and they are small pieces. I have the materials to actually complete these projects on hand. I think I will put all else aside and try to get one finished. Another finish this year would be good.

Here it is............. Block eight................ I am amazed that I have 2/3 of the center of this quilt complete. I need more interfacing before I finish the last four blocks so I am putting this aside until I go shopping again.





Here are eight of them together. I am really liking this quilt.





I like to get up on a weekend morning and go upstairs and sew and sew and sew. Lately I have not been able to do that as much as I would like but I do have a few hours each evening to do some hand work.

Since I am putting the Country Cousins quilt on hold for a bit I looked around for something else to stitch in the evenings. No, there is no shortage of projects but I did want something that had already been started and was easy to get to and left little mess in the studio when block prepping was required. Of course, my Jan Patek BOM from 2008............ I have some of those blocks done so why not do a few more. I got one prepped and ready to start on tonight. One good thing about Jan Patek. Her designs are more unstructured so being a bit off adds to the design.